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Friday, April 03, 2009

This Ornate Scroll Is A Gadget

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/yankodesign/~3/amio4orSzhQ/

It's inlayed with some mother-of-pearl work and looks like the Korean 'Najawnchilgi' lacquer ware craft, but Gyo-Ji is actually a translation device. Compared to the ViewTrans that we saw recently, this scroll features a rolled-up screen and allows you to write the foreign script directly onto it for translation. Another way of getting the job done is to place the screen on the foreign script and then hit the translation button. At this rate I think translation dictionaries and handbooks will soon be redundant.

Designers: Soonkyu Jang, Taehee Woo, Yonghuk Yim & Chung Lee

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Portable Ubuntu Runs Ubuntu Inside Windows [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/c7LVd0Z433k/portable-ubuntu-runs-ubuntu-inside-windows

Windows only: Free application Portable Ubuntu for Windows runs an entire Linux operating system as a Windows application. As if that weren't cool enough, it's portable, so you can carry it on your thumb drive.

Built from the same guts as the andLinux system that lets you seamlessly run Linux apps on your Windows desktop, Portable Ubuntu is a stand-alone package that runs a fairly standard (i.e. orange-colored, GNOME-based) version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. It just doesn't bother creating its own desktop, and puts all its windows inside your Windows, er, windows.

The coolest parts about Portable Ubuntu are:

It actually works (in most cases, on most systems).
It fits on a (larger) thumb drive and can run entirely from it.
It can work on, and save to, your Windows folders and files.
It's persistent, so changes you make and apps you install are carried around with you.
It's easily manageable from Windows, and works great on dual monitors.

Wanna give it a go? Grab the latest Portable Ubuntu package (about 438MB as of this writing), then double-click to unpack it to a folder. On Vista or Windows 7, you'll have to open your command prompt as an administrator (hit Windows key, type in cmd, then right-click on the "Command Prompt" option that appears and select "Run as Administrator"); on XP, you'll probably just hav! e to lau nch a command prompt. Head to the folder where you extracted your Portable Ubuntu, and enter run_portable_ubuntu and hit Enter to launch the .bat script.

Your machine will whir and decompress for a while, and you'll likely get a few prompts to "Unblock" coLinux and a few other apps' abilities on your system. Unblock all of them, and you'll eventually get a small, move-able menu bar on your desktop, as seen in the top screenshot. Drag this wherever it's comfortable to keep it, and you're on your way.

From those three pop-out menus—Applications, Places, and System—you can accomplish pretty much the same thing as any Linux user can, just without the full desktop. Launch a program, and it appears in a window that looks like any other on your Windows system. Open a file browser from "Places," and you can get to your Windows files by heading to /mnt/C (or substitute your drive name/letter for "C"). Feel free to carry around Audacity, GIMP, or any other editing programs that lack a Windows equivalent and start getting creative with them.

Whatever changes you make to your system stick with it. So if you, say, want to install VLC media player for some on-the-go media, you can install it from the Add/Remove dialog or tackle it manually in Accessories->Terminal, and it'll be planted right in the Sound & Video menu. The same goes for system tweaks or startup apps you add to your little Ubuntu package.

Portable Ubuntu makes for a great place to test out your more cutting-edge stuff, wi! thout ha ving to worry about messing up your working Windows system. The latest beta of Firefox 3.1/3.5? Even easier to run than the portable solution, and you can keep both your Windows and Portable-Ubuntu-launched Firefox browsers open at once.

When you're running Portable Ubuntu, Windows treats it like any other program. You can close down individual app windows from your taskbar, and pop it onto and off your desktop with little hassle.

Portable Ubuntu is a free, portable download that runs from Windows systems only. Drop your Linux-inside-Windows ideas and other geeky stuff in the comments.

Portable Ubuntu for Windows [via gHacks]

Robot Makes Autonomous Scientific Discovery for First Time [Science]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/1e0Z2vt99MA/robot-makes-autonomous-scientific-discovery-for-first-time

A robot named Adam is reported to be the first robot ever to independently uncover scientific knowledge.

The robot's AI made a hypothesis about the genomics of a yeast, planned a test for the hypothesis and carried the test out in its lab. The results were replicated by human scientists later, confirming that, no, the robot wasn't lying about its discovery to get on the fast track to tenure. [Lab Spaces and image not of the actual robot]

LG EnV3 and Voyager 2 Leaked [Cellphones]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ycO6wNZVHEY/lg-env3-and-voyager-2-leaked

Boy Genius and other sources are showing off blurry-ass spyshots of Verizon's next ho-hum semi-smart handsets, the EnV3 and Voyager 2 from LG.

When they're open, the two phones are hard to distinguish. On your left, up top, is the EnV3, with the smaller 4:3 screen. On the right, there's the widescreen Voyager 2.

Closed, it's a different matter. Sticking with the formula that's made them hot sellers (without being in any way innovative), LG kept the touchscreen on the Voyager 2 (below, now on the left) and the full number pad on the EnV3 (below, right). Can I say we're excited? No. But will someone buy these, and even brag about them to their friends? Signs point to "yes." [Boy Genius, Electronista]

Arduino finds yet another use in homebuilt 3D scanner

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/03/arduino-finds-yet-another-use-in-homebuilt-3d-scanner/

The Arduino has long since proven itself to be one of the biggest boons to DIY heads since the soldering iron, but that doesn't mean it's not still able to impress, as amply demonstrated by this simple but effective homebuilt 3D scanner. While there's not exactly much to guide the rookies out there, the project does seem to be straightforward enough for anyone with a bit of experience, with the scanner itself comprised of nothing more than the Arduino, a couple of servos, and the Sharp GP2Y0A02YK Long Distance Measuring Sensor -- plus the necessary code, of course, which is conveniently provided at the link below. Once you've got everything pieced together, you should all set to make polar coordinate scans of your surroundings and watch the time fly by.

[Via Hacked Gadgets]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets