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...
Monday, June 29, 2009
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.
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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
Intel launching cheaper SSDs with up to 320GB capacity in two weeks?
Rumor has it that Intel is prepped to launch its new SSDs in the next two weeks. According to sources speaking to the The Inquirer, the new solid state disks will feature that smaller 34nm NAND Flash developed by Intel and Micron. As usual, the smaller manufacturing processes should allow for higher density SSDs (as high as 320GB) at a reduced cost to manufacture. In fact, INQ says, "there will be drives big enough to replace the HDDs in most, if not all laptops." With Intel already cutting SSD prices we remain optimistic that this rumor is true.
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Kate's Cafe Serves Crocheted Food
Knitting and crocheting have become all the rage, with happy knitters meeting in pubs or creating monster coral reefs. Kate Jenkins has taken a different route and is crocheting culinary masterpieces. In her fantasy cafe she is serving full english breakfast, complete with tomatoes, sausages and eggs, or fish and chips, little sugar cupcakes and cups of tea with saucers.Crocheted works like sequin-adorned sardines on toast, knitted tomato ketchup bottles and a box of PG Tips teabags are pleasingly real-looking but still have en...
Warn PullzAll Is The Closest Thing You’ll Get To A Grappling Hook Without Wayne Enterprises
By Andrew LiszewskiI don’t know about you, but I don’t have a multi-billion dollar company at my disposal to cook up awesome crime fighting gadgets like Batman (warning! spoiler ahead!) aka Bruce Wayne does. So I have to rely on the tools available at my local Home Depot, which quite frankly, just aren’t as awesome.
By Andrew Liszewski
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a multi-billion dollar company at my disposal to cook up awesome crime fighting gadgets like Batman (warning! spoiler ahead!) aka Bruce Wayne does. So I have to rely on the tools available at my local Home Depot, which quite frankly, just aren’t as awesome. Take Batman’s grappling hook for example. His version is small, lightweight and easy to carry on his utility belt. But the best solution you’ll find at your local hardware store is the PullzAll from Warn.
It’s no where near as compact and subtle as Batman’s device, but it seems just as capable, if not more so. There are two versions available, an AC powered model and a DC powered model, and I suggest the latter with its rechargeable 24V battery if you’re looking to become a vigilante. At 18lbs you’ll want to make sure you’re wearing a reinforced belt if you intend to carry it that way, but the device is capable of pulling or lifting up to 1,000lbs with its variable speed motor, so you should easily be able to hoist yourself up to the rafters of a warehouse for a dramatic escape.
$479.99 from the Warn website for the DC model, and $279.99 for the AC model.
VIA
Microsoft Considers Shipping Windows 7 On USB Flash Drives
By Chris Scott BarrLets say that you purchased yourself a new netbook not long ago, and come this fall you decide to upgrade to Windows 7. How exactly are you planning on doing that without an optical drive? Sure, with you being the tech-savvy customer, you won’t have too much trouble doing this. Of course
By Chris Scott Barr
Lets say that you purchased yourself a new netbook not long ago, and come this fall you decide to upgrade to Windows 7. How exactly are you planning on doing that without an optical drive? Sure, with you being the tech-savvy customer, you won’t have too much trouble doing this. Of course not every person is going to have such an easy time, which is why Microsoft is considering releasing the next version of Windows on a USB flash drive.
I’m glad to hear that Microsoft is considering this alternative installation method. Granted, users can download their copy of Windows, but not everyone wants to mess with it. The USB drive would be simple and straight-forward. My biggest question is whether or not Microsoft would charge more for a flash drive, since they do cost a few bucks more than a disc.
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Japan Is Slowly But Surely Being Taken Over By Giant Robot Statues
By Andrew LiszewskiBy now you’re probably well aware of the 1/1 scale Gundam statue that currently towers over Tokyo, Japan, but it seems the whole country is making a concerted effort to get its citizens used to the presence of giant robot overlords. Kobe’s Wakamatsu Park is next in line and will soon have their
By Andrew Liszewski
By now you’re probably well aware of the 1/1 scale Gundam statue that currently towers over Tokyo, Japan, but it seems the whole country is making a concerted effort to get its citizens used to the presence of giant robot overlords. Kobe’s Wakamatsu Park is next in line and will soon have their very own 60-foot tall, 50-ton statue of Tetsujin 28-go, aka Iron Man #28. But unlike the Gundam in Tokyo, Kobe’s statue won’t move or anything, but will remain stalwart in a ready-to-defend-the-country-against-Godzilla pose.
I’ve also included a video of the statue under construction after the jump.
VIA
Carnivorous Clock eats bugs, begins doomsday countdown
It's not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we've adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or "digestion," is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin' and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right.
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