DIYer combines iPhone 3GS with Show WX for pico projected gaming bliss (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/17/diyer-combines-iphone-3gs-with-show-wx-for-pico-projected-gaming/

The Moject project proved that smartphones and pico projectors do indeed have a thing for one another, but Ethan Janson has taken things one step further with an unnamed contraption that holds his iPhone 3GS, a Microvision Show WX and an "ancient" point-and-shoot camera. Put simply, the handmade thingamajig allows him to play his iPhone games on a far larger screen, and since the Show WX continually autofocuses regardless of distance from walls, there's never a blurring issue when flailing about in order to control the gameplay. The full skinny is down there in the source, but shortcut takers can head straight past the break for a video.

[Thanks, Ethan]

Continue reading DIYer combines iPhone 3GS with Show WX for pico projected gaming bliss (video)

DIYer combines iPhone 3GS with Show WX for pico projected gaming bliss (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 May 2010 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Limitless, Cheap Chips Made Out of DNA Could Replace Silicon

Source: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-05/limitless-cheap-dna-logic-chips-could-replace-silicon-processing-backbone

Silicon chips are on the way out, at least if Duke University engineer Chris Dwyer has his way. The professor of electrical and computer engineering says a single grad student using the unique properties of DNA to coax circuits into assembling themselves could produce more logic circuits in a single day than the entire global silicon chip industry could produce in a month.

Indeed, DNA is perfectly suited to such pre-programming and self-assembly. Dwyer's recent research has shown that by creating and mixing customized snippets of DNA and other molecules, he can create billions of identical, waffle-like structures that can be turned into logic circuits using light rather than electricity as a signaling medium.

The process works by adding light-sensitive molecules called chromophores to the structures. These chromophores absorb light, exciting the electrons within. That energy is passed to a different nearby chromophore, which uses the energy to emit light of a different wavelength. The difference in wavelength is easily differentiated from the original light; in computing terms, it's the difference between a one or a zero. Presto: a logic gate.

Rather than running computers and electrical circuits on electricity, light-sensitive DNA switches could be used to move signals through a device at much higher speeds. Furthermore, the waffle structures are cheap and can be made quickly in virtually limitless quantities, driving down the cost of computing power. Once you figure out how you wish to code the DNA snippets, you can synthesize them easily and repeatedly; from there you can create everything from a single logic gate to larger, more complex circuits.

A shift from silicon-based semiconductor chips would be a sea-change for sure, but semiconductors are reaching a technological ceiling and if the economics of DNA-based chips are really as attractive as they seem, change might be inevitable. DNA is already smart enough to be the foundation of life on Earth: why not the foundation of computing as well?

[PhysOrg]

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Diagram Designer Is a Free and Simple Diagram Designer [Downloads]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5539057/diagram-designer-is-a-free-and-simple-diagram-designer

Windows: If you're looking for a quick and simple way to generate a flowchart, Diagram Designer is a free and lightweight tool for easy flowchart generation.

Diagram Designer offers easy chart creation with a library of flowchart nodes and connectors. Text in each element is customizable with a variety of tags and connectors automatically attach to points on each node. Every element is scalable and your charts are exportable in a variety of formats like JPG, PNG, and more.

Diagram Designer supports customization of nodes and importing of image files to the flowchart but it really shines with quick bare bones flowchart creation. Diagram Designer is freeware, Windows only. Have a favorite flowchart application online or off? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Diagram Designer [via Download Squad]

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Five Best Bookmark Management Tools [Hive Five]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5540019/five-best-bookmark-management-tools

The web—and web browsers—evolve extremely quickly, but if there's one web browsing feature that's stood the test of time, it's browser bookmarks. Manage your bookmarks effectively and efficiently with one of these five bookmark management tools.

Above photo is a composite of images by kmg and flaivoloka.

If the only bookmarking you're doing is simply bookmarking web sites in your default browser using the default bookmarking tool, it's only a matter of time before you either end up with an overwhelming and incomprehensible pile of bookmarks, you lose your bookmarks file through some unforeseen problem, or both. The following tools will help you organize your bookmarks and avoid losing them to the long digital goodnight.

Weave (Web-Based/Firefox, Free)

Mozilla Weave is an add-on for Firefox focused on unifying your Firefox browsing experience across platforms and locations. Weave syncs your bookmarks, bookmark toolbar, smart location bar, tabs, browsing history, and passwords across all the instances of Firefox you use—your desktop, laptop, mobile phone, and Firefox portable. In addition to syncing the files across all instances of Firefox, the settings are stored on Mozilla's servers so even if you crash your laptop and you're away from home you can quickly rebuild your bookmarks and browser settings from the Mozilla servers.

Xmarks (Web-based, Free)

Formerly known as Foxmarks, Xmarks is more than just a bookmark tool. Xmarks syncs bookmarks, shares bookmarks, syncs profiles, and depending on the browser, will even sync tabs, passwords, and mobile bookmarks—check out the compatibility and feature comparison chart here. If you're privacy conscious and want to keep your bookmarks and browser settings in your own hands, you can even set up a private Xmarks server on your own web server to keep the entire process under your control but still keep your bookmarks seamlessly synced between browsers.

Diigo (Web-Based, Free)

Diigo is different from most bookmarking tools; it allows you to not only save the URL of a website, but annotate it, archive it (instead of merely saving the address of it), and share both your bookmarks and archived research with others. Even if you're currently only interested in a bookmarking service, it's nice to know that if you wish to expand your scope to archiving pages and collecting text in addition to just bookmarking URLs, you can do so easily with Diigo. You can access Diigo through their website, via the Diigo toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer, via bookmarklet, or via the Diigo Chrome extension.

Delicious (Web-Based, Free)

Delicious is a social bookmarking service. By default, your Delicious bookmarks are public—unless you check the "private" box in the bookmark adding dialog. Delicious is focused on sharing bookmarks and engaging in social interaction around them. The public lists of what is hot and trending and the ability to easily share bookmarks with friends and the greater public are solid features of Delicious that really set it apart from less social bookmark tools. The most notable feature about Delicious is the tag-based organization system. There is no hierarchy in the Delicious system for saving and organizing bookmarks, everything is driven by tags—saving, searching, and organizing. You can add bookmarks to and access bookmarks from Delicious through the web site, via bookmarklet, and numerous Firefox and Chrome add-ons.

Google Bookmarks (Web-Based, Free)

While some bookmark services, notably Delicious (see below), are focused on public sharing, Google Bookmarks is a private bookmarking tool with some public elements tacked on for those who desire them. The default mode of operation with Google Bookmarks is to keep your bookmarks private. You can save bookmarks in Google Bookmarks by using the Google Toolbar, starring search results while logged into your Google Account—this works with any browser so long as you're searching at Google and logged into your Google Account—or using the Google Bookmarks bookmarklet. Bookmarks can be organized into private, semi-private, or public lists for organizing your research for personal use, sharing among friends, or sharing with the public respectively. You can access your Google Bookmarks from any browser by logging into your Google account.

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Now that you've had a chance to look over the top five contenders for bookmark management tools, it's time to cast your vote for your favorite tool for the job:

Which Bookmark Management Tool Is Best?online survey

Have a favorite tool, trick, or tip you want to share that wasn't highlighted here? Let's hear about it in the comments. Have an idea for the next Hive Five? Send us an email at tips@lifehacker.com and we'll do our best to give your idea the limelight it deserves.

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Home Depot Ordered To Pay $25 Million For Stealing Inventor's Safety Gizmo [Lawsuits]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5539322/home-depot-ordered-to-pay-25-million-for-stealing-inventors-safety-gizmo

Years ago, Floridian inventor Michael Powell pitched Home Depot a device that would keep its employees' fingers safe when cutting wood for customers. It worked so well that they stole his idea. Now Powell's getting sweet, $25 million justice.

Before Michael Powell came along, Home Depot employees were slicing off fingers left and right, resulting in nearly $1 million a year in worker's compensation claims. But Powell devised a simple guard for protecting workers' digits and let the company test it out in eight stores in the area. The trial was a huge success—and cut worker's compensation claims down to $7000 the following year—but instead of ponying up Powell's proposed $2000 per device, Home Depot just went ahead and fabricated copies of the saw guards without Powell's consent.

According to court documents, when Powell's claim to the invention was brought up in a meeting, one Home Depot executive responded, "Fuck Michael Powell. Let him sue us." Well, hey, Powell did just that, and after a series of courtroom victories, he's now looking to collect some $25 million from the company.

Handing down the latest ruling, a district judge said:

Home Depot knew exactly what it was doing. They simply pushed Mr. Powell away and they did it totally and completely for their own economic benefit.

As it turns out, the economic benefit is all Powell's. Home Depot: supporting local inventors, advertently or otherwise! [Palm Beach Post via Consumerist]

Image credit Neubie

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