Soda Flavors For The Brave (or stupid)

http://tinyurl.com/95v6m

Jones Soda Co. are the purveyors of many finely flavored beverages
that can be found year round in grocery stores, convenience stores,
and everywhere else you wouldn’t expect to find a soda.

National Pack
Regional Pack


Flavors: Brussels Sprout with Prosciutto, Cranberry Sauce, Turkey &
Gravy, Wild Herb Stuffing, and Pumpkin Pie.

Also included: Serving spoon, moistened towelette, and wine list.

Flavors: Broccoli Casserole, Smoked Salmon Paté , Turkey & Gravy,
Corn on the Cob, and Pecan Pie.
Also included: Serving spoon, moistened towelette.

news and stuff 5-30-06

The Puzzle Floor


Natural hardwood floors are all the rage now, and it's becoming much
more difficult to make a room really stand out with flooring choices.
A unique way to turn some heads is with a one of a kind Puzzle Floor.

Designed with just two interlocking tile shapes, the Puzzle Floor
uses rotation and thirteen color variations to produce an effect of
patchwork whimsy or artistic patterns. As a floating floor design the
Puzzle Floor pieces can be installed over an existing hardwood floor
or sub floor with no nailing or gluing, and the tiles snap together
by hand. No tools are needed, and the flooring is prefinished so no
painting or staining is required.

Though this flooring is beautiful it most definitely is on the
expensive side for hardwood floors. A Puzzle Floor will cost $15 per
square foot; but that does includes shipping and the design
consultations for developing a color layout to ensure a one of a kind
conversation floor. The factory is also able to laser engrave logos
or designs directly on the tiles for commercial applications.

Found via HGTV's I Want That!

http://tinyurl.com/mlmlw

Transfomer bag


Robots in disguise? No, we're not talking about the popular kid's TV
show that I grew up watching. This transformer is made by Fire First,
Japan and sells at Rare Device. As the product description states,
this is "a truly versatile bag." It's actually reconfigurable!
Whether you're feeling like wearing it over the shoulder, or around
the waist, you can pick and choose to suit your requirements or mood.
Heck you can even remove the pouches if you don't need them. With
enough tricks to make a Decepticon proud, you can be sure you'll keep
even yourself guessing.

http://tinyurl.com/pl5cn

Overcoming Procrastination The Easy Way Matt Inglot has an idea on
how to overcome his procrastination. He thinks it is simple and it
does not require discipline. He tries to kill his procrastination by
takeing on activities which forcefully fill up his time:

I’ve had a particularly busy schedule for the past two years, and
the results have been very interesting. Not only have I been getting
things done through the sheer force of having to do so, but overtime
I’ve naturally grown to appreciate time. My instinct to
procrastinate is far weaker than before and as I internalize the idea
of getting things done instead of procrastinating I am quite capable
of making use of my time effectively without the external forces
present. This is a key achievement for me in relation to running my
own business, as there is rarely anyone outside of the government
that forces me to do anything at all in that area

Does it work? It works for him. However in my opinion the outcome may
be varies for different people. Also by forcefully filling up the
time with tasks, it may defeat the purpose of enjoying pressure-free
and mind-free after overcoming procrastination.

http://tinyurl.com/mpbcg

Speed-Reading Techniques Speed-Reading is a nice skill to have. As
most of the knowledges are gained from books, and there are so many
readings to digest in work, speedreading can actually save us time.
Here is the quick start for you on learning this skill. Keith Drury
has written a quick article on teaching this technique. He starts off
with myths of reading, then talk about preparation, rapid reading
techniques and finally retention techniques. Some techniques in speed
reading are:

http://tinyurl.com/lz7dr

An Inconvenient Truth - Off to a Good Start We don't expect a film
based on a slide presentation to outdo Hollywood summer blockbusters
at the box office, but we're happy to see that An Inconvenient Truth
is doing very well so far: "On Wednesday an inconvenient truth was
the #11 movie in the country despite being in only 4 theaters,
earning $78,994 ($19,749/theater). The #10 movie was showing at 1,265
theaters, earning 117,000, or $92/theater."

http://tinyurl.com/ngynn

Energy Star @ Home If you liked Home Depot's 10 easy ways to green
your home, you'll love the Energy Star program's new Energy Star @
home Interactive Tool, sponsored by the US Environmental Protection
Agency. Not only does this page provide a very thorough list of tips
to save energy around the house, they've also created an interactive
home map that allows you to take specific actions for every area of
your home based on most common types of energy use for that area.
They've even provided the top five ways to keep your home cool and
your energy consumption low as we move into the summer months in
North America:

http://tinyurl.com/luwmd

New SLIM Bike Parking Solution by Modular TreeHugger loves bikes but
maybe only as long as we can cycle. When it comes to storing your
bike easily and safely, some of you might be lucky to have a sleek
Cyclepod or a breathtaking Bike Tree Locker near you but parking a
bike is not always without hassle and unpleasant surprises. Indoor
bike parking solutions are particularly challenging due to lack of
space but are more and more in demand the more people opt for cycling
to work.
This is why we welcome Modular’s refreshing parking solution called
Slim. Last weekend the first Slim parking got inaugurated at Terra
Foundation’s headquarters in Barcelona.

http://tinyurl.com/peq3z

(FOR JACK)

pcb fuser for toner transfer etching we’ve covered the toner
transfer method for creating circuit boards before. instead of using
an iron, rich uses the fuser out of a laser printer to get consistent
results. he wired a dimmer to the power supply to regulate the
temperature. the fuser has a built in thermistor, so you can read the
temp using an ohm meter. for rate control he built a stepper
controller that connects to a parallel port. using a simple program
he’s able to control both speed and direction.

http://tinyurl.com/rnnnm

Winning ideas of the ECOnomics Environmental Business Plan Challenge
Award
(link to this article)

May 29, 2006 The ECOnomics Environmental Business Plan Challenge
provides a US$50,000 award for the business plan that best combines
environmental innovation and profitability. Created by General
Electric and The Wall Street Journal, the four finalists and winner
of the award were recently announced and the quality of the ideas
validated the exercise, with Robert Wright taking the gong for his
Heated Air Spray Evaporation (HASE) Watervap technology (top of main
pic) that will help solve the most universal human need: potable
water. Another of the finalists, LiquidPiston, (bottom of main pic)
was also a finalist of the prestigious MIT $50K Entrepreneurship
competition. LiquidPiston is a novel internal combustion engine
architecture, which is claimed to offer double the fuel efficiency of
existing engines while drastically reducing pollutant emissions. The
engine is based on a patent-pending "High Efficiency Hybrid
Cycle" (HEHC) thermodynamic cycle, borrowing elements from Otto,
Diesel, Atkinson, and Rankine cycles. The finalists of the
competition can be found here.

http://tinyurl.com/peb22

Strawjet - making buildings out of straw
(link to this article)

May 30, 2006 Every now and again, a technology comes along that is so
momentous that it changes the way we do things from that point forth.
Last year we saw the LifeStraw and this year, Strawjet. Strawjet just
took out the History Channel’s Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge
and we suspect the sudden attention from this respected global medium
will help to garner universal support for an ingenious idea.

http://tinyurl.com/nby7c

Alternate Reality Gaming V2.0
Posted by Hemos on Monday May 29, @08:04AM from the hopefully-no-one-
will-sue-over-arg-2.0 dept. ItsIllak writes "Alternate Reality Games
[ARGs] have been bubbling under for the past 10 years now. Usually
completely homebrew or attached to big budget productions, they have
been used to create buzz around a game, product or movie. Perplex
City have bucked that trend. Their ARG is completely independent of
anything else, its entirely self contained. With fresh ideas on
income generation and a $200,000 top prize to whomever finds the real
life buried treasure - is this the future of an entirely new form of
entertainment?"
http://tinyurl.com/ocml7

This month's best indie games
Posted May 29th 2006 4:35PM by Jordan Running
Filed under: Fun, Games


Well, the month isn't out yet, but that hasn't stopped Game Tunnel
from publishing their list of indie game picks for May. It's an even
mix of puzzle, adventure, strategy, and action games, all indie and
all in the $10-20 price range. Their Game of the Month is Eets, which
is describe as a cross between Lemmings and The Incredible Machine
with colorful, cartoony graphics and a sense of humor. Each game is
ranked by four reviewers who know their stuff, and of course demos
and trials are only a click away.
http://tinyurl.com/r8hx2

TIME FOR NEWS-N-SHMOOZ!

YET ANOTHER PROJECT I WIL NEVER FIND TIME TO DO:
Surveyor SRV-1 bot monitors your home on the cheap
Posted May 26th 2006 6:55AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Robots


If you have one of those floors that need very close monitoring
throughout the day, the Surveyor SRV-1 is the robot for you. The
little unit can crawl around your home at around one foot per second,
and reports back on its surroundings with a miniature VGA camera. A
100 meter range Zigbee 802.15.4 wireless receiver is included to let
the SRV-1 stream its findings to your computer and up onto the web,
and you can control and monitor the bot with any major operating
system or via a web browser. If you don't feel like taking manual
control of SRV-1, he can do fine by himself driving around,
navigating obstacles, and even communicating with others of his kind
via IR. The best news is the price: at $375 for the bot, the charger
and the wireless base station, SRV-1 shouldn't break the bank, and
seems ready to provide some good times for the robot hobbyist within
us all.
http://tinyurl.com/zpb3t

Soldiers bond with bots on battlefield
Posted May 25th 2006 8:35PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Robots


They may not be as cuddly as RI-MAN or as human-like as EveR-1, but
Reuters is reporting that soldiers in Iraq have nonetheless formed
strong bonds with their battlefield bots, giving them names and
grieving when they meet an unfortunate end. When one bomb defusing
PackBot from Roomba-maker iRobot named "Scooby Doo" was blown up
after 35 successful missions, the bot's operator asked of iRobot,
"Please fix Scooby Doo, because he saved my life."Of course, humans
forming meaningful emotional attachments to their robot companions
and servants is by no means unusual; studies have shown robo-pets to
be as therapeutic as the real thing, and bots like Paro the seal have
been helping patients in nursing facilities for years now (and are
even crossing over to starring in movies). Still, if there's one kind
of robot we'd want to stay away from as the robot-revolution looms
near, it's that kind designed for military use. Ruh roh, Raggy.
http://tinyurl.com/pfrd6

ANOTHER SIMULTANEUS MULTI-USER TOUCH PAD VIDEO, WITH COOL MUSIC AND
NEAT FEATURES, WORTH NOTING:
http://tinyurl.com/18r

The world’s fastest catamaran May 25, 2006 At 36.8 metres, Orange
II is a very large catamaran, designed that way so it can track
straight and true at very high speeds. Almost certainly the fastest
boat on the water, in August 2004, Bruno Peyron piloted Orange II in
an attempt on the crewed Transatlantic record, missing the mark by
minutes but setting a new 24-hour distance record by covering 706.2
miles at an average speed of 29.42 knots. In March 2005, Peyron and a
13-man crew completely blew away the around-the-world sailing record
set by adventurer Steve Fossett onboard Cheyenne – Orange II’s new
mark of 50 days, 16 hours and 20 minutes eclipsed Fossett’s record
by seven days. The magnificent maxi-catamaran is now at the Newport
Shipyard in Rhode Island, waiting for the appropriate weather window
to begin another record transatlantic attempt. Interestingly, Fossett
holds the transatlantic record too – set aboard PlayStation, Fossett
raised the outright Atlantic crossing record to a point where it can
in some ways be compared to the 100-metre dash in athletics. In order
to beat the record, Peyron will need to bring all the ingredients
together for a perfect race: smooth straight lines on a direct course
for home, a strong and steady wind from the right direction… and a
level of human endeavour befitting the ocean: a colossal effort! When
he starts his endeavour some time in the next week or two, he will
have four days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and six seconds to sail across
the Atlantic.
http://tinyurl.com/h2o65

VERY COOL TECH (TAKE NOTE):
Water, Water Everywhere By Susan Brown ScienceNOW Daily News 25
May 2006 A desert beetle that wrings water from fog has inspired
scientists to create a nanomaterial that literally plucks moisture
from the air. The invention could boost water supplies in the driest
regions, say experts, and a similar setup could be used to precisely
control the flow of tiny amounts of fluids for sensitive diagnostic
tests. Stenocara beetles live in the Namib Desert, one of the driest
places on Earth. Located on the southwest coast of Africa, the region
has scarce, unpredictable rainfall and no streams. On mornings when
thick fog drifts in from the Atlantic Ocean, the insect climbs to the
top of a dune and does a headstand, tilting its back into the breeze.
Water droplets collect on the tops of smooth bumps until they spill
into waxy, water-repellent grooves studded with smaller bumps that
shunt the water down the insect's shell into its mouth (ScienceNOW, 1
November 2001). To copy the beetle's water-collecting design,
materials scientist Michael Rubner, chemical engineer Robert Cohen,
and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge created a rough coating so water repelling--or hydrophobic--
that water sprayed onto it stood up in nearly spherical droplets.
First, they wrinkled polymer films onto glass to create micrometer-
sized hills and valleys. Then, to prevent droplets from getting
trapped in the valleys, the team decorated the surface with glass
nanoparticles coated with water-repellent Teflon-like molecules.

http://tinyurl.com/gcuuu

Yokel
Really smart yellow pages


Yokel makes finding local "things" less time-consuming and more cost-
efficient (especially with the gas prices these days). Similar to
GoogleMaps and YahooLocal but with more relevant results. And the
Yokel search engine helps comparison shop online for things you want
to buy offline at local stores. All you need to do is type in what
you are looking for and the city or zip code you want to buy it in
and Yokel provides the results. It seemed really helpful for items
you wouldn't want to ship or more abstract items like a motorcycle
trailer.

-- Kate

Yokel

http://tinyurl.com/huww7

The Keep It Simple Solar Tile - KISSTile

Roof mounted solar panels are nothing new, but an Australian designer
has added a second feature that he hopes will spur adoption.
Sebastian Braat has prototyped a roofing system of solar panels that
are contain a grid of plastic tubing. Water runs through the tubing,
absorbs heat from the sun, and is piped to the living areas for
household needs. The system provides an energy savings on two levels
and, depending on the size of the dwelling, can easily supply enough
hot water for a family. From Sebastian's Australian Design Award
Announcement: The KISSPower project aims to provide Australian
households with a solar power solution more suited to the domestic
environment than the currently available options. Encouraging
Australian homeowners to embrace solar power is no small task;
although a world leader in solar technology and the third largest
producer of photovoltaic (PV) panels, Australia’s focus seems to
have been restricted to remote and industrial applications. Bringing
this established expertise into the urban environment requires a
fresh view on the industry and a new consideration of PV use. The
secret to this system is the inefficiency of the current crop of
solar panels. Solar panels are only able to harness a small
percentage of the energy available, and this overflow is what gives
the KISSTile system a leg up over traditional solar installations.
Found on Gadgetizer

http://tinyurl.com/j8p9p

JUST DON'T WEAR IT TO A BAR, THIS WILL NOT IMPRESS THE LADIES:
Beer Holster
GEAR | OUTDOOR | 
You might not be an outlaw from Deadwood, but you can still do a
quick draw from the hip with this leather beer holster ($30). It
slides onto any standard belt and holds a 12 oz. can or bottle. The
holster isn't just for laughs either — it'd be super handy for
grilling and other outdoor activities. See you at high noon.

http://tinyurl.com/k8jhm

REDNECK HOT-TUB DONE EUROPEAN STYLE:


Dutchtub
GEAR | OUTDOOR | 
What's the biggest problem with hot tubs? They pretty much have to
stay in one place. The Dutchtub ($5625) is a portable hot tub that
warms its water by way of connected outer pipes that coil around a
fire basket, letting a natural fire do the work of warming the water
all the way up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit. It also features a wine
bottle holder with space for ice to keep your white/bubbly cool while
you stay warm in the water. With available BBQ, chimney, and trailer
accessories, we can't wait to get our hands on one and take it to the
closest beach we can find — which unfortunately for us is hours and
hours away. [Thanks, Luigi]

http://tinyurl.com/fxbee

A Dirty Job
ENTERTAINMENT | BOOKS | 
A Dirty Job ($16), the latest work of phenom Christopher Moore, is a
curiously creative novel that peers into the underworld, but with
just enough humor to make the demons seem like a punch line. Charlie
Asher accidently becomes Death and gets taken on a six year long wild
ride as one of a dozen or so grim reapers in San Francisco. They used
to have coffee together, but then voices started coming out of the
storm drains and they decided it was best for the balance of the
universe to not communicate. Add in a small army of 14" tall squirrel
people made up of different animal parts and human souls (based off
of this artist) and you've got yourself a book worth reading.

http://tinyurl.com/hlt2h

news 5-11-06

FOR YARIV:
book review: The Game Design Reader Katie Salen from the New School
and Eric Zimmerman of GameLab have put together the "Game Design
Reader" (MIT Press 2006), the first reader specifically about the
design of games.
The editors have gathered an impressive collection of seminal essays
on games and their design. This diverse set of readings include early
academic studies of games and play from the 70s, when very little
research was being done in the area. Writings on video game design
and game play cover early Atari games to Massively Multi-player
Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) and everything in between. The
reader itself opens with a series of short essays written by Salen
and Zimmerman, with titles like "Gaming the Game" and "Game Design
Models," each referencing relevant content included in the reader, as
well as a "further reading" list.

http://tinyurl.com/mrpgw

Debugging Essential technological literacy These days debugging is an
necessary life skill. Anything high tech has more ways of failing
than ever before. In this complexity breakage is commonly buried. You
need to be systematic to find a failure point in a system, and to be
certain about it. But debugging skills are not taught anywhere. This
book teaches you how to troubleshoot. It is meant for engineers
debugging computer programs, but the principles of debugging can
easily be applied to any engineered system -- your car, home
plumbing, a new gizmo, old laptop, hi-fi system, or anything with
many moving parts. The book is easy, with lots of war stories. I
learned a lot. Lately I've become the defacto system administrator
for the network of seven computers in our household, and these
principles have upped my success rate in clearing up the inevitable
problems.
What you get: essential technological literacy. -- KK

http://tinyurl.com/qds5z

AND HERE ARE THE RULES IT MENTIONS:

http://www.debuggingrules.com/

THIS KID CAN GO TO ANY COLLEGE HE WANTS:

The daily news so often brings us such doom and gloom about the fate
of people and the planet that it can become overwhelming. We may
think to ourselves, “How can little ole me contribute anything of
worth to improving this morass?” This was the question Ryan Hreljac
asked, when informed of the plight of African families struggling
without access to clean water. Ryan, undaunted by the challenge
before him as a 6 year old school kid, set out to right this wrong.
He persuaded his parents to pay him to do extra chores and finally
came up with the $75 he thought was needed to drill a well. Turns out
that was for a hand pump, a well was more like $2,000. He redoubled
his efforts and some months later presented this money to WaterCan.
They dug a well on his behalf next to a school in Uganda. Impressive,
huh? Not for Ryan it wasn't.

http://tinyurl.com/o52qy

A 4.1 GHz Dual Core at $130?
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday May 10, @06:46PM from the power-
on-a-budget dept. joshmo97 writes "Tom's Hardware has found that the
Pentium D 805 runs stable at 4.1 GHz and outperforms Intel and AMD's
flagship offerings in many benchmarks. From the article: 'The Pentium
D 805 is a budget CPU, but it puts lots of processors from AMD and
Intel to shame. Although it is not based on the latest 65 nm core,
this CPU remains stable even when operating at amazing 4.1 GHz. The
Pentium D 805 ascends to the throne as the new King of overclocking,
knocking out the AMD Opteron 144.'"
http://tinyurl.com/p4uxv

A 4.1 GHz Dual Core at $130 - Can it be True?
http://tinyurl.com/ewqrn

Huge GTD Series at Brandon 3.0 There’s a huge wealth of posts at
Brandon 3.0 about Getting Things Done. I like them because it’s a
personal skinning of the popular book by David Allen (we don’t have
to tell you that any more, do we?). Brandon starts us out with a
great question to ask yourself: WHY do GTD? How’s it better than
what you’re doing now?
After that, Brandon covers part 1 of a series in a post entitled
“Collection.” It’s great because it recaps the book, but it adds
Brandon’s voice and thoughts on the matter. I urge you to check it
out.

http://tinyurl.com/m4h78

Rare Mirage Lasts for 4 Hours off East China Shorehttp://
tinyurl.com/kymlq

(JACK WILL YELL AT ME FOR THIS BUT....) I KNEW IT!!!! I said this
was a good idea, i said it was possible and that it SHOULD be done,
and I was told no, it could not be done, not by me and not soon......
and yet here it is at almost the price point I wanted:

iSee 360 Hands On Scenario: A bartender feeds drink after drink to an
ATO employee in order to pry the iSee 360 from his plastered hands.
The result? It’s about as heavy as it looks, but let me tell you the
screen is great. Being a typical geek I asked if it had DivX support
and he said it’s coming soon (firmware upgrade?). The thing is
sweet. The only downside is a 4hr battery life
(according to the rep). Real easy to use. Available now for $249.

http://tinyurl.com/qpnb5

$10M Prize for Hydrogen Fuel Technology WASHINGTON - Scientists,
inventors and entrepreneurs will be able to vie for a grand prize of
$10 million, and smaller prizes reaching millions of dollars, under
House-passed legislation to encourage research into hydrogen as an
alternative fuel. Legislation creating the "H-Prize," modeled after
the privately funded Ansari X Prize that resulted last year in the
first privately developed manned rocket to reach space twice, passed
the House Wednesday on a 416-6 vote. A companion bill is to be
introduced in the Senate this week.

http://tinyurl.com/zz47b

AS I HAVE OFTEN BEEN TOLD... THE MASSES ARE ASSES!

Bird Flu Movie Sparks Panic Calls And Enquiries After watching the
ABC movie ‘Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America' last night, telephone
helplines from all over the USA have been receiving calls from
anxious viewers. At Medical News Today we have received 112 emails
from people in the USA with questions ranging from ‘How could other
countries be so selfish as to withhold vaccines?' to ‘I woke up with
a temperature and a cough this morning, do you think I may have
caught the bird flu?' As the movie was pure fiction, not a
documentary, and bird flu has not yet arrived in the USA, it baffles
me how people can be angry at other countries or wonder whether they
are infected. Possibly, the movie may have awoken public awareness.
The trouble is, ‘Fatal Contact' depicts such an unlikely scenario
that one wonders what kind of preparations people will now be making
as a result of watching the film. If a group of people next door
start coughing, will people who live in that street rush to the local
supermarket and stock up on vital supplies and medicines? The world
is facing a probable flu pandemic. The H5N1 bird flu virus strain
will probably mutate. However, it will not spread like wildfire the
minute one man flies in from Hong Kong to America and coughs. It is
important that everyone who saw the film realises it was a
dramatization, a piece of fiction - not a documentary. THERE IS NO
BIRD FLU IN THE USA AT PRESENT. THERE IS NO HUMAN FLU PANDEMIC
ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD AT PRESENT.

http://tinyurl.com/rxf3d

Sony, Microsoft about to be bottlenecked by Nintendo WE HAVE TALKED
to a lot of developers here at E3 Halls, mostly over informal drinks.
Several expressed extreme dissatisfaction over the performance shown
by both Sony and Microsoft consoles. The main problem for the
PlayStation 3 console is that it is still in a heavy prototype stage.
And the performance in many cases just isn't there. One of the
reasons offered to us is the actual hardware installed in the
console. Since this generation was all about pricing instead of
technology, those savings are the reason why Crysis and many more
titles will remain PC exclusives, since consoles don't have the
horsepower. Developers have voiced out their disappointment in not
being able to do what they've planned to do.

http://tinyurl.com/ljt5g

news and stuff

FREE GAMES:  http://snipurl.com/ntua

Automatically downloading TV shows with BitTorrent

Posted May 9th 2006 2:55PM by Jordan Running Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Freeware Though I hate to admit it, my "poor man's TiVo" solution consists of me checking CAT every morning to see what's new and then hitting the BitTorrent trackers to start my downloads. I know there are better ways to go about it, but what can I say, I'm a creature of habit. But speaking of better ways, Lifehacker's Adam Pash has written a brand new guide to automatically downloading your favorite TV shows using the free Windows app Ted and the BitTorrent client of your choosing. He steps you through setting up Ted and configuring it for your favorite shows, making it work with Azureus and uTorrent, and setting up custom feeds.

http://snipurl.com/qa4u

Japan to fast track Supersonic Airliner (link to this article) May 10, 2006 The Supersonic Transport Team at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is reported to be set to begin talks with NASA and Boeing next month with a view to fast-tracking the development of its Scaled Experimental Supersonic Transport (SST) project into a full-blown, next generation Supersonic aircraft which will take over where the retired French-built Concorde left off when it was taken out of service six years ago. Tests of JAXA’s scramjet (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet) engine continue (20mb QT movie of lift-off here and 26MB QT movie of flight trial here) with the expectation that the engine can achieve speeds of Mach 5.5 (6700 km/h). Japan is expected to supply the engine for the project with Boeing building the spaceframe.

http://snipurl.com/qa4w

Startup Lessons The following are a list of the ‘Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn‘ from the 2006 Startup School as well as Paul Graham’s recent post of the same title. Here is the list:

http://snipurl.com/qa50

May 8, 2006 | 8:30 p.m. ET  Risking it all on Mars: Would you chip in a million dollars to have someone go on a one-way trip to Mars? How about $100,000, or $10,000? It may sound like the ultimate revenge, but X Prize founder Peter Diamandis is floating the idea as a privately funded way to start settling the Red Planet. The plan, which Diamandis outlined this weekend during the International Space Development Conference, assumes that 100,100 contributors would drink the Red Planet Kool-Aid. It also assumes that all the medical, technical and logistical challenges involved in setting up a permanent Mars base can be solved for about $8 billion — far less than NASA's projected price tag. But some folks are already to go, including SpaceShot founder Sam Dinkin, who is offering to run the lottery that would select the Mars trainees. "I am in for $100,000," Dinkin writes in Transterrestrial Musings.

Safe Talk - Temporary Phone Number Safe Talk is a new service in the UK that allows you to generate a temporary phone number to use for 7 days to give to people you don’t trust/know. 

http://snipurl.com/qa55

Hardware: 12.8 Petabytes, You Say?

Posted by Hemos on Wednesday May 10, @12:11PM "Dr. Jonathan Spanier from Drexel University has come up with a novel way to greatly increase data storage density: water. Specifically, they propose using hydroxyl ions to stabilize minute ferroelectric wires. These wires could be many times smaller than what is possible today, enabling data densities in the neighborhood of 12-13 PB per cubic centimeter. While there are still many problems to be resolved before drives using these can be manufactured this technology does seem promising. For one thing, it would be non-volatile, but could apparently be made to act as RAM. The fact that this is coming out of a university gives me hope that this technology won't turn out to be just so much vapor."

CATAPULTS: http://snipurl.com/qa5r

The Wheel turns your bike into a moped Bicycles have always been a great way to get around, but the whole pedaling thing really takes away a lot of the appeal for some people -- we're sure countless dusty bikes with flat tires are hanging in garages nationwide. Well a company called RevoPower wants to put that huge fleet of two-wheeled vehicles back on the road with an innovative new product that easily converts most mountain or hybrid bikes into 20MPH mopeds. The Wheel, as it's known, manages to pack a gasoline- and oil-powered 23cc, two-stroke internal combustion engine into the space between a standard wheel's spokes, giving it a clear advantage over other modification kits which require tinkering with the existing drivetrain. Once the old wheel has been swapped out for the new Wheel, all you need to do is attach the throttle control to your handlebars and slide the fuel container into your water bottle cage (hope you don't get thirsty on your ride), and you're ready to hit the streets at an environmentally-friendly 200+ MPG. A video of The Wheel (and some overly-eager focus group members), which is due out next year for $400, is available by clicking here.

http://tinyurl.com/ldnxy

12.8 Petabytes, You Say?

Posted by Hemos on Wednesday May 10, @12:11PM from the will-it-happen dept. MadUndergrad writes "Dr. Jonathan Spanier from Drexel University has come up with a novel way to greatly increase data storage density: water. Specifically, they propose using hydroxyl ions to stabilize minute ferroelectric wires. These wires could be many times smaller than what is possible today, enabling data densities in the neighborhood of 12-13 PB per cubic centimeter. While there are still many problems to be resolved before drives using these can be manufactured this technology does seem promising. For one thing, it would be non-volatile, but could apparently be made to act as RAM. The fact that this is coming out of a university gives me hope that this technology won't turn out to be just so much vapor."

http://tinyurl.com/s3xxr

Working Prototype: GM Hy-Wire Concept READ MORE: DRIVE-BY-WIRE, FUEL CELL, GADGETS, GENERAL MOTORS, VEHICLE, CARS General Motors has been toying with hydrogen fuel cells and the drive-by-wire concept for many years, but take a look at the video below and you’ll notice that the company actually has a working prototype. GM calls this Hy-Wire vehicle the first drivable concept car to use hydrogen fuel cell and by-wire technology.

http://tinyurl.com/lq3go

Gold Rises to 25-Year High, Platinum at Record, on Iran Concern http://tinyurl.com/ocqvt

news and stuff 5-9-06

FOR DONI:

To-do list web app round-up

Posted May 8th 2006 6:20PM by Jordan Running
Filed under: Productivity, Web services

TechCrunch's Frank Gruber has done a brief round-up of five of the most popular web-based to-do list solutions: Ta-da Lists, Remember the Milk, Bla-bla List, voo2do, Tudu List. You can find the full article right here, but if you don't mind having it spoiled for you, I'll just tell you that 37signals' early offering Ta-da Lists comes out on top for its "clean and simple interface and good-enough feature set," but Gruber also praises Bla-bla List, voo2do, and Remember the Milk.

http://snipurl.com/q8aq

FOR SHAUN:

Bluetooth Headset Roundup - May 2006

Monday, 08 May 2006 By: Joe Selim I’m a cell phone junkie. The average tenure of a cell phone in my pocket is somewhere between 6–8 weeks. It could be that I just love gadgets and get distracted quickly or I may just have really low self esteem and am trying to compensate for it with the latest and greatest phone. Regardless, we all know how important consistency is in a well balanced life. Perhaps a Bluetooth headset that stood by me through good phones and bad phones would give me the level of confidence to stop being such a phone junkie. Luckily, as a result of my sluggish nature, I was in possession of three cell phones when the Bluetooth headsets arrived at my door. The testers werea  Sony Ericsson W800i, Moto SLVR, and Moto PEBL. This triumvirate made up a fairly good panel, even if weighted towards the world of Motorola.

http://snipurl.com/q8as

OBEY YOUR ROBOTIC OVERLORDS:

Robotic tentacles get to grips with tricky objects Robotic "tentacles" that can grasp and grapple with a wide variety of objects have been developed by US researchers. Most robots rely on mechanical gripping jaws that have difficulty grabbing large or irregularly shaped objects. Replacing these with tentacle-like manipulators could make robots more nimble and flexible, say the scientists. The tentacle-like manipulators, known as "Octarms", resemble an octopus's limb or an elephant's trunk. They were developed through a project called OCTOR (sOft robotiC manipulaTORs), which involves several US universities and is funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). "An elephant's trunk can pick up a peanut or a tree trunk," says Ian Walker, a member of the project team from Clemson University in South Carolina. "This ability, inherent in the OCTOR robots, gives OCTOR arms a huge advantage over conventional industrial robots." Just like a real tentacle, an Octarm simply wraps itself around an object in order to manoeuvre it. This allows it to grasp objects of various sizes and shapes and could let robots deal with unpredictable real-world situations, the researchers say.

http://snipurl.com/q7lu

TAKING THE DOORMAN FOR HIRE CONCEPT ONE STEP FURTHER:

The ingenious Keyholding Company

(link to this article)

May 9, 2006 Time is a commodity where supply is limited to a democratic 24 hours per person per day, regardless of income, so it makes sense that with working hours increasing, highly-paid people will be seeking to optimize their time usage. One recent report cites British consumers losing 60 million working days a year waiting for delivery drivers and workmen. UK-based Keyholding Company believes this market for time will become increasingly valuable in the future and is offering a range of services so people no longer need to use up valuable free time to take care of emergency or mundane tasks at home. The company has a database of fully-vetted tradespeople and keeps a set of your keys. This means that as well as sourcing a reliable trade's person, they can wait for them to arrive and ensure the works are completed satisfactorily. They can also deliver goods into your home and leave the property secure.

http://snipurl.com/q8ax

Freezing water at room temperature This is pretty weird. It turns out that water can freeze at room temperature in response to atomic-scale friction. Joost Frenken and others at Leiden University used an instrument called a friction force microscope to create nano-friction by dragging a tungsten wire over a graphite surface. They wanted to test the theory that water vapour in the air might condense and become ice. And it did.

http://snipurl.com/q8az

Livingbox Competition Results We have been reviewing the entries and winners of the livingbox competition, and have decided to quit this gig and go into the gasket and caulk business. So many little pieces! We liked the clever pop-out system in Alessandro Baldo's prize winning abitare Mokka (shown above) but suspect the spaces inside will be dark and dreary- all the windows are on the pivoting sections. We found Renee Lorenz 's tie for first place to be derivative, but don't get paid enough to find all of the TreeHugger precedents for slice 'n dice prefabs. Third place winner Kim Minsung's scheme is so Moshe Safdie 40 years ago. But there were lots of interesting entries- bring your caulking gun.

http://snipurl.com/q8b0

Power Of The Sun — The Genesis of Solar Technology They seem to be all the rage recently. Nobel Laureates, that is. Here is yet another film made, not about Nobel Prize winners, but by two of them. Alan Heeger and Walter Kohn team up with ex-Monty Python star, John Cleese to explain how solar energy could save humankind from its energy woes. Alan and Walter provide the technical rigour, while John brings his own inimitable style to the narration. Between them they go back 100 years, to when Albert Einstein began playing around with photons, and then up to 1950, as the first solar panel was created. And onwards to forecast where the technology might take us into the future. For a measly $10 USD the two movie DVD can be obtained from the online bookstore of the University of California, Santa Barbara. One is designed for school students, and a longer version, all on the same DVD, for a broader, more general audience. Cheap enough to spread the word, so more can see the light. ::Power Of The Sun.

http://snipurl.com/q8b2

WEBSITE OF AN MIT GRAD WHO MADE A CELL BLOCKER AS HER THESIS:

http://www.ladyada.net/

AND WHERE SHE CURRENTLY WORKS:

http://www.eyebeam.org/

news and stuff 5-08-06

Book Vending Machines.... COOL!

http://snipurl.com/q6ie

Chronic Diseases in Israel: Mortality, Morbidity and Trends

In 2003, a total of 38,505 people died in Israel: 19,426 men and 19,079 women. The leading causes of death for the general population were cancer (crude mortality rate of 143/100,000), heart disease (114/100,000), diabetes (42/100,000), cerebrovascular disease (37/100,000), and respiratory diseases (29/100,000) (1). Trends were similar for Jews and for Arabs, except that for Arabs, heart diseases, not cancer, were the leading cause of death (Table 1).

http://snipurl.com/q6ig

MORE FEAR MONGERING, BUT ITS FUN!

Flying suicide bomber drones could be almost unstoppable  If you thought the 12-gauge shotgun-wielding AutoCopter was bad news, imagine one of the little menaces in the hands of a terrorist and strapped with several pounds of explosives -- or worse, biological, chemical, or radiological payloads. Several experts are warning that we are nearly defenseless against such attacks, even though terrorists have already shown a propensity for using such tactics in the Middle East and South America, and are known to have purchased so-called "drone" airplanes capable of high-precision navigation even over long distances. One scenario that is particularly disturbing involves a fleet of drones or robotic helicopters launched from an off-shore freighter, sent en masse to attack a large gathering like a sporting event where stampeding from panic would likely cause more deaths than the bombs themselves. The Pentagon is supposedly working on an drone-killing drone of its own, called Peregrine, that would patrol the skies and intercept any hostile aircraft -- but the main problem seems to be finding, not destroying these things, and you'd need a whole lot of Peregrines to cover every potential target in the US.

http://snipurl.com/q6ii

I AM SO GLAD THEY DID NOT HAVE THESE WHEN I WAS IN A COLLEGE DORM ROOM! GAH!

The Computer Bed: making telecommuting even easier We're not sure if The Computer Bed could support the weight (or even footprints, for that matter) of our three monitors, desktop tower, photo printer, speakers + sub, flatbed scanner, and plethora of input devices, but if you've got a sparser setup and not a lot of space at your pad, this convertible desk/bed may be just what you've been looking for. Described as a "modern Murphy Bed," the multifunction product features gas pistons so your gear doesn't tumble around during the twice-daily conversion process, and also serves as a low-cost space heater at night by positioning you directly above your toasty equipment. At almost $2,500, The Computer Bed seems a bit pricey for a few pieces of unfinished wood and a twin-sized mattress that is most likely not Tempurpedic, but considering that you probably don't have the proper tools in your cramped little apartment to build your own, this may be the only solution.

http://snipurl.com/q64y

FUN WASTED TIME!

Google Translator Boomerang Having fun with machine translation services is by no means a new pastime. Even back when it was at altavista.digital.com, people were feeding text into AltaVista's Babelfish and translating it from one language to another to another and back again to see what would come out. It's a fun way to kill some time, but why kill time when we can make the computer kill it for us? Google Translator Boomerang is a Windows app that uses Google's translation service to translate your text to another language (or nine) and back again, just for kicks. It's pretty configurable, letting you choose your languages and the number of "loops." It's donationware, meaning it's free to use but donations are welcome.

http://snipurl.com/q6io

Dialing Down the MRI  Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines' knack for peering at soft tissue deep within the body has made them one of the most popular imaging tools. But MRI isn't perfect. It works by beaming radiofrequency pulses into a patient and tracking how this radiation affects the magnetic behavior of tissues. But those pulses must be carefully controlled to prevent them from overheating tissue and injuring patients. Now, a new study could pave the way to a new form of radiofrequency-free MRI scans that would offer several advantages.

http://snipurl.com/q6it

ANCIENT RUINS AS SEEN FROM SAPCE.... AWESOME!

http://snipurl.com/q6j0

starting points for learning more about sketchup

Google's recently released Sketchup software will unleash a torrent of new 3D creative expression. By distributing this software for free, literally millions more youth and adults will be able to dabble and develop skill at expressing their ideas in 3D.

http://snipurl.com/q6j4

The Pepper Pad: open alternative to Microsoft's Origami

http://snipurl.com/q6j5

Mutation in deafness gene can help heal wounds and prevent infection A mutation in a gene commonly associated with deafness can play an important part in improving wound healing, a scientist told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, today (Monday 8 May 2006). Dr. Stella Man, from the Institute of Cell and Molecular Sciences, Queen Mary's University, London, UK, said that the discovery may have implications for the treatment of a wide range of wounds, including post-surgery. Dr. Man and her team, led by Professor David Kelsell, were studying the association between a mutation of a gene (GJB2) which produces a protein called Cx26 which is the most common cause of genetic deafness. Professor Kelsell was the first to describe the link between Cx26 mutations and deafness in 1997. "Since many people carry this mutation", Dr. Man said, "and people who have just one such mutation are not deaf, we felt that there might be some evolutionary advantage to it, so we decided to investigate how the mutation affected the ability of cells to communicate with each other in the epidermis where Cx26 is also expressed." The cells within tissues such as skin need to be able to communicate with each other in order to retain their correct characteristics and allow the tissue to grow and repair itself. One way that cells communicate is through the regulated opening and closing of channels called gap junctions that link cells together. The main components of these channels are proteins called connexins, of which Cx26 is one. "When we looked at the function of Cx26 in a laboratory skin model", said Dr. Man, "we found that it was directly associated with wound healing and bacterial invasion. We concluded that there is a definite advantage to carrying a mutation in this protein." If a drug that temporarily knocks out Cx26 protein can be successfully delivered to the wound, healing could be improved. Such a drug could be useful in a wide range of epidermal wounds, she said. The scientists now intend to test the effect of Cx26 mutation in other epithelial cell types, such as the gut, where defence against infection is also important. "It is interesting to speculate that Cx26 deafness mutations have been selected over the evolutionary process due to their beneficial effects on wound healing," said Dr. Man.

http://snipurl.com/q6j8

INVISIBLE BOOKSHELF>>>> PRETTY COOL

Powder coated steel floating book shelf becomes invisible behind stack of books. Mounting hardware included. 

http://snipurl.com/q6ja