This is pretty cool. First time I saw something like this at Epcot when I was about 8 years old, except it was in a big round room. It made an impression on me then, and it's still fun now.

Tags: 360°, Video

If you ever played super mario brothers this should be funny to you. If you didn't, move along, nothing to see here. For some reason I found it very funny.

Tags: Super Mario

I thought this was pretty amazing:

Tags: Snow Plowing Train

If you are a geek and a musician as I am, this is essentially technoporn. An iPhone controlling ProTools digital recording software in real time. Drool...



Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Music, Protools, Iphone

This is a very interesting creation that uses legs, wheels, and paddles to cover almost any terrain, and it looks like some weird determined huge bug.

Tags: All Terrain, Robot

This'll come in handy after the apocalypse!


Campfire In A Can! - The top video clips of the week are here

Tags: Coca Cola, fuel, Campfire, Stove

To go with the above article, I thought I'd include this one. It doesn't sound fully confirmed, but it hasn't been refuted by anyone I've seen yet. Francis crick was on LSD when he discovered DNA?

Excerpt:

The abrasive and unorthodox Crick and his brilliant American co-researcher James Watson famously celebrated their eureka moment in March 1953 by running from the now legendary Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge to the nearby Eagle pub, where they announced over pints of bitter that they had discovered the secret of life.Crick, who died ten days ago [2004-07-28], aged 88, later told a fellow scientist that he often used small doses of LSD, then an experimental drug used in psychotherapy, to boost his powers of thought. He said it was LSD, not the Eagle's warm beer, that helped him to unravel the structure of DNA, the discovery that won him the Nobel Prize.

Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Francis Crick, LSD

Intelligent design is such an easy target, but that doesn't mean it's not worth taking pot shots at.

Tags: Christofascism, Republicans, Stupidity

Ground effect hovercrafts are nothing new, but they don't get enough press. Basically they float above a special buffer of air pressure which exists above the ground, so they only fly a few feet above the surface of water. They are especially cool since you can get them classified as boats and go flying around without a pilot's license. If I had some water nearby and a few hundred thousand in loose change, I'd certainly pick one up. But I have a feeling they have some drawbacks we don't hear about, like when flying over choppy water..





Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Flying, Hovercraft

Pictures of nuclear explosions have a way of finding their way to me, so I'm quite the critic. But these are some of the most amazing ones I've seen.







See the Full Gallery Here

Tags: Nuclear, Test, Pictures

Although the article was discredited even by it's own author, I thought it was still a very interesting attempt to quantify the world's carrying capacity of human beings by energy consumption. I found it quite flawed even before the author turned on it (which was a very refreshing act of true intellectual integrity). In the end he was trying something which is more or less impossible for a single person (or even many people) to do. Much like a perfect climate model, the factors are far too numerous to take on.

However, it doesn't stop the paper from presenting a lot of interesting data in one place, and making some very scary conclusions. Personally I think the market forces will prove more efficient in solving the energy crisis than anyone ever imagined. Whether we can stop global warming is another story, but there are just too many possibilities for how to get energy for some alternatives to take hold and be successful. I'm personally rooting for fusion and solar to save the day. Ethanol is for suckers.

One of his graphs:





Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Green Energy, Overpopulation, Peak Oil

If any of you wanted to know what the Czechs were into when it comes to sharing video, check out my buddy's new video sharing site for Czechs.




Visit the Site Here

Tags: Video, Sharing, Czech

Now, there are many of these out there in the world, and they are really freaking cool. But this one is even cooler because you can take the plans and make it yourself. And then you can make a 3d sex doll... Or whatever...



Excerpt:

"Hod Lipson didn’t set out to revolutionize manufacturing. He just wanted to design a really cool robot, one that could “evolve” by reprogramming itself and would also produce its own hardware—a software brain, if you will, with the ability to create a body. To do this, Lipson (below, center) needed a rapid-prototyping fabrication, or “fabber.” Picture a 3D inkjet printer that deposits droplets of plastic, layer by layer, gradually building up an object of any shape. Fabbers have been around for two decades, but they’ve always been the pricey playthings of high-tech labs—and could only use a single material."

Read the Full Article Here

Tags: 3D, Printer

I say we make one!






Read The Full Article Here

Tags: Green Energy, Space, Solar

Really brilliant idea for developing nations. Maybe I'll get one to recharge my phone in the desert.




Excerpt:

If you’ve ever put a blade of grass between your thumbs and blown, you’re already aware of the force that drives Shawn Frayne’s ingenious Windbelt. A small amount of air passing over a thin strip of material can create frequencies that translate into sound waves or, in the Windbelt’s case, energy.Frayne’s device consists of a flat, taut membrane that flutters within its housing as air passes through it. At each end of the membrane are magnets that oscillate between metal coils as the band flutters, effectively creating an electric charge. According to the 28-year-old Frayne, prototypes of the Windbelt have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines.

Read the Full Article and Watch Video Here

Tags: Green Energy, Wind, Power

A bit old news, but I just love to see Faux News squirm when things don't go their way.




Read Full Article Here

Tags: Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize, Faux News

Okay, it's not actually a mirror, it's a monitor, that's rigged up to some spectre who hovers over your car and beams what's going on down there to the screen. Magic. This woulda saved me some cash on some dents.




Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Car, Mirror

Now this is just a wonderful idea for making a product that both gets you drunk and serves as a housing material for developing nations. This is the kind of thinking that the world needs. I think we should petition Heineken to bring it back-- I would buy a lot more Heineken, that's for sure. And I'd build a big wall o' beer around my desk at work. That'll keep them from bothering me.






Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Green Technology, Beer, Brick

I'm including this article mainly so I can use this picture. Poor girl got her head eaten by a TV!





Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Bad Design

Awww snap!

Tags: Atheism, Richard Dawkins

Sometimes I want to start doing studio work again just to justify buying certain bits of gear (ironically the same reason why I don't want to do studio work anymore). This is one of those pieces of gear. It's truly lustworthy.



Read the Full Article Here

Tags: Kickass, Keyboard, youtube

The world needs more of this. Machines that can understand how you feel so that they can give you fattening foods. The future has finally arrived!



Dr. Whippy, had people queue despite the wet wet weather in the streets of Linz during ars electronica. The machine proffers soft scoop ice cream according to the perceived unhappiness level of the customer.



"Employing voice stress analysis of the user’s answers to specific questions, varying degrees of unhappiness are measured and the counteractive quantity of ice cream is dispensed: The more unhappy you are, the more ice cream you need."



The project, developed by Demitrios Kargotis, was partly funded by the Royal College of Art-Platform 11. Technical Assistance: Bjorn Franke. Images courtesy of Noam Toran. A few more taken in Linz.

Tags: Ice Cream, Happiness

This is one of the most exciting green energy discoveries of all time. I really hope this works out to be a net positive of energy after the energy expended to separate the hydrogen from the water. Then I'll just tank up my car in the ocean and roll up the coast.

Excerpt:

So, Mr. Kanzius said, he put sea water in a test tube, then trained his machine on it, producing an unexpected spark. In time he and laboratory owners struck a match and ignited the water, which continued burning as long as it remained in the radio-frequency field.

Read the Full Story Here

Tags: Green Energy

I want some of what they're on.

Tags: Trippy, Animation

This actually worked a lot better than I expected it to. Mainly because the violinist is a genius. You don't find many violinists that can improvise like that (unless he really wrote all that out, which would also be impressive).

Tags: Music, Violin, Hip Hop

Dude. Wicked Rad.

Tags: Slip n Slide

Pretty trippy to see it as it zooms by with every second reflecting 40 hours of real time.

Watch it Here

Tags: Internet

This looks scary

Tags: Speed, Danger

But this looks scarier!

Tags: Speed, Flight, Danger

According to a major study there’s a very strong correlation between atheism and societal health. Here are the most non-religious countries in the world, according to the findings:

1. Sweden
2. Vietnam
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Czech Republic
7. Finland
8. France
9. South Korea
10. Estonia

From the paper:

High levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. Most nations characterized by high degrees of individual and societal security have the highest rates of organic atheism, and conversely, nations characterized by low degrees of individual and societal security have the lowest rates of organic atheism. In some societies, particularly Europe, atheism is growing. However, throughout much of the world – particularly nations with high birth rates – atheism is barely discernible.

Read the Full Study Here

Tags: Atheism, Happiness

My friend Adam has launched a really cool new travel website, Vibe Agent which specializes in finding the perfect hotel based on your lifestyle needs. It's very slick and interactive, and it makes this chore actually enjoyable. And I'm not just saying that. I was just looking for hotels for a holiday and realized how crap all the other options were. He needs a bit more content, but there's a lot being added every day, and since it's only been in beta for a couple months, you can't ask too much. If anyone wants an invite, let me know.

Tags: Travel, Web 2.0

This is pretty weird. It's a whole little strange drama made out of The Sims characters called the Strangerhood which I learned about from David Byrne's blog. It's cool to watch an intelligent multidisciplinary like him blog. But it's sad that he's not only a better musician but also a better blogger than me.

I feel for this guy as I also have to do demos of this technology. But it doesn’t mean I can’t laugh at him, especially since I’d never be caught dead doing this on live tv. The reporter’s “air quotes” also could have been a Steven Colbert parody.

This is a really cool demo of some technology we should have had 10 years ago. Multi-tap touch screens. Like in Minority Report. I hope I can buy one of these soon!

And to cap off the month, what could be better than a Furby in the microwave?

Tags: Furby, The Sims, David Byrne, Microsoft, Demo, Multitouch Screens

To take off the weight I've gained from not smoking I'm trying a little program on my phone called Calorie King which has a database of foods and I just enter in what I ate. So far I've lost almost 5lbs and it's only been 10 days. It's actually pretty easy to fix something when you figure out what you're doing wrong. And it's a lot easier for me than, say, cutting out carbohydrates. For me the problem seems to be beer, so I'm trying to switch to wine spritzers. Same alcohol, less calories, and unfortunately, decidedly less manly. But I'm confident in my masulinity. It's helped a lot. It turns a good night out into the equivilent of 1 trip to mcdonalds instead of 2 (!). I had done it before, but I didn't realize how big of a deal it was. Unfortunately there's no such thing as light beers here really.

Tags: Diet

Got some interesting christmas presents this year. A sleeptracker watch, which is meant to wake me up when I'm not dreaming so I'm more refreshed every morning. It does this by measuring how much I thrash around, and probably wakes me up when I'm thrashing the most. So far it seems pretty good, it's done a couple nice jobs, but I'm going to need to wait until the jet lag is gone because I keep waking up before it tries to wake me up. There are some other similar technologies coming like the SleepSmart, but they require a headband for EEG so they may not be so comfortable. I actually have my own idea for something which will be more reliable than movement based, but more comfortable than EEG. Someday maybe I'll make my own.

Also got the Suunto T6 runner's watch with heart rate monitor and accelerometer for my foot. This will be very nice when the snow's off my running track and it's a bit warmer. Unfortunately I hate running in the gym so I don't do it much, but next year it will hopefully help me lose those pounds that have been so elusive even when I have been excercising a lot.

And to record whether I've gotten fatter or thinner, I got a Sharper Image digital glass bathroom scale with body fat monitor, so far it's a little harder to use than a normal scale, but gives me a reading of my body fat, water weight percentage, and of course normal weight in pounds or kilos. Seems to fluctuate a little so not sure if it's perfect, but it's better than trying to guess if I'm gaining muscle or losing fat. And getting it for christmas is great because I'm never fatter than this time of year.

If I'm feeling ambitious, I may make a review section for these interesting new health products and really tell you what I think of them. But I think that electronic health products have come a long way, and can be of real use in giving you information on how you're living your life. And knowledge is power

Tags: Christmas, Health Tech

Try mailinator. I’ve been doing something similar to this for years, by having one email address just for when I’m ordering porn service or penis enlargers, one for when I order things, and my personal address only to give to friends in person. If you’re not doing something similar, this is a great service where you just choose any email address at mailinator.com (like sean@mailinator.com) when you are filling something out or ordering penis enlargers. It receives just one email for you which you can go retrieve, and then deactivates the account. This ensures that those penis enlargement bastards can never spam you again.

Tags: Spam