Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, October 17, 2008

Tip of My Tongue Finds the Word You're Looking For [Web Utilities]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/422728791/tip-of-my-tongue-finds-the-word-youre-looking-for

A thesaurus is a repetitive writer's best friend, but what happens when you're looking for a specific word, the one that starts with a certain letter, or means the same things as that other word? Free word search site Tip of My Tongue makes it easy to find that word that's just out of your fuzzy mind's reach. Type in parameters on the left—letters the word starts with or contains, definitions it matches, and others—and the word matches appears instantly on the right. It's worth a bookmark for anyone who's struggled at their keyboard, only to just type in, say, "useful."

Tip of My Tongue [Chir.ag via Digital Inspiration]

EyeSight Turns Your iSight Into a FTP-Enabled Webcam [Featured Mac Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/422816659/eyesight-turns-your-isight-into-a-ftp+enabled-webcam

Mac OS X only: Free application EyeSight takes time-lapse photos with your Mac's built-in iSight camera. EyeSight is very customizable, so you can set your photo intervals anywhere between 10 seconds to 999 days, save the images in whatever format you like, and upload the results to an FTP server of your choosing (or just save them in a local folder). If you want to eventually turn the results into a video, I'd recommend previously mentioned Gawker, but if you're more interested in something like a web-enabled security camera, EyeSight is the way to go. EyeSight is freeware, Mac OS X only. Windows users, check out previously mentioned YawCam. If what you really want is to beef up your laptop's security, we've got you covered there, too.

EyeSight [via MakeUseOf]

Your Bottled Water May Be No Purer than Tap [Health]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/423024076/your-bottled-water-may-be-no-purer-than-tap

According to a study conducted at the University of Iowa, many bottled waters are no purer than tap. The study found that while most of the brands tested still fell within regulatory guidelines for contaminants, much of the bottled water contained the same impurities as tap. Might be worthwhile to save a couple bucks this month and give tap another chance.

Guts of BlackBerry Bold found to cost $170

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/423306820/

Filed under: Cellphones

Not that it really matters to consumers one way or another -- after all, if you want a Bold, you'll pay the asking price -- but recent analysis by research firm iSuppli has found that parts and materials used to make the device "cost $158.16, and that assembly and testing add another $11.25, for a total cost of $169.41." Just for comparison, the Curve costs a cool $103 to build, and assuming RIM can sell the Bold to carriers at around $350, it'll net a gross margin of around 45% before R&D costs, software, marketing, shipping and freebies given to obscenely wealthy celebs are taken into account. The report (er, the part about the nice margins) should come as welcome news to shareholders, who have recently been worried that the current economic situation may keep individuals from snatching up new 'Berrys at a breakneck pace. Now, if only RIM / AT&T would let the thing get through testing, we'd be all set to contribute to those margins here in the US. Ahem.

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Objet announces the Alaris 30 Desktop 3D Printer

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/423369816/

Filed under: Peripherals

It looks like the slow crawl towards a consumer 3D printer continues with Objet's newest outing, the Alaris 30. The relatively compact peripheral uses something called PolyJet Photopolymer Jetting to produce 600 x 600 dpi objects up to 11.5 x 7.7 x 5.9 inches in size (not too shabby when compared to the 5-inch cube of last year's Desktop Factory offering). Equally impressive is the printer's ability to manufacture small moving elements and elements as thin as 0.0011 inches. A generous build tray means that many small parts can be printed simultaneously, and the company promises up to 36 hours unattended printing from your 3D CAD files. Finished models leave the printer fully cured and hardened by UV light. There is no pricing or availability yet, but if you hit the read link below there are plenty more juicy details.

[Via TFTS]

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