USB disco dance floor from MIT

1E Disco Dance Floor Those wild and crazy guys at MIT are at it again.

As you probably know, it is never a good idea to discuss anything at 3:00 AM. At some point Grant and Scott started talking about computer controlled dance floors. This was a very unfortunate night. Then we discussed color-mixing red, green, and blue LEDs. This was a far worse night which led to many seemingly drunken declarations of the need for "multiple shades of purple." Gradually our concepts got more and more ambitious, and we toyed with the engineering problems involved. Neither of us was particularly serious, and we certainly didn't expect anything to result from the conversations. Unfortunately, it turns out that the more you talk about something that isn't serious, the more likely you are to forget that it isn't. Before long, you're spewing some nonsense about a vast USB controlled dance floor that can play video streams and people are looking at you like you're serious.

• 1,536 LEDs
• 128 square feet
• 4,096 colors
• 30 frames/second
• 20,000 hand-soldered connections
• ...best parties ever!

mozdev.org - greasemonkey: index

mozdev.org - greasemonkey: index:

Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension which lets you to add bits of DHTML ('user scripts') to any webpage to change it's behavior. In much the same way that user CSS lets you take control of a webpage's style, user scripts let you easily control any aspect of a webpage's design or interaction.

Live from New York, It's Nokia's 8800!

Nokia 8800 Gallery (MobileBurn)

While it is for certain a beautiful phone, I'm not sure it is quite the phone it should be. For one, the spring-assisted open/close mechanism is a bit too beefy. The slider portion of the handset literally slams into position, as opposed to the smooth, slowed motion found in the Nokia 8910 and 8910i. The finish is also a bit of an issue for me. The stainless steel is quite attractive, but the polished areas are good fingerprint collectors - using the brushed finish all around would have dealt with that. On top of that, the stainless steel body is pretty heavy. I appreciate that the phone feels rock solid, and looks fantastic, but at the end of the day, it is going to be held by potentially oily hands and carried around in pockets and purses.

I'm also confused about the camera choice. Having only a resolution of 800x600, it just seems as if Nokia couldn't decide as to whether or not they really wanted a camera in the phone. Considering that most of the newer high-end phones are coming with megapixel cameras (Nokia's included), it just seems odd to make such a small jump in resolution from VGA to SVGA. I just don't get it.

Aside from those points, it is a very cool handset. Great looking, distinctive, and fairly feature packed. There's even support for Nokia's new Bluetooth stereo headset. The 262k TFT display has a high resolution of 208x208 pixels, and it looks fantastic. The email client supports SMTP, IMAP, and POP. The sound system supports 64 voices, and there is a built-in FM radio. A memory card slot that could augment the 8800's 64MB of internal storage would have been great, though, since the 8800 can play stereo MP3 and AAC files.

Arizona Daily Wildcat - UA prof refutes bottle toxicity - Friday, September 10, 2004

Arizona Daily Wildcat - UA prof refutes bottle toxicity - Friday, September 10, 2004:

Studies done last year found popular Nalgene water bottles to be potentially toxic, but new research, done in part by a UA professor, suggests the bottles do not pose a risk.

Nalgene Water Bottles Appear to be Unsafe 4/7/04

Nalgene Water Bottles Appear to be Unsafe 4/7/04:

Although the colorful, durable and lightweight Nalgene water bottles have been the hydration choice of outdoor enthusiasts, scientific evidence has shown the plastic used to make the bottle may pose serious health hazards.

Nokia - Art Meets State-of-the-Art: Exquisite Materials, Distinctive Details Unite to Create a Mobile Icon - the Nokia 8801 - Press Releases - Press -

Nokia - Art Meets State-of-the-Art: Exquisite Materials, Distinctive Details Unite to Create a Mobile Icon - the Nokia 8801 - Press Releases - Press - About Nokia

What's really surprising is that it's a 0Series 40 phone. All those great features would have been so much better if it ran Symbian.

Espoo, Finland - Drawing upon modern watchmaking and jewelry techniques, Nokia has unveiled a truly inspired mobile phone for today's connoisseurs of quality and taste. Encased in a slim stainless steel body, the Nokia 8801 subtly glides open to reveal a number of distinctive details, each meticulously considered and researched to complement the prestige and quality of the device. To heighten the experience, the Nokia 8801 features exclusive audio accompaniment, including all ring tones and alerts, by award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. This attention to detail continues Nokia's heritage of premium mobile phones that have set the industry standard for elegance and performance.

 

With a Zen-like goal to balance form and functionality, the guiding principle of Nokia's designers and engineers was to create a truly modern mobile phone, the epitome of style and elegance, which would be a pleasure to use and a delight to behold. The organic flowing lines and dynamic surfaces perfectly complement the stainless steel and resin materials -- steel for its tensile strength and durability, and resin for its organic properties. The result is an elegant, 'human' design, comprised of materials destined to age with grace.

 

Finding inspiration in non-traditional sources, Nokia designers employed modern watch-making techniques, such as the use of metal injection molding on the function keys. A specially reinforced glass used in luxury timepieces provides added toughness and scratch-resistance to the front display, and even the Nokia marque has been chemically etched on the back plate using a process typically used by watchmakers.

 

The 'pop-up' mechanism of the Nokia 8801 is another study in functional design. Using a bi-stable spring mechanism and stainless steel ball bearings, like those used in high-performance automobiles, the keypad of the Nokia 8801 gracefully glides from its protective casing, revealing a hidden camera on the back.

 

The aural accompaniment of the Nokia 8801 is equally inspired.  Award-winning composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto was commissioned to compose the ringtones and alerts. Throughout his distinguished career, Sakamoto has crossed musical and technological boundaries, experimenting with different musical styles and making a name for himself in popular, orchestral and film music.

 

Inspired by its modern lines and organic curves, Sakamoto has produced a musical accompaniment for the Nokia 8801 that captures an essence and emotion that touches both heart and mind. His creation draws on his vision of the Nokia 8801 user -- a world citizen constantly on the move, making an impression in a grayscale world and through great cities such as New York, Paris, Sydney and Shanghai.

 

"Subtlety and refinement are requirements of modern high design, appealing to consumers who place a high value in quality and attention to detail," explains Frank Nuovo, Nokia's Chief Designer. "We believe the Nokia 8801 belongs in this pantheon of iconic products - a sophisticated mobile communication device that quietly earns a nod of appreciation and admiration from other connoisseurs of fine taste."

 

The Nokia 8801 is expected to begin shipping in select markets during the third quarter of 2005. Today in Melbourne, Australia and Marrakech, Morocco, Nokia introduced the Nokia 8800, a new device that shares the same premium design details and features, but is designed expressly for the Asia/Europe market. The Nokia 8800 is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2005. The Nokia Wireless Stereo Headset, also introduced today, is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of 2005.

Google maps adds satellite images

Google Maps Google has added a new option of satellite images to their maps. It's on the top left hand side of the page. It's also amazingly smooth

Java Trails: domain driven development framework

trails: Home:

Trails is a domain driven development framework in the spirit of Ruby on Rails or Naked Objects.

The trails project aims to make java enterprise application development radically simpler by allowing developers to focus on the domain model and having other portions dynamically generated. We will leverage existing technologies such as Spring, Tapestry, and Hibernate rather than reinventing.

Ruby on Rails VS. Java/JSTL/Spring/Hibernate/MySQL

Relevance � Blog Archive � Some Numbers at Last

So what do I think? I think that the application I’m working on is perfectly suited for Rails and Rails is perfectly suited for it. I think that I have had more fun working on the Rails app than the Java version. However, I think that the Java version is just as capable, and could be just as performant, as the Rails app. To me, the eye-opening revelation isn’t “Rails is faster than Java/Spring/Hibernate”. It’s “Rails can be very fast”. I think that there is a lot to be said for Rails, and it deserves much of the press it is getting. However, I don’t think its a Java-killer. I think there are plenty of applications, and development teams, that are better suited to Java and its immense universe of available support libraries. I certainly am not going to stop developing in and learning about Java just because I’ve discovered Rails. On the other hand, I am going to spend more of my time trying to find projects that I can use Rails on.

NoName Game #1 by MadMax

NoName Game #1 by MadMaxGame to test your mouse control
bigger version