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Restaurant Coupons from Surviving the Stores

Dirk Gardner — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:06:29 +0000

This is a neat little find that will save you money when you go out to eat. Surviving the stores lists a large number of restaurant coupons for popular eateries like Black Angus Steakhouse, Carl’s Junior, Chuck E. Cheese’s, Denny’s, IKEA, Mrs. Fields, Starbucks Coffee, Taco Bell, T.G.I. Friday’s, White Castle and many more.

Here is the link: Restaurant Coupons from Surviving the Stores

Cool Steampunk Memory Keys from back2root in the United Kingdom

Dirk Gardner — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:29:26 +0000

For creating such unusual memory keys in steampunk style you would need some wood, a few old pocket watches and a lot of talent and creativity. All memory keys featured below were created by an artist from the United Kingdom under the name, back2root. The covers of these USB drives are made out of different types of wood such as Ebony, Padauk and even such exotic wood as Tiger Myrtle. The creation of each device takes up to 12 hours and the parts of up to 8 old pocket watches. The beautiful results of this labour of love can bee seen below. Enjoy!

Cool iPod Nano Watch Conversion

Dirk Gardner — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:15:57 +0000

Finally…a reason to get the new iPod Nano! The idea of turning the Nano into a watch is one thing, but actually making it look and feel right is completely another. Enter Scott Wilson, formerly the global creative director for Nike Watches. He’s the man behind TikTok and LunaTik, well-designed, engineered and manufactured watch kits that snuggly and beautifully cradle your Nano.

TikTok is the cheaper version with a plastic band and a snap-in frame inspired by the locking mechanisms in skiboots. The LunaTik is the nicer, more premium offering – it’s forged from Aerospace Grade Aluminum and then machined via CNC into its final form. “The straps are made from high grade silicone rubber and the hardware is solid stainless steel not some chrome plated brass that will wear off. The quality of these watch cases and straps will be scrutinized very carefully and produced in the same factories that produce the best watches for companies like Nixon, Diesel, Vestal, and Nike.”

World’s First GPS-Enabled Goggles

Dirk Gardner — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:08:04 +0000

The world’s first GPS-enabled goggle is here. The Zeal Transcend GPS Goggle features a micro LCD display mounted inside the goggles, so you can view all pertinent information without having to do anything but glimpse downwards towards the bottom of the lens — a key feature when barreling down a double black diamond, or even moreso if you’re heading off trail. In addition to showing GPS data, the screen can also feeds real-time stats like speed, altitude, vertical odometer, stopwatch, latitude/longitude, temperature, time and total distance travelled. The Zeal Transcend GPS Goggles are charged via a micro-USB charger, and are both PC and Mac compatible. Two lenses are available, either a polarized lens or a polarized and photochromic lens for $400-$500.

The Twenty Dollar Knee Replacement

Dirk Gardner — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:03:04 +0000

Tens of thousands of amputees in the developing world wear an inexpensive prosthetic called the Jaipur Foot. But poor patients who lose a knee joint have few options: a titanium replacement can cost $10,000, and crude models don’t work very well. Now a team of Stanford engineering students has designed a knee that’s not only dirt cheap — just $20 — but also mimics the natural joint’s movements. Developed with the Jaipur Foot group, the JaipurKnee is made of self-lubricating, oil-filled nylon and is both flexible and stable, even on irregular terrain. The device is being tested in India; more than 300 people have been fitted so far. The JaipurKnee comprises five pieces of plastic and four nuts and bolts. It requires no special tools and takes just a few hours to manufacture.

Solar Power Gathering Roof Tiles

Dirk Gardner — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:57:10 +0000

The Dow Chemical Co. has developed a new roof shingle that doubles as a solar panel. The shingles, which can be incorporated into rooftops alongside traditional asphalt shingles, use low-cost thin-film cells of copper indium gallium diselenide. While Dow expects to profit greatly from the Powerhouse Solar Shingle — the company predicts it will bring in as much as $10 billion in revenue by 2020 — there will be significant benefits for consumers too. The innovative shingle is expected to cost 10% to 15% less than traditional solar panels and will be cheaper and quicker to install.

The 10 Million Dollar Light Bulb

Dirk Gardner — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:47:26 +0000

With the flick of a switch, Philips Electronics may have just dramatically lowered America’s electric bill. In September the Dutch electronics giant became the first to enter the U.S. Department of Energy’s L Prize competition, which seeks an LED alternative to the common 60-watt bulb. Sixty-watt lights account for 50% of the domestic incandescent market; if they were replaced by LED bulbs, the U.S. could save enough electricity per year to light 17.4 million households. If Philips wins the L Prize, it will claim a cash award and federal purchasing agreements worth about $10 million.

Philips’ LED bulb emits the same amount of light as its incandescent equivalent but uses less than 10 watts and lasts for 25,000 hours — or 25 times as long.

Tank-Bred Bluefin Tuna

Dirk Gardner — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:15:03 +0000

From an annual catch reaching 80,000 tonnes in the 1960’s, natural resources of Southern Bluefin Tuna have been severely depleted, to such a point that total allowable catchment quotas have been reduced to 9449 tonnes for the 2011 fishing season. ‘The end game is now in play’, confirms Mr. Hagen Stehr AO, founder and Chairman of Clean Seas, ‘the tuna of the future will not come from the wild, but will come from propagation’.

Clean Seas Tuna Ltd. is an industry leader in the propagation and aquaculture of Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT). In March 2009, Clean Seas accomplished a world first by artificially breeding SBT in landlocked tanks at their Tuna Breeding Facility in Arno Bay, South Australia. By completing the lifecycle of SBT at their Tuna Breeding Facility, Clean Seas is at the point of realizing the commercialization of SBT through sustainable aquaculture.

Clean Seas, the Australian company operated a breeding facility of bluefin tuna in Port Lincoln from March 12. Scientists believe the breeding population of the highly migratory southern bluefin has probably plummeted over 90 per cent since the 1950s. By coaxing the notoriously fussy southern bluefin to breed in landlocked tanks, Clean Seas may finally have given the future of bluefin aquaculture legs.

At 8:47 a.m. on March 12, fish history happened in Port Lincoln, Australia. A tankful of southern bluefin tuna — regal, predatory fish prized for their buttery sashimi meat — began to spawn, and they didn’t stop for more than a month. “People said, ‘It can’t be done, it can’t be done,’” says Hagen Stehr, founder of Clean Seas, the Australian company that operates the breeding facility. “Now we’ve done it.” Scientists believe the breeding population of the highly migratory southern bluefin has probably plummeted more than 90% since the 1950s. Others have gotten Pacific bluefin to spawn and grow in ocean cages, but by coaxing the notoriously fussy southern bluefin to breed in landlocked tanks, Clean Seas may finally have given the future of bluefin aquaculture legs.

World’s Smallest USB Wireless Adapter

Dirk Gardner — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:51:50 +0000

Japan’s Buffalo has introduced the world’s smallest USB dongle that provides a 802.1nn Wi-Fi wireless connection to attached electronics.

At 33mm x 16mm (about 1.3 x 0.6 inches), Buffalo’s adapter is small enough to attach to smaller devices or to remain attached to a laptop when it is stored in a notebook bag. The wireless adapter will allow users to connect to the Internet from devices such as Sony’s PSP, Nintendo’s DS and many smartphones, including the iPhone.

Thanks to Buffalo’s AirStation OneTouch Secure System (AOSS) feature, users can press a button to enable Wi-Fi Protected Setup and have the WiFi adapter automatically detect and configure compatible wireless routers with a secure connection. The company estimates transfer speeds as fast as 150Mbps.

The WLI-UC-GN will sell for the equivalent of about $24 when it launches in Japan early in February. Buffalo sells some devices in the US but hasn’t disclosed international plans.

More information at: Buffalo

World’s First Internet Browsing Camera

Dirk Gardner — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:01:22 +0000

Sony has launched a new slim and stylish 10.1 megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-G3 camera, which the is the world’s first Wi-Fi enabled digital camera that can upload photos and videos to popular sharing Web sites including Shutterfly, Picasa Web Albums, YouTube, Dailymotion and Photobucket through any public WiFi hotspot due to its embedded Web browser.

“Research shows that our customers greatly value sharing images and video clips, but they often forget or don’t have enough time if they wait to get home to upload images,” said Phil Lubell, director of digital camera marketing at Sony Electronics. “Our new Cyber-shot DSC-G3 camera provides the simplicity and convenience of sharing in the moment, while the impulse is still fresh in people’s minds.”

Impressive highlights of Sony Cyber-shot G3:

World’s first Wi-Fi enabled camera with built-in web browser
Powerful 10.1 megapixel 1/2.3? Super HAD CCD image sensor
Ultra-bright, high resolution 3.5-inch Xtra Fine LCD touch-screen display with wide viewing angle
Newly-developed Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 4x optical zoom lens
BIONZ Imaging Processor delivering the high resolution and fast performance
Face Detection technology detects up to 8 individual faces (can even distinguish between children and adults) and controls flash, focus, exposure, and white balance to deliver accurate, natural skin tones with reduced red-eye for beautiful images
Popular Smile Shutter technology automatically detects and captures smiling faces
Double Anti-blur Solution combines Optical SteadyShot image stabilization and High ISO sensitivity 3200 aiming to minimize blur
Intelligent Scene Recognition (iSCN) Mode automatically detects 8 different types of scenes
Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO) Standard and Plus using a sophisticated algorithm to determine the best exposure and contrast settings for almost any shooting environment
New Anti-blink function works to help counter blinking and squinting
MPEG Movie VX Fine Mode capturing VGA (640 x 480 pixel resolution) audio/video clips at a high frame rate – up to 30 frames per second
Semi-manual focus lets users specify the camera’s approximate focus distance
4GB internal memory storing up to an astounding 40,000 VGA-sized images or up to 950 high resolution images, along with Memory Stick Duo slot for extended storage

The new DLNA-certified Sony Cyber-shot G3 comes with complimentary AT&T Wi-Fi access to Sony’s Easy Upload Home Page until Jan. 31, 2012, accessing thousands of AT&T hotspots across the country, including participating coffee shops, selected book stores and major quick-serve restaurant locations as well as hundreds of upscale hotels and airports.

“By collaborating with Sony to launch the first digital still camera with a built in Web browser and embedded access across the entire AT&T Wi-Fi service network, we’re enabling consumers to gain quick and convenient access to Sony’s Easy Upload Homepage through thousands of AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots across the country,” said Glenn Lurie, president of AT&T’s emerging device organization. “The wireless capabilities and cutting-edge features of the G3 camera with the reliable coverage of AT&T’s Wi-Fi network offers a unique consumer experience.”

The new Sony CyberShot G3 digital camera, available in black, is only 16.4mm thick and is available from sonystyle.com, Sony Style retail stores, Amazon.com and authorized dealers for about $500.