Make pal Jacob hit the Urban Atmospheres presented by Intel. “Welcome to a party where the guests are tracked by RFID and their location is graphed overtime. They are represented by a baron a projected bar graph whose color changes depending on their location in the party. More information about this opening can be found on the Urban Atmospheres website.” Link
About 5 years ago I wrote a few Macromedia Flash apps to be used in cars along with a “Flash and Telematics” article – besides my hacked up car the project didn’t get any far. But! The new Jaguars will now use Macromedia for their user interfaces! “…audio, navigation, climate control, telephone and vehicle settings can all be adjusted making it a critical design component in the driving experience, now fully enhanced with screen graphics reminiscent of a quality website.” No word, if you can put in your own . SWF files. [via] Link.
Great iPod hack from Fabienne Serriere “For this week’s Nano Hack we will cover how to get power off your iPod Nano’s battery. Power can be useful when you need to run other small low power devices in conjunction with the Nano. These devices can be small circuits, lights, etc. In next week’s installment we will use the power we draw to power a glowing sleeve for the iPod Nano.” Link.
Paul writes “You recently posted my article on how to ubuntu linux for novices, and now I’ve got another for you. In this how to I show you how to setup and tweak the latest AJAX webmail client that recently gained lots of buzz, RoundCube. It’s easy to use, fast UI will make it a threat to Gmail, Kahuna and other webmail clients as it goes from alpha to beta.” Link.
This kit is made of computer designed precision modern materials, but is as close to the original design as possible. The driving force of the original tea-carrying doll came from a spring made of whale whiskers (actually whale teeth). All the other components, such as its gears, body and escapement for speed adjustments, were made of wood. How does it work? When a tea cup is placed on the tray, the stopper is released by the whale spring attached to the doll’s arms; the spring forces the stopper to engage again when the cup is lifted from the tray. [via] Link.
Mr. Jou, a graduate student in language technologies at Carnegie Mellon University, was simply mouthing words in his native Mandarin Chinese. But 11 electrodes attached to his face and neck detected his muscle movements, enabling a computer program to figure out what he was trying to say and then translate his Mandarin into English. The result boomed out of a loudspeaker a few seconds later. [via] Link.
Pretec compactGPS serial modification – a description of how to modify the compactGPS to work with a standard serial port. This mod will allow you to use the device using your PDA serial port, a PC serial port, and a PDA/GPS car kit. [