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Test Drive a Solar Array's Wattage Before You Build With RoofRay Google Maps Calculator
Posted by John Mahoney at 1:30 AM on August 13, 2008
Thinking of camping out at Ikea once they start selling those solar panels? While you're waiting, RoofRay will help you plan exactly how many SUNGLYÄSS units you'll need, and how much you'll save. Draw the shape of a prospective solar array on Google Maps' satellite image of your roof, enter its slope angle, and watch RoofRay calculate how much DC juice your panels will generate. It doesn't take into account exactly what kind of panels you'll be using, so of course it's an estimate, but an interesting tool for getting the general idea of how much you could knock off the electric bill. See it in action in a demo video below.
These numeric keypad chairs are pretty amazing in a nerd chic sort of way. If you tried cramming these into your 700-square-foot bachelor pad, you'd look like the biggest tool alive. But in a place with a million square feet and that white, minimalist vibe, they'd be pretty amazing. These appear to be concepts, but the obscure Japanese site they came from makes it hard to tell. [
Forget 
Granted, there isn't much in the way of recognisable gadgetry in my new book, 
On my last day in São Paulo, the good people we were working with on an upcoming Portuguese version of Giz with took us to some nightclub with an open roof and lots of beautiful younger people dancing and making out. Anyhow, here's the gadget party of this story: There was a band there playing called Inimigos da HP, or Enemies of HP. Yes, that HP. Apparently the members started playing together in college, but are mostly former engineers and industrial designers who were forced in their previously not-rockstar life to use HP calcs every day. I like their music. Now I'm in Rio, taking a long weekend. Going to the beach. I should have played more Wii Fit. [
For those who haven't yet heard, a band of number-crunching nostalgists took the concept design for Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, and turned it into a real, fully functional machine. Today, it went on display at the Computer History museum in San Jose. Difference Engine No. 2, designed in 1847, was designed to calculate and tabulate values run through polynomial functions up to the seventh order. It, along with the other Babbage Engines, is considered to be the first automatic computing machine.
If you thought the original calculator watch was nerdy, get a load of this DIY gem from designer David Jones. According to his website, the "uWatch" is the "world's most powerful programmable RPN/Algebraic scientific calculator watch." Unfortunately, the project site is still under construction, so a step-by-step tutorial has yet to be developed. However, there are a bunch of photos that should give you geniuses a basic idea on how to build one yourself. In the meantime, I'm going to up the ante and attach a watchband to my old TI-86. [
After losing our Paul Frank calculator watch to our arch nemesis the washing machine, we've been searching the Earth (a few internet sites a handful of times a month) for a suitable replacement. Our latest contender is this metal link Casio Data Bank watch, a sort of upper middle class citizen of the retro calculator watch world. While we debate as to whether or not this geek badge is worth our US$80, we'll turn away so you can shyly remove that calculator watch you've been wearing for the last 15 years...without the snarky, ironic intent. [
