Saturday, May 23, 2009
Design
Portable French Log Cabin Would Not Have Pleased Honest Abe
1:00PM Wilson Rothman | When you say “log cabin,” I think of maple syrup or Abraham Lincoln chopping wood in Illinois. I don’t think avant-garde French architecture. I love many French things, but this spin on a very old (American) theme ain’t one of them. More »
Online
Toddler Buys Industrial Excavator Online, ‘Doesn’t Even Like Tractors’
12:00PM Wilson Rothman | A 3-year-old New Zealand girl, bored in the early hours of the morning, hopped on her parents’ computer and, via auto-logins, managed to buy a used mechanical excavation machine for around $US15,000. More »
Games
Is It Possible? Role Playing Dice Just Got Nerdier
11:00AM Wilson Rothman | If you assumed nobody could top a classic D20 for sheer nerd equity, you assumed wrong. Builder Itay—who confesses he is new to Dungeons & Dragons—thought he’d improve the sport by cobbling a variable-number die out of two 5×7 led displays, a Freescale accelerometer and love. More »
Robots
…And Then The Robots Will Learn Compassion
10:00AM Wilson Rothman | In the robot wars, much blood and oil will be shed because of our differences, and lack of understanding. But one day, perhaps amid the fighting, a robot will learn the human value of compassion, and humans will respond—well, like humans. [Broken Robot Nozomi via JapanProbe] More »
Online
Dell Ditches Gender-Based Della Brand
9:30AM Andi Wang | Ten days after its initial launch, Dell’s website designed specifically for women, Della, had been taken down and relaunched with a “Lifestyle” brand, void of all Della content, presumably because of all the animosity its girlie name sparked. We are geeky women, Dell, hear us roar. [Lifestyle via RegHardware] More »
Science
Rotating Space Elevator Could Use Earth’s Energy For Cheap Orbital Launches
9:00AM Wilson Rothman | Think of Archimedes’ screw, only sticking up tens of thousands of miles from the surface into the earth, carrying tons of space crap without the need for rocket or laser propulsion. More »
Entertainment
The Transforminators Will Be This Summer’s Biggest Disappointment
8:30AM Mark Wilson | “It was bad enough when we were fighting the Terminators. But then the Transformers came. Now we just call them the Transforminators.” – John Connor More »
Hardware
Flash Storage Is About to Hit a Brick Wall
8:00AM Matt Buchanan | That dire warning comes from SanDisk’s CEO Eli Harari. The capacity of flash chips has doubled 19 times in 14 years to 64 billion bits, currently. But Harari says they’re “running out of electrons.” More »
QOTD
Wall-E vs. Johnny 5: Who Would Win In a Deathmatch?
7:30AM Sean Fallon | The question of which machine is deadliest of all-time has already been answered—but it’s the bonus round that will prove to be the most exciting matchup. Who would win in a battle between Wall-E and Johnny 5? More »
Software
