07. 3.2008
Cern's Large Hadron Collider, a big bang
Now here's a gadget. In fact not just a gadget, but arguably the gadget. It's the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, the European laboratory for particle physics near Geneva, scheduled to have its Grand Opening next month.
Stephen Hawking explains what the LHC is for:
"It will smash particles together to recreate the moments after the big bang, producing a new golden age of discovery for physicists."
There's more, lots more, and the Guardian has just unveiled a group of articles and multimedia and podcasts that explains it all.
Posted by Tam
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07. 3.2008
Tequila Herradura - Best of the best for Fourth of July
Every year our block in the South Bay has a wild (but very well-organized ) July 4th Block party. We do it up right - get a permit to close down the street, rent a double slip n' slide, run pop-ups and tables down the middle of the street, set up cooking in "BBQ alley" (Brad's driveway), referee a volleyball and basketball tourney, and string up pinatas. In the evening, the neighborhood band plays and we all dance - munchkins and seniors alike. And all the while I'm serving up my "famous" margaritas.
What's so fabulous about them? It's not the homemade mix, fresh limes, or margarita salt. It's the Herradura tequila, a secret among tequila aficionados. Located and produced in the heart of Mexico’s tequila region, in the tiny town of Amatitan, Jalisco, Tequila Herradura is 100% blue agave tequila carefully crafted using traditional methods, such as cooking the agave in clay ovens and fermenting naturally with wild yeast. They are one of the few producers to grow their own blue agave, which takes up to 10 years to mature. Like a fine wine, they are aged in oak for different lengths of time. For example, the Herradura Añejo Herradura Gold (Reposado) ferments for 2 years, and my favorite, the Herradura Silver, for only 40 months, and none of their tequilas contain carmel (for coloring), sugar or additives.
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Posted by Evan
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eat/drink
| luxury
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07. 3.2008
Software to go if you must work while on holiday
Far be it from me to encourage you to work while you're on vacation, but . . .
If you absolutely must toil while you broil, Download.com has gathered together a nice brief collection of software that will ease the pain. Or at least help you complete your tasks with dispatch and get back to your inflatable pool lounge.
Many of these tools were new to me, but I can attest that one of them. Documents to Go, works as advertised. (It displays several common file types like .doc and .xls on most mobile devices and, even better, permits you to create and edit them.)
Download.com neglects to nag you, so I will: Slathers of sunscreen, please, and keep the work to a minimum. You deserve a holiday!
Posted by Tam
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on the web
| software
Tags: downloads
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07. 2.2008
On the way: Laptop bags that get through airport security
They've been rumored for a while, but it appears that they will actually be in existence in a couple of months: laptop bags that can get through airport security while your precious laptop remains snug within. If you carry your machine in one of these bags, you won't have to remove it in order to pass X-ray inspection, according to the New York Times.
Two major makers, Targus and Pathfinder Luggage, have already announced models that will be available by fall. Half a dozen other manufacturers are said to be scrambling to catch up. Targus is planning 4 models, priced from $39 to $100. Pathfinder's offerings, a briefcase and a wheeled model, will be more expensive, about $150.
Since the bags don't yet exist, there are no photos. So it's not quite clear to me how the design(s) will ensure that laptops can be inspected easily while still in their jammies.
The problem up to now, the Times says, is that cables, mouses, and other impedimenta essential to actually using your machine on the road have gotten in the way of the X-ray pics. How the new bags will solve that problem is not at all obvious from the description, to wit:
"The new cases include either a fold-down section in a bigger briefcase or a stand-alone protective sleeve that contains no extra clutter and can be readily viewed through the scanner."
Fold-down section in a bigger briefcase? Stand-alone protective sleeve? Hello, we've been using those for years.
I await clarification. Meantime, I hope someone will find a way to get rid of the hassle of airport foot gear removal. I mean, besides those humiliating rubber flip-flops.
Posted by Tam
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accessories
| computers
| current affairs
| design
Tags: airport laptop bag travel
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07. 1.2008
WEbook: Collaborative book writing, publishing and social networking
WEbook (pronounced "we-book"), a collaborative book writing website that launched this past spring, puts to the test several premises about writing and publishing, the first being that every person has at least one book - or one story - in them worth telling (or some variation of that idea). The second premise is their tagline, "Writing loves company," which is already proven, in part, by the fact that hordes of people participate in writing workshops every year to have their writing critiqued and to critique the writing of others. The third premise may or may not flow naturally from the first two: that aspiring writers, if given the opportunity and the right tools, would be drawn to collaborate on writing books with other writers with like interests. And the hope is that this kind of online collaborative environment for writers will produce books that are worthy of being published, and that people will buy and read.
Users can sign up to review other peoples' writing, to open up a writing project for a select group of their insiders to contribute to or comment on, or start a project and invite others in the community to participate in writing it. So, the system is somewhat flexible to suit your interests and level of desired collaboration.
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Posted by lydia
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on the web
Tags: books
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07. 1.2008
Eco-friendly packaging made of potato starch for 3G iPhone
For those of us plagued by thoughts of waste when contemplating ditching our old iPhones to upgrade to the 3G iPhone, there's a bit of good news, as it turns out that the packaging for the new iPhone to be released on July 11th is made of recyclable potato starch. Dutch company PaperFoam, maker of carbon-friendly packaging, is providing millions of paperfoam packages to Apple.
Via The Register, by way of textually.org.
Posted by lydia
Category:
cell phones
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| eco
Tags: apple iphone
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07. 1.2008
Nintendo Wall Decals turn your bedroom into the world of Super Mario Bros.
Never mind kids, I know a few adults who would love to decorate their walls to look like the inside of a Super Mario Bros. game with these Nintendo Wall Decals. Made with blik Re-Stik, the decals are movable and reusable (in case you have a change of heart and decide to relocate the decals to your kid's room), and are based on the same 8-bit graphics of the original game. For $75, you get 36 decals. They also sell New Super Mario Bros. decals and Donkey Kong decals - directly on the Blik website.
Via Tokyo Mango.
Posted by lydia
Category:
design
| gaming
| home
| novelty
Tags: decor nintendo
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06.30.2008
Logitech Mac-compatible webcam
Logitech, which makes some of the best webcams for PCs, just announced its first Mac-compatible webcam, featuring premium autofocus technology and, most importantly, Carl Zeiss Optics.
Add the sleek black and silver Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro webcam to your Mac computer, and you'll be recording sharp 720p high-def video clips, and VGA-quality video at up to 30 frames per second while video calling with iChat and Skype. Features a 2-megapixel sensor, and Logitech’s RightLight 2 Technology, which enables the webcam to "adjust intelligently in dim or harshly backlighted situations."
Available in July for approx $129.99. Mac owners rejoice!
Posted by Evan
Category:
cameras
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| peripherals
Tags: webcam
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06.27.2008
Pandigital combines kitchen TV, digital cookbook, and digital photo frame
Earlier this month, Pandigital, maker of digital photo frames, released its multi-functional Kitchen HDTV/Digital Cookbook/Digital Photo Frame. From the most used room in your home, you can watch TV, view photos, and call up recipes on the 15" LCD screen. The device comes with preloaded recipes, and additional recipes can be loaded into the TV's internal memory. Photos can be loaded via the memory card reader or by connecting to Picasa, Google's popular photo sharing site. The 512MB of memory stores 3,200 pages of recipes or photos. It supports a variety of media cards, and a wide range of audio, video, and image formats.
The exterior of the device was designed with the messy kitchen environment in mind. A glass seal protects it from water, oil, and whatever splatters in its direction, and makes it easy to wipe clean. Because everyone's kitchen is a little different, it comes with three different faceplates (brush steel, black, and white), and can be mounted under a cabinet or on the wall, or placed on a countertop stand. Retails for around $400, and will probably show up on the shelves of large retailers such as Target and Amazon.com.
Via Kitchen Contraptions.
Posted by lydia
Category:
devices
| entertainment
| home
Tags: cooking kitchen
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06.27.2008
iFrogz Audiowrapz - iPod case with built-in speaker
Audowrapz by iFrogz is an ingenious product -- a 100% silicone case that utilizes "passive speaker technology" that does not require batteries or draw power from your iPod. It turns your 3rd gen iPod into a little speaker that also protects your precious baby.
It has a pass-through port so you can switch to headphones if you want some privacy, but you'll need to take it out of the case to charge. The three metal grilles contain a total of two small speakers, but you need to crank the volume control to really hear it, and there lies my quibble with the gizmo. It doesn't even create as much volume as the built-in speaker on an iPhone, and with all the terrific iPod speaker solutions out there, it faces tough competion.
But at a price point of under $20 bucks I'm not going to complain. I just can't wait for the next version.
Available from iFrogz in 8 bright colors and exclusively at Wal Mart.
Posted by Evan
Category:
portable media
Tags: ipod speakers
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