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December 20 to 31, 2005
A nice list of free Windows software that doesn't come with spyware,
ad
ware, virii, or other nasty things...
A "laptop battery breakthrough" enables more precise re
ad
ings of battery life, implications for all g
ad
get types...
iPod Stuff http://ipod.hack
ad
ay.com/entry/1234000147025394...
"The Graying of Hawai'i" http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/specials/aging...
The RIAA and MPAA are intentionally putting
ad
ware into Windows Media files to thwart file sharing...
April 25 to May 1, 2005
There was a lot of news this week, but the big news was the release of Apple's new system upgr
ad
e, called "Tiger". I've tested the heck out of it and it seems stable and faster...
Hawaii's High-Tech Successes, Today http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/28/br/br10p.htm...
A new waterproof, heavy-duty hand-cranked r
ad
io...
Biodegr
ad
able packaging tape...
Very flat, flexible speaker technology: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000567041892...
...are m
ad
e possible by a price war between Taiwan and South Korea, which make 90% of the world's LCD monitors...
I just want to make a phone call - the new Nokia N91 has a 4GB hard drive, camera, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, mp3 player, he
ad
phone jack, USB connector, FM r
ad
io, Web browser, and records video...
China's got growing pains though, thanks to unequal wealth distribution, corruption, and "environmental degr
ad
ation"...
Hey l
ad
ies! Here's why geeks and nerds are worth it...
Now classified military research is making inro
ad
s into the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dozens of students and faculty have occupied the
ad
ministration building in a rare sit-in...
Can
ad
a once took in 50,000 Vietnam-era draft dodgers. But today it's denying political asylum to those who refuse to participate in the Iraq war...
Growing Tea In Hawaii http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/25/bz/bz01p.htm...
Aluminum beer bottles have started to show up in the islands. The
ad
vantages over glass bottles - they can keep contents colder an hour longer, they're less breakable, and they have more desig...
The Manual Input Sessions explore the connections between image analysis, sh
ad
ow puppets, and music generation...
April 18 to 24, 2005
Hope everyone h
ad
a happy Earth Day. Not surprisingly, much news was devoted to how much high-tech junk is being generated and what to do about it...
The miniMate
ad
ds extra storage and ports to your Mac mini. I wish the logo printed on it didn't suck though...
Use two microphones with your Mac with this cheap $16 g
ad
get...
The Firebox is the most compact, fully-featured FireWire recording interface I've ever seen. Looks like it should be excellent for recording on the ro
ad
with a laptop...
Verizon and Movielink announced a movie downlo
ad
service for bro
ad
band users...
"By approving liquid marijuana, the Can
ad
ian government has just certified that virtually everything our own government has been telling us about marijuana is wrong"...
Clothing m
ad
e of bamboo is cheap and apparently feels pretty good too...
The sandal-combination-bottle opener! Perfect to wear with the TV/DVD-combination-beer fridge mentioned last week...
The scratchophone, the portable scratching bongo drum: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000337041079...
April 11 to 17, 2005
This week saw a number of profiles of a new generation of activists. Some use the latest technology to promote the environment, some are resorting to r
ad
ical measures to make their voices heard, an...
This couple started an eco-porn site for rain forest protection and have alre
ad
y raised almost $100,000...
SVG will r
ad
ically change how the Web looks and feels. It will be making its debut in Web browsers very soon...
There's something about the TV/DVD player/beer fridge that is strangely compelling: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/home-entertainment/displays/gizmodo-japan-asahi-dvd-beer-fridge-039488.ph...
The iPod DJ mixer: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/g
ad
gets/musical-instruments/numarks-ipod-dj-mixer-039853.ph...
It now seems possible to start and maintain a scalable company using nothing but hosted Web applications. Who needs machine rooms any more? As the net gets faster, physical location becomes mor...
Stats on how many forms of mainstream media are doing in terms of popularity: http://longtail.typep
ad
.com/the_long_tail/2005/04/media_meltdown.htm...
The
ad
dictive
ad
D drug
ad
derall is becoming popular among college students, who use it to concentrate and stay awake for long periods at a time...
"Confessions of an EBay opium
ad
dict...
And the new
ad
obe Acrobat Re
ad
er 7 reports your document-viewing activities to third parties without your knowledge...
The government gives lame reasons for making passports remotely re
ad
able. Also noted is that your birth date and photo can be picked up remotely. That means (identity) thieves could make instan...
A re
ad
er poll reveals the ugliest cars of 2005. I definitely agree with the top four...
Interactive textiles are changing the shape and texture of electronic g
ad
gets...
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails m
ad
e a song available in Apple's GarageBand format. This is likely the first time a musician has released the editable digital raw tracks to a song online. Let's se...
April 4 to 10, 2005
Here's a concise Q&A page on the Akaka bill (The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005), with the text of the bill included. In a nutshell, the bill "lays out the procedures throug...
Low-power FM (LPFM) r
ad
io, devised by the FCC to provide an alternative to corporate-centric r
ad
io, is now being dominated by Christian r
ad
io networks, effectively limiting the diversity of loca...
This may promote the growth of more Earth graffiti though, not to mention (ugh)
ad
vertisements. I can easily see
ad
campaigns making use of this...
A better overview of perpendicular storage technology, which le
ad
s to a 10X increase in hard drive capacity. There's also an odd Flash movie that may end up being a digital collector's item...
This new wireless USB prototype dongle will make any USB device wireless: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/peripherals/idf-2005-wireless-usb-demo-038936.ph...
Entire city blocks are being purchased as malls and m
ad
e up to look exactly like - city blocks. Corporate community centers, parks, and villages are the new development trend in America...
The market for de
ad
celebrities has become quite lucrative. Bill Gates bought a lot of them recently...
The original article is gone, but tr
ad
itional librarians are wondering what do to about the new "millenial" generation that is impatient with the slowness of research via paper...
The book "Sh
ad
ow Cities" describes squatter cities - they end up being cleaner and safer than low-income housing developments...
Scientists are figuring out ways to stimulate neurons remotely with laser beams and are alre
ad
y controlling fruit flies...
A more balanced, scenario-l
ad
en view of the U.N.-backed Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, mentioned last week...
Hey developers! Use Ecoglo, non-r
ad
ioactive, non-toxic, non-battery-using technology for your emergency lighting systems...
Art m
ad
e via electromagnetic fields...
March 28 to April 3, 2005
Obviously, patent systems around the world are not doing well at all at moving into the digital era or I would not have h
ad
to do this...
Need to sleep? Listen to the sleepbot environmental bro
ad
cast. They should license this service to hotels...
If you have an iPod, this well-designed guide to all things poddish - software, accessories, reviews - is a must-re
ad
...
Use your cell phone to pay for parking. These systems greatly reduce cost, maintenance, and long lines: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/15/tc/tc01p.htm...
Also, info about the van
ad
ium battery, which retains its energy indefinitely with 100% charge/discharge cycles...
For Web developers - this new simple PHP Bayesian filter allows one to develop spam filters, categorization tools, and technology that learns by example...
Most streets in the U.S. named after Martin Luther King have turned out to be de
ad
-end low-income crack alleys...
In 2001 Poland hired a marketing firm to rebrand themselves. Focus groups said Poland m
ad
e them think of the words gray, cold, vodka, poor, white, unsmiling, s
ad
, and car-stealing...
Today's college students are getting used to downlo
ad
ing high-speed movies and music on demand from their computers...
Derren Brown uses basic psychological principles to perform amazing "mind-re
ad
ing" and mass hypnotism tricks...
* Don't yell, "Our plane is leaving." How about
ad
ding, "Don't carry a U.S. passport?...
A military recruiter tells a young pothe
ad
prospect how to get around the mandatory drug test...
Atkins Nutritionals
ad
mits its diet could be dangerous...
Gory images of this year's Can
ad
ian seal hunt...
The world's ugliest car, m
ad
e in 1957, was restored from a pile of junk to a polished, functional car...
March 21 to 27, 2005
Anti-War Sentiment in Popular Culture http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/nyc-fockers0324,0,4148572.story?coll=ny-moviereview-he
ad
line...
Rock group Franz Ferdinand's music video "Take Me Out" won the "Breakthrough Video" award at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. It uses high-tech techniques to create dense living collages patterne...
Macs are starting to make under-the-r
ad
ar inro
ad
s into companies. This is exactly how the Web got started in the corporate world, and CTOs and IT staff are beginning to think about what it means...
Here's the best article on the walking octopus I could find: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000220037769...
March 14 to 20, 2005
Only in Hawaii - people m
ad
e corned beef sushi with green rice for St. Patrick's day. I think it should be a symbol of world unity or something. Note that this type of sushi (musubi) is usually m
ad
...
James Dyson's new vacuum cleaner's called "The Ball" - inste
ad
of pushing it back and forth, you roll it around...
The 4GB hard-drive camcorder: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/digital-cameras/jvc/first-impressions-jvc-everio-hard-disk-camera-036324.ph...
The first RFID re
ad
er/writer in SD card format...
Towards tolerance - "Under armed guard, a woman broke with more than a thousand years of Islamic tr
ad
ition to le
ad
men and women in a prayer service yesterday in Manhattan"...
Some songs sung in Simlish are being groomed for mainstream r
ad
io play in English, like this one...
So far over 10 million creations are under the Creative Commons license, the sensible alternative to tr
ad
itional copyright restrictions...
"Mount Kilimanjaro Photo Wake-Up Call for Action Against Global Warming" - in case you needed visual proof: http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines05/0314-10.ht...
"Mercury Pollution, Autism Link Found - U.S. Study": http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines05/0317-05.ht...
Take a break to re
ad
the underrated poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, "the German language's greatest poet of the 20th century". His unique style of writing translates exceptionally well...
Cropless circles, m
ad
e on sand...
Beautiful aquatic creatures m
ad
e from hubcaps...
Shiny handm
ad
e aluminum guitars...
March 7 to 13, 2005
Is Hawaii turning into a consumption-
ad
dicted haven for the wealthy at the expense of long-time residents and native familes? The state's only international cargo shipping terminal is near capacity...
The totally customizable Ergodex DX1 Input System. Finally, we can design our input devices to fit how we think, inste
ad
of the other way around...
Here's twenty ways to say "no". S
ad
ly, there are probably fewer ways to say "yes"...
China is fighting the Tibetan exile
ad
ministration with computer virii...
Half of the world's 6,000 languages will disappear in less than a century, le
ad
ing to "grave consequences for biodiversity" says the U.N.. Most people use one of only 8 languages...
Irresponsible trapping over dec
ad
es has psychologically changed monkeys in India to the point that "simian aggression has reached alarming proportions"...
Let's see Starbucks use these new paper coffee cups that are decomposable and biodegr
ad
able. The U.S. Navy's ordered 20 million of them...
"The most comprehensive video ever m
ad
e on the design and construction of a green home"...
Giant Steps - a great animated visualization of John Coltrane's classic jazz number: http://michalevy.com/gs_downlo
ad
.htm...
An imaginative new
ad
idas commercial explores the world of dreamtime...
It's likely that Axl Rose's next album, which has been in the works for 10 years at a cost of over $13 million, is the most expensive album ever m
ad
e...
New Order's new music posters beam music, art, and ringtones to nearby cell phones: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000130035625...
February 28 to March 6, 2005
Howard Stringer becomes Sony's first non-Japanese CEO, after five years of stock declines and poor business decisions. The beginning of the end was circa 1998, when the mp3 community (then a loos...
Yeah, an FM transmitter for the iPod shuffle! http://www.xtrememac.com/
ad
apters/airplay_shuffle.shtm...
ad
d this little g
ad
get to your toilet to make it dual flush - save lots of water and money...
More TV shows should do this - you can watch "Battlestar Galactica" while listening to this podcast with show commentary at the same time: http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downlo
ad
s/podcast...
ad
obe open sources software that can be used to build systems with complex dependency graphs...
"A man who recently h
ad
received r
ad
iation treatment... set off a nuclear alert detector on a fire engine, prompting police to close down a ro
ad
way in Escondido while authorities searched for ...
This biometric pen verifies your signature: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/peripherals/input/biometric-pen-verifies-your-signature-034786.ph...
A funny little movie
ad
vocating public disclosure of drug trials...
This pill camera takes 50,000 pictures of your insides over eight hours: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000090034581...
Ancient computer
ad
s. 32KB RAM, wow...
February 21 to 27, 2005
To those electronics manufacturers who have been talking trash about the iPod, I would counter: stop burdening your devices with needless features and design bling bling - usable elegance is the ne...
Samsung introduces cellphone videoconferencing: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000343033203...
The 1GB Secure Digital USB card: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/peripherals/storage/sandisk-sd-card-with-flip-up-usb-update-033743.ph...
The Korg video mixing device for VJs: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/g
ad
gets/musical-instruments/economy-of-scales-korg-kaptivator-034084.ph...
In a panel at a Web conference in 1995 I talked about the inevitable rise of instant stardom and its perils, once the Web got popular. Here are some of the latest subjects - a very funny online vide...
Tommy Chong is the star of "The Marijuana-Logues", a very funny and critically acclaimed pot-centric parody of the "The Vagina Monologues", which started this month. Because of parole restriction...
There will be no encryption on new U.S. e-passports, even though they could be re
ad
stealthily from 30 feet away...
People using T-Mobile services (like Paris Hilton, who h
ad
her personal
ad
dress book posted all over the net this week) should realize how incredibly easy they are to hack...
Can
ad
a's Oscar-winning animated short film "Ryan"...
A Londoner's house is full of wall-to-wall collections: http://www.tonystr
ad
ing.co.uk/my-collections.ht...
Stuff For Web Developers http://
ad
aptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.ph...
February 14 to 20, 2005
Hawaii's poetry slam team m
ad
e quite a splash last year at the national poetry slam competition in St. Louis. You can watch their inspiring performances in a new documentary on the subject calle...
Honolulu was recently ranked as the fourth most expensive place to live in the U.S. lately, behind New York, San Francisco, and San Jose, CA...
Will an environmental impact statement requirement kill Hawaii's inter-island Superferry? This article explains the issues involved, and why an EIS may not really be needed. In any case, could it no...
I went to the last meeting of 106 Miles, a new Silicon Valley entrepreneur's group organized by Joyce Park, my colleague at CommerceNet. If you'd like to get your finger on the pulse of the Valle...
This was deservedly popular this week - a great list of the top 100 g
ad
gets of all time...
The first sub-$100 five-megapixel digital camera: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000843032222...
The 21-inch Wacom touch-screen flat-planel display: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/peripherals/input/wacom-cintiq-21ux-touch-screen-flatpanel-033025.ph...
GoD
ad
dy is offering free one-year SSL certificates to open source projects...
Online creative guy zefrank m
ad
e a nice movie of his Valentine's Day thoughts...
A review of the latest homem
ad
e flight simulators from the last few years...
Now Roger Ebert gives his take on two new documentaries that
ad
dress the subject...
The grisly story of Man
ad
el al-Jam
ad
i, which just became fully known - he died in Abu Ghraib while hung from his wrists...
New proof of manm
ad
e global warming, thanks to a study of ocean temperature over 40 years...
The company behind it also m
ad
e this eye candy...
February 7 to 13, 2005
USB flash drives are now as big as 8GB: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000603030663...
Big news for software developers - an open source enterprise-class message queuing technology is being m
ad
e. Implications for tr
ad
ing networks, P2P frameworks, and instant messaging technologies...
Alongside the Super Bowl, the Discovery Channel ran the "Puppy Bowl", twelve hours of puppies playing on a football mat. It was a huge hit with viewers, who found it strangely
ad
dicting. You can bu...
Careful, identity thieves can masquer
ad
e as legitimate wireless hotspots...
A conservative pro-Bush anti-homosexual journalist who h
ad
"unfettered" access to the White House and CIA documents was revealed as working under an alias and having close ties to male ga...
What's your political label? Take the world's smallest political quiz: http://www.the
ad
vocates.org/quiz.htm...
A pretty good study of the contents of the Red Bull energy drink, recently approved for sale in Can
ad
a...
A new study shows that melatonin may have bro
ad
er effects in the brain than previously thought...
View all of the 2005 Super Bowl
ad
s here, including the rejected and/or censored ones...
This technique was in the Super Bowl
ad
for the m:robe, a new wannabe iPod mp3 player from Olympus...
In related news, an interesting study on the power of graphical manipulation to persu
ad
e people...
The same developer m
ad
e this chess program where one can see the lines of strategy that the computer is considering...
Recording an album? Here's how to make an inexpensive yet powerful music studio out of your Mac mini: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000563030744...
Writing a screenplay? Here's why movies go b
ad
, written by an industry insider - too many writers...
A transcript of Gene Simmon's very funny interview with Terry Gross on NPR, which was replayed last week...
January 31 to February 6, 2005
I broke down and got one of the last iPod shuffles - the 1GB model - at the Ala Moana Apple store. Its competitors tout r
ad
io and recording capabilities, but on such g
ad
gets the line-in recordin...
The first artificial neon sky show. Unfortunately, implications for
ad
vertising...
Microsoft is m
ad
about all the Apple iPods that employees are buying and using at work...
The music industry sued an 83-year-old de
ad
woman for file sharing...
Dwell magazine, once a design magazine for the budget conscious masses, is now selling
ad
s to the upper class...
This Week's Gloom and Doom http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines05/0203-04.ht...
Make your own fires in the coming apocalypse with this g
ad
get...
How the Atkins diet is affecting fast-food menus: http://www.thre
ad
.co.nz/article/75...
Art must survive to nourish the spirit. Here's blast wall art in Baghd
ad
...
Yet even more b
ad
album covers - here's a top ten list...
January 24 to 30, 2005
How about a wi-fi cafe combined with a print-on-demand bookstore? Now that so many book sales are online, how about putting the bookstore in the cafe inste
ad
of the cafe in the bookstore? A suitabl...
The high cost of filming in Hawaii is le
ad
ing productions to think twice about shooting in the islands. This article compares Hawaii's incentives to other locations...
Amazon
ad
ds 20 million pictures of storefronts to its Yellow Pages search...
Finally, an MP3 player with a swappable 2.5-inch hard drive: http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/portable-media/hard-drive/citiwide-mp4010-with-swappable-hard-drive-031445.ph...
This was the week of world-wide coincidences that could only happen thanks to the wonder of the Internet. Now that so many are sharing photos online, people are beginning to find interestin...
Using Skype (voice over the Internet), John Perry Barlow was called at random by two young women, one in Vietnam and one in Korea, wanting to learn how to speak English. Here's his reflections on "th...
A man sold his forehe
ad
as
ad
vertising space for $37,375...
The Bush
ad
ministration OKs drilling for oil in rare grassland in New Mexico, despite objections from the state's governor, who used to be the Secretary of Energy in the Clinton
ad
ministration. Thi...
Whole-grain foods are becoming an industry trend. Wonder Bre
ad
now makes a whole-grain alternative, following "unprecedented consumer interest in healthier foods"...
The government is accusing DuPont of hiding materials that suggest that a chemical in Teflon le
ad
s to cancer and birth defects. Not only that, the chemical's been found in people's bloodstreams. Afte...
This Target
ad
is a clever look into how design shapes our culture and environment...
"A Scanner Darkly", which may be the most faithful
ad
aptation of a Philip K. Dick novel ever m
ad
e. The style is similar to but goes far beyond that of Linklater's previous film "Waking Life"...
January 17 to 23, 2005
I h
ad
the pleasure of listening to XM Satellite R
ad
io all week (which was bundled with my Alamo rental car) while working in Mountain View, CA. It sounds great and the music choices are wonderful...
I went to the Palo Alto Apple Store, which until 1995 used to be Swain's House of Music, where the Grateful De
ad
played a few times and where it's rumored that Jerry Garcia bought one of his firs...
UCLA researchers have m
ad
e microscopic robots powered by living heart cells...
The Big Red Button (of Doom): http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000730027925...
Since 2003 airport security screeners have stolen $36 million in items from travelers. The Transportation Security
ad
ministration spokesman says, "We have a few b
ad
apples. That is unfortunate. We'...
Frequent traveler and ace writer Cory Doctorow was questioned at the airport by American Airlines personnel and asked for a written list of his friends'
ad
dresses. Here's his story...
Three new wind farms in Hawaii should provide power for almost 20,000 homes before 2006: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2005/Jan/17/ln/ln07p.htm...
Never mind the U.S. - electronics companies are using less le
ad
in products thanks to European Union regulations...
The digested re
ad
- popular novels condensed to 100 words. It sure has saved me some time...
Were Robert Johnson's recordings deliberately m
ad
e faster? Slow his music by 20% to match actual guitar pitch and you get a whole new perspective on his amazing talents...
January 10 to 16, 2005
In the PC world the average consumer seems to think that bigger is better. On the contrary, smaller computers by their nature require higher technology and more elegant design and engineering. Henc...
About two minutes after someone pointed out that the Mac mini was smaller than a standard car r
ad
io, companies started working on plans to offer in-car Macs to handle entertainment and car functions...
Of course, note that you can create installations of hundreds of Mac minis (for computer labs and offices), all remotely (and centrally) upgr
ad
able and managed via Apple Remote Desktop...
Are you a Mac-hating bigot? http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/images/AppleHaters.gi...
Life is pretty hardy. Alre
ad
y there are signs of it around the tsunami-devastated areas...
A new book, "Collapse", explores the reasons behind the fall of once-great civilizations. It outlines five causes: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, loss of tr
ad
e partners, an...
"Babylon Wrecked by War: US-Led Forces Leave a Trail of Destruction and Contamination in Architectural Site of World Importance": http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines05/0115-07.ht...
Unfortunately, it looks like the GM power train in Hawaii's new hybrid buses is not quite as fuel efficient as promised: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2005/Jan/11/ln/ln42p.htm...
* Average number of clothing items an
ad
ult American acquired in 2002: 5...
Another crack in the suburban fac
ad
e: In the Bay Area, 50% of residents want new homes built closer to job centers...
"Popular shampoos contain toxic chemicals linked to nerve damage". Apparently this includes He
ad
and Shoulders, Suave, Clairol and Pantene Hair Conditioner...
For geeks only-the makers of Mr. Potato He
ad
have come up with "Darth Tater"...
The public domain USGS digital data image archives. Nice, quick stock imagery for all kinds of uses: http://gliff.org/whorent/btdownlo
ad
.php?type=torrent&file=usgs.all.zip.torren...
January 1 to 9, 2005
Honolulu's Chinatown is cultivating an "art chic". This article notes that "the state is currently gathering data on what it calls the creative economy in Hawai'i to assess its economic impact"...
The genome of a pollution-eating bacterium has been decoded, le
ad
ing to more efficient garbage-eating biotools...
The recently opened Tropical Island Resort in Germany, a manm
ad
e environment in a massive modified hanger that could fit the Statue of Liberty...
Tricks of the Tr
ad
e - professional secrets from those in the know...
The top ten war profiteers of 2004: http://metronewsnet.homelinux.com:81/boards/showthre
ad
.php?pc...
"The Bush
ad
ministration has decided that it will stand by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s flood"...
Including such hits as "Bro
ad
Minded", "Gee, D
ad
!!!", and "Gershwin With Bongos"...
The results of the second holiday champagne chair contest, in which designers m
ad
e chairs using only the material from one champagne bottle...
CD sales rose by 2.3% in the U.S. in 2004, yet pirated CD sales have hit a record high. So why is the RIAA still suing music downlo
ad
ers inste
ad
of going after real pirates...
December 13 to 19, 2004
Hawaii Transportation Systems Get Digital http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Dec/18/ln/ln07p.htm...
Here's the latest on the $150 million high-tech University of Hawai'i medical school being built in Kaka'ako: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Dec/14/ln/ln13p.htm...
Flexible Technology http://www.gizmodo.com/g
ad
gets/g
ad
gets//hitachi-color-epaper-by-2006-027498.ph...
"When dot-com patents go b
ad
...
There are so many brands now, they're ignored. Although I design logos, I'm allergic to brands myself: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/brands.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
A nice-looking homem
ad
e iPod
ad
is the first true homebrew
ad
on the net...
A dialect map of American English. I h
ad
a suspicion that "San Francisco Urban" was a dialect, but didn't know it was official...
A New York art exhibition is stopped after showing a Bush portrait m
ad
e of images of monkeys...
The most hated
ad
vertising techniques on the Web - background music causes "visceral reactions" in people...
The ten most accurately rated artists in rock music history: http://www.spin.com/modules.php?op=modlo
ad
&name=News&file=article&sid=52...
Recording Ac
ad
emy members voting for the GRAMMY awards will now be able to listen to all nominated songs in the "Record of the Year" category via iTunes...
December 6 to 12, 2004
I really like the design sense of the architects behind it, but am continually frustrated by the design of architects' Web sites. Architects typically have the least usable sites on the Internet ...
"Film use f
ad
ing like an old photo...
John Perry Barlow's fight against Homeland Security may set a legal precedent regarding searches: http://barlow.typep
ad
.com/barlowfriendz/2004/12/a_taste_of_the_.htm...
The Beginning of the Terminator http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65885,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
A paper vase m
ad
e of recycled design magazines...
An essay on dysfunction in popular music. What did you expect from kids who were products of the highest divorce rates in history? http://www.policyreview.org/dec04/eberst
ad
t.htm...
November 29 to December 5, 2004
I've
ad
ded a couple of experimental features to the blog which I'm still refining - one is a "Topics" link which analyzes all the words I've written. The larger the word, the more common it is. Also...
What will be the role of religion in the 21st century? Despite the fact that so many in America purport to be religious, mainstream voices paint the majority of citizens as preferring war over peace...
New clear, flexible transistors may le
ad
to clear, flexible g
ad
gets...
Big-time convergence - this new home entertainment PC looks like a Tivo on steroids: http://www.ehomeupgr
ad
e.com/entry/377/alienware_dhs_...
Mexican labor is getting too expensive for the U.S. - jobs are now moving to China. You can now buy Mexican trinkets in the U.S. that were m
ad
e in China...
In South Korea, email is "for old people": http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1234000260021869...
"Israel shocked by image of soldiers forcing violinist to play at ro
ad
block...
More alternatives to tr
ad
itional burials...
Whoops, another Hawaiian bird species nears extinction. "This species was a unique part of Earth's history... we'll never have another one like it if it disappears....
Here's an inspirational program on Kaua'i that recycles used glass into works of art: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/29/ln/ln05p.htm...
The most influential piece of modern art. Much progress can be m
ad
e when you don't take yourself seriously...
This is great! The combination rug/laundry bag: http://www.
ad
dject.com/products/laundry_item.as...
November 22 to 28, 2004
I just finished watching "The End of Suburbia", a great and disturbing DVD I mentioned here previously. You can watch one of the included bonus movies "In the Suburbs" for free at the Prelinge...
The story of Mr. Wu, a farmer in Tongzhou, China, who invents robots m
ad
e with metal, duct tape, and second-hand batteries...
Here's an excerpt from "Checkpoint", a documentary on the West Bank/Gaza Strip checkpoints that was re
ad
apted by the Israeli military for training purposes. This clip highlights the everyday tensio...
"Pro-Bush Think-Tank Claims Climate Change May Be Good": http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines04/1128-20.ht...
Unfortunately, these same dolphins may have alre
ad
y been killed by poachers...
November 15 to 21, 2004
The latest developments regarding the potential move of the Leslie A. Hicks Power Plant near Aloha Tower. Perhaps a "grand" park is not warranted, but it would at least be nice to see a greener mix o...
Why doesn't someone in Hawaii go into the LIDAR 3D mapping business? Hollywood pays millions for LIDAR 3D models for use in movies, and to date there are no models of the islands...
Pros and cons regarding the upcoming Superferry - discuss them in public this week: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/16/ln/ln06p.htm...
New hybrid buses have started in Honolulu and wow the public. New smart card bus passes, too: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/16/ln/ln10p.htm...
New yarns m
ad
e of carbon nanotubes le
ad
s to smart clothing...
Some think RSS is just a f
ad
, but I think it's a long-term enabling technology - "RSS Edges Into the Bureaucracy"...
Remember, every public Web page you make in your life is
ad
missible as historical legal evidence...
The story of one of the world's largest spammers, who m
ad
e $750,000 a month from jamming your emailbox...
Make money with
ad
tattoos - are you brandable?...
SoHo's Apple Store is New York's hottest singles spot.
ad
d a few barstools and I'd be there all day...
Two of three worldwide believe their le
ad
ers are dishonest...
"Towards Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way" http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines04/1120-01.ht...
The band Wilco h
ad
so much success with giving away their first album online, they've done it with their second. Here's an enlightening interview...
November 8 to 14, 2004
"Spin" - then: This movie m
ad
e of 100% unauthorized satellite TV footage is a fascinating look into how global communications technology was used by the image makers in the 1992 presidential election...
"The Persu
ad
ers" - now: This show aired on Frontline this week exploring
ad
vertising's latest evolution - it's all about narrowcasting and emotional
ad
vertising that speaks to your "inner lizard" an...
"The Persu
ad
ers" also featured a short clip of Bob Dylan in his Victoria's Secret commercial. The danger is that kids these days only know Bob Dylan as the "Victoria's Secret" guy. There is hope...
ad
vertisers are also wondering how to reach the "mobile phone generation". They're worried that cell phones are making people more self-centered. I think that the newer generations can be ver...
In 2005 Hawaiian Electric will start a large-scale test of Internet over power lines in Pearl City. It will also offer the ability to re
ad
electricity meters remotely...
Ultraviolet laser technology will le
ad
to 500GB optical disks...
HP's prototype biodegr
ad
able printer...
Transmit your own TV station via low-power TV bro
ad
casting...
"Creative Consequences of the Rights Clearance Culture for Documentary Filmmakers" - the film "Tarnation" may have cost $200 to make, but it cost $500,000 to clear the rights for it. Stric...
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" - a former respected international banker
ad
mits to helping the U.S. cheat poor countries out of trillions, allowing for economic takeover...
So maybe that "who voted by IQ" article last week was a little bogus. But here's a verifiable list of the most charitable states versus how they voted...
The military's Gestapo/Darth V
ad
er-like successor to the Hummer...
"Living Outside Inside" - a book on design that integrates interior and exterior space. This reminds me of a story Yoko Ono told about moving to the West from Japan at age 14, where she h
ad
lived in ...
"Biodiesel fuel attracts loyal following in Islands": http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/08/ln/ln11p.htm...
November 1 to 7, 2004
Election Hangover http://www.news8austin.com/content/he
ad
lines/?ArID=122743&SecID=...
"Ten Reasons Not to Move to Can
ad
a...
A new super-tough coating that resists wire-wool scrubbing has been developed, le
ad
ing to anti-scratch CDs, DVDs, LCDs, PDAs, and other devices...
Note that modern Macs are compatible with Verizon's wireless Bro
ad
bandAccess plan ($80 a month for unlimited access)...
A picture of the corn-based biodegr
ad
eable 25GB DVD...
iPodder allows you to browse audio feeds via RSS and downlo
ad
them to your iPod. For Mac and Windows...
Students in Kolkata, India m
ad
e a jacket that gives a shock to potential molesters. 99% of Kolkata women surveyed want one...
Most of the mainstream media's reporting of the latest bin L
ad
en video is pretty narrow. Here's the full transcript...
Nat'l Guard and reserve troops make up 40% of U.S. troops in Iraq and get the worst armor and equipment: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/06/ln/ln10p.htm...
This was all over the news - Americans are getting heavier, le
ad
ing to tons of extra weight and fuel for airlines. And 3.8 million more tons of carbon dioxide in the air...
McDonald's bans "fat" people from their new TV
ad
s...
Stem cell manipulation induces the birth of new neurons. This work may le
ad
to Alzheimer's and spinal cord injury cures...
Because of a clash with federal law, legislation protecting whales from high-speed boats in the Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary has been overturned. This may le
ad
to the end of offshor...
Healthy Clothing http://www.popg
ad
get.net/2004/11/wearable-squeezed-lemons.htm...
A cool new music video m
ad
e with 1972 video synthesizer tech...
October 25 to 31, 2004
Re
ad
y for the election? "Tight race turns world spotlight on Hawaii"...
"
ad
ministration's own actions fuel rumors of draft"...
Eminem's "Mosh" music video - could it be one of the "most overtly political pop videos ever produced?" Note that Eminem has sold over 25 million albums...
The first spring water to be packaged in a compostable bottle. We need more biodegr
ad
able packaging...
The First Networked Open Source Community? http://bytemarks.blogspot.com/2004/10/tr
ad
itional-technology.htm...
Will the Internet give birth to the "creative generation"? http://foe.typep
ad
.com/blog/2004/10/creative_genera.htm...
"New report warns of pace of Arctic climate change": http://www.br
ad
enton.com/mld/br
ad
enton/news/local/10059420.ht...
Sustainable flooring m
ad
e with cork and bamboo...
De
ad
things are a core part of the ecosystem. But many forests are in trouble due to excessive de
ad
wood removal...
About Clearview, the new clearer, usable typeface that will be used on all Federal ro
ad
signage. Ask your state to
ad
opt it...
Some cable companies now bro
ad
cast signals that prevent you from making copies of recordings...
The great history of Sun Studio, the most influential recording studio ever: http://www.wired.com/news/ro
ad
trip/riverro
ad
/0,2704,65180,00.htm...
The RIAA issues its first gold, platinum, and multiplatinum certifications for digitally downlo
ad
ed music...
October 18 to 24, 2004
After dec
ad
es of continuous military bombing since World War II, the freed island of Kahoolawe is re-established as a native navigational center and crossro
ad
s "connecting Hawaiians to the ancestra...
USB flash drives with a thumbprint re
ad
er...
An HDTV PCMCIA card, with folding antenna: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/3462582046170125...
Ever needed a private room for
ad
ults? Yamaha's got one...
UK Guardian re
ad
ers write to undecided voters in Clark County, Ohio to persu
ad
e them not to vote for Bush. A slew of hilarious, vile, and thoughtful letters return...
About Blake Ross, the 19-year-old le
ad
architect of Firefox, the browser downlo
ad
ed by almost 3 million...
"Heavy traffic b
ad
for your heart"...
"If Architects H
ad
To Work Like Web Designers......
October 11 to 17, 2004
The first waterless dishwater uses supercritical carbon dioxide: http://www.unsw.edu.au/news/
ad
v/articles/2004/oct/Rockpool.htm...
It's been a while since a Hawaii-based tech company m
ad
e big news - CherryOS (based on Maui) touts a MacOSX emulator for PCs, and their Web site is getting slammed...
ad
am Rifkin's great summary of the recent Web 2.0 conference...
ad
vertising is coming to RSS feeds near you. If you're putting
ad
s in RSS, don't overdo it...
"Center for the Digital Future Identifies the 10 Major Trends Emerging in the Internet’s First Dec
ad
e of Public Use" - TV down, net up, averaging 12.5 hrs/week...
"1/3 of the world's frogs, to
ad
s and newts are on the brink of extinction", thanks to pollution...
An astute re
ad
er points out that hyaluronic acid, which has been touted as an "anti-aging remedy", is found in taro (used for poi, the Hawaiian food staple). Here's the connection to a long-live...
Cultural (re
ad
:
ad
vertising) messages affect sensory perception...
More on Wal-Mart vs. the Pyramids - workers told to hide archaeological relics they found: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Oct/14/ln/ln30p.htm...
Crate & Barrel switches to "Geami", a new tissue-based biodegr
ad
able, recyclable, efficient packing material...
"The S
ad
Song...
A good idea - lease satellite r
ad
io feeds and bring the public back into r
ad
io...
October 4 to 10, 2004
Finally, a startup uses BitTorrent-like tech for online movies: http://news.com.com/Start-up+delivers+movie+downlo
ad
s/2110-1032_3-5395970.html?part=rss&tag=5395970&subj=news.1032.2...
Electricity-conducting plastic means lighter, smaller g
ad
gets...
Podcasting puts audio content you want to hear on your iPod. One day you can podcast Howard Stern from XM R
ad
io...
More money can be m
ad
e by unpopular media than by popular media. Here's how the net is changing the nature of what "popular" means. Highly recommended re
ad
ing...
Now steering wheel locks can be opened with Bic ballpoint pens... I have a feeling this entire class of lock is vulnerable: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/3744297085452721...
More news on efforts to restore coral reefs via low voltage currents, and s
ad
statistics on worldwide coral deaths...
What were the candidates scribbling on during the Presidential debates? Here's Bush's notep
ad
...
September 27 to October 3, 2004
Hart Intercivic makes those evoting machines that people in Hawaii will be using in the upcoming general election. Here's a recent article about a letter written by a former Hart technician wh...
Inside the recently upgr
ad
ed world's third-most-powerful supercomputer at Virginia Tech (it's also powered by Mac OSX)...
Telcos' latest shot in the bro
ad
band war - TV over phone lines...
"Something B
ad
Has Begun...
"What a Top Reporter in Baghd
ad
Really Thinks About the War"...
"Greenlanders Mystified by Incredible Shrinking Glacier": http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines04/0928-02.ht...
The "How Berkeley Can You Be?" par
ad
e. Note: not for the timid - this is life at its messiest! Art cars, nudists, communists, Trekkies, Tibetans, more...
Ooh, cool jellyfish lights... http://gnr8.typep
ad
.com/gnr8_news/2004/09/jelly_light.htm...
Incredible photorealistic art m
ad
e with
ad
obe Illustrator, complete with how-tos...
XM satellite r
ad
io seems to be taking off...
"Sony ditches copy-control CDs": http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/3586262161659249...
September 20 to 26, 2004
It takes a lot of energy and money to send Oahu's garbage to the mainland. Rather than spre
ad
ing our trash around the planet, are there better alternatives...
Hawaii's special-effects industry has some heavy hitters. Kai Bovaird, who set up a local shop, m
ad
e effects for the Matrix. "There's definitely skilled people (in Hawaii) but you need serious an...
PC Magazine and Time give the new G5 iMac top ratings and reviews, named "G
ad
get of the Week"...
IBM scientists figure out how to make single-atom magnetic measurements, possibly le
ad
ing to super-dense storage media...
How the iPod's scrollwheel was m
ad
e (not by Apple)...
Discovery - morphine occurs naturally in the brain: http://wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,65053,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Time-lapse ro
ad
trip - LA to New York in five minutes...
September 13 to 19, 2004
The Kona community pushes back against out-of-control, monolithic development: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/19/ln/ln01a.htm...
Does anyone know of space for a gymnastics program that "put 11 kids on the national team last year"? http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/19/ln/ln13a.htm...
Ditch buggy Internet Explorer! Spre
ad
Firefox...
A new r
ad
io modem is the size of a credit card and allows encrypted communications with a 40 mile range...
This is what Google ran on in 1999: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1645422542142743...
The Oprah car giveaway m
ad
e a lot of money for GM. It's a sign of new types of promotions to come...
Bill Moyers, three months away from retirement, reflects on a revolutionary life in journalism: http://www.pbs.org/tr
ad
esecrets...
"While a student at Southern Methodist University in the 1960s, first l
ad
y Laura Bush was known 'as a go-to girl for dime bags of marijuana.'...
Spre
ad
ing political activism in Colombia via dynamic low-power r
ad
io networks on bikes...
3,000 Iraqi de
ad
have been named...
NEC announces biodegr
ad
able laptops...
Is this movie nothing more than a shameless
ad
for an obscure cult...
XM r
ad
io offers online streaming music...
September 5 to 12, 2004
Gex-X workers will be b
ad
ly in demand in the Hawaii of tomorrow as the baby boomer generation ages. What will attract them? Mixed-use "stroll districts". Live music. Bike paths. Greenery. Sounds goo...
How can arts and culture transform a neighborhood? The documentary "Downside UP", about the largest museum of contemporary art in the U.S. and how it transformed an 80 percent vacant town into ...
"Hokulia construction ban upheld by judge" http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/10/bz/bz04a.htm...
Hawaiian man fights to reclaim family's land http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/07/ln/ln01a.htm...
The CyberLite LED is one of the products m
ad
e with the above methods...
New applications of P2P technology are helping people to register to vote and search: http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2004/090804/Simple_search_lightens_Net_lo
ad
_090804.htm...
U.S. bro
ad
band triples in three years. 75% use cable, only 15% use DSL...
"A new study shows that kids who watch lots of TV
ad
s are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, stomachaches and other problems....
--
ad
am Robinson, Co-founder, The Princeton Revie...
It's good to see that M
ad
Magazine is edgy again...
Lee Bontecou is one of my favorite artists - she pioneered works that
ad
dressed the connections between technology and nature, before H.R. Giger's time. Once the talk of the art world, she dropped ou...
August 30 to September 5, 2004
Isn't it funny that the Superferry sports an array of high-tech g
ad
gets - and two human observers - to do nothing but ensure that whales are avoided at all costs.....
Dates of public hearings on the sale of Verizon Hawaii to The Carlyle Group: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/01/bz/bz30a.htm...
Skype, the most popular Voice Over IP (VOIP) app, is now available for Mac OSX! Talk to friends around the world for free using your Internet connection: http://www.skype.com/downlo
ad
_osx.htm...
The world's smallest atomic clock will le
ad
to devices with super-accurate time everywhere (1 second is lost every 300 years), affecting cryptography, global communications, etc....
A Wal-Mart is built in the sh
ad
ow of the great pyramids at Teotihuacan, causing uproar...
The city of Phil
ad
elphia is considering providing free or cheap wireless Internet access to everybody...
Are you an inefficient hypertasker? Workplace pressures, in
ad
equate tools cause stress. I say this is a technology problem, not a brain problem...
This week's 12 and 16-year-olds marked as terrorists and apprehended by the Secret Service: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-likid0904,0,892344.story?coll=ny-topstories-he
ad
line...
Protesters use texting, micror
ad
io, and other technologies now...
Ecotourism needs more experienced guides: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/05/bz/bz20a.htm...
August 22 to 29, 2004
A new p2p network allows hospitals to share patient information: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/7831606515183573...
Five photons have been linked in an milestone experiment that will le
ad
to full-scale quantum computing...
Thanks to automatic bill-paying, a man lay de
ad
in his bed for two years before being discovered...
A new poll shows growing support for voter-verified paper trails in elections: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64700,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
"Breakthrough reached in fight against fruit fly": http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Aug/27/ln/ln05a.htm...
The first interior commercial space in Hawaii to get gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Aug/30/ln/ln26a.htm...
August 15 to 22, 2004
Idea of the Week: Nature Cemeteries What a great concept: there's less cost and waste for the industry, there's a pent-up demand, land is conserved (and preserved), and it's cheaper for consumers...
I was in line at the Kalihi DMV for two hours getting a replacement license. Three of six clerks are working, and those working spend about 30 seconds each transaction just retrieving paper-base...
FedEx Kinko's debuts Web-based job uplo
ad
s. I didn't test it too much, but it seems to work with Safari...
Me and my friends recently switched from T-Mobile due to lousy service. Here's another s
ad
customer...
Unpatched PCs are compromised in 20 minutes. Someone should make a tiny USB-powered firewall device for upgr
ad
ing PCs...
"Bro
ad
band users a majority in U.S....
The search for the elusive blue rose: http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-sci-bluerose13aug13,1,5778837.story?coll=la-he
ad
lines-technolog...
$8.8 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars gone missing in Iraq - *poof* just like that: http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines04/0821-01.ht...
It's a shame when the people that live in par
ad
ise end up polluting it. 45% of beach trash comes from Hawai'i...
Inste
ad
, they should highlight suppliers with FSC certified lumber and promote FSC certification for Hawaii's lumber industry...
This house was transformed from a 3rd-gen gang house to a "tropical par
ad
ise". Why not do it in Hawaii...
An update on the MD280 modular dwelling. Put two together, and it's not a b
ad
place for a small family...
RIAA lawsuits causing agony, "unexpected twists": http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2004/08/20/slow_moving_lawsuits_over_music_downlo
ad
s_producing_court_twists...
August 8 to 14, 2004
What to do about the War Memorial/Natatorium on Kaimana Beach, an unlabeled hazardous collapsing eyesore that's confused tourists and annoyed locals for 25 years? The one that will cost untol...
Revitalize the Waterfront and Downtown http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/2000/May/08/image2/localnews6_b.jp...
Why dynamic languages (still) represent the future of computing (warning: tech-heavy): http://www.activestate.com/Company/NewsRoom/whitepapers_
ad
L.ple...
A great business model for online publishing - "fast turnaround e-books": http://wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64563,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
The Palm Beach Post's report on the s
ad
stories of the many immigrants that struggle to get to and live in America...
Fearful of viruses, hospitals running Windows-based medical systems are applying security patches, which themselves may le
ad
to life-threatening situations...
E-commerce turns 10. Don't believe the hype-the first secure online Web-based shopping transaction was done via Randy
ad
ams' Internet Shopping Network, which I developed the interface for in 1994...
About the new online TV-show swapping culture: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/08/11/must_downlo
ad
_tv/index_np.htm...
A core problem: religions take themselves too seriously! They end up emphasizing symbols over ideas: http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Aug/14/il/il16afaith.htm...
Retro modern-day
ad
s...
The daily
ad
ventures of Mixerman are back, the true diaries of a top audio producer in LA. Get the inside story of how the industry works...
August 2 to 8, 2004
If you think such an operation cannot be financially viable, think about the bigger, hidden economic net benefits for nearby restaurants, stores, galleries, and bars. And without attracting nightl...
New foot pontoons actually allow you to walk on water. Great for fishing, water testing, workouts, and tourism: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/1883457355723102...
Stamps m
ad
e of wood...
Although over 80% of the public feels that e-voting is safe (or have no opinion), over 80% of security experts feel that current e-voting systems are much less secure than tr
ad
itional paper-base...
Some amazing bluetooth hacking -
ad
dress book contents can be stolen from up to a mile away! Or run a sneaky bluetooth content-grabbing program from your PDA and walk around unnoticed...
About 22 year-old Ryan Pitlak, a marketing student who may have m
ad
e hundreds of thousands from spam, coming from hundreds of shell companies he set up...
A few of the really stupid things Jack Valenti (outgoing he
ad
of the MPAA) has said about new media technologies and intellectual property...
The story behind the Internet Movie Database, one of the most popular, useful Web sites ever m
ad
e...
Amsterdam needs cheap temporary housing for 7,000 college students quickly! A developer is building a temporary, modular, and easily moveable student city m
ad
e of 1,000 40-foot cargo containers...
The Terror
ad
visory Map...
The African can guitar, m
ad
e of old oil cans...
July 26 to August 1, 2004
After a year in operation, Kev's News goes online! Since everyone seems to have a blog these days, I decided to go ahe
ad
and just do it. I see the rise of blogs as a symptom of people learning how t...
"Crowded communities demand change" http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Jul/26/ln/ln08a.htm...
"Support scarce for latest UH logo ideas" http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Jul/31/ln/ln19a.htm...
A $230 million acquisition of an RFID re
ad
er company. This technology is hot, hot, hot, people...
How to turn your iPod into a universal remote: http://features.eng
ad
get.com/entry/6336778455600767...
What the U.S. can learn from South Korea, where bro
ad
band is cheap, over 10 times faster, and is transforming government and society with telemedicine to the house, video on demand, and a lucrativ...
About Singapore's new world-class bioscience empire, including "Biopolis", a $300 million center for molecular biology, bioinformatics, genomics, and nanotech...
SecuritySpy - This Mac-based software allows one to install a cheap multi-cam security system for many thousands less than tr
ad
itional systems...
Today's laws basically make the folk music tr
ad
ition illegal...
How the RIAA shut down a respected, thriving music store due to the sale of popular DJ-m
ad
e mixtapes...
July 19 to 25, 2004
Topic of the week: compulsory Web site registrations! Lots of people hate 'em, and they can le
ad
to identify theft. But how are sites to make money? Just go to BugMeNot to get around sit...
An LED research breakthrough may le
ad
to LEDs replacing lightbulbs in five years...
A fuel cell breakthrough le
ad
s to cooler, smaller cells - one the size of two soda cans could power your entire household...
Verizon debuts Fios, its bro
ad
band-over fiber service, 30 times faster than DSL...
The latest thinking in dualmode transports - a truck that runs on wheels and rails. Why not use one to transport people from Honolulu to Kapolei inste
ad
of building a second level...
Apple has released software for Verizon's $80 a month nationwide roaming wireless network - get online anywhere in the U.S.! http://www.apple.com/support/downlo
ad
s/verizonbro
ad
bandaccesssupport.htm...
Huge manm
ad
e cities for the superrich are being built all over the world. Here's a few of them...
An inside look at the birth of the iPod. Its manager quit because he h
ad
no confidence it would be popular. He works for Microsoft now...
"Worship My R
ad
iant iPod...
A photo tour of the N521DB, the luxury liner used to transport the Bin L
ad
ens out of the U.S. after 9/11. It was also used by Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones...
The fascinating story of East Germany's most embarrassing defection - an intelligence officer, a 16 year-old, and his mother. Here's a taste of what it's like to grow up in an atmosphere of povert...
How to give a supportive hug: http://www.
ad
council.org/pdf/opgr
ad
_print_supportive_hug.pd...
Can
ad
a's music industry is trying to bill dentists who play music in waiting rooms...
July 12 to 18, 2004
Have you re
ad
about the children at Abu Ghraib...
"Dwell magazine le
ad
s the rebirth of a modernist movement in housing"...
Rock, Paper, S
ad
dam...
Are you gl
ad
your husband's an engineer? This 1956
ad
m
ad
e me laugh...
Want to know what music m
ad
e with instruments m
ad
e completely of vegetables sounds like...
July 5 to 11, 2004
After two years of noodling, Ford announces the first hybrid SUV: http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,64132,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Sharp's new prototype color eBook re
ad
er...
More about transparent videoconferencing, which has received a lot of press lately: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64129,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Ghulam Sediq Wardak, Afghanistan's most famous inventor. He's m
ad
e a solar-powered VW and over 300 other inventions...
Did military sonar testing drive 200 whales to the beach off Kaua'i last week? http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Jul/11/ln/ln17a.htm...
M
ad
e out of Maui bamboo, this flute-like instrument is called "the Bamboo Sax"...
Steve Winwood's label "has seen a noticeable increase in record sales" thanks to putting a free track on file sharing networks: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64128,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
June 28 to July 4, 2004
Finally, the U.S. government is "ple
ad
ing" users to stop using Internet Explorer...
Inste
ad
, use the faster, better Firefox browser...
Holographic technology is le
ad
ing to pocket- sized video projectors...
The first(?) application for turning your cellphone into a universal remote control: http://www.techjapan.com/modules.php?op=modlo
ad
&name=News&file=article&sid=37...
A new hypersensitive sensor has been developed in Israel, allowing heart re
ad
ings from "several feet away" without physical contact...
"Facetop", a method of videoconferencing that's actually about 35 years old but may one day be popular: http://r
ad
io.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/07/01.html#a89...
20% of U.S. residents
ad
mit that they buy products
ad
vertised in email spam...
An article on those trying to get China to eat more vegetarian and less things like sparrow chicks, snake he
ad
s, and b
ad
gers. Old cultures are hard to change though. "Asked why she eats domestic cats...
The heartwarming story of independent, garage-based SomaFM, which bro
ad
casts worldwide to 8,000 listeners a day...
A celebration of the 20th anniversary of Husker Du's revolutionary album "Zen Arc
ad
e"...
R
ad
io 1 in the UK will now be bro
ad
casting a chart of the top (legally) downlo
ad
ed tracks...
June 21 to 27, 2004
The (relatively new) Ro
ad
Runner business-class services are not only competitive with business-class DSL now, but are actually cheaper as the bandwidth gets bigger (Hawaii prices) - you get bette...
More about Bob Vincent, the guy who recently designed a revolutionary new type of antenna. Implications for networks, cell phones, r
ad
ios, more...
A teacher fed up with the high cost of (Cisco Ac
ad
emy's computer training) textbooks makes his own equivalent textbooks and puts them online for free...
What it's like to be the chef for a country's le
ad
er and travel around the world gathering exotic foods under oppressive surveillance...
Now here's a secondary BigChampagne report that indicates that "artists receiving little or no r
ad
io play are still gaining very significant activity on file sharing networks". Meaning...
June 14 to 20, 2004
Never mind the latest tech f
ad
of creating personal social networks - what continues to be needed is software that helps societies network and think smarter...
Bill Moyers is as m
ad
as hell over the gap between the rich and the poor...
A breakthrough way to compress 3D models has been invented, meaning better video games, movies, C
ad
applications, and more...
June 7 to 13, 2004
A tutorial on how to make your Windows PC look just like a modern Mac: http://features.eng
ad
get.com/entry/8828351836181248...
The ten best Internet f
ad
s...
For the Euro 2004 soccer championships, English fans are encouraged to smoke dope inste
ad
of drink alcohol in order to minimize potential riots...
"Bringing [wolves] back to Yellowstone has triggered a casc
ad
e of unanticipated changes in the park's ecosystem...
The newest way in which labels pay to get songs played on r
ad
io - paid
ad
s...
May 31 to June 6, 2004
This week: unconscious passwords, isolation epidemics, and video grid time-shifting! "Future of Visual G
ad
gets Rolled Out" A nice summary of the Society for Information Display's internationa...
A former Microsoft technology manager bashes the company for its mediocre products and
ad
diction to cash cows...
Never mind the news you've re
ad
last week about the lack of sex in Japan. I'm curious about "hikikomori", a contributing condition affecting one million teen boys - they never leave their rooms...
I recently saw Tarkovsky's 1983 movie "Nostalgia" - it is a masterpiece, but only for lovers of poetry, atmosphere, ideals, m
ad
ness, and the sacred...
An article on Kyle Cooper, who's m
ad
e the art-intensive opening and closing credits of such movies as Spiderman, Se7en, Sphere, Twister, and Mission: Impossible...
A homem
ad
e movie of a 10-hour drive from L.A. to Oregon in 6 minutes...
"B
ad
Hair Year...
May 24 to 30, 2004
Ryan Wieber was hired by LucasArts at 19 for his homem
ad
e lightsaber special effects that rivalled that of Hollywood's...
A legend in urban design, octogenarian Jane Jacobs has written a new book analyzing North American culture called "Dark Ages Ahe
ad
"...
A growing trend - Dance Dance Revolution (DDR)! I first saw this video game in a mall about eight months ago and was mesmerized by the dance moves of the teenager playing it. Basically, you have t...
The latest
ad
vances in animation as developed by the makers of Shrek 2...
A new company helps tr
ad
itional r
ad
io stations migrate to digital r
ad
io. A great idea, but receivers need to get cheaper...
May 17 to 23, 2004
Two teen poetry students give a public anti-Iraq/Bush re
ad
ing. Their teacher is fired and the poetry club shut down...
The story of a really, really b
ad
neighbor...
A "talking toilet" g
ad
get that scolds men if they put the toilet seat up sells over 1.6 million units...
$20 biodegr
ad
able cardboard speakers pack flat and actually sound decent...
Rampant pollution and de
ad
bodies in India's holy Ganga (Ganges) river...
Bought music from the iTunes Music Store? Here's the easiest tutorial I've found on how to remove the copy protection: http://www.eng
ad
get.com/entry/2127813034623335...
The entire Grateful De
ad
live music vaults are now online at the Internet Archive...
May 10 to 16, 2004
In 18 months Kaufmann designed six versions of her prefab "Glidehouse", making use of recyclable, energy-efficient materials. It's designed to accommodate solar panels and looks and feels like ...
A little bit about the Usonian homes (1936-1959): http://xro
ad
s.virginia.edu/~CLASS/am483_95/projects/wright/uson.htm...
"They Rule" - a nifty way to visualize and find connections between the le
ad
ers of the world's most powerful companies...
Are jet-created clouds responsible for some climate change? http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63365,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Re
ad
the 2004 Hugo nominees online. My favorites - Vernor Vinge, Michael Swanwick, and Catherine Asara...
May 3 to 9, 2004
The Sasser worm, developed by an 18 year-old in Germany who also m
ad
e the ubiquitous "Netsky" email virus, infected an estimated million computers last week, 80% of which belonged to home users an...
Current chip design is overkill, often applying more precision to tasks when needed. By making chips that guess results when needed, one may be able to reduce power usage by a factor of 1,000...
The new $284 million "Geek Palace" at MIT, designed by cutting-edge architect Frank Gehry: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/mit.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Will all communities become Wal-Marted, SUVed, McMansioned deserts? McMansions are inv
ad
ing this suburb in Washington, D.C.. Warning: graphic architectural carnage...
The "eBay economy" is growing. This is a great business idea - sell things on eBay for others. Mailbox places should take this up as an
ad
ditional service...
I forgot to
ad
d this last week - killer whales are getting louder in response to the din of whale-watching boats...
April 26 to May 2, 2004
Laser-based retinal imaging technology is finally maturing, with over 100 such displays now in use by the Army's Stryker Brig
ad
e...
As an experiment, every 5th- and 6th-gr
ad
er at this Texas elementary school is getting a laptop with digital versions of textbooks and 2,000 works of literature...
In class a 15-year old art student draws Bush's he
ad
on a stick. The Secret Service visits the school...
Related to the recent uncovering of the secrets of gecko
ad
hesion, here's how spiders manage to stay sticky...
Before you laugh, try a little thinking outside of the box: Hawaii needs low-cost housing solutions - how about using used shipping containers? Many well-designed structures have been m
ad
e worldwide...
"Eco-friendly" diapers may not be so eco-friendly after all: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63182,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Here's a cool (Mac and Windows) screensaver - an airplane window, with a moving aerial background: http://www.idle-time.org/downlo
ad
.htm...
April 19 to 25, 2004
2) Support blending ethanol with gasoline, and support the growth of local ethanol manufacturers. Which raw (waste) materials are cost-effective to import to Hawaii to produce ethanol? Does importin...
4) Endorse the use of le
ad
-free computer systems, at least by government: The world's first le
ad
-free motherboard (the main component in personal computers) has been developed...
And Intel plans to cut the le
ad
content of computer chips by 95%...
A review of the first electronic paper- based re
ad
ing device and its implications for libraries, books, and tr
ad
itional re
ad
ing habits...
The winners of the 2004 "Lyttle Lytton" contest, for the worst opening line: http://
ad
amc
ad
re.ac/04lyttle.htm...
Here's two of the grooviest Flash-based movies I've seen in a while: http://www.rockstargames.com/uplo
ad
/swf/winners/multimedia/drewcope.sw...
A new take on an old art form? Nifty homem
ad
e "lava light" movies...
Voting machines company Diebold may face criminal charges: http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63191,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Dissatisfied with the mainland, a lot of people are moving to New Zealand these days, le
ad
ing to a housing boom and sketchy developments...
RIAA R
ad
ar has been around for a while now, but their tools are getting better - support non-RIAA labels and check out their top 100 lists - there's some great music here...
April 12 to 18, 2004
AAGH! Tax time! A study shows that taxes are getting more complex, thanks to the rising popularity of sophisticated tax preparation software...
The youngest writer ever to win an Agatha Award for a mystery novel collaborated with his uncle using Apple's new videoconferencing technology - this may be the first award-winning book ever m
ad
...
I've seen a lot of Web sites. This could be the worst-designed site ever m
ad
e...
There's a lot of participatory art going on around the net these days. Here's the surreal result at the midpoint of one photoshop-fest: http://photoshop.superdownlo
ad
s.net/uplo
ad
s/myturn_04122004.jp...
Ben & Jerry's is installing new freezers in their stores that use sound waves inste
ad
of chemicals refrigerants for cooling. Commercial (domestic) use of such technology is still 5 to 10 years away...
The name for it is 3M Novec 1320, an "
ad
vanced halon replacement" - it also has "low toxicity and environmental impact"...
Sony and TOPPAN Printing announced the development of a 25GB optical disc m
ad
e of 51% paper...
April 5 to 11, 2004
B
ad
singing - it's in fashion again! William Hung is a plucky 21-year-old U.C. Berkeley engineering student who tried out for American Idol and was kicked off halfway through his audition. His firs...
"Dodgy Patents Rile Tech Industry" http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62930,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
You're more
ad
aptable than you think. Check it out! This visual effect basically reprograms your neurotransmitters. Don't worry, the effects shouldn't last longer than a day.....
Is this true? The r
ad
iation in Iraq (via depleted uranium bombs) is now equal to 250,000 Nagasaki bombs...
Last month saw the first arrest m
ad
e possible by routine U.S. monitoring of email traffic...
Aspiring filmmaker? Make your own Ste
ad
ycam (camera stabilizer) for $14...
Bioengineered weed-killer resistant grass is being tested on golf courses. Unless trimmed regularly, it may flower and spre
ad
to public areas...
March 31, 2004
While the islands have seen a few distinctive architects that were compelled, nurtured, and influenced by Hawaii's natural environment - Dickey, Ossipoff, Morgan - the last 40 years has been witnes...
Hawaii Kai is one of the most garish neighborhoods I've seen. Hawaii is not Greece, Italy, or Hollywood. So why build faux (stucco, fenced-in, highly paved) structures which are neither here no...
The last two years have seen a rise in co-housing and prefabricated architecture projects in Europe and the U.S.. Thanks to the support of cutting-edge shelter magazines such as Dwel...
Hawaii construction and typical apartment developments use a lot of concrete, a material that John Lautner considered "most desireable" for his needs. But these developments often end up being block...
March 29 to April 5, 2004
Wohr, the le
ad
ing mechanized parking company...
A-POC ("A Piece of Cloth"): Seamless clothing A new manufacturing method is changing how clothes are m
ad
e by making re
ad
y-to-wear seamless clothes out of a single piece of cloth. This process ca...
"How E-Voting Threatens Democracy" http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,62790,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_1...
Scub
ad
oo, the first underwater motorcycle! Will it revolutionize scuba diving...
The first key ring g
ad
get that's also a camcorder, USB storage device, and 2-megapixel digital camera...
Rapid Growth of "De
ad
Zones" in Oceans Threatens Planet...
"Spre
ad
sheets: 25 Years in a Cell...
Here's a story by a woman who used a spre
ad
sheet to tally all the things about her ex-lover...
March 22 to 28, 2004
Lawrence Lessig released his latest book, and you can downlo
ad
and re
ad
it for free. If living in an open, free culture is important to you, or if you take photos, draw, write, make music, or i...
"Ghost Town" - notes from the de
ad
zone This was actually popular a month or two ago, but it was so popular the site was taken down. A beautiful, epic pictorial essay from a Russian woman who report...
Is your identity safe? The story of how American medical records and credit histories are being exposed outside the U.S. with no privacy guarantees. One reporter's fascinating detective work throug...
Thanks to a new bill just drafted. Re
ad
the book "Free Culture" first and then see if this makes sense to you...
The first device ever with an electronic paper display, a re
ad
ing device, hits the shelves next month, with a 170dpi screen...
A new system for powered saws detects skin contact in 5 milliseconds and stops the bl
ad
e...
A portable, cordless soldering tool that runs on 4 AA batteries, heats in one second, and cools in two: http://www.thinkgeek.com/g
ad
gets/tools/69d3...
Musician Kevin Shields created one of the most expensive, influential and highly praised albums of the last two dec
ad
es - "Loveless". Here's his first interview in 12 years...
Less is more A 3D art contest, m
ad
e with code no bigger than 256 characters...
March 15 to 21, 2004
"
ad
ult diabetes now destroying young lives...
Somebody market this, quick! A professor creates a small cheap noise cancellation unit that decreases computer fan noise. Although this technology is available in many he
ad
phones, nobody to date ha...
A steep decline in "birds, butterflies and native plants" in Britain is alarming scientists: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62715,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Incredible pencil carvings: http://www.infofreako.com/j
ad
/enpitsu-e.htm...
Some independent music stores are finding that "file sharing can help create a buzz online that can le
ad
to more sales"...
March 8 to 14, 2004
Those who do not learn from history... The amazing Lawrence Lessig wrote a nice piece on how Hollywood, r
ad
io, cable TV, and the music industries were all born from content piracy...
The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is suing the FCC on "overbro
ad
regulation of next-generation televisions and related devices". Left unchallenged, anything you watch on TV or computers in th...
The Belkin iPod Media Re
ad
e...
HSS claims to have alre
ad
y scored a hit on the charts with the single "Left Outside Alone" by Anastacia. I
ad
mit it's catchy...
George Michael will offer his songs freely online from now on, a music industry first for an established artist. Actually this is a great strategy for someone with an alre
ad
y popular back catalog...
March 1 to 7, 2004
To save money, school systems and other organizations are building their own DIY fiber networks and selling off the excess bandwidth inste
ad
of paying up the nose to regional operators (such a...
An influential Washington policy group released a report stating that the entertainment industry's pursuit of anti-piracy laws is b
ad
for business and for the economy...
The first music video ever to be entirely shot using a cell phone. Reminds me of the first movies m
ad
e for the Web ten years ago - in another ten directors may be viewing dailies on their phones...
1.8 tons of raw material are used to make your average desktop computer and monitor. Upgr
ad
ing rather than replacing your computer saves more energy than recycling it...
Ozone Depletion Three Times Worse Than Predicted: http://r
ad
io.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/03/03.html#a76...
"For the first time, a microbial fuel cell has generated electricity while cleaning wastewater, a development that could make sewage treatment more affordable for both industrialized and developin...
Did you know that Jerry Garcia, Django Reinhardt, and Tony Iommi all h
ad
missing or damaged fingers...
February 23 to 29, 2004
Congratulations! You may be a content provider! "Nearly half of U.S. Internet users have built Web pages, posted photos, written comments or otherwise
ad
ded to the enormous variety of materia...
The cat's out of the bag: the first decent mainstream article on the brilliant BitTorrent, the file sharing network that "makes tr
ad
ing movies a breeze". As well as gigabytes of other stuff as well...
This has been pretty popular, but for those who don't know... DJ Danger Mouse released the critically acclaimed "The Grey Album", a remix of rap vocals and the Beatles' White Album. EMI demands a hal...
An HP study of the transmission of ideas via blogs (online journals), with visuals. For future research: How is the spre
ad
ing of ideas like the transmission of virii? Can one reliably predict the mos...
The Transportation Security
ad
ministration, which handles airport terrorist checks, mistakenly identified one of its employees as a sex offender and fired him, despite the fact that the correc...
Summarize a novel in 25 words (or less)... "The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien: Little guys go to a lot of trouble to get rid of stolen jewelry." http://ilx.wh3rd.net/thre
ad
.php?msgid=432858...
10 million Pacific giant crabs are inv
ad
ing Norway's coast and destroying the local ecology. "But Glenn, a 30-year-old car mechanic, replied: 'It's true the seabed now looks like the Sahara but the...
February 16 to 22, 2004
Hoo boy, lots of news this week. You heard it here first, folks! Leaked Pentagon report warns climate change may bring famine, war "LONDON (AFP) - A secret report prepared by the Pentagon warns tha...
Got a Windows PC? Be afraid. Be very afraid. Thanks to the recent Windows code leak, this security vulnerability has been found - if you're running Explorer version 5, simply lo
ad
ing a certain imag...
According to two new surveys, Apple le
ad
s the customer service satisfaction pack over Dell, HP, and Compaq...
I didn't know Hoku Scientific was based in Kalihi! If they do well, can this be the start of turning Kalihi into a high-tech area (as HCC Provost Ramsey Pedersen would like to see)? The area's got ...
"Hilo gr
ad
s impress Amazon recruiters...
Heard the Grammy Award-winning Song of the Year "Hey Ya", the one with the phrase "shake it like a Polaroid picture?" Thanks to
ad
vances in instant photography, doing so can actually damage you...
The Pentagon researches ways for GIs to fight for up to five days without a break. Have they not heard of crack? "The question is: 'Are there temporary biochemical approaches we can use to squeeze th...
It's been tested by the FBI and is so accurate its results are now
ad
missible in court. "[it's] ... a method of re
ad
ing the brain's involuntary electrical activity in response to a subject being show...
ad
d wireless to your business! At Schlotzsky's in Texas, a survey finds that more than 40 percent of customers say that free wireless access is a factor in choosing the restaurant to dine at...
Hallucinogen May Cure Drug
ad
dictio...
I can't wait to upgr
ad
e my memory! Cells-on-silicon breakthrough "Researchers... have found that nerve cells grown on a microchip can learn and memorize information which can be communicated to th...
February 9 to 15, 2004
For Valentine's Day, another fascinating "science and love" article - "Scientists are finding that, after all, love really is down to a chemical
ad
diction between people"...
The s
ad
story of a once-historic downtown area that is planned to be an auto dealership due to the city's current budget shortfall...
(from Jan 3) Now that Oahu only has two art-house movie venues (with one whose fate is uncertain), will people be able to see movies like the ones below in the future? Or will we have to downloa...
Pictures and information about Destino, the lost 50 year-old animated collaboration between Disney and Salv
ad
or Dali. It's been nominated for an Oscar...
"Drink Honu Beer - and save a turtle, too" http://the.honolulu
ad
vertiser.com/article/2004/Jan/12/ln/ln03a.htm...
Can technology save us from the future oil crash? "Researchers say they have produced hydrogen from ethanol in a prototype reactor small enough and efficient enough to heat small homes and powe...
February 2 to 8, 2004
Let's start with some fun stuff this week! This French performer attaches dozens of horns to his jumpsuit and proceeds to play classical music...
A new art form! Combine caroling with shouting - and you have this Finnish group of men that wears black suits with ties m
ad
e of car tires...
ad
vertisers are now using MRIs to correlate image affinity to brain activity: "Big government and big companies have been trying to manipulate us since the start of time," [says a study volunteer]...
The market for luxury cars (which cost up to $1 million) is booming nationwide. "There are more rich people every day, and the spre
ad
between the people who have money and those who don't is gettin...
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has a nice article on this year's dream engineering jobs. They interview the guy who m
ad
e Sony's jumping robots, but the real story i...
A town-wide high-speed net-over-power-line system is being pioneered in Can
ad
a.....
January 26 to February 1, 2004
Well, the last week has been short on news, due to my being stuck in California at a crappy hotel - Crowne Plaza - the toilet's broken, the hot/cold faucets are reversed, the vending machine doesn'...
The real story here is not that Hawaii is hosting the most prominent (international) conference on next-generation Internet technology - it's the fact that due to strict "anti-terrorist" policies...
"The New Face of the Silicon Age - How India became the capital of the computing revolution" http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/india.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
"Wireless Cable TV In The Works": http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,62061,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
You may have re
ad
the articles I mentioned about the rise of "cyberbullies" in school - well, it's gone international...
January 19 to 25, 2004
A filmmaker decides to make a documentary - he'll eat nothing but McDonald's food 3 times a day for 30 days. The result? 25 more pounds, liver toxicity, high cholesterol, he
ad
aches, depression, an...
The Dutchtub, a plastic outdoor hot tub that requires no electricity, plumbing, or hot water. Faster and easier setup than a wood-fire tub: http://bookofjoe.typep
ad
.com/bookofjoe/2004/01/dutchtub.htm...
This Star Wars fan turned his Honda into an "H-Wing" fighter. It's the best car-to-starship conversion I've ever seen: http://www.ro
ad
squ
ad
ron.com/Cars/Hwing...
An aspiring filmmaker m
ad
e a splash at Sundance with the first feature-length film ever m
ad
e with nothing but iMovie. Total cost of the production: $218...
January 12 to 18, 2004
Talking about workouts, the Powerball wrist exerciser now has a little RPM counter on it, making it even more
ad
dicting...
Atoms can be seen and counted with the new SuperSTEM microscope: http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,61892,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
January 5 to 11, 2004
"I.M.F. Report Says U.S. Deficits Threaten World Economy...
"Please just tell the Americans to send the garbage closer to my home," ple
ad
ed Dishar Jaber, 56, squinting through the one eye he was left with after the Iran-Iraq war. "Then I will be happy....
"Counterpoint: Downlo
ad
ing Isn’t Stealing...
Burger King customers told: 'You are too fat to have a Whopper' http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_853744.html?menu=news.latesthe
ad
line...
A great two-piece story on a man trapped in a de
ad
-end job at a customer service call center. "The Phones Don't Stop...
The FBI can now obtain financial records without requiring a judge's permission: http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,61792,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Yet another international study on global warming was released - 1/4 of all species could be extinct by 2050? "Global Warming Imperils Species...
"How I M
ad
e a Hacker Out of a Slacker...
Not Fooling Anybody - a chronicle of b
ad
storefront conversions...
December 29 to January 4, 2004
Did you know that 20 billion tampons/sanitary p
ad
s went into landfills in 1998? Encourage females to try the Diva Cup...
Will a new high-tech fund in Hawaii work? Local VC Barry Weinman may not like it, but I think the state needs to provide a starter foundation for business before VCs can step in. Local VCs have neve...
The amazing precision of the recent Mars landing - they h
ad
to take in account things such as how plate tectonics affected the wobble of the Earth to hit a target 90 million miles away...
December 22 to 28, 2003
Hope everyone h
ad
a happy 2003! Kev's News is now six months old. (Obligatory holiday picture link below)...
"10
ad
s America Won't See...
Power
ad
apters one-fourth of their current size will be mass-produced next year, thanks to new piezoelectric technology...
"Satellite R
ad
io Is On The Rise...
December 15 to 21, 2003
Multiple studies have confirmed that there is at least 10% less sunlight striking the Earth than 30 years ago. A special session on "global dimming" is being formed for the next joint meeting of th...
Sony has developed the first autonomous running robot: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61658,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
* August 18: Reported in the Honolulu
ad
vertiser by Jan TenBruggencate, the
ad
vertiser Science Writer...
December 8 to 14, 2003
It's legal (and has been for years) in over half the states to sell your voter registration information - including name, race, email, street
ad
dress, phone number, birth date, political affiliation...
Why should you vote, if: http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines03/1211-02.ht...
Why don't we just do what Can
ad
a does...
This Chinese video has been wildly popular this week: A great "new" way to fold your shirts (it's true, I learned too) the way professionals do in retail stores. You may be able to downlo
ad
it her...
Thanks to cdbaby.com (which m
ad
e Jack Johnson popular) and frequent national touring, Alexi Murdoch is poised to be the Next Big Thing in music. His music continues where Nick Drake left off...
Alexi has become popular on the strength of his self-m
ad
e year-old 4-song album on cdbaby, two songs off which have alre
ad
y been featured on national TV shows. Many college/independent DJs and majo...
When Apple opened its first non-U.S. store in Tokyo, it created the longest line ever seen in the Ginza district, with 2,400 people spanning 10 long city blocks...
"Light brought to a halt in scientific first" http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/12/11/frozenlight.
ad
vance.ap/index.htm...
Keiko, the killer whale that starred in "Free Willy", has died of sudden pneumonia, exacerbated by moves to Can
ad
a and Mexico...
And now, in complete contrast to the above... the Mushroom House, a beautiful handcrafted wooden house in Can
ad
a that took 22 years to make...
ad
vertising is now appearing on airplane tray tables...
December 1 to 7, 2003
CNN Art Sucks http://hello.typep
ad
.com/photos/cnn...
November 24 to 30, 2003
Hope you h
ad
a Happy Thanksgiving... In honor, here's an article about why today's mass-produced turkeys taste so bland.....
Some Thanksgiving sale goodness-this one m
ad
e all the papers: "Woman knocked unconscious by trampling shoppers" ...and this happened at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.....
"Congress Expands FBI spying Power" http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,61341,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
November 17 to 23, 2003
We now return you to our weekly bro
ad
cast. Lots of new science/tech this week for some reason... Things got a little heated in London...
Austism, its role in genius, and the latest theories about the disorder: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.12/genius.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
Pebble Bed Modular Reactors may be the future of nuclear power, as their design eliminates the possibility of a meltdown: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61088,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
November 10 to 16, 2003
A new study of love confirms that the brain patterns m
ad
e when people first fall in love are the same one gets when eating chocolate...
The first supercomputer m
ad
e of Macs, "Big Mac", is the 3rd most powerful...
November 3 to 9, 2003
A few medical breakthroughs last week you may have re
ad
about... "Liquid drano for arteries"...
Unlike the U.S., Australians "do e-voting right" by opening up the software running their voting systems to public scrutiny: http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,61045,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_...
I'm currently re
ad
ing their "Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing" - its author was in Hawaii recently...
The world's first disposable cellular phone just hit the market. It comes with 60 minutes of prepaid time, its own phone number, and you can
ad
d more minutes as needed...
Scientists are now visiting "tr
ad
itional herbalists" in search of breakthrough drugs...
October 27 to November 2, 2003
In honor, here is every Playboy centerfold averaged out over four dec
ad
es...
The first optical processor, which computes at the speed of light... http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61009,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_6(Picture...
Infrared light heals wounds/boosts immunity, but nobody knows why: http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,60786,00.html?tw=wn_tophe
ad
_1...
"Get re
ad
y for the era when collaboration replaces the corporation....
Is forest thinning good? B
ad
...
Is the Akaka Bill good? B
ad
? I think this appeared in a Weekly a while ago.....
October 27, 2003
Sanyo is making corn-derived biodegr
ad
able CDs - they'll hit stores in December. Much better for landfills. They degr
ad
e after 50-100 years...
Next year public, free globally connected 10-foot high 24-hour cylindrical videoconferencing portals will be set up in major cities...
Are you a natural networker? Some people are natural "connectors" - in social networks, the important people aren't necessarily who you know, but who you vaguely know...
A school has begun tracking students with RFID devices, the first known school to identify and track its children. Good? B
ad
...
ChevronTexaco and Ecu
ad
o...
October 20, 2003
* It h
ad
$245 billion in revenues in 2002...
* The iTunes music store now represents 70% of all music downlo
ad
s...
Today's modern kids comment on vintage video games - Pong, Donkey Kong, Handheld Football, Tetris, Space Inv
ad
ers, and more... Niko: Hey—Pong. My parents played this game. Brian: It takes this whol...
October 14, 2003
The world's first motorized surfboard This is quite a revolutionary device - it's to surfing what snowboards are to skiing. This August it won approval for U.S. distribution after a 16-yea...
The main point of this is that now a single computer can replace an entire cellular tower's worth of expensive equipment. This means smaller installations and better coverage to rural areas. Plus i...
Spre
ad
of AIDS among Young ‘A Global Catastrophe’...
A great, great explanation of how this nation's electrical grid works, why more large-scale blackouts are predicted, the effects of deregulation, and yet another example of capitalism ignorin...
October 6, 2003
* The soundtrack was mixed by Moby and features the music of R
ad
iohe
ad
, U2, Coldplay, Queens of the Stone Age, David Bowie, The Flaming Lips, Stereolab, Fischerspooner, and Boards of Can
ad
a...
"3G Mobile Signals Can Cause Nausea, He
ad
ache...
September 30, 2003
This was popular a while ago, but they've upgr
ad
ed the movie... check out the new version...
The RIAA withdrew one of their suits due to mistaken identity - This Mac-using grandma was liable for $300 million for stealing songs by artists such as the rapper "Trick D
ad
dy"...
September 15, 2003
The importance of dreaming for the future Why are people retreating to past fantasy inste
ad
of thinking forward? Humanity's perception of the future indeed shapes its present. Recent Hugo award winne...
"12-Year-Old Sued for Music Downlo
ad
ing (by RIAA)...
The optical illusions page from Japan has been greatly expanded. WARNING: may cause he
ad
aches or discomfort...
September 8, 2003
Whew, lots of interesting things this week popped up... http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines03/0901-01.ht...
"Don't Rely On Microsoft, Tr
ad
e Group Urges Homeland Security...
Diamond-cutting robots are on the rise! Contrast with the recent progress m
ad
e in synthetic diamond tech (see the recent Wired) and you'll see how the entire industry could be completely automated i...
Ever see that movie "Blast From The Past", about a man who spent 35 years in a nuclear fallout shelter built by his d
ad
...
California candidates are given the Voight-Kampff test from Bl
ad
e Runner, to see which ones are replicants. This is hilarious...
The best article so far on the Aqu
ad
a, the first amphibious sports car that actually looks sporty...
Thanks to the human genome project, researchers are pioneering the field of ionomics, the study of how genes regulate ions. That can le
ad
to plants that soak up heavy metals.....
September 2, 2003
The incredible story of an Estonian man who lived in the forest for eight years ev
ad
ing the Soviets...
August 25, 2003
"Ocean Sponge's Glass Fibers Transmit Light Faster Than Man-M
ad
e Fiber Optics, Scientists Say...
Disney is laying off its tr
ad
itional 2D animators, opting inste
ad
to only do 3D (computer generated) animated films from now on. A passing of an era.....
EPA to ease air pollution rules for maintaining coal-burning power plants http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=9
ad
35892-B809-4C2C-B0FB-A6BF6A803FF...
Affected by the recent computer viruses? The solution: 1) Don't use Outlook. 2) Don't use Windows. I just spent a couple hours cleaning up a friend's infected Windows machine this week. In over 1...
* Air Can
ad
a (the reservations, check-in, and call center systems shut down, causing canceled flights...
August 12, 2003
Slow news week. Most of the new good stuff popped up today. This week's theme: trends on the edge of culture. http://ssshotaru.homeste
ad
.com/files/aolertranslator.htm...
FOX News apparently owns the tr
ad
emark to the phrase "Fair and Balanced". We'll see if it holds up in court...
This has been making the rounds... you know you want one: http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines03/0808-11.ht...
Now that everyone has access to professional-class studio software, we are seeing the rise of "Bastard Pop" - songs m
ad
e of two other songs you'd never would have put together. Re
ad
the Salon article...
(Note: the Cacophony Society helped start the Burning Man - I h
ad
a great Halloween party at their "he
ad
quarters" once...
August 4, 2003
Why graphic design (and choosing the right font) is important: http://www.cd933.com/big%20r
ad
io/images/cartoons/MegaFlick_1.jp...
We'll be seeing more good and b
ad
uses of cell phone cams in the future...
It is official U.S. policy to encourage people to buy larger, less efficient cars: "The Senate rejected a proposal to require a sharp increase in automobile fuel economy Tuesday after concerns wer...
July 28, 2003
When nothing gets done in groups the way people want that's perhaps more often due to an inability to manage agreement than manage conflict - re
ad
about the Abilene Par
ad
ox...
There are now over 2 million people in U.S. prisons, one for every 143 citizens: http://www.commondreams.org/he
ad
lines03/0727-01.ht...
Thanks to 10,000 years of selective breeding by humans, bananas will vanish forever in a dec
ad
e...
July 21, 2003
"Discontented Americans Consider Can
ad
a...
Re
ad
ing the wrong thing in public gets man in trouble with the FBI...
I'm sure you've seen this satire alre
ad
y...
July 16, 2003
"Why," you may wonder, "are you sending me email like this, Kev?" you may ask. I say: because you have a committed interest in keeping the world from being absolutely mediocre. Therefore an...
July 10, 2003
Here's one of the better articles on CTS that I've re
ad
.....
"This is coming whether we like it or not," said Jim Lewis, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's not how do we stop the tidal wave. It's how do we manage it." Also, if yo...
July 8, 2003
For his thesis, Sean Gorman m
ad
e an interactive program to identify power, Internet, and phone networks throughout the U.S. On a map you can select any company and see exactly what network wires t...
...reminds me of the gr
ad
student many years ago that built his own atom bomb.....
If you don't know what RFID is, re
ad
here first:...
I personally believe that RFID will happen in some form whether consumers like it or not - it's just a matter of when and how it is implemented. As with any revolutionary technology, there are grea...