USB Duck vacuum cleaner
Akihabara News - USB Duck vacuum cleaner for PC
Add comment November 23rd, 2005
Archive for November, 2005
Break out the Emulator
Old Skool Gamez I have been hooked on (mainly on Atari & Commodore 64):
Captive
Dungeon Master
Chaos Strikes Back
Elite
Arkanoid I & II
Bloodwych
Bubble Bobble
Great Giana Sisters
Zork
Lemmings
Rainbow Islands
Populous
Xenon I & II
Smash TV
Sidearms
Red Alert
1 comment November 23rd, 2005
Black Friday Laptop from Walmart
Gizmodo says: ‘For $378 without any rebates, you can get your hands on an HP Pavilion ze2108wm laptop, installed with AMD Sempron processor with PowerNow! technology. The best part of this laptop looks like its battery life, which should last about 3 hours on the 6-cell battery. Not bad for under $500.’
All this assumes you’re willing to be in line all night in the cold. I’m sure there will be many takers. Tech specs : AnandTech - Black Friday Laptops 2005
Add comment November 23rd, 2005
Nothing Spectacular
There was a smell of rotting / fermenting fruit wafting around the SOMA region this morning that reminded me of the pineapple fields in Hawaii. Maybe it’s another case of strange inexplicable smells in major cities. But probably not. I would have prefered yummy smelling syrup scent though.
Threadless Sighting : coworker I don’t know is wearing a threadless tee I recognize. It’s the one with the hiking trail map that looks like a bird on a branch.
I ordered an iMac recently. Shweet. Today it shipped….. From Shanghai.
Add comment November 23rd, 2005
iDie - iPod ad Parody
While on my way to and from work everyday I am constantly astonished by the sheer number of white iPod headphone cords I spot. Of course I’m one of those people too. It sure does make me feel like just another lemming consumer… [ Though 1) I do think that iPods are great devices and 2) I probably would have bought another brand, but got an iPod as a gift. ]
Seeing so many of the white cords inevitably makes me think about my daily struggles with my messy tangle of headphone wires. The ear buds always work their way into a knot, and are always such a hassle to extract. Plus I have the Apple iPod remote which adds an additional length of wirey confusion. Somewhere in the space between these two separate issues I came up with the morbid thought that one day an iPod lemming will end up choking on a tangled cord. Or, even more morosely, committing suicide using the signature cords to hang themselves (Please don’t try this at home. This parody was performed by a trained stunt professional) So that is how the iDie iPod ad parody came to being. I guess it’s pretty sick and weird, but I couldn’t help myself. I seriously need some Shure earbuds and a shrink.
Add comment November 23rd, 2005
pillow alarm
Engadget posted an article about funky pillows that inflate and deflate to wake you up. This reminds me of my sister’s alarm clock for the deaf. Technologies for assisting deaf people similar to this Japanese pillow have been available for quite some time. Often, alarm clocks for the deaf and hard of hearing have vibration ‘pucks’ that go under the pillow and shake you awake in the AM. Many also feature strobe features, and bright pulsing displays to encourage awakening. I’m sure if these were sold in Radio Shack they’d be hot sellers!
Here’s a sampling :
Alarm clocks for deaf & hard of hearing
1 comment November 23rd, 2005
Wendy’s Commercials
The recent Wendy’s ads must be by a new agency - they are quirky and cool. The square cartoon character that sings in a really annoying voice reminds me of Stewie from Family Guy. And the one where they use burgers as volume vu-meters to the song ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Benassi is pretty Apple / VW Ad like. Next, please! (Watch the music video for Satisfaction - it’s good for a laugh)
Push me
And then just touch me
Till I can get my satisfaction
Satisfaction, satisfaction, satisfaction, satisfaction
2 comments November 22nd, 2005
Apple Microwave - iNuke?
Uploaded someapple photo weirdness and more typography shots to Flickr. Some over-microwaved apple, some letterforms. Life is oh so exciting for me, yes yes. Perhaps there is a tie in somehow of microwaving an apple for 15 minutes to Apple computers. Microwave does have the word micro in it after all. iNuke? Well, it’s a force-fit for sure. Maybe it’s a sign telling me to start putting electronics into the handy little modern oven that we love so much (well, maybe just me)
Add comment November 22nd, 2005
Chewing Gum
Was reading a bit about chewing gum and it kinda grossed me out. It’s pretty obvious that when you eat chewing gum, you’re chewing gum, but I guess the concept of chewing on a form of rubber seems so bizarre you don’t really think it could be true. Since people don’t swallow gum, it follows it can’t be too good for you. Then there are myths about gum getting stuck in your digestive system, or clogging up your esophagus. That’s crap. I think I may opt for an alternative to gum from now on - lots of candy!
Add comment November 21st, 2005
[BLEEP] YOU!
I wonder if the noise that TV shows use to bleep out swear words is always the same. Is there an industry standard bleep audio clip? And if there isn’t, do the people that make their custom bleep noise try to match it to existent bleeps. If you took a sampling of bleeps in the wild, what would the data show with regard to the range of acceptable frequencies and waveforms for a bleep. [BLEEP] if I know….
Add comment November 21st, 2005
V-Compression
Our TV has a fancy mode called v-compression that takes the resolution of the a 4:3 aspect ratio screen and crunches it into the 16:9 letterbox part of the screen. The effect of this is that you get a higher resolution (33%) when you watch widescreen DVDs. While this is a neat feature I didn’t figure out how to take advantage of it till recently. The TV manual is no help. The problem was that is that it would take a widescreen movie and simply crunch it smaller. Turns out you need to lie to your DVD player and set it up to think it is outputting to a 16:9 TV. Then the image on the 4:3 screen will be extended vertically, at which point you turn on the wonderful v-compression, and everything ends up where it should be, inside a nice letterbox, with higher resolution.
1 comment November 20th, 2005
Plane Plotting
An artist took data from the FAA and used it to post-process the paths of planes. I found that the close-up of Hawaii showed interesting behavior (either long distances, or short interisland hops) - and in the overall US video there is a neat ‘tide’ of planes from Europe about 3/4 through the clip.
Add comment November 19th, 2005
Qrio Robot Rocks
Sony’s Qrio is a really amazing robot. I happened across the Beck video “Hell Yes” on his website - I was intrigued, but the quality of the video was crap. So I google video searched, and watching the clips. I’m really impressed at their fluidity, speed, and range of motion. Amazing! I hope they demo one in SF 
Video clips from official Sony site. Nice & long QRio dancing demo that seems to be the demo featured in the Beck video [more from same site].
Add comment November 19th, 2005
! UFO
Well, not a UFO. But I’m sure someone could mistake it for one. Spotted some construction workers prepping a car-sized balloon around lunch time right next to a construction site. Walking home, I saw it aloft. My guess is that it’s for wind speed at the projected height of a new building, or for measuring dust / pollution from the work site.
Add comment November 19th, 2005
Attack of the Tomato Killer
The effects of excessive microwaving of a tomato. Click to see the play by play.
2 comments November 19th, 2005