Gadgets!

Village Saviour William Kamkwamba

nobody@vox.com(northerngeek) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:01:03 -0800

William Kamkwamba was only 14 years old when he built a windmill that could power 4 light bulbs and a radio in his village in Malawi. Watch his story here.

Send to a friend

Week in Review 11/02/09-11/08/09

nobody@vox.com(northerngeek) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:47:12 -0800

Recycling Extreme Art

Flatbed Scanner Mod a Work of Art

Learn How to Make the Chewbacca Noise

Back to the Future Anniversary

The Worlds Cleanest Keyboard

Random Geekiness

Send to a friend

Second Life is the wave of the future. Don't get left behind!

nobody@vox.com(xmangerm) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:40:22 -0800

Second Life is the wave of the future!

Once again, this is an article that the clever business minded person would take the time out to read and heed for Second Life is the wave of the future. And if we don't want to be left behind (jobless or unemployed in the future) we might just want to take notice. For example these are a few excerpts of the article:

“According to Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, more than 1,400 organizations -- including large companies, educational institutions, government agencies and even the U.S. military -- use Second Life to hold meetings, conduct training and prototype new technologies more efficiently.”

“He says one problem is that virtual teams may not share national and organizational cultures, and that virtual workers should make a conscious effort to see things from their colleagues' point of view.”(Note, this one fits directly into my favorite daily interest of Social Science and the Sociological Imagination mind frame)

)

"Not only did we save travel time, but because the environment was so engaging, a lot more ideas came through," he said.

Click here to read the entire article.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The Worlds Cleanest Keyboard

nobody@vox.com(northerngeek) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:58:33 -0800

Nine hundred dollars, (I know, only?) gets you the worlds cleanest keyboard. Great for popular coffee shops I guess, or ultra clean electronic rooms (chip makers). But $900? I'd be okay with just running it through the dishwasher at the end of the day. Yes you can do that, no soap though.

Wolrd CLeanest Keyboard

Send to a friend

Set Your Goals To Infuse Enthusiasm In Life

nobody@vox.com(Synapse India) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:26:36 -0800

As children we all have uncountable dreams and belief level so high that we see nothing as impossible in life. As we grow up and face challenges and defeats, our belief level tends to die. Some people compromise on living mundane lives with no hopes, dreams and goals while others do remember their dreams but choose to do nothing about them. While the fact remains that nothing is impossible for the one who believes, it becomes hard to do so. The people who have no goals in life are definitely missing out the best parts of their lives and not living it to the fullest.

A dream becomes a goal when you put a date to it. Setting your goals fills your life with enthusiasm as you have something to chase, a direction to move towards and put your energies into. Once you set reachable goals, you also need to monitor your progress. You can divide your main goal into sub-goals, daily and weekly goals and see that you meet them. Make a list of things that you need to do in order to reach the goals you have defined. Acknowledge yourself when you reach the milestones to keep yourself motivated and in expectation of more success.

The author of this post is a webmaster at SynapseIndia, an offshore web development company from India.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Flatbed Scanner Mod a Work of Art

nobody@vox.com(northerngeek) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:54:35 -0800

Check out the progress pics here. This is seriously a work of art and would not at all mind having it on my desk. My scanner sits in a hidden corner. Take it out when I need it type of thing. It was designed to accent another mod of his, The Computational Engine. Trust me your jaw will drop when you see this one. It's still a work in progress.

The scanner sits inside a sheetmetal framework with the book built around it. The covers and spine were made from pieces of a huge, oversized clipboard I had. I was having difficulty finding bookbinding leather in small enough quantities and high enough qualities, so I ended up dissecting a large envelope satchel thing my aunt gave me which she had kicking around in her basement. This explains the long stitch seam down the edge of the cover, but that will not be found on any future versions. The scanner then got a decorative cardboard shell (the white side of an old art pad cover). The parchment-colored page cover with the aged edges and the "illumination" design was made in vectors using Fireworks (yeah I'm a Macromedia guy). I had a printout made at Kinkos, then I traced over the design with gold marker to give it an embossed look. A piece of gold bridal ribbon was used to fake the gold page gilding around the outside. The horizontal threads in the ribbon look exactly like gilded book pages pressed flat together.

Flatbed Scanner Mod

Flatbed Scanner Mod2

Send to a friend

Wow! Technology to die for.

nobody@vox.com(xmangerm) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:11:48 -0800

Wow! Technology to die for.

Even though I don't own a Nintendo Wii I have played with it and find it a fun gadget that the entire family should use, however this poor lady and stupid radio station took it to a whole new level. And yes, I have heard of water intoxication before this tragedy transpired. Nevertheless, I think the award (16.5 million) is a tad bit to high for there is blame to spread to both sides of this craziness. Click here for the full link. Any thoughts?

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Demonize Your iPhone

nobody@vox.com(northerngeek) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:18:28 -0700

Yes they do glow in the dark. $17.99 is a reasonable price I guess for a silicone case that glows.

Demon iPhone Cover

Send to a friend

Techy Pumpkin Shoots Silly String at You

nobody@vox.com(northerngeek) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:26:28 -0700

Find out how to build one here.

Techy Pumpkin Shoots Silly String at You

Send to a friend

Wii Sports Strikes Again on Home Shopping Network

nobody@vox.com(northerngeek) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:25:58 -0700

Send to a friend