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Labels: art, technology, toys

Posted by Steve at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: games, nostalgia, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Comcast remotes don't come with a skip ahead button. That makes it difficult to skip commercials on your Comcast DVR. Here are instructions for programming your own 30 second commercial skip button on your silver Comcast remote.

Important note: Once the button has been programmed it is permanent, so pick a button you don't use or need. I recommend using the Help button for the 30 second skip function.

Follow these steps:

1. Hit the Cable button - It will blink.
2. Press and hold the Setup button until the cable button blinks twice.
3. Enter 994 - The Cable button will blink twice.
4. Hit setup. (do not hold)
5. Enter 00173 on your keypad.
6. Hit any button that you don't use. (like Help or a button close to your 8 second rewind / instant replay button)

Enjoy skipping commercials.

Labels: technology, time

Posted by Steve at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: isitreal, technology

Posted by Steve at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

More Info

Labels: death, future, games, mistakes, robots, scary, scifi, technology

Posted by Steve at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Illuminate an LED with a LEMON! What's even more amazing is that there is an instructional video on YouTube

Labels: food, science, seemslikemagic, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

"A big, fat access point with a large antenna and a bunch of Wi-Fi cards that automatically connect to the strongest signals it can pick up. Then it would combine all these signals into one FreeLoading Broadband Canal for me to use."

Labels: isitreal, overkill, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

Japanese motorists may one day pump their cars full of sake, the fermented rice wine that is Japan's national drink, if a pilot project to create sake fuel is a hit with locals in this mountain resort. More

Labels: food, technology

Posted by Steve at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: music, nostalgia, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: design, nostalgia, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: future, nostalgia, technology

Posted by Steve at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: isitreal, overkill, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: design, overkill, technology, toys

Posted by Steve at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: music, nostalgia, technology

Posted by Steve at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: design, technology

Posted by Steve at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

0.5 inch / 12.5 mm on a side
0.125 cubic inch / 2 cc volume
15 minute run time
0.5 f/s / 0.15 m/s maximum speed
Microcontroller
Infrared sensing

Pico qualifies as the smallest in its category in spite of the existence of a 1 cc class in some Japanese robot competitions because to my knowledge (to date), none of those robots have contained their own power source, and many of them don't even contain any circuitry.

Labels: robots, seemslikemagic, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

Netcosm monitors the traffic flowing across your routers and remasters that data into entertaining clashes of good and evil data packets

Labels: games, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The Thai government has banned access to the YouTube video-uploading website after it broadcast material critical of the country's king." More

Labels: mistakes, overkill, technology

Posted by Steve at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: isitreal, technology

Posted by Steve at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The Buddha Machine is a little plastic box that plays music."

Labels: music, nostalgia, seemslikemagic, technology

Posted by Steve at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: animals, games, technology

Posted by Steve at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The authorities in India's premier engineering institute, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay (Mumbai), have cut off internet access to students in hostels at night. They feel that 24-hour internet access is hampering students' academic performance and overall personality development." More

Labels: overkill, technology

Posted by Steve at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: food, games, overkill, technology

Posted by Steve at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The Skynet spacecraft will deliver secure, high-bandwidth communications for UK and "friendly" forces. The launch is part of a multi-billion-pound project that will allow the Army, Royal Navy and RAF to pass much more data, faster between command centres." SKYNET??! No, not that Skynet, this Skynet.

Labels: mistakes, robots, scary, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

"As a collector of vintage and modern atomic clocks, I discovered it was possible, using gear found at home, to convert our family minivan into a mobile high-precision time laboratory, complete with batteries, power converters, time interval counters, three children, and three cesium clocks (see photograph). We drove as high as we could up Mount Rainier, the volcano near Seattle, Washington, and parked there for two days. The trip was continuously logged with the global positioning system; the net altitude gain was +1340 meters. Given the terrestrial blueshift of 1.1 × 10-16 per meter mentioned by Kleppner and integrating our altitude profile, we predicted the round-trip time dilation to be +22 nanoseconds. This is remarkably close to what we experimentally observed when, after we returned, the ensemble of portable cesium clocks was again compared with atomic clocks left at home." More

Labels: science, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

Quite amazing interpolation. Is it real? More

Labels: isitreal, science, seemslikemagic, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

"In this segment from the Hippy Gourmet TV show, we visit with Bob Schneeveis, the inventor of the Solar Powered Walking Chariot! Bob is a brilliant and eccentric character who studies nature and then turns it into sustainable, solar-electric vehicles and gadgets... Check out how clean powered engine drives these legs and rollerblades in such a human-like fashion...amazing! This thing actually has a lot of kick to it and is capable of covering all kinds of terrain it seems."

Labels: seemslikemagic, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Blade Runner meets reality. Link

Labels: scifi, starwars, technology

Posted by Steve at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

The main event of the GRL Rotterdam tour - 'L.A.S.E.R TAG' - 60mw geek graffiti madness.
Watch the video here on the Graffiti Research Lab website. Link

Labels: seemslikemagic, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

"RFID keeps getting smaller. On February 13, Hitachi unveiled a tiny, new “powder” type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm — the smallest yet — which they aim to begin marketing in 2 to 3 years." Link

Labels: bigbrother, science, scifi, seemslikemagic, technology

Posted by Steve at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

"A microphone in the cabinet of the Talking Popcorn machine picks up sound of popping corn, and a computer in the pedestal runs a program that translates the popping sounds according to the patterns and dictates of Morse Code. A computer-generated voice provides a simultaneous spoken translation."

Labels: art, seemslikemagic, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sailing directly downwind faster than the wind - No it is NOT impossible! Description of the vehicle at http://www.ayrs.org/DWFTTW_from_Catalyst_N23_Jan_2006.pdf

Labels: science, seemslikemagic, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

Super dangerous and super fun robot ride

Labels: death, robots, technology, toys

Posted by Steve at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments

We took an industrial robot, strapped a tennis racket and a sword to it, and put it under the control of a WiiMote. We ran very light pattern recognition on the WiiMote, so it would copy our sword swings. You can read the write up at www.usmgarage.com

Labels: games, robots, technology, toomuchtimeonhands, toys

Posted by Steve at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

Google Australia is celebrating Australia Day 2007 by photographing Sydney Harbour from the air, and we want to make sure as many of us as possible squeeze into the picture. "The plane has permission to fly low and will be taking hi-resolution pictures ... Wear or do something distinctive to make sure you can spot yourself." Link

Labels: bigbrother, technology

Posted by Steve at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Ford Motor Co. is joining the list of automakers working on a plug-in hybrid -- with a twist. It combines the convenience of plugging in your car with a zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell. Ford on Tuesday is to display what it calls the world's first drivable fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle with plug-in capability. Called the Flexible Series Hybrid Edge, it represents the latest offering from automakers hoping to stake a claim to the next generation of highly efficient, alternative automobiles." Link

Labels: science, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments

"ConAgra Foods is breaking a new campaign for Orville Redenbacher's gourmet popcorn from Crispin Porter + Bogusky during Monday's national broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, according to sources. The David Fincher-directed commercial digitally recreates the brand's nerdy iconic founder, who died in 1995." Link, Link2
UPDATED: Video Link

Labels: deadcelebs, food, technology

Posted by Steve at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Anyways, here's the info on the stuff I packed into this sweet little rectangular gaming goodie! Came with built-in pirate games, including the 2 player version of tetris, and a level select hacked Contra, among 70 or so more games. Nearly endless supply of old-school-nes there. I didn't even get to play every one before I gave it away, lol." Link Link2

Labels: games, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Martin Butler presents four human avatars to play with. Log in at home with your character of choice. Direct the avatar, explore the space and challenge him or her. The avatars can also be observed live in their Analog Villa. Opening Friday 26 January 2007 at 20:00. When you use virtual avatars you can do as you please. In The Girlfriend Experience you will have to get to know each other first. Player and avatar explore what they can do for each other and how far the avatar wants to go to execute specific desires. It is ambiguous who is really controlling the situation. You have ten minutes to figure out what you can do with your avatar. After that, your time is up and another player can take your place." Link

Labels: art, life, technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

"MINI USA has placed interactive billboards in 4 US cities (Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco) and invited a few hundred MINI owners in those cities to join their targeted 'advertisement' pilot program. The owners sign up on MINI's website and receive an RFID keyfob in the mail. When that MINI owner drives by the billboard, a targeted message appears. Each owner tells MINI what to show when they drive by, such as 'Jim, you are one sexy beast.'" Link1, Link2

Labels: bigbrother, technology

Posted by Steve at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Get enchanted by a aluminum foil ship floating above ground on hexafluorid (gas significantly denser than air) at the Physikshow of the University of Bonn!"

Labels: seemslikemagic, technology

Posted by Steve at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Stamps released in China to celebrate the Year of the Pig taste of sweet and sour pork. When you scratch the front of the stamps, it smells of the popular Chinese dish and when the back of the stamp is licked it tastes of the dish too." Link

Labels: animals, food, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

"The flash patterns have been digitized from firefly behavioral research data found online and were modeled in Mathematica so that variations of speed and intensity could be generated. The final output was transformed by a lightness function and written into header files as 8-bit PWM data." Link

Labels: technology, toomuchtimeonhands

Posted by Steve at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

Using lasers, Korean researchers have crafted a microscopic version of Rodin's famed sculpture "The Thinker" just about twice the size of a red blood cell at 20 millionths of a meter high. The scientists scanned a replica of Rodin's popular masterpiece "The Thinker," originally sculpted in 1880, and created a version 93,000 times smaller than the roughly 6-foot-high original. More

Labels: technology

Posted by Steve at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

Early last December (the 5th to be exact) I placed a hefty order for a top-of-the-line IBM ThinkPad. The estimated build time was 5 to 10 days and I got 2 day shipping. I wanted the laptop by the end of the year and I wanted to write it off as a business expense for 2006. The estimated ship date of December 19 came and went. I emailed customer support asking what the delay was and got no response. I called customer support and they told me that not all the parts were in stock to build the laptop. I was upset because I needed the laptop for a couple of year-end meetings but figured it would still ship before the end of the year and I'd be able to write it off. Then the estimated ship date jumped to 1/9/07. So much for the tax write off. Yesterday I looked at my order and saw that the estimated ship date was back to 12/19/06. I emailed customer support asking what was going on and what the real ship date was going to be. I got no response. Today is 1/9/07 and I logged in to check my order status and the estimated ship date is now 2/7/07. I immediately called customer support and canceled the order. They had no explanation why it would take 2 months to build and ship a laptop.

Labels: incompetence, technology

Posted by Steve at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

Stephen Hawking, renown British theoretical physicist, announced his intention to travel to space on board a Virgin Galactic spacecraft for his 65th birthday. He will prep for the space flight on one of those planes that simulates micro gravity.

Labels: space, technology

Posted by Steve at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

One of those energy-efficient light bulbs from Ikea just died. It had been in service for only 3 months. The bulb started flickering and then strobing and finally went off. I didn't notice when it went off all the way, but then I heard a click and smelled something. I immediately unplugged the lamp. I took out the light bulb. The base of it looks burned and it smells like fried electronics in here. Good thing it's warm outside - I had to open the windows to air the place out.

Labels: technology

Posted by Steve at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments