Piano stairs - The Fun Theory

The Piano Stairs are a fun innovation to the normal mundane stairs. By transforming the stairs into piano keys, which activate when people walk on them, make the experience of going up or down the stairs completely different.

Is Laserbeak about to be invented?

When I started reading this article I thought "hey, that could be cool". Just a few miliseconds later - that could be REALLY cool, since that is exactly what Laserbeak from the Transformers used to do.

Sure, it might still be in the development stage, but it's cool that during you lifetime, characters and ideas from the cartoons you grew-up with are becoming reality.

Last.fm shuts down the cool webapps

Last.fm used to be a great site for music fans. It used to be a great way to listen to music online, without having to fret over logging in or doing anything other than picking a musician or artist you like, and it would just play.

I liked it so much that for a long time I've had a web-app as part of the main page of the blog. The web-app was simple: if you click on it, it would start playing songs by Norah Jones and other similar artists.

It's really sad that they have taken the whole web-apps off the net. I've heard a lot of rumors, and read a lot of things online as to what's been happening over there in the past several months.

Perhaps some day, the site will regain its old reputation as being a cool music website online. For now, the need to log in, and the shutting off of the web-apps are complete disappointing.

Sugar Delirium

Sugar Delirium is an interesting site that shows you different foods and how much sugar (or the equivalent thereof) is in that food.

It actually is very informative in the way it conveys the information - the picture of the product along with sugar cubes to represent the amount of sugar in that product.

100 DVD's on 1 disc

When the new data storage standard that GE is working on will get to mass production, the world of data storage will never be the same. Think about it - 100 DVD's worth of information stored on one disc.

Sure, discs aren't the best media to store data on - the are susceptible to rust and decay, and have a lifespan of only a few years, but as a temporary or short term data storage - they do wonders.

Just thinking about the scale - 100 DVD's on one disc, is astounding.

That is, of course, only as long as it will reach mass production any time soon. With the new standards for SD that are due to arrive in a year or two (according to some reports), and allow huge amounts of data storage on a single card, discs as storage devices will have a hard time, to say the least.

Susan Boyle gets a standing ovation

If you have yet to see the amazing performance Susan Boyle gave on the show Britain's Got Talent, you have to see it ASAP.

Why? Her performance gives us all an example of so many things we have forgotten. Starting from 'You can't judge a book by its cover' to how we perceive ourselves, the spectacular performance by Susan Boyle leaves you with your mouth open in awe, and a tingling sensation in your spine.

When she was asked about who she is and where she's from, how old she is, and the TV cameras took notice of various faces and frowns in the crowd, no one guessed or expected for Susan to actually live up to her own high standards (as famous as Elaine Paige).

That look on peoples, the look you saw in the audience as well as in the judges own faces, when they heard Susan start to sing, is a testament to many things we have forgotten.

We have forgotten to give people a chance, regardless of anything we might think of them, where they are from, or how old they are.

We have forgotten that people can succeed in what they do, that they can make their dreams come true, no matter how old they are and how many naysayers they have to face along the way.

This is a definite slap-in-the-face, a wake-up call of sorts. We need to smarten up, and sooner so, the better.

You can see the standing ovation yourself, at the link, or just have a look at all the views she's getting on Youtube alone.


If you are interested in reading more about it, I found an article about it by Tanya Gold in the Guardian.

Ways to make your laptop's battery last longer

A post on TechRadar about 7 ways to make your laptop battery last longer (found via Digg) is an interesting list, and brings forward something we might be taking for granted - A lot of people are using their laptops as main computers. Has this changed the way we use computers?

Firstly, there is the fundamental change - the mobility. You can take your computer with you in a backpack, and pop it on in a Starbucks near you, and work there. You can go and sit at any place that offers free Wi-Fi access.

That mobility is dependent on power supply, be it battery or a wall socket. Since one cannot depend on finding a free power socket in every coffeeshop with Wi-Fi access, laptop users most times have to depend on their battery for power.

That is where the longevity of your battery kicks in. If it lasts a long time, enough for your surfing needs, you will not need a power socket at all. However, if it fails in the middle of your use, you would want to find an alternate power source as soon as possible.

So, what can you do? Well, you can start by checking the list on TechRadar. Another thing you can do is to check the battery life expectancy before buying a laptop, and let that be one of the determining factors of which brand and model to buy.

Gingerbread geeky creations

Food can be a great outlet to express one's self in a creative sort of a way. These examples of gingerbread creations are excellent examples that with a bit of imagination (and quite a bit of talent) you can create real-world items, or maybe just a Deathstar.

One of my favorites from the photostream of gingerbread creations is the picture of the gingerbread Tardis (pics number two).

Checkout also the thread on Digg about it.

You may remember I've blogged about Adam Newbold's Muppet Cake. His creations were really amazing.

It's really outstanding what creative people can do with food and art.

Blame it on the rain - Milli Vanilli

Milli Vanilli were a very interesting singing duo, which had quite a few number one hits in the late eighties and early nineties. Songs like "Blame it on the rain", "Girl you know it's true, "Baby don't forget my number" and "Girl I'm gonna miss you" were very successful.

It is too bad that just a few years after their meteoric success it was discovered that they were not the people behind to vocals being heard. It was revealed that they had used another one's voice to sing and dance to, pretending to sing with their own voice.

Still, the songs they've created still echo in the music hall of fame as some of the number one hits of the late eighties and early nineties.




Blame it on the rain



Baby don't forget my number


See also the article on them at Wikipedia.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

One of the TV shows I remember from when we were young was Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was another one of the cartoons abundant in the late 1980's, and were joined by others, such as Bravestarr, Scooby Doo, Beetlejuice and many more.



link to the movie


The show was about three brothers growing up together and having their own band. Nothing fancy about it, it was pretty simple. Perhaps that is what made it very enjoyable when we were young.

How many blogs does the world need?

Time is asking just that, how many blogs does the world need.It's an interesting read in this day and age, found via Digg, and though I may not agree with all things said, it still provides an interesting point of view for this current wave/phase of the Information Age.

Bruce Lee plays Ping Pong and other assorted goods

There's a movie about showing Bruce Lee playing ping-pong versus one player, then two players, while he's using nunchuckus.



link to the movie

Another interesting find in Digg was yet another photoshop FAIL ad. The picture showed Eva Avila holding one hand in the air and another hand holding a music player. The hand in the air has only four fingers, instead of the five fingers she has.

Google to host LIFE photos

Lifehacker reports that we'll be able to search a huge collection of LIFE photos via Google. Those are some 10,000,000 photos for you to view and search through.

You know how much I enjoy Lifehacker, so go check them out too.

guy builds a scaled F-35

Gizmodo have an article (+movie!) about a guy who's built he' own scaled down F-35 fighter jet.

Scaled down, and doesn't leave the ground, but it is still really cool.

Grocery List picture ad

The Grocery List picture ad is, in my view, a great example of popular content approach to art. It features all you have to buy in an artistic way.

Found in Digg.

Wordle

I found Wordle mentioned in a Wired article that, amongst other things, tries to represent text in a new way, to shed some light on the texts we take for granted.

By using this tool, one is able to get a different representation to the important and repeated words that there are in a text, be it a speech or any other text, something like a "word cloud".

I've done three examples with it, all very interesting, using my posts on the World of Warcraft Shadow Priests:

Part1


Part2


Part3

The Muppet Show cake

The Muppets was one of the better TV shows of the 1980s. Featuring rememberable muppets from the great hands of Jim Hanson's workshop, we remember Kermit the frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fossie Bear, and many more.

Digg's got a link to an amazingly detailed Muppet cake that has nearly 20 unique characters on it (direct link to the flickr slideshow). The cake is part of Adam Newbold's slideshow.

I'm sure it's taken a lot of hard work to make all those characters for the cake, and it sure look like they've made an effort.

London at night, from above

When you first look at the photos of Jason Hawkes posted at www.boston.com, you just feel like the word "wow".

Moving from picture to picture, it's hard to keep up with the amazing photography.

These are definite candidates for new wallpapers on the computers I work on.

Cool USB gadgets

The link to 21 cool USB gadgets can be quite an eye-catcher. The list is diverse and allows for both play (dart launcher) and functionality (Podcast Studio).

The people at ThinkGeek have been presenting cool gadgets for years and years now, and it is always a lot of fun to check out what they have in stock today (e.g. the powered by USB list).

The Plug and the disposable camera

The Plug has a very interesting feature about a disposable camera that was left on a bench for people to use, and the owner would return at a later time to reteive it.

First, I must admit I have not read or seen The Plug website prior to their latest Digg, the one that sent me there now.

It seems like a nice site/community, and yes, I had to have a look around after seeing this idea of theirs take shape and form.

It is their installment with the camera that I find most interesting - would it work in other places around the world? would it work in other cities? Is the kind response and participation of the chosen ones who've used that roll of film a unique phenomenon native only to the location in which that was tried?

I found another fun article in that same issue (March 2008), about tiny bumber stickers