Funatics

Grappa – White

2007-09-27T01:27:00.000-07:00

Nokia N95 8Gb -

2007-09-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Nokia N95 8GB is a little bit more than just the existing N95 with a paint job and memory upgrade - this version of the N95 has a larger screen and enhanced GPS, plus N-Gage gaming.

The display has been upgraded to a 2.8" panel from 2.6", and according to Nokia it is also brighter and clearer than ever before. In fact, the screen is the same size as the HTC TyTN II - but the big drawback with the Nokia N95 8GB is that it doesn't have a touchscreen.

Underneath the snazzy new exterior, the Nokia N95 8GB packs in an awesome number of features. It's a 3G phone with HSDPA high-speed data, quad-band GSM with GPRS and EDGE and WiFi. The N95 8GB also has stereo Bluetooth, infra-red and USB connectivity.

The camera is one of the N95 8GB's strongest points - it's a 5 megapixel unit with autofocus and Carl Zeiss optics. Video capture resolution is up to 640 x 480 pixels, and the N95 8GB also has a video out port. Images and video clips can be uploaded directly from the phone to a number of compatible weblog or picture sharing sites. Along with some other high-end Nokias, the N95 8GB can use the N-Gage Arena gaming service.

One criticism of the original N95 (since resolved in a software update) was the amount of time that it took to get a GPS fix, now Nokia have upgraded this to A-GPS which is quicker. Basic mapping functions will be included, but full Navigation support will require a subscription.

There's comprehensive multimedia support too, the N95 8GB can play back MP3, AAC, M4A and WMA audio files plus video clips. There's an FM radio too for good measure. The N95 8GB retains the unusual two-way slider mechanism that allows users to switch between the number pad and a set of dedicated media keys.

An addition, there's a web browser, email client and set of personal information management applications. The N95 8GB can also view common email attachment types such as Microsoft Office and PDF files.

As you can guess by the name, the Nokia N95 8GB now has eight gigabytes of internal memory, although unlike the original N95 it does not appear to be possible to add a memory card. Nokia say that this can hold up to 6000 songs or 20 hours of videos.

To be honest, there wasn't much wrong with the original N95 (apart from the lack of a touchscreen) and there's no pressing reason to upgrade if you're an N95 user.

The physical characteristics of the N95 8GB are very similar to the original at 99 x 53 x 21mm in size and slightly heavier at 128 grams in weight. Maximum talktime is around 3.5 hours on 3G, 5 hours on GSM and the standby time is up to 11 days.

Nokia say that the N95 8GB should be available during the fourth quarter of 2007 for a price of around €560 / £380 / $700 before tax and subsidy.

[Source: mobilegazette]

River in china - but where is the water?

2007-06-13T02:15:00.000-07:00

Watermelone art

2007-06-02T04:47:00.001-07:00

Kitchen art

2007-05-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Fun with clouds

2007-05-29T04:16:00.000-07:00

[Source: baraskit]

Various gummy bear shots

2007-05-29T01:55:00.000-07:00

[Source: weirdomatic]

Take your shots!

2007-05-29T00:57:00.000-07:00

Hobbysafarifilm

2007-05-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Mindscape

2007-05-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

NEW link added

Boring Game

2007-05-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Extreme watches

2007-05-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

When Our Galaxy Smashes Into Andromeda

2007-05-20T01:40:00.000-07:00

When astronomers look into the night sky, almost every single galaxy is speeding away from us, carried by the expansion of the Universe. There’s one notable exception; though, the massive Andromeda galaxy (aka M31), which is speeding towards us at a rate of 120 km/s. And some time in the next few billion years, our two galaxies will collide and begin the lengthly process of merging together. Our Sun, and even the Earth should still be around, so it begs the question, what will happen to our Solar System?

Fortunately, T. J. Cox and Abraham Loeb from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have done the math in their recent paper entitled The Collision Between The Milky Way And Andromeda. In this paper, they chart out their simulation of this massive collision, and estimate some future fates for our Solar System.

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, and Andromeda (M31) together with their 40 smaller companions make up the two largest members of the Local Group of galaxies. While most galaxies are hurtling away from us as part of the expansion of the Universe, the Local Group is gravitationally bound together, and will continue to interact over the coming years.

When our Sun was born, 4.7 billion years ago, Andromeda and the Milky Way were 4.2 million light-years apart. Steadily moving together over the billions of years, they’re now only 2.6 million light-years apart and clearly headed for a collision. But it won’t be a head-on collision, the two galaxies will take swipes at each other first.

The first sideswipe will occur less than 2 billion years from now. During that first interaction, there’s a 12% chance that the Solar System might get ejected from the disk of the Milky Way, and spun out into the tidal tail of material that will stream out from the Milky Way. And there’s a remote chance, less than 3%, that the Sun will jump ship, joining up with Andromeda, and leaving the Milky Way entirely.

Since the Sun and the Earth will still be around, future astronomers could witness the collision in all its glory. Since the Sun will be steadily increasing its output of radiation, life might not be able to survive on our planet if engineers can’t figure out a way to keep the Earth moving away from the Sun.

Then the galaxies will come back together for another swipe, and then another, and eventually settle down into a gigantic swarm of stars buzzing around a common center of gravity. Currently quiet, the twin supermassive black holes may flare up, becoming active galactic nuclei, feasting on the torrent of new material that was unlucky to enter their feeding zones. Colliding clouds of gas and dust will flare up in furious regions of star formation.

In all likelihood, these interactions will push the Sun out into the new galaxy’s outer halo, pushing us at least 100,000 light years from the centre, and safely way from those twin black holes.

And 7 billion years from now, when our Sun is in the last stages of life - a red giant - and our Earth is a burned cinder, Milkomeda will have formed.

(At least, that’s what Cox and Loeb are calling it. I coined Milkdromeda in an episode of Astronomy Cast.)

This future galaxy will be a massive, elliptical galaxy, losing any remnant of its familiar spiral arms. The furious star formation will settle down, and this new galaxy will live out its remaining years, slowly using up its remaining raw stellar material.

100 billion years from now, all galaxies not bound to the Local Group will recede from vision - now traveling away from us faster than the speed of light. The concept of extragalactic astronomy will end, and Milkomeda will account for the entire visible Universe.

Original Source: Arxiv

[Source: universetoday]

SlaveHack

2007-05-17T23:37:00.000-07:00

Slave Hack is a virtual hack simulation game. This game does not support or encourage hacking in any way, the game is just a lot of fun !

Start playing and defend your own virtual-pc against intruders whilist you are trying you hack as much other players and webservers as you can ! New here ? For more information about the game check the about page.

iDo Wedding Couple Edition - "fun" product

2007-05-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

iDo Wedding Couple Edition is wedding planning software designed to help save time and energy while planning a wedding. From compiling your guest list to mailing the last thank you note, your wedding will be a success. Brides and grooms across 41 countries have enjoyed using iDo to organize their wedding details.

The face, not the body, attracts a mate

2007-05-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Body builders and gym buffs, look away now. It appears that the opposite sex is much more interested in your face than your bulging biceps or elegant figure, especially if you're a man. At least that's the upshot of the first study to assess how much faces and bodies contribute to someone's overall attractiveness.

Twelve women and 12 men took part in a trial to assess the attractiveness of people in photographs, on a scale of 1 to 7. Some participants saw the entire person, some saw faces on their own, and some just bodies. Marianne Peters from the University of Western Australia in Crawley and colleagues assessed the face-only and body-only ratings to see how well they predicted the "entire person" ratings.

They found that faces account for more of the variation among ratings than do bodies; in other words, faces are more important. For women rating men, 52 per cent of the attractiveness score was made up by the face rating, while for bodies it was 24 per cent. The trend was similar when men rated women, with 47 per cent of a woman's overall attractiveness accounted for by her face, and 32 per cent by her body (Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.07.012).

Peters says that women focus especially on the face because they are better at picking up emotional cues which are key to partner suitability.

[Source: newscientist]

Video Exclusives From NGC Wild

2007-05-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

Nature comes roaring into life in dozens of heart-pounding new clips and a full-length show every week.

Joost invitations available..

2007-05-13T23:49:00.000-07:00

You can get joost invitations by me (http://funatics.blogspot.com/2007/05/joost-p2p-tv.html)

13 Gigapixel panorama

2007-05-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

13 Gigapixel panorama. Taken by Gerard Maynard with Nikon D2X and a Nikkor 300 mm/F4. More than 2045 RAW pictures stitched in a single panorama. It's the biggest known panorama stitched at this time. It's a collaboration between artist Gerard Maynard and Kolor, creator of the software used for that, Autopano Pro.

Panorama

Gerard Maynard

AutoPan Pro

Crazy Jumps Of Faith

2007-05-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Painter

2007-05-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme

2007-05-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

[JPG 6000 X 2906][JPG 29566 X 14321][TIFF 29566 X 14321]

In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is releasing one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras.
It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth — and death — is taking place. This image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of neutral hydrogen during March and July 2005. Color information was added with data taken in December 2001 and March 2003 at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.
[Source: hubblesite][All images from this news release]

Paper buildings

2007-05-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Storm

2007-05-11T08:59:00.001-07:00

Joost the p2p TV

2007-05-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Joost, the online television service from Skype and Kazaa founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, launches today.

While you still can’t go to the site and sign up for the service, Joost is supplying current beta testers with an unlimited number of invites (they were previously limited to five). In addition, the plethora of big brand advertisers including Coca-Cola, Nike, General Motors and Visa will start their ad campaigns this month. Looks like Joost is ready to get its engine revving. The service should be available for everyone later on this month, and their latest version is available for download from existing users and those that are invited to join.

Joost is currently focusing on the English-speaking market; most of their content provided is targeted to U.S. and U.K. audiences. They do, however, plan on expanding their offerings to the global community, including Asia and Latin America. As they’ve partnered with several film and broadcasting networks to offer a wide array of premium programming, it’s sure to gain some traction. While it may be difficult to view Joost on your television set, I don’t think it will be too long before devices and services meet a happier medium.

[More: wikipedia]

PS: Today i've got an invite for joost. Today evening i'll check the details about inviting and then i'll try to send limited invites. Information will be shown here.

If you need invite, leave me a comment with informations:
First Name:
Last Name:
Email Address:
---------

Another possibilities: You can find free invites at technorati search
or at http://aujoost.com/?p=15

Bank Robber

2007-05-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

Remove your phone number from Google Search

2007-05-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Concerned about your privacy? One proactive step you can take is to remove your phone number from Google PhoneBook.

As you may know, typing a residential phone number into a Google Search bar (though not the Google Toolbar) performs a reverse lookup that lists your name, address and even a link to a Google Map of your address. Fortunately, Google gives you the option of removing all your residential listing information--all you have to do is fill out a short form and wait 48 hours. Granted, there are countless other services out there that offer reverse phone lookups, but Google is a household name and therefore a good place to start. Thanks, Suzi! —Rick Broida

Google Phonebook Name Removal

[Source: lifehacker]

Cat and dog under water

2007-05-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Threesome

2007-05-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Cyberbox

2007-05-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

Brainteaser Interview Question: Defeating the 12-Ball Question

2007-05-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Some interview questions are notoriously difficult. This particular logic problem has made its appearance at various consulting, investment banking and tech firms (including McKinsey and Microsoft). Will you be prepared if your interviewer springs upon you the knotty "12 ball" dilemma? Thanks to Vault, you can answer in safety!

Here's the question:

You have 12 balls. All of them are identical except one, which is either heavier or lighter than the rest - it is either hollow while the rest are solid, or solid while the rest are hollow. You have a simple two-armed scale, and are permitted three weighings. Can you identify the odd ball, and determine whether it is hollow or solid?

[The complete article/solution]

[Other interview related article]

Newborn Hedgehogs (cute!)

2007-05-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

Texas Instruments announces cell phone DLP projector

2007-05-04T02:45:00.000-07:00

The small screen on our portable device can sometimes prove frustrating and eye numbing. If Texas Instruments has their way, we’ll all be ‘gorilla projection artists’ and no longer will be all attempt to huddle around small handheld device in hopes of catching a glimpse of ‘Sasquatch’ in the wild. Apparently at this year’s CTIA Wireless 2007 show, Texas Instruments showed off its mini DLP projector, called the Pico; small enough to fit in a cell phone – they had it inside a replica device. According to TI the projector will display in DVD quality (course it depends on the source) and is composed of a DLP, 3 lasers, and a power supply. No word when this thing will hit the street, but I’d expect the ‘power supply’ issue to be their last major hurdle.

Texas Instruments announces cell phone DLP Projector [M&C]

[Source: gadgetreview]

Xbox 360 Elite

2007-05-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

It’s official. Microsoft will begin selling its new Xbox, called Xbox 360 Elite, come April 29th. No HD DVD drive, but the ‘new’ machine will sport a larger hard drive (120GB), an HDMI out. Other items included are a matching black wireless controller, a black Xbox live headset, and a hi-def cable. Price is set at $479.99 and it will be finished in black. Microsoft’s current top Xbox 360 goes for $399 and MS says they’ll continue to sell this version with an option to purchase the 120GB hard drive separately for $179.99.

Official page here.

[Source: gadgetreview]

Springtime

2007-05-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

HD DVD cracks: there's no going back

2007-05-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

When AACS was revealed as the encryption format of choice for HD DVD and Blu-ray, bets were placed on how long it would take for it to be cracked. Since the first HD DVD and Blu-ray discs began shipping, hackers have been hard at work figuring out how to break the encryption; DVD Jon even registered DeAACS.com. We've covered both crackers' efforts and the attempts by the AACS Licensing Authority to keep those cracks from seeping into the public consciousness. Yesterday, all of that came to a head.

A submission on Digg which contained the recently uncovered encryption key for HD DVD discs was removed yesterday by the site's admins after the site was served with a DMCA takedown notice, according to Digg CEO Jay Adelson. Such takedown notices are not uncommon. The AACS LA has issued them far and wide in an attempt to give the crack as low a profile as possible—Boing Boing blogger Cory Doctorow was the recent recipient of just such a notice after students of a class on copyright he was teaching at the University of Southern California posted the key and a link to the infamous Doom9 forum where AACS cracks have been openly discussed.

The futility of the AACS' actions was demonstrated last night when Digg was hit with a barrage of submissions containing the forbidden key. For a few hours, Digg's front page consisted of little more than a succession of links to the hexadecimal HD DVD key. After several hours, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose said that the site had received the message loud and clear, pledging that Digg would no longer kill stories and comments containing the key.

While the shenanigans at Digg were fascinating to watch as they unfolded, in the grand scheme of DRM it serves mostly as a reminder that the Internet holds no secrets. Like it or not for the AACS LA, DVD Forum (which backs HD DVD), and the Blu-ray Disc Association, Pandora's Box is opened wide. Not only is the key out in the open, but perhaps more damagingly to the HD lobby, public awareness of DRM and its cracks has been raised.

How will HD DVD, Blu-ray, and AACS LA respond? We don't know, and chances are that they don't either. Last night and this morning, Ars contacted all of them, along with the MPAA, to ask that very question. We haven't had a single phone call or e-mail returned from any of them.

We're nearing the point of ready availability of tools like DeCSS for HD DVD and Blu-ray, but Blu-ray has a couple of extra layers of protection (ROM Mark and BD+) that have yet to be deployed. Also, both HD formats have an antipiracy weapon in their arsenal that DVD lacks: the ability to revoke device keys, which has already happened to Corel's WinDVD. Unfortunately for both HD DVD and Blu-ray, that looks like it's going to be as effective as a suit of chain mail against a bazooka shell; Doom9 forum member arnezami claims that the hack at the center of the latest maelstrom is irrevocable. Even if arnezami is wrong in his evaluation, the AACS LA's vigilance in trying to keep the existence of HD DVD cracks out of the pubic eye has backfired in a truly spectacular manner.

[Source: arstechnica]

Mansion Impossible

2007-05-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Build your Own Moleskin Notebook External HDD

2007-05-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

External hard drive enclosures tend to all look a like and are just a bit boring. If you are the DIY type that happens to have an extra notebook hard drive lying around and about $50 in fund for the project you can follow the instructions over at Zonageek and build your own Moleskin notebook external hard drive. This guy used the Moleskin sketch book for the project which involved cutting the pages out to hollow a place for the 80GB HDD to sit. Once glued up the drive was inserted along with the logic board from a commercial external enclosure for USB to SATA and the project was complete. Finished it looks pretty cool and perfect for those who like to make their own gear.
[Source: everythingusb]

LCD Clock With Built-In Spy Camera

2007-05-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

This good looking LCD clock also has a hidden camera that can record 12 minutes of action.

This motion-activated camcorder will turn on and record full-motion video whenever someone moves into its wide field-of-view; then shut off automatically when activity stops.

Afterwards you just need to transfer the files to your computer via USB or use a memory card reader, the final files will be in .AVI format with a 320×240 pixel VGA resolution.

[Source: uberreview]

Sturdio Libertiny’s vase made by Bees

2007-05-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

I’m a self-proclaimed Droog addict, and have touted the “je ne sais quoi” of the always-engaging and wryly humorous Dutch design ad nauseam. And this bee-made vessel by Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny of Studio Libertiny is no exception. Making its debut at Droog’s booth in Milan, the vase was made by 40,000 bees over the course of one week. Studio Libertiny constructed a vase-shaped hive that the bees then colonized, building a hexagonal comb to encompass the existing form. And in the usual dry yet oh-so-clever Dutch manner, Studio Libertiny calls this process “slow prototyping,” a more time-consuming, yet much more poetic alternative to CNC rapid prototyping.

Beautiful in its ephemeral nature, Libertiny’s “collaboration” with honey bees pushes the boundaries of so-called conventional design by defying mass production and enabling nature to create what would typically be considered a man-made product. In my opinion, one of the tenets of good design is that it should tell a story. Studio Libertiny’s bee vase, like so much other Dutch design, not only tells the story, but does so in an ecologically-derived, natural way that concedes the human manufacturing process to something simpler and more beautiful. The more I look at it, the more I am in complete and utter awe.

We found this quote from Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny via Dezeen:

I have been interested in contradicting the current consumer society (which is interested in slick design) by choosing to work with a seemingly very vulnerable and ephemeral material - beeswax. To give a form to this natural product it has occurred more than logical to choose a form of a vase as a cultural artifact. Beeswax comes from flowers and in the form of a vase ends up serving flowers on their last journey.

At this point I asked myself a question: “Can I make this product already at the place where the material originates?” My ambition to push things further led me to alienate the process by which bees make their almost mathematically precise honeycomb structures and direct it to create a fragile and valuable object – like a pearl. This takes time and time creates value.

[Source: inhabitat]

Dubai International Financial Centre launches DIFC Lighthouse Tower

2007-05-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

400-metre luxury office tower to be constructed adjacent to ‘The Gate’

External lighting features to make tower a new Dubai landmark

Environmentally sensitive design to set benchmark for energy conservation

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) announced today the launch of DIFC Lighthouse Tower, a landmark 400-metre luxury office tower that will be constructed in the heart of the DIFC District, adjacent to the famous “Gate” building. The gross floor area of the project will be 90,000 square metres.

A beacon of modernity, the Lighthouse will be characterised by special external lighting features that will distinguish it from all other high-rise buildings in Dubai. As well, the approved environmentally sensitive design of the tower will include provisions for various applications for renewable energy, reduced carbon emissions and energy saving techniques.

His Excellency Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of DIFC, said: “The launch of the DIFC Lighthouse Tower, the newest landmark on the skyline of Dubai comes in line with our objective with the ongoing expansion of the DIFC and concomitant growth of the emirate, this tower will help meet the burgeoning demand for high-quality office space in the heart of our thriving community.”

He continued: “The unique design of this slender tower will make it stand out, especially at night, when the external lighting will serve, like a lighthouse, to attract the admiration of residents and visitors alike. We are particularly proud of the project’s environmentally friendly and sensitive design, which will set a new benchmark for energy conservation in the region.”

[Source: difc]

Student design turns highways into wind farms

2007-05-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

The great thing about collaborative design sites like Archinect is that they allow brilliant student ideas to escape the confines of studio and get the attention they deserve. Case in point is Arizona student Joe who posted this amazing idea on his Archinect school blog for a highway wind turbine would harvest the wind created by fast-moving automobiles to send power back into the grid. If feasible, this wind turbine project could be easily retrofitted to transform most of the world’s highways into endless power sources. Imagine highways being known for their power generation instead of their traffic!

Joe’s project proposes the installation of two wind turbines placed horizontally on the steel frames that currently hold freeway signs along the Phoenix Highway. According to his calculations, he reckons that each turbine would be able to generate 9,600kwh per year, which would be more than enough to power a few apartments, or, as he is proposing, more than a few community hubs along the freeway.

While there are a lot of technical issues that may prevent the project’s deployment (such as the amount of turbulence on the road, the actual wind speed generated at the head height, etc) we must applaud Joe for the great idea. Good job Joe! Keep us posted…

We’ve seen a similar idea from Mark Oberholzer, the runner-up of the 2006 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition. Nice to see this sort of thinking gaining momentum!

Highway Wind Turbines

[Source: inhabitat]

Mouse Mouse - sick idea

2007-05-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hacked travel-size (hardware) mouse + taxidermied (wetware) mouse = Mouse Mouse!
Fully functional, and furry!

Warning: this project involves taxidermy, dremels, and sometimes graphic pictures of dead animals. While there are no guts in this tutorial, viewer discretion is still advised. If you are offended by this entire idea, please peruse the wallet contest or the laser cutter contest instead.

Concept by noahw
Implemented by noahw and canida.

The winners of the photo contest

2007-05-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

[National Wildlife Magazine]

PhD-certified Personality Test

2007-05-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

How do you compare to the average person?
Your Personality - how was it developed?
What is your relationship style?
Which type of person suits you best?

(I've found it on an ad, but it seems interesting. You can check this link/url does not contain any referrer id or other, and this personality site does not belong to me)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: You can add fake email address, the result can be shown on page. (I would do the same if i could know it in time)

Fun pictures..

2007-05-01T02:46:00.000-07:00

Moderate coffee drinking reduces many risks

2007-05-01T01:15:00.000-07:00

Although the American Society for Nutrition’s popular “controversy session” at Experimental Biology 2007 focuses on the health effects of coffee drinking, panel chair Dr. James Coughlin, a toxicology/safety consultant at Coughlin & Associates, says that recent advances in epidemiologic and experimental knowledge have transformed many of the negative health myths about coffee drinking into validated health benefits.

Indeed, panel co-chair Dan Steffen, who follows coffee and health issues in the Scientific and Regulatory Affairs group of Kraft Foods, note that the “controversy” is often to educate a wider audience about this transformation in understanding.

Coffee is among the most widely consumed beverages in the world, and Dr. Coughlin says that the preponderance of scientific evidence - some by the panelists - suggests that moderate coffee consumption (3-5 cups per day) may be associated with reduced risk of certain disease conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease. Some research in neuropharamacology suggests that one cup of coffee can halve the risk of Parkinson’s disease. Other studies have found it reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, kidney stones, gallstones, depression and even suicide.

[Source & More: physorg]

The Girlfriend Experience - Multi-player game with avatars of flesh and blood

2007-04-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

Visit the avatars by clicking here: http://girlfriend.mediamatic.net

Available every Wed, Thu & Fri from 8 until 11 pm (CET).

Martin Butler presents four human avatars to play with. Log in at home with your character of choice. Direct the avatar, explore the space and challenge him or her.
The avatars can also be observed live in their Analog Villa on Wed, Thu & Fri from 18.00 - 23.00. You can also DINE with the avatars. Their favorite food: DIY SUSHI, a concept of Debra Solomon/culiblog.org. Every evening also Flashy workshops: make your own sock puppet and discover you non-verbal flirtings skills. For information & reservations call 061 691 1261.

The rampant growth of online avatar communities such as Second Life and World of Warcraft has enabled the creation of a personal online social and economic existence. Simultaneously this triggers inherent questions about this existence, as it questions what the consequences will be for first life, or reality.

When you use virtual avatars you can do as you please. In The Girlfriend Experience you will have to get to know each other first. Player and avatar explore what they can do for each other and how far the avatar wants to go to execute specific desires. It is ambiguous who is really controlling the situation. You have ten minutes to figure out what you can do with your avatar. After that, your time is up and another player can take your place.

The title of the project, The Girlfriend Experience, denotes the paradoxical character that online social interaction has. On one hand, the safe anonymity by using the avatar, on the other the intimate releases and projections that can spread easily. For Martin Butler is this the merging of two apparent extremes, anonymity and intimacy, which characterizes an important part of contemporary social traffic. The best paid prostitutes are the ones with whom the client feels as though he is with his girlfriend, or with whom he has a Girlfriend Experience.

This exhibition is made possible with the support of the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, the Thuiskopie Fonds, and the Liminal Institute.

And We Got Sheena

2007-04-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

G.R.G. writes: years ago, we got to program on the original Macintosh. Believe it or not, it had really impressive speed with its 8MHz CPU. And then we inherited a programmer named Sheena. Her degree was in Cinema. We needed programmers. Sheena is what we got.

Generally, we tried to parcel out the simplest part of every project for Sheena. In this one big project, we needed a procedure that would read entries out of a Help file. So we gave that job to Sheena. The spec was: "Write a procedure that returns the N'th line of the help file."

Well, a few weeks later she gave us the code. It did exactly what was spec'd:

The first line showed up immediately.
The second line showed up almost immediately.
The third line, took a noticeable fraction of a second.
The fourth line took several seconds.
The fifth line, over a minute.
The sixth line, we hit the reset switch before it came up.

How could the code be so slow? It was very close to this:

procedure ReadLine( Index: integer; var Line: String );
begin
 reset( HelpFile );  CurPos := 0;
 for i := 1 to Index do  ReadL( Line );
end;


procedure ReadL( var Ans: String );
var Ch: char;
begin
  Ans := '';
  repeat
    ReadC(  Ch );
    Ans := Ans + Ch;
  until Ch = #13;
end;


procedure ReadC( var AnsCh: Char );
begin
 reset( HelpFile );
 for i := 1 to Curpos do Read( HelpFile, AnsCh );
 CurPos := CurPos + 1;
end;

That's right, to read line X, you first read all the previous lines. To read each line, you read each character. To read each character, you read all the characters before it. It works ... as about an O(4) algorithm.

[Source: worsethanfailure]

Mouse avoider

2007-04-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

Store your files with diino

2007-04-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Most big and medium-sized businesses have private, secure computer servers with storage space where users can store and share files. Now most individuals can too—for free. The key word here is "secure," which makes diino—the creation of a Swedish company that is just launching the service in the U.S.—way different from notorious file-sharing services like kazaa. Go to www.diino.com, sign up for an account (with free account you can store 2GB), download the diino interface to your Windows PC, and you'll be able to upload and easily share your files (documents, digital photos, MP3s, whatever) instantly. (Paid options for power users include a massive 10GB account for $9.95 a month.) You'll have access to your files from any Windows PC in the world (unfortunately, no Linux or Mac version yet), and because diino doesn't have a Web browser interface and uses technology that doesn't open a direct connection to the file system, your files are immune from viruses, worms, and spyware that commonly propagate across other Web networks. An added bonus: Once you've uploaded MP3s, you can stream them through the diino interface and listen to them at work, home, or wherever.

Free (and up) at www.diino.com.

• Register online

Ninjaman

2007-04-27T08:40:00.001-07:00

Skater

2007-04-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Sony’s Tiny HD Camcorder

2007-04-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Sony is claiming the honours of the smallest HD camcorder today with the introduction of the back-in-black cool, Handycam HDR-CX6EK.

It is quite small and Sony is saving weight – but making money off you – by making the storage medium its own Memory Stick technology, which tops out at 8GB. This is enough for an hour of 1080i video at top quality or almost three hours at the lowest quality setting. It takes photos at up to 6.1megapixels. There’s a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens which is good for 10x optical zoom and the whole thing weighs in at 370g, excluding battery. Frankly, that last bit is marketing nonsense to make the weight look good. After all, we don’t know what the battery weighs and, more importantly, who’s going to use it without the damn battery?

Hell, the Sanyo Xacti HD2 weighs just 235g, with battery.

There are lots of funky features thrown in, not least of which something called Face Index, a face detection technology for highlighting your little Johnny when playing back the school play.

Due in July but no UK prices yet. The US price though is around £600.-Martin Lynch

[Source: uk.gizmodo]

Snake Wine

2007-04-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

Funny chinese T-shirt

2007-04-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

Nice Photos

2007-04-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

[View Originals]

Damn Birds

2007-04-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Map: Welcome to the Blogosphere

2007-04-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

The blogosphere is the most explosive social network you’ll never see. Recent studies suggest that nearly 60 million blogs exist online, and about 175,000 more crop up daily (that’s about 2 every second). Even though the vast majority of blogs are either abandoned or isolated, many bloggers like to link to other Web sites. These links allow analysts to track trends in blogs and identify the most popular topics of data exchange. Social media expert Matthew Hurst recently collected link data for six weeks and produced this plot of the most active and interconnected parts of the blogosphere.

1 MR. POPULARITY
On the map, white dots represent individual blogs, sized according to number of links. Nearly 500,000 people visit the DailyKos every day, making it one of the world’s most popular blogs. A link from DailyKos is a guaranteed way of attracting Web traffic (and therefore advertising revenue), and as a result DailyKos has a strict link policy. Green links represent one-way links (that is, blog A links to blog B), and blue links indicate reciprocal links (blog B returns the favor).

2 THE GOSSIP OF GADGET HOUNDS
The bright spot here represents the popular site Boingboing, a “Directory of Wonderful Things” that links to oddly compelling online news from the fringes of the real world but mostly offers gossip about gadgets and all things high-tech.

3 SHOW ME YOUR FRIENDS
This isolated, close-knit online community of bloggers uses LiveJournal, an online host that primarily serves as a social networking site. This blogging island is just barely in touch with the rest of the blogworld.

4 I’LL SHOW YOU MINE. . .
This blue blob represents a balanced sociopolitical discourse. The prevalence of blue in this area shows that most of these links are reciprocal, suggesting a sort of metadialogue between bloggers who hurl headlines at one another. The brightest light belongs to syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin.

5 NAH, JUST SHOW ME YOURS
No discussion of the blogosphere would be complete without a nod to online smut. This outlying island of blue represents the linked-up world of bloggers who traffic in the latest news and gossip from the world of pornography. Oh, yeah, and pictures.

6 LONELY JOCKS
Also on the outskirts is this group of sports enthusiasts, many of whom, unlike the lonely pornographers, have links back to the central hot spot of the blogosphere. “What you find often on the blogosphere is people on the outside pointing in to the middle,” Hurst says. “They’re on the outside looking in.”

[Source: discovermagazine]

'Sadistic' foster mother jailed

2007-04-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

A bit shocking news:

A woman who punished three children in her care by ramming sticks down their throats and making them eat their own vomit has been jailed for 14 years.

[Read More]

Spin Sprint

2007-04-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Retron - a bit extreme

2007-04-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

Boss-proof your computer with a USB foot-switch

2007-04-18T23:32:00.000-07:00

The Stealth Switch is a $40 foot-switch that lets you instantly change whatever is on you computer's display into something innocuous. For instance, if you work in a macho environment where everyone reads ESPN sites, you can read your favorite blog about crocheting little cosplay outfits for your guinea pigs without having to worry about getting caught and being made sport of.

StealthSwitch is a microprocessor based computer privacy device. StealthSwitch™ uses patent pending technology to instantly and completely hide applications with a press of the footswitch. The applications are not just minimized…they are made completely invisible. No more minimizing applications, turning off the monitor, or re-booting when someone enters your office or cubicle. With a simple click of the foot switch, you can instantly hide the current window, hide all open windows, or hide all open windows except certain windows. And the best part – because the StealthSwitch™ is under your desk, no one will notice. When they leave your office, simply click the foot switch again and your programs are back just the way they were. StealthSwitch™ can also mute the sound, hide the taskbar, hide all desktop icons, and password protect the restore function all at the same time.

[Source: boingboing]

If A Dog Were Microwavable

2007-04-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

He'd be warm and cuddly. Cue Sammy Snoozle, a microwave safe stuffed toy designed to give you 3 hours of warm fun after only 2 minutes of nuking. He's filled with a relaxing blend of flax seeds, herbs and lavender perfect for that aroma therapy session we all need before snoozing off to bed. Just like a real dog, Sammy is versatile. Pop him in the freezer to ease that spain ankle or bruise. Best of all, he's only $20. This would be an awesome gift for anyone.

[Source: tranism]

VIZ: the future of powered water

2007-04-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

According to the folks at VIZ, the problem with vitamin water is that the addition of vitamins and supplements to liquid decreases their potency, and the longer the drink sits on the shelf, the worse it gets. The solution is to add the supplements right before drinking, with the patent-pending VIZcap, "a cap with a sealed, moisture-free chamber that contains effervescence." It's the effervescence that preserves the potency. When you're ready to drink, you simply remove the seal, push the plunger and watch the ingredients interact with the water, powering your drink at full potency. It's a multi-sensory experience -- pushing the plunger creates a "pop" sound (I like that part -- sounds like those Japanese sodas that open when you push and drop a marble through the top of the bottle).

The VIZcap can deliver all sorts of liquid, power, and effevescent "payloads," and the company envisions use of this technology for freeze-dried crystals, baby formula, syrups and concentrates.
[Source: popgadget]

Reconstructing Point Tordera Bridge (Barcelona)

2007-04-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

On 23 February 1811, in a desperate attempt to stop Napoleon's invading army, General Josep Obispo ordered the destruction of the Pont Trencat, a double arched stone bridge spanning the River Tordera just east of Barcelona. Since that time, the Pont Trencat (literally the 'Broken Bridge') remained a poignant ruin, made redundant by the construction of a new bridge further down the river in 1866. In the mid 1990s, locals from the surrounding villages began mustering support and funds to restore the Pont Trencat and finally, a decade later, their efforts have paid off. The bridge has come back spectacularly to life.

[Source: thecoolhunter]

Surprise—men do just as much work as women do

2007-04-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

Everyone from economists and sociologists to Oprah knows that women work more than men. Their longer combined hours, at the home and at the office, stop men from taking afternoon naps on the couch and cause fights that end with men spending nights on the couch. And yet according to new study, those longer hours are a myth, because it's just not true that women carry a heavier load.

Three economists, Michael Burda of Humboldt University in Berlin, Daniel Hamermesh of the University of Texas, and Philippe Weil of the Free University of Brussels have analyzed data from surveys in 25 countries that ask people how they spend their time. Some of the countries are rich, like the United States and Germany, some are poor, like Benin and Madagascar, and some are in the middle, like Hungary, Mexico, and Slovenia. The people surveyed were asked to fill in diaries indicating how they spend each segment of their day.

[Article about the study]

Pershing 72-Foot Yacht

2007-04-16T23:23:00.000-07:00

The new Pershing 72' yacht recently was presented to the press before making its debut at the major boat shows. The 72-foot yacht is design for cruising enjoyment at the level where you may have a crew member or two and an intimate gathering of friends or family. The yacht has a sleek design with a hard top that is a sunroof and slides open in both the saloon and the cockpit. There is a glass partition between the cockpit and the salon to create one large indoor/outdoor environment. The cockpit includes the sundeck with a large sofa and a foldout table. There is a full beam master cabin with a king size bed and a bathroom with a shower. There is also a guest cabin with twin single beds and a third stowaway berth and a VIP cabin with one large bed and an en-suite bathroom. The crew area has a small living room and a cabin with two beds. The garage has an area that can be lowered into the water and can store both a tender and a jet ski. The yacht uses two 1823hp engines and can hit a top speed of 45 knots. After the jump, interior shots of this pleasingly modern vessel.

[Source: luxist]

iRiver slims second-gen Clix

2007-04-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

iRiver's Clix 2 super-skinny digital media player - it's just 1.3cm thick in the middle, and even less at the edges - has come to the UK.
The player sports a 2.2in, 320 x 240 OLED screen mounted on top of the control switches, so pushing the display itself triggers actions. The Clix 2 provides all the media playback features you'd expect from a decent modern handheld - there's an FM radio and text display facility too - all accessed through a Flash-based user interface.
Storage comes courtesy of the other Flash: 4GB of it.
For which you'll pay £139 if you buy the Clix 2 from UK supplier Advanced MP3 Players, the first retailer we've heard from that has brought the player out over here.

[Source: reghardware]

2007-04-16T23:12:00.000-07:00

Say hello to Intel's latest portable PC concept: the "metro notebook", an ultra-thin, ultra-light laptop for the ladies. Designed to be carried over the shoulder, the sub-0.7in thick, 1kg device sports an always-on secondary display for fast info updates.

The Core 2 Duo-based machine's small screen is a colour non-volatile e-ink display that continues to show content - email, calendar entries, eBooks, etc - even when the power's cut. The e-ink screen is mounted on a leather wrap-around cover which connects to the laptop through a dock connector that's also capable of hosting USB traffic.

The unit's primarily designed for entirely wireless communications with reconfigurable antennae able to switch between the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WiMAX links the laptop's envisaged to maintain.

Intel also said it envisages the machine shipping with a inductive connection-less charging pad, allowing the batteries of phones and PDAs to be recharged just by placing them on the notebook.

[Source: reghardware]

Electric-Guitar Shaped CD Player

2007-04-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

If you don’t know how to play a guitar but you really wish you did, then that’s not a reason why you can’t own a guitar and be a laughing stock for projecting it merely as a showcase object in front of all your skilled friends. Yes, what if your guitar plays musical notes on its own..! Well…don’t get any ideas…there’s nothing magical ( I was just making you curious ). It’s actually an electric-guitar shaped CD player from Ngai LUEN.

The manufacturer has earlier won accolades for it’s whole range of audio/video products shaped like Cans and Bottles, Helmets, Balls and now the magnificent of them all, Cans and Bottles, Helmets, Balls and now the most alluring of them all, a Guitar! This full-sized replica of real guitar features AM/FM Radio, front loading DVD/VCD/CD/MP3 Player, real time clock, sleep function and remote control operation.

The guitar comes with its Wall Mount and Stand. Ngai LUEN displayed this new design at Hong Kong Electronics Fair 2007.

[Source: bornrich]

Funny Foods

2007-04-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

Elephant Dream

2007-04-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Elephants Dream is the world’s first open movie, made entirely with open source graphics software such as Blender, and with all production files freely available to use however you please, under a Creative Commons license. The short film was created by the Orange Open Movie Project studio in Amsterdam during 2005/2006, bringing together a diverse team of artists and developers from all over the world.

An old classic: TRON

2007-04-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Tricky golf game

2007-04-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Logistics

2007-04-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

[More picture]

Hackers Dissect Apple TV to Create the Cheapest Mac Ever

2007-04-11T01:44:00.000-07:00

Apple TV is dead, long live the Mac Nano. Sort of.

Just two weeks after Apple released its streaming media box to the public, hackers successfully installed OS X, Apple's desktop operating system, on the $300 device, making it the cheapest PC Cupertino has ever sold.

"The breakthrough is done, OS X runs on Apple TV!" wrote "Semthex," the anonymous hacker responsible for the mod, at his website. "Now we got (the) low-budget Mac we ever wanted."

The add-on may be of limited appeal to everyday users. It involves a laborious 13-step procedure, and the resulting installation is unable to take advantage of all the Apple TV's hardware. Without video acceleration, games can't floor the graphic chip's throttle. There's no audio or ethernet support either, making the box useless for its original purpose as a media hub.

Over the past week, however, enthusiasts worked to solve these problems, exchanging ideas over IRC and testing new versions of specially tailored system software Semthex created, which is necessary to bypass built-in restrictions on installing the full version of OS X.

[Source &More: wired]

Mobile calls could be free, thanks to advertising

2007-04-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Over in Europe a mobile virtual network operator called Blyk is planning to offer a free mobile phone service funded by advertising. It is a concept that deserves to be taken very seriously.

Blyk (www.blyk.com) plans to launch in the UK in mid 2007 and then to expand into other European countries. And if you are tempted to dismiss it as a crackpot with little chance of getting of the ground, think again.

The concept is not entirely new, as I wrote back in 2005, commenting on the launch of just such a service for fixed line phone calls, from Communitel it was tried in Australia in the early nineties. However the investment and the scale of Blyk's planned operation is of an entirely different order. As is the potential for two way dialogue between advertiser and target that SMS and today's web-enabled phones offer.

[Source & More: itwire]

Yahoo's Alpha in beta

2007-04-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yahoo has opened its Australian-developed Alpha meta-search engine for public beta testing.

In addition to returning results from Yahoo's own search engine, Alpha also searches for user-generated content at Flickr, Yahoo!7 Answers, YouTube and Wikipedia. Results also come from Yahoo!7 News search, and sponsored search results complete the standard line up.

Results from any these services can be revealed or hidden with a mouse click.

Users with a Yahoo account can select which of these sources are used for their searches, and may add custom information sources providing the sites or search engines concerned support OpenSearch.

Layouts and custom sources may be shared with other users.

According to Yahoo!7 search engineer Brett Poole, Alpha was "born out of pizza and furious coding" as part of Yahoo's annual Hack Day.

Yahoo7 is a joint venture between Yahoo and Seven Network (Australia's largest commercial television network and a major magazine publisher).

[Source: itwire]
Other (related) search engine: http://rollyo.com/

Volcanic destruction

2007-04-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

Knut is supa

2007-04-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista Aero vs Linux Ubuntu Beryl

2007-04-10T02:16:00.000-07:00

Grappa – DelayedTrace

2007-04-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

Entertainment/Visual Effect/Game: Grappa is a java applet that allows you to create artworks with your mouse in a fun way.
Click to clear, move mouse to draw!

One click award

2007-04-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

Anti showed me a good link. Check this out. Pretty funny. :)

Desk characters

2007-04-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

Nohonon Solar-powered Nohonon gently nods his head, supporting your daily work with his calm smile and happy colors.

PotanpotonAdd some water to the potanpoton and watch it react for the ensuing 30 seconds.

Flufleur Les Flufleur react to sound and light up as they bloom. They will close and bloom again.

FlipFlapQ The FlipFlap is a happy flower that moves gently as the afternoon sun shines upon it.

Kotoridayori Kotoridayori is a little bird that gathers energy from the sun. She tweets when picked up. (And sometimes, she just tweets because she's in the mood.)

[Link: dynamism]

Daily dose of imagery

2007-04-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

Ive found a nice photo blog. I hope you'll like it.

NASA photos

2007-04-05T00:45:00.000-07:00

Please click for normal view!

Amazing shot

2007-04-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

[Source: tripcart]

Clouds

2007-04-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

[Source: http://hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/june2004hastings-mammatus.html]

Moving clouds

2007-04-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

In case you cant see the images abow, you can find the links:
[Image1][Image2]

2101 Cabrio

2007-04-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

Wrong time in wrong place

2007-04-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Be a mathematical genius

2007-04-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

People who excel at mathematics use better strategies than the rest of us, they don't necessarily have better brains. We teach simple strategies that can have you multiplying large numbers in your head, doing mental long division, even squaring and finding square roots of numbers off the top of your head.

And here is a secret.

[More: speedmathematics]

PS: Please look at once at least because it is REALLY FUNNY and EASY

Be modern artist

2007-04-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

I found two interesting link, but i don't include screenshot this time because they aren't so impressive on screenshots.

http://windowseat.ca/viscosity/create.php

http://windowseat.ca/circles/index.php

Nikon's Universcale

2007-04-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

Car foil

2007-04-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Dialog studio design

2007-04-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

Animals

2007-03-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Ultimate Gaming Station & Ergonomic Work Space

2007-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

PCE is a radical re-design of the personal workspace, a modular and scalable platform that surrounds you with ultimate ergonomic, computing and entertainment solutions.

Personal Computing Environments saves your body…and bottom line:

Good Ergonomics = Good Economics.

PCE turns the idea of a gaming or computer station inside out, making players the comfortable centerpiece of an integrated digital command center, with high performance computing, gaming and entertainment technology at their fingertips.

Freedom.
We offer you the freedom to create ultimate environments suitable for any computer, gaming or video-related activity.

This luxury obviously doesn’t comes cheap for $6,000.

Deskstar 7K1000, the Hitashi 1TB hard disk for Japan

2007-03-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

Key Features


Size:	3.5 inches
Capacities:	1 TB
Speed:	7,200 RPM
Interfaces:	SATA 3.0 GB/s
Seek Time:	8.5 ms read 9.2 ms write
Legacy Drives:	Hitachi IBM

Download Datasheet

It’s available at a price of about €315.