Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, November 16, 2007

Three Words: "Sexy," "Washing" and "Machine"

from Gizmodo by Sean Fallon

This is probably the first time the word "sexy" has ever been used to describe a washing machine—but this concept piece from designer Simona Luculano is definitely worthy of such an adjective. Unlike traditional washing machine eyesores that must be hidden in a garage or behind sliding doors, the Flexible Distance washing machine could actually be used as a decorative piece.

Plus, it is as functional as it is attractive, with touch controls on the outer ring of the wash well and an LCD screen on the lid to monitor the progress of your crusty underwear. It even conforms to low power and water consumption standards—or at least it would if it ever made it into production. [Yanko Design]

iPhone Malware Demo Freaking Me Out, Man [Apple]

from Gizmodo by Jason Chen

PopoutMaybe it's the eyes. Don't be too alarmed, but this video shows the iPhone being accessed by terminal using a program installed by a webpage. Since the program, like all unofficial apps, runs as root, they've got access to data stores for mail, call lists, contacts, and voicemail, which are served up via terminal. And no, that guy isn't hacking your ghost with those piercing eyes. I think.

This is why a managed SDK with sandboxed apps like the one Jobs proposes for February is going to be a lot better than opening up the device outright, like it or not. Since this is a hack done via a website, it's likely the 1.1.1 TIFF exploit that can be patched by a) installing Apple's 1.1.2 patch or hacking your 1.1.1 iPhone using the Jailbreakme.com installer website. The guy runs all this on a LAN, knowing IPs, but it wouldn't be hard to have malware ping home, either. Nothing to scoff at, but also not surprising given the unofficial nature of the apps developed so far, and maybe nothing to freak out over. [FC via CrunchHickey]

Take Walmart's $199 PC Operating System for a Test Drive

If Wal-Mart's recently released $200 PC sounds like a potentially great deal but you're not sure about ditching your current operating system for the inexpensive, Linux-based Ubuntu box, head over to the developer's web site and download the bootable gOS LiveCD (or rather DVD, at 728MB). The gOS operating system sports an emphasis on web applications, with desktop shortcuts to tons of Google Apps, Facebook, Wikipedia, and other webapps built directly into the desktop. If you've given gOS a try, let's hear how you like it in the comments.

The $8 billion story/scam

from Seth's Blog by Seth Godin

In case you had any doubt that human beings are irrational creatures, driven by stories, consider the case of the gift card.

Christmas has become a holiday about shopping, not about giving. Case in point: the $100 gift card, now available from banks, from stores, even in a rack at the supermarket.

Last year, more than $8,000,000,000 was wasted on these cards. Not in the value spent, but in fees and breakage. When you give a card, if it doesn't get used, someone ends up keeping your money, and it's not the recipient. People spent more than eight billion dollars for nothing... buying a product that isn't as good as cash.

Along the way, we bought the story that giving someone a hundred dollar bill as a gift ("go buy what you want") is callous, insensitive, a crass shortcut. Buying them a $100 Best Buy card, on the other hand, is thoughtful. Even if they spend $92 and have to waste the rest.

The interesting thing about stories is that the inconsistent ones don't always hold up to scrutiny. Consumer Reports and others are trying to spread a different story. One that sounds like this:

Gift cards are for chumps.

If enough people talk about this new story, people will be embarrassed to give a gift card. It's a waste. It's a scam. It's a trap for the recipient.

The irony is that the gift card companies could easily spend, say, half the profits and create a wonderful, better story... where every $100 gift card also generates two or three dollars for a worthy cause. That would resonate with a lot of people... But I think it's unlikely.

If I were a creative non-profit, I'd start marketing alternative gift cards. They would consist of PDF files you could print out and hand over to people when you give them cash. It could say,

"Merry Christmas. Here's your present, go spend it on what you really want. AND, just to make sure we're in the right holiday spirit, I made a donation in your name to Aworthycause."

Stories come and go. It's up to marketers to spread the good ones.

Andy Dick Look-alike Develops Device to Supercool Beer in Seconds [Boozetech]

from Gizmodo by Sean Fallon

Leave it to a 22-year-old college student to develop what could be the best thing to happen to beer in centuries. The device, dubbed Huski, has a cooling capacity that is almost four times greater than regular ice. Plus, Huski won't water down your drink, and it is completely portable.

The inventor, Kent Hodgson, describes the science behind the device thusly:

"You have plastic cooling cells which are pressed down into the dock which houses the liquid carbon dioxide. The liquid CO2 expands and is pressurized into dry ice in the base of the cooling cells ... in a moment."

After that, it is a simple matter of dropping Huski into your drink, consuming the beverage, and waking up hours later in a dumpster with nothing but your boots on —just like any other Saturday. Hodgson also explained that one canister can fill thirty 330 ml bottles at a cost of 7 cents each. He plans on patenting the Huski and selling them for around $50. Not a bad deal if you hate lugging around ice and a gigantic cooler to the beach. [nzherald via InventorSpot]

Wind Dam Design for Russian Lake is Spooky, Awesome [Wind Dam]

from Gizmodo by Addy Dugdale

This innovative, ghostlike structure is a wind dam, a sail-like structure to harness wind energy, and thought to be the first of its kind in the world. If the project is given the green light, the $5 million dam, which is designed by British architect Laurie Chetwood, will be going up next year on Lake Ladoga, in the northwest of Russia. More pics and details below.

The dam consists of a spinnaker sail, similar to the mainsail of a yacht, which captures the wind, funneling it through a turbine and generating energy. Measuring 75 meters wide and 25 meters high, the dam may be joined by a second one in a gorge further up the valley.

Mr Chetwood, the dam's creator, thinks that the sail looks like a bird dipping its beak into the water. "It will be much less of a blot on this beautiful and unblemished landscape," he claims, adding that the sail will be more effective than other methods of harvesting energy. "It replicates the work of a dam and doesn't let the wind escape in the way it does using traditional propellers." [Building Design via Dezeen]

Nanosolar PowerSheets Promise Cheap Solar Power Everywhere, Unlimited Gadget Energy

from Gizmodo by Matt Buchanan

Winning the Green Tech Grand Award and "Innovation of the Year" nods from Pop Sci, Nanosolar PowerSheets pack a whole lot of potential into their Paris Hilton-cheap, Nicole Richie-thin panels—we're talking solar power for 30 cents a watt, compared to the $3 it costs now, without silicon or laying the panels on glass. "You're talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it." If you wanna know more about the black magic coating the panels, check out Pop Sci's spectacularly detailed coverage. [Pop Sci via BBG]

Duracell PowerSource: Impressive Portable Power For All Your Gadgets

from Gizmodo by Sean Fallon

Duracell's new PowerSource Mobile 100 could be the new best friend of anyone who tends to carry a lot of gadgets around. It can extend the runtime of just about any portable devic—and even provide up to two hours of additional juice for your laptop. If that wasn't enough, it also has one AC outlet and two USB charge ports so you can charge multiple devices simultaneously. I would completely fall in love with it if not for the $140 price tag. Unfortunately, convenience never comes cheap. [Product Page via Ubergizmo]

Seiko High-Res Super-Thin EBook Reader [E-Ink]

from Gizmodo by Brian Lam

More E-Book News, this one a prototype from Seiko Epson, makers of the cool E-ink watch. The device's form factor is at least as thin as Sony's Reader, but it has a 1200x1600 display. That's a lot of res on that 6.7-inch screen. UPDATE: Res independence, good point brilliant readers. [MobileRead via TechnoBob]

* Terminal measures 180x120mm (B6 size) * Thickness: 3mm * Weight: 57g * Contrast ratio: 8:1 * Reflectivity: 43% * Redrawing time: 0.7s * Battery: one CR1220 button cell battery (1'400 screen redraws)

ONFi 2.0 sets the stage for 133MB/sec NAND performance

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Flash memory just keeps getting bigger, faster and more irresistible -- and that's just the way we like it. Now, the Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFi) working group is announcing the availability of the 0.9 draft of the ONFi 2.0 specification to member companies, which is a tell-tale sign that the updated spec will be officially loosed in just two months. What's important here is the newly defined NAND interface, which promises to deliver up to 133MB/second compared to the 50MB/second that the legacy NAND interface is limited to. As if that weren't enough to get you all jazzed up, ONFi 2.0 will also be backwards compatible, and infrastructure is reportedly in place to "reach 400MB/second in the third-generation." And just think, soon you'll be chuckling at yourself for asserting that 133MB/sec was "quick" -- onwards and upwards, we say.

Samsung's 8 megapixel CMOS sensor for phones -- another world's first

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

You know all those 3 megapixel cameraphones out there? Well, they're about to achieve 8 megapixel ubiquity. Samsung just announced availability of their 8 megapixel CMOS sensor which shares roughly the same 10.5 x 11.5 x 9.4-mm girth of its 3 megapixel cuz. Just make sure you've got plenty of light to frame those shots if you're expecting anything close to a quality image.

Engadget founder Peter Rojas's new digital music site RCRD LBL launches

from Engadget by Ryan Block

Those paying close attention won't be surprised to find out that today marks a special day in the history of Engadget. It brings us no small amount of pride to help announce a dear friend and cohort's new venture: Peter Rojas, who founded Engadget, Joystiq, and Gizmodo, is launching his latest company today, RCRD LBL. A joint venture with Downtown Records (who retain such acts as Gnarles Barkley and Cold War Kids), RCRD LBL represents a completely fresh take on the distribution structure of music, offering all-digital, all-free music for streaming or download without DRM. Yeah, seriously, free, unrestricted, legal music downloads. RCRD LBL's catalogue already has music from partner labels like Warp and Dim Mak, too, with tracks from a few artists you may have heard from like Mos Def, Bloc Party, and The Stills. Of course, anyone who knows Pete knows he's one of the few people in this world fanatic enough about both technology and music to pull something like this off. So feel free to head on over to RCRD LBL and show some love -- and try not to blow up their servers too badly, ok? It's only day one for these guys. -Ryan

miShare enables iPod file swapping, Apple is so pleased

from Engadget by Paul Miller

There's virtually zero information on the company behind this, or about the actual workings of the device itself, but if this miShare thing could be pretty hot if its creators can get it to market -- and the word is that it's in production in China as we speak. The concept is straight forward enough, involving the little $100 miShare unit with dock connectors on each end, allowing for speedy file transfers from iPod to iPod. We've seen similar devices for traditional USB drives, but the iPod compatibility makes this a whole new ballgame. How exactly you select what gets transferred and what doesn't remains to be seen, but we know one thing for sure: Apple's not going to be happy about this, given its insistence on limiting your iPod to one library at a time. We can only hope that this spurs the company to get song sharing going on the iPhone and iPod touch sooner rather than later, but in the meantime it looks like we can have some fun swapping tracks in a physical fashion whenever this thing becomes available. Update: We chatted up miShare's Nathaniel Wice who clarified the product a little bit. The unit is actually running a lightweight Linux installation and is using open source tools to access the iPod as a mass storage device and open up the database files. You can set the miShare to transfer music, video and pictures, and when in music mode it'll automatically transfer the most recently played song, or if you hold the button it'll transfer everything marked in your On-the-Go playlist. [Via Vanity Fair]

PhotoVu's 17-inch RSS-enabled digital photo frame, the 1765W

from Engadget by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays, Peripherals

We've seen a few WiFi and RSS enabled digital photo frames from PhotoVu in the past, but they've all been overly large for our city-sized living spaces, which is why we're happy to see the somewhat more reasonable 17-inch 1765w make its debut. The 16:10 frame reads all the obvious digital camera formats, but unlike most other frames, it includes plugins for popular apps like Picasa and iPhoto that let you handle file management directly inside your photo app, instead of having to play the scale-and-export game. Like all of PhotoVu's other frames, the 1765w also features an RSS reader and web server for completely remote administration, and integration with services like Flickr, SmugMug, and .mac. Of course, all this hotness is going to cost you -- the 1765w runs a steep $699 direct from PhotoVu.

Textual ads destined to hit shopping cart handles

from Engadget by Darren Murph

As marketers continue to search for (and exploit) places in which you'd never think to find an ad, it makes sense to scroll a few plugs through an item that the vast majority of us spend at least a few hours per week touching. That item, dear friends, is the handle of the tried and true shopping cart, and apparently, Modstream is hoping to install bars with scrolling displays onto buggies and allow companies to beam in messages wirelessly. The system works by allowing outfits to access a web-based profile, enter in a given message, and transmit the ad to participating stores. As an added bonus, the setup enables said companies to change up their messages on a whim and keeps us shoppers guessing as to what clever line is coming next. Now, who's down with hacking this thing to scroll through our favorite RSS feeds? [Via Textually]

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