Skype announced a new partner program for its Wi-Fi hotspots service, Skype Access, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday.
Using Skype Access, Skype users can pay for Wi-Fi hotspot access using Skype Credit on a pay-as-you-go (per minute) basis, rather than having to pay by day or by hour. Skype introduced this program in January 2009 and has slowly expanded the network over time…
Continue reading… “Skype Can Now Get You Access to 500,000+ Wi-Fi Hotspots”
The “reference kilogram” is a lump of metal in France — the kilo being the only metric measurement not based on some objective standard. A project is underway to replace the kilo with something independently reproducible: perfectly spherical balls of based onCarbon-12. Incidentally, these new kilos would also be “the roundest objects in the world.”
Continue reading… “Fixing The Official Kilogram”
The mining industry requires significant amounts of water, and the water used becomes polluted with toxins including arsenic, mercury and sulfates. Typically, the water is cleaned with microbes which do their job by adding or removing electrons from the soup, but they need to be supplemented with chemical additives. But a new process could change that, feeding microbes with electric charges instead, and cutting the need for chemicals by half, or possibly even more…
Continue reading… “Zapping Microbes With Electricity Could Cut Chemical Use in Wastewater by 50%”
A Valentine’s Day To Remember.
That’s the advice offered by the Bronx Zoo in conjunction with their limited-time Valentine’s Day offer:
How better to express your appreciation for that special someone than to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after them?
Continue reading… “For Valentine’s Day, Name a Roach After Your Loved One”
Many Russians are a little off on their science.
Does the sun revolve around Earth? Is radioactivity a human invention? Did humans ever live side by side with dinosaurs? A surprising number of people in Russia answered those and other questions with a resounding “yes.”
Continue reading… “32 Percent of Russians Think the Sun Revolves Around Earth”
About 1 in 2.5 adults under the age of 40 has been inked. The Washington Postpresents an interactive infographic illustrating the major styles of tattooing that can be found in the United States today. At the link, hovering over any area on the statue’s body shows a closer view of each style.
Continue reading… “Major Styles of Tattoo Art”
Technology and the present generation of kids go hand in hand. No matter how hard you try you cannot take the technological aspect out of a child. Taking advantage of this factor Lim Hojoon, the designer from South Korea, has come up with an educational gadget especially for children.
Kidget, as the name suggests, is a combination of two words – kid and gadget. This kid friendly gadget has various uses. When your child is in a mood to read it takes the form of a storybook. When the mood is to draw and color this wonder gadget turns in to a perfect canvas. Your child can freely give color to all his/her imaginations. Should s/he wish to have some fun, see this device convert into a musical instrument. You too would enjoy doing activities with your loved one using this gadget. This multi-touching touch screen device will definitely prove to be an ideal friend for your budding genius.
Continue reading… “Get Your Kid a KIDGET”
The University of Groningen in the Netherlands made this 32.8 ft. by 9.2 ft. touchscreen interface from six expensive cameras… and some “cheap” infrared emitters, 1000 LEDs, some old computers that were sitting around, and some free software.
The result is a positively enormous curved screen with a resolution of 4900 by 1700 that can track 100 different touches at a time… and that’s just at optimum speeds. Latency is between 30 and 50 ms.
Anyone up for a game of Pong?
Hyperlinks on paper.
Maria Fischer’s “Traumgedanken” book is a collection of “literary, philosophical, psychological and scientifical texts” about dreams. The book uses threads pierced through the pages and affixed to other pages to make physical hyperlinks between ideas.
Carcasses Create Energy For Clock
Design student James Auger was inspired by carnivorous plants to make a clock that is powered by converting the bodies of dead insects into electricity. A roll of flypaper catches the flies, which are in turn scraped off and dumped into a fuel cell…
Continue reading… “Flypaper Clock Eats Flies, Uses Their Bodies for Energy”
Jantine sez, “January 10th I received this letter from my district officials saying they;ve installed DNA spray in the area I live in. I’ve posted the letter, pic of the sign and some translated excerpts on my blog for the time being.”
A confidential United States embassy dispatch released by Wikileaks provides details about a new technology developed by the Chinese Academy of Science to identify people by their gait.
The technology is designed to be deployed beneath existent flooring. From there it measures pedestrian pace and walking pressure to create a unique biometrics profile which can be used to identify and track the movements of individuals without their knowledge…
Continue reading… “Chinese Develop Gait-Biometrics Surveillance”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.