This is just plain fantastic. The LeafSnapapp for iPhone identifies any leaf you take a picture of, as long as it’s in their library. Right now it’s limited to trees native to the Northeastern US, but they’re working on expanding that. The best part is it’s free! Hopefully this will get me to finally learn the names of the trees around here. All I know is “pine” if it has pine cones and “not pine” if it doesn’t.
Inevitably, you’ll open your toolbox and find three Gungans but not a single Torx wrench.
At the link: Doctor Who, Back to the Future, and Jurassic Park…
Continue reading… “Science Fiction IKEA Manuals”
Just a walkin’.
The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has release its list of the most pedestrian-friendly cities in the US, with 11 getting rankings from Platinum to Bronze and 8 more getting ‘honorable mentions’. Only one city received the highest honor. Find out which one below…
Continue reading… “The 11 Most Walkable Cities in the U.S.”
Building Culture, Striving for “Divine Context”
Futurist Thomas Frey: As we start to understand the way people connect with their local communities in the future, we begin to see a growing need for central gathering places to help drive person-to-person activities.
Continue reading… “City of the Future – Part 2”
114.7 million households will own a television in 2012, down from 115.9 million this year.
These days fewer Americans own TV sets, research firm Nielsen has found. For the first time in 20 years Nielsen says it expects a drop in the number of U.S. households with a television set. According to Nielsen the decrease likely has to do with two factors: poverty and the rise of high-tech alternatives.
Continue reading… “Fewer American Households Own TVs”
Silly Putty was invented by accident when GE engineer James Wright was working to develop new types of rubber for the US military during World War II.
Wright spent over a year experimenting with different combinations of chemical compounds, hoping to produce a synthetic, “hard rubber” silicone that could withstand the high heat of jet engines or the freezing cold of nights on Navy ships…
Thumbs are important to Pandora’s listeners.
Personalized radio service Pandora has reached a major milestone: last week it recorded its 10 billionth thumb (and it was a thumbs up).
Avid fans of the popular service already know what that means — for the rest of you, Pandora lets users mark the song that’s currently playing with a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down. The effect is pretty straightforward: hit a thumbs up and Pandora will try to play more music that sounds like the song you’re listening to, thumbs down and Pandora will immediately jump to the next song and send a minor electric shock to CTO Tom Conrad…
Continue reading… “Pandora Is Now 10 Billion Thumbs Strong”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PspagsTFvlg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Tactile communications: it may not sound too exciting, but it’s precisely the field of research that produced a device which lets users “transmit the feeling of a kiss” long-distance.
The Kajimoto Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications has created a device which consists of a hardware receptacle which is placed into the mouth, and software that remembers the movements of your tongue and sends them to the other connected device, which moves accordingly.
Of course, there’s more to a kiss than just the movement of the tongue, and the folks from Kajimoto plan to recreate them all…
Continue reading… “Finally, You Can Kiss People Over the Internet”
Parenting in the age of social media is no easy endeavor.
On the one hand, the web has allowed thousands of parents greater flexibility, either by working in traditional jobs from their home or starting and promoting their own businesses with the help of Facebook and Twitter. No longer needing to “go to work,” parents can be at home and conduct business in their free time, while still being available to their kids.
On the other hand, living “constantly connected” as many of us do can result in less quality time with one’s kids. While parents may physically be in a room, often their attention is elsewhere. In one tragic case, a 13-month old boy died in the bathtub while his mom was distracted playing games on Facebook. While this an extreme case, more parents are continuously pulled away by their ringing phone or the latest posts on Facebook or Twitter, resulting in less attention to their kids.
Continue reading… “4 Lessons for Parents in a Constantly Connected World”
You know the drill … You open iTunes and there’s a popup that asks you to download a new version. You download the newest version and there’s another popup asking you to agree to Apple’s Terms of Service. But it’s over 55-pages long! You scroll to the bottom and hastily click “Agree,” because what’s the worst that can happen right? Right?
Continue reading… “South Park Scares You Into Reading Apple’s Terms And Conditions”
A handful of venture capital firms and other companies are expected to make News Corp. offers for one of its most disappointing properties:MySpace.
News Corp. declared it was ready to sell MySpace in an earnings call in February. At that time, in spite of significant layoffs and a massive redesign, the company “recorded a $275 million pre-tax charge for the impairment of goodwill related to the Digital Media Group and an organizational restructuring at MySpace…
Continue reading… “MySpace For Sale: The Bidding Begins”
The Environmental Transport Association (UK) developed the QTvan — a travel trailer that can serve as a shelter for users of mobility scooters. It contains a bed, a 19″ television screen, and a kettle. Available options include a satellite dish, a gaming console, and a heater. You can watch a video of it at the link…
Continue reading… “A Travel Trailer Light Enough to Be Hauled by a Mobility Scooter”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.