Excerpts from the Blogosphere...
Execution really matters
Yes, anyone can say that they value a nicely pressed shirt, that their employees are 100% aligned behind delivering a world-class pressed shirt experience, that their shirts are the mostly likely to be properly ironed, etc...
But can you actually do it? Over and over and over? Until it feels as natural as breathing, when it becomes the thing you just do?
Thus are reputations made. And reputation is the stuff really great brands and careers are made of.
Corners Communication Warning Sign
Shared by Michael
We could use this here in the office
Don’t you hate it when you’re walking down the street (or corridor) and as you turn the corner, someone else is also coming out from the corner, and you end up with this awkward situation when you’re both trying to get out of each other’s way? Well, if the Corner’s Communication Warning Sign becomes a reality and is implemented everywhere, we might be able to kiss such scenarios goodbye. When implemented, it will emit a little sound and light up when it senses that someone is approaching from around the bend, allowing you to be a little more alert when taking a corner, thus avoiding the awkward confrontation. It sounds simple, but it might just be the solution that you’ve been looking for
Permalink: Corners Communication Warning Sign from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!
Germany’s 1st 3D broadcast happens next week. It’s a soccer match, as it should be.
Shared by Michael
Bravo!
I need to move to Europe for several reasons, but the one that’s relevant right now? 3D broadcasts of top-tier football (“soccer”) leagues. Sky Deutschland has announced that it will broadcast the March 14 match between Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg (that’s the second place team versus the fourth place team). Lucky devils.
To view the broadcast in 3D glory—I use the term “glory” lightly since 3D TV is still sorta “meh,” based on what I saw at CES in January—you’ll obviosuly need a 3D-capable TV, and those things cost an arm and a leg.
Sky is also putting together some sort of invite-only viewing party in Munich. In attendence will be Franz Beckenbauer, a former German soccer player. He was so good he was nicknamed Der Kaiser.
Don’t forget that ESPN will also broadcast at least one World Cup game in 3D this year. Since I’m not made of money, there’s zero chance I’ll be able to view it, but if any of you are investment bankers I will more than happily invite myself to your house to watch the game in 3D.
What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?
Shared by Michaelfrom Mechanix Illustrated - Nov, 1968
Funny
Professor X Chair Dispenses Vodka, Announces Presence with Arduino Sounds and Smoke [Wheelchairs]
This fully-functional wheelchair comes complete with, well, everything I could possibly think of that's necessary for something to be called a Steampunk Professor X chair. Vodka cranberry dispenser? Yes. Booming Arduino/Adafruit sound effects? Sure! Working smokestack? Why, yes!
Better still, there's video of the creator tooling around a model railroad museum, confusing and fascinating bystanders with his booze-dealing contraption of wonder. And yes, builder Daniel Valdez looks like Professor X:
Says Valdez on some of the specifics:
What you get when you mix an 1875 Eastlake Victorian platform rocking chair with a Permobil C300 Power wheelchair and a few trips to an antique store. Toss in screaming digital amped sound system, an event triggered sound processor, oh and a portable smoke machine!
Indeed. As for my thoughts on the chair, I'm just half-glad something called "steampunk" actually does...something, for once. [Flickr via Adafruit - Thanks, Philip]
‘Logorama’
Winner of the Oscar for Best Short Film. If you love profanity, ultra violence, and logos, you’re going to enjoy this as much as I did. (Via Kottke.)
Filling In City Holes With Legos
Shared by Michael
I like the patch with the little window and door
According to NewYorkology, artist Jan Vormann has been busy repairing some holes in New York City buildings with Legos! Vormann’s website now has a DispatchWork—New York section, which documents the latest Lego frenzy. He writes, “In cooperation with the Gallery Jarmuschek+Partner and the kind support of Henk Holzheimer (LEGO Graffity Styles Convention), I went to New York City, as part of the VOLTA artshow, to support Mayor Bloomberg in his everyday-struggle to make this city even more amazing." We think he succeeded.
TradingSim Lets You Dabble with Day Trading Risk-Free [Money]
Most people will tell you that day trading is a money risk that's not really worth the effort. If it's a risk you're considering, take a look at TradingSim first, a flash-based site that simulates day trading without the money risk.
The fact is, day trading is pretty similar to gambling, inasmuch as for most people, over time, the House always wins. It's not an endeavor we'd recommend as a safe money move, but if you think you're the exception, consider trying your hand without involving cash at TradingSim. Then, even if you do well with your fake money over there, we'd still remind you to move forward into actual day trading at your own risk.
Ever dabbled in day trading yourself? Used similar tools? Have strongly-worded warnings against it? Let's hear your thoughts in the comments.
Like iPhone, iPad ad premieres at Oscars
Shared by Michael
Can't wait
Filed under: iPad
Talk about big premieres. Like it did with the iPhone and its "Hello" ad, Apple used the Oscars as the platform to debut its iPad commercial. The ad, set to the background of The Blue Van's "There Goes My Love," shows the iPad being used in a variety of ways: viewing a movie, reading an eBook, displaying photos, editing an iWork document and viewing email among them. The ad follows Apple's recent announcement that pre-orders for the device will be accepted beginning March 12, with shipments slated for April 3.
Here's a link to the ad at Apple's site. The ad is also embedded in the second half of this post.
As we noted on Twitter earlier, Apple chairman Steve Jobs was spotted on the red carpet before the awards... maybe he brought his iPad with him.
TUAWLike iPhone, iPad ad premieres at Oscars originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
NYC and Las Vegas from above, at night
Introduction - 10,000 Year Clock - The Long Now
Shared by Michael
Thanks for the link Andy...
Space Invaders clock 6 years ahead of Pong Clock
Space Invaders came out in 1978, six years after Pong. That means this Space Invaders clock uses newer technology, right? Nope, it’s the same hardware as the Adafruit Pong Clock with some updated firmware. Still, as you can see after the break, the effect is pretty nice. Pong was cool, but having a clock that scrolls through several classic games would be cooler.
[Dataman], the guy responsible for this firmware hack shared his code. It should be easy enough to alter it for any clock using a KS0108 graphic LCD screen. So what’s next? Can someone pull off a black and white Ms. Pac-Man that looks decent on the 128×64 display?
[Thanks PT]
Warning: Your reality is out of date
OK Go’s amazing Rube Goldberg music video
Shared by Michael
Good one! - With a music video! - Rube Goldberg videos are getting popular now.
So you thought OK Go was a one trick pony, right? They did the old treadmill trick and we were all like “Wow! Amazing!” but take a look at this action. These guys basically recorded this in a single shot, arriving in their places with just as all sorts of crazy things happen.
Seriously: color me impressed.
Run Your Own Free Proxy Through the Google App Engine [Proxy]
Finding a good proxy is difficult. You either have to run it yourself from your home computer or web server, or you're left scavenging about for free proxies online. Instead, you can run one for free through the Google App Engine.
If you want total control over your proxy experience, you can always run a home proxy. We showed you how to set one up last month with our guide to bypassing heavy-handed firewalls. While you're tinkering away with your home network it's also worth setting up a SSH SOCKS proxy to encrypt and secure all your remote traffic too.
If you don't want to leave your computer on all the time or be limited by the speed of your home internet connection however, you can use a Google account to set up a proxy server that runs off the Google Apps Engine and allows you to browse via proxy independent of your home network and without having to trust a sketchy third-party proxy. You'll be running your own proxy server through the Apps Engine, free for you to tweak. They've put together a detailed guide at Digital Inspiration, check out the video below:
For step by step instructions, including lots of screen shots, visit the link below. Have your own way for circumventing firewalls and browsing on your own terms? Let's hear about it in the comments.
"Be what losers call a loser."
Think about that for a minute or two... Sort of turns the whole idea of 'cool' upside down. From an interview with David Horvath.
And my favorite new blog in ages (from an old friend and sage): Alan Webber.
Oxygen-enriched booze makes for less-intense hangover
New research shows that ingesting oxygen-enriched alcoholic beverages can help the body metabolize them faster than normal drinks, without affecting how well or quickly the body absorbs the drink in the first place. While the process might produce a less-intense hangover, oxygenated drinks that dissipate more rapidly won't exactly help customers get their money's worth.
Three oxygen molecules are used to metabolize each unit of alcohol into water and carbon dioxide, and the body obtains oxygen from three sources: the skin, the lungs, and the stomach. Oxygen sourced from the stomach is used most intensively of the three, particularly for alcohol metabolization: breathing can increase the oxygen in the liver up to 8 percent, while oxygen from the stomach can increase it as much as 43 percent (Translation: taking a few deep breaths so you can drive home from the bar is not terribly effective).
Given this difference, scientists figured they could introduce more oxygen to the stomach along with alcohol, and the body should metabolize the alcohol faster. To test their idea, 49 volunteers were fed sets of equally alcoholic drinks, with one group drinking beverages that had been oxygen-enriched up to 20-25 parts per million, and the control group drinking beverages with oxygen at 8 ppm. They found that the oxygenated drinks were absorbed as fast as the regular drinks, and got the participants just as drunk. But, when testing their blood alcohol levels, researchers found that the oxygenation helped the volunteers scrub alcohol from their systems, getting them down to a 0.05 percent BAC about half an hour faster.
The utility of oxygenating drinks from the customer point of view remains unclear (unless quick and efficient nights of partying or micro-binges at lunch become popular). Maybe all the oxygen bars that have been sitting in disuse since the late 90s will find themselves in the spotlight again when club owners combine them with beverages to produce a new, "safer" drink. However, until hangovers can be isolated and eliminated, regular alcohol will probably remain popular.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2010. DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01155.x
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March 2010 Desktops
Wow, it’s already here. We’re into the last month of Q1 of 2010… can someone please slow things down a bit?
Anyways, it’s that time to swap things out and time for you to get a new desktop background. What are you sporting?
I think it’s obvious which one I choose from Smashing.
Talk to Me. I’ll Turn Off My Phone.
Shared by Michael"I don’t micromanage, but I have micro-interest." Leadership insights from the Tachi Yamada.
I would have been an ideal interview candidate for him - I changed schools 6 times during 4 years of elementary school alone.