As a runner training for a marathon for the first time, I found myself wishing I had an easy way to know the exact distance a certain course is, without having to drag a GPS or pedometer around on my runs. Looking at Google Maps, and knowing there was a vibrant community of geeks hacking it, I knew there had to be a way. So here it is. [via] Link.
Mike Outmesguine…Popular Science How 2.0 article on turning yourself into a walking hotspot by using a mobile power source and a cellular-to-Wi-Fi gateway. The Voltaic Systems backpack makes a great platform to build from due to all of the internal wiring and myriad power adapters included in the kit. And I like the Junxion Box as a simple, clean appliance to handle the Wi-Fi to Cellular interface. Link.
If you’re looking to control other PCs via a Playstation Portable, there’s a new beta out that will allow just that. Uses the D-pad as the mouse and the PSP soft keyboard to enter text. PVNC Beta 1 release, still a little laggy, but will be faster in future releases. Link.
This image is a photomosaic of the famous painting ‘Starry Night’. The image is made with over 210.000 tiny photographs and a total size of over 1.500.000.000 points in other words it is a 1.5 Gigapixel Image. Click over the image (Zoom In) until you start to see the tiny images. Link.
“There are lots of multi-robot designs out there. Most are either research platforms well over $2K (often $10K or more), or are hobbyist bots under $400 with tiny brains and few sensors. But George Mason University’s new FlockBots wiki is interesting. They’re trying to pack as much functionality as possible into a roughly $800, 7″ mobile swarmbot, and publish the design and software as a free and open spec. So far their design includes a wireless 200MHz Gumstix linux computer, a camera, range and bump sensors, wheel encoders, a can gripper, and lots more. It’s a great-looking design and I think the cost could drop to $500 with vendors doing consolidation.” Link. See our interview with the CEO of Gumstix.
Good if you’re in New York, I’ll be there this week and will need this! This website is an attempt to make it easier for the road-warrior’s, students, free loaders etc to find locations that offer free wireless internet access in the New York City area by showing all free wireless nodes on a Map of New York. Link.
Amazing collection of 80’s-ish retro electronic games. The speak and math is my favorite. Here’s my flickr gallery for retro electronic games. There’s also a picture in my photostream of a poster from a 1981 Tron video game contest. [