Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Guess My Age


Guess My Age
When you are bored in school or office just spend a minute in guessing the handsome and beautiful age. Check it out.
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Paranoid Geeks will love LaCie’s new casing.


Paranoid Geeks will love LaCie’s new casing.
Build with security in mind, this rugged casing comes with biometric authentication. Up to ten users if you might ask. All you need to do is register your thumbprint on the 1st installation, and you can access this military-style drive at any Mac or PC, with no software installation needed.
The drive is bus-powered, and is build to provide shock-proof rugged design (90 x 28 x 145 mm). The biometric security is made of 128-bit AES encryption. This is the same standard used by the U.S. government and organizations worldwide to protect critical documents. Standard ports are USB2.0 and Firewire 800/400. Sad thing is that it does not come with USB3.0.
Two versions are available, the 500GB which cost USD$190, or the 1TB version which cost USD$300.
Paranoid Geeks will love LaCie’s new casing.
Paranoid Geeks will love LaCie’s new casing.
[via Lacie]
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Skype 2.0 ready for iPhone, but calling isn’t free.


Skype 2.0 ready for iPhone, but calling isn’t free.
Skype finally announced that their 2.0 is ready for iPhone, which comes with support for 3G calls. But there’s a catch. Apparently Skype-to-Skype calls will be free, until end of August 2010. After that, there will be a ‘small monthly fee’ for Skype-to-Skype calls, alongside the operator data charges.
Sad case indeed, but never mind that, we should start blasting our iPhones with it now, since the summer’s here.
“Upgrades / improvements include:
- Call using your 3G connection. Skype-to-Skype calls on 3G are free until at least end of August 2010, after which there will be a small monthly fee (operator charges for data will still apply).
- Near CD-quality sound for Skype-to-Skype calls using wideband audio (SILK codec) on iPhone 3GS and 2nd generation iPod touch.
- Enhanced call quality indicator.
- Improved start-up time.
- Fast access to the dial pad from iPhone home screen.”
[iTunes via Gizmodo]
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False alarm from Nvidia turns happy geeks into sad chucks.


False alarm from Nvidia turns happy geeks into sad chucks.
Earlier on this week, the Nvidia Forceware 257.15 beta driver was released, and many had rejoiced, and celebrated, as the GPU/PPU-accelerated PhysX can now finally work on non-Nvidia GPUs. Many though that Nvidia has finally let the issue go and market their lower end cards as PhysX cards too.
However, when the wind got wild, Nvidia quickly announce that this was not a feature in the new released beta driver, but a bug instead. That restriction rule was not implemented in that particular driver, and the WHQL version of the driver will have that rule enforced into it. New downloads from Nvidia’s site will also have that rule re-enforced.
“Yes, this is a bug in the latest build of PhysX that was packaged with the driver. We’ll be fixing this issue ASAP – the WHQL driver launching in early June won’t have this issue. –NVIDIA”
For those who are lost here, here’s a quick brief of what’s going on. Starting with the Forceware 186 series NVIDIA blocked GPU/PPU-accelerated PhysX from working on NVIDIA GPUs and AGEIA PPUs whenever a non-NVIDIA GPU was detected as being in the system. It’s been a polarizing matter for the GPU community for nearly a year now, with a tug-of-war going on between projects editing the drivers to remove the block, and NVIDIA adding further checks in to their drivers to stop those efforts. In any case, there has been no sign that NVIDIA would be changing their position any time soon.
[via Anandtech]
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Google Chrome, live on Linux and Mac.


Google Chrome, live on Linux and Mac.
Mac and Penguin users rejoice, as the day Chrome goes stable on these platform is finally here. With this promotion from beta to stable channel, the Chrome is nicely polished and touched-up, with better performance and stability. It will even looked very “Mac” on your Mac.
“Just like its Windows and Linux siblings, the stable version of Chrome for Mac comes with all the goodness of one of our biggest speed improvements to date. We’ve worked to make Chrome for Mac fast, fully-featured and extensible – with access to more than 4,500 extensions in the gallery. Some of Chrome for Mac’s most-requested features are now available, including full-screen mode (just hit Command + Shift + F!), easy and powerful bookmark management, as well as the ability to synchronize not only bookmarks, but also browser preferences across computers. – Google Mac Blog”
[via Google]
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R/C cars go green, thanks to Horizon.


R/C cars go green, thanks to Horizon.
Shown above is a Tamiya TRF-416 R/C car, but it is not your typical toy car. This R/C car is fitted with a hydrogen fuel cell powered by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. The package comes with everything you’ll ever need to mount the kit onto your tiny R/C toy boat, little flying plane, or car kit. It can even power the cars at 45mph for a full hour of fun, though the cost for the ‘fun’ was not announced yet. Time to boast to your friends about your new toy and green commitment. And a cheap alternative way if you can’t afford the real full-size hydrogen-powered car.
R/C cars go green, thanks to Horizon.
R/C cars go green, thanks to Horizon.

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High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!


High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
Now you wonder what is a fridge getting a post in our blog eh? This is a futuristic fridge by Ashley Legg from Yanko Design, a concept that is supposed to give you ideas, recipes, and instructions, on a healthy meal, depending on what you have in the fridge. High-tech enough?
The idea is that, the fridge is intelligent enough to update itself with new recipes, and is able to compute out healthy meals base on your stocks that you keyed in, and instruct you with vocal instructions through integrated speakers. The fridge displays menus and ingredients through the means of touch-sensitive opaque glass display on the outer plate of the door.
Now, the door is the coolest part in the fridge, besides whatever technology that they use to cool the things in the fridge. The door is made of “electro-chromic” glass. Well apparently such technology exist, in construction industry, whereby a touch of a button can turn the whole door into nearly opaque. Interactive User-Interface will be shown on the door once the door is closed, but u can push a button and view everything inside of the fridge. I guess this would be a good place to use the Samsung’s transparent AMOLED technology.
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
High-Tech fridge now teaches you how to cook!
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Saturday, May 29, 2010

The EyeSeeCam recorded what your eyes see

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iLog

iLog

iLog
By Judson Beaumont's Straight Line Designs. Made from an alder log and an iPod dock.
Source
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Protect 486 Scooter Armor


Protect 486 Scooter Armor


Protect 486 is an anti-theft armor with burglar alarm, and also protecting your scooter from sunshine and rainwater. It was inspired by natural defense mechanisms of animals like the armadillo, which looks like your portable private garage for your scooter. Designed by Marc Graells.
Source
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Friday, May 28, 2010

Knight XV

Knight XV

Knight XV
Car  |  Suv
Conquest Vehicles' Knight XV luxury bulletproof SUV, Cool, it will be only made 100 vehicles.
"Conquest Vehicle Inc's flagship vehicle, the KNIGHT XV defines the future of the ultra-luxurious, handcrafted fully armoured SUV. This one-of-a-kind, V10, 6.8-litre, Bio-fuel powered SUV was inspired by military vehicle designs and features security appointments that are unrivaled in today's SUV marketplace. The KNIGHT XV(TM) is priced at $295,000 USD. Only 100 will be made available as a limited first run. Each vehicle takes 1,500 hours to build by hand. The KNIGHT-XV(TM) is built using ballistic hardened steel making it fully armoured including ballistic fiberglass fenders, bumper and up to 64 mm. (2.5 inches) transparent armor (glass)."












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This is the only watch that you wanna wear


This is the only watch that you wanna wear.
It’s a bracelet, it’s a watch, yet it’s a computer. Sounds too familiar? Well you haven’t seen it all yet. It’s made of OLED touchscreen, features a miniature holographic projector, has a build-in flexible keyboard, and even let us accesses our social websites. This baby designed by Hiromi Kiriki is due on 2020. Ten years isn’t that far actually.
This is the only watch that you wanna wear.
This is the only watch that you wanna wear.
This is the only watch that you wanna wear.
This is the only watch that you wanna wear.
This is the only watch that you wanna wear.
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BeBionic unveils world’s most advance myo-electric bionic hand


BeBionic unveils world’s most advance myo-electric bionic hand
BeBionic, the company behind this incredibly designed hand, said that “a range of naturally compliant grip patterns that provide repeatable accuracy.” It comes with a silicone skin that can be customized with 19 different skin tones, allowing it to blend in with anybody’s body color.
However, the company did not state how human can control it. Weird isn’t it? But I guess Skynet would be very pleased right now.
“It’s able to be wrapped in a silicone skin that comes in 19 different skin tones, allowing it to blend in seamlessly with the rest of your body. And it’s set to be available for people next month.”
[via Engadget]
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USB Flash Drive Cufflinks


USB Flash Drive Cufflinks
These USB Flash Drive Cufflinks is designed by Ravi Ratan. It comes in 2GB storage, which means you got 4GB in a pair. The USB drive can be engraved with up to 8 characters, available in gunmental and gold finishes at $195 per pair.
USB Flash Drive Cufflinks

USB Flash Drive Cufflinks
[via LikeCool]
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Project Natal in stores October, to cost $149 alone.


Project Natal in stores October, to cost $149 alone..
Edge, the global gaming network, has something important to whisper to everyone. Project Natal has an actual pricing and timeframe. Apparently their trusted source told them that the Natal is hitting stores this coming 26th of October.
The standalone unit will cost $100 while bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console will be $299. Prices outside of the states will be slightly different than this SRP in the states, due to some factors, like currency exchange rates, taxes, and many others.
“Microsoft expects to sell millions and millions of Natal units in its first year on the market so you can expect the software launch line-up to target non-traditional gamers,” our source said. “A major marketing campaign will also play a key role in attracting and educating the expanded audience about Xbox 360’s controller-free revolution.”
Another interesting rumor is that the Project Natal won’t be called Natal after all, and the final retail name would only be announced on the upcoming E3. So, stay tuned folks!
[via Edge]
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Watch 2010 FIFA World Cup with this HANNSsoccer 28 TV


Watch 2010 FIFA World Cup with this HANNSsoccer 28 TV
Watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup with this HANNSsoccer 28 TV from Hannspree. This football-shaped TV is 27.5-inch 1080p Full HDTV (1920 x 1200) that comes with an integrated Freeview tuner, a 10.000:1 of contrast ratio and a 170° / 160° of viewing angle. The HANNSsoccer 28 TV also features a couple of 10 Watts speakers, two HDMI ports, Composite, VGA and a sleep timer. It is available at $600 each. What you gonna do with this when football fever is over?
[via TechFresh]
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NVIDIA announces GTX480M, frying eggs on notebook now possible.


NVIDIA announces GTX480M, frying eggs on notebook now possible.
Ever since AMD announced that their chips will be on 100+ models of notebooks beginning end of this year, Nvidia is having nightmares every night. The woodscrew Fermi was trashed around, delayed, and getting nicknamed by its friends and schoolmates and haters. AMD’s 5000-series had a great leap ahead of Nvidia in the DirectX 11 market, and was blasting away enjoying its runaway success. Nvidia finally go live with their Fermi around March, but 6 months late isn’t the main thing concern here anymore. The Fermi was huge, hot, and power-hungry. It barely won over the 5000-series.
Now, Nvidia has announced that the Fermi based GTX480M is going to notebooks next month. Of cause, the main issue that everyone ponders would be the power consumption. Nvidia stated that the total graphics power draw (GPU + RAM) is 100W, which is higher than the current high-end GTX285M.
Expected features are like CUDA, PhysX, OpenCL, PureVideo, and obviously DX11. Although Optimus is ready, it is unlikely any vendors would put such a powerful cheap with budget processors. The GTX480M will also be part of the Verde Driver Program. Hard specs wise, it has 352 “CUDA” Cores, core clock of 425MHz, shader clock of 850MHz, 256-bit of memory, and 600MHz GDDR5 memory (effectively 2400MHz). SLI is also possible on this chip, though its likely any vendors will release SLI-Ready notebooks that soon.
So, anybody gonna buy 1 of these beasts, and fry some eggs while gaming?
[via Anandtech]
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Sony introduces super-thin OLED display.


Sony has announced their latest technology, which is a super-flexible 80μm OTFT (Organic thin-film transistor) driven full color OLED display. This new technology is so thin that you can wrap it around pencil, scroll in-and-out, and it will still display images on-the-go.
Sony introduces super-thin OLED display.
“To create the display, Sony developed OTFTs with an original organic semiconductor material (a PXX derivative) with eight times*2 the current modulation of conventional OTFTs. This was achieved due to the development of integration technologies of OTFTs and OLEDs on an ultra-thin 20 μm thick flexible substrate (a flexible on-panel gate-driver circuit with OTFTs which is able to get rid of conventional rigid driver IC chips interfering roll-up of a display) and soft organic insulators for all the insulators in the integration circuit. By combining these technologies, Sony successfully demonstrated the world’s first OLED panel*3 which is capable of reproducing moving images while being repeatedly rolled-up – around a cylinder with a radius of 4 mm – and stretched. – Akihabaranews.com”
However, this technology is still on its development phase, therefore you see a lot of dead pixels, and low resolutions video. Sony will continue to improve the performance and reliability of its flexible organic displays because the application of these developments are expected to yield thin, light-weight, durable and mobile devices with enhanced form-factor.

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Environment: The dark side of digital waste



As if there wasn’t enough litter in the world to trouble us, now we are threatened by specific forms of waste; one being e-waste or electronic waste. 

So, what is e-waste? E-waste can best be described as “all electrical or electronic devices such as computers, entertainment devices, mobile phones, television sets and refrigerators or their components, which are sold, obsolete, broken or discarded by their original owners.”

Repair and reuse of computers and televisions is a thing of the past in developed countries; today they prefer replacement over repair. Therefore according to estimates, between 20-50 million tons of e-waste is produced every year.

All this e-waste has to be either recycled or properly disposed off. For recycling, the equipment is usually dismantled, and various parts (metal frames, power supplies, circuit boards, plastics) separated; this is often done by hand in order to save working and repairable parts. The unusable parts are sent to incinerators or ends up in landfills.

As recycling and disposal of e-waste involves significant risk to workers and the environment, health and environmental problems are caused because electronic equipment contains toxic and carcinogenic substances like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) such as copper, lead, zinc, gold, iron, thallium etc. which are persistent organic pollutants and can cause birth defects. The Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) present in computer monitors and TV contains lead. Other toxic metals include cadmium, a known carcinogen and mercury, a toxic substance that can lead to neurological disorders. Many of the plastics used also contain flame retardants.

Due to risks to human health and environmental concerns, disposal and recycling of e-waste is governed by strict regulations in developed countries. They also often import their e-waste to developing countries where environmental laws neither exist nor followed. For many western countries, it is cheaper to ship waste than pay for its environmentally friendly disposal and e-waste finds its way to poor African or Asian countries such as Kenya, China and India.

Due to unsafe processing practices, in developing countries e-waste causes serious health and environmental problems. Computers and other electronic items are routinely dismantled without any protective measures. A common method is to simply toss the equipment onto open fire, in order to melt plastics and to burn away inexpensive metals. This pollutes the atmosphere by releasing various carcinogens and neurotoxins, contributing to an acrid, lingering smog. This leads to allergic manifestation and various skin and respiratory tract disorders. The refuse is then disposed off into drainage ditches or waterways feeding the ocean or local water supplies. 

Sometimes the whole equipment is simply tossed in landfills but it too is a bad solution because over time, heavy metals like lead, copper and mercury contained in them can leech into the ground and contaminate the soil and groundwater causing serious illnesses.

Pakistan, too, is increasingly becoming a dumping ground for a host of obsolete computers and its accessories which are shipped to the country under the pretext of ‘second-hand machinery’. The traders who are a party to this unethical practice use the pretext of facilitating computer literacy in the country and make millions through these deals. But as a major percentage of the imported consignment is obsolete or beyond repair, after removing usable parts the bulk is sent to the recycling industry or just discarded. 

Few laws appear to be in place to check this dangerous practice. Pakistan is a signatory to the Basel Convention, which monitors the movement of hazardous waste. However, the importers and exporters take advantage of the lacuna — the convention becomes flexible when goods are to be used for the same purpose, i.e. old computers are to be used as second-hand machines.
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Myth buster: Tick tock five


A survey conducted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2003 found that 70 per cent of women and 56 per cent of men had knowledge of the five second rule. For those of you who do not know what it is — it is the idea that food picked off the floor within five seconds of its falling is safe to eat. It is sometimes said to have been given origin by Genghis Khan, who is held to have called it the 20 or so hour rule. Of course this is mainly speculation and there is no proof. 

Julia Child, a famous American chef whose popularity has been revitalised by a recent movie adaptation of her memoirs Julie and Julia might also have been responsible in all her cheerful clumsiness. Eating food off the floor, believe it or not, did not become taboo until the 19th century with the formulation of the modern germ theory. 

This rule is very pliable with the time being adjusted to how long it took to realise that food was no longer on our plates or in our hands and then the time involved in picking it up and popping it back into our mouths. The more we prize the treat that we had a few seconds ago, the more likely we are to retrieve it while no one is looking. We would want to bend the rules if it is the last candy in the bag more than we would for the first. The ‘forbidden fruit’ that it is lying there right in front of us after we may have perhaps sweated while in a queue and spent our entire pocket money on treating ourselves too, serves to amplify our cravings. 

In 2003 a high school student, Jillian Clarke initiated the rule to the test exposing gummy bears and cookies to contaminated surfaces. With assistance from the University of Illinois she discovered, quite surprisingly, that public floors did not contain that many disease causing germs. Another study conducted in 2006 by Dr Paul Dawson which appeared in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, revealed that certain organisms can survive for a long time on the floor. Using bologna sandwiches he found that 99 per cent germs are transferred to food within five seconds of exposure time from tiles, this was followed by wood and finally carpet. The bologna dropped on carpet contracted only 0.5 per cent of the microscopic bugs on the surface, the greater concern in this context being carpet fuzz. 

The factors which determine the number of microbes that hold fast to the dropped food include the type and texture of food. Ice cream is likely to get more contaminated than candy. The cleanliness and type of surface are also vital. And the longer food remains on the floor, more will be the number of bacteria who come to party like it is an open bar. 

Though scientifically the demise of the five second rule might have happened only a few years ago, I think our belief in it has been more of ‘naïve optimism’ and a kind of denial all along.
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