My home has a lot of natural light, and I'm thankful for it. However, I can't help but be intrigued by this idea from Rational Craft. I'm ultimately waiting until I can replace my conventional windows with something like this that also has the ability to be transparent and solar powered. How about that picture window in your living room transforming into an HD theater or displaying still and/or video art? See the videos after the jump.
Magic plasma screens are WAY better than real windows [DVICE]
For all of you that love tagging but hate the prospect of being arrested for vandalism, a partnership between Montana Cans and Bauhaus University Media Department students has led to WiiSpray, a pretty awesome virtual spray painting program for the Wii:
Realistic physics, ability to use stencils, colour palette control. Pretty neat stuff.
ยป WiiSpray Teaser of Final Presentation [WiiSpray]
The problem with the iPhone and the T-Mobile G1 is that the user input is done via touchscreen, which would mean that users who are blind would be completely unable to dial such a device, right?
Not so, as Google engineers T.V. Raman and Charles Chen demonstrate their dead simple idea on how dialing on a touchscreen is possible without even looking at the screen:
So simple, and very functional!
I really have to give it to Samsung - they've certainly come up with interesting ad campaign ideas lately, with the latest being a pretty cool combination of LEDs, sheep, and some crazy herding skills:
Impressive!
The folks at MAKE found this wonderful video of a machine built by Felix Thirn. It's absolutely amazing watching all those servos and lights at work!
...In the customer's wallet. Check out this new Microsoft TV spot that ditches geek-chic bickering over whose features are less functional or, even worse, Jerry Seinfeld, opting instead for the real rationale that Microsoft should be trying to get across to any and all potential customers: Macs are more expensive, and you'll pay a Mac-branded premium for any hardware you buy.
Lauren here goes shopping for a laptop with "speed, comfortable keyboard and a 17" screen for under $1,000" - at the Apple store she'd have to double her budget or settle for a 13" screen, while a Hewlett-Packard PC meets all of her standards for just $700.
It's no game-closer, but it's the best and most honest angle Microsoft has at the moment. Unfortunately the original PC-vs-Mac commercials with Justin Long and John Hodgeman remain just as relevant... but for the budget-wary, this looks like a great sales pitch.
Samsung handed over 24 SSD drives to a marketing team, which took them and put them into a ridiculously large RAID array too see just how fast they could get the throughput on the array. The answer? 2GB/s. Yes, that's 2 with a G.
Time to open all of Microsoft Office? 0.5 seconds.
Time to open all 53 programmes on the start menu? 18.09 seconds.
See for yourself:
Want your own ridiculous RAID array? Not unless you have over $20k to spend.
At least, the way computer technology goes, in about 5 years, it'll probably be only $1k at most. Just wait around for a bit longer...
That's right, the paragon of geekdom and Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, is a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, which premiers tonight on ABC at 8/7PM C.
Since this is the first time that we've had an icon of geekdom on Dancing with the Stars, our duty is clear: vote for Woz, and vote often. He must win!
I suspect the phone phreakers have already set up some elaborate vote calling systems to stuff the lines with Woz votes, but we must all do our parts!
(And yes, I'll actually be watching this season of Dancing with the Stars; seeing Woz try to dance and compete is too much of a draw even for a reality contest show hater like me.)
It's the promise of the technology of the future that compels the innovations of today, and this wonderful video called World Builder by Bruce Banit, which took him two years to complete, depicts a more modern version of the "holodeck" (a la Star Trek). It's a touching story, and I fully recommend watching it when you have 8 minutes to spare:
The Holodeck, As Re-Imagined in 2009 [Gizmodo]
If you laugh at a Rubik's cube, cackle at even the super-Rubik's cube with 16 cubes a face, then perhaps the Petaminx is for you. Sporting 975 pieces arranged in a dodecahedron configuration with 4 slices per face, the Petaminx is enough to make my brain hurt thinking of the possible permutations of its face pieces. Have a look for yourself:
If you want to make your own Petaminx, the specs, released by Andrew Cormier, are posted online for you to use. Be aware that this particular model, made by Jason Smith of Puzzle Forge, took 75 hours to make and put together!
By now, you probably know that I have more than a little fascination with space and the space programme, so I'm happy to share this neat video that NASA put out, showing us where they put together spacecraft at the JPL laboratories. Specifically, this is where they're putting together the Mars Science Laboratory, due to launch in 2011:
I came across this commercial for the Samsung UltraTouch S8300 on CuteOverload and just couldn't help sharing it with you folks for its sheer genius:
The evil hedgehog is my favourite!
All I have to say to the person that came up with the campaign: ask for a raise. Genius!
3D iPhone glasses. Why?
