The Medigenic infection-control computer keyboards have several neat tricks to prevent them from picking up any viral or bacterial baddies: they whole thing is sealed and can withstand hospital-grade disinfectants; there's a one-key switch that will disable the rest of the keys without forcing you to unplug it, making it possible to give it a quick wipe-down; it even has backlighting under each key.
But my favorite feature of the $140 Medigenic? The faux 3D keyboard silk-screened onto the surface.
You can pick up an equally crevice-less mouse for $80. [via Oh Gizmo!]
65-year old Toshiko Fukuda of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, lost her husband to asbestos on April 17th last year. Her husband, Motoo, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2006, probably from the steel pipe factory he worked at. He got worker's comp, but the disease ultimately destroyed his lungs and left him with hallucinations for the remainder of his life. Shocked, the widowed Fukuda started sending text messages to her dead husband every time she thought of something she wanted to say to him. Things like: "I couldn't live if I didn't think you were still beside me. I can't live [without you]. I'm crying every day" and "I want to call you 'Otosan' to my heart's content. Why do you have to be inside such a small urn?" Every time she sent a message, the phone by his home shrine vibrated (she made sure it was always charged).
Now she's publishing a book with the loosely translated title Job Transfer to Heaven Without Family-I Wanted to Be With You Longer, a compilation of all her text messages from the past year that she hopes will educate the public about the dangers of asbestos. [via Yomiuri via Asia Daily News]
You've only got about three hours left to make a bid, but if you've got $1,450 or so you can get a new-in-box LEGO Set #118, the "Electronic Train" from 1968. From the eBay description:
is a train set that includes a locomotive, 'coal car' (which houses the batteries) and a couple pieces of track to display the set. But here's why the set is so special: it is one of the first uses of electronics in Lego toys! There is an electronic 'brick' included in the set (see all pictures), a special whistle that gives off a certain pitch, and a microphone (white block). Once you put three 1.5V 'C' batteries (not included) in the 'coal car' the train is ready to move! One blow on the whistle and the train starts forward AUTOMATICALLY! It will continue to run until you blow the whistle again-then it will stop AUTOMATICALLY! On the third blow it will again resume going forward AUTOMATICALLY!
I really enjoyed the response Greg Yardly, Co-Founder of iPhone stats tracking package developer Pinch Media, gave in response to my link to a story about what sort of data Pinch Media collects from iPhone users for its clients. (Reproduced in part here, but you should really read the whole thing):
I didn't consent to any of the tracking Boing Boing does - there's no terms of service or privacy policy that pops up on first entry. Even if there *was*, by the time I got here, it'd be too late. If we went by the first commenter's standards, Boing Boing's running eleven different pieces of spyware.
Every single person who installs an iPhone application consents to data collection in advance - it's right there in the default EULA Apple's provided so developers don't have to hire lawyers before publishing something. So unlike Boing Boing, the developer actually has gotten your consent beforehand.
...
Analytics provide a useful function - they help keep costs low by allowing developers and content providers to optimize. Boing Boing's use of eleven different trackers - while a little on the high side - are no different from a developer's use of Pinch Media. Without them, Boing Boing would make a lot less money and have a lot less resources devoted to spreading hypocritical, misleading FUD.
...
Oh, and for the commenter that suggested a lawsuit could produce detailed information on a user's movements - you can't subpoena what we don't store, so the best you're going to get is nearest city. Try the carriers, they're much more likely to share.
Greg Yardley Co-Founder, Pinch Media
I can understand Yardley's frustration as he goes around the web defending his company. That can't make for a fun Tuesday morning. I'm glad he's willing to engage the issue head-on.
And as far as Boing Boing's tracking and analytics goes, I can't really argue against his general point. It's useful for me as a writer and small businessman to have some basic stats (tracking pageviews to understand what sort of articles readers find compelling, for instance), and I think most people understand that a baseline of metrics is par for the course on commercial sites, but I hate the amount of tracking the comes out of the ad networks, too, and it only seems to be getting worse. There's rarely more perfidious Javascript than that coded by an ad network programmer.
But there's one difference between web-based tracking and the sort of analytics that Pinch Media gathers on the iPhone: it's pretty simple to figure out what stats tracking occurs between a web site and a browser on a computer, as Yardley shows; it's much more difficult to discern—or even be aware of—tracking that occurs in a closed system like the iPhone. And it's not FUD to point it out so users can make their own decision.
Bose's new ad campaign features celeb portraits that are mosaics of its devices. If this looks familiar, it should be: Ikea and Apple. [via NoiseAddict]
Pacific Gas & Electric, which provides the power for much of California, has announced their intention to purchase power from Solaren, a company which intends to put power-harvesting satellites in space, then beam the energy back to Earth. (And has a sci-fi logo to match.)
PG&E is seeking approval from state regulators for a power purchase agreement with Solaren Corp., a Southern California company that has contracted to deliver 200 megawatts of clean, renewable power over a 15 year period.
Solaren says it plans to generate the power using solar panels in earth orbit, then convert it to radio frequency energy for transmission to a receiving station in Fresno County. From there, the energy will be converted to electricity and fed into PG&E's power grid.
I have always, always dreamed of taking a nap in the clouds. As a kid, I even considered breaking a plane window so I can try it. Cloud Sofa, a concept design by D.K. Wei, imagines a soft cloud-like chaise lounge that floats by magnetic force. [Image and design by Kootouch]
Fastcap's 2P-10 colored glue kit includes powered dyes with which to mix with their wood glue, perfect for bonding a joint that can be sanded down while still matching the tone of your materials. A $50 kit comes with six colors (but no activator), while individual colors can be picked up for a fiver.
New York City cops have been informed that photography is "rarely unlawful", reports the Post:
Faced with complaints from photographers and tourists alike, the NYPD has issued a department order reminding cops that the right to take pictures in the Big Apple is as American as apple pie.
"Photography and the videotaping of public places, buildings and structures are common activities within New York City . . . and is rarely unlawful," the NYPD operations order begins.
Recently on Offworld we've already played what'll probably be this week's best indie development, Terry Cavanagh & Stephen Lavelle's Judith, a short game of shifting narratives and timelines that peels itself back one layer at a time and gives you subtle clues to your next move with each consecutive shift. If you've only got one hour for an indie game this week, give it to Judith (it even, graciously, comes in Mac and Linux flavors).
We also took a look back at the most practical of this GDC's Pecha-Kucha-esque microtalks, with Boom Blox producer Robin Hunicke imagining six easy steps to help fix PlayStation Home, or rather, provide it with more engaging possibilities for play (we concur with all six).
I try not to cut-and-paste press releases, but I hope you'll excuse me in this case. I can't resist HP-35 trivia:
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 14, 2009 - HP today announced that IEEE, the world's largest technical professional association, has awarded HP the prestigious IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing award for its HP-35 Scientific Calculator.
Introduced in 1972, the HP-35 was the world's first handheld-sized scientific calculator. An instant hit, the HP-35 ultimately made the slide rule, which had previously been used by generations of engineers and scientists, obsolete.
• The HP-35, named for its 35 keys, was the first handheld calculator to perform transcendental functions such as trigonometric, logarithmic and exponential functions.
• At the time, contemporary calculators could only perform four basic functions - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
• The now classic "Reverse Polish Notation" (RPN) first used in the HP-35 has become the most efficient way known to computer science for evaluating mathematical expressions.
• In the first three years after its introduction in 1972, sales of the HP-35 Scientific Calculator exceeded 300,000 units.
• Forbes ASAP named HP 35 as one of the 20 "all time products" that have changed the world.
• It was the world's first handheld scientific calculator with a LED display.
• HP-35 has traveled to the top of Mt. Everest for use in altitude and navigation calculations.
• HP-35 is regularly used to navigate ships.
• HP-35 has been used by astronauts aboard spacecraft to calculate the exact angle of re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
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