Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, July 28, 2011

A Wall of 250 Canon Cameras Flashing Their Lights Is a Seizure Waiting to Happen [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5825294/a-wall-of-250-canon-cameras-flashing-their-lights-is-a-seizure-waiting-to-happen

Be warned though, the music ain't for everybody. [Androp.jp via Fast Company]

You can keep up with Casey Chan, the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.

Netflix Is for HDTV Buffs, Hulu for Computer Geeks [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5825458/netflix-is-for-hdtv-buffs-hulu-is-for-computer-geeks

Nielsen recently polled 12,000 netizens and asked them about Hulu and Netflix. The survey results suggest that Netflix users are movie-watching HDTV buffs, while Hulu users are TV show-watching computer geeks.

According to Nielsen, Netflix users tend to watch only movies (53%) on their HDTVs via a gaming console (50%). Only 11% of subscribers watch only TV shows on the streaming service. Hulu users, however, prefer the computer (89%) to the big screen and watch mostly TV shows (73%).

Overall, online streaming is exploding. Viewers watched a record 15 billion videos online in May 2010 which is a staggering amount of content flowing through the intertubes. [Nielsen]

You can keep up with Kelly Hodgkins, the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.

California May Be Riddled With Poorly Mapped Underground Fuel Pipelines [Wtf]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5825467/california-may-be-riddled-with-poorly-mapped-underground-fuel-pipelines

Since 1998, fuel pipeline owners in California were required by law to give local officials detailed maps of their underground pipe network. Problem is, many companies submitted inaccurate maps early on and haven't updated them.

This major oversight was uncovered after the San Bruno gas fire in 2010. To prevent another disaster, fire departments, construction crews and others called the California State Fire Marshal's Office to find out the location of underground fuel pipes. Astonishingly, the office discovered that most maps on file were old, contact lists were outdated and much of the new information had not been updated properly.

Not knowing the location of an underground fuel pipe puts a construction crew at risk when it begins digging and leaves firefighters helpless when they are forced to fight a blaze caused by a pipe leak. To fix this problem, California may setup a website that would let pipeline owners enter new, accurate pipe information and let emergency personnel access this information when necessary. [The Oakland Tribune]

You can keep up with Kelly Hodgkins, the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.

Engadget comes to your TV on Boxee, Roku, Yahoo and DivX starting today

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/27/engadget-comes-to-your-tv-on-boxee-roku-yahoo-and-divx-startin/

Gather round everyone, while you may have gotten used to accessing Engadget via the browser or any one of our mobile apps, starting today we're ready to come home in one more way: on your TV. Launching on Boxee, Roku, Yahoo! Widgets and DivX is a new AOL HD package which includes a channel full of our videos ready for viewing on big screens. This way, when you want to kick back and enjoy a new hands-on video, The Engadget Show or any of our other content it's only as far away as your remote control, which is probably also your phone, PC or tablet. There's plenty more to come in the future -- we'll figure out an in-app Screen Grabs submission tool somehow -- but for now we're happy to have an official outlet on some of the most widely available connected TV platforms out there. The AOL HD app will begin showing up today, check out the gallery for a few screenshots of us on each of the platforms.

Gallery: Engadget on AOL HD