Archive for July, 2008
Blippr Is Twitter For Micro-Reviews
“The micro-review site will forward your Blipps to Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed (although the fact that it allows 20 characters more than Twitter means that overly-lengthy reviews will be shortened when they are translated into Tweets). In keeping with SMS culture, the four ratings are emoticons: =D, =), =|, or =(. Like Twitter, you can follow what your friends are Blipping, and update your “media status” of what you are reading, watching, playing, or listening to. “
TechCrunch
Faber Finds generative book covers
“a book is only printed when someone orders it – and, thanks to some clever generative programming by Universal Everything collaborator Karsten Schmidt (undertaken through his own studio, postspectacular.com), each cover printed promises to be totally unique. Various decorative elements designed by Marian Bantjes are arranged by the programme into a decorative border around the book’s title and author.”
CR Blog
Choose Your Own Adventure, Youtube Style
“Youtube’s video response feature is a perfect set-up for homemade choose your own adventure storytelling. The popular book series allows its readers to determine how stories will end by directing them to specific pages depending on which next step (they’re given multiple options) they want to take the characters on. Youtube user SMPfilms’ video series is similar, allowing the viewer to make the next move in the story (in this case, finding the main character’s cat) by choosing one of the video responses featured on the first clip’s page.”
PSFK
Predict The Future On WashingtonPost.com
“Predictify, which launched in 2007, goes beyond basic polling systems by integrating discussion features and monitoring a users’ accuracy score across the entire service. While there isn’t currently a way to weight one question more than another, the site’s algorithm does take into account the type of question and the accuracy rate of participants. Besides the Washington Post, Predictify is also found on The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle’s sites. To offer an incentive for users to take part in the polls, the site has also implemented a premium program that allows companies to sponsor a poll and reward the most accurate participants with cash.”
TechCrunch
FuChat Concept Phone Detects Then Displays your Emotional State
“The FuChat concept phone is pretty, and kind of half-phone, half-Chumby as its surface is a concealed display used to show widgets: from weather displays, to showing a “keep out” sign on your door. But the emotional-sensing aspect got me intrigued. FuChat would be able to analyze your voice and body temp and guess at your emotional status… then display it back to you, supposedly enhancing the emotional aspects of communication.”
Gizmodo
Italians dial up best food price
“Thanks to a short message service (SMS) text system set up jointly by the Italian agriculture ministry and consumer associations, shoppers can check the average price of different foods in northern, central and southern Italy. With prices spiralling out of control in some parts of the world, some people feel that it is high time consumers could check just how much traders are profiting.”
BBC NEWS
Literacy Debate – Online, R U Really Reading?
“As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books. But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager like Nadia, who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write.”
NYTimes.com
Here You Go… A Level
“Turn your iPhone and iPod Touch into a Level (a.k.a. Spirit-Level). Great for picture frames, tables, anything in need of alignment. Use it in portrait mode, landscape mode, or face-up mode!”
PosiMotion
Older E-Mail Users Favor Fast Replies
“When asked how quickly one should reply to a personal e-mail message, members of that age group were the most likely to answer “as soon as possible” or “in one day.” Internet users over 70 also check e-mail as often or more frequently than people in any other age group.”
NYTimes.com
Web 2.0: SwitchAbit Syndicates Your Social Updates
“switchAbit, a free social syndication tool, offers the tools to create multiple “switches” for all your cool tools. So you can, say, upload a photo on Flickr, then have a link or thumbnail of it show up on your Blogger, Twitter, and your Facebook page. You can leave the syndicating switches always on, or head over to switchAbit to manually turn them on and off.”
LifeHacker
Health Care: Intel Health Guide Lets Doctors Check Up On You Electronically
“The Health Guide includes a small touch-screen PC running Windows XP and a web portal that helps connect patients and doctors. The computer can be used to remind patients to take their medications, facilitate live video conferencing with doctors, and even check and collect their vital signs.”
Gizmodo
IPhone: Friend Book to Beam Your iPhone’s Contact Data with a Shake
“The coolest feature without a doubt is the new “Handshake”: put two iPhones running Friend Book together, shake them up and down, and the personal contact information of the phones’ owners will be beamed through the net to the paired phones. Handshake doesn’t work through a device-to-device connection, but instead passes location data back to Tapulous’ servers — two shaking phones in the same location means it’s time to swap information.”
LifeHacker
Map abstraction API in Javascript
“Maybe you’ve tinkered a bit with the Google Maps API. Most of the software produced with it is not all that useful or entertaining, but a few gem have shone through. Still, wouldn’t it be better if applications produced with it could be easily ported to other online mapping services like Mapquest or Yahoo! Maps? This is possible with Mapstraction, a Javascript API that works with nine mapping services and plans to incorporate more into the fold. Mapstraction has open-source features that normalize functions across the biggest services, which makes searching for map data a consistent, predictable experience no matter which service you use.”
Hack a Day
V12 Designs’ dual-screen laptop coming in two years?
“The dual-screen lappie we’re talking about actually has two LCD panels, one of which takes the place of a traditional keyboard / trackpad. Reportedly, V12 Designs — which takes credit for dreaming up the design some four years ago — is working with an undisclosed US firm in order to bring said concept to market. We’re told that the keyboard display will likely support haptic feedback so users can feel when a keystroke is registered, and of course, voice recognition will also play a large role.”
Engadget
Touched echo: Invisible Memorial for the Bruehlsche Terrasse in Dresden
“Using bone conduction, a technology developed for hearing devices, the “touched echo” installation in Dresdon transmits sounds of the cities devastating 1945 carpet bombing through the visitors arms when they rest their elbows on the balustrade and hold their ears. Several custom made sound conductors mounted to the railing send sounds of the airplanes and bombs exploding through vibrations, it’s completely silent unless you touch the rail.”
Core77
Image Search: Multicolr Search Lab Sorts Flickr Pictures by Color
“Need an image with dark blue and green undertones for desktop wallpaper or a design project? Multicolr Search Lab, a free search utility, digs through roughly 3 million images in Flickr’s “Interesting” set for photos featuring the colors you select. You can make one color more prominent by selecting it multiple times, and the results seem pretty genuine—my only complaint is that you have to find the colors with your eyes, and can’t put in hexadecimal or RGB values grabbed from graphics programs.”
LifeHacker
HABITAT 2020: Future Smart ‘Living’ Architecture
“The surface would allow the entry of light, air and water into the housing. It would automatically position itself according to the sunlight and let in light; thus electricity for lighting would not be needed during the day. The air and wind would be channeled into the building and filtered to provide clean air and natural air-conditioning. The active skin would be capable of rain water harvesting where water would be purified, filtered, used and recycled. The skin could even absorb moisture from the air. The waste produced would be converted into biogas energy that could be put to diverse uses in the habitat.”
Inhabitat
Lively Adds 3D Chat from Any Website
“Why should you pay attention to the umpteenth avatar-guided chat platform to hit the web? For starters, while it requires a small package download and installation, the program itself runs tidily inside Firefox or Internet Explorer, allowing you to switch it on and off with relative ease (and with far fewer crashes and less over-crowding than a certain 3D chat program). Secondly, you can embed your own chat room, or any other you find, into a blog or personal page with YouTube-like ease.”
LifeHacker
Great Photo on Flickr? Getty Images Might Pay You for It
“Yahoo and Getty Images said Tuesday that they had entered into a partnership under which Getty editors would comb Flickr in search of interesting images. They will then invite photographers to participate in the program and ensure that their images have the proper releases to be licensed legally. Those who are included in the program will get paid at the same rates that Getty pays photographers who are under contract with the company.”
New York Times Blog
GreenPrint’s Free Software Prevents Pointless Printing
“The home edition available worldwide to users and nonprofits digitally reads and omits wasted pages that have useless text and images like URLs, banner ads, disclaimers, and the like – usually that last page that’s blank but for a URL and banner ad or redundant signatures from email strings. On top of saving trees, GreenPrint says the program can save as much as $90 and 1,400 wasted pages per year for the average user.”
EcoGeek
Timelines: Timetoast Creates Interactive Timelines
“Once you create your timeline, viewers can click on date points to see what is significant about the event. From there they can expand the entry to see pictures and additional information.”
LifeHacker
Inbox Victory
“1) Get your email inbox down to zero. People have various methods for dealing with their email so ‘inbox 0′ is going to mean different things to different people. A basic rule of thumb, however, is getting it to a point where no further action can be taken. 2) Open up your webcam software and take a screenshot of yourself profiling in front of your defeated foe (See examples below). 3) Leave your screenshot in the comments of this post.”
F.A.T.
TSheets Lets You Clock-in To Work From Your iPhone
“The web application allows users to clock in or out of work from a remote location, and also gives professionals a handy way to keep track of their billable hours. The app itself is very basic, amounting to what appears to be a stopwatch with categories – you can assign a label to each chunk of time spent so that your boss can follow what you’re doing. While the app displays a timer in real time, there’s no reason to leave the app open and drain your battery – the server will monitor the elapsed time until you reopen the app and clock out.”
TechCrunch
Vivaty Brings The 3D Web to Your Browser, Starting With AIM and Facebook
“Since they have regular URLs, each 3D scene can be linked to from the regular Web. Even objects within each room can each have their own URL. That is what is exciting about Vivty Scenes. It is extending the Web to 3D environments. Vivaty Scenes work only with AIM and Facebook for now, but they can work with other services such as iGoogle, My Yahoo, or as standalone Web pages.”
TechCrunch
Location Based Augmented Reality for Android: Enkin
“…maps in cities are all well and good for getting from A-B but they fall down when you just want to know more local information at a building level.
What is needed then is a way to augment reality in real time – to geotag buildings and locations based on what you are seeing. This is exactly what the guys from Enkin have come up with running on Android (the open source mobile platform from Google). [...] The system combines GPS, orientation sensors, 3D graphics, live video, several web services, and a novel user interface into an intuitive and light navigation system for mobile devices.”
Digital Urban
A Picowatt Processor
“when this processor, dubbed the Phoenix, is coupled with a battery, the whole package would only be a cubic millimeter in volume. At this scale, Blaauw says, it could be feasible to build the chip into a thick contact lens and use it to monitor pressure in the eye, which would be useful for glaucoma detection. It could also be implanted under the skin to sense glucose levels in subcutaneous fluid. More broadly, this low-power approach to processor design could be used in environmental sensors that monitor pollution, or structural health sensors, for instance.”
Technology Review
The Redfly: a bigger window for your smartphone
“It looks like a laptop, but it’s essentially “empty,” data-wise; the Redfly connects to your smartphone and displays whatever is on its screen, but larger, and allows you to interact with the phone through a proper keyboard. Best of all, if you lose the Redfly (12,000 lost laptops per year at U.S. airports alone, according to Gizmodo), there’s no data loss–it’s just an empty husk.”
Core77
Featured Windows Download: 360desktop is an Unlimited Scrolling Desktop
“Using the application’s unobtrusive slider, 360desktop scrolls around a cylindrical, widget-enabled desktop until it returns back to the start. As you can see in the video, some of the application’s features are a touch frivolous, and unfortunately you can’t yet use your own panoramic photos as your 360desktop wallpaper.”
LifeHacker
TV networks vs. social networks
“The median age for TV viewers hit 50 last season. To paraphrase Variety, that means that if today’s TV audience were a person, it wouldn’t even be a part of the target demographic anymore. For the first time since Magna Global started keeping count, less than half of network-TV viewers now fall into the coveted 18-49 demo, according to a new study. And the percentage of older viewers is likely to rise. Don’t chalk up this shift to the graying of the baby boomers. They’re certainly passing 50, but they’re not driving this trend, says Magna analyst Steven Sternberg. It’s just that younger people have other things to do”
csmonitor.com
Link by Link – Poof! You’re Unpublished.
“Unpublishing from a Web site certainly is not uncommon, particularly after a lawyer sends a letter demanding it. And on obscure personal blogs presumably it happens all the time — a writer simply may have a change of heart. But when one popular Web site, Boing Boing, was recently discovered to have unpublished all references to a blogger named Violet Blue, some of its readers treated the decision as a step of utmost consequence, even though it took place about a year ago. A relevant discussion thread on the site, boingboing.net, has grown to more than 1,400 messages.”
NYTimes.com
Stress: New Sensor Means Future Clothing May Know You’re Stressed
“they’ve developed a new sensor that detects muscle excitation and thus detects stress. It’s flexible enough to be woven into clothing and survive washing. Why would you want to do that? For sports training, coaches may be able to tell if athletes are tired out or still have some reserves left, or you may slide on a special vest that lets you control your games console.”
Gizmodo
Your computer as your singing coach
“Until now, the quality of a vibrato — the pulsating change of pitch in a singer’s voice — could only be judged by voice experts. Now, a Tel Aviv University research team ‘has successfully managed to train a computer to rate vibrato quality, and has created an application based on biofeedback to help singers improve their technique.’ Interestingly, this research could be used for other applications, such as improving automated help centers, where computers could be trained ‘to recognize a range of different emotions, such as anger and nervousness.”
Primidi
The world’s energy meter
“AMEE is a neutral aggregation platform to measure and track all the energy data in the world. It combines monitoring, profiling and transactional systems to enable this, as well as an algorithmic engine that applies conversion factors from energy into CO2 emissions.”
Design with Intent
Jelly — Working together is more fun for everyone!
“Jelly is casual coworking. We invite people to work from our home for the day. We provide chairs and sofas, wireless internet, and interesting people to talk to, collaborate with, and bounce ideas off of. You bring a laptop (or whatever you need to get work done) and a friendly disposition.”
Jelly
Speed Limit: British Vauxhall Cars Have New Camera That Scans Signs, Displays Current Speed Limit
“Although various GPS units already have the ability to display the current speed limit (they’re pre-programmed in) of the road you’re on, this Vauxhall Motors invention seems even better. There’s a camera on-board that takes 30 snaps per second, then recognizing speed limit signs and translating that to a number to display on your dash. This way you can know exactly what the speed limit is at all times, even when you’ve just transitioned from a high speed area to a low speed one that cops like to ticket in.”
Gizmodo
Storage: Scientists Build Nanowire Memory That Uses Trits, Not Bits
“Scientists at University of Pennsylvania have been tinkering with germanium-tellurium nanowires and have figured out how to make them store data in three states. Yup, that’s 0,1 and 2… binary seems passé now doesn’t it? According to the team, storing trits instead of bits “could allow for a huge increase in the memory density of potential future devices,” meaning higher capacity storage in the same size. And using nanowires is a particularly good way to make memory chips because it may be possible to make them self-organize, making “top-down” silicon-chip fabrication seem clunky.”
Gizmodo
i2i Stream—Sharing Music Wireless
“With the i2i Stream, you can share tunes off of your MP3 player—or any electronic device with a 3.5mm mic jack—to anyone within about 25 unobstructed yards (walls lessen the range). Aerielle threw the kitchen sink into this package which comes with a number of cables, clips, and such, and of course the tiny, palm-sized transmitter/receivers. Start with the 2-pack. Take one of the units—either one as they’re all the same—and plug it into the mic jack on your MP3 player with either a 12-inch or a 28-inch cable (both included). Then, plug your favorite headset into the unit.”
ExtremeTech
Home flirting lets owners test the market
“By registering their property on Moviq, owners can get a feel for the market without actually deciding to sell. Or, using Moviq’s sexier terminology, they can flirt with potential buyers. To do so, they first need to claim their property: after sending in their address and personal details, Moviq checks whether the property is actually listed in their name, and then sends them an activation code. Owners can then list their property, add a description and upload photos that will heighten their appeal. ‘Flirt homes’ are listed alongside properties that are on the market, and potential buyers can make an informal offer without any further obligations.”
Springwise
Featured Download: Dropbox Syncs and Backs Up Files Between Computers Instantaneously
“Any file that’s synced with Dropbox is available on any computer you sync it to or through the Dropbox web interface. During the beta, Dropbox is limited to 2GB of storage space and syncing. The software and service will remain free of charge, but if you need more than the 2GB, premium accounts will be available.”
LifeHacker
Aggregation: Swurl Aggregates Your Online Activity in a Calendar
“Web site Swurl aggregates your online activity in a simple blog-like format. From del.icio.us bookmarks and favorite YouTube videos to Twitter posts and Flickr photos, Swurl pulls it all into a simple blog-like interface. On the surface Swurl sounds similar to previously mentioned FriendFeed, but it’s actually got a much different feel and offers a lot of customization. Swurl’s timeline feature stands out most, placing your links, photos, and other activities on a calendar timeline.”
LifeHacker
Casio touts “Blanview” transmissive LCD for outdoor use
“it’s managed to develop a new system that pulls outside light into the LCD panel to make the transmissive LCD usable outdoors without backlighting, eliminating the need for so-called “semi-transmissive” LCD panels that are more commonly used today. What’s more, it says this new method also increases the transmittance of the panel by about 30% and cut its power consumption for outdoor use by upwards of 50% compared to current panels.”
Engadget
Licentia – gesture based remote by Jason Kline
“The Licentia is straight forward, no-nonsensical remote control consisting of 2 discs which can be spun or compressed in a number of gesture patterns to interact with your TV. Once you get the hang of it, channel hopping will become easier and faster. None of that cumbersome numeric keypad stuff.”
Yanko Design
connecting environments, patching the planet – Map of feeds
“Welcome to Pachube, a service that enables people to tag and share real time environmental data from objects, devices and spaces around the world. The key aim is to facilitate interaction between remote environments, both physical and virtual.”
pachube
Interchangeable I/O modules
“We are working on a range of modules based on frequently used components, sensors and indicators. The prototyping modules are designed to work with development platforms such as Arduino and Wiring. The modules can also be used for other purposes such as circuitbending, DIY synths, analog sequencers or plain old electronics projects.”
MAKE
Tufts to develop morphing ‘chemical robots’
“Tufts University has received federal funding to develop chemical robots that will be able to squeeze into spaces as tiny as 1 centimeter, then morph into something 10 times larger, and ultimately biodegrade. The “chembots” could access urban environments, tunnels, caves and debris fields, and carry out other risky operations in complex environments.”
PhysOrg
Concept Mobile Phone Wins Student Design Award
“Shing’s handset design included a simple ‘hole’ which acts as a view finder when taking photographs, a charging point using inductive charging technology, and as a means of transferring data. The hole also has a mirror surrounding it to enabling the user to take pictures of themselves.”
Cellular news
The physical value of sound
“Sound Chaser looks like a little toy train that rides on record rails. You can align and connect each chipped pieces of second-hand records one to another and compose a new track that the train will play.”
we make money not art
Blockenspiel…you know, for kids!
“Check out the latest in getting your groove on like a tyke, this ‘AMK’ is a modular sound toy specially designed for preschool children. Kiddies can independently play and combine sounds through plugging these uniquely programmed music blocks.”
Yanko Design
Honda’s Walking Assist Device beginning medical testing
“They will reportedly be using the device in rehabilitation training to help people learn to walk again, during which time the “compatibility and effectiveness” will be evaluated. In case you missed it, the Walking Assist Device uses some of the same technology that Honda originally developed for its ASIMO robot, including an array of sensors and motors that promise to keep the wearer upright and, eventually, give them a fighting chance against the machines.”
Engadget
upl8.tv from Poke NY
“Basically it’s a YouTube viewer that allows you to browse YouTube clips using just the space bar. You visit the site and start watching. If you don’t like the clip. Hit space and you’ll move on to the next one. They’ve loaded it up with a bunch of clips that they like (which is a pretty good selection in its own right).”
crackunit.com
When Craving Is Better Than Getting
“In a recent article about brain cells, Joshua Freedman a U.C.L.A. neuroscientist, noted that a monkey feels maximal reward not when he eats a grape but rather when he gets it in his possession, anticipating he can eat it.”
Scientific American
Apture Gives Contextual Popups A Good Name
“Publishers can use Apture to enhance their writing by adding links to popups (or HTML-based “overlays”) that display relevant media from sources such as Wikipedia, IMDB, Scribd, Google Maps, Hulu, ESPN, YouTube, Imeem, and Flickr. Installing Apture is easy: just drop a snippet of JavaScript code onto your site and begin manually choosing the sections of your writing that you want to turn into popup triggers.”
TechCrunch
Reflect table helps enlighten the conversation
“The “Reflect” table is an LED board embedded inside a table that monitors the sound levels of people’s conversations with an array of microphones around the exterior. The multi-color LEDs show the sound levels of the chatter of those speaking so that they can get a visual picture of who is dominating the conversation. The translucent paneling in front of the lights is meant to move the feedback system into the background so that people will not concentrate on the lights.”
MAKE
Cooperative system could wipe out car alarm noise
“Zhu developed a monitoring system that relies on a network formed by the cars parked in a parking lot. When a car enters a lot and parks, the sensor is alerted – probably when the car door locks — and it sends out a signal that in essence says, “hello, I am here.” Sensors in nearby cars acknowledge the signal and incorporate the new car into their network. Periodically, each car sends out a signal indicating that it is still there. When the driver unlocks the car, the sensor sends out a “goodbye” message and the network removes that car, and it drives away. If, however, a car leaves the network without issuing a goodbye message, the other cars will notice the absence or the “still here” message. Once the system has confirmed that the car is gone, checking that other cars have not received the “still here” message, the monitoring sensor sends a signal identifying the car to the base unit in the parking lot, which will phone the owner to indicate the car is missing. The owner can then check it out.”
Penn State
AirPiano single-handedly redeems air instruments from irrelevancy
“This instrument, which is truthfully more akin to a theremin than a bona fide piano, enables users to emit beautiful tones without ever touching the “keys.” It’s even smart enough to sustain a note if you hold your hand over a particular area for an extended time. We don’t hand out unwarranted props, but we can’t help but tip our hats to this one.”
Engadget
Posterous Beats Tumblr In Simplicity
“Here’s how you create a blog on Posterous – email something to post@posterous.com. You’re done. Here’s how you post something new on Posterous – see paragraph above. The subject line of the email is the post title, the text area is the content. You can also email photos, videos and sounds files, which will be displayed in a custom Flash player on the site.”
TechCrunch
O2 showcases pedal-powered cellphone charger
“Reportedly, the eco-friendly device will be demonstrated at the O2 Wireless Festival in London’s Hyde Park, but unfortunately, each of the demo bikes will be stationary. Still no word on whether O2 has a mind to take this thing commercial, but for cyclists the world over, here’s to hoping it does.”
Engadget
Swurl’s Lifecasting Generates Your Blog For You
“As entries get added to Swurl, the site will automatically detect what kind of content it is and “enhance” it accordingly. If you rent a film from Netflix, Swurl will append a link to the movie’s trailer on YouTube. Photos from Flickr will be shown full size in an automatically generated slideshow. You can use the impressive calendar function to visualize when actions have occurred, and there’s also a nifty “infinite scroll” that eliminates the need for a “previous” button – get to the bottom of the page, and the site will automatically load the next few entries without having to refresh.”
TechCrunch
Exclusive Peek At Nrme: Location-Based Twitter, Without The Noise
“Users submit short messages through an app on their phone, which are mass-broadcasted to other Nrme users within a 9 block radius. Each time a user submits a message, it is readable by everyone else in the vicinity – there is no “follow” system. And while there is an option to intitate private chats with users, the primary function of nrme isn’t about socializing or making friends, it’s about getting the latest updates about things that are going on within walking distance.”
TechCrunch
Hyperwall 2 Faster Than 600 Consoles: Most Powerful Visualization System Ever Is Faster than 600 Consoles
“At 23 by 10 feet wide, hyperwall-2 uses 128 screens driven by 128 graphic processing units with a total of 1,024 processor cores capable of displaying quarter billion-pixel graphics. That’s 74 teraflops of power—the number-crunching capacity of six hundred last-generation consoles— accessing 475 terabytes of data, what scientists and Led Zeppelin technically classify as “a whooping whole lotta love.” Instead of gaming, however, this massive display will be used for more mundane things like, you know, black holes or saving lives.”
Gizmodo
Smart: Brainstorming Room Accelerates Ideas to Warp 9
“It identifies keywords and constantly searches the web for related material, displaying information and images to help brainstorming sessions. In theory, combined with lighting that simulates the changes in sunlight, boosts people’s creativity.”
Gizmodo
Get ready for .smith, .sports or .love on the Web
“Under the new system, individuals, companies or groups could apply to have any string of letters established as a domain name. It could be a vanity name, for example — .smith — or a category name like .sports or .perfume. A company could also change its domain to reflect its brand, so Apple.com could become Apple.mac, for instance.”
Reuters
How We Carry Our Mobile Phones
“80% of Women in Milan carry their phones in their bags, while only 30% of Women in Los Angeles do (studies also reveal that 50% of people who put their phones in their bags report frequently or always missing calls or SMSes, versus 30% of people who carry them in their pockets)”
PSFK
Garmin DC 30 GPS dog collar turns hunting into a videogame
“Here’s one for the hunters. Strap the Garmin DC 30 collar onto your hunting dog, fire up your Astro 220 receiver, and you’ll not only know where your dog is, but you’ll also know if he is running, pointing, or treeing, even in dense cover. Range is good for up to seven miles, and the tracking even covers the dog’s direction so you can figure out where that delicious nubbin of turkey is hiding.”
Engadget
Plant Sense and the GardenGro Sensor
“After connecting the sensor to your computer and telling it whether you want to monitor an existing plant or analyze soil for a new plant, place the sensor (pictured above) in the soil/next to the plant for 24 hours. Remove the USB part of the sensor and connect it to your computer. The data (which includes moisture, light and soil composition among others) is sent to Plant Sense where it is analyzed, and you receive all the information you could want about the health of your plant or the ideal plant for the soil conditions it has monitored.”
Gizmodo
Sqish: the camouflaged satellite dish
“The Sqish
, a rectangular wall-mounted dish, has circumvented this problem in an unusual way – when you order your dish, you send in a picture of your wall, and they send you a “squishoflage” sticker to cover the offending protuberance. The UV-stable, matt finish squishoflage sticker costs an extra £25, over the £149 unit price.”
Gizmag
Eyealike Updates Image Recognition Software To Help You Find The Perfect Mate
“The concept may be a little strange to some (the word superficial comes to mind), but physical attraction is obviously an important component for many people looking for a date. The new release of Eyealike includes “Face Levers”, which let users modify certain traits in the pictures they’ve uploaded. Looking for a woman with Angelina Jolie’s eyes but a slightly softer jaw? Just tweak the levers and bit and meet your future soulmate.”
TechCrunch
Socialbrowse: Y Combinator Startup is Twitter For Links
“Socialbrowse’s real value comes from the nifty icons that it embeds across the web. Every time a member shares a link, the system will embed a miniature version of their profile icon next to the link on the page itself, which is visible to all of that member’s followers (see image). It sounds intrusive at first, but in practice it is extremely useful, especially on link-heavy sites like CNN or Techmeme. Now, instead of having to rely on link aggregators like Digg, users can browse the web as they normally would, using their friends’ icons to help single out the most interesting stories. Alternatively, users can head to Socialbrowse’s site, which tabulates the most shared links in order of popularity.”
TechCrunch
