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Monday, May 05, 2008

Eyebeam demonstrating Cubit DIY multitouch table

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/283871253/

Filed under: Displays

DIY multitouch surfaces may be relatively new to the do-it-yourself library, but we have a feeling they won't be fading anytime soon. Engineering and design firm Eyebeam has spent the weekend demonstrating a kit (Cubit) that enables folks to build their own multitouch tables, and all individuals will need to provide in order to enjoy their very own is an "inexpensive" video camera and projector, among other small pieces of hardware. Unfortunately, details beyond that are pretty scant, but we'd count on hearing a lot more in the coming days now that it has stolen the limelight at Maker Faire.

[Thanks, Duke]

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US patent for common Mexican bean revoked

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/282242682/us-patent-for-common.html

In the 1990s, a Colorado man named Larry Proctor purchased some beans at a market in Mexico.
He selectively bred them for a few years and claimed to have invented "a new field bean variety that produces distinctly colored yellow seed which remains relatively unchanged by season." He called it the "Enola bean," and was granted a "20-year patent that covered any beans and hybrids derived from crosses with even one of his seeds."
His claim of 60 cents per pound of beans sold in the US "caused a steep decline in exports of such beans from Mexico to the USA, according to Mexican government sources."

Today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office revoked Proctor's patent claims

The bean was erroneously granted patent protection in 1999, as US Patent Number 5,894,079, in a move that raised profound concerns about biopiracy and the potential abuse of intellectual property (IP) claims on plant materials that originate in the developing world and remain as important dietary staples, particularly among the poor.

CIAT was able to dispute the inventor's claims to a unique color by providing published evidence of 260 yellow beans among the almost 28,000 samples of Phaseolus in its crop "genebank." At least six of the CIAT varieties were, to most observers, identical to the bean described in Proctor's patent documents on the basis of color and genetic markers. CIAT also put forward publications to show that the claims in the patent application took credit for research already widely available in scientific literature and thus claims made regarding the breeding of the bean in his patent also failed to meet the patent office's statutory requirements for "non-obviousness and novelty."

Link

Paying for the London Underground with a dissolved, naked Oyster card

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/283755674/paying-for-the-londo.html

In this video, Flickr user Chriswoebken dissolves one of the London Underground's RFID-based Oyster cards with nail-polish remover, leaving behind nothing but the chip and its antenna -- and then gets on and off the tube using nothing but a flimsy bit of electronics, sometimes in his hand, sometimes taped to a sheet of paper.

I've been trying to come up with a good Oyster killing method since Transport for London made Oysters near-mandatory (you can't get a week-long pass without any Oyster anymore, and the buses are incredibly expensive if you don't pay by Oyster). In my ideal world, I'd pay cash for an Oyster card, use it for a couple weeks, trash it, and get a new one, so that there would be no long-term ride history for me on file.

Unfortunately, the ticket-agents have started to charge £3 for replacement Oyster cards, which I'm sure they'd waive if the card was malfunctioning. Microwaving the card leaves behind some unfortunate burn-marks.

The nice thing about this video is that it hints at the location of the RFID chip in the Oyster, which appears to be one of the corners. Anyone know which? Link (via Beyond the Beyond)

Sisyphus V: A Robot Making a Zen Garden [Art]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/282956110/sisyphus-v-a-robot-making-a-zen-garden

This isn't a sandbox with a marble in it. Sysyphus V, a kinetic sculpture by Bruce Shapiro looks like a Zen Garden. But instead of a buddhist monk carefully raking gravel, it's an autonomous steel sphere carefully crawling over and over, making polar geometric shapes that can best be described as iterative lilies or stars. A magnet on an arm on a two axis plotter sites underneath the half-ton set up, and Sisyphus is making its first appearance here, at Maker Faire 2008. An unrelated but cool Interview with Bruce, by Cool Hunting\, after the jump. [TaoMC at Makers]

Build Your Own Multitouch Table With The Cubit [Open-Source]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/283446183/build-your-own-multitouch-table-with-the-cubit

Engineers at Eyebeam, a New York arts and technology center, are drastically reducing the cost of ownership for multitouch tables by taking them open-source. Schematics for the Cubit, a multitouch tabletop display, are available online for people who want to make a scaled-down Microsoft Surface for one tenth the Surface's price.

The Cubit is a boxy tabletop with a clear surface. All a potential multitouch table owner needs to get started is a webcam with an infrared filter and a small image projector. Plug in the webcam, install the Cubit software, turn on the projector and start touching.

Eyebeam fellows Addie Wagenknetch and Stefan Hechenberger said they were releasing the Cubit in order to "prove that anyone could build [a multitouch table]." Besides offering the designs and software online, the two are selling DIY kits that include parts and instructions.

The Cubit was on display at the Maker Faire, along with several other open-source multitouch projects. Though open-source has long been focused on software, it looks like DIYers, like Eyebeam andBug Labs, are now taking the philosophy into the realm of hardware as well. [Technology Review]

Lenovo IdeaPad U110 overview and video

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/283272396/

Filed under: Laptops

After giving the new IdeaPad U110 its 15 minutes of fame in front of the camera, we got down to business. The 11.1-inch ultraportable is built like a tank -- a really, really lightweight tank. The uniquely-designed lid and (overly) glossy motif is a welcome change for Lenovo, but after a good bit of use, it's easy to see this one won't appeal to the masses. Click on for the full rundown of impressions and notes (and a video, too).

Continue reading Lenovo IdeaPad U110 overview and video

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GreenPix creates massive, self-sustaining LED display in China

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/283600548/

Filed under: Displays

A company called GreenPix has created an astounding combination of sustainable technology and digital media virtuosity, dubbed the Zero Energy Media Wall. The system features the world's largest (so they claim) color LED display, powered completely by photovoltaic cells which are integrated into the glass curtain. During the day, the wall -- located on the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing -- harvests solar energy, then expends the charge at night in a display of undulating colors. The system goes on display this month, but if you can't make it to China, you can watch a video of the work in action after the break.

[Via Technabob]

Continue reading GreenPix creates massive, self-sustaining LED display in China

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Yoto's M300 PMP plays just about everything, won't gossip about you

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/283766848/

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

If you absolutely can't stand life without a widescreen PMP one more moment, Yoto just might have you covered. Sure, the M300 looks like a lot of other "all screen" media players out there, but can those other models handle AVI, DIVX, MPEG4, RM, XVID, RMVB, FLV, MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE, JPEG, GIF, and BMP files? Do they have 400 x 240 WQVGA screens? Are they made by Yoto? If you answered "no" to any of those questions, you're not talking about the Yoto M300 -- and you're hurting our feelings. You might pause at the apparent compatibility issues (Windows 2000 and Windows XP only?), and maybe this doesn't actually have a touchscreen, and sure, it was never really cleared of those murder charges... you know on second thought, maybe this isn't such a good investment.

[Via PMP Today]

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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Fax Documents Over the Internet for Free to any Phone number in US

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/tools/fax-documents-over-internet-free-unlimited/3116/

send fax internet You may have come across several web based faxing services that let you send faxes over the Internet for free but they all impose certain limitations.

For instance, they may not let you fax more than two pages at once or may add advertisements in the fax cover sheet or may not support rich text documents.

drop.io (pronounced as "drop-ee-o") overcomes all such problems and lets you fax Word documents, PDF files and even Excel a spreadsheet via Internet to any phone number in the United States for free.

You can send unlimited number of faxes without registration, there are no ads attached to the fax sheets and each fax document can have up to 20 pages.

To send a fax, just upload the document (or PDF) to drop.io and click the "Drop It" button. On the next screen, click the ’send as fax’ near your document and enter the 10 digit fax number of the recipient. Hit Send and your fax will be printed on the recipient’s fax machine in few minutes.

The drop.io may useful for content publishers outside US as well if they need to fax DMCA notices (for reporting plagiarism) to a web hosting company that may be based in US.

Fax Documents Over the Internet for Free to any Phone number in US - Digital Inspiration | FAQ | RSS

CSS Text Painting of George W. Bush - No Images, Only HTML

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/favorites/css-text-painting-of-george-w-bush-no-images-only-html/3122/

html-css-painting This water-color painting of George Bush may looking nothing special at the first glance but you’ll be surprised to know that it’s not an image.

It is just a combination of alphabets and numeric characters of different sizes and colors arranged using CSS in such a way that they look like a painting.

To confirm, view the HTML source code of the above page or select some area using the mouse. Thanks Román Cortés and Waxy.

Related: ASCII Text Paintings

CSS Text Painting of George W. Bush - No Images, Only HTML - Digital Inspiration | FAQ | RSS

Twitter Postcard for People Who Spend Far Too Much Time on Twitter

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/favorites/twitter-postcard-for-people-who-spend-far-too-much-time-on-twitter/3126/

"I think we need to take a follow break until you get your twittering under control"

twitter-break-postcard

Twitter postcard from Someecards.com - Thanks Steve.

Twitter Postcard for People Who Spend Far Too Much Time on Twitter - Digital Inspiration | FAQ | RSS

Lenovo IdeaPad U110 unboxing and hands-on

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/282810658/

Filed under: Laptops

Though our pals over at Switched managed to snag some hands-on video with a red pre-production unit, we figured we'd grab hold of the classic black edition of the IdeaPad U110 and give you a closer look. Made available for order just this week, Lenovo's latest ultraportable is high on style (and way high on gloss) and possesses the price tag to prove it. Meander on into the gallery below for a veritable plethora of unboxing and hands-on shots -- and rest assured, impressions are on the way.

Gallery: Lenovo IdeaPad U110 unboxing and hands-on