technology

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I've got a cranky bunch of coconuts

OhGizmo has an interesting piece on all the fake coconuts hanging from trees in San Jose, CA. Apparently, the hard-shelled impersonators were created by MIT Media Lab researcher Tad Hirsh, to help outsource the difficult work of complaining for you. The coconuts are equipped with noise sensors and integrated cell phones. The idea is that whenever the tree-bound fruit log too much noise from low-flying aircraft, the crabby coconuts do what timid neighbors won't—they automatically call the... READ ON

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Programmed for Humor

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are trying to program computers to recognize a joke. So far, they've only gotten to the kindergarten level, by teaching computers to recognize words that sound the same (but are spelled differently) or words that sound somewhat similar and can be taken more than one way. In a word, puns. The example in the article reminds me of my daughter's first joke. She approached me carrying a broom and said, "Shh! Be quiet! I'm trying to... READ ON

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More Than Meets the Eye: The Coolest CD/MP3 Player We'll Never Own

Check out the clever Transforming music player from design genius Yong-Seong Kim. Like a mini-music system that couldn't figure out what it wanted to be when it grew up, this concept player readily transforms from a pocket MP3 player to a CD player with just a couple of clicks of the frame. Apparently, Kim had the idea while playing with a "dangerously cool" butterfly knife. And while the design is nothing short of brilliant, OhGizmo is stressing the fact that this is just a concept... READ ON

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Finally, a Robotic Beer Butler!

If you're looking for all the brains of a bartender combined with the good looks of R2-D2, mental_floss might just have what you need: the Asahi BeerBot. For a paltry $800, ThisNext is reporting that this child-proof mobile fridge will store up to 6 canned beverages for you, and will even open and pour them into glasses whenever you require it. Sounds like a neat party trick (and an easy way for a robot to make friends!). And while there's no word on whether future versions will hold a beer... READ ON

Article

My Ball of Wires

Some people have a junk drawer. Some people have a shoebox of memories. But not me. I have a Ball of Wires. The Ball spends its days overflowing a 31-gallon plastic tub. It contains my collection of audio/video, computer, and telephone cables, assembled over a decade of roaming the US, connecting things to other things. The Ball is hopelessly tangled -- it takes a good ten minutes to disentangle any given cable you want from the Ball -- assuming you can find it in the first place. I'm constantly... READ ON

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Daguerreotype Q&A

Since my recent visit to the End of the Oregon Trail, I've been wondering about daguerreotypes. After a bit of research, I bring you this Daguerreotype Q&A: Why doesn't anyone smile in these pictures? The common answer for this is a partially fact-based myth: because it took a long time to expose the image, the subject had to sit still. And, the story goes, frowning is easier to hold in place than smiling. The truth is that very early daguerreotypes (those from 1839-1845) did take 60-90 seconds of... READ ON

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Friday Fun: Totally Sidetalkin'

With the advent of the iPhone, I'm reminded of an older phone/gadget that introduced us to a new way of making phone calls: the Nokia N-Gage. The N-Gage was (well, is) a gaming phone which suffered from several serious design problems in its first version. With the original N-Gage, if you wanted to make a phone call you'd hold the edge of the phone to your head to talk, thus presenting onlookers with a full view of the phone's face. (Also, in order to change the game, you had to partially disassemble... READ ON

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Harvard's Observatory Going Digital

The New York Times has a lovely article on an effort to digitize the Harvard Observatory's collection. Since the nineteenth century, photographic plates of the night sky have been stored on Observatory Hill on the Harvard campus, representing the history of a discipline prior to the digital era. The collection weighs 165 tons (they're glass negatives) and accounts for 25 percent of the world's astronomical photographic plates. But the problem is, it's all offline. There is no digital version of the... READ ON

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Obligatory iPhone Post

Well, I've got an iPhone. I was going to write this blog post on it, but then I decided it was crazy enough spending three hours in line -- I don't need to spend another three hunting and pecking. Overall the experience of getting the phone was all right -- it was the first time I've waited in line like that for a new product, and it was "only" from 4pm - 7pm (when the fifty people ahead of me had finally gone through and bought theirs). I waited at an AT&T store, and managed to get the last 8GB model... READ ON

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Get Your iPhone Fix

With the launch of Apple's iPhone just one day away (okay: 1 day, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 10 seconds according to iphonecountdown.com), global phone-hysteria levels are at an all-time high. We're here to guide you through the mountains of coverage with pre-screened links to the most interesting bits. Apple's press embargo on iPhone reviews was lifted Tuesday at 6pm, leading to a web-wide case of iPhone Mania: as reviews from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsweek hit the web,... READ ON