« Older Entries | Newer Entries »

Google Earth’s GeoEye & 360Cities 3D Panoramas

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on January 4, 2010 by admin in Technology

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Being constantly under surveillance has never been so much fun.


Here’s a quick preview of 360 Cities
with -appropriately enough – Dead
or Alive as a backing track

Do you ever get that funny feeling that someone is watching you? Well if not, you should. We’re getting closer every day to full time coverage of every location on the planet. Between things like the 4.2 million CCTV cameras in England, the way Google has you covered from your desktop to the sky, and the members of 360Cities obsessively creating cool 360 degree panoramas of the planet (see their blog for the latest views), it won’t be long before there truly will be nowhere to hide. Especially with tools like PhotoSynth to put the info all together. You may or may not find this kind of coverage invasive, but you know what? It’s really kind of FUN too. You may have read that Google made a deal with spy satellite company GeoEye last year to gain a competitive edge over Microsoft, Yahoo and other satellite image search providers. What you may not realize though is that the satellite can capture objects 16 inches across from 423 miles up in space! Don’t worry, Google isn’t allowed to use those images, only the NGA and men of integrity with security clearances like Dick Cheney are. And your secrets are always safe with the US government and politicians named Dick, right? In any case, the upside of all of this is that Google has been showing off the images on their Google Earth GeoEye pages. Even if you’re not stunned with the images, it’s a blast pretending you’re shooting the opening titles for a James Bond film by zooming in and out from the Earth, from an orbital view to street level in seconds. Likewise with the 360 Cities panoromas; some of the images aren’t so thrilling, but moving around in them is an entirely new experience, and a cool one at that. See a sample below. Read the rest of this entry »

Watch This Space: Gift Ideas For The Person Who Has Everything But Time

[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 5, 2009 by admin in Technology

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Watch out, we’ve taken the time to round up a bunch of cool, not-so-cool, and interesting watches. None of which are second hand.


With the TokyoFlash Retsu,
You Look Cool But Never
Know What Time It Is

I have what might be described as a poorly-manifested watch fetish. In the 90′s, I probably had two dozen watches. Fossils, Swatches, or any clever design that was in the discount bin near the checkout at stores like TJ Maxx. They all died slow, painful nightclub deaths of course though, and since 2001 I’ve only had one watch; the classic Museum Movado. Its simple functional beauty and reliability is unparalleled. I laugh every time I dodge the $80.00 “Movado Authorized” battery replacement fee and void the warranty at a nearby jeweler that does it for the cost of the battery: six bucks. But even though I’m not likely to go on another watch-buying bender any time soon, I love a cool design, and the right watch is a superb gift, so we’re rounding up some interesting watches to give you some holiday gift ideas. If you really want to impress that special someone, and money is truly no object, you might consider one of the watches from this selection, which is topped off by the Patek Caliber 89 at $5,120,000. In these lean times though, even the most affluent might consider gold, silver, or real estate before a $5.1 Million watch, so let’s think a little more reasonably. Amazon, for instance, offers the Breguet Classique Complications Tourbillon Messidor for a mere $131,669.99, which – before you complain – is $8230.01 lower than retail. But honestly let’s get just a little more real now. Personally, I’ve never been much of a Rolex fan; not even of the simple and classic Oyster Perpetual Explorer (only $4,545!). Somehow, it’s the very message of quality and stability that the watch conveys that kind of turns me off. However, this gorgeous collection of Rolex Explorers designed by Hiroshi Fujiwara for Bamford Watch Department might make me rethink things. While the original is a little over $4500.00, these redesigns are priceless. Literally. I couldn’t find pricing info anywhere. Moving from the outrageously expensive to the unique and peculiar, there are flat-out goofy choices out there like the Nooka Zub Zot SpongeBamo, the Flud Tableturns DJ-inspired model, or the Pac-Man Limited Edition Pellet-Time Watch (only 500 made, and it comes with the game for your PC). And then there’s the nerdishly intriguing but ultimately absurd, like the “let’s watch TV on your wrist” Ultimate Style 8GB Steel MP4 Player Watch with 1.8 Inch Screen or the Super Cool Mobile Phone Wrist Watch. I think we can rest assured that anything with the words “Super Cool” in the name probably isn’t. If you’re more of a do-it-yourself type, there’s the Pong Watch concept by John Maushammer. It may actually be in production at some point, but for now, he’s just sharing how he made it. If you’re a little compulsive about dates, you might consider the Everyday Special by Mr Jones Watches. At $210, the full year will only set you back about $76,650. Which of course was not their intention; Mr Jones actually does some cool watches (the Cyclops is pretty fun, for instance), and the idea of course, is to pick a date that means something to you, not cover the whole year. But enough silliness, if you’ve seen the kinds of hip and unique watch designs that pop up on gadget blogs or sites like BoingBoing, they’re almost always from shops like TokyoFlash, Nooka, or trendy lines like Diesel. And if you’re looking for the TRULY innovative, Trendhunter has a roundup that includes things like the Pierced Wrist Watch and the Seiko E-Ink Watch for women. Below are more interesting timepieces available on Amazon. Read the rest of this entry »

Engaging In Excessive Display Behavior

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on November 29, 2009 by admin in Technology

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

I’m a firm believer that size matters, but a 120 inch wide monitor might be a little excessive, in my opinion. Unless of course you’re Dr Evil or you’re running the Matrix or something.


This kind of behavior is probably okay
if you’re runnin’ The Matrix or somethin’

You may remember a time not too long ago when a 19″ monitor was quite adequate, and anything larger than 21″ was considered absolutely luxurious. Those days are clearly gone; the advent of widescreen laptops changed our expectations forever. And now it’s frankly getting a little out of hand. I can understand an extra monitor if you’re a music producer, movie maker, or designer that uses more than two or three applications at once, but personally, I think going beyond that is simply engaging in a sort of high tech display behaviour. I mean c’mon. Does anyone really need a 42″ wide monitor? Well if they do, they’re in luck. Although Alienware debuted the monstrosity at a trade show back in early 2008, the version that’s actually now available is made by Ostendo , and and is also being sold by NEC. If these numbers mean anything to you, it has a 32:10 aspect ratio, 2880 x 900 pixel native resolution, and for you gamers: yes, it’s fairly fast with 0.02 millisecond refresh rate. For the rest of you, that means it’s BIG. See the comparison images below. Of course, this already wasn’t big enough for some nerd, so you can always string three of them together (YouTube clip, also embedded below) for the ultimate pretend driving experience. And if you need this kind of silliness on the go, there are also dual screen laptops available. The Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds is probably not the way to go; at around 12 lbs, 2 inches thick, and a battery life of about an hour and forty-five minutes (if you’re using its crappy second screen), it’s hardly what you’d call “portable”. It also costs almost five grand. Perhaps a bit more on the mark is the Kohjinsha dual-screen netbook. You’ll have to pay for it in Yen for now though; it’s only available in Japan as of this writing. But if you’re still intrigued, Engadget has a hands-on look here. At least it actually exists; its only competitors are stylish pre-production concepts. One is the GScreen SpaceBook , the other is the Estari Canova. Of course, too much is never enough for some people, so if you’re looking for that “Dr Evil” impact try an industrial vendor like CGM, and if you need to run The Matrix or something, there are modular solutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Buying A Touchscreen Tablet PC: Mac, Android Vega, Or CrunchPad?

[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 16, 2009 by admin in Technology

Monday, November 16th, 2009

I’d love to own a Mac Tablet, but I’ll probably settle for any lightweight tablet PC that actually exists.


One thing I’ve noticed about these tablet
PC’s is that they all look better
with Dissociated Press on the screen

I don’t know why I’m so impatient. I mean, it was just a few thousand years ago that we were still picking bugs off of each other’s heads and grunting, but for some reason I expect the personal computer to be the size of a small legal pad, talk, accept voice commands, and have a holographic keyboard in the first thirty years of its evolution. But in my heart of hearts, I know that’s unreasonable, so I’ll settle for a decent tablet PC with a touch screen. And whine about it ’til I get one. Preferably a Mac, as I’ve said before, but recently I’ve considered lowering my standards. Especially after the last couple of weeks of hoopla about the mystery tablet that NVIDIA’s CEO used to taunt the tech press. In spite of a short-lived flurry of rumors that it had something to do with a Mac Tablet, it’s now pretty clear that it was an IDC Vega 15 inch tablet. And if it was, I’ll add this to the list of devices I’d consider buying, along with the the CrunchPad. I just want to get rid of my cellphone and laptop, and do it for less than a couple grand. Take your time, Apple. As much as I love you, personally I’ll probably settle for a tablet that actually exists in physical reality. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t Poo Poo The Idea of Pee Pee To Charge Your Batteries

[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 11, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

We’ve found some interesting ways to recharge your batteries, which includes a better use for your USB port than humping dogs.


For some reason I hope that’s orange juice

It just occurred to me the other day that except for the battery for my Movado, I haven’t purchased a disposable battery for over two years. Rechargeable is definitely the way to go, both economically and environmentally. We’ve touched on shaking up your battery routine before, but we’ve found some interesting and bizarre new ways to recharge since then. Number one: don’t poo-poo the idea of using pee-pee for recharging. You’ll be relieved to know that the Japanese company Aqua Power System has developed batteries that will let you use urine to recharge your batteries. Of course, you can also use beer, apple juice, cola, or saliva, but what fun would that be? I eliminated this choice right away in favor of getting some exercise while I recharge. UK mobile provider Orange introduced the the Orange Dance Charge last year, but alas, it’s specifically for phones, and may not even be in actual production at this point. Besides, I think bra power has received more support so far. For your broader recharging needs, you’ll want the Rakuten Pedal Charger. Fortunately its function and purpose are fairly obvious, because the “Engrish” on their site suggests things like “Every 45-90 minutes Please put him on the pedal at the speed of rotation. Before rotation, rotation after you both“. Let’s hope your CEO doesn’t catch wind of this; before you know it they’ll be making us run our companies on pedal power from the cube farm to save on energy costs. Speaking of life in the cubicle, you can also use your USB ports as battery chargers, which might be a better use than powering a humping dog. And lastly, for a really “cute” charging experience, just pop your batteries in the toaster. Read the rest of this entry »

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »