Tuesday, December 19, 2006

paper planes, alcohol as medicine, spray on ceramics, etc...

NEW DEAL SITE:





THIS ONE IS FOR JACK< FIGURED IT MIGHT BE USEFUL TO YOUR EMPLOYER:
Spray-on ceramic coating dramatically reduces external temperatures


AND THIS TOO (PLUS ITS DAMN COOL):
Material With Negative Refractive Index Created
Posted by kdawson on Monday December 18, @03:57PM
from the seeing-right-through-it dept.
holy_calamity writes"The race to build a material with a negative index of refraction for visible light has been won by researchers in Germany. The advance could lead to super-lenses able to see details finer than the wavelength of visible light, or the previously predicted invisibility cloak for visible light."
From the article: "[The researcher] determined the refractive index of the material by measuring the 'phase velocity' of light as it passed through. His measurements show the structure has a negative refractive index of -0.6 for light with a wavelength of 780 nm [the far red end of the visible light spectrum]. This value drops to zero at 760 nm and 800 nm, and becomes positive at longer and shorter wavelengths."




I CAN JUST SEE IT, THE LOCAL BAR WILL START TAKING INSURANCE.... WALK IN TO A LOCAL LIQUER STORE AND ASK WHAT FORMS YOU NEED TO FILL OUT TO PAY WITH UNITED HEALTHCARE......  
Alcohol 'may prevent arthritis' The research did not say how much alcohol would have the same effect on humans Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol each day could protect against arthritis, a study of mice has found. In the Swedish study, mice whose water contained 10% alcohol had a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis. The team said it was not possible to say exactly how much alcohol would have the same effect for humans.





Buying or Selling Gadgets? Try Flippid Second hand tech usually go the way of Craigslist or eBay. One is a den of cheapskates and scamsters, and the other is a den of cheapskates and thieves. What's a guy to do? Perhaps this new Flippid service is the solution. How it works: sellers list an item with a price and appropriate tags. If someone likes the price, they can buy it right away. If not, buyers can list items they want with the appropriate tags, and if a seller likes the price, they can choose to sell to the buyer. Matchmaking and Web 2.0 bliss. There are even RSS feeds for easy tracking. So far the site only has a couple handfuls of products, but may shape up to be something pretty decent if there are enough users on there. – JASON CHEN

http://tinyurl.com/y9uhqh



ANYONE EVER SEEN THIS MOVIE?

Revisiting the Physics of Buckaroo Banzai
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday December 19, @03:22AM
from the blast-from-the-past dept.
serutan writes"Shortly before the release of 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension' in 1984, physicist Carl Sneider of U.C. Berkeley wrote a surprisingly interesting essay on the physics behind the movie. Since the essay is not widely available on the web and I could only find it in plain text, I posted a more readable HTML version on my site. Among the more interesting points Sneider makes are that the oscillation overthruster is the result of decades of research instead of the usual laboratory accident, and its development corresponds surprisingly well with the evolution of particle physics from the 1930s to the 80s."





New Type of Hot Air Blimp
Posted by kdawson on Monday December 18, @02:43PM
from the still-waiting-for-the-rocket-car dept.
An anonymous reader writes to let un know about a story up on the Experimental Aircraft Association site about a new kind of blimp. From the article:
"Alberto, whose name pays homage to Brazilian aviation pioneer, Alberto Santos-Dumont, is 102 feet long with a 70-foot diameter and uses hot air rather than helium for lift. Its innovative foldable frame (much like an giant umbrella) creates structural support of its hot-air envelope, and it has a fly-by-wire vectored thrust steering system. Alberto is a hybrid; a hot-air balloon with aluminum ribs that looks more like a blimp, but with a tail propeller that gives it directional control." The home site of the blimp's developers has a timeline, photos, and a video of the blimp in flight.





New Design Principle Enables Insulation Breakthrough

December 19, 2006 7:11 AM - Tim McGee, Los Angeles

Here in the northern hemisphere it is getting cold this time of year. Naturally, it is appropriate that researchers at the University of Oregon have made a breakthrough in materials science that stops cold dead in its tracks. David C. Johnson, a professor of chemistry and member of the UO Materials Science Institute, describes why the random stacking of tungsten-diselenide planes (WSe2) creates such a good insulator.

"The reason for the extraordinarily low thermal conductivity that we've now achieved is an unusual structure which is crystalline in two directions but has a subtle rotational disorder in the direction of low-heat conduction," Johnson said.

While this new material is not a candidate for house insulation or other such large-scale applications, it does provide a new principle on which other materials could be based. This design created a material that was six times less thermally conductive then they expected, and it is 30 times less conductive then what the crystal would be in a single layer- I can't help but think about how an Abalone shell is 3,000 times stronger then the crystal alone due to a similar layer strategy. Regardless, the ability to create this kind of a material will be important in new electronic technology.

"Thermal conductivity is an important property in both conserving energy and in converting between forms of energy," Johnson said. "Obtaining low thermal conductivity in a thermoelectric material, which converts temperature gradients into electrical energy, increases efficiency."




Finding Motivation: What To Do When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Anything


Many people should come across this before: Sometimes you may find yourself not interested to do anything productive. You want to chill out and take a rest, but you already took a long break. Simply, you’re not motivated. What should you do? Chris Widener at his site Made for Success suggests number of ways to break through the phase:

  • Honestly evaluate whether or not you need a break.
  • Start small.
  • Change your routine.
  • Reward yourself.
  • Reconnect the action with pleasure rather than pain.

Change the routine sometimes work wonder. Human being is a creative creature, you will get sick on some routine work. Change the routine to fool your brain this is a whole new stuff.

Finding Motivation: What To Do When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Anything - [Chris Widener]

http://tinyurl.com/ybnnll





First Big Partner for Zudeo: BBC Michael Arrington  Zudeo, the new “100% legal” content sharing site launched by popular BitTorrent company Azureus two weeks ago, just nailed a distribution deal with the BBC. That just took them from a theoretically cool product to a player in the online video space.Under the agreement, BBC will license a number of television shows to U.S. users, including Red Dwarf, Strange and Invasion Earth, Little Britain, Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, Coupling, Keeping Up Appearances, League of Gentlemen and Ideal.It is a tragedy that they didn’t include the only BBC show worth watching, The Office. Of course, that show is readily available on Azureus’ BitTorent client.The benefits of Zudeo are pretty clear to publishers, who can leverage P2P networks to substantially decrease bandwidth costs and speed downloads for users.This spells trouble for Pando and Red Swoosh, which offer competing products to publishers. Zudeo probably isn’t focused on those companies, though. There is a multi-party war brewing for IPTV eyeballs between iTunes, Venice Project, Zudeo and YouTube. Watch this space.

http://tinyurl.com/yhddm2



Good documentaries on Google video 
Alf LaMont says: "I found that Google Video has full length episodes of Nova, including The Elegant Universe (A Personal Favorite), and Also full length versions of Richard Dawkins' THE GOD DELUSION. Both very powerful pro-science documentaries, and perfectly free." Link



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Thursday, December 14, 2006

stuff 12-14-06

SOME ONE ELSE FOUND AN ANSWER:

The non-lethal ballistic Boat Trap from On the Water (155 articles) December 13, 2006 The rapid progress of technology is a two-edged sword, offering an opportunity for all humans to live a life of dignity, with food and water, and free from disease. At the same time it offers a small, disgruntled community the force-multiplication to strike telling blows against much bigger foes as we found on September 11, 2001. There are daily examples in Iraq of technology’s ability to aid a deadly strike against a larger opponent with IEDs and human-driven suicide truck bombs taking a massive toll. Perhaps the best example of a few men being able to strike at a larger enemy was the attack on USS COLE, in Yemen in October 2000, which amply demonstrated the destructive potential of a surface attack and the vulnerability of ships in port. To ensure the safety of military ships, Foster-Miller is developing an advanced Boat Trap system for the United States Department of Defense Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, working closely with the US Coast Guard. Designed to bolster US harbour security and protect coastal military bases abroad, Boat Trap is a non lethal, ballistic net that is deployed from a helicopter into the path of a threatening speedboat travelling at high speed. It is designed to entangle the propeller, causing the craft to immediately stop. The Boat Trap system has undergone extensive testing, and not once has it failed to stop a target.

http://tinyurl.com/ttfc3



New vortex generators could mean better underwater travel Posted Dec 14th 2006 3:32AM by Cyrus Farivar Filed under: Transportation Scientists from the University of Colorado, Boulder have just presented a new design for "vortex generators" that they say can make it easier to maneuver slow-moving underwater vehicles. This new setup, which is inspired by the motions of squid and jellyfish, would make long and sleek submarine vessels able to hover and turn better, which traditionally have been somewhat tricky. The team, lead by Dr. Kamran Mohseni, apparently was able to design an unmanned underwater vehicle that can parallel park (really), although we're not sure what he's worried about, given that as far as we know, meter-mermaids don't exist.

http://tinyurl.com/y52cx4




The DScar - The Most Affordable Dream Car from Automotive (991 articles) December 14, 2006 Students from Cranfield University, one of Western Europe’s largest academic centres for strategic and applied research development and design, have been awarded the innovation prize at The Société des Ingénieurs de l'Automobile’s (SIA), Styling and Technical competition for designing ‘The Most Affordable Dream Car’. The Dscar has four wheels positioned in a diamond shape around the car’s chassis and apparently it handles like a go-kart. Designed primarily for extreme sports lovers and for weekend or track day use only, the car provides a very different ride – it’s very light, just 500kg, and powered by a Toyota 3 cylinder 68bhp engine. The DScar is made from mass produced car parts, so can be manufactured very easily and economically. A panel of international experts recognised DScar for its radically different diamond shaped design, unique style and unusual driving experience.

http://tinyurl.com/y4dfrs




Complete Mozart Works Now Free
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 13, @09:13PM
from the eine-kleine-internet-nachtmusik dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Mozart's year-long 250th birthday party is ending on a high note with the musical scores of his complete works available for the first time free on the Internet. Although most classical music is obviously too old to be under copyright, the rights to specific editions of pieces are owned by the publishers. Now, the International Mozart Foundation has acquired the right to publish the prestigious New Mozart Edition of every Mozart work on the internet. The response has been so overwhelming that the Foundation has been forced to increase their server capacity."




WikiSummaries: Free Book Summaries The quickest way to understand what a book about is by reading a book summary. A new site surfaces called WikiSummaries, which provides free book summaries that anyone can edit. There are already many summaries that are related to personal development and productivity. Here are some good links:

WikiSummaries

http://tinyurl.com/y2opem




How To Network: For Introverts Many people see the importance of networking, but it may be one of the difficult aspects in business. Especially for introverts, they may feel uncomfortable in networking. Rob May at Businesspundit shares some great tips on networking as an introvert to overcome.

  • Networking is an investment, not a nuisance.
  • At first, you have to kiss a lot of frogs.
  • Don’t spend too much time on it.
  • Do cool things.
  • Invite people to lunch.
  • Go regularly to things you like.
  • Analyze your results.
  • Find the key nodes in the network.
  • Don’t network just for the sake of networking.

How To Network: For Introverts - [Business Pundit]

http://tinyurl.com/y6o2da




Google Patent Search launches Link to Google Patent Search beta. Instant favorite new timehole. Fascinating, and infinitely better than the USPTO website (all data comes from USPTO, and results on Google do include links to the USPTO entries). No foreign patents for now, it seems, just US. Doesn't work for me in Firefox 2.0 on Mac, but IE and Safari in many variations seem to work just fine, and Firefox on PC or earlier iterations of Firefox on Mac may as well. (via Chris on Wayne's List)



Armadillo Run physics-based game I'm having a great time playing Armadillo Run. It's a physics-based game in which you have to build a Rube Goldberg style contraption to make it to the next level. The simulated physics is incredible.
For each challenge, you're given a budget to buy rope, cloth, metal bars, metal sheet, and other components. Then you have to assemble a structure and adjust the tension of the component so that it will successfully deliver a basketball to a circular blue portal. The challenges get harder as you progress. The game cost $20, but you can download a 10-level demo version for free. (It's for Windows only.) Link



Berkeley Marketplace funds student projects 
Tom Kalil, President Clinton's former science and tech advisor who is now at UC Berkeley, wrote to tell me about an exciting new project he launched today at the University to enable ordinary people to support cool student projects on campus. Tom says:
"We launched an online marketplace today to help Berkeley students with great ideas for projects attract volunteers, mentors, money, and in-kind contributions. Berkeley students have compelling projects that, for example, expand access to safe drinking water, commercialize clean energy technologies, fight malaria, and provide healthcare to the uninsured. 

The longer term goal is to create a replicable model for tapping the creativity, energy, and idealism of young people, particularly at research universities, to address the "grand challenges" of the 21st century.
Link to Big Ideas @ Berkeley Marketplace, Link to press release



Russia spy HQ has giant batman mural in floor



Autonomous blimp demonstration in Pasadena on Friday Jed Berk will be showing off the latest version of his autonomous light air vessels at Art Center in Pasadena this Friday. Transitional Species: Autonomous Light Air Vessels (ALAVs) 2.0 are networked objects that communicate the concept of connectivity among people, objects, and the environment. Through the use of mobile technologies people can influence the behavior of the ALAVs by starting conversations and building closer relationships with them. ALAVs 2.0 reflects upon the current state of connectivity in our everyday lives. The potential of ALAVs 2.0 lies in its ability to captivate a wide audience and communicate the idea of people cohabiting a shared space with networked objects.
PLACE AND TIME:
Friday, December 15, 2007, 6 – 9 pm
Wind Tunnel South Campus
Art Center College of Design
950 S. Raymond Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105













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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

A good idea

AR Awards: Water Tower Conversion

December 13, 2006 7:17 AM - Lloyd Alter, Toronto


Water towers are often "formally crude, over-engineered and top
heavy" (although there are some nice ones about) and there is usually
nothing under them but air. Here is a brilliant use of that space:
fill it with apartments! Since the tower is often built on the
highest spot of land, the views will be great. What a wonderful
reinvention of an underutilized structure.


From ::Architectural Review:

In this example the architects have fitted 40 apartments and a youth
centre around the tower's core, by occupying the space that sits
between its hexagonal and dodecagonal structures.
There are two plan types: a simple orthogonal unit; and a
triangulated unit that (when paired up) shares the diamond-shaped
space defined by four columns. The external form is articulated by a
series of bay windows and balconies. R. G.

Architect
Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter, Copenhagen
Photographs
Jens Lindhe, 1
Torben Eskerod, 2
Tel +45 3393 7350; fax +45 3393 5360
Email dorte@dortemandrup.dk

http://tinyurl.com/y757s8

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Probably true

US students lack hunger - official

Soft and slow

Published Tuesday 12th December 2006 23:21 GMT
Complacency and incompetence continue to plague a US education system that has fallen well behind other nations, according US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
Spellings, speaking today at Microsoft's Silicon Valley headquarters, warned that US students have become soft, particularly when compared against youngsters from China, Russia and India.
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And the Caffienne doesn't hurt either....

New Research Shows That Tea Can Help You To Focus

12th December 2006 12:55:51

Tea can make a difference

Had a bad day, fancy a chat with friends or really need to crack that tricky problem? What do you do? Put the kettle on of course.

We've always known that tea gives us a certain something that helps us through, but it's always been hard to define exactly what's so special about it. Until now...

New research carried out at Unilever's Beverages Global Technology Centre could help us understand why taking time out for a cup of tea is beneficial and makes such a difference.

They have established that a normal cup of PG tips tea typically delivers 22mg theanine.

Every cup of tea naturally contains the amino acid theanine. Tea is virtually the only dietary source of theanine, apart from the edible bay boletes mushroom, which explains why sometimes only tea will do.

The effects of 50mg theanine - the amount present in 2-3 cups of PG tips tea is known* to stimulate alpha brain waves which are associated with being relaxed yet alert. Alpha activity is thought to be important for the ability to focus attention.

http://tinyurl.com/y5d9o4

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More disaster survival kits

http://www.quakeproofinc.com/shop_o_matic/

http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html

http://www.lifekit.com/

http://www.areyouprepared.com/

http://www.first-aid-product.com/pgSurvival.htm

http://losangeles.about.com/od/cityinfo/a/disasterkit.htm

http://tinyurl.com/y4lq22

http://www.safetycentral.com/dissupkit.html

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For getting that survival kit figured out

http://www.equipped.com/

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For all your survival gear needs

http://bestglide.com/products.html

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Monday, December 11, 2006

stuff 12-11-06

FOR JACK:

Fab@Home shows you how to build a fabber on your own Posted Dec 11th 2006 6:50AM by Cyrus Farivar Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Fabbers, or 3D printers, or prototyping machines, are traditionally used in product manufacturing to get an idea of how a product sketch will look and feel in real life. Just like many technological products, a homebrew open-source community has started up around fabbers -- a new one has just begun at Cornell University, appropriately called Fab@Home. The project, which is already several weeks old, has resulted in some pretty awesome projects, including a fabbing chocolate machine done by a high school student in Kentucky that makes some pretty tasty looking treats. As you'd expect, the group has put together a set of instructions and accompanying software (Windows only, sorry Mac and Linux fans) so that you too can build your own fabber, chocolate or otherwise. No word on if you can make a totally fab Fabergé egg with a fabber, however.

http://tinyurl.com/y8o2qr



How Come I've Never Heard of Gustav Trouvé?

http://tinyurl.com/vgnhy




Machinima epic Bloodspell concludes 

http://tinyurl.com/y6mk52




GTD Coach on Google Tools

http://tinyurl.com/tvlfo




LED Holiday Project Kits

http://tinyurl.com/y5vtqs




Online Samples

Microchip Samples for all your PIC needs:

http://tinyurl.com/w3pgc




The CREATE USB Interface - where art meets electronics

http://tinyurl.com/9fj9n




DARPA reinstates Grand Challenge prize money, millions at stake Posted Dec 11th 2006 7:45AM by Cyrus Farivar Filed under: Robots, Transportation We totally heart DARPA (the folks who brought you the internet!), given all the sweet research that it funds. As such, our hearts sunk when Congress dropped the prize for DARPA'S 2007 Grand Challenge to nil back in October. But the Grand Challenge has just gotten a little sweeter, since Congress has since reinstated the prize money to $3.5 million, split three ways, (including amongst the Team B competitors): the winning team will get $2 million, the second place $1 million, and third place a cool half million clams, or bones, or whatever you call them. As you probably know, the 2007 Grand Challenge will be a 60-mile urban course, which means that the cars will have to navigate themselves through an unnamed city (or section of a city) somewhere in the Western US. Of course, this prize money isn't going to do much for offsetting the cost of such a large project, but it'll surely buy a lot of champagne at the victory party. [Warning: PDF link]

http://tinyurl.com/yzyf6f



Another Look: LG’s “E-Book” Laptop

One of our readers just sent in a live shot of LG’s “E-Book” laptop concept. Just a quick refresher, this device sports an OLED display and is powered by blue methyl alcohol fuel instead of a regular lithium-ion battery. The batteries of the LG e-Book use natural gas, methanol, and other eco-friendly liquid fuels. The fuel is stored in a transparent cylindrical hinge. Unlike LCD, OLED does not need a frame around it, and it consumes less electricity. The keypad will also be made of a singe OLED panel, like the one used in LG’s Chocolate Phone, according to the report [via Laptoping]

http://tinyurl.com/y5uwnt




Cee-Lite’s Flexible Light Bulb Sheets  CeeLite’s flexible light bulb sheets “can go virtually anywhere: around a pillar, on the floor, even around Chad Smith’s drum set during the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ recent appearance on Saturday Night Live.” Video after the jump. The light-emitting capacitors (LECs) are essentially 1-mm-thick sheets of plastic. Inside is a layer of phosphor that when hit with an alternating current, shines bright white (not bluish like other electroluminescent light) [via Time]

http://tinyurl.com/y2rsl9





TRY A STERNO CAN IN AN EMPTY MAYONNAISE JAR, ITS CHEAPER!

Tabletop Fireplace is Wussiest Campfire Ever There's just nothing like a roaring fire in the middle of winter to warm your bones. Unfortunately, for those of us living in big cities fireplaces are rarely a viable option. Personally, I've found the flaming trash can to be a decent replacement, but if you don't happen to live in a hobo-cluttered alleyway that might not work as well for you. The Tabletop GlassFire Smokeless Fireplace uses efficient biofuel to create a blazing fire with no smoke, so you can use it indoors with no chimney. It looks pretty small, so fire-in-a-jar might be a more apt description than fireplace, but your mileage may vary. It's all yours for a mere $550. –ADAM FRUCCI  Product Page [via New Launches]

http://tinyurl.com/y6yl2p



Microsoft's $100,000 challenge Posted Dec 10th 2006 6:36PM by Chris Gilmer Filed under: Business, Finance, Windows, Microsoft Microsoft is on the hunt for the best small business idea, and has $100,000 on the table. If your idea is the best out of the bunch that are submitted, you get the cash, plus a free retail location in New York City for one year. How awesome would that be for a startup company? The new Microsoft Office Accounting 2007 is sponsoring this contest. Microsoft released the free Office Accounting software that used to retail for $179US back in the end of October. To be entered into the contest, visit the website, and fill out the online submission form with all of your details. The free Office Accounting software can also be downloaded from the IdeaWins.com website.

http://tinyurl.com/ykdptx





Gifts for your Geek this year Posted Dec 10th 2006 2:02PM by Ryan Carter Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Commercial, Freeware, Holiday Gift Guide Some people can't seem to get this idea out of their heads that gifts have to be something physical. When I began to think about the holidays this year, I thought about all the things I wouldn't mind having, and I thought of mostly physical hold-it-in-your-hand gifts I want. Most of the gifts I hope to get happen to be virtual. Here is a nice rundown of some of the things you might think about buying for your own geek (both virtual gifts and physical gifts): 

  • Flickr Pro account $25/year
  • Basecamp accounts ranging from $12/month to $149/month
  • Skype credit for free calls
  • Any other kind of pro account or account upgrade your geek may want from an online service
  • Anything from ThinkGeek.com (USB gadgets, like a rocket launcher or a bluetooth laser keyboard)
  • iTunes prepaid music card (as big as you can afford find)
  • World of Warcraft prepaid gameplay card (for any aspiring geeks who don't already play the game)
Now I know this list is not extensive or by any means complete, but that's why I need your help to complete it! Tell me what is on your geeky wish list this season in the comments below. What should be on this list? You tell me.  A note for non-geeks and newbies: if you want to get something like a pro account from an online service for your geek, you don't have to know how to use it, find it, or anything. If you know they want it, either enlist a geeky friend to help you in the process or simply write the name of the service on an index card or print it out all pretty like. Wrap it up to give to your geek, trust me they won't care what the gift card looks like, depending on the gift. Oh, and you get extra points if you write the message on the card in binary. I remember when my wife wrapped up a brochure for high-speed internet in the early days...best gift ever. See what I mean?




Shoutback, the digg of deals?



Get a free domain name care of Microsoft Posted Dec 9th 2006 7:22PM by Chris Gilmer Filed under: Business, Internet, Windows, Microsoft Microsoft has an incredible offer on the table right now. Free domain names! Can it really be all that? Microsoft is offering free domains through its Office Live program for businesses. The free package consists of:

  • Free domain name and web hosting
  • Web site design tools
  • 500MB of web storage
  • 25 email accounts
  • Web site reports
  • Search engine advertising tool
So what about the domain name? Does Microsoft own it? I dug a little bit to find out that no, Microsoft indeed doesn't. Its you who is the registered owner. It is registered through Melbourne IT, who is owned by Microsoft, but the domain can be transferred after 60 days of signing up with Office Live, with no penalties.  After checking to see if your domain of choice is available, you do have to provide payment information for verification. Follow the steps, and you are hot on the path to some nice free web space, and domain name. Way to go Microsoft! Who doesn't like free domains? There are additional offers in the mix as well. A Live Essentials offer for $19.95/month for 1GB of storage, and an Office Live Premium offer with 2GB of storage and 50 email accounts for $29.95/month. 



Thinkature's social web collaboration app


Weebly's easy way to build webpages




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