Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech have created an undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on renewable energy and could be used in ocean rescue and surveillance missions.
Synapse has been named a finalist for Washington's Best Workplaces 2012 by Puget Sound Business Journal!
Synapse was honored by Seattle Business magazine as the 3rd Best Company to work for in Washington State!
A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of June 2012. The sequence of dates of the UTC second markers will be:
2012 June 30, 23h 59m 59s
2012 June 30, 23h 59m 60s
2012 July 1, 0h 0m 0s
Last week Scott (Synapse CEO) and Chris (Synapse VP) attended the Clinton Global Initiative America in Chicago. The event was focused on economic recovery and job creation in the US.
We tend to rewrite the histories of technological innovation, making myths about a guy who had a great idea that changed the world. In reality, though, innovation isn’t the goal; it’s everything that gets you there. It’s bad financial decisions and blueprints for machines that weren’t built until decades later. It’s the important leaps forward that synthesize lots of ideas, and it’s the belly-up failures that teach us what not to do.
The Cheetah is a four-footed robot that gallops at 18 mph, which is a land speed record for legged robots. The previous record was 13.1 mph, set in 1989 at MIT. Cheetah development is funded by DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program. This robot has an articulated back that flexes back and forth on each step, thereby increasing its stride and running speed, much like the animal does. The current version of the Cheetah robot runs on a high-speed treadmill in the laboratory where it is powered by an off-board hydraulic pump and uses a boom-like device to keep it running in the center of the treadmill. Later this year we plan to start testing a free-running Cheetah that will operate more naturally in the field.
The Six Enemies of Greatness (or Happiness)
by Jessica Hagy (Forbes, 2012/02/28)
1. Availability
2. Ignorance
3. Committees
4. Comfort
5. Momentum
6. Passivity
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicahagy/2012/02/28/the-six-enemies-of-gr...
Use this slick in-browser app to design your own custom dendritic jewelry and be the envy of everyone at the engineering ball!
Amazing tool to visualize the scale of the universe, from the incredibly huge to the astonishingly small.
Visualizing bitterness, flavors & aromas of beer brewing hops.
Scientists from three different universities have collaborated to produce the smallest transistor ever -- indeed, the smallest transistor possible. They have succeeded in building and controlling a transistor consisting of a single phosphorus atom, effectively marking the beginning of the end of Moore's Law.
The microAeth hand held air quality meter empowers people with the knowledge of their exposure to soot. Have you ever wondered if the place you live/work/exercise could be affecting your performance or health? This product answers that question (as it relates to soot levels).
What could be next in this space? Imaging your smartphone measuring air quality and sounding an alarm at your personalized threshold!
I found AethLabs through SFMade, a non profit service organization supporting companies that make products in San Francisco.
This is exactly what you don't want to have happen during your TED lecture. Or any presentation.
The Lamborghini Aventador J is the talk of the Geneva Auto Show. With 700-horsepower and a new ultra-light weight carbon fiber fabric body, called "Carbonskin", the car is said to be able to top 186 mph. Carbonskin was developed at Washington State University and is being tested by Volkswagen R&D for large scale commercial applications.
The Lamboghini Aventador J is the first low volume production vehicle built with Carbonskin and will only set you back a cool $2.75 million.
What the heck are tire socks?
Posted by Nick Provenza on March 2, 2012 at 11:00 AMTire socks…
According to an AP story, tire socks are made of fabric that you slip over your vehicle’s wheels to get more traction on snow.
State lawmakers have OK’d them for use on our roads. The Scandinavians came up with the idea. Duh. These socks are supposed to be gentler on road surfaces than chains and studs.
Here’s a video clip made in the U.K. which takes a look at one brand of tire sock and how well it performs.
This is a really cool, miniscule, air power V12 engine. This guy spent over 1200 in his home shop hand making all the engine parts. Pretty Cool.
NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.
Check out Cameron's improved espresso machine, courtesy of Hack A Day! A very professional build.
http://cameroncharles.blogspot.com/2011/11/saeco-aroma-pid-makeover.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/business/wave-glider-a-floating-robot-...
http://m.spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/liquid-r...
Liquid Robotics’ product, a Wave Glider, is about the size of a surfboard. Using a wave-based propulsion system and two solar panels to fuel its computers, the robots travel slowly over the ocean, recording data. The sensor data is crunched onboard by low-power cellphone chips, and then shipped by satellite or cellphone to big onshore computers that do complex analysis.
Is this the future of photography? The camera takes pictures at many depths of field simultaneously, all in focus. Quite an amazing little device.
Now wouldn't a mobile music making Tesla Coil that you wear as a hat be something cool to be walking around town with? The video quality isn't that great, but you get the point. I think I'll make one for my dog.
An amazing program with the potential to forever change how we think about sorting, sharing, and viewing digital photos.
Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Simple, elegant, and has that cool factor to boot. It's a bit pricy at around $250, but perhaps worth the cost for those who don't particularly enjoy programming thermostats.
It may be a bit impractical at this time, but make your own spider silk...Just get a genetically modified goat, milk it, separated some enzymes and away you go. Space elevator here we come.
Some guys built a robot with four LEGO Mindstorms NXT bricks and a Samsung Galaxy SII smartphone that can solve Rubik's cube in a world record 5.35 seconds.
I happened to see this walking past Eddie Bauer at the mall. I had to stop and watch the whole thing. The way the helicopter rests on the side of that peak is incredible. What a rush!!
Adobe has developed technology to determine a camera's physical trajectory when the shutter was open during a photograph, and then use that to sharpen the resulting image:
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/10/11/adobe-demos-incredible-unblur-feature-for-photoshop/
Maybe the "enhance" function used by intelligence agencies in corny movies isn't so far off...
These guys have very creative, elegant, space-saving designs. Really cool and inspiring even if you’re not really into furniture, like me.
This is a local Seattle guy that made good on kickstarter.com. If you have never been, check it out. I have been following this project for a few months and it is fun to watch him go through the manufacturing process. Now I just need to save some pennies to buy some squares.
Sweet! Who wants to think of awesome ideas to release shorties on? Car Catapult! Flying Machines!
An inventive use of 2-liter plastic soda bottles to bring sunlight into buildings! Check out the YouTube video for details.
It does bring up the question: How many engineers does it take to change a light bottle?
Very cool technology that Stanford is working on.
The fact that they are taking this car to its limit, at 14,000 feet above sea level, with hairpin turns and no guardrails is pretty awesome. No Driver!!
Willard Wigan is an artist who creates detailed miniature sculptures. In order to do this, he enters a meditative state that slows his heart rate so he can sculpt between beats to reduce hand tremors. He also works late at night so vibration from road traffic outside won't disturb the work. Yes, that is the eye of a needle...
This is very cool. If I were to get married all over again, this would be my wedding ring.
Forward All Calls
- Activate
- Cancel & De-register
- Cancel & Retain
- Status
- Re-establish
*21*[Phone Number]#
##21#
#21#
*#21#
*21#
Forward if Busy
- Activate
- Cancel & De-register
- Cancel & Retain
- Status
- Re-establish
*67*[Phone Number]#
##67#
#67#
*#67#
*67#
Forward if Not Answered
- Activate
- Cancel & De-register
- Cancel & Retain
- Status
- Re-establish
*61*[Phone Number]#
##61#
#61#
*#61#
*61#
Forward if Out of Reach
- Activate
- Cancel & De-register
- Cancel & Retain
- Status
- Re-establish
*62*[Phone Number]#
##62#
#62#
*#62#
*62#
Simultaneously perform ALL
FOUR forwards:
- Activate
- Cancel & De-register
- Cancel & Retain
- Re-establish
*002*[Phone Number]#
##002#
#002#
*002#
Simultaneously perform ALL
Conditional Forwards:
- Activate
- Cancel & De-register
- Cancel & Retain
- Re-establish
*004*[Phone Number]#
##004#
#004#
*004#
Forward All Calls: This mode forwards each and every call that comes into your GSM number, unconditionally. This is what most people traditionally think of when you mention call forwarding.
Forward if Busy: This mode forwards calls that come into you GSM number when your phone is busy. This means that instead of getting a busy signal, the caller is deflected to a different phone number.
Forward if Not Answered: This mode forwards calls that come into your GSM number when you fail to answer them. This normally occurs after 15 seconds, but you can change this duration (as you will see later).
Forward if Out of Reach: This mode forwards calls that come into your GSM number when your phone is either turned off, or out of the service area (showing No Service).
Each of these four modes operate independently of the others, which means you can set a completely different number for each, or choose to forward under some circumstances and not others.
Note: The cancellation feature actually has TWO different modes of operation. By prefacing the operation with two pound symbols instead of one, you instruct the network not only to cancel the forwarding operation, but to completely de-register this service. So what's the difference? If you use just a single pound symbol, this does turn off the selected call forwarding option, but the network retains a memory of the last number used. This allows you to turn the forwarding option back on, with the same number as before, by simply entering the "Re-establish" code noted in the chart. Re-establish will FAIL if you try to use it after performing a "Cancel & De-register" operation.
While direct brain control of prosthetics is a very awesome research area just by itself, these guys are stepping it up even further by providing sensory information, such as grip strength, back to the user. "Ideally, this tactile or haptic feedback will ... make it easier for patients to get their prosthetic arms to do exactly what they want them to do."
I'm excited to see this research making big leaps... and very curious as to what will follow this project. Perhaps direct electrical stimulation of the sensory information back to the brain?!
Pretty sweet photo-tour of the Lambo factory.
Some nice shots of the assembly process for the new Aventador.
Compliments of Josh Buessler, this is an industrial designer's project blending of 3-D printing technology, with green energy, and art. Enjoy!
The science of human robot love:
www.extremetech.com/extreme/88740-lovotics-the-new-science-of-human-robot-love
Still on track to attempt a 1,000mph+ landspeed run. Plus a quick look at some pretty gnarly CAD at the 1:00 mark.
This is pretty rad. Scientist are working on tattoos that can monitor your blood chemistry and change color depending on the levels of certain chemicals (seems like they are targeting people with diabetes). How do you decode the colors? You guessed it: there's an app for that.
My ol' chem professor is doing some pretty cool stuff at RIT! Dr. Chris Collison and his chemistry research group have developed a model that quantitatively describes comparisons of polymer materials used as dispersants for carbon nanotubes in organic solvents. Follow the link to find out what that actually means : )
Tattly is a temporary tattoo store for design-minded kids and kids-at-heart. After applying many bad-clip-art tattoos on her daughter, swissmiss decided to stop complaining and take matters into her own hands. Tattly was born.
I think that packaging is very neat, and often underestimated. Think about how many purposes it has to fulfill: marketing, design, intent, protection, display, shipment, experience…It’s a really neat fusion of disciplines.
I’ll admit, I save packages, tags, bags, and boxes that I find intriguing.
Now that you’re excited about packing, let me share a really fun blog. A package design blog!!!
Compliments of Bret, ever wonder what CNC wireforming looks like? It looks like awesome.
Friedemann Wachsmuth demonstrates the Lego Technic Super-8 Movie Projector that he built. The only non-lego parts are the reel spindles, the lens, and the light source!
I couldn't ski this past weekend, so this is what I did: http://cameroncharles.blogspot.com/2011/05/saeco-aroma-temperature-profi...
Do you have an iPhone and want to see where you have been?
NY Times article
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/3g-apple-ios-devices-secretly-storing-users-location/
Download the free app here
http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/
Picture of my travels
Interesting article on cell phone only usage.
Youth, Mobility and Poverty Help Drive Cellphone-Only Status
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/us/21wireless.html?_r=1
Check out LinkedIn Labs InMaps. It creates a visual of all your connections.
http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/
From snarky frustrated-writer site McSweeneys… while some seem to have been created from a random put-down generator, others made me laugh right out loud:
What your Favorite Classic Rock Band says About You (Part One)<http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/24peck.html> as well as What your Favorite Classic Rock Band says About You (Part Two)<http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/17peck.html>
The Doors: You have been bitten by an animal while trying to get it stoned.
The Who: You own a Goldwing with a baby-changing station.
Ted Nugent: Your hair has at some point been caught in a ceiling fan, boat propeller, or lathe.
The Rolling Stones: You own three cars and no stereo.
Canned Heat: You own three stereos and no car.
The Beatles: You can do exactly 1.5 pull-ups.
Badfinger: You are a Beatle.
Deep Purple: Some part of a law named after a young girl applies to you.
Led Zeppelin: The first three things you smoked were banana peels, catnip, and poppies, in that order.
Jimi Hendrix: You are under 20 or over 65.
The Kinks: You have bad teeth and are good in bed.
The Guess Who: You have good teeth and are bad in bed.
Black Sabbath: Your greatest joy is painting unventilated rooms.
David Bowie: There is still, somewhere, a Dig Dug or Zaxxon machine with your high score on it.
Mott the Hoople: You are David Bowie.
The Moody Blues: You are a former volunteer at the Liberace museum, a serial killer, or both.
The Grateful Dead: Your stories about the seventies make your daughter's roommates at Tufts very uncomfortable.
T-Rex: No matter how much you clean, there will always be trace amounts of glitter on your stove and blender.
The Eagles: You can only reach orgasm while listening to talk radio.
Pink Floyd: Your garage is full of failed versions of your stereo/barbecue hybrid.
Thin Lizzy: You are often forced to change or cancel your plans due to "NO LOITERING" signs.
ZZ Top: Your favorite Hank Williams is Hank Williams, Jr.
Chicago: You are incapable of talking about Chicago without mentioning their horn section.
Quicksilver Messenger Service: You become sullen when people don't stick around while you fix their vacuum cleaners.
Crosby, Stills & Nash: You own an oversized hat.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: You own three or more oversized hats.
Jefferson Airplane: You make your living buying and selling oversized hats.
AC/DC: You only remove your socks to shower, and then only reluctantly.
Aerosmith: You know a store that still sells puffy Reeboks.
Van Halen: You have a Peeing Calvin bumper sticker on your Jeep.
Sammy Hagar: You have a Peeing Calvin bumper sticker on your Subaru Brat.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive: You have an actual urine stain on your Subaru Brat.
Uriah Heep: You are the cause of the urine stain.
Santana: You have had an hours-long conversation with someone before realizing it was just a pile of clothes.
Rainbow: You have worn sweatpants to a funeral.
Foreigner: You have a severely wrinkled Jane Fonda poster under your bed.
Styx: You have a severely wrinkled Foreigner poster under your bed.
Allman Brothers Band: You do not own a bong, but can quickly make one from a piece of fruit or an abandoned toilet.
Bad Company: You have sustained several alcohol-related injuries involving sheetrock.
Cream: You know a guy who knows a guy who worked on Star Wars.
Journey: You own those running shoes that are shaped like feet.
Lynyrd Skynyrd: You somehow have both long hair and a sunburned scalp.
Yes: Your ideal partner would be into both tantric sex and fat guys.
Creedence Clearwater Revival: You are frequently missing part of an eyebrow.
Rush: You carry a small flashlight everywhere, and use it at least three times a day.
Blue Cheer: You have a subset of friends whose sole purpose is to hold your hair while you vomit.
Boston: Your best friend really likes Blue Cheer.
Steely Dan: You have snorted cocaine off a copy of Remembrance of Things Past.
Fleetwood Mac: You have snorted cocaine off a copy of The Hobbit.
Blue Oyster Cult: You have snorted cocaine off a copy of Type 2 Diabetes for Dummies.
Mountain: You have snorted cocaine off a Blue Oyster Cult record.
Nazareth: You have snorted cocaine off a member of Mountain.
Hawkwind: You sell cocaine to Nazareth fans.
Molly Hatchet: You sell baking soda to Hawkwind fans and tell them it's cocaine.
Jethro Tull: You have a favorite rune.
Kiss: You have partied on a boat in a driveway.
Queen: You have injured several people by jogging into them.
The Byrds: There is a thin layer of sand on the bottom shelf of your fridge.
Bob Dylan: You have the Swiss army knife that comes with a map reader and tweezers.
Electric Light Orchestra: You have three lava lamp bases and five tops.
Mike Oldfield: You have five lava lamp bases and three tops.
The Beach Boys: You won't live anywhere without a built-in microwave.
The Band: You have misspelled your name while carving it into a picnic table.
Genesis: You know what a steeplechase is.
The Zombies: You know what French cuffs are.
The Doobie Brothers: You have swallowed exactly two spiders—one accidentally, one on purpose.
Warren Zevon: You have a jacket with elbow patches.
.38 Special: You have a tattoo of an animal driving a vehicle.
Bob Seger: You lost your virginity in a Chevette with a spoiler.
The Georgia Satellites: You lost your virginity in a Chevette that was being towed.
REO Speedwagon: You have a favorite brand of lip balm.
Bay City Rollers: Your shower has flower-shaped traction pads.
Bruce Springsteen: Your ringtone is either "Takin' Care of Business" or "Chariots of Fire."
UFO: You have burned yourself while urinating on a campfire.
Slade: You have smoked speed through a TV antenna.
Procol Harum: You have smoked hash through an antique rifle.
Heart: You have smoked chamomile tea through a hookah.
Alice Cooper: You have a photo of your dog wearing sunglasses on your phone.
Foghat: You swim in man-made lakes exclusively.
Stevie Ray Vaughan: You have a bolo tie in the shape of a gun, guitar, or state.
Stealer's Wheel: You own an adding machine.
Traffic: You have several incense scars.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer: You have several self-inflicted incense scars.
Jackson Browne: Your favorite cola is RC Cola.
Hall and Oates: You have successfully fought someone off with a ski.
Blind Faith: You constantly misuse the word "penultimate."
Billy Squier: Your vanity plates say ROKRMOM.
Neil Young: You know at least three stores that sell bidis.
America: You think America is Neil Young.
Joni Mitchell: You have accidentally eaten more than half of a scented candle.
Montrose: You have used a bandana as a coffee filter.
Steppenwolf: You have three or more cigarette burns in hard-to-reach places.
Golden Earring: You have three or more intentional cigarillo burns.
Jimmy Buffett: You have used AAA as a cab.
Brownsville Station: You have tried to use AAA without a car.
Meat Loaf: You have a mustard stain on your mousepad.
Joe Walsh: You have fired a gun while in your underwear.
Don Henley: You have been shot at while in your underwear.
Bread: You have a cordless phone with an extendable antenna.
Donovan: You have a non-mammal pet with a human name, e.g. an iguana named Phillip.
Joe Jackson: You are an excellent speller.
Steve Miller Band: You have not yet figured out how to turn off the hourly beep on your digital watch.
Grand Funk Railroad: You have become stuck trying to retrieve a quarter from behind a stove.
Blood, Sweat & Tears: You have become stuck trying to retrieve your friend who likes Grand Funk Railroad from behind a stove.
Little River Band: You have used a riding lawnmower to flee across state lines.
Big Brother and the Holding Company: Your coffee table is a big wooden spool.
Alabama: You are from Alabama.
Kansas: Your first kiss was with a Toto fan.
Toto: You don't really remember your first kiss.
MC5: You have barbecued a whole chicken at 3 am.
Ozzy Osbourne: You have barbecued a frozen pizza at 3 am.
Dio: You have accidentally dropped a flashlight into a barbecue.
King Crimson: You have spent an entire afternoon watching a screensaver.
Eric Clapton: You yell when you play table tennis.
Marshall Tucker Band: You wear black socks with white shoes.
Little Feat: You have hit a baby with a frisbee.
Buffalo Springfield: You have broken a reinforced window with a frisbee.
Blackfoot: You have stolen a wine cooler from the back of a pickup truck.
New Riders of the Purple Sage: You have been bitten by a Blackfoot fan while trying to get your wine cooler back.
NASA's Kepler Science Team have found 1,235 planet candidates out beyond our cozy solar system.
OK Go's video for their song White Knuckles.
Sonicare AirFloss replaces traditional flossing with micro bursts of water and air. Since the technological breakthrough of the first Sonicare power toothbrush, we have learned a lot about fluid forces and their ability to remove plaque biofilm. Sonicare AirFloss is a new technology chapter in the field of oral healthcare. It uses a unique spray of micro bubbles and a small dose of fluid to generate a gentle and convenient, yet highly effective, interdental cleaning action. Not only does it disrupt plaque biofilm structures in critical and hard-to-reach areas, it promotes healthy gums with the targeted release of water/air spray.
http://www.dentistryiq.com/etc/medialib/new-lib/dentstryiq2/online-artic...
Promo:
It was okay when it was a few slices of cheese. A random beer.
But when your Omaha Steaks started disappearing, your roommate escalated things.
Catching him is going to take more than putting him on a scale, calling him fat. You're going to need to catch him in the act with an Inspector Bot.
These imposing-looking, remote-controlled mini-vehicles can be mounted with any combination of surveillance cameras, towing rigs, infrared, and other sensors.
Designer Chris Rogers says they’re ideal for home inspection, rescue operations, even HazMat applications.
Or just plain R/C mayhem: Rogers is introducing Inspector Bots as robot paintball combatants.
And he's offering the skin and bones crowd the chance to get in good with our future overlords. The project is currently looking for supporters on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.
If the project makes its $15,000 goal, donors will be rewarded with swag ranging from plans for early bots up to a kit for the robot itself.
iFixit does a nice job in their teardowns. They focus on the repirability of the device they are cracking open.
Those of you who used computers during the floppy-disk era will appreciate this. It's Bach's Toccata in D minor, performed on an organ built from four floppy-disk drives:
Dedicated to the preservation of pinball for future generations!
In the heart of nearly famous Chinatown/International District.
Sunday 1PM- 7PM
Monday closed
Tuesday closed
Wednesday closed
Thursday 6pm-9pm 10pm on tournament nights
Friday 2 -10pm
Saturday 1PM-10PM
"Bask in the glow of over-bright phosphors that flash on and slowly fade away. Customize the screen's curvature, colors, and transparency. Slow the bit-rate to a crawl."
Mike and Ellie Kemery "decided to write a documentary that will cover the details and experiences of a creative husband and wife team who set out to bring an idea to fruition. The story will include a fully functioning product sample..."
The iBGStar Diabetes Manager App provides touts the ability to record, track, manage, and share information with your healthcare professional and records management services.
All you have to do is to plug the Withings arm band with iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and start monitoring your blood pressure. Your pressure ratings can be recoreded in a log and can be shown or send to physician directly. The device cost $129. Another important thing to note is that you can interact with various health specialists like Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault and health and sports coaches which makes the entire package really interesting.
Little blocks that can sense each other as well as their own orientation as well as your computer. It's really worth watching the video to get an idea for how they work. SO COOL.
runs.
Whenever I see that word in an ad for a car in a newspaper, etc, I know immediately that I don't want that vehicle....just because they knew it was an important quality to the vehicle that was perhaps in question.
I now must modify this rule for 1/6th models.
Ahh, nice use of magnets! I wonder what the cup-cost is? Probably recoverable from the less labor intensive?
Hydrogen power for your USB devices.
Congratulations to Nike and TomTom on the release of Nike+ Sportwatch GPS (unveiled at CES 2011, Las Vegas)
Free Range Studio's Annie Leonard presents: The Story of Stuff: Why 'Designed for the Dump' is Toxic for People and the Planet. Are heirloom electronics in our society's near future?
Nice video of the molding process and a picture of one very large tool. Thats a lot of steel!
Just your standard 3D test pattern (a teapot) modeled physically inside a Commodore cabinet (and still rotatable).
A tiny motorized privacy curtain driven by computer vision.
This was sent out by another Synapster, Sean, to the company this morning. Nasa is announcing today that they found a life form on earth that uses arsenic in it's DNA where all other known life would use phosphorus. Holy cow, that is cool!
An interactive computer display using robotic arm that can recognize gestures. Even cooler, the form factor allows it be to put into any standard light socket or low-tech use. The Lumin AR was created by MIT student Natan Linder.
When my family moved from the suburbs to the city to be close to school/work some years ago, I decided to go carless. With 400 ft. elevation drop over 6 miles on quiet side-streets, my commute is ideal for longboarding INTO work, but getting home at the end of the day required excess energy (bus) or time (walking). I set a goal to construct a personal transportation vehicle using electrochemical energy storage that could achieve parity with gasoline’s cheap energy density. Gasoline is approximately 23 times cheaper per kWhr than Lead-Acid batteries, and stores almost 50 times more energy per kg. Clearly the only solution is to reduce the scale of the vehicle. My old car weighed 3200 lbs and consumed 1/24 gallons per mile, equating to roughly $0.67/mi at an average of 3 minutes per mile in traffic. The electric longboard clocks in at nearly 8 minutes per mile (still acceptable) but trounces the car at $0.14/mi. Note: emergency room visits and misc. medical care costs were *not* factored into the longboard learning-curve.
View more presentations from gsbright.
A fun idea clearly snowballing out of control! I hope there's someone around here with something better than MS Word and more creative graphics.
Jetman loops video, and you thought squirrel suits were crazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0E6Yh_mSx8
"PhoneQi for iPhone lets you clip, save and share any text you see around you, in newspapers, magazines, books, even on computer screens, as long as it is publicly available online. Only about 6 words are needed on average to locate the text you are looking at among all the documents ever created."
"Exbiblio has created an enterprise that includes both a not-for-profit ".org" entityand a commercial ".com" entity. The two sides are built together, allowing each to share in the other's success.To create a positive impact on global ecological challenges, Exbiblio provides general operating expenses and program-specific grants to non-profit organizations committed to environmental work. By dedicating 15% of the company's equity to this cause upfront, all of Exbiblio's stakeholders help contribute to conservation initiatives around the world. This contribution provides an opportunity to address significant environmental issues while promoting a model of sustainable capitalism to the rest of the business world."
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/dog-drying-physics/
Cool slow-mo videos of dogs shaking to dry off. Video also features some math... so get your nerd on.
Our newly opened for business climbing wall with cushioned floor and a slide for the kids.
Contrail is such a cool idea! A small device is attached to your bike marks your rear wheel with chalk. When you ride a trail is left in your wake. When a lot of people ride with contrails in a community, bike paths and trails that are commonly used emerge. It helps cars know to look out for cyclists, it helps urban planners know what routes and streets are being used, it helps cyclists know what routes other cyclists enjoy. I would love to get a bunch of people in my community using this device.
I first saw contrail about six months ago when their concept was passed as a link around Synapse (maybe it made to the Wall of Cool then, I'm not certain). Recently they sent out a post explaining that they were trying to raise money for a prototype run... YOU CAN HELP! Click on the link and check out their Kickstarter video. Pass it on if you think it's cool... and maybe, just maybe you can send them money too :-)
http://www.jaeger-lecoultre.com/reverso-gyrotourbillon-2/en/
This is the video for Jaeger LeCoultre's Gyrotourbillon watch movement. It is a double axis gyroscopic watch movement. Click the "inside story" button for a 2-3 minute video showing the history and manufacture of the watch.
Oh, and in case you were wondering what one of these things will run you; let's just say you could probably have a two-car garage full of Lambos instead.
PS: MEs, look closely for a few scattered shots of the CAD for the watch during the video!
Martine sent me an article about this guy a few years ago. I just heard him on NPR last night and it inspired me to share it.
http://www.matthewbcrawford.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106513632
In 1997, the California PATH program (www.path.berkeley.edu; especially this report) conducted studies of the effect of automated vehicles on throughput, showing that by giving up control of our vehicles we could double (at least) the capacity of our highways with almost zero infrastructure development needed. As a bonus, there would be less emissions, fewer traffic jams, fewer accidents, and far fewer hours lost sitting in traffic. The technical challenges have already been solved; all that remains is a political problem.
User interface accessibility is growing. Last year, I posted an article about a Google Engineer working on a similar project.
wallofcool.synapse.com/eli/blog/google-android-perfects-touchscreen-dialing-blind
The Arcade Fire has released a music "video" that relies heavily on the internet and the watchers personal history to be completed. "The Wilderness Downtown" is an interactive website, developing a music video based on the address where the viewer grew up, and map data to complete itself. Part way through the video, user interaction is used to generate art that may be used for promotional material for the band, or during a live performance
This is the first time I've seen a music video that could not actually be viewed without the internet or computer. The concept just wouldn't work on a normal T.V. Internet killed the video star indeed.
Works best (requires?) with Google Chrome
African pouched rats are being put to use to detect landmines. They are awesome at their jobs.
NTT's promotional film, circa 1999 touts a decade in the future that "enables richer communication between people". They didn't do a bad job, IMHO. Except for the smartphone ID, perhaps... no iPhones here. :)
A collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912. In those years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. He used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time - when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun.
Scientists hook up a fruit fly to some sensors. Scientists drop fruit fly into a virtual environment. Fruit fly drives a robot by proxy.
The staff of OmniTech News take the stage at Gnomedex 2010. (Click Photo to see Video)
More info about OTN --> http://www.omnitechnews.net/crew/
Geeks Without Borders (GWOB.org) is an international humanitarian organization of geeks working together to assist people whose survival is threatened by lack of access to technology or communications due to violence, neglect, or catastrophe.Geeks without Borders will officially launch on 10.10.10 at 10am PST (1pm EST)
Surfing the internet ALREADY makes me happy....and it's going to be better? Stoke!
This is a flickr photostream I've started to share some of my origami creations. Some of you might find this pretty cool.
This is some amazing, beautiful DJ-ing technology. I want one just because its beautiful.
From IEEE Spectrum:
The house generates its own energy, monitors its own climate, and opens its own windows, all in service of comfort and a small environmental footprint. For more details about the project, read "Denmark's Net-Zero-Energy Home."
Check out Ed Fries' newest version of Halo: http://www.codemystics.com/halo2600/
Ed was the VP of Microsoft Game Studios back in the day when I was on the Xbox HW team. On a side note, I also worked with Ed's wife in my job previous to my time at MS, designing rocket engines and hall current thrusters.
It's not your olde-fashioned post office. This Virtual Box Simulator allows you to interact with a virtual box, in order to see which size would best fit your shipment. Simply print a target image and place it in the field of view of your webcam, and on the screen you can see the image of a box. Choose the best fit for your shipment!
