Technology
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Touchy Feely Lipstick Laptops
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on April 12, 2009 by admin in Technology
Sunday, April 12th, 2009Cool laptop concepts, with something special for the ladies. Or guys like me, who wear makeup.
As someone who’s always a little disappointed with existing technology (give me anti-gravity travel and holographic computer interfaces, NOW!), I have a bit of a fetish for design concepts. My current reality-based fantasy is for the MacBook Touch to actually exist. It would also be fun, if it did exist, if it had a more three dimensional, tactile interface, something like BumpTop. While we’re dreaming of a more interesting mobile computing device, how about a “laptop” that rolls up so you can carry it like a purse? Or something like the HP Makeup, which has a screen that converts to a mirror, a built-in cosmetic tray, and a nail polishing port. There’s also a fitness model. Those two images are from a humorous piece created by a Russian designer for a women’s holiday feature. More info here, and if you speak Russian, here. And the closest we have to my dream of a holographic computer are apparently the Celluon Laser Keyboard 
Hyperlinking Reality
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on April 7, 2009 by admin in Technology
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009What if you could click on the objects around you for more information about them?
Imagine you’re in Rome, and by pointing your iPhone at a statue, you’re able not only to identify the statue, but also able to click on links to Wikipedia about it, and then switch to Google Maps to locate the nearest cafe for a break from sightseeing. This scenario is quickly becoming less and less like science fiction, thanks to new tools like Photosynth and Mobvis. We touched on Photosynth a while back, but they’ve more recently teamed with CNN to bring you an interesting and different way to look at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. Unfortunately, if you’re on a Mac, you won’t be able to see how interesting and different. They say they’re working on a Mac-friendly version, but for a more cross-platform look at what these tools have to offer in the meantime, see the Photo Tourism project page at Washington University. You might also check out the short video Hyperlinking Reality Via Camera Phones (also below), which presents the concept in a simpler, more visual manner. And although the presenter and narrator step randomly into programmer gobbledy-gook, cut them some slack. At least they have the courtesy to do it in English! The project is being developed by Visual Cognitive Systems Lab, at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. This technology has amazing possibilities, but I’m also always a little leery of the possible negative uses. Imagine a more highly developed version of this that merges the tools with Google Street View (with which I’ve previously expressed some annoyance) and Facial Recognition Systems. You could literally click on the faces of people around you for biographical information. Unless of course they had an adequately-developed tinfoil hat, as I apparently do… Read the rest of this entry »
The Apocalyptic Beauty Of Solar Superstorms
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 27, 2009 by admin in Technology
Friday, March 27th, 2009At least the end of civilization will have a nice light show.
Having been a teen during the death throes of the cold war, sometimes I miss apocalyptic visions and doomsday scenarios. Well, it seems we have no shortage lately. Yeah, global economic collapse. Whatever. And that new Internet worm scheduled for April 1st? Frankly, I’m more worried about the day that Bill Gates activates the mysterious trillions of lines of code in Windows that allows him to take over the world. No, we have a much greater catastrophe awaiting us. Remember the Northeast Blackout of 2003? That was like your porch light burning out compared to the civilization-ending effects of the inevitable space storm coming our way. This New Scientist article suggests that after briefly being enthralled with being able to see the aurora borealis over the equator, it’ll be less than a year before millions of Americans will be dead and the nation’s infrastructure will be in tatters. The World Bank will declare the U.S. a developing nation. All because of the electrical effects of a Solar Superstorm. Although that New Scientist piece sounds a bit melodramatic, the scenarios are drawn directly from a NASA report on the subject. On a positive note, it should be pretty to look at.
Printer Jam
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 19, 2009 by admin in Technology
Thursday, March 19th, 2009Printers have feelings too you know
The other day, I heard a friend in an adjacent office talking to their printer. They were saying “C’mon, that’s it, that’s it” and occasionally tapping on something while they jiggled the paper tray. I said “Wow. Who’d have thought twenty years ago that one day we’d have voice-activated printers?” They stared at me blankly for a second and then busted up laughing. I added “and it only requires occasional percussive maintenance”. Why is it that even though the printing press was invented around 1450, they still can’t seem to produce a printer that simply does the single task appointed to it? If you’ve ever worked in an office, you’ve probably experienced the rage induced by cryptic messages like “PC Load Letter”, which is so commonplace that the movie Office Space included the well-known Going Away Present Scene, in which printer justice is finally served. The clip featured at left would go a long way toward explaining some of this phenomena; you might want to be careful how you treat your printer next time you’re frustrated. And also be careful how you word the notes you leave in a faulty printer at the office, especially if the problem is that an inkpen jammed the machine.
Audi Shark Flying Car
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 10, 2009 by admin in Technology
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009Which unfortunately doesn’t fly. Or exist, for that matter.
People always give me a hard time for not having a car. They usually either think I lost my license in some drug-induced tragedy involving small children and senior citizens, or that I’m a tree-hugging peacenik trying to save mankind. Neither could be further from the truth; I’m just incredibly disappointed that they don’t fly! That’s why I like the idea that people still at least ponder the idea; the Audi Shark (pictured left) is only a design contest winner submitted by Turkish car designer Kazim Doku, but captures in a stylish way the essence of the Blade Runner hover cars I dream of. Which is cool, because if you’re going to spend your life making pretend cars that may never work, they shouldn’t be hideously ugly and bankrupt you. The press manages to forget about the Moller Skycar just linked to every eleven months or so, so sit tight and you’ll probably see it in the news again soon. The equally ugly Terrafugia at least has the technical and financial backing of MIT, so may actually get off the ground. You can see more of Kazim Doku’s Audi Shark in this YouTube clip; he also has apparently won a Peugeot design contest with the üstüminki concept car. And he has more interesting work on his DeviantArt page.