Toshiba: Toshiba's TDP-EX20U projector, which only
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Lamp: Troja Arc Lamp
how do you market LED lighting? not be sticking them inside the bodies of incandescent light bulbs -- per Seth's "purple cow."
The Troja Arc Lamp is so gorgeous it's practically edible. The huge, arcing lamp is designed by Germany's hansandfranz studio and uses hundreds of individual LEDs in an adjustable aluminum frame to create a soft, unobtrusive glow. There is no information yet as to whether the Troja Arc will be available any time soon (or at all), the only thing that's known is that it's a must-have if you're a brooding, warehouse-living artist with obscene amounts of space and a flare for the dramatic. [HansandFranz via TechnaBob]
NTP shows fall 2007 lawsuit fashions, sues AT&T, Sprint, Verizon
Remember those crazy sons of guns at patent holding firm NTP that ended up working RIM for a shade over $612 million? They're back at it, throwing lawsuits at AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon -- that's three of the States' four national carriers, in case you're keeping count -- for alleged infringements of eight patents involving mobile email. The firm seems to be something of a one-trick pony seeing how mobile email was the issue at hand with RIM and later with Palm; for a company that does nothing but sue other companies, two-thirds of a billion dollars seems like a plenty healthy bank account, but heck, what do we know? At this point, we're assuming that once they're done suing every company that's ever offered, used, or mentioned "mobile" and "email" in the same sentence, we'll finally be able to put this issue to rest -- but until that day comes, watch your back, folks, because NTP's back on the prowl.
Update: Silly us for thinking NTP wouldn't just go ahead and make it a nice, round four! T-Mobile's been caught up in the suit, too, with its Sidekick services specifically called out (among others) for infringement of NTP's email patents.
[Via Phone Scoop]
it was impossible to NOT share this one
When it comes to medication, what you don't know could kill you. Or cause eyelid droop, amnesia and decreased sweating. Match the drug to the safety information taken from its warning label. These 10 warnings on labels can be matched to the 10 prescription drugs pictured below
"Do not use if you are a woman."
"Sleepwalking, and eating or driving while not fully awake, with amnesia for the event, have been reported."
"[In a small number of people] your skin and the whites of your eyes turn yellow."
"This product is harmful to humans if swallowed. Avoid contact with skin."
"Some patients tried to end their own lives. And some people have ended their own lives." (Hint: While Paxil also has been linked to an increase in suicidal thoughts in some children/teens, that's not what we're looking for here.)
"The most common side effects following injection include temporary eyelid droop and nausea."
"Serious risks include decreased sweating."
"Babies born to mothers who have taken [this drug] in the latter half of pregnancy have reported complications, including difficulties with breathing, turning blue, floppiness, stiffness, irritability or constant crying."
"Vision changes, such as seeing a blue tinge to objects or having difficulty telling the difference between the colors blue and green." Also, "An erection that won't go away."
"Gas with oily spotting, loose stools, and more frequent stools that may be hard to control."
"Do not use if you are a woman."
"Sleepwalking, and eating or driving while not fully awake, with amnesia for the event, have been reported."
"[In a small number of people] your skin and the whites of your eyes turn yellow."
"This product is harmful to humans if swallowed. Avoid contact with skin."
"Some patients tried to end their own lives. And some people have ended their own lives." (Hint: While Paxil also has been linked to an increase in suicidal thoughts in some children/teens, that's not what we're looking for here.)
"The most common side effects following injection include temporary eyelid droop and nausea."
"Serious risks include decreased sweating."
"Babies born to mothers who have taken [this drug] in the latter half of pregnancy have reported complications, including difficulties with breathing, turning blue, floppiness, stiffness, irritability or constant crying."
"Vision changes, such as seeing a blue tinge to objects or having difficulty telling the difference between the colors blue and green." Also, "An erection that won't go away."
"Gas with oily spotting, loose stools, and more frequent stools that may be hard to control."
Master Chao: Chinese virtuouso flat-pattern designer
Andrew "bunnie" Huang -- the guy who broke the Xbox and founded Chumby -- has a great blog post today about Master Chao, a middle-aged Chinese man who has helped design thousands of everyday products that fill your gadget bag and home. Master Chao's gift is in creating flat patterns for sewing into three dimensional shapes, something that is insanely hard to model well on computers. I heard bunnie give a talk on Chinese manufacturing process last June, and his lyrical description of Master Chao's virtuoso performance has stayed with me.
LinkIt turns out there are still things where Craft, and I use it with a capital "C" here, matters-it's where CAD tools haven't brought about the ability to simulate out our mistakes before we build them. The creation of a flat pattern for textile goods is a good example of a process that requires a Craftsman. A flat pattern is the set of 2-D shapes used to guide the cutting of fabrics. These 2-D shapes are cut, folded and sewn into a complex 3-D shape. Mapping the projection of an arbitrary 3-D shape onto a 2-D surface with minimal waste area between the pieces is hard enough; the fact that the material stretches and distorts, sometimes in an anisotropic fashion, and the fact that sewing requires ample tolerances for good yields makes it a difficult problem to automate. On the chumby, we add another level of complexity, because we sew a piece of leather onto a soft plastic frame. As you sew the leather on, the frame will distort slightly and stretch the leather out, creating a sewing bias dependent upon the direction and rate of sewing. This force is captured in the seams and contributes to the final shape of the device. I challenge someone to make a computer simulation tool that can accurately capture those forces and predict how a device will look at the end of the day.
Yet, somehow, Master Chao's proficiency in the art of pattern making enables him to very quickly, and in very few iterations, create and tweak a pattern that compensates for all of this. It's astounding how clever and how insightful the results can be. And really, the point of this particular post is to introduce you to a person whose old-world skills -- absent computers, all done with cardboard, scissors and pencils -- has likely played a role in the production of something that you have used or benefited from in the course of your life.
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