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Smart String: A New Standard for Tape Measure
I once received a freebie from my bank that was a combination tape measure, calculator, and notepad with an included pen. I thought that was cool until I saw the Smart String.
The Smart String is like a tape measure but without the tape. In its place is 50 inches of 20 pound strength string. The string is not as wide or as long as traditional measuring tape, which means you can get more in less bulky space. It also enables the user to measure less than straight shapes, like the circumference of a ball, for example.
The digital readout means that the user is no longer looking at tick marks, and the reading is accurate to three decimal places. Once the user has his or her measurement, he or she can use it on the calculator. The built-in calculator can store 3 measurements within its memory, in case you need to do a real-life story problem.
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Montana Couple builds “Hobbit House”
If there is an award for biggest fan of Lord of the Rings, I believe that husband and wife Steve and Christine Michaels would take the prize.
The couple have built a house in the hills of Montana that would fit in to the Shire. I would imagine that if you entered in the address for Bilbo Baggins on Google Maps for Middle Earth, you would be led here.
Granted, it does not have the circular door that J.R.R. Tolkien emphasized in both The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it is designed for the world of the “big folk”.
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Neptune Canada is one big undersea experiment
Studying the sea is very important to more than just biologists, and the Neptune Canada is the “world’s largest cabled undersea observatory”.
It isn’t just called Neptune because it is under the sea, but it is a very clever acronym for North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments. Whoever thought of that acronym is a complete genius. The Neptune has sensors located in Western British Columbia, through the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, and stretches out over 530 miles.
There are six nodes spread out at various locations, and I believe that one of them is seen in the image here. It has 250 instruments in between these nodes, and it has collected 10 terabits of scientific data since December of 2009.
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Umbrella doubles as a squirt gun
Just to let you know, this particular device is not out on the market yet. Which is too bad, as I can think of a few mischievous uses for an umbrella that also has a squirt gun.
After all, if it is raining outside, you might as well be funneling the water on the top of the umbrella into a squirt gun on the handle. Too bad this gun is too obvious, as it would have been better as a concealed weapon. After all, who wouldn’t want to be the only one who stays dry in the midst of umbrellas while it is pouring out? Let the other umbrella-bearers be wet and not know why.
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Turn the back of your hand into a trackpad with this wrist sensor
What you are seeing here is a type of interface that could easily be the future. Designed by Kei Nakatsuma, a PhD student at the University of Tokyo, it allows the user to use the back of their hand as a mouse pad and a finger as a mouse.
It uses infrared detection to figure out where the user’s finger is, and special piezoelectric sensors to detect what a “tap” or “click” would be. Just think of the back of your hand as a Wacom Pad and your finger is the pen.
There is a video after the jump so you can understand what it can do. You have to ask yourself whether you want it. It is under development, and it can’t do pinch or rotate gestures as it is. Also, the apparatus is wired and quite big for an average wrist.
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IBM wants to create a virtual Portland
Last January, at CES, I witnessed a very interesting photo-realistic 3D-city visualization display from C3. I got a chance to view San Francisco from the air through the power of 3D graphics, and IBM is now working on a project that is somewhat similar.
The company’s Systems Dynamics for Smarter Cities is planning on mapping out the city of Portland as mathematically as possible. The end result will be this massive “SimPortland” that is the product of 3,000 equations and constants inspired from the popular Oregon city.
So if you want to see what would happen if you change things in the city, you can see it happen. Like if you want to put in a new road, then run it to the simulator to see how much it will mess with commuter traffic.
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Ollie The Twitterific Bird
Are you part of the Twitterati crowd, loving every bit of the Twitterverse so much that you cannot bear not to fire off a few tweets every single day? Well, if that is the case and you want yet another device or gadget that will “interact” with Twitter, here is Ollie The Twitterific Bird who will set you back by £19.99, but just what does Ollie bring to the table?
This bird will work in conjunction with the Twitterific app that will allow Mac, iPad or iPhone users to inform the world at any time of what they want to say, within the confines of 140 characters, of course. Measuring a mere 4″ tall, you can always perch Ollie by the side of your computer to be a visual reminder that you last tweeted half an hour ago – which is far too long a break to keep your followers waiting as to how your breakfast went. Would be nice if he could interface with the computer and chirp each time you had an incoming tweet…
Jell-O’s “Pudding Face” Billboard appears in Manhattan
What started as a website on Jell-O has apparently become a phenomenon. Well, perhaps “phenomenon” is too strong a word.
The concept behind this face is that it will frown or smile, depending what the general mood is on Twitter. I would imagine it is a “simple” effect to do on a digital website, but it has been taken to a whole new level with this billboard at Manhattan.
This is without a doubt one of the weirdest ad campaigns that I have seen. It is also one of the creepiest. If I was a little kid, I’m pretty certain that this would scare me, and I am not certain why. Especially if I saw it turn from a smile to a frown right in front of me.
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