The Way of the Spoon

   Some members of KirupaForums have chosen Gizmodo's logo for a make-over in their logo design battle (where those involved make a logo and post it, and the best is chosen). The guy who creeated the battle emailed Gizmodo out of courtesy, but was surprised by the answer: Gizmodo offered a prize to whoever wins the contest! You can check out the current entries here, and details are here.

In response to Scoble's post on Disruptive tech:
   Disruptive technology is everywhere. For example, there's Skype or cameraphones. I, for one, never expected a cell phone with a camera, I mean, why would anyone want to take pictures with a cell phone!? ;-) And yet, now I have one, and really like the addition of the camera.
   Other things that one might think of as disruptive technology are alternate user interfaces. I really enjoy a good user-interface, but I feel that it is hard to come up with radically different ones because most of us have become thoroughly stuck on the point-and-click and keyboard interface. If someone suggested that augmented reality would become the next big, almost ubiquitous technology, how many people would listen? It's like saying that the sun is at the center of the solar system! Nice try, Galileo!

Skype, the p2p free internet telephone is finally out of beta (for Windows at least)! You can get the latest version, 1.0.0.10, on their site. This software has been spreading virally since the first beta release. By virally, I mean that without ads, friends passed it onto friends so that they could talk to eachother. Now, true to their word, this and the previous release have had SkypeOut capability, meaning that, for a much lower price than regular telephones, you can call from your computer to a conventional telephone. I forgot to post the price tables when they first came out, but here they are (in euros). So spread the virus! Give it to your friends and their friends! Pass Skype along!

   Introducing the newest in housing concepts in crowded London: Marcin Panpuch's floating pod house, currently on display at "Royal Institute of British Architects' (Riba) exhibit of innovative housing, Future House London." I REALLY wish I could check that out, if anyone has pictures or more information about it, please let me know!
   The pod's surface is made almost entirely of glass, but you can draw down blinds to keep out those prying eyes and feel more comfortable in your entirely transparent, floating house. Naturally, to keep it from turning belly up, the bottom part is used to house the solar panel charged batteries and for storage. I know I'm a sucker for design, but I want one!
Check it out! (Via both Engadget and Gizmodo)

The wired future is ahead of us. Time to think about privacy? The ACLU has a little parody of what it might be like to order pizza in the near future here.

 

Your blog's Pagerank determines your discount on software

A software developer, Thinstall, has a pricing structure based on your blog's pagerank. The more popular you are on Google, the cheaper your price is. Link (Thanks, Mark!)

This is a really cool idea, I think. Talk about an incentive. Who doesn't love cheap stuff? Now if I could actually get a couple readers... ;-)

 

Engadget: IBM and Dell joining the party?

Recent report in our Engadget blog indicate that IBM and Dell are prearing to joing the Tablet PC party. Welcome news indeed.

HA! This is just what we tablet users need to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! No, seriously, this is awesome.

Via the Tablet PC Weblog.

Of course, in tabs, cause tabbed browsing "pwns," as they say.

• White Box Robotics


• The Super Megason Game Console


• DIY Cellphone Charger Sling


• The Party Party: Bush Remixes


• Open Source Web Design


• AverMedia USB Radio: I WANT ONE!


• FolderBlog Software



Enjoy!


# posted by Julian : 11:59 PM  3 comments

Why? Because Google buys cool companies like Blogger and now, Picasa. They give the companies tons of resources in doing so and make the product free! Microsoft does this too, but I am mentioning this because Picasa is now FREE!! YAY!

 

How to get someone to answer your questions (from: KC Lemson [MS])

I learned a wonderful trick today that completely resonates with me, and I wanted to share it. Perhaps I should start a new program management category for this kind of thing, seems like I've been writing about it a lot recently. ...More

I'm posting this through Sauce Reader (<3!) which has built in blogging abilities and may even replace w.Bloggar (I kinda like that too, though. Oh, wait, Sauce is compatible with w.Bloggar too!) Anyway, back on topic: This is from Scoble's link blog. It's an interesting morsel of insight into the corporate world of flourishes and decorum, Just as you can't tell someone what to do, you can't force someone to give you an answer quickly, if at all. When you want someone to do something, you have to patiently suggest it, listen to their oppinion, explain yours and hope for the best. To get a quick answer, this post says you should give the definite wrong answer and wait to be corrected. Don't ask what 2 + 2 is, ask "2 plus 2 is 0, right?" "You'll be amazed at how quickly someone will take the time to correct you, particularly if the question was aimed at more than one person, since it's an opportunity for that person to prove their knowledge in front of others (which is just human nature)." However, as the post states, unless you're careful, you'll start to look pretty stupid. Tricky stuff!

Ever have that feeling that you don't want to sleep because there's so much fun stuff to do out there, but you really like sleeping...? Note to self: sleep more.

Okay, template problems solved. Unfortunately, before I was able to solve the problem, thinking it was something with the template, I erased it and got a fresh copy, so the tiny personal touches are gone (not that you'll notice much...).
Anyway, I apologize for not blogging much lately, but I ... nevermind. Just busy. Anyway, now for an update on... me!
   I am in Cleveland, Ohio right now, attending the Equinox summer program at Case Western Reserve University. I'm taking the robotics course, where we work with Lego Mindstorms and NQC to make robots. Lots of fun! We went on a trip to NASA on Wednesday, so I will post pictures of everything (except of the classified areas...) as soon as I can.
   ~Jules~