Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the to-much-spare-time dept.
linugen writes "How do you avoid those sweaty mouse hands after playing a game of Quake for a couple of hours? Sure, you could use the keyboard, but this site has a 'cool' alternative. It's in Finnish (I think), so the fish won't be able to help you. The pictures speak for themselves."
How about a wireless?
by
80's+Greg
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Make me a wireless one, and I'll pay you $50 for it.
-- I gotta have more cowbell.
Re:How about a wireless?
by
Negadecimal
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Make me a wireless one, and I'll pay you $50 for it.
Yeah, and you'll be paying that every month for batteries.
Re:How about a wireless?
by
Razzious
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Not if you created on that used the heat emited from your skin as you were getting all heated up and converted it to usable electricity to power the fan inside. Then you could rig a generator up on the buttons to give more juice with each click.
Now add to it the rolling action you make and we have ourselves a powergenerator on your mousepad.
OK OK I am sorry don;t mod me down for this stupidity
-- Razzious Domini
I could be a GREAT KARMA WHORE if I could just shed the few morals I have left.
Here's the english version.
by
Mike+the+Mac+Geek
·
· Score: 5, Informative
http://hw.metku.net/rottaflekti/index_eng.html
For those of us who don't speak Finnish.
-- -------------------------------------------------- ----
The man, the myth, the something or other.
Power Issues...
by
cliffy2000
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I can't imagine that it's a good idea to draw extra power off the bus. Without the proper regulations/driver information, this "cool" hack could quickly lead to a very "hot" fire.
Re:Power Issues...
by
RadioheadKid
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Well for USB, its not a problem, USB power is regulated and the host controller/USB driver will let you know if you are using too much power by not enabling the port. But with PS2, I have no idea what the max current rating is, but 100ma for the fan could be pushing it if you are also using a PS2 mouse and keyboard...
-- "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
Re:Power Issues...
by
nEoN+nOoDlE
·
· Score: 4, Funny
well, it's a good thing the fan will be there to put it out.
-- Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Re:Power Issues...
by
jjeffers
·
· Score: 5, Informative
PS2 Spec says 300ma @ 5 volts. The fan in the picture draws 100ma. No problem that I can see.
If you look at the schematic for a typical motherboard you will notice that the 5 volt line on the PS2 ports is usually directly connected to the 5 volt buss.
Re:Power Issues...
by
rew
·
· Score: 3, Informative
But with PS2, I have no idea what the max current rating is, but 100ma for the fan could be pushing it if you are also using a PS2 mouse and keyboard...
The 5V comes directly from the powersupply, except for a 500ma fuse.....
An extra 0.5W of power from that 350W powersupply should be ok.
Roger.
When Cooling goes too far...
by
Bonker
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
If I play Multiplayer-anything for more than just a few minutes, I plan ahead and pull out my trusty Logitech Trackman Marble FX Optical.
While sucky for art, Trackballs are the bomb for quick precision rail-gun targeting in FPS'ers, group selection in RTS'ers, and action selection in MMORPG's. Using a combination of trackball and keyboard chording, my mild case of RSI has all but dissapeared.
-- The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
And here's the linked version...
by
dhamsaic
·
· Score: 4, Informative
-- Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
Re:And here's the linked version...
by
Dave+Fiddes
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Recent versions of Mozilla allow you to just select the URL text (that isn't a hyper link) and click the middle mouse button to go to it.
All browsers should support this (if they don't already;). It saves bucket loads of time!
Dave
Re:And here's the linked version...
by
dhamsaic
·
· Score: 2
I dunno, but I wish it hadn't - since I was at the cap and it got like 8 trillion "Overrated" mods, my karma deflated. I just hate copying and pasting links, so I made it for other people. It's really not "Informative" at all - more like "Helpful" or "Useful". Oh well.
-- Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
more useful for gaming? or pr0n?
by
BlueJay465
·
· Score: 2, Funny
I kinda wonder if this idea will gain more of a foothold in the gaming industry, or the online pr0n industry...
It probably has to do with how you hold the mouse. Many players will only have the pads of their fingers on the mouse because it gives a more accurate feel (you are fine adjusting your aim by moving your fingers instead of your wrist). Not everyone does it. Some are great shots even with their whole hand on the mouse. But for the "delicate touch" types this is a pretty cute hack. It is rather annoying when the sweat drips from your palms, down your fingers to your fingertips and starts making the mouse slippery.
-- Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
Just from the pictures, I'm thinking a lot of crap could fall in those holes. Just the buildup of hair and potato chips could be enough to make cleaning it a daily chore. Oh, and I don't want my mouse vibrating and making noise like I'm sure that one does. I think a lower-tech solution is to remove your hand from the mouse once in a while, maybe wipe in on a t-shirt, or something.. jees...
Respawns? You mean you spawn more then once per map?:-P
Anyway, as someone else already mentioned, the worst part of this mouse-mod is stuff falling through the holes, and possibly smudging up the optical parts.
-- karma capped.sig seeking available Slashdot poster for long-term relationship.
No dice. During that time the hand is off the mouse, but only for frantically typing stuff like '0wn3d!'... 'you are the weakest link... GOODBYE!' and other insults:-)
-- karma capped.sig seeking available Slashdot poster for long-term relationship.
Ok... Ok... Hold on...
by
Peridriga
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
This is getting really crazy..
When I actually need personal cooling devices b/c I am concentrating so hard on a video game... That is when I stand up and go walk outside... I mean comon.. Are the people using these also strapping Gatorade bottles to their heads and urine bags to their waists so they can remain hydrated and excrete waste with out getting up as well....
Comon... nice hack, but, get up and walk outside for a while.:-)... Thats all...
Re:Ok... Ok... Hold on...
by
2Bits
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Comon... nice hack, but, get up and walk outside for a while.:-)... Thats all...
Ah, from this statement, we know you are not a real gamer. Dude, real gamers don't walk away from the game, this is about professionalism.
Re:Ok... Ok... Hold on...
by
jred
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Comon... nice hack, but, get up and walk outside for a while.:-)... Thats all...
The hack is the point, not cooling. The cooling is just the excuse. I bet if you checked out the rest of his system, his case is modded, his kb is, & he's water-cooling his overclocked processor.
While I dig case mods, I'm kinda surprised to see it here. There's no politics involved. I guess the "gaming abuse" aspect covers it. Go figure...
--
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
Re:Ok... Ok... Hold on...
by
Dr.+Spork
·
· Score: 2
... strapping Gatorade bottles to their heads and urine bags to their waists...
Of course! Urine bags! Why didn't I think of that? But as for Gatorade, I might like something that will not only hyrdate me but also nourish. Really, something intervenous would be best, just as long as it doesn't get in the way of my gaming. Why don't they sell this stuff in game stores?
The problem with my mouse is not me, but my boss. For some reasons that are too difficult to grasp for my techhead, she just loves to play on my computer. The problem is, she never washes her hand after toilet, according to a female colleague who was horrified to see the boss play with my computer.
Now, only if I could get a mouse to wash and sanitize itself too....
I'm sorry, but the 5 volts used in this project is far too low voltage to cure that sort of behaviour. Try with a bit of electronics, a little transformer, and most of all, two fine electrodes on the upper surface of the rodent... For timing the effect, trigger it with one of the buttons.
...of course, the traditional varieties of mice never had this problem, as the natural fur coating would wick away unwanted moisture. But now that we have them overclocked and pumped full of steroids, we resort to these fancy technological measures and have forgotten about the simple, elegant solutions that nature has provided for us.
I read in a Popular Science magizine a long time ago, that someone was theorizing that our feet and palms would sweat when we got nervose to improve our traction if we had to take flight.
Maybe this responce was better suited to natural services like dirt, leaves, and grass, than todays PVCs.
So maybe mouse makers could come up with some other materials that work hand in hand with our flight responce and stick better when wet.
Finnish translator
by
Parafilmus
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Honestly... silly mice aren't useful for playing games like Quake. I can't imagine having to constantly pick up and drop down a mouse when I wanted to do circle around someone and given that your hand doesn't cup the large ball of a Kensington (pointer and middle finger are all that's needed), no sweaty hands.
Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
-- The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
I can't comment on that tourney players but I know from experience you can get precision with high sensitivity (I use 15 sensitivity in Half-Life, and I know people that use 25). Use the mouse to put the crosshair very close to the target, and use strafe and movement keys to put the target under the crosshair, fire as necessary. It keeps you moving eradically and gives you easier aiming at the same time.
Site Slashdotted - mirror now available
by
Tairan
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The great people over at adequacy.org put up a mirror of the pages and images. You can find it here on their site.
-- /. is a commercial entity. goto slashdot.com
It's shaky...
by
Tha_Zanthrax
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I like the idea but I think your hand will obscruct the airflow rendering it useless.
It should draw in air on one side and blow it out on the other. The cool air would have to pass some holes on top.
Anyway... I don't know how long she can take it capt'n. a mirror.
Clean it yourself. With soap (anti-bacterial?) and water. While you're at it, turn yr. keyboard upside down and give it a few thumps and watch all the crumbs and indescribable junk fall out. And blot the keys with a paper towel or Kleenex.
Pick a better subject!
by
fritter
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I thought this was about a sexual harassment suit at Disney!
Another alternative: beta-blockers
by
ez76
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Beta-adrenergic blocking agents can limit the physiological effects of Quake-borne adrenalin rushes (i.e. sweating and tremors). As medications that lighten the load on the heart, they are most often prescribed for hypertension, chest pain, and related cardiovascular stress ailments, but they have also historically been prescribed "off-label" for stagefright and other situations where one needs to "be calm." They are so effective at steadying your play that many professional gaming leagues forbid them explicitly (when money is on the line).
Determining a language
by
emkman
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I came across this article about a month ago when it was Finnish only. While then fish can't translate Finnish, some other tools can, like InterTran. However, there was no way of knowing what language it was written in except for the.fi TLD of the author's email. This is obviously not a 100% accurate way to determine the language and many pages don't list any domains to guess from. So, I proceeded to post an Ask Slashdot: asking if there are any tools that will indentify the language of a URL or any translators that will autodetermine the input language you are translating from. Of course, my post got rejected, or I wouln't be talking about it now.
I ask now once again... Are there any tools online available to determine the language a page is written in?? If you know, share the wealth. Thanks.
Re:Determining a language
by
richie2000
·
· Score: 2
I don't know if there's anything online, but back in '97 or '98 we (I used to work for TenFour) licensed a translation engine that could auto-detect the language used in e-mail messages. I'm not sure how it did it, but I'd guess that it simply looked for common, tell-tale, words like "and" in the different languages.
Our product was aptly named TFS Translator. The engine was called Barcelona, made by Globalink, until recently Lernout & Hauspie and currently ScanSoft. (Some people have too much money) Link to the current product based on that engine. They also have some tips on what to keep in mind if you are preparing a text for automatic translation. Ah, they finally added Japanese! Konnichi-wa, Anjin-San!:-)
Re:Determining a language
by
Dahan
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I don't know of any online automated tools, but I could have sworn that I saw a web page that had a list of heuristics you could use to try to guess some text's language.
I basically use the same method... I'm not sure if I can write down exactly what I do though; some of it is probably just recognizing certain words and knowing which language that word is from. Anyways, a rough list of my heuristics:
Latin scripts (you know, like English:)
If there aren't any funny marks above or below any of the letters, it's probably English. But you should recognize English when you see it:)
If you see ã and õ, probably Portuguese
If you see ñ, but no ã or õ, probably Spanish.
No tildes anywhere, but various accents on top of vowels, especially à, é, è, ê, î, ù, and also ç. Probably French.
üs and ßs. Probably German.
Dunno about Italian... I know it when I see it:) Not too many accents... only é, I think.
Long words with lots of doubled letters, and doubled äs; "y" always used as a vowel (like right at the beginning of the mouse fan article: "nyt"): probably Finnish (and Estonian too? Not sure 'bout that).
å and æ: some Scandinavian language... I can't tell the difference between 'em:) Probably one of Swedish, Norwegian, or Danish.
and : Hungarian
ð and : Icelandic
, , , , : probably Czech.
: probably Polish
, , : probably Turkish.
Letters with way too many diacritics for their own good (such as , "latin small letter e with circumflex and hook above", or "latin small leter a with breve and acute"): Vietnamese
Non-Latin scripts:
Just memorize how they look and you can at least get to a group of languages that use that script (Cyrillic and Arabic, for example), or maybe even to a single language (Thai, for example). If you see all Chinese characters, it's Chinese. If you see Chinese characters mixed with Japanese kana, it's Japanese. If you see mostly Korean characters with some Chinese, it's Korean:)
Well that's all I can think of for now:)
Fish? We don' need no stinkin' fish...
by
talks_to_birds
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
First Person Shooters (FPS) aren't the first thing I think of when I see this. It looks like it'd be more useful in First Person Bowling (FPB) sims. The hand-dryer-blower-thing is just that subtle element of realism that FPBs are always missing;)
I think he should patent it. This is pretty cool and I am sure that after some health tests some companies might follow a suit and start produce such mices.:)
-- If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Too late. The second he puts it on the web it becomes unpatentable.
You simply cannot publish something you intend to patent untill you are some way along into the patenting paperwork....
Roger.
Re:I hope he patented it...
by
TheSync
·
· Score: 2
You simply cannot publish something you intend to patent untill you are some way along into the patenting paperwork....
This is not true, at least in the United States. US patent law allows the "first to invent" to patent an invention, period. There is no requirement not to disclose invention details to the public.
Secrecy has to do with "trade secrets," not patents.
BWT, I'm co-inventor on US patent 5,331,222.
Hygenic Solution
by
spector30
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Use a feminine napkin. Get the thinnest one you can find. Be sure to get the kind that DOES NOT have gel inside it. Slice it into 3 or 4 strips depending on how long it is. Peel the strip to expose the adhesive. Stick it on the mouse right under your palm. This should absorb any moisture from your sweaty game hand. This will also work on the wrist wrest for your keyboard.
I got this idea from watching my buddy's father gardening while I was in High School. He used to use them for knee pads. What a sight he was, but his knees never ached.
-- If Darwin was right, you'd be dead by now.
thats all we need
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Funny
another damn fan for cooling.
WHAT??? I CANT HEAR YOU!
What about clammy mouse hands?
by
illsorted
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
My problem is that after a long gaming session, my mouse hand is cold and clammy (poor circulation, I suppose:).
How about making a heated mouse garage?
Nice to see you all.
by
japala
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Feels great to get/.'ed. Thank you all for visiting my site http://hw.metku.net. Thanks to those who made mirrors to my site. hmm... this is getting similar to Oscar Gala, maybe I should thank my wife too...;)
Hope you all understand that this mod was made just for fun. I just wanted to see that could this be done. It was also intended to be a joke to everybody who place n+1 fans to their computers. Too bad that it really worked;)
Wh ytranslate? Linus is all around us....
by
evilviper
·
· Score: 2
IF you've seen the results of a recent slashdot poll you would realize that several thousand slashdot readers ARE LINUS.
Re:Determining a language (Scandinavian)
by
KjetilK
·
· Score: 3, Informative
doubled äs;
Yep, that's a pretty sure sign of Finnish, and indeed this article is Finnish.
probably Finnish (and Estonian too? Not sure 'bout that).
Both Finnish and Estonian (and Hungarian) belong AFAIK to the same group of languages. Finns and Hungarians can't understand too much of each other's languages though.
å and æ: some Scandinavian language... I can't tell the difference between 'em:) Probably one of Swedish, Norwegian, or Danish.
Hehe, telling the difference between Swedish and the two other are easy enough: Swedes use ö whereas we (I'm Norwegian) use ø. Also, "and" is "och" in Swedish but "og" in Norwegian and Danish.
Generally, spoken Swedish is closer to Norwegian than Danish, but written Danish is closer to Norwegian than Swedish. I have actually been acting as translator between Stockholmers and Danes at times...
Telling the difference between Norwegian (no) and Danish (da) is harder. It's easy enough to a native, but Danish was the official language in Norway for a very long time and dominated up to a big reform in 1917, where it was norwegianified. If that isn't bad enough, we have two official languages here, no is in fact nb and nn, so if you think it's hard to tell the difference between da and no, it's even harder to tell the difference between nn and nb. Besides, if I write informally, I'd like to write something in between of nn and nb.:-) I think no makes more extensive use of double consonants, but I'm not sure about that. You can see it on quite a few words, typically one letter is different, like "language" which is "språg" in da but "språk" in no, "of" which is "af" in da but "av" in no. And so on...:-)
-- Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
Slashdot Mirror
Make me a wireless one, and I'll pay you $50 for it.
I gotta have more cowbell.
http://hw.metku.net/rottaflekti/index_eng.html
For those of us who don't speak Finnish.
-------------------------------------------------
Can I get a quieter hydrolic version?
I can't imagine that it's a good idea to draw extra power off the bus. Without the proper regulations/driver information, this "cool" hack could quickly lead to a very "hot" fire.
If I play Multiplayer-anything for more than just a few minutes, I plan ahead and pull out my trusty Logitech Trackman Marble FX Optical.
While sucky for art, Trackballs are the bomb for quick precision rail-gun targeting in FPS'ers, group selection in RTS'ers, and action selection in MMORPG's. Using a combination of trackball and keyboard chording, my mild case of RSI has all but dissapeared.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
for those of us who hate cutting and pasting :)
http://hw.metku.net/rottaflekti/index_eng.html
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
I kinda wonder if this idea will gain more of a foothold in the gaming industry, or the online pr0n industry...
Oh wait, is that sweaty palms or hairy palms?
How can you cool down the mouse with those vent holes when your hand is going to be blocking most of them most of the time?
Just from the pictures, I'm thinking a lot of crap could fall in those holes. Just the buildup of hair and potato chips could be enough to make cleaning it a daily chore. Oh, and I don't want my mouse vibrating and making noise like I'm sure that one does. I think a lower-tech solution is to remove your hand from the mouse once in a while, maybe wipe in on a t-shirt, or something.. jees...
JC
Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.
This is getting really crazy..
:-)... Thats all...
When I actually need personal cooling devices b/c I am concentrating so hard on a video game... That is when I stand up and go walk outside... I mean comon.. Are the people using these also strapping Gatorade bottles to their heads and urine bags to their waists so they can remain hydrated and excrete waste with out getting up as well....
Comon... nice hack, but, get up and walk outside for a while.
The problem with my mouse is not me, but my boss. For some reasons that are too difficult to grasp for my techhead, she just loves to play on my computer. The problem is, she never washes her hand after toilet, according to a female colleague who was horrified to see the boss play with my computer.
Now, only if I could get a mouse to wash and sanitize itself too....
Now if I could just get a beowulf cluster of these, I could get rid of the central air in my house.
(ducking)
Move on. There's nothing to see here.
Bring back furry mice!
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
I read in a Popular Science magizine a long time ago, that someone was theorizing that our feet and palms would sweat when we got nervose to improve our traction if we had to take flight.
Maybe this responce was better suited to natural services like dirt, leaves, and grass, than todays PVCs.
So maybe mouse makers could come up with some other materials that work hand in hand with our flight responce and stick better when wet.
There's a translator at http://www.tranexp.com/intertran/ which handles Finnish and other non-babelfish-supported languages.
Are there any electric hand warmers out there or should I go build my own?
Dyolf Knip
Honestly... silly mice aren't useful for playing games like Quake. I can't imagine having to constantly pick up and drop down a mouse when I wanted to do circle around someone and given that your hand doesn't cup the large ball of a Kensington (pointer and middle finger are all that's needed), no sweaty hands.
Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
/. is a commercial entity. goto slashdot.com
I like the idea but I think your hand will obscruct the airflow rendering it useless.
It should draw in air on one side and blow it out on the other. The cool air would have to pass some holes on top.
Anyway... I don't know how long she can take it capt'n. a mirror.
It seems to be gettin' slashdotted. I decided to mirror it:
http://bunkergate.org/RottaFlekti-MouseFan.htm
I hope this doesn't hurt too much. : P
Clean it yourself. With soap (anti-bacterial?) and water. While you're at it, turn yr. keyboard upside down and give it a few thumps and watch all the crumbs and indescribable junk fall out. And blot the keys with a paper towel or Kleenex.
I thought this was about a sexual harassment suit at Disney!
Beta-adrenergic blocking agents can limit the physiological effects of Quake-borne adrenalin rushes (i.e. sweating and tremors). As medications that lighten the load on the heart, they are most often prescribed for hypertension, chest pain, and related cardiovascular stress ailments, but they have also historically been prescribed "off-label" for stagefright and other situations where one needs to "be calm." They are so effective at steadying your play that many professional gaming leagues forbid them explicitly (when money is on the line).
I came across this article about a month ago when it was Finnish only. While then fish can't translate Finnish, some other tools can, like InterTran. However, there was no way of knowing what language it was written in except for the .fi TLD of the author's email. This is obviously not a 100% accurate way to determine the language and many pages don't list any domains to guess from. So, I proceeded to post an Ask Slashdot: asking if there are any tools that will indentify the language of a URL or any translators that will autodetermine the input language you are translating from. Of course, my post got rejected, or I wouln't be talking about it now.
I ask now once again ... Are there any tools online available to determine the language a page is written in?? If you know, share the wealth. Thanks.
Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
hw.metku.net/rottaflekti/index_eng.html
Also take a step back up to root at hw.metku.net/ and look at the other cool stuff they've been doing...
t_t_b
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
First Person Shooters (FPS) aren't the first thing I think of when I see this. It looks like it'd be more useful in First Person Bowling (FPB) sims. The hand-dryer-blower-thing is just that subtle element of realism that FPBs are always missing ;)
- StaticLimit
I think he should patent it. This is pretty cool and I am sure that after some health tests some companies might follow a suit and start produce such mices. :)
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Use a feminine napkin. Get the thinnest one you can find. Be sure to get the kind that DOES NOT have gel inside it. Slice it into 3 or 4 strips depending on how long it is. Peel the strip to expose the adhesive. Stick it on the mouse right under your palm. This should absorb any moisture from your sweaty game hand. This will also work on the wrist wrest for your keyboard.
I got this idea from watching my buddy's father gardening while I was in High School. He used to use them for knee pads. What a sight he was, but his knees never ached.
If Darwin was right, you'd be dead by now.
another damn fan for cooling.
WHAT??? I CANT HEAR YOU!
My problem is that after a long gaming session, my mouse hand is cold and clammy (poor circulation, I suppose :).
How about making a heated mouse garage?
Feels great to get /.'ed. Thank you all for visiting my site http://hw.metku.net. Thanks to those who made mirrors to my site. hmm... this is getting similar to Oscar Gala, maybe I should thank my wife too... ;)
Hope you all understand that this mod was made just for fun. I just wanted to see that could this be done. It was also intended to be a joke to everybody who place n+1 fans to their computers. Too bad that it really worked ;)
IF you've seen the results of a recent slashdot poll you would realize that several thousand slashdot readers ARE LINUS.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Yep, that's a pretty sure sign of Finnish, and indeed this article is Finnish.
Both Finnish and Estonian (and Hungarian) belong AFAIK to the same group of languages. Finns and Hungarians can't understand too much of each other's languages though.
Hehe, telling the difference between Swedish and the two other are easy enough: Swedes use ö whereas we (I'm Norwegian) use ø. Also, "and" is "och" in Swedish but "og" in Norwegian and Danish.
Generally, spoken Swedish is closer to Norwegian than Danish, but written Danish is closer to Norwegian than Swedish. I have actually been acting as translator between Stockholmers and Danes at times...
Telling the difference between Norwegian (no) and Danish (da) is harder. It's easy enough to a native, but Danish was the official language in Norway for a very long time and dominated up to a big reform in 1917, where it was norwegianified. If that isn't bad enough, we have two official languages here, no is in fact nb and nn, so if you think it's hard to tell the difference between da and no, it's even harder to tell the difference between nn and nb. Besides, if I write informally, I'd like to write something in between of nn and nb. :-) I think no makes more extensive use of double consonants, but I'm not sure about that. You can see it on quite a few words, typically one letter is different, like "language" which is "språg" in da but "språk" in no, "of" which is "af" in da but "av" in no. And so on... :-)
Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid