Flo Bytes

Blog Software Comparison Chart

2006-01-02T01:03:00.000-05:00

This chart compares the most popular blog software. It is helpful when you can't decide which blog service you want to use. All the information is in a simple chart. Everyone should check it out before registering for a blog.

read more | digg story

Programming Cheat Sheets

2005-12-28T16:18:00.000-05:00

Check these cool printable progamming cheat sheets.

read more | digg story

New 'Go Daddy' Super Bowl Ad Too Sexy For ABC?

2005-12-28T16:17:00.000-05:00

Domain registrar Go Daddy Software Inc., which had its sexy 2005 Super Bowl ad pulled after only one showing, says it doesn't know whether it will get approval from ABC censors for the ad planned for next year's football championship.

read more | digg story

Alaska Airlines plane forced to make emergency landing, passenger snaps pic

2005-12-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you're told that your plane has to make an emergency landing and the assisted breathing masks drop from above. Well if you're Jeremy Hermanns you bust out your Treo 650 and snap some pictures to forever document the turmoil.

read more | digg story

Goonies Reunited!

2005-12-20T11:31:00.000-05:00

The picture is from 2001, but still cool.

200-lb Floating Chair

2005-12-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

(via Vestal Design Blog) A Dutch designer named Marijn van der Poll has created a 200-lb chair which floats around the room on a cushion of air.

The inspiration for this project came from comic book heroes. I figured I’d try and give today’s CEO the ultimate corporate seating object with special powers.

For sale at marijnvanderpoll.com (Click on Furniture or Films)

The Dave Chapelle Theory

2005-12-19T10:33:00.000-05:00

This account of Dave Chappelle's fall from grace has been pieced together by me, a retired public relations executive who wishes to remain anonymous. my contacts, many of whom were closely related to the individuals involved, enabled me to fairly accurately recount the events that took place. You can take this for what you wish, but it is the truth - the abhorrent byproduct of the industry I used to hold to such a high esteem.

The Dave Chapelle Theory

Stretchable Silicon Could Be Next Wave In Electronics

2005-12-19T09:35:00.000-05:00

"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a fully stretchable form of single-crystal silicon with micron-sized, wave-like geometries that can be used to build high-performance electronic devices on rubber substrates."

read more | digg story

Google Video - Worst Job Ever

2005-12-17T22:30:00.000-05:00

Pretty self-explanatory. This would definitely be the worst job ever.

read more | digg story

Wonders of Photoshop: Magazine Cover Demo

2005-12-17T16:39:00.000-05:00

The media world is becoming increasingly fixated on appearances. And the number of tricks used to achieve the increasingly exaggerated ideals is growing. Many models have plastic surgery and even more are retouched so they appear to have bigger breasts, smaller stomachs or fuller lips.

We wanted to show how easy it is to change someone’s appearance in this campaign.

Link

"Snoop Doggs" Foot-long Hot Dogs

2005-12-17T15:36:00.000-05:00

Snoop Dogg recently inked a deal with Platinum One Media to launch a new business with the rapper – foot-long hot dogs.

According to the Boston Herald, the rapper’s latest venture is “Snoop Doggs,” a new hot dog line launching with partners Franco Petrucci and Jeff Earp.

Link

Blog-X Awards Winner: Gizmodo

2005-12-16T15:53:00.000-05:00

(from TechWeb) This blog was the landslide winner in this year's Blog-X awards, pulling in more than a third of the top-ten votes. Gizmodo is known for keeping up with the latest developments in personal technology, and doing so with humor and style. Its posts are sometimes sarcastic, usually to the point, and always up to date.

Link | Gizmodo

10: Gear Live
9: TechNudge
8: Oh Gizmo!
7: MuniWireless
6: Andy on Enterprise Software
5: TechCrunch
4: SmallBizTechnology.com
3: RealTechNews
2: Day in the Life of an Information Security Investigator

Flo Bytes would like to say (as if anyone reads this) congradulations and thank you to the crew at Gizmodo for providing the rest of us with so much quality content and awsome links (they do supply alot of the actual content of this site :) ).

Bendy Microprocessor on Plastic

2005-12-16T12:06:00.000-05:00

(from Gizmodo) Not much other then a report right now, but it looks like TDK has teamed up with Japanese Semiconductor Energy Laboratory to make a bendable microprocessor. The transistors will be made on glass first, then transferred to plastic. The processor will also have wireless capabilities and built-in signal encryption.

Firm makes bent CPU [The Inquirer]

Adriana Lima

2005-12-16T11:51:00.000-05:00

She may be ready to take the crown from Giselle Bundchen, although sharing is always a good idea when it comes to supermodels.

Link (via DoubleViking)

How soon after marriage do Japanese brides cut the cheese?

2005-12-16T09:48:00.000-05:00

(from BoingBoing) Mark Frauenfelder: From Tokyo Times: "As the pie chart above graphically demonstrates, Japanese ladies appear to simply fart for fun; with nearly half of them practically pumping their way through the first year of marriage."

Link

Helmet's Can Be Cool. Maybe.

2005-12-15T14:51:00.000-05:00

(By Andy G. [thecoolhunter]) Stack hats suck. Most kids would rather suffer a brain injury than endure the humiliation of wearing one. They are like wearing corduroy flares ..on your head. Thanks to Indigo Snow the Hell is taken out of Helmet with their awesome new line of head protective gear. Inspired by retro cool Evil Knievel line designs, these helmets have the competitive edge with their injection of organic and reptilian face designs. The cobra and black belly snake skin designs would make The Fonz weep, whilst the wood grain finish say ' I'm earthy and up for the challenge". Full on flip down eye wear attached is so 'Magnum P.I' its in a cool class of its own. Extreme sports safety gear has been at a relatively uninspiring stage for some time now.

The Cool Hunter

2006 Nissan Comes With Built-in XBox (standard)

2005-12-15T14:23:00.000-05:00

Nissan plans to rev up a new sports car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in early 2006. The 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Urge Concept features a driver-integrated cockpit and a built-in Xbox gaming system.

Link

Is Google set to acquire Opera?

2005-12-15T14:15:00.000-05:00

"Dirson's New Google Blog links to a French language blog by Pierre Chappaz (former president of Yahoo! Europe), who quotes sources saying that the acquisition is going down." --- If true, Google would have the web browser to to go along with the search engine...

read more | digg story

Origin of Tech Company Names

2005-12-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

Microsoft: It was coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.

Google: The name started as a jockey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google

Cisco: The name is not an acronym but an abbreviation of San Francisco. The company's logo reflects its San Francisco name heritage. It represents a stylized Golden Gate Bridge.

read more | digg story

Sex for an Xbox 360?

2005-12-15T13:45:00.000-05:00

How far would you go to get an Xbox 360? Well, if one Craigslist.org ad (since removed) were to be believed, two Boston-area women would do just about anything to get their hands on the next-gen console. Under the headline "trade sex for an xbox 360," a person claiming to be a 22-year-old woman said "Me and my roommate are totally hard core gamers, but our desperate (sic) attempts to get an Xbox 360 have gotten us nothing so far." The poster told responders to "send me a photo of you holding the system, and tell me what I have to do to get it."

read more | digg story

The i-Visor

2005-12-15T13:37:00.000-05:00

(from Gizmodo) Listen up, TRON, I know you are looking for a new LCD display visor that matches your bionic jumpsuit all cute-like, and this may be it. This is the i-Visor (no relation to anything iApple related) by Daeyang E & C out of Korea. What’s so special about these? Well, they are the WORLD’s FIRST wearable display to use SVGA reflective liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) and EL display. Calm down, I know you are excited. These are now available from Mikimoto Beans in Korea.

The i-Visor from Mikimoto Beans [Akiba Live]

Instant Replay Binoculars

2005-12-15T13:34:00.000-05:00

If you spend much time looking through binoculars, you’ve at some point probably wished you could replay an image you just saw. Bushnell had you in mind when coming up with these 8 x 32-magnification Instant Replay Digital Binoculars, which replay .35 megapixel video clips (15fps) or 2.1 megapixel still images on a 1.5” LCD screen. While the binoculars were designed for replay on the go, the set also comes with imaging software and a USB for transfer to your computer.

Instant Replay Binoculars [productdose]

Voodoo Knife Block w/ Knives

2005-12-15T13:30:00.000-05:00

Wow! The brand new Limited Edition Chrome Voodoo Knife Block is here! Yes, the most talked about Voodoo Knife Block has arrived! Has your man not been paying you enough attention? Did he miss your anniversary? Hee hee...time to get some back! All you guys out there - look out!

We all need a place to stash our blades. What about this pretty rad alternative to the typically boring block o’ wood: the Voodoo Knife Block. This 40x25 cm strategically perforated human form now comes in Limited Edition Chrome!

Voodoo Knife Block w/ knives

Giant Blimp Goes High-Tech

2005-12-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

(from Gizmodo) "...the Defense Department wants to put the blimp to a worthy use (other than circling football games) and has decided to put hundreds of millions of dollars into a new fleet of military airships. Go, blimp, go! Seems the military has promised a $149 million contract to Lockheed to build a huge high-altitude airship that will check for ballistic missile launches. Using solar cells and advanced fuel cells for power, an aerodynamic design and a control system must be developed to help keep the airship steady amid the high winds at that altitude without consuming excessive power. Also, because it’s filled with helium, they’d have to make sure the temperature wouldn’t affect it, and want to find materials to withstand extreme ultraviolet radiation for longer times. It’s going to be big, too — about 2.5 times the length of the Goodyear Blimp. Look for prototypes around 2010."

Link [Defensetech]

Google, Sun, Microsoft to Fund New Internet Lab

2005-12-15T11:48:00.000-05:00

(via slashdot) SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. (and Sun) are setting aside their bitter animosity to back a new Internet research laboratory aimed at helping entrepreneurs introduce more groundbreaking ideas to a mass audience...

Link

Gasoline Powered Monowheel

2005-12-15T11:43:00.000-05:00

(from Makezine) Today's Maker from our new book Makers - Kerry McLean, Wall Lake, Michigan. 225-horsepower gasoline-powered monowheel. "You may be hauling ass, but you feel like you're floating," says McLean. The metal fabricator and machinist built his first monowheel in 1970 and has been obsessively perfecting the design ever since...

Link

Couple arrested for 'sex rage'

2005-12-15T11:21:00.000-05:00

THEY were jetting off for a holiday in Kingston, Jamaica, and the drinks flowed freely during the ten-hour flight.

Intoxicated, the couple, who were seated in business class, decided to submit their membership for the 'mile-high club' in one of the toilets...

Link

Mom Tosses Baby From Smoky Third-Floor Window

2005-12-15T11:17:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK -- A New York mom had no other choice as smoke and flames cornered her and her baby in their third-floor apartment. So she tossed her 1-month-old baby son out the window to a man below.

Story

Check out the video of the guy catching the baby. Looks almost fake.

eBay: Buy My Football Fan Loyalty, I'm tired of the TN Vols.

2005-12-14T16:24:00.000-05:00

This guy is selling his ncaa football loyalty on eBay. Brilliant!!! Last check, the bid was up to $685 with 2 days left.

ebay: "I'm selling my services as a College Football League fan to the highest bidder.
I CAN BE A FAN FOR YOUR TEAM!

The winning bidder will get to pick my new favorite College team. I will root loudly and enthusiastically for my new team for the remainder of the 2005-2006 season (If in a Bowl game) and the entire 2006-2007 season...

This auction ain't no oddly shaped, pseudo-holy food item: This is 100% testosterone filled College Football League Fan that will be a fanatic for YOUR TEAM...

I'll watch televised games, and go to my former favorite team home game in my new teams hat I always go to at least 1 a year. Picture will be provided...

I will discuss my new team at the water cooler after every win or terrible loss...
If my new team makes it to a bowl or playoff game I am committed to wearing a foam-number-one-finger for the duration of the game..."

Link

Virgin Galactic: $200K for Space Flight in 2008

2005-12-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

(source: BoingBoing) Xeni Jardin: Sir Richard Branson and co. have announced plans for a $225 million dollar spaceport in New Mexico for the Virgin Galactic fleet.

Virgin Galactic also revealed that up to 38,000 people from 126 countries have paid a deposit for a seat on one of its manned commercial flights, including a core group of 100 "founders" who have paid the initial $200,000 cost of a flight upfront. Virgin Galactic is planning to begin flights in late 2008 or early 2009.

AP Story | Space.com

Andy Rosen's punk photos on Flickr

2005-12-14T15:54:00.000-05:00

(source: BoingBoing) David Pescovitz:Underground photographer Andy Rosen posted his stunning series "London Punks 1976-1984" to Flickr. Seen here, Jonny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, Punk Portraits London 1976-1984 Other photos include Johnny Rotten, Siouxsie Sioux, Paul Weller, and a slew of live shots of The Clash.

Link

Chapelle Show Season 3 Trailer

2005-12-13T21:23:00.000-05:00

Word is that there will only be 4 episodes, without commentary. We takes whut we getz. Shit is still the funniest funk on TV.

Link (via DoubleViking)

Sin City 2 Plot Released

2005-12-13T11:43:00.000-05:00

(via IMDB) It's one of those hot nights, dry and windless. The kind that makes people do sweaty, secret things. Dwight's thinking of all the ways he's screwed up and what he'd give for one clear chance to wipe the slate clean, to dig his way out of the numb gray hell that is his life. And he'd give anything. Just to cut loose. Just to feel the fire. One more time.

Dwight is experiencing some problems when him and his girlfriend, Ava Lord, get reunited, Nancy wants to avenge Hartigan's death by going after the Roarks, a man in the military gets mysteriously killed while trying to cook a rat, and we get to explore some details in Hartigan's past.

Link

The movie will be based on Frank Miller's graphic novel "A Dame to Kill For". Rumor has it that Selma Hayek is going to have a role in the film as Ava, a woman from Dwight (Clive Owen's character) McCarthy's past.

Miami Vice Movie Trailer

2005-12-12T20:05:00.000-05:00

(props to DoubleViking for this gem)

Link

Meteorite hunter digs up 1400 pound meteor rock worth an estimated $3mil

2005-12-12T20:01:00.000-05:00

He is harvesting his cash crop with the cooperation of his farming neighbors.

read more | digg story

Clemency denied for Stanley Tookie Williams

2005-12-12T17:09:00.000-05:00

Terminator votes for termination.

read more | digg story

If there was ever a case for clemency, this would be it. After all, WTF does someone need to do to deserve this 'clemency'. The pardon wouldn't set the guy free, just let him not get the death penalty.

I guess maybe if he would have won the nobel peace prize, the governator might have given him a chance.

Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story - http://imdb.com/title/tt0388367/

Time Magazine's List of 50 Coolest Web Sites

2005-12-12T16:16:00.000-05:00

Hmmm..... I don't see flobytes on the list. Must be some sort of error...

Time Magazine's Top 50 for 2006.

read more | digg story

The difference between Nerds and Geeks

2005-12-12T10:33:00.000-05:00

(Wikipedia) The term "nerd", meaning "square" goes back at least to 1951, when Newsweek reported the usage as relatively new in Detroit. By the 1960s, it took on connotations of bookishness as well as social ineptitude. The word itself first appeared in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo, published in 1950, where it simply names one of Seuss's many comical imaginary animals...

read more digg story

180 ° - Upcoming Digg Competitor

2005-12-11T15:37:00.000-05:00

180 ° news is something Digg should keep their eyes on. It's a web-based RSS reader that pulls thousands of stories from the web daily, which can be marked as important (imp'd). It's cookie based, so no logins are required. Other topics like sports and entertainment are also covered.

read more | digg story

Comedian Richard Pryor dies at 65

2005-12-10T23:18:00.000-05:00

Richard Pryor, the caustic yet perceptive actor-comedian who lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off, has died, his ex-wife said Saturday. He was 65.

read more | digg story

Pimp Juice

2005-12-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

Hmmmmm..... This would be cool if it wasn't a little wierd. Kinda like the icehouse beer slogan that went wrong with "nectar of the guys". Something about it just doesn't work.

Link

Basics of the Unix Philosophy

2005-12-09T13:02:00.000-05:00

Rule of Modularity: Write simple parts connected by clean interfaces.
Rule of Clarity: Clarity is better than cleverness.
Rule of Composition: Design programs to be connected with other programs.
Rule of Separation: Separate policy from mechanism; separate interfaces from engines.
Rule of Simplicity: Design for simplicity; add complexity only where you must.
Rule of Parsimony: Write a big program only when it is clear by demonstration that nothing else will do.
Rule of Transparency: Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier.
Rule of Robustness: Robustness is the child of transparency and simplicity.
Rule of Representation: Fold knowledge into data, so program logic can be stupid and robust.
Rule of Least Surprise: In interface design, always do the least surprising thing.
Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing.
Rule of Repair: Repair what you can — but when you must fail, fail noisily and as soon as possible.
Rule of Economy: Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time.
Rule of Generation: Avoid hand-hacking; write programs to write programs when you can.
Rule of Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it.
Rule of Diversity: Distrust all claims for one true way.
Rule of Extensibility: Design for the future, because it will be here sooner than you think.

Read More: here and here

$225 million dollar typo

2005-12-09T11:59:00.000-05:00

Mizuho, the world's second largest bank based in Japan, with total assets of nearly the GDP of France (around 1.2 trillion USD) accidentally sold 610,000 shares, valued at $3.1 billion... for 1 yen each. A 27 billion yen loss would almost match Mizuho Securities' group net profit of 28.1 billion yen for the financial year ended in March, though... the incident would not threaten the brokerage's financial stability.

read more | digg story

Major Holiday Ordering Deadlines for On-Time Xmas Delivery

2005-12-09T09:26:00.000-05:00

Amazon - 12/21
Best Buy - 12/22 (11am)
Circuit City - 12/22 (1pm)
CompUSA - 12/22 (3pm)
Geeks.com - 12/21 (noon)
J&R Computer/Music World - 12/20
Overstock - 12/22 (7am MST)
Wal-Mart - 12/20 (11:30pm PST)

More retailers listed here (via BoingBoing)

Alarm clock wakes you with a noise hovering chopper

2005-12-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

One thing that sometimes wakes you up at night and prevents you from sleeping is the mosquito or blowfly when flying around your room. You can't and don't want to fall asleep again until you've caught it. These produces adrenalin and requires movements. The alarm clock blowfly works like a "blowfly" that at the desire time it escapes from a cage in your room. It starts moving and producing sound around you - to turn it off you should catch it and put it back in the cage.

BoingBoing via Gizmodo

MPAA gives film about itself an NC-17

2005-12-08T15:55:00.000-05:00

IFC, the first and largest network dedicated to independent film, announced today that the IFC Original Documentary, "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," from Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick and producer Eddie Schmidt, will premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and air on IFC in Fall 2006. The documentary, a breakthrough investigation into the MPAA film ratings system and its profound effect on American culture, is executive produced by IFC's Alison Palmer Bourke and Evan Shapiro... Read More

CIA Sabotage Manual

2005-12-08T15:36:00.000-05:00

A pretty awesome FLICKR Photoset
"In the 1980s the CIA produced a small illustrated booklet in both spanish and english designed to destabilise the nicaraguan government and economic system."

read more | digg story

2005 SCUBA Photo Contest Winners

2005-12-08T15:34:00.000-05:00

Some very cool photos...Macros, Wide-angles, Wrecks, and a bunch more. I especially like the huge! stingray (2nd place wide-angle), the eel (or whatever it is) with a fish in its mouth, and the 3rd place wide-angle shot. There are some bizarre creatures underwater!

read more | digg story

New record speed for bandwidth 150 gigabits per second!

2005-12-08T15:25:00.000-05:00

Batavia, IL and Menlo Park, CA—Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center recently joined an international team in shattering the world network speed record. To capture first place in the SC|05 Bandwidth Challenge, the team of high energy physicists, computer scientists and network engineers led by the California Institute of Technology transferred physics data at a rate of over 150 gigabits per second--equivalent to downloading over 130 DVD movies in one minute.

read more | digg story

How it's made - Laser etching Powerbooks

2005-12-08T15:08:00.000-05:00

(from Make: ) Last weekend we laser etched 3 more Powerbooks. We etched two 15" Powerbooks and a 12" - this time we etched a very cool bunny infused Tsunami, a NeXT logo as well as a subtle and elegant plum blossom. If you've wondered about the process, tools or just how laser etching looks - I put together some of the photos, links and files. Enjoy!

Saul has a new Instructables up on the laser etching process, be sure to check that out too.

We're using an Epilog laser mini for the cutting and Corel Draw as the design application.

MAKE:

Extreme Engineering: Transatlantic Tunnel!!!

2005-12-08T13:24:00.000-05:00

A magnetically levitated train could theoretically take you from New York to London in 54 minutes. But you'd have to go 5,000 mph through a 3,100 mile-long tunnel that itself was floating in the Atlantic Ocean. How might that work?

Link

Other projects of Extreme nature include the Sky City (Tokyo), City in a Pyramid (Tokyo), 55 mile Bering Strait Bridge, Tunneling through the Alps, Airport at Sea (Hong Kong), Boston's Big Dig, Panama Canal 2, American Subways (New York City), and Flood Stoppers (a.k.a. "Dam with doors", Holland). Visit Discovery Channel Extreme Engineering

Air Marshal Kills Passenger, Citing Threat

2005-12-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

MIAMI - An agitated passenger who claimed to have a bomb in his backpack was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday after he bolted frantically from a jetliner that was about to take off, officials said. No bomb was found.

The man, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen, was gunned down on a jetway just before the American Airlines plane was about to leave for Orlando, near his home in Maitland...

Full Story | Update

First Cell Phone for Dogs

2005-12-07T06:41:00.000-05:00

(via slashdot) Lost dog? As of next March, pet owners will be able to drop the photocopier and staple gun and pick up the phone instead. That's when PetCell, the first cell phone for dogs, is due to hit pet-store shelves.

Link

Cool: Laser Board Game

2005-12-07T06:32:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the world of Deflexion, the game that combines lasers with classic strategy for an experience enjoyed by players of all ages. Players alternate turns moving Egyptian themed mirrored pieces around the playing field after which they fire their low powered laser diode with the goal of illuminating their opponent's pieces to eliminate them from the game.

Link

Fox Adds Web Family Guy Run

2005-12-07T06:27:00.000-05:00

Fox will produce original episodes of it's resurrected hit Family Guy exclusively for the Web sometime next year.

Link

Photos by David LaChapelle: a fashion disaster

2005-12-06T20:42:00.000-05:00

(from BoingBoing)

Reader comment: Hugh Crawford says,

They look like they were taken on the set of the movie War Of The Worlds -- Link. This photo in particular looks like the photo in the LaChapelle post.

Cool website with some nice photoshoots.

Google: Ten Golden Rules (Newsweek Article)

2005-12-06T17:07:00.000-05:00

Getting the most out of knowledge workers will be the key to business success for the next quarter century. Here's how we do it at google.

read more | digg story

Model's Blog Pushes Tech Into Fasion Industry

2005-12-06T12:48:00.000-05:00

(via Wired) A top international model is using social software and cell phones to give high fashion an air of high tech.

Anina, who struts her stuff on European catwalks and magazine covers, is a self-proclaimed geek and entrepreneur on a mission to turn the fashion industry inside out using an array of mobile gadgets and websites...

Wired: Le Chic Shall Inherit Les Blogs

In my opinion, the fashion industry is lacking the up-to-the minute news/trends that blogs have to offer. Blogs are based primarily on people's opinions, so one would think that the ever-changing fashion industry would be a perfect place for such a facility.

TIME Magazine Person of the Year

2005-12-05T22:29:00.000-05:00

(via DoubleViking) Time Magazine is promoting its Person of the Year issue on the Reuters board in New York’s Times Square. As part of the promotion, developed by Fallon, the first 50,000 people who submit their photo will, after review, be shown on the 45 foot tall electronic display at 43rd Street and 7th Avenue. There will also be photographers, who will beam photos of selected people to the board, roaming Times Square from 12 Noon until 3PM each day until December 8. Each headshot will be framed in Time Magazine’s Iconic red border on a mock Time Person of the Year cover.

TIME Magazine Person of the Year

The Worlds most Thrilling Rollercoaster

2005-12-05T16:41:00.000-05:00

This is incredible. The site looks like it's in Russian, so I'm assuming the coaster is probably in Russia (cap't obvious).

This thing looks completely out of control. The pics at the bottom of the page give the gist of the user feedback. Literally. Best. Looking. Coaster. Ever.

read more | digg story

Google Calendar Expected Tomorrow

2005-12-05T15:06:00.000-05:00

Erick Schonfeld says that the rumor is that Google will unveil the long-ago rumored Google Calendar at Tuesday’s When 2.0 conference at Stanford.

(via Findory )

"Lost" Girls Arrested For DUI

2005-12-05T11:53:00.000-05:00

DECEMBER 2--Two actresses from the television series "Lost" were arrested early yesterday within minutes of each other for drunk driving in Hawaii, where the ABC megahit is filmed. Honolulu cops nabbed Michelle Rodriguez, 27, and Cynthia Watros, 37, just past midnight after spotting their cars weaving on the Kalaniana'ole Highway, which connects Kailua and Honolulu. The women, both of whom failed field sobriety tests, were each charged with driving under the influence and released after posting $500 bail

AttuSeesAll | Read More

Angry BellSouth Withdrew City Donation because of free Wifi

2005-12-05T11:09:00.000-05:00

From Boing Boing: "Hours after New Orleans officials announced Tuesday that they would deploy a city-owned, wireless Internet network in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, regional phone giant BellSouth Corp. withdrew an offer to donate one of its damaged buildings that would have housed new police headquarters, city officials said yesterday."

read more | digg story

Referring to an earlier post, I wonder if BellSouth will try to degrade the traffic coming from NO. There are all kinds of preferential treatments given to certain customers on these top tier networks that the public doesn't know about. The monitoring is not as technically robust as one might expect, but the perks do exist.

All in all, this is just bad business. BellSouth should be banned from offering DSL to any of the hurricane recovery zones cause of this.

Flying Digital Camera On Sale At Wal-Mart

2005-12-04T21:36:00.000-05:00

What's the coolest thing you can buy at Wal-Mart? It very well may be this RC airplane with built-in DIGITAL CAMERA. You take pictures from the plane by pressing a button on the remote. It's perfect for gadget geeks who already have everything else, nosy kids and peeping toms. (via TheRawFeed)

Meteor lights up night sky in Australia

2005-12-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

A Perth astronomer says a spectacular light show in the sky last night was a meteor.
Witnesses say the the sky lit up about 9:00pm AEDT, and the light was followed by a thundering sound that shook buildings.
Video can be found at: http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200512/r66292_183334.ram

read more | digg story

Worlds Largest Rubix Cube!

2005-12-04T21:10:00.000-05:00

Well, not exactly. This is a hilarious prank on a giant statue cuber in manhattan. A lot of pictures are included on how they did it. A bit old but still a good look.

read more | digg story

Learn C++, Java, HTML, Visual Basic, And More Though Flash Videos

2005-12-04T19:14:00.000-05:00

A man named Sean Greasley who is from the UK made quite a few flash video tutorials on how to program. C++, Java, HTML, Visual Basic, Direct 3D, SQL, with more on the way. These videos combined with a book will get any novice on their feet.

read more | digg story

IP addresses and files ARE NOT PROOF! RIAA is WRONG

2005-12-04T12:38:00.000-05:00

An article about the mistaken and fraudulent role the RIAA is trying to use IP addresses and files or lists in. These should be ruled inadmissible! Posted in Ray Beckerman's (lawyer for the case involving the single mother vs. RIAA) blog.

read more | digg story

6 Places You Must Use AJAX

2005-12-04T01:00:00.000-05:00

Alex Bosworth has written up his thoughts on areas that you must use Ajax, and areas in which you shouldn't.

read more | digg story

Scott Stapp and 311 Brawl

2005-12-03T22:27:00.000-05:00

At Baltimore's Harbor Court Hotel on Thanksgiving night, members of Los Angeles rockers 311, on a day off from their national tour, got into a fist fight with former Creed frontman Scott Stapp, in town to promote his solo debut, The Great Divide. 311 singer S.A. Martinez suffered a fractured knuckle as a result of the brawl, which the band says Stapp started...Clubbing Baby Seals|RollingStone

Brilliant!!! Fake Beerbelly holds actual beer!

2005-12-03T22:18:00.000-05:00

From Gizmodo: I can't tell if this is too stupid for words or stupendously ingenious. Guess you'll have to make your own call. It's called the Beerbelly and it's actually a fake gut that you can fill up with beer (or your favorite alcoholic beverage) and hide under your clothes. Made up of a sling and a polyurethane "bladder" with a dispensing tube, the thing was created to let you slip booze into places where such substances may not be allowed. Like your kids dance recital, maybe? Or school? Oh, it looks like they were thinking more along the lines of the movies or a sporting event to avoid the $10 beer. And that's not all, folks—you can also fill it with hot beverages as well, and of course, silly things like water. The Beerbelly Deluxe Kit is $49.95 and that includes the Beerbelly Sling and Bladder, The Pleasure Extender, One Step Beerbelly Cleanser and three specially-made brushes. Run, don't walk!

The Beerbelly [Beerbelly]

The HRP-2P, A Robot That Does Martial Arts

2005-12-03T21:54:00.000-05:00

This would go in the 'badass' category, if this blog had categories. Or maybe 'Bad Motherfucker', or whatever. Shit is cool. Where do I get one. HooAhh.

"outside and human/robot cooperative” task experiments. HRP-2P is 154 cm in height and weighs 58 kg including batteries. It has 30 degrees of freedom including two hip-joint axes. The cantilevered crotch joints make it possible to walk in narrow paths. A high density electronics installation made it possible to do away with a bulky “backpack” that usually contains the computers, electronics and batteries of humanoid robots."

The HRP-2P will be used for experiments in walking on uneven terrains, “falling or tipping-over” control, getting-up from fallen positions, etc., that are important basic tasks for humanoid robots involved in human-interactive operations.

From OhGizmo!: "[The HRP-2P] VIA [3Yen] And, finally, here’s a link to a page with a ton of pictures and videos."

Top 10 System Administrator Truths

2005-12-03T17:36:00.000-05:00

Life as a sysadmin can be hard. No one ever congradulates you when stuff doesn't break. That is one reason why there is a geeky 'brotherhood' type of bond, if you will. We as sysadmins for one system/network or another may seem a bit paranoid or freakish at times, but it does help to live by a set of rules that governs the various things that life throws at you. Here are a few of the more humorous/more common ones:

#1 – Users Lie
#2 – Email is the Lifeblood of Non-Techies
#3 – Printers Suck
#4 – Cleanliness is Godliness
#5 – Backups are Crucial
#6 – Switches and Hubs (Usually) Die One Port At A Time
#7 – No One Ever Got Fired For Buying Microsoft
#8 – Politeness > Brevity
# 9 – Know Your Needs
#10 – The Holy Grail of Tech Support...is the reboot.

Read the explanations here.

read more | digg story

Apology Letter From Ed Lopez, Owner of PriceRitePhoto

2005-12-03T17:23:00.000-05:00

(digg story)..."I received a call this morning from Ed Lopez, the owner of PriceRitePhoto. We spoke at length and he told me that the activity that has resulted from my post on my experience with his business has most certainly impacted his business. Note: This is from Thomas Hawk's blog, not me!"

read more | digg story

Name the 75 bands in this picture

2005-12-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

Think you know music? Find the seventy-five bands in this pic... i think i counted maybe 15....(this was submitted before but the link was broken)

read more | digg story

Coolest USB Peripheral Ever... USB Air Darts

2005-12-03T15:15:00.000-05:00

USB Darts that you can control the aim and firing mechinism from your computer mouse when hooked to your standard USB port.

I need to find someone in the United Kingdom to get me some, or else find a store in the US, that sells them.

read more | digg story

Mr. T from your dashboard: 'Turn left, fool'

2005-12-02T11:24:00.000-05:00

Everything he tells you to do -- everything -- starts with "Hey, Fool!" That's true even when he's telling you to do something dumb, like drive onto the lower level of the Queensboro Bridge when the upper level is the one you need.

California company NavTones has contracted with Mr. T and the actors Burt Reynolds and Dennis Hopper to record voices that can be loaded into navigation systems, giving your driving directions a little extra personality. More voices are coming, the company said.

read more digg story

I propose the following:
Christopher Walken
Bender (futurama)
Homer Simpson (doh!)
Jack Nicholson
Bob Costas
John Travolta as Vinny Barbarino
Arnold Schwarzenegger
...suggestions?

Strip Club On Wheels

2005-12-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

(via YesButNoButYes) Officers found a 40-foot-long mobile home filled with strippers, bouncers and tailgaters outside Raymond James Stadium before Tampa's game with the Chicago Bears on Sunday.The mobile strip club featured a stripper pole and a disco ball, Local 6 News reported.

For $20, men were allowed to enter the mobile home, according to the report.Undercover police said the men were given alcohol and then offered nude lap dances for money."Bringing it to a family environment such as a Bucs game totally surprises me," Tampa police Officer Bill Todd said.Several of the women arrested worked for a local strip club called Deja Vu, Local 6 News reported.The women's attorneys said they did not do anything illegal.A Tampa television report said the club was operated outside the stadium during several other games this year... Story | SuperFunPowerHour

Sprint A900 (Samsung): The New Razor

2005-12-01T16:34:00.000-05:00

The ultra-thin, sleek design of the A900 by Samsung^SM is enough to turn heads, but this phone is not just another pretty face. Coupled with the great features of the Sprint Power Vision^SM Network, Bluetooth Wireless technology, and megapixel camera it is the perfect blend of fashion and function... Sprint.com

Gmail Hack: Encrypt Gmail Login AND Gmail Traffic

2005-12-01T16:13:00.000-05:00

Digg story: Here's a write-up of a simple Gmail "Hack" that I found that encrypts ALL traffic, not just your login session.

read more | digg story

Apology Letter From Ed Lopez, Owner of PriceRitePhoto

2005-12-01T16:10:00.000-05:00

I received a call this morning from Ed Lopez, the owner of PriceRitePhoto. We spoke at length and he told me that the activity that has resulted from my post on my experience with his business has most certainly impacted his business. Note: This is from Thomas Hawk's blog, not me!

read more | digg story

50 Cent Paid To Rap At A Bat Mitzvah

2005-12-01T16:05:00.000-05:00

(via AttuSeesAll) World renowned gangster rapper 50 cent got paid 500,000 dollars for a half hour rap session at a Bat Mitzvah for the daughter of defense contractor David H. Brooks.

Brooks paid a total of 10 million dollar for the party which included Nelly, Ciara, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Joe Perry and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Joe Walsh and Don Henley of The Eagles, Kenny G and DJ AM for the party held at the Rainbow Room in New York City... Link

BellSouth wants to rig the Internet

2005-12-01T14:18:00.000-05:00

A BellSouth exec is arguing for his company's right to degrade Internet services coming from people he doesn't like. If they like Yahoo, they should be able to slow down Google and so on. This idea presents a greater threat to the Internet than anything I've seen in a long time.

read more | digg story

Mapping the London Underground with time instead of distance

2005-12-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

The London Underground map is famous for reasons of both design and ubiquity. This student, however, took a fresh approach and redesigned the map to illustrate journey time, not journey distance. What a great concept.

Great comment from digg user pglee2005:

It's a nice idea but not that original. A spatial equivalent has existed for some time.

I would like to see the journey duration contours in a concentric layout - the current display distorts them

An earlier poster correctly notes the schematic purpose of the map, contrast that with a geographical correct version is pretty cool - link then link - or an extension of this link

This is an interesting site with good coverage of what is (i feel) an iconic image yet incredibly useful to millions. link

Finally if ever in London the following website is a great way to get around
link

foXpose - ExposÃ for Firefox 1.5

2005-12-01T08:06:00.000-05:00

If you've downloaded FF 1.5 you need to try out this FF 1.5 only extension. It shows thumbnails of all the open tabs with a click of a button. Really cool.

read more | digg story

"You and what army!?!"...digg...Abusive New York Camera Store Threatens Blogger

2005-11-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

"I will make sure you will never be able to place an order on the internet again." "I'm an attorney, I will sue you." "I'm going to call your local police and have two officers come over and arrest you." Just a few of the fun things I got to hear today from someone who said his name was Steve Phillips over at PriceRitePhoto.

read more digg story

Radar reveals ice deep below Martian surface

2005-11-30T21:26:00.000-05:00

(via slashdot) The first ever underground investigation of another planet has been performed by a radar antenna aboard Europe's Mars Express spacecraft. The instrument probed two kilometres below the Martian surface and found tantalising hints of liquid water pooling in a buried impact crater.

The MARSIS antenna was deployed successfully in June 2005 after a series of glitches. It works by sending radio pulses towards the Red Planet and then analysing the time delay and strength of the pulses that bounce back. The radio waves that penetrate the surface rebound when they encounter a sub-surface boundary between materials with different electrical properties - such as rock and water... Link

Continuum Caliburn -- Most Expensive Turntable in the World

2005-11-30T19:12:00.000-05:00

(mad props to DoubleViking [as always])This, ladies and gentlemen, is the most expensive turntable in the world. The new Continuum Caliburn starts at $90k and goes up to $112k depending on finishes and includes some of the most amazing technology ever to touch black. Vinyl isn't dead, it's alive and kicking through the most passionate audiophiles who know the little silver disc ain't got nothing on Ol' Waxy...Link ]

Defrag and optimize your brain...

2005-11-30T19:07:00.000-05:00

More data isn't always a good thing. As has been pointed out plenty of times, efforts for things like data retention often have the opposite of the intended effect (catching criminals) because it hides the good data with all the bad data. Is it any surprise that our brains feel the same way? Clive Thompson is talking about some research that took people by surprise, noting that smarter people tend to be better at ignoring useless data, rather than storing more data. Traditionally, it's been assumed that the brain is sort of like a big hard drive -- and people who can remember more tend to be smarter. However, this research suggests that it's not the ability to remember more, but to remember the right things. In some ways this isn't that surprising. After all, intelligence often seems to come from the ability to do better pattern matching than others -- and having the right data, rather than too much data can often help make those patterns clearer. It would be interesting to see what sort of impact this would have on artificial intelligence research. Many AI projects seem to have worked on the basis of cramming the system with more and more and more data in the hopes that some sort of intelligence would eventually emerge. Perhaps the focus should be more on teaching it how to ignore data.

read more | digg story

Digg Users Take Revenge At Bad Online Store

2005-11-30T16:11:00.000-05:00

Digg users take action after an Abusive New York Camera Store Threatens Blogger...

"...Beside the usual advice (always check seller ratings etc’) dig users decided to take action and posted the store’s aliases, phone number and address. Users then started to flood PriceRitePhoto 800 number with phone calls, writing scripts using Skype to call and disconnect, making prank calls (http://danny.st/tmp/pricerite.mp3 , http://danny.st/tmp/pricerite2.mp3), launching DOS attacks against the site, posting bad reviews on web sites, posting links to Hawk’s blog on internet forums, flooding PriceRitePhoto with email messages, posted complaints to the better business bureau , sending fax messages and succeeded to bring down their live chat feature..."

read more | digg story

World's Tallest Structures

2005-11-30T13:59:00.000-05:00

The Burj Dubai (Arabic for "Tower of Dubai") is a skyscraper currently under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its exact height remains a closely-guarded secret, but is believed to be at least 705 metres (2,313 ft).

Until the mid 20th century the record for the world's tallest structure was relatively clearly defined. Since that time however, more debate and confusion has been present over the criteria and definitions involved. In terms of absolute height, most of the tallest structures are the dozens of radio and television broadcasting towers that are around 2000 feet (610 meters) tall....Link to Wikipedia

Say goodbye to .com and hello to .ANYTHING!!!

2005-11-30T09:57:00.000-05:00

Technology provider UnifiedRoot, based in Amsterdam, has begun leasing Internet addresses that can end in any word, rather than in .com, .org, .net or other top-level domains.

read more | digg story

The Voice-Activated R2-D2

2005-11-30T08:12:00.000-05:00

This motorized replica of the headstrong little droid from the Star Wars films responds to voice commands, navigates rooms and hallways, and makes any home feel like it has been transported to a galaxy far, far away. R2 obeys more than 40 voice commands (Turn around! Move forward two units!) and he plays games like tag, using an infra-red sensor to search for people in a room...(Link|Gizmodo)

Goldman Sach's Bonuses to Average $500K Per Employee

2005-11-30T01:39:00.000-05:00

"...Typically, Goldman Sachs’s announcement of its third-quarter results kicks the bonus season into high gear. Long revered for being where the serious money gets made, the firm has had a blowout year even by its own standards. Announcing a record profit in the third quarter, Goldman also noted that it had set aside $9.25 billion, almost $420,000 per employee, in compensation. When fourth-quarter results are factored in, that total could swell to an $11 billion pool, or $500,000 per employee..." Story

Maze Algorithms

2005-11-30T01:23:00.000-05:00

A cool page that shows all the theory and concept behind how various algorithms both create and solve mazes, with picture examples of everything. A fun read.

read more | digg story

New Orleans' new connection

2005-11-29T23:16:00.000-05:00

(From Gizmodo, MSNBC) WASHINGTON - Hurricane-ravaged New Orleans will deploy the nation's first municipally owned wireless Internet system that will be free for all users, part of an effort to jump-start recovery by making living and doing business in the city as attractive as possible.

The system, which Mayor C. Ray Nagin is scheduled to announce at a news conference today, also will be used by law enforcement and for an array of city government functions, such as speeding approval of building permits.

Much of the equipment to run the network was donated by companies, but New Orleans will own it and operate all its components at the outset. The system, which uses devices mounted on streetlights to beam out fast Internet connections for wireless-enabled computers, is scheduled to be operational today in the central business district and the French Quarter and to be expanded over time...Story

Big Pimpin'

2005-11-29T19:19:00.000-05:00

"So, you think you’re a bad-ass with your Hummer? [cue laugh track] It pales in comparison to this 1952 Sarracen MK 1 Armored Personnel Carrier, son. This armor-plated classic comes equipped with a Rolls Royce engine, 6 wheel drive, and it seats 12 comfortably. Who needs a backseat DVD player when you’ve got a gun turret? The only thing we’d upgrade, of course, would be to chrome out the 44-inch rims. But it’s yours to customize, because the Sarracen tank is available (by which we mean For Sale) from Shomer-Tec for only $33,000 (OBO!)..." Link

Grateful Dead Ban Music from Web, Fans Protest

2005-11-29T15:23:00.000-05:00

"Grateful Dead fans, perhaps rock's most dedicated bunch, are taking a stand against the band they love. Until recently, Deadheads could download countless live recordings of the band for free from third-party sites, including the popular Live Music Archive (archive.org), which once hosted nearly 3,000 Grateful Dead shows. All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members.

Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM -- including CDs and concert tickets -- until the decision is reversed. (The band itself broke up in the wake of leader Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, but in recent years guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured simply as "the Dead.")..."

BoingBoing | RollingStone

Using a Robot to Win Online Poker

2005-11-29T14:20:00.000-05:00

"I've made a new friend to help me with my online poker, and he's making me decent money - at five tables simultaneously. So far we're averaging Â£20 profit an hour - and my friend doesn't take breaks."

read more | digg story

Experts say that the robots are identified, or "weeded-out" by challenging them to a game of tic-tac-toe vs. themselves. Anyone for a game of Thermonuclear war?

Try Ruby - Interactive Tutorial/Demo

2005-11-29T13:59:00.000-05:00

Got 15 minutes? Give Ruby a shot right now!

read more | digg story

Flo Bytes

Blog Software Comparison Chart

Programming Cheat Sheets

New 'Go Daddy' Super Bowl Ad Too Sexy For ABC?

Alaska Airlines plane forced to make emergency landing, passenger snaps pic

Goonies Reunited!

200-lb Floating Chair

The Dave Chapelle Theory

Stretchable Silicon Could Be Next Wave In Electronics

Google Video - Worst Job Ever

Wonders of Photoshop: Magazine Cover Demo

"Snoop Doggs" Foot-long Hot Dogs

Blog-X Awards Winner: Gizmodo

Bendy Microprocessor on Plastic

Adriana Lima

How soon after marriage do Japanese brides cut the cheese?

Helmet's Can Be Cool. Maybe.

2006 Nissan Comes With Built-in XBox (standard)

Is Google set to acquire Opera?

Origin of Tech Company Names

Sex for an Xbox 360?

The i-Visor

Instant Replay Binoculars

Voodoo Knife Block w/ Knives

Giant Blimp Goes High-Tech

Google, Sun, Microsoft to Fund New Internet Lab

Gasoline Powered Monowheel

Couple arrested for 'sex rage'

Mom Tosses Baby From Smoky Third-Floor Window

eBay: Buy My Football Fan Loyalty, I'm tired of the TN Vols.

Virgin Galactic: $200K for Space Flight in 2008

Andy Rosen's punk photos on Flickr

Chapelle Show Season 3 Trailer

Sin City 2 Plot Released

Miami Vice Movie Trailer

Meteorite hunter digs up 1400 pound meteor rock worth an estimated $3mil

Clemency denied for Stanley Tookie Williams

Time Magazine's List of 50 Coolest Web Sites

The difference between Nerds and Geeks

180 ° - Upcoming Digg Competitor

Comedian Richard Pryor dies at 65

Pimp Juice

Basics of the Unix Philosophy

$225 million dollar typo

Major Holiday Ordering Deadlines for On-Time Xmas Delivery

Alarm clock wakes you with a noise hovering chopper

MPAA gives film about itself an NC-17

CIA Sabotage Manual

2005 SCUBA Photo Contest Winners

New record speed for bandwidth 150 gigabits per second!

How it's made - Laser etching Powerbooks

Extreme Engineering: Transatlantic Tunnel!!!

Air Marshal Kills Passenger, Citing Threat

First Cell Phone for Dogs

Cool: Laser Board Game

Fox Adds Web Family Guy Run

Photos by David LaChapelle: a fashion disaster

Google: Ten Golden Rules (Newsweek Article)

Model's Blog Pushes Tech Into Fasion Industry

TIME Magazine Person of the Year

The Worlds most Thrilling Rollercoaster

Google Calendar Expected Tomorrow

"Lost" Girls Arrested For DUI

Angry BellSouth Withdrew City Donation because of free Wifi

Flying Digital Camera On Sale At Wal-Mart

Meteor lights up night sky in Australia

Worlds Largest Rubix Cube!

Learn C++, Java, HTML, Visual Basic, And More Though Flash Videos

IP addresses and files ARE NOT PROOF! RIAA is *WRONG*

6 Places You Must Use AJAX

Scott Stapp and 311 Brawl

Brilliant!!! Fake Beerbelly holds actual beer!

The HRP-2P, A Robot That Does Martial Arts

Top 10 System Administrator Truths

Apology Letter From Ed Lopez, Owner of PriceRitePhoto

Name the 75 bands in this picture

Coolest USB Peripheral Ever... USB Air Darts

Mr. T from your dashboard: 'Turn left, fool'

Strip Club On Wheels

Sprint A900 (Samsung): The New Razor

IP addresses and files ARE NOT PROOF! RIAA is WRONG