Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Canadians Get Reinforced Ambulance for the Obese
11:20PM Seamus Byrne | Canadian Paramedics can breathe a sigh of relief, unbuckle their corset belts and cancel their chiropractor’s appointments - if they work in Calgary, that is. The city has taken delivery of an ambulance designed to get its obese citizens to hospital with as little stress and strain as possible - provided they don’t tip the scales at more than 1000 lbs. The refit, which costs more than $30,000 per vehicle, includes a specially designed air mattress that inflates beneath the patient to transfer him to the stretcher (reinforced and widened, natch) and a remote lift system that raises the stretcher into the ambulance. More »
TorrentSpy Basically Gives Up, Implements Content Filtering System
11:09PM Seamus Byrne | It was only a matter of time. After being ordered to essentially spy on its users for the MPAA, the virtual shuttering of TorrentSpy was, to appropriately quote Agent Smith, “inevitable.” True, for now it’s only removing copyrighted content using a automated filtering system called FileRights, but we all know that copyrighted material is its bread and butter, like many, if not most, torrent sites. While TorrentSpy’s only one of a bajillion torrent search sites, given its size, do you guys think this is sign of things to come? Or it’s just another bump in the road like the shuttering of Suprnova.org before it? TorrentSpy begins weeding out copyright content [CNET via CrunchGear] More »
Iomega Introduces eGo and eSATA Drives
10:35PM Seamus Byrne | The folks who long ago brought you the Zip and Jaz drives (and a few other less memorable storage solutions) now introduce the candy-apple red eGo portable drive, and its gray, workhorse cousin, the eSATA. More »
Princeton Cuby gives the iPod Shuffle a Voice
10:32PM Seamus Byrne | The Cuby is rather a chic little dock from Princeton Japan for your Second-Gen Shuffle. Compact and bijou, you can power it up via USB or with 3 AA batteries. Measuring 49 x 49x 59 mm and weighing 95 grams, it delivers sound from its 0.5W x 2Ch speakers and you can get it for $33 in Japan. See it undressed below. More »
Mooing Thong the Perfect Garment to Orchestrate a Break-Up
10:03PM Seamus Byrne | I don’t know how you make this posing pouch, the epitome of flawless taste, actually moo - and I’m not sure I want to know either. More »
Is The Cult of the Jesus Phone REALLY a Cult?
4:05PM Seamus Byrne | I had an exchange with David Kuo of Beliefnet today on whether or not The Cult is a religious thing. I argued that the respect we have for Apple is grounded in secular reasoning. Then I got an Amen in the comments, which I NEVER get here, unfortunately. Part of David’s post: Characteristically religious feelings (awe, wonder, gratitude, guilt, adoration, etc.). Appleism’s followers know of guilt and they experience it every time they use a Windows computer. I have a friend who is a loyal Mac guy but recently finished a big project on an IBM. He emailed me and talked about his guilt. (I’m not joking). More than guilt though, they know of awe, wonder, and gratitude. Every new Apple invention, every time Steve Jobs take a stage to announce something beautiful and wonderful all Appleists tingle with joy and anticipation. More »
DIY 8-Bit Game Console
3:34PM Seamus Byrne | The Hydra 8-bit console kit has more juice than an NES, and you can write your own games for it. $200 gets you instructions on how to program for the Propeller processor, a keyboard, mouse, NES-ish joypad, and a 128KB rewritable cartridge to match its 128K EEPROM. More »
Apple’s Bluetooth Headset iPhone Dock Revealed
3:09PM Seamus Byrne | Remember the leaked iPhone dock with Bluetooth headphone charging? The one we said was different from the one Apple showed at MacWorld? Here it is. This is the image we saw in February, now finally cleared to be posted online. As we noted before, there’s two cables going into that iPhone connector, though we’re not sure what they’re for. But it’s good that the Bluetooth slot for Bluetooth headset charging is there so we won’t need multiple chargers. Three iPhones to Play With [9to5mac] More »
Pen-Sized Fishing Rod
2:07PM Seamus Byrne | The Fishpen, by outdoor gear company Coleman, is a telescoping fishing rod in a pen sized container. It’s for when you happen to pass a creek, or pond, and the mood strikes you to Fish your little heart out and hook some bass in the mouth for the pure love of the sport. The compact bronze reel snaps on after extending the metal pole. Two pens, a case, and hooks, weights and bobbers for $40 bucks. [Fish Pen] More »Dell launch tomorrow: what should I ask?
11:35AM Seamus Byrne | At a Dell launch event tomorrow, I have some time for a one on one with Jeff Morris, Dell’s client computing strategist. He’s a point of contact between what customers (like us) want, and the product design and development operations. From my earlier query about the general nuisance of crapware, Dell mentioned it would be worth bringing up with Jeff tomorrow. And fair enough.
But I thought I’d also throw a query out to the Giz horde (c’mon, we ain’t alliance). Any questions you’d like me to put to a Dell design and development strategist? If you come up with some pearlers, I just might come and ask you for questions again in future. Consider this a test! -Seamus Byrne More » 
