Sunday, May 24, 2009

Use Your Water Twice

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/yankodesign/~3/Zu1yXgyEW3c/

It goes in the sink, then it goes in the toilet. What’s that? It’s your water bill! You’ve got to conserve in any way you can. Here’s a lovely simple system that makes use of the fact that toilet water never needs to be as clean as it usually is. The “Eco Bath” concept uses 50% reused water and 50% new water for a toilet system half-ways to nature friendly.

You simply must read this little poem written about this toilet system by it’s designer, Jang Woo-seok:

Express the flow of water.
General water, the blue pipes.
Green pipes, water reuse

Fresh, yes?

Jang gets the idea for the Eco Bath from the naturally flowing waterways all around us. Naturally moving, naturally cleaning. Tagged “Green”, naturally.

Designer: Jang Woo-seok

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BenQ's $499 Joybee GP1 pocket projector up for pre-order

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/23/benqs-499-joybee-gp1-pocket-projector-up-for-pre-order/


We had the pleasure of checking out BenQ's Joybee GP1 pocket projector back in March at CeBIT, and now the bantam beamer is just about ready to ship here in the States. Starting now (like, right now), interested consumers can plop down $499 in order to secure a place in line, ensuring that you'll be one of the first on the block to take possession of the planet's first LED-based PJ with a USB reader. Specs wise, you'll find a DLP projection system kicking out an 858 x 600 resolution, 100 ANSI lumens, a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, a built-in 2-watt speaker and VGA / component / composite inputs. Five bills sounds a little steep for what it is, but hey, it's a 1.4 pound projector -- did you really expect it to be economical?

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BenQ's $499 Joybee GP1 pocket projector up for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 May 2009 19:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saturday, May 23, 2009

Take Great Panoramic Pictures with Any Camera [Panoramic]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/dj0UBuTJrNc/take-great-panoramic-pictures-with-any-camera

Panoramic software has come a long way toward making panoramic images child's work. Great software or not, there's no substitution for good source material. Take better panoramic pictures with these tips.Photo by Diego_3336.

Taking an awesome panoramic photograph isn't as daunting a task as it once was, but there are still basic guidelines to follow for optimum results. One of the crucial elements to a natural-looking panorama is even exposure. If the exposure is different in each frame, your panoramic will end up with with a bizarre-looking skyline and an unnatural mixture of highlights and shadows. If your point-and-shoot has a panoramic mode, use it. On your DSLR, pick an average setting for the scene and set your exposure manually to that setting.

Exposure isn't everything, though. Equally important is overlapping your images:

Overlapping is one of the important areas in creating a panoramic image. Just one slip with not enough overlap can ruin an attempt at the grandest of wide angle shots. No one wants to see pictures of the Grand Canyon with a bar of white down the middle because of the failure to overlap properly. I overlap by 30% each time. Sometimes more. Most people say 15% works just fine. Experiment with your particular camera to find the sweet spot of overlap.

For more excellent tips on creating beautiful panoramic photos, make sure to check out the link below. If you're particularly pleased with your creation, previously mentioned viewAT is a service dedicated to sharing panoramic photos. Have a tried and true tip of your own for awesome panoramic photos? Share it in the comments below.



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Data.gov Provides Government Data Sets For Your Nerdy Curiosities [Government]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/aqxWsdKsJAo/datagov-provides-government-data-sets-for-your-nerdy-curiosities

The newest website from the Obama administration is Data.gov: a public resource for "high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government."

The site provides both raw data as well as widgets for getting updated information on various topics such as H1N1 flu or the FBI. But if you're really interested in having a data set of the locations and characteristics of the world's copper smelters or past East Pacific storm tracks, this is your new one stop shop. They're even taking requests if the data you're looking for isn't here.

This probably isn't useful to too many people, but if it's useful to you, you know how cool it is. [Data.gov via The Daily What]



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PureDepth ramps up production of "Multi-Layer" 3D displays

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/22/puredepth-ramps-up-production-of-multi-layer-3d-displays/


PureDepth has been talking up its "Multi-Layer" 3D display technology for quite some time now, but it looks like the displays should finally be rolling out en masse, with the company announcing that volume production of its new 12.1-inch displays was slated to begin this week, which follows those first few 20.1-inch displays that wound up in slot machines. For those not up to speed, the displays themselves make use of two LCD screens placed a few inches a part, which lets them display three dimensional images without the need for special glasses and, according to the company, without the headaches often associated with 3D setups. It also looks PureDepth is getting increasingly confident in the technology and its future, and it's now even gone so far as to establish a Japanese arm of the company that it hopes will help it garner a bigger foothold in the country.

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PureDepth ramps up production of "Multi-Layer" 3D displays originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 May 2009 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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