August 2007
Photoshop Brushes by Adam Woodhouse →
Free Photoshop brushes. Don’t forget to donate
Teen engineers create eco-minded electric unicycle
Filed under: Transportation
Two clever Canadian teen-scientists have built a bizarre, eco-friendly electric bike which runs on principals similar to those of the Segway — but looks way cooler. The motorized prototype (called either the “Uno” or “Tango,” depending on who you speak with), sports two wheels side-by-side, sort of like a double unicycle which the rider...
July 2007
Bug Labs - BUG →
Sounds like toys for computer geeks
BugLabs: Open Source Gadgets
Look out for BugLabs, a stealthy startup with an audacious aim: to do for consumer electronics what open source, “web 2.0″, XML, APIs and the rest did for the web. In essence, a sudden outpouring of innovation once everyone has the tools to create; I guess you could call it open source gadgets. From the site: Bug Labs is developing BUG, an open, modular, consumer electronics web services +...
Facebook Powertools: 150+ Apps, Scripts and...
Facebook is growing at a fast rate these days, with hundreds of new applications, scripts and Firefox add-ons driving that growth. We’ve picked out the leading browser extensions, desktop applications, Greasemonkey scripts and Facebook apps - more than 150 in all. FIREFOX ADD-ONS
Firefox Toolbar - adds Facebook search and activity notifications to Firefox. Also view friends and share content...
CMS Toolbox: 80+ Open Source Content Management... →
A cms resource for content management systems
Delta’s Online Corner » SLeek →
SLeek is an open-source (BSD-style license), relatively lightweight client for Second Life. It allows basic in-world tasks like chatting, IM, view inventory, view profiles, etc. Useful for lower-power computers, or basic functionality of SL. (alpha)
IBM Virtual World Guidelines →
IBM company guidelines for virtual worlds
iconolith: Yea! I sold my house!
iconolith: Yea! I sold my house! (via Twitter / iconolith)
The Worst Sentence Awards
Every year the folks at the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest celebrate their love for bad prose by running “a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.” They’ve just announced this year’s champion sentences and they’re well worth a read. The contest accepts entries year-round, so if you think you’ve got what it takes...
CMS Toolbox: 80+ Open Source Content Management...
A content management system, or CMS, is the easiest way to get a content driven site up and running fast. Frequently, they’re also used for building social networks. We’ve rounded up more than 80 popular CMSs due to reader requests. For the sake of brevity, we haven’t delved too deeply into CMSs for personal blogging or wikis (although we recommend Wordpress and Mediawiki, respectively)....
LG Philips develops oil and water based flexible...
Filed under: Displays LG Philips , known for its nearly constant pursuit of new flexible display solutions, has recently applied for a patent on a bendable OLED screen technology which would use oil and water to produce images. Apparently, current flexible OLED displays are hampered by the fact that the OLEDs get hotter than the plastic substrate, making manufacture difficult and expensive. The...
Google vs Jimmy Wales & Open Source Search
Jimmy Wales, the founder of not-for profit Wikipedia and for-profit, San Mateo, Calif.-based Wikia is part of a growing number of people who are discomforted by the growing control Google over search. And he is doing something about it. His company, Wikia, last week bought the distributed crawler Grub from LookSmart and plans to make it available in open source. Not that Looksmart wasn’t really...
WIN :: High Performance Sport Detergent →
How great is this? No more sports bras that smell like mildew.
ONLINE STORAGE: 80+ File Hosting and Sharing Sites
From sending one document to backing up an entire business, data storage is the key to everything nowadays. Due to popular demand, we’ve put together a list of more than 80 of the leading file hosting services, many of which are completely free. Online Backup Allmydata.com - Unlimited storage and automated backup for $4.99 a month. Angelbackup.com - Prices as low as $1.95 for 2GB of automated...
PDF Toolbox: 40+ Tools to Rip, Mix and Burn PDFs →
A list od PDF-related resources from Mashable
IBM Virtual World Guidelines
The world is positively abuzz this morning with news of guidelines being released by IBM as a code of conduct for IBMers in virtual worlds. Lots of news sources (including TIME, USATODAY, the Examiner, the San Jose Mercury News and more) are carrying an Associated Press story talking about the guidelines. Since nobody seems to be linking to the guidelines themselves, I’ll provide a link to the...
Embotec's levitating keyboard uses magnets, not...
Filed under: Peripherals
If you can’t get ‘em to produce infinite clean energy in your perpetual motion machine, why not repurpose those magnets into a keyboard? That’s what Embotec’s done with their appropriately named Magnetic Levitation Keyboard. The design apparently aligns the magnets in opposition which forces the keys apart before succumbing to the pressure of your...
Google Earth Enterprise Version Update Released
Google Earth has released the latest version of Google Earth Enterprise, incorporating some new geospatial tools, among other things. Some of the new features include browser integration with the Google Maps API AJAX, allowing maps to be embedded in web-based applications. There’s also a new serch framework for integrating geocoding and other search services, including Java plug-ins. Use the...
World’s First Look at the BBC iPlayer
The Brits are right to petition the BBC over tomorrow’s Windows-only launch of the iPlayer: with the need to have Windows XP, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and approve more than one “security update” (aka draconian DRM) before you can even get started, the BBC’s Joost-like P2P TV service scores low marks in the usability stakes. The download is fairly small (around 4 megs), but you’ll...
Alaska's Digital Archives →
Alaska’s Digital Archives presents a wealth of historical photographs, albums, oral histories, moving images, maps, documents, physical objects, and other materials from libraries, museums and archives throughout the state.
Timeline Generator from hCalendar and vCalendar →
A service that converts your hCal or vCal data into a timeline using the MIT Simile platform. Go microformats!
Free Aqua Icons →
Fast Icon has some free aqua-style icons for download for free. Use does require backlink.
Hub of the online universe: City plans a virtual... →
Captivated by the promotional possibilities and the potential for providing services in Second Life’s cyberscape of some 8 million digital people, Boston’s technological gurus are laying plans to reconstruct parts of the city online.
ConceptShare →
Web-Based Idea and Design Sharing and Collaboration. Free basic account available.
Respectance Web2.0 for Those Who Have Passed On →
Respectance, which is unique among social networks since itâs dedicated to remembering those who have died, has taken $1.5 million in a series A funding in a round led by Solid Ventures and Big Bang Ventures. The site also launches officially today, and
Massive WiFi network to cover 37 cities in Silicon...
Filed under: WirelessGranted, we’ve seen some sizable WiFi networks in our day, and while an entire country has claimed to have nationwide internet on the brain, the largest we’ve seen implemented here in the states span a city or so at most. Reportedly, a group of firms (including IBM and Cisco) are looking to build a $85- to $150-million outdoor WiFi network that could connect up 37...
Respectance Web2.0 for Those Who Have Passed On →
Respectance, which is unique among social networks since itâs dedicated to remembering those who have died, has taken $1.5 million in a series A funding in a round led by Solid Ventures and Big Bang Ventures. The site also launches officially today, and
MindMeister - think together →
Users can create, manage and share mind maps online and access them anytime, from anywhere. In brainstorming mode, fellow MindMeisters from around the world can simultaneously work on the same mind map - and see each other’s changes as they happen.
Respectance Gets $1.5 Million, Posthumously
Respectance, which is unique among social networks since it’s dedicated to remembering those who have died, has taken $1.5 million in a series A funding in a round led by Solid Ventures and Big Bang Ventures. The site also launches officially today, and says it has taken funding at a “pre-user” stage.
With the MySpace, Bebo and Facebook pages of the dead already becoming shrines of a type -...
Alaska Grizzly Bears, McNeil River Falls - Wildcam... →
Corning bends light around corners - vnunet.com →
Corning Inc has developed an optical fibre-based technology that allows light to be bent around corners, solving the major technical challenge for carriers installing fibre-to-the-home.
Researchers develop "paint-on" solar cells
The quest to builder a better, cheaper solar cell continues on, as researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology have developed a new type of solar cell that can be printed or painted onto flexible plastic sheets. Unlike traditional silicon cells, the print-on cells are composed of carbon nanotubes and buckyballs, which results in substantially cheaper manufacturing costs and greater...
Snocap Launches Pandora Mashup
Snocap, the creator of the music-selling widget, has launched a Pandora mashup enabling you to find and purchase downloads as your Pandora radio station streams. This combined service is an interesting mashup that offers the best of both of these music worlds. As your music plays on Pandora, Snocap will automatically search all of the artists and songs that match the current artist playing. You...
Rick Steves' Europe: Rick's Podcasts on UK... →
60,000 cubic meters of crystalline rock
Thanks to a small blurb in New Scientist, I’ve just read about a “partly solar heated building area” in the wintry town of Anneberg, Sweden. [Image: Sweden, via Wikipedia]. This particular “building area” consists of 50 residential units – but check out how they’ll be heated in the winter: solar-heated water from the summer months will be stored 65 meters...
Wireless USB is here
The Wireless USB is here … finally. After all the talk about using low-power wireless connections that would replace the wired USB, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today endorsed products from six companies - Dell, D-Link, IOGEAR and Lenovo. Most of these products will carry a “Wireless USB logo.” So far folks like myself have been using bluetooth-based devices to unclutter our desks (though...
Vibrating GPS rings could make traversing foreign...
Filed under: GPS, Wearables
To be quite honest, there’s been an awful lot of gadgetry lately tied to rings, and while it’s a curious fascination, you won’t find us griping over the latest ring-based device. Gail Knight’s vibrating GPS hoops are nothing short of a traveler’s dream come true, as these fanciful finger adornments work in conjunction with a neck-worn GPS...
Online Maps: 50+ Tools and Resources
Mapping is a huge and growing sector, from social maps for sharing with friends, to mashing up Google Maps in every possible way. Trawling through all the mapping sites out there, we’ve compiled a list of the most interesting online mapping tools that some are referring to as “Maps 2.0″.
CUSTOMIZABLE AND COLLABORATIVE MAPS
Click2Map.com - Create custom Google Maps, manage your markers,...
Chemical Radiance: A review of the film Sunshine
[Image: The cast of Sunshine; courtesy of DNA Films]. I saw Sunshine the other day, so I thought I’d offer a few thoughts about it here. However, please beware that this post gives away key plot details and spoils the end of the film – so do not read this post if you’d like to avoid such knowledge. In brief, myself and two friends went to see the film together – and we had three...
Work Together: 60+ Collaborative Tools for Groups
With businesses and families spread out more and more, we’ve dug up 60+ sites that will help everyone be on the same page.
Business Productivity
37Signals.com - Maker of collaboration tools including Basecamp (others listed below).
8apps.com - A mixture of social network and productivity applications.
BlueTie.com - Online collaboration directed towards small and medium sized businesses.
...
Researchers develop multi-gigabit WiFi
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
A research group from the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at Georgia Tech has recently released a study demonstrating high-speed wireless data transfers at a staggering 15Gbps at a one meter range. The system is still in its infancy, as data rates drop off steeply with just a little added distance (10Gbps at two meters, 5Gbps at five meters), but the...
iA Notebook » Web Trend Map 2007 Version 2.0 →
Information Architects’ newest top 200 websites with clickable links and snaps of sites on the online version
Moller M200G hovercraft heading into production
Filed under: Transportation
Moller Industries, the brainchild of inventor Dr. Paul Moller, announced recently that production would begin on the company’s M200G volantor, a UFO-esque hovercraft that apparently can “glide over terrain at 50 MPH.” Moller, long known for his work in both hovercrafts and flying vehicles (see the dubious Skycar), has been working on alternative forms...
Google Acquires Image America for Aerial Imaging...
Google’s acquisition spree continued today with the announcement that they’ve purchased Image America, a company that builds “high resolution cameras for the collection of aerial imagery”.
The Clayton, MO-based company provided high resolution black and white imagery of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and supplied imagery to Google Maps and Google Earth. They’re in the R&D stage,...
Gnomonology →
Tips, tricks, and Techniques by professionals Artists
Big! Bigger! Biggestest! →
For all the designers out there with clients that insist their logo be BIGGER
Google Earth and NASA Complete Project
Google Earth and NASA have completed their project for a NASA layer in Google Earth. This was initiated in an effort to raise awareness and promote NASA’s earth programs.
The new NASA layer has astronaut photography of Earth, satellite imagery, and earth city lights. Incorporating photos and images that NASA has been collecting for decades, the astronaut photography of Earth really showcases...
Canadian iPod levy assumes you're a criminal...
Filed under: Audio, NewsCanada has moved one step closer to imposing a copyright levy on every personal digital audio device sold, which would be handed over to the worlds largest music publishers as compensation for perceived piracy. Michael Giest writes, “The government has yet to play its hand on this issue, but with the prospect of an unpopular levy and mounting pressure for a Canadian...
PREFAB FRIDAY: mkLotus at West Coast Green
Michelle Kauffman, prefab designer extraordinaire, is at it again. Her newest mkLotus design, a modular prefab home with a long list of green features, will debut at this September’s West Coast Green conference in San Francisco with a full-sized showhouse for visitors to ooh-and-aah at to their hearts’ content. The mkLotus features a green roof, LED lighting, green building materials, and the...
