Wireless liquid level sensing

While I wouldn't exactly qualify this as "what the world needs next is.." material, it is an interesting use of RFID technology. (ultimately a deadbeat waiter will just ignore the sensor indicator to talk to the hostess anyway.) Iglassware from Mitsubishi Electronics
Via DueDiligence Via Ole Eichhorn

DNA in Your Fingerprints

Something PreCrime might use? A new patented way of extracting 10 "nanograms" of DNA from a print in 15 minutes positively identifying anyone. This article explains in more detail and goes on to mention privacy issues and genetic profiling. | Read UPI story here

Neurotypists - Secretaries of the future?

The keyboard is one more level of abstraction between us and our computers... why not just skip the keyboard and enter commands directly from your brain? Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are the subject of research at a number of different universities, including the University of Rochester, Colorado State University, Helsinki University of Technology and Brown University. Most human research has been done using skullcaps or electrodes on the scalp. However, Cyberkinetics, a Massachusetts-based company, plans to retrofit a few brains with internal electrodes if FDA approval goes through. They plan to start their neural-electrode implant research next year.

via Wired News

Hamburglar among tomorrows technology leaders?

Nick Douglas comments below and submitted this link about fast food giant McDonald's using handheld PDA's to take orders. (Thanks for the link.) While I commented on his blog "Broken Hammock" about the futuristic notion of flash baking the memory of a junkfood binge via wireless internet I less hypothetically see this as a possible test marketing for cell phone orders. I also think the article he posted is worthy of note for the description of how much software, databasing and investment Micky D's has. I never realized how high tech my burgers were (Yes '10 shot, cow meat). While it would seem if McDonalds is suffering financially, maybe they are over thinking and part of the pain is IT over-investment.
But then again maybe they are setting a new paradigm for food consumption? Without question if McDonalds is experimenting with Wi-Fi, it makes everyone else stand up and notice.

Back to Medieval Times

I have always heard that the pagans claim that science will always lead us back to what they already knew. Indeed here is a case where high tech meets the dark ages.

Introducing the amazing Catapult watch!

While my first thoughts were about kids in school, I can see many an Office Space watching cubicle dwelling corporate fellow busily firing away at unknown castles and henchman.

Bio lightning rods of Walt Disney

A Giraffe was killed by an electro-magnetic surge known as lighting at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Full ABC story

Make It Bletter?

Make It Bletter?
About 7 posts down I was whining about no official digital replacement for a post card.
While I have yet to see one there is now a blog/newsletter delivered ala html form subscription style called a "bletter". The real feature is for those who publish an html newsletter and a plain text one; bletter wraps that into one time saving javascript. It has an RSS feed, but it makes me wonder if this isn't the start of a new hybrid of spam. You think people complain about Google being cluttered with blog mem now...
demo here

via John Robb

Phone help should know thier technology

In follow up to 10 Shots' post about nanospeak being marketing muscle, Dockers is now stocking stain resistant nano pants.

Nouveau parlez De France
Newspeak from France
I admit on July 4th I forgave the country of France for the whole Iraq flap after thinking about and being reinspired by their binding gift of the Statue of Liberty. Call me a hapless romantic. But those of you who said the Americans were dolts for their Freedom Fries terminolgy should know the dung flows both ways. According to this CNN report in a bout of anti American sentiment the French want to do away with the term "e-mail" and replace it with "Courriel" a hybrid of "courrier electronique".
Next they will want to change "spam" to "Pate'".
Jour de noir!

Local Tech:
Click here for a fair review of Crucial Technology's "Gizmo" 128Meg USB Flash drive (a division of Micron Semiconductor Product here in Boise, Idaho.) These things are said to replace the floppy drive as soon as consumers figure out what a USB is. While I have seen them lining the shelves at Circuit City, I have to say they are not very stylish. They all look like one of those promos you mail order hundreds of with your company logo on them. If these things are supposed to house your important info shouldn't they light up and tell you how much space is left and be housed in a cool titanium and hardwood casemod? None the less while the reviewer is hard on them for being at the upper end of the $30 to $50 dollar range for these mini portable memory sticks, I have to say very good things about Crucial. Solid service and support. I once ordered some RAM for dirt cheap from them got it overnight, and they supported it as I installed it. See if you get that with the foreign competition. (Okay I am biased.)

Disposable DVD's?
Disney's home video division is planning on marketing DVD's that expire after 12 to 48 hours. They are claiming this will serve the consumer dismay with paying late fees. Michael D. Eisner says "I think it probably won't work," and although his peers say he is just being cynical. I have to agree. The nuttiest claim is that although one would think our landfills would fill up with "nonbiodegradable polymers" they are claiming that people would use less fuel returning to the video store. Whatever.| Read the full NYT story here

Tiny Laptop?

Tiny Laptop?

John Robb is back and you should check out his take on the new Sony PDA which ships at a high $700, yet appears to be a mini laptop. This thing has the industry abuzz claiming it is one of the most innovative design and engineering feats of it's time. ( Although Jeremy of Futurismic is not so stoked. I am still jonesin' for treo600 unless I have to pay nearly $700 for one.)

Giant First Class Ski Boot

Giant First Class Ski Boot

Nippon Airways (ANA) has re-invented first class seating. The sleeper is sweet, and the Smorgasbord of tech will entertain to be sure, but the design...I just can't help but to think "ski boot". | more

Via the recently blogrolled Berkeley centric Jean Chu of "hiving" ('tis nicely done, well written in a zen sort of way.)

Electric Snowflakes

As in the case of many a science site I visit great discoveries have little information about the potential uses of the stated discoveries. That said, this site has very detailed explanation of how electricity forms a variety of shapes with ice crystals and some great photos. | Cal Tech Snow Crystal Site

Disney Postcard-O-Rama!

Disney Postcard-O-Rama!
(It just occurred to me while email replaces "snail mail" there is no official digital equivalent of a post card. I guess they have them but nothing mainstream or as functional as email that I know of. This is what I get for posting at 3:00 am)

This large catalogue of Disney postcards will excite and nostalgify even the most avid Disney expat. Includes photo cards and illustrations from before 1960 to the present. Thumbnail galleries click to full size. (a little slow if you are not on a speedy connection.)

via J-Walk

Somebody's Watching Me....

Well, this will freak you right out. Read this most excellent article. Big Brother not just pretending to watch you, but really watching you. I'm talking about the Pentagon's new pet project called CTS (Combat Zones That See). The cameras have always been there, scattered about every major city in the country. But, now they've developed a way to pull together all of that information from all of those existing sources into one major storehouse of data. Of course they're pushing the notion of how valuable it will be for protecting our soldiers in Bagdad. Come on now! I think a more likely use will be Homeland Spying, I mean Homeland Security. This is pretty creepy indeed.

"(CTS) is pretty creepy. And the creepiest part about it is that it's not all that sophisticated," said Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the privacy-rights proponent Electronic Frontier Foundation.

TeraScale SneakerNet

Pinging someone's whuffie doesn't take much bandwidth, but what about flash-baking an entire life-experience over the network?

Moving a megabyte is so easy using the internet that my cell phone can do it with tolerable efficiency. However, today megabytes crop up in droves... is the internet always quicker? (and cheaper?) What might be expected in the forseeable future? ACM Queue has an interesting conversation about large scale data storage and transfer...

The phone bill, at the rate Microsoft pays, is about $1 per gigabyte sent and about $1 per gigabyte received—about $2,000 per terabyte. It's the same hassle for me whether I send it via the Internet or an overnight package with a computer.

Quite the interesting read, for anyone interested in data management and related things.

The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion
(I get tons of referrers coming to this site from hauntedmansion.com)
Disney fans will be excited about the new movie based on the Disney theme park which was also used as a location in the book Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom. (Which inspired this blog for those of you who don't know.) Follow this link for a trailer. Eddie Murphy is in it and there is a definite "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" feel, which I happen to love. IMO It would not have been a good choice to make a dark horror movie like they did with the Batman movies. | Follow this link to view a video trailer.
Via BoingBoing.net

Speaking of Disney movies based on them park attractions, anyone seen "Pirates of Caribbean"? I enjoy that Jonny Dep. He is so brooding and bohemian. Edward Scissor hands is an all-time classic.

Death Casting

This story from CNN talks about Hindu's who cannot attend cremations, who now can watch them live over the web.
A smart death care industry fella' would be all over this, broadcasting a funeral is the next best thing to being there. Although I can sense a morbid Truman Show thang' with Grandpa's dying breath streamed live from the hospital. That would be going a little far.

Wanting ET to Phone Home

It never ceases to amaze me to learn what people are willing to spend their money on. In this case, $24.95 to send a message to 5 stars during the "Cosmic Call". The digitized broadcast that took place on Saturday was sent out from, you guessed it, "Mission Control" in Roswell, New Mexico (with the dish being place in the Ukraine). Apparently 90,000 people opted to shell out the 25 bucks to send their message - 90,000 very stupid people.