We don't know what the LED X found on the side of this Asus Blu-ray drive is supposed to symbolize to the people of Earth, but we aren't ones to argue with pointlessly glowing aesthetics. The Asus...
Monday, June 29, 2009
Asus Slim Blu-ray Drives Feature a Wicked X [Blu-Ray]
We don't know what the LED X found on the side of this Asus Blu-ray drive is supposed to symbolize to the people of Earth, but we aren't ones to argue with pointlessly glowing aesthetics. The Asus...
Engadget's recession antidote: win an Ecogear Genus backpack!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got an Ecogear Genus 'Black Rhino' pack on offer, perfect for those of you stuck in summer school or gearing up to backpack through Europe (and never return). Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Check after the break for some photos of the prize!
Major thanks to Ecogear for providing the gear!
The rules:
Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive an Ecogear Genus 'Black Rhino' pack. Approximate retail value is $59.99
If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Monday, June 29th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Unintended Consequences: Swifts in Nosedive, Modern Architecture and Weatherization Blamed
WikipediaSwifts, described in the Times as "those soaring harbingers of summer", have declined in population by 47% in the last twenty years in the UK, and some suspect it might be because of people fixing their houses....
Nike Air Max 180 Retro White Ultramarine - Detailed Pics
We reported last week that the Nike Air Max 180 White/Ultramarine had released at select Nike accounts nationwide. The timeless runner is distinguished by a combination white suede/nylon mesh upper with pink accents along the midsole. An Air Max unit is injected into the heel. Hit the jump for a detailed view
We reported last week that the Nike Air Max 180 White/Ultramarine had released at select Nike accounts nationwide. The timeless runner is distinguished by a combination white suede/nylon mesh upper with pink accents along the midsole. An Air Max unit is injected into the heel. Hit the jump for a detailed view of the Nike Air Max 180 White/Ultramarine! The shoe is available now at select Swoosh retailers nationwide.
Via Vault.
Fennec Alpha 2 Now Out For Windows Mobile Users
You will be able to take advantage of this as long as you're running Windows Mobile 6.
Oh FriendFeed, What You Really Need is Accountability
Being Hateful, But Not Anonymously?What's the Solution?Discuss
Palm Oil Plantations Orphan Baby Orangutans & Leave Them Nowhere to Call Home
photo: Brian Snelson via flickHopefully you already are aware of the plight of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra as logging and palm oil plantations continue to rapidly destroy their habitat. The rate of deforestation and habitat loss is so great that some scientists are predicting that the orangutan will be the first great ape to go extinct in modern ti...
When a 13-year-old From 2009 Uses a Walkman For a Week [Walkman]
Here's what happens when you give a 13-year-old from 2009 a Sony Walkman—the tape kind—and ask him to figure it out without any outside help: incredible confusion. To the kid's credit,...
Google Launches SMS-Based Services for Africa
Just for Uganda at FirstFighting Information PovertySMS TipsDiscuss
A Picture Is Worth... (Literally) Unsustainably Developed Apartment Building
Photo: Reuters, from Mail OnlineThis is a very unsettling and sad example of development gone terribly wrong. A newly built 13-storey apartment building has fallen and one person is dead; it was fortunate that noone was living inside these new flats by a river in Shanghai.Shoddy construction and the use of sub-standard materials is a concern in China's construction sector as the country scrambles to build out cities and finish massive infrastructure projects to keep pace with fast econ...
Zoo Installation Shows Trouble In Wildlife Paradise
Photo courtesy of Steinbrener-DempfTrouble in Paradise--an art installation at Vienna's Schönbrunn Zoo--shows the troubling impact of modern civilization on wildlife habitat. The installation is the work of Austrian artists Christoph Steinbrener a...
Watchmen Blu-ray Bringing Awesome 'Maximum Movie Mode' Video Commentary [Blu-Ray]
newVideoPlayer("/WatchmenDirectorscut_gizmodo.flv", 506, 423,""); Most Blu-ray features leave me a little cold, but the Watchmen's "Maximum Movie Mode" actually looks really cool. In it, director...
Conserve Plastic Bags Hosts Carnival of the Green
This week is Carnival of the Green #186 and it's being hosted by Conserve Plastic Bags, an informative blog whose goal is to raise public awareness on the consumption of plastic bags. Since it's inception (which began as a class project), it has since evolved to include content about a multitude of other current environmental issues as well.So head on over to this week's Carnival, which includes a round up of green news and events from the past week, submitted by other bloggers and ...
4,000 Square Miles of Mississippi Delta Inevitably Drowned Due to Sea Level Rise: New Estimate Shows
photo: Natalie Maynor via flickr By then end of this century, somewhere between 3,800-5,200 square miles of coastal land around New Orleans are likely to be submerged as global sea level rise outpaces the rate of sediment deposited by the Mississippi river, an area much larger than previously predicted. That's the word coming from researchers Michael Blum and Harry Roberts, writing in the journal
OMG KITTENS! Colorado Biologists Discover Litter of Lynx Kittens
Photo credit: AP/Colorado Division of WildlifeSpring brought a surprise delivery from the stork: A litter of 10 lynx kittensâ€"the first newborns documented in Colorado since 2006, gladdening the hearts of biologists leading the charge to restore the mountain feline, as well as drawing waves of squeals from computer monitors everywhere. ...
Apple's new online tool lets you check iPhone 3GS availability from the comfort of your own home
If you're one of the hapless folks out there still having trouble tracking down a new iPhone 3GS, Apple is making things a little bit easier on you with an online tool to check up on stock at Apple retail stores. There's a full breakdown of color and capacity, which might seem like overkill to some, but given the fact that stores with stock in all four current models are a bit of an exception (outside of NYC, anyways), we'd have to say that this is just the sort of overkill we need.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Epson begins mass-producing 'world's smallest' LCD
Epson's started volume production of what it believes to be the "world's smallest" XGA high temperature polysilicon TFT (HTPS-TFT) panel. The chip used (an L3P05X-91G00) is approximately 23 percent smaller than its predecessor, and the 0.55-inch panel boasts natural XGA (1024 x 768) resolution. Epson says they're working to increase the resolution on these types of displays, which are currently being manufactured only for 3LCD data projectors. Pretty impressive -- though, we'll just hold out until they start putting these babies into really tiny television sets.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Urban Retrofits: How to Make a City Green -- Without Tearing It Down
Michael Fitzgerald writes an interesting article in the Boston Globe with a number of suggestions for "retrofitting. In the past several years, engineers, urban planners, and entrepreneurs have come up with imaginative new ways to take what we now know about living more energy-efficiently, and grafting that technology onto cities without clearing away what’s already there." Suggestions include reskinning, bikes on demand, smart grids, mobility hubs, solar rentals and
Ethanol Now Fuels Over Half of Brazilian Cars & Light Vehicles
photo: Rodrigo Soldon via flickBrazil is renowned for being a world leader in ethanol use and this telling statistic bears that out: According to Petrobras CFO Almir Barbassa ethanol now powers more than 50% of all the light vehicles in the nation. Biofuels Digest quotes Barbassa as saying that gasoline has now become "the alte...
13-year-old trades iPod for Walkman, reports on mysterious ancient artifact
If you want to get an idea of just how fast technology moves, a brilliant piece from the BBC should help light the way. The setup is simple enough: 13-year-old Scott Campbell is given a Walkman and told by his dad that it was "the iPod of his day" -- and that's when the fun begins. Having never used or even seen the device, the young man proceeds to experience the kind of equilibrium-destroying confusion which we can only imagine the elderly first felt when attempting to set a VCR timer (you do remember what VCRs are, right?). We've collected a few of the choicest bits from the teen's observations, but we highly suggest you read the full article... you won't be sorry. Our favorite picks (direct quotes):
When I wore it walking down the street or going into shops, I got strange looks, a mixture of surprise and curiosity, that made me a little embarrassed. It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette. I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured. When playing, it is clearly evident that the music sounds significantly different than when played on an MP3 player, mainly because of the hissy backtrack and odd warbly noises on the Walkman.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Beach Huts Go Green and Modern
Images via ShedworkingSeaside towns in the UK have had a rough go of it in the last few years; the weather can often be described as "character building", while Spain and other places with better weather and warmer sand became so cheap and accessible by plane. But they are making a comeback, as are the beach huts that used to be so common. Alex at Shedworking points us to these lovely new ones in Blyth, Northumberland....
A Smart Grid Bubble, or Business as Usual?
Photo via chefrandenAfter the housing bubble burst and the subsequent economic muck thickened around our feet, the fear of investment bubbles became practically tangible. Even late last year, major venture capital firms were assuring investors that there isn't a bubble around clean tech investing. And they were right. Pointing out areas of smart grids, green building, alternative energy including solar, wind, and biofuels, energy storage, and transportation as particular hot spots, we've seen...
Greening China's Mayors: A Q&A with Dr. Steve Hammer of the Mayoral Training Program on Energy Smart Cities
"There are lots of questions"To meet its ambitious goals -- a 20 percent increase in energy productivity and a ten percent decrease in emissions compared to 2005 levels by the end of 2010 -- China will need to rely on strong national policies, like the so-called "green" stimulus package. But it will also require the determination of the officials overseeing the country's
Select Asus Eees to Get Free Windows 7 Upgrades...Technically [NetBooks]
The good news: two models of Asus Eee, the 1101HA and 1005HA, are eligible for free upgrades to Windows 7. The bad news: your 1101HA needs to be preloaded with Vista Home Premium and your 1005HA...
Heli Mission SWAT Truck Makes Being Old Sting Even Worse [R/c]
It's June, and most of us reading this post are stuck at work instead of wasting a summer vacation away with lemonade and the dreaded "playing outside." And to make matters worse, there's the...
DIY Speaker Kit Lets You Rock with Scissors and Paper [Papercraft]
Here's something I'd expect to see whipped up by MAKE Magazine on Martha Stewart: A paper speaker kit that comes with all the paste and paper you need to fold together your own mini ghetto-blaster....
Climate Bill Bonus: It'll Save Americans Up to $23 a Month on Gas
Image via NRDCThe questions are still swirling around the Waxman-Markey climate bill, which just passed the House of Reps by the narrowest margins--is it too weak? Does it cater too much to coal companies and heavy industry? Will it pass the Senate? Will it be the "biggest tax hike" ever perpetrat...
Samsung to introduce NVIDIA Ion-powered netbook
According to a mag called Netbook Italia (which might have something to do with computers) Samsung is developing a new NVIDIA Ion-powered netbook platform, with the first such device making the scene in Europe as early as July. The N510 boasts a 1.66 GHz N280 processor, 11.6-inch WXGA display, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3-in-1 card reader, and a 6-cell battery. The addition of a GPU should help out quite a bit when viewing HD video, although we're guessing this could take its toll on battery life. Either way, we'll find out soon enough.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
MIT Students Build a Speedy Go-Kart Out of a Shopping Cart [DIY]
When you were in college, you spent your free time drinking tallboys of Bud Ice and playing Mario Kart 64 until 5am. These MIT students, on the other hand, built a shopping cart go-kart cart and...
Book Review: Slow Death by Rubber Duck
I am a big fan of Rick Smith, and the work he has done at Environmental Defence. He has been a leader of the campaign to get Bisphenol A, phtalates and brominated flame retardants out of our bodies. He and Bruce Lourie have done great stuff. So I picked up “Slow Death by Rubber Duck†eagerly. After all, these guys write well, and have been regular sources for posts on treeHugger. Surely this book will pull all this together in a convincing package....
Nokia, Apple, RIM and others agree on micro-USB phone charger standard for Europe
While the free-market works pretty well when, uh, left alone to be free, sometimes it needs a push from a visible hand. Case in point, phone chargers; at the moment some 30 different types of chargers are used with handsets throughout Europe. Today, the European Commission received industry backing of its phone charger standard that relies on a micro-USB socket. The standard is now backed by all the majors (representing 90% of the European mobile market) including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments with compatible devices starting to appear in Europe next year. Or course, the micro-USB charger standard already has the blessings of CTIA, OMTP, and GSM Association which implies a broader adoption beyond Europe, someday. One charger for any mobile phone... where's the catch?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
The Maison De Verre: A Model For Our Times?
exterior photos by Kelly RossiterThe same week that Alice Rawsthorn was writing about A Prefab House That Dazzles Still, the Pacific Palisades home of Charles and Ray Eames, I was in Paris, visiting another dazzling steel and glass house, the Maison de Verre, designed by Pierre Chareau for Dr. Jean Dalsace and his wife, Annie in 1931.They are both seminal houses that have influenced generations of architects, but ultimately, the Maison De Verre has perhaps far more relevance to sustainable design and architecture today than does the Eames House....
Would You Edit Your Memories?
Seems scientists have isolated the chemicals responsible for creating and maintaining memories. More interesting is the discovery of a chemical that can suppress memories. As reported:Fenton, who specializes in spatial memory in mice and rats, devised a way to imprint animals with memories for where things are located. He taught them to move around a Seems scientists have isolated the chemicals responsible for creating and maintaining memories. More interesting is the discovery of a chemical that can suppress memories. As reported:
Fenton, who specializes in spatial memory in mice and rats, devised a way to imprint animals with memories for where things are located. He taught them to move around a small chamber to avoid a mild electric shock to their feet. Once rats learn, they do not forget. Placed back in the chamber, they remembered how to avoid the shock.
But when injected with ZIP (a Zeta inhibitory peptide) directly into their brains, they had to start over again and learn how to avoid the electric shock. “When we first saw this happen, I had grad students throwing their hands up in the air, yelling,†Dr. Fenton said. “Well, we needed a lot more than that one study.”
H+ Magazine then discusses the potential dangers of developing ZIP into a therapeutic memory-deletion tool. Personally, I’m more interested in seeing scientists develop methods to transplant memories. It would be really useful for other mice if they could get a copy of the same set of memories that allowed their compatriot to avoid electrical shocks.
And yes, it would be great if we could purchase memories from humans who’ve gone through the trouble of attaining them. Not those special life moments which are rightfully unique to our individual personalities, but more functional memoriesâ€"knowledgeâ€"that would help us do more in less time.
Remember The Matrix? Trinity needed to operate a helicopter within a virtual reality. So she had one of her team download the memories needed to do so directly into her brain, allowing her to do her part to save the day. What’s wrong with buying memories for the practical stuff, like cooking a good Ratatouille?
Post from: The Gadget Blog
The Soyuz Chair Simulates Space Tourism
By Andrew LiszewskiI’m sure one day space tourism will be affordable for almost anyone, but at the moment it’s still a privilege reserved for those with millions of dollars to burn. But if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to take a trip on the Soyuz rocket, this Soyuz Chair is probably as close as
By Andrew Liszewski
I’m sure one day space tourism will be affordable for almost anyone, but at the moment it’s still a privilege reserved for those with millions of dollars to burn. But if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to take a trip on the Soyuz rocket, this Soyuz Chair is probably as close as you’re going to get. The chair accurately simulates the 3 stages of a Soyuz rocket launch as it reclines you into launch position, and presumably shakes and rumbles while you don a pair of headphones and a blindfold to help you forget you’re really just sitting in a modified recliner.
The Soyuz Chair was created by Nelly Ben Hayoun as part of the Royal College of Art’s Design Interactions Thesis Show which is currently running until July 5th.
VIA
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
