Joel Johnson

The Unsurprising Psychedelic Inspiration for Dune

I'm currently reading Paul Stamets Mycelium Running, a book about how mushrooms can be used to clean our environment, repel insects, and cure diseases. I tripped over this interesting bit of lore in Chapter 9:

Frank Herbert, the well-known author of the Dune books, told me his technique for using [mushroom] spores. When I met him in the early 1980s, Frank enjoyed collecting mushrooms on his property near Port Townsend, Washington.

...

Frank went on to tell me that much of the premise of Dune–the magic spice (spores) that allowed the bending of space (tripping), the giant worms (maggots digesting mushrooms), the eyes of the Fremen (the cerulean blue of the Psilocybe mushroom), the mysticism of the female spiritual warriors, the Bene Gesserits (influenced by tales of Maria Sabina and the sacred mushroom cults of Mexico)—came from his perception of the fungal life cycle, and his imagination was stimulated through the experience with the use of the magic mushroom.

Image: Nunavut

Charles Shopsin

Modern Mechanix Round-UP

Today on Modern Mechanix we have a round up of ridiculous beauty devices for women. Take a look at the device strapped onto this woman's head and see if you can guess what it was designed to do. We also look at a 1948 Chicago fair that celebrated 100 years of railroading in the mid-west, a new Volkswagen from 1961 that was capable of an astounding 81 MPH, an interesting way to acquire customers by manipulating men's tendency to ogle blonds, a life saving machine that seems to have been replaced by simple CPR and a 1938 Mechanix Illustrated piece that explains a process for making gigantic photographic enlargements.

Joel Johnson

From Hug to Shrug: Why Did It Take Microsoft's Multitouch So Long to Surface?

My editor Glenn Derene at Popular Mechanics points out that Microsoft really dropped the ball on launching its once-innovative Surface table in the US, missing a chance to really shine as an innovator:

Unfortunately, it seems that Surface is turning out to be a classic example of how a lot of hoopla followed by a long delay can drain much of the excitement out of a technological innovation. When Surface was introduced, it looked revolutionary, but in the intervening 11 months Apple iPhones have made multitouch screen interaction mainstream, Jeff Han's huge multitouch displays are being used for election color commentary on CNN, and other, less-sophisticated touchscreen interfaces such as Savant's Rosie coffee table and even ToyQuest's Touch Table EES could potentially beat Surface to the market.

None of these products actually overlap with the Surface's in-store experience business model, but by the time Surface gets out in front of the public on April 17, it could look like a technological also-ran in a category that Microsoft was instrumental in pioneering.

Microsoft Surface Is Finally Here. What the Heck Took So Long? [PopularMechanics.com]

Joel Johnson

Beautiful LEGO Space Gunship by Adrian Florea

Adrian "Olog" Florea's latest model, the gunboat "David Tucker," is a shiver-inducing bit of asymmetrical modeling work. (The other side of the ship is covered in sensor blisters.) It's simple, gorgeous work. I also love his caption: "The David Tucker was destroyed in 5609 for an artificial space reef program."

Gunboat "David Tucker [Flickr via The Brothers Brick]

Joel Johnson

Kirlian Photography Device from Images Scientific Instruments

While one could make their own version of a Kirlian photography rig to imprint the outline of electrical charges onto film, Images Scientific Instruments is happy to sell you an all-in-one unit for just $300. Their model even includes a 1/4-inch jack that will accept a footswitch to keep you a healthy distance away from the high-voltage unit.

I especially like their disclaimer regarding paranormal "aura" detection with Kirlian devices, which they've posted right on the product page:

There are numerous Kirlian devices being sold on the internet today. To sell their devices the corona discharge in the resulting kirlian photograph is claimed to be paranormal or hold information that can be decrypted by the company's Kirlian researchers. All my research to date shows the corona discharge can be explained by employing known physical laws, like changes in subjects skin resistance (due to factors like; stress-lying, illness, fatigue, alcohol consumption, etc) without the necessity of invoking paranormal (bio-plasma) factors. Some other variable factors influencing the resulting Kirlian picture including the object's pressure against film, air humidity, air pressure, voltage, frequency, and exposure time. If anyone has any evidence to the contrary, I would be more than happy to examine that data.

Product Page [AdvanceWith.us via Red Ferret]

Joel Johnson

In Russia Even President-Elect Use Smuggled iPhone

Sipping my coffee here in a Real Canadian Marriott—lovely people, the Mariotts—I noticed this little blip in the Globe & Mail about smuggled iPhones in Russia, where the unlocked phones have become such a status symbol that even the President-elect is reported to use one. Now that's a country that is comfortable with grey market imports.

That popularity has turned into a bonanza for traders who sell the phones in kiosks and on the Internet for $1,000 (U.S.) each, more than twice the U.S. price. Hackers say they charge as much as 2,500 rubles ($106) to "unlock" them so they work locally. "It's an icon for Russians," said Timofei Kulikov, a lawyer and buyer of electronic products for X5 Retail Group NV, Russia's largest supermarket chain. "If you see two businessmen at lunch in Moscow, they'll both have iPhones on the table."

Russia's iPhone affair: Smuggle, unlock, talk [TheGlobeAndMail.com]

Joel Johnson

The OS X Error That Should Not Be

"What I love about OS X is how stable it is."

"Oh, I know! I haven't had to reboot in like a month."

Previously • Cabel Sasser Finds OS X's "Awesomest Finder Bug of All Time" [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Griffin ClearBoost iPhone Case Has Built-in Antenna

Griffin's "ClearBoost" case for the iPhone builds in an external antenna tuned for AT&T's U.S. GSM/EDGE network, giving it an unfortunate tab at the top of the case, but bringing in "increased ability to maintain connection with the cellular network, with more stations available to your phone, and less interference from signal reflections." Interestingly, Griffin even has posted a video showing how to access the Field Test menu of your iPhone so that you can test the benefits of the ClearBoost on your own phone.

They're winging one over for review, so I'll brush my tooth and lotion my supple skin for you all soon and do a little review. I've not used a case with my iPhone at all—I find phone cases cramp my pocket—but my current iPhone's screen has a strange discolored area in the corner, so I'm hoping that Apple will cover that under the 1-year warranty. And if they do, I'll probably keep my new iPhone in a case, the better to sell it unscathed when the inevitable 3G version siphons a few hundred bucks out of my pocket. (And yes, I will make another donation to the EFF as a sin tax.)

An observation: If I didn't like my iPhone quite a bit, that strange LCD screen spot would probably be enough to cause me to think of the phone as "cheap" or "poorly made"; instead my enjoyment in using the device moves it into a sympathetic neutral zone, where I chalk up the discolored spot as an aberration typical to any mass market device. It's amazing how affection can color one's perspective—more amazing that Apple products seem to imbue solicitude. (Or charity's inverse, an involuntary psychic retch as the mind attempts to purge and protect itself from Apple's geas with antipathy.)

Oh, the ClearBoost costs $30.

Product Page [GriffinTechnology.com]

Joel Johnson

World's *est: Sony HDR-TG1 1080p Handycam

Sony has announced a new portable flash memory-based camcorder with a typically awkward name, the HDR-TG1 Handycam, which takes as its defining quality its ability to shoot 1080p video in a "world's smallest" package. (They don't actually give the frame rate, but let's presume 30.)

Of course Sony has saddled the HDR-TG1 with its expensive, proprietary memory card format MemoryStick PRO Duo Mark2, mitigated only slightly by the fact that they ship with a 4GB card in the box.

Small, flash-based camcorders are my latest obsession, but considering this little twerp will ship in Mary for $900, I think you'd be much better off going with something that uses DV tape. If you're putting the videos online, you'll be destroying the 1080p quality in the first place; if you're just saving videos for later, why not use a less compressed format to make archiving easy and onerous to limited disk space? I mean, yes, solid state camcorders are clearly the future—I just don't think they're this year's future.

(The Handycam isn't actually in a translucent case if that weren't obvious, although I sort of wish it were, despite being fully aware that every last gadget that has come in a clear case has been really ugly.)

Press Release [Sony.com via CrunchGear]

Joel Johnson

Lumin Multitouch Table Better Than Microsoft Surface, They Swear

Germany's "Lumin" is talking a bit of trash about Microsoft's Surface multi-touch tables—or at least their PR partners are, suggesting the Lumin Multitouch display works well in lighting, unlike "Microsoft's Surface prototype ... which only works in dark surroundings." (I am making a presumption that it was Lumin's PR firm since the email that sent the about quote is from HaffaPartner.de, a PR company.)

While the Lumin Multitouch may be a fine piece of kiosk hardware, I've seen the Surface in action in a well-lit area and it wasn't washed out. And because of the way the Surface works—with an array of cameras peering up from below the projected screen—it can do all those fancy "recognize your gadgets" tricks that a standard display with a multi-touch overlay cannot.

Anyway, not a big deal, but I just wanted to call out that little attempt at PR sniping, despite the fact that at the end of the day which multi-thousand-dollar kiosk display is which won't affect any of us in the least.

Product Page [Lumin.de]

Joel Johnson

Latest Burbling from Our Flickr Pools

INTERN DUNN – What is "The Thing"? It looks like a craft for cute, innocent aliens, but it was really just for killing people. That makes me sad. Fortunately, the other photos in "Electro Selectro" are more likely to induce euphoria, not sorrow.

Be sure to investigate our "In the Year 2000" and "Boing Boing Gadgets stock images Flickr pools, too. They're full of mystery. Would you like to be mysterious too? Then post pictures of your own to them.

Joel Johnson

Pelikan Sun Lancing Device Pricks Fingers Painlessly

Beth writes:

We got this fancy new lancing device for my 10-year-old son, who has Type 1 diabetes and has to check his blood sugar multiple times a day. Most lancing devices use a spring to jam a needle into your skin. Using a microprocessor and motor, the Pelikan Sun lancing device actually drives lancet in to a set distance, slows to a stop, and retracts in about one second. It really doesn't hurt at all, and in fact you can't even find the site a minute later. Anyone who has ever had to hold a screaming toddler on their lap at the pediatrician's so they can have their finger pricked will immediately understand why this technology is a godsend for children with diabetes. As an added bonus, it greatly reduces scarring.

The Pelikan Sun is available in the US, Germany, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand and may be covered by your insurance. If it's not, you'll have to pay two-hundred bucks, plus buy boxes of disposable lancets for a "comparable price to other high quality lancets." (Read: Probably a little more expensive than the average lancet.)

Product Page [PelikanTechnologies.com]

Joel Johnson

Boeing (Boeing) Flies First Fuel Cell Airplane

Boeing has successfully flown the very first hydrogen fuel cell-powered airplane in Madrid, the company announced.

A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 16.3 meter (53.5 foot) wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by BR&TE to include a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Press Release [Boeing via Treehugger]

Joel Johnson

Motorola Reintroduces "Car Phones"

Here's an odd one: Motorola is hawking one of its new mobiles as car phone. It doesn't have more than GPS and a navigation application, but it's almost so ridiculous that it whips all the way back to clever. What car phone wouldn't have GPS these days? (Also, why does my rental car's Garmin unit pronounce the abbreviation "St" as "Saint?" That seems like a basic one to get right.

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the debut of the Motorola Smart Rider™ phone, an innovative in-vehicle solution featuring GPS navigation, interactive voice activation, Bluetooth™ wireless technology and exceptional audio quality that's sure to make this phone an integral part of every driver's journey. A unique hands-free solution, the Smart Rider phone uses GSM technology to enhance user experience by ensuring that users can converse, navigate and tend to business while on-the-go.

Press Release [Jalopnik]

Joel Johnson

University Logo Carved Onto Human Hair with Focused Ion Beam

I've been at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, today shooting a piece for Planet Green. While I can't talk about that yet, I can show you these awesome pictures that Dr. Ray LaPierre of the Department of Engineering showed me. (This is the first time they've been online, to my knowledge.)

Dr. LaPierre's group Julia Huang used a focus ion beam microscope (FIB) to shoot a beam of gallium ions at the surface of a human hair, carving atoms off the of the surface of the hair to etch these McMaster University logos. When not tattooing hair, they'll use the FIB microscope to fabricate nanoscale devices.

(Click the images for a larger version.)

Faculty of Engineering page [eng.macmaster.ca]

Charles Shopsin

Modern Mechanix Round-UP

Today on Modern Mechanix we have this 1929 idea for an amphibian rescue boat that looks like it came from The Adventures of Tintin, a midget racing car, and a magic mirror that displays advertisements whenever a customer steps in front of it. This all-weather bus has removable windows to keep riders cool in the summer. If they ever make it to summer that is. During the winter the whole bus gets sealed up tight and the exhaust gases are piped inside to keep the occupants warm and asphyxiated. We also looked at a 1936 Modern Mechanix article that examines the exciting lure of trailer life. My guess is that during the depression, having a cheap house that you could cart to wherever there was work was actually a pretty good idea. Lastly check out this 1935 Popular Science article about all of the goofy props and machines used to add humor to the movies.

Joel Johnson

RIM and Its Blackberries Going Strong

We tend to try to step daintily over raw business news around these parts, but RIM has posted their fourth-quarter profits and they're looking laudably healthy. From TheStar.com's report:

The company added 2.18 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to more than 14 million. RIM said in February that gains for the period had exceeded its own forecast of 1.82 million by as much as 20 per cent.

While RIM's BlackBerry email devices remain a staple of the corporate crowd, the company continues to push into the consumer market with devices that come equipped with music players, Web browsers and access to social networking content, including Facebook.

Anecdotally this jibes with my observations over the last few months. Many of my friends have picked up iPhones (if they're feature sluts like me), but most people I know have moved on to a version of the Blackberry as a less expensive email-capable phone. Especially the Pearl. And these are everyday folks, not executives.

RIM outlook defies doomsayers [TheStar.com]

Joel Johnson

Penny Arcade Launches "Greenhouse," Online Indie Game Store

First a gaming webcomic, now a multimedia game experience, Penny Arcade and Hothead Games (the same people producing Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness) have announced "Greenhouse," an online distribution system for indie videogames. Game|Life is all over the story.

"We act as an editorial board," says Penny Arcade writer Jerry Holkins. "The games have to go through us before they get to Greenhouse, or we submit them to Greenhouse ourselves."
Holkins says that the idea is to give indie gamemakers a better financial shake. "I think that most publishing arrangements are full of shit," he says, pointing out that Greenhouse will give indie gamemakers a better share of the profits.

Greenhouse home page [PlayGreenhouse.com]
Penny Arcade Harvests Cool Indie Games for Greenhouse [Game|Life]
Exclusive Interview: Penny Arcade's Gabe and Tycho Talk 'Greenhouse' [Game|Life]

Joel Johnson

Ricochet Wireless Network Finally Kaput

Glenn Fleishman is reporting that Ricochet, one of the first wireless data service available in the United States, has finally been taken offline. Ricochet worked by hanging radio pods from light poles which passed signals from unit to unit, not unlike a Wi-Fi mesh network. It was an amazing service when it launched a decade ago, but it never quite got real traction.

When I was a kid—I guess I can say that, right? I was 20—there was nothing more that I wanted than to live in a town with Ricochet. To get on to the internet without using wires? So futuristic!

On a related note, Crunchgear is reporting that AirCell was approved to implement Wi-Fi-based internet service in airlines today, so internet in airplanes should be coming pretty soon.

Ricochet, at Long Last, Dead [WiFiNetNews.com via Techdirt]

Joel Johnson

Nike+ SportBand Training Bracelet

Nike has announced the new Nike+ SportBand, a bracelet that tracks pace, distance, and calories burned (estimated, of course) just like the Nike+ iPod package does—minus the need for an iPod. No price announced yet, but I expect it'll be inexpensive. Most of the other Nike+ stuff has been so far.

In the same manner that the Nike + iPod Sport Kit allows shoes to send information to a nano, the Nike+ SportBand is a wristwatch that also monitors a runner’s steps. But now a runner can check time, pace, distance and calories burned at a glance of the wrist. The Nike+ SportBand watch face is a detachable LINK that captures all the run data from a sensor located in the runner’s Nike+ ready footwear. Once a run is completed, the LINK conveniently plugs into a computer like a USB drive, so data can then be sent to nikeplus.com where a runner’s progress is tracked.

Update: Gizmodo says it'll sell for $60.

Press Release [BusinessWire.com via Engadget]

Previously • Nike Amp+ iPod Remote Watch [BBG]
• Nike + iPod Stats Tracking Coming to Gym Cardio Machines [BBG]

Update, Wednesday, April 16, 2008: Stuff got their hands on the SportBand and like what they found.

Apart from this, it’s a doddle to use when you hit the pavements. There are only two buttons – the ‘toggle’ beneath the screen and the main button on the Link. To get running you just hold the main button for three seconds to establish a connection, and press it once to start and stop. The toggle lets you scroll through stats while you’re running, and when you’ve finished lets you scroll through the time of day, your last run data, your total weekly miles and, most satisfyingly, your total cumulative miles.

Uploading your run’s stats couldn’t be slicker. Pop it in the USB port and the widget opens automatically and, if you have an internet connection, so does nikeplus.com. From there you can fiddle around with the excellent new Coach functions and challenges to make sure you don’t slip back into your doughnut-scoffing ways.

Nike+ SportBand review [Stuff.tv]

Charles Shopsin

Modern Mechanix Round-UP

Today on Modern Mechanix (the blog) we look at this article from the very first issue of Modern Mechanix (the magazine) in 1929 about the inventor of the photo booth and the $1,000,000 payout he got just six months after it's premiere. This 1902 Scientific American description of the Hollerith punch card tabulating machines used in the 1900 census is a little bit wordy. However it's well worth taking a look at just to see some of the machines that launched the computer age in America. We also looked at a wireless receiving station for Zeppelin broadcasts that seems to be almost entirely composed of batteries, a nifty looking watercycle a rather modern looking 1935 tennis racket, and a mechanical baggage smasher.

Joel Johnson

ClarityLife Phone for the Elderly

Crunchgear has initial details on the "ClarityLife," another phone designed for older cell phone users. I love the giant buttons and the big text, but I wonder if the contrast on the monochrome screen might be a little low. Of course, that could just be the picture.

There is also a large-button slider keypad inside, as well as the big, recessed red emergency call button on the back with a heart inscribed on the top. Is a heart the proper iconography for an emergency? It might be if you're ungoing cardiac arrest, but that seems unintentionally morbid.

The dual-band GSM phone will be available this summer, but no price has yet been announced.

Product Page [ClarityProducts.com via Crunchgear]

Charles Shopsin

Modern Mechanix Round-UP

Today on Modern Mechanix we learn that the sever threats to personal privacy inherent in massive government and corporate databases have been long been understood, just not dealt with. This 1967 Atlantic Monthly article predicts with uncanny accuracy most of the scary (and illegal) data mining techniques the government is using right now. Check it out, it's well worth the read. We also look at a 1934 Popular Science article which details the ways electricity rules our lives, a cute dog named "slipstream" who helps out around an airport, a man who has made a career out of repairing old jukeboxes, a three wheel bike that drives like a car and a man who can carry a whole lot of baskets at one time.

Joel Johnson

Video: Kitty Cornershot Hides Rifle Inside Plush Cat

Discovery's "Future Weapons" had a segment on the "Kitty Cornershot," a modification to the standard Cornershot—a rifle that can snipe around corners—that disguises the muzzle of the gun inside a sweet little plush kitty. Never trust stray cats again.

(Disclosure: I am a field correspondent for Discovery's Planet Green network.) (Thanks, Sebastard!)

Joel Johnson

Daniel_K, Creative's Public Enemy No. 1, Speaks

Rob Beschizza has published a long email from Daniel_K, the Brazilian hacker who got thumped by Creative over the weekend for soliciting donations for the work he'd done to make Creative's sound card drivers actually work in Windows Vista.

Creative purposedly modified the Audigy drivers to disable some features when Vista is detected and also purposedly introduced some bugs to prevent some XP utilities from running.
I did a complete analysis of the driver to determine where all the checks and bugs were introduced and started modding.
Features that I've successfully enabled:
- Dolby/DTS decoding (originally discovered by another Creative forum member, but I've explained how to use it)
- CMSS, CMSS2 and Stereo Surround (originally only "CMSS" was available, this setting also affects ALchemy/OpenAL, so it is really useful)
- Advanced EQ and Special FX presets
- DVD Audio
- Hardware MIDI synthetizer (I wrote a small utility that automatically detects and changes the default Vista MIDI Synth during driver install or can change it later using its GUI. Some media players lets you choose the MIDI synthesizer)
- Equalizer (with preset saving, very hard to accomplish, had to deal with bugs in Creative software and use my creativity to find a workaround).
- WaveRT (a Microsoft replacement for ASIO, however I don't know if it really works or not)

...

To date, I've got $146, with amounts ranging from $1 to $50 (this value is still uncleared).
Reversing ALchemy was also wrong, I know. But I reiterate, what is the point of improving ALchemy and changing for it, when it requires an improved driver? It was my protest against Creative.

Daniel_K, Who Fixed Creative's Broken Vista Drivers, Speaks Out [Gadget Lab]

Previously • Creative Stops Hacker from Improving Their Product [BBG]

Joel Johnson

9 Common Idioms That Come from Technology

This is our first and last submission from our mysterious Third Intern, Fan Jin. But it's the last for a great reason: She's been accepted to MIT for grad school. Congratulations, Fan!

FAN JIN – We all know that plenty of common idioms come from the Bible and the writings of Shakespeare—think "forbidden fruit" and "all's well that ends well"—but what about phrases from science and technology? I looked at some everyday phrases and exposed their technological beginnings. Note: I did my best to find first origins and uses of these terms, but I am certainly open to any criticism or clarification of my research. I wouldn't consider these canonical reference.

• "Push the envelope"

Common definition: Extreme, testing the limits (e.g. "That backside 1440 on the halfpipe was really pushing the envelope, broseph!")

Original definition: In aviation, the term flight envelope has been used since WWII to define the limit of what is safe to fly (engine power, maneuverability, wind speed, altitude). By "pushing the envelope", test pilots were able to find out the limits of aircraft. The "envelope" was a mathematical term to describe the boundaries of a set of numbers-like performance data from test aircraft.

First use: The phrase was used in print as early as 1978 in an edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine: "The aircraft's altitude envelope must be expanded to permit a ferry flight across the nation. NASA pilots were to push the envelope to 10,000 ft." However, it was Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" that put the term into popular consciousness.

• "Three sheets to the wind"

Common definition: Very, very drunk (e.g. "Chugging those long island ice teas put her three sheets to the wind, bro")

Original definition: Sheets, as you may have guessed, is a nautical term. However, it does not mean "sail" as most people believe but instead refers to the rope that holds the sail in their lower corners. If the sheets were loose, the sail would flap around resembling the stumbling of a very drunk sailor. Sailors had a scale for the level of drunkeness: one sheet to the wind being just a bit tipsy and three sheets meaning full-on plastered.

First use: The earliest printed mention is in Pierce Egan's Real Life in London from 1821: "Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind."

• "Acid test"

Common definition: A rigorous or critical test (e.g. "Our sister's performance in the regional championship will be an acid test of her abilities, brother.")

Original definition: No LSD origins here. The acid test initially referred to the test prospectors used in the California Gold Rush to identify gold. Unlike base metals, gold does not react with most acids but does react to aqua regia, a combination of hydrochloric and nitric acids. The acid test was used to confirm that a find was indeed gold baby, gold!

First use: From The Burlington Hawk-eye, an Iowa paper, dated 1877, mid-Gold Rush, in a piece entitled "Counterfeit Coins - the perfection of a wicked art": "This coin is of right weight, rings out clear and sharp, and will stand the acid test."

• "On the same wavelength"

Common definition: Thinking similarly, understanding each other (e.g. "My therapist really understands me. We're on the same wavelength. Oh, brother!")

Original definition: Literally, listening to a radio transmission on the same wavelength as someone else.

First use: The earliest use we could find was in a 1975 issue of The Economist: "Well, Mr. Ford's Administration and the Congress...which is all right so long as they are on the same wavelength."

• "Out of steam"

Common definition: Tired, given up. (e.g. "I find after sorting the hounds, dear brother, I am quite out of steam.")

Original definition: Obvious, when you think about it. In the days of steam engines, engines would slow and stop when there wasn't enough steam pressure produced by the boiler.

First use: From an 1898 edition of The Perry Daily Chief, an Iowa newspaper: "...that made it impossible for me to get in one word to her hundred. I stood it for a little while in hope she would run out of steam or material, but she gathered force as she went."

• "Throw a spanner in the works"

Common definition: Deliberately causing confusion, sabotaging something. (e.g. "The monk was bitter about his ouster and decided to throw a spanner in the works by stealing all the yeast from his brothers' brewery.")

Original definition: Another obvious one once you think about it. Throwing a spanner into machinery like an engine would cause a lot of chaos. What's a spanner? It's a wrench—the same phrase in America would be "throwing a wrench in the works."

First use: The first record of it in print is in P. G. Wodehouse's Right Ho, Jeeves, 1934: "He should have had sense enough to see that he was throwing a spanner into the works."

• "Critical mass"

Common definition: The minimum amount of resources/people needed to start and/or sustain a project or event (e.g. "Once the number of people in the sewing convetion hit critical mass, it moved with its own momentum, carrying individuals right into the Brother booth.")

Original definition: The smallest amount of fissionable material necessary for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Scary stuff.

First use: Extensive searching has uncovered very little about the first printed use but it's safe to assume the term flowed into the mainstream during the atomic age.

• "A flash in the pan"

Common definition: Something showy that initially impresses but doesn't bring any real results. (e.g. "The singer's career as Elvis's long lost brother was just a flash in the pan.")

Original definition: Flintlock muskets used to have small pans to hold charges of gunpowder. When a musket was fired (the gunpowder flared up) but the bullet didn't discharge, it was a flash in the pan.

First use: The term has been known since the late 17th century. Elkanah Settle, in Reflections on several of Mr. Dryden's plays, 1687, had this to say: "If Cannons were so well bred in his Metaphor as only to flash in the Pan, I dare lay an even wager that Mr. Dryden durst venture to Sea."

• "Tune in"

Common definition: To understand someone's message. (e.g. "Turn on; Tune in; Drop out.")

Original definition: Literally, to turn the dial of a radio to receive a certain frequency.

First use: It's hard to pinpoint when tuning in went from its radio jargon roots to hit it big in primetime TV but we'd put our money on the original Batman series. Tune in tomorrow! Leary's admonishment (above) may have juiced its use somewhat, too.

A final note: I borrowed pretty heavily from two awesome websites to research this article: http://www.phrases.org.uk/ and http://www.worldwidewords.org/ . Visit either for more etymological, idiomatic fun. Be warned though that spending too much time at these sites may make you sound a like a bit of a know-it-all at parties, which may or may not be to your advantage.

Image: Whistling in the Dark

Joel Johnson

Babbage Difference Engine No. 2 Recreation Coming to Computer History Museum

Image: Doron
Swade

Staring May 10th, the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley will be showing off this working recreation of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2. Admission is free, but you might be required to turn the crank to calculate the amount of children needed to mine the evening's coal.

Museum Home Page [ComputerHistory.org]

Below is a sponsored post widget from Microsoft.

Computer History Museum is located at:

Joel Johnson

Continental Baggage Handlers Stealing Gadgets from Luggage

The Tampa Tribune is reporting that three baggage handlers for Continental were taking advantage of the fact that travelers can no longer lock their checked luggage to swipe valuable electronics, selling them for pennies on the dollar. Your stolen laptop, full of your digital artifacts and current mental state? Sold for sixty bucks.

Always carry on electronics. In fact, always take anything valuable on as carry-on.

TAMPA -- Airport police arrested three baggage handlers Friday on charges of dealing in stolen property pilfered from Continental Airlines luggage checked at Tampa International Airport.
Among the electronics airport police recovered were laptop computers, digital cameras, cell phones, iPods, a GPS device and headphones.

TIA Police Arrest 3 Baggage Handlers [TBO.com via Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

"Tek" Clay Robot

Etsy artist "Societysedso" makes these adorable little clay and bead robots, as well as plenty of squid and octopus to co-occupy your shelf. This robot, "Tek," is on sale for $65.

Tek page [Etsy.com] (Thanks, GirlPirate!)

Joel Johnson

Microsoft Drops White Spaces Device Ball Again

From InfoWorld:

For the second time, a device submitted by Microsoft for U.S. Federal Communications Commission testing of wireless "white spaces" technology has stopped working and been taken out of the process.

The wireless prototype, which was not made by Microsoft, unexpectedly stopped working on Wednesday, Microsoft said Friday. In February, the FCC took another Microsoft-submitted device out of testing because it had power problems.

Microsoft 'white spaces' prototype shuts down, again [Infoworld.com via Tech Dirt]

Joel Johnson

April Fool's Notice

I enjoy a good spoof or prank as much as the next guy, but in general I find April 1st on the web to be tedious, so I will be abstaining from participating on this site. This year.

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Portable HDD – Western Digital Passport 250GB USB 2.5-inch hard drive for $83, shipped. (Although $35 off.) [Slickdeals]

• LCD Monitor – Acer 20-inch dual input LCD for $190, shipped. [Dealhack]

• Camcorder – DXG 3.3MP 5-function camcorder for $39, shipped. It's probably total crap, but it's cheap. [Dealnews]

• Fancy CD-Rs – Verbatim "Vinyl Record" CD-R 50-pack spindle for $9 in-store at Best Buy or $15, shipped. About $16 cheaper than usual. [Dealnews]

• Clap On, Clap Off – Amazon is selling the Clapper for $14. [Dealnews]

• Guitar + Amp – Epiphone SG-310 and amp for $200, shipped. Everything you need for a starter thrasher. [Dealnews]

• Woot-Off – Today's Woot! is a...another Woot-Off? But a Two-For-Tuesday Woot-Off? So confused.

Joel Johnson

Cabel Sasser Finds OS X's "Awesomest Finder Bug of All Time"

Panic's Cabel Sasser found a funny Finder bug in a pre-release version of Mac OS X 10.4, in which Spotlight tries to index every layer of a massive Photoshop document, resulting in vertigo-inducing zoom effect when minimized to the Dock. (This bug has been fixed.)

If you're into Coda, Panic, Mac shareware development, resolution-independent interface design, anti-piracy techniques (complete with real-world anecdotes!), or just software development with an attention to detail, Sasser's talk was really fun. I watched the whole thing Saturday and am now completely sure I would be an awful developer.

C4[1] Sasser: Coda Confidential [Viddler.com via Daring Fireball]

Update: Sasser has posted his Keynote deck from the talk, as well as the .PSD he uses for vector-based resolution-independent layout design. [Cabel.name]

Joel Johnson

Glove Radar Snaps On Any Baseball Mitt

"Glove Radar" uses a small microwave Doppler radar unit to measure the speed of baseballs caught in any attached mitt, accurate to within 1 MPH from speeds from 20 to 120 MPH. It's seventy bucks and is designed to stand up to dust and impact.

Product Page [BaseballTips.com] (Thanks, Charles Pescovitz!)

Joel Johnson

Comcast Degrades HD Signal to Add More Channels

According to one AVSForum user, Comcast has started adding even more compression to their HD channels In order to squeeze more HD channels down the same pipe. "bfdtv," the forum poster, recorded MPEG2 streams from Verizon FIOS TV and Comcast. There's a clear, noticeable degradation in quality between the two.

Some would look at this as a bad thing—Comcast subscribers, for one—but I see it as a positive opportunity for the public to start understanding the nature of digital compression and demanding more quality from their content providers.

As you can see in the above excerpt shot from a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, lead singer Anthony Kiedis is a much more gorgeous woman in uncompressed HD.

Comcast HD Quality Reduction: Details, Screenshots [AVSForums.com via Consumerist]

Joel Johnson

Simple Nut Sheller for African Villages

The "Universal Nut Sheller" is a device designed to make shelling peanuts less onerous for those who rely on the legumes for a large portion of their food needs. The simple device is a concrete cone inside a larger concrete cone, with a gap large enough to let shelled peanuts through whole while still removing the shells. The nuts and crushed shells are then sorted by hand.

The UNS was invented by American Jock Brandis, who according to AfriGadget, "was on a trip to Mali and saw some women who had been shelling peanuts leaving them with bleeding hands."

Fighting Hunger, One Village at a Time [Afrigadget.com]

Joel Johnson

Creative Stops Hacker from Improving Their Product

Creative's sound card drivers for Vista have been horrible. Creative blamed Microsoft's implementation of sound in the new operating system, which may have been part of the problem, but certainly didn't excuse them for taking months after the Vista launch to release sub-standard drivers that were missing features such as Dolby Digital decoding, especially for older Creative sound cards.

A coder named "Daniel_k" reverse engineered Creative's drivers (violating Creative's terms of service) and reenabled many of the features on older sound cards Creative had claimed would not work in Vista. This was tolerated by Creative for a while, but when Daniel_k started taking donations from the community for his time, Creative pulled all references to his drivers from their official forums.

While Creative might have been legally in the right, the Creative forums are up in arms, with many claiming that the company didn't offer proper Vista support for older drivers because they wanted to sell new hardware to customers. No matter what the rationale, it's a baffling decision for a company who makes aftermarket sound hardware that is becoming increasingly unnecessary in modern computers. I have an X-Fi in my gaming machine (which runs Vista) and it's been nothing but trouble. I'm not entirely sure why I even bought it in the first place, but I'll certainly not be buying Creative sound cards again.

Message to Daniel_K [Forums.Creative.com]

See Also • Daniel_K driver package torrent [The Pirate Bay]
• Creative Labs Stops Guy From Making Its Technology Work Better [Techdirt]
• PC hardware vendor Creative Labs unleashes PR nightmare in their own message boards. Oops. [Reddit]
• Creative Goes After Driver Modder [Slashdot]

Update: A post on the Creative thread that claimed to be from Newegg.com, the popular computer hardware retailer, purported that Newegg would stop selling Creative products. As of this morning, Newegg's customer service department said they had not been aware of any boycott on the part of Newegg and pointed out that almost 300 products from Creative were still available for sale on the site. A call to Newegg's corporate office resulted in a big, fat busy signal. According to the customer service agent, Newegg has been getting multiple calls this morning regarding the letter.

In short, as one could reasonably presume about a major corporate policy change posted exclusively on another company's site, the "Newegg stops selling Creative products" story is almost certainly a hoax.

Charles Shopsin

Modern Mechanix Round-UP

Today on Modern Mechanix we look at this souped up, rocket powered motorcycle, a bunch of time-saving household inventions, a fun looking flying game that involves sitting in front of a wind tunnel, a somewhat sketchy way to prevent your house from flying away in a hurricane, a gadget crammed electric crib for your geeky baby and a celebrity filled 1952 Mechanix Illustrated article about the profitable hobby of signature collecting.

This weekend we looked at the granddaddy of scantron machines, tips for how to throw a ghost themed party, a twelve foot rifle, and an interesting and godly way to smuggle your stash of heroin into the country. Back when planes could only fly a few hundred miles at a time, there were many plans for placing giant floating airports in the middle of the Atlantic. What's the best way to pay tribute to your favorite sport? Try using the stadium as a giant ashtray. Also check out this church with a giant figure of Christ in splayed out over it, a Russian monorail with spherical wheels, the origin of the hula-hoop, a story about society folk pillaging the jungle in search of diamonds and Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's vision for the airplane of the future.

Joel Johnson

Plush Electronics by Blythe Church

Incredibly detailed electronics plushies? Yes, ma'am! Noted sewist Blythe Church will be showing off these intricate plush boom boxes, complete with huggable batteries, at Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 11th through 27th, along with other plush electronics of her own creation. Just lovely.

Sneak Peek [SewnByBlythe.blogspot.com]

Joel Johnson

British Press Paying for "Videogame Criminal" Yarns

"StarNow," a British talent agency, has a job posting for someone who can "write a few lines about how computer games turned you to crime" for a "national newspaper." The newspaper will pay "hundreds of pounds to the right person" who will help manufacturer a tabloid exposé about a manufactured crisis.

Someone should write up a salacious whopper and then let us know which newspaper is actually paying for these sorts of hyperbolic, spiteful hit pieces about videogames, the latest medium destroying our children.

(My grandfather bought his farm, Jitterbug Acres, with money paid to him for his story, "Hopped Up on the Lindy Hop!" a.k.a. "It Was the Jazz That Made Me Fuck That Goat.")

Job listing [Starnow.co.uk via Kotaku]

Joel Johnson

Twist Cap Releases Instant Tea

A Japanese company is selling these plastic bottles that hold 1.4 grams of green tea or other additives in the top. Twist the cap to release the tea into the water, creating an instant serving of cold-brewed tea. (The bottles in the picture are actually a kale-based health drink.)

I've no idea how much better the "instant" green tea might taste, but it's a clever, if still wasteful product. Wouldn't it be better just to sell the instant tea? I'm of slightly mixed emotion, though, since one of the things I love about Japan's ever-present vending machines are the cheap, unsweetened green tea always at ready. When I was a sweaty foreigner tromping through Tokyo, I guzzled more than my fair share.

(I had also packed a whole carton of American Spirit cigarettes, fearing I wouldn't be able to find any in Japan. Then I got there and realize that not only were American Spirits on sale in almost every cigarette vending machine, but they were actually cheaper than in New York.)

Bottle Innovations: Instant fresh tea [Trends in Japan]

Joel Johnson

Bad Old Days: Kodak Disc 4000 Camera

Kodak's Disc 4000 camera, developed in response to the popularity of other cartridge film formats like 110, used a disc with 15 8x10mm negatives arrayed in a circle.

Most all of the Disc cameras were fitted with a plastic aspheric lens that was protected by a sliding cover. Prints from the negatives were not very sharp, even with the aspheric lens design. This was mainly due to the negative size, which was slightly less than that of 110 size. Even 4x6 prints were pretty soft and no one would ever think to have an 8x10 made, but many brave souls did anyway.

Surprisingly, the Disc Film was produced until 1998, even though the camera saw an end to production in 1989. Kodak was also using the introduction of APS format to help ease customers dissatisfaction of the end of Disc film. Of course I really doubt very many people were still using the Disc camera by then.

Kodak Disc 4000 [Photographic Age] (Thanks, Tommy!)

Joel Johnson

DONG Energy Powers Electric Cars

Happy Monday, everyone. Before I get started, I would just like to announce that there is a company in Denmark—Dansk Olie og NaturGas—that abbreviates their name as "DONG." As DONG is Denmark's state energy producer, this could be the most important development in sustainability in a long time.

Let me illustrate the gravity of this news, via quotes from Treehugger:

The Danish press questioned whether DONG can pull off its promises.

DONG is in the news because they have teamed up with auto manufacturer Renault to build an electric vehicle system in Copenhagen, followed by expansion into the rest of Denmark. I wish them all the best, because electric car infrastructures are neat—and because I would like to continue to childishly titter when writing about their success.

Denmark's DONG Bets Big On EVs [Treehugger]