Movinflicks Offers Free Current Movies On Demand, Will Be Dead Soon In the middle of all this big talk about industry titans joining up with BitTorrent, and Amazon and TiVo and Netflix and Wal-Mart all starting to offer movie downloads, isn't it funny when some maverick interloper suddenly offers even better and more current movies than the big boys are offering? Oh yeah, and also with another key diff: they're free. Not that we would encourage piracy or anything, but Movinflicks.com is offering a heckuva lot of links to movies—many of which you saw win Oscars last night—for free viewing, immediately and in all their full-screen glory. Find out more about our experience with the site: The movies aren't actually offered in HD as they are purported to be, but we were able to get them to play back perfectly. Of course, now that we've mentioned this obviously soon-to-be-slam-dunked-by-the-MPAA service, it will quickly be overwhelmed with traffic and ultimately brought to its knees. But the site is just providing links to the pirated movies, right? Well, that's illegal, too. Maybe linking to the linker is illegal, too. Uh-oh. You'll have to find Movinflicks.com on your own. Maybe even glancing at the Movinflicks.com site is illegal. Is that a knock at the door? – CHARLIE WHITE
The lost generation of comic books
COLORED FLAME: COOL!!!!
More on How to Build a Catapult I'd like to thank those people who have written me lately with questions about catapult building. There's no doubt a renaissance in interest in the ancient art of hurling. Catapults are wonderful, exciting examples of technology. They are simple yet complex; delicate yet brutal. Unlike looking at say your computer or an airliner, you can pretty much look at a trebuchet or ballista and kind of understand what's going on. On the other hand, the physics and kinematics are complex and intricate. If you're interested in catapult building, I've posted before on this blog about catapult building, and it might be worth your while to check the index and read those posts. If you need plans, get a copy of my book, the Art of the Catapult (see link below).
- Use modern materials. While it might be cool to build a coiled rope torsion spring like the ancient Greeks, you'll probably find it difficult to get enough spring power without torquing down the ropes so much that you'll crush the frame. Better to use bungee cords.
- I find hardwoods and metal frames work better than softwoods.
- If you're making a trebuchet, consider forgoing the pouch on the sling and simply attach a cord to the object you're hurling:. That way, when the projectile flies, then so does the cord. I call that "a sacrificial sling." It's way, way easier.
- Consider your release mechanism carefully. For bigger catapults, consider a pelican hook (it's a peice of hardware that sailors use, and you get them at stores that cater to boating) or possible an archer's arrow release. You get those at sporting goods stores. Their fairly cheap and they work well with smaller machines.
RFID experimentation kit This RFID Experimentation Kit looks awesome. With over a dozen types of RFID tags, a USB based RFID reader and instructions for tons of RFID projects you'll be hacking away in no time. But be forewarned, though the kit provides everything you'll need to get started, the makers assume a baseline level of technical knowledge. So if you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, reserve your copy right away. The RFID Experimentation Kit is already out of stock and on backorder so you'll have to get on it to get one.
F-22 Raptors' systems crash mid-flight over Pacific Posted Feb 27th 2007 8:27AM by Jeannie Choe Filed under: Transportation Lockheed's shiny new F-22 Raptor stealth fighters may have owned a few war games, but crossing the International Date Line left them as helpless as a carrot in a rabbit trap, with multiple system crashes causing an emergency detour en route from Hawaii to Okinawa, Japan. Communication, fuel subsystems, and navigation systems were rendered useless and repeated "reboots" were of no help. Luckily, the fleet had clear skies and refueling tankers to guide them back to Hawaii. If they had separated from the tankers, "they would have turned around and probably could have found the Hawaiian Islands. But if the weather had been bad on approach, there could have been real trouble," states Retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. The voyage suffered a two-day delay on account of the system failures -- "a computer glitch in the millions of lines of code, somebody made an error in a couple lines of the code and everything goes." What should have been a showy parade of $125+ million super fighters quickly turned to disaster for Lockheed who would've had a lot of explaining to do, had this happened during combat.
STEAMBRIGADE:
Any self-respecting definition of steampunk must involve goggles. Goggles, goggles, and more goggles. And Sean Connery. Sean Connery is pretty much essential to any discussion worth having.
For a more entertaining schooling on the nature of steampunk than Wikipedia's, and a less nonsensical one than mine, download a trial of Steam Brigade from Pedestrian Entertainment. Believe it or not, this downloadable game is a side-scrolling real-time strategy game, and an exciting one at that.
ALWAYS WANTED AUTO TRANSMITION FOR MY BIKE:
Shimano Rolls Out Simple Auto Transmission for Bicycles
This disposable fiberboard container folds flat and has a bladder that can hold a gallon of gas (about 14" by 6" by 2"). I've yet to have a car emergency, but I've used it for a prosaic fill up on a lawn mower. No leaks, easy to carry and cheap to replace. Keeping one around is handy and comforting, and it's way better than the bulky plastic ones that have bounced around in the back of my car for years.
-- Vincent
Gas-O-Haul
$9
Available from Genuine Hot Rod
Train your mind in the bathroom
If you have enjoyed the Sudoku Toilet Roll, then chances are that you will flip for the Mind Trainer Roll as well. Or chances are, you may have gotten over the need to use bizarre toilet rolls completely, in which case you can give the "Mind Trainer" an absolute cold shoulder. In any case, the good news for puzzle addicts is that the Mind Trainer (from the makers of the Sudoku Roll), is going to offer a more diverse range of puzzles and mind games on a… toilet paper roll.
The basic premise is simple. If you enjoy your otherwise quiet time at the loo, why not use the Mind Trainer toilet roll to tweak your brain along the way? Each square strip of the toilet roll has an interesting puzzle or mind bender in color to keep you occupied. Be prepared for complaints from other members of your home though, as you will be spending extended time in the loo. And for a bruised ego as well if you have solved a really tricky puzzle on your loo time, as you may not be able to show it off.
Available for around $11 a roll.
Build your own multi-touch table Posted Mar 1st 2007 12:21AM by Donald Melanson Filed under: Displays NYU may have been the first to put the mouthful that is frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) to use in a multi-touch display, but it's not the only one experimenting with the curiously-named technology, with the folks at tinker.it building a setup of their own and explaining how they did it. As the video after the break shows, the end result is slightly less polished than NYU's device, but it puts on an impressive light show nonetheless, tracking your fingers' movement in a suitably hypnotic fashion. While tinker.it's guide doesn't exactly hold your hand though the process, those with the necessary skills should be able to build their own rig relatively easily, with some coffee table excess seemingly only a few more steps away for those with the carpentry skills to match.
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