Link Round-Up: March 29, 2013

Protests outside the Supreme Court

20 Horrifying but True Facts About How Your Food is Made Slideshow

Classic Craigslist: Crazy Roommate Wanted

In September of 2012, someone made a carpet-covered half-size Abrams tank. Now that’s protection for any high-traffic hardwood floors.

Nathan Pyle offers some tips on New York etiquette in the form of animated GIFs.

Tech Links: March 27, 2013

"Belief in Evolution Versus National Wealth" by Tony Piro

Business

Orders Cut, as Publisher and Retailer Quarrel: A standoff over financial terms has prompted the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble to cut back substantially on the number of titles it orders from the publishing house Simon & Schuster... This is the first time that Barnes & Noble has used the sales of books as a negotiating tool, industry executives say.

Gadgets

The curious incident of the books on the Kindle

When will Kindle's become free?

Quarter of U.S. Buys Ebooks, Number Expected to Nearly Double by 2014

Link Round-Up: March 25, 2013

Bioshock Infinite ~ Developer Fun Facts

News: Proposed changes to marriage would open the way for Star Wars Jedi to perform ceremonies, says Free Church of Scotland.

The Geography of the Supermarket

March Madness explained with Star Wars

The Mystery Behind Chipotle's Secret, 1,500-Calorie Super Burrito

Star Wars fans can argue til the cows come home about which character is the best. Now StarWars.com is ready to settle the score once and for all. Well, not really because we know this won’t actually end any debate. But it’ll be fun to watch the characters pitted against each other just the same.

Tech Links: March 25, 2013

The World’s Undersea Cables

A submarine cable is about 0.75 to 2.5 inches in diameter, or about the thickness of three ordinary garden hoses. The longest cable, called the Southern Cross, runs under the Pacific, stretching 18,500 miles.

Business

Survey: 60% of consumers are banner blind

A Problem Google Has Created for Itself

Entertainment

The 40 Hottest Women in Tech

Let's build a ship - Timelapse builds the world's largest ship in 70 seconds Building the world's largest ship - the Maersk Tripple E

World Wide Maze is a "Chrome Experiment" that turns any website or search into a playable three-dimensional "Monkey Ball"-style maze game. You can control via the keyboard or link to your phone to turn it into a tilt-sensitive remote control. (Chrome browser only, obviously.)

Gadgets

Apple looks to protect dropped iPhones by shifting their orientation mid-flight

Canon Unveils the Rebel SL1, the World’s Smallest and Lightest DSLR

Electronic Devices on Planes: Is the madness nearly over? 

Why You'll End Up Wearing a Smart Watch

Internet

Godspeed, Google Reader

How Google went from essential to evil in one short week TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Reading & Discussion

The Copyright Rule We Need to Repeal If We Want to Preserve Our Cultural Heritage

The Glory Days of American Journalism. Ignore the doomsayers: The news-reading public has never had more and better information at their fingertips.

Supreme Court Rules on Bookselling Suit

Science

Does studying science make you a better person? Study shows that people who study science are more likely to condemn unethical behavior than religious people

The Nielsen Family Is Dead. Nielsen Now Tracks (Almost) Everything You Buy: Credit, Debit and Bank Data Now Combined With TV, Online Viewing. Nielsen Offers Focus on ‘Zero-TV’ Homes. Nielsen Agrees to Expand Definition of TV Viewing. The 23,000 U.S. homes Nielsen currently samples are going to see some changes this year.

Software

The Commotion Wireless Project is a free, open-source (but still early beta) software platform for creating decentralized wireless mesh networks. The Open Technology Institute (part of the nonprofit New America Foundation) has just announced the developer release of Commotion, a free, open-source software project for building decentralized, ad hoc community networks of wireless devices. The goal of the project is both to bridge the digital divide and to enable those without uncensored internet access to roll their own networks and circumvent repressive internet censorship and telecommunication shutdowns. Commotion is currently being field-tested in Detroit (in collaboration with the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition) to bridge the digital divide in 48217 (one of Detroit's most impoverished neighborhoods) and in the Cass Corridor.

Link Round-Up: March 20, 2013

Alternative Android Logos by Mjcowan

20 Haunting Ghost Towns of the World.

Brilliant Spoofs of the Classic Fantasy Novel Map. These are funny even if you aren't all that familiar with the subject they parody.

Japan's educators and politicians quarrel about what students should learn about World War II so much that most students end up learning very little at all. As adults, they don't understand why the rest of Asia knows so much.

Can We Please Stop Drawing Trees on Top of Skyscrapers? Because it's not going to happen.

Nigel Ackland has the new Terminator-style Bebionic3 prosthetic hand. He shows us what it can do -including things human hands cannot do.

Tech Links: March 20, 2013

Source: Imgur via MUO
 

His charm was not resistible. Her capacity was massive. They had good potential together. The coupling was electrical.

Business

The Future of Customer Service: These Companies Are Getting it Right

Entertainment

App from Dutch director Bobby Boermans is an appropriately titled horror film that encourages viewers to download a free app that delivers second screen content during the movie. The film follows psychology student Anna Rijnders, who becomes addicted to apps, social media, and her smartphone. Rijnders finds a mysterious app called IRIS that begins sending cryptic texts as people around her die in mysterious ways. The second screen app for viewers — which looks like a cross between Apple’s Siri voice assistant and Hal 9000 — is available for iOS and Android, has information about the movie and its cast, and will deliver related content at select points throughout the film. App will hit Dutch theaters on April 4th, and enterprising filmmakers around the world will likely be watching to see how audiences react to the unique second screen tactic.

Link Round-Up: March 19, 2013

Amsterdam Castle in Amsterdam, New York, is for sale for only a million dollars.

How to win a climate change argument, in one chart.

Inconceivable! A mashup of Games of Thrones and The Princess Bride works well.

Student solves Rubix Cube while juggling

That crazy slingshot guy has managed to create a pump-action gun that can propel Oreos at injurious speed.

This is what 200 calories looks like. Powerful.

Photo: Putra Mosque

Putra Mosque 

Photographed by KukoqNyoq

Lecture: DNA Explained

BBC Knowledge Explainer DNA from Territory

BBC Knowledge and Learning is exploring a wide variety of topics from social history to science in a series of three-minute online Explainer documentaries, and this short history of DNA really knocks it out of the park, both artistically and scientifically.

Territory Studio was commissioned to create the video in cooperation with writer Andrew S. Walsh and molecular biologist Matthew Adams.  The video walks through the fundamentals beginning with the basic chemistry.  Lead animator Will Samuel explains:

"We needed to find a graphic style to communicate the beauty and intricacy of DNA. We wanted to create nostalgia; taking the audience back to the days of textbook diagrams and old science documentaries, such as Carl Sagan's COSMOS and IBM’s POWER OF TEN (1977). Using the double helix circular theme as a core design we focused on form, movement and colour to create a consistent flow to the animation, drawing on references from nature, illustrating how DNA is the core to everything around us."

Humor: The Gamer Sutra

"The Gamer Sutra" by Andy Kluthe and Andrew Bridgman of Dorkly

Photo: Penn Station

NYT: Farewell to Penn Station, 1963

“Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves. Even when we had Penn Station, we couldn’t afford to keep it clean. We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.”

Interview: 10 Questions for Douglas Coupland

"Generation A: 10 Questions for Douglas Coupland" by SimonSchusterVideos

Douglas Coupland, author of Generation A, answers ten questions ranging from if he would miss bees if they disappeared to if Generation A is a sequel.

Video Distraction: Giant Dry Ice Bubble Experiment

"Giant Dry Ice Bubble Experiment!" by Brusspup

Video Distraction: Water & Sound Experiment

Amazing Water & Sound Experiment by Brusspup

Brusspup synchronizes his video camera to a water stream run in front of a speaker outputting a 24 Hz sine wave.

"Ever since I created the first version of this video a year ago I've been wanting to try it again with more water and better lighting / footage. This is a really fun project and when you first see the results, chances are your jaw will drop. The main thing to keep in mind for this project is that you need a camera that shoots 24 fps.

Photo: Graffiti of Speed

"Graffiti of Speed" by Shinichi Hagashi

Mirror Symmetry of Tokyo, Japan

Tech Links: March 14, 2013

Every single time I walk into an Apple Store.

Source: Avengers (2010) #32

Business

Even Google won't be around for ever, let alone Facebook: In the world of internet technology a company can go from zero to hero in a very short time

Record labels object to Apple's proposed low royalty rate for streaming service

Would you have guessed that 160 people work at Buzzfeed?

Photo: Reef Dwellers

Macro Reef Dwellers: A Retrospective by Felix Salazar

     

     

     

Tech: Displair Water Vapor Touchscreen

Playing Fruit Ninja On The Displair At CES 2013 by Jason O. Gilbert

Displair, a unique gadget at CES 2013, allows you to turn a misting wall of water vapor into a strange touchscreen. Here, Jason Gilbert from the Huffington Post plays a game of Fruit Ninja on a Displair.

Infographic: The Efficiency of Vaccines

Vaccine Infographic by Leon Farrant

Source: Forbes

Still questioning? This infographic breaks down the indisputable efficiency of vaccines, which Bill Gates has so eloquently affirmed. 

Tech: 3-D Printing in Space

Open-Sourcing Outer Space: 3-D Printing Meets Rocket Science:

From 3D printed moonbases to architectural wonders more to down to Earth, as we saw what awesome mixture 3D printing and architecture could bring, I was left wondering about what other technologies we could be remixing 3D printers with. Partially answering my curiosity, Wired highlights an exciting new world of Rocket science.. now 3D print compatible? Apparently so!

Sure, a 3-D printed car is cool, but it doesn’t go to space. And there’s probably a good reason for that, but now a competition is aiming to launch the newest manufacturing fad into the final frontier by challenging people to design 3-D printed rocket engines.

Link Round-Up: March 12, 2013

5 Tech-Savvy Tricks to Help You Get a Good Night’s Sleep

25 Best Cars Under $25,000

Confusing Graffiti Leaves Us With A Lot Of Questions

Sunday Assembly: an atheist service run by two comedians, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans.


TOKYO GASTRONOMY is the YouTube account of Seiji Yamamoto, chef and owner of the Nihonryori RyuGin restaurant. His videos demonstrate traditional Japanese cuisine preparation in a serene and focused way. The ones that really hooked me was this 9 minute video of Ichiban Dashi creation and spring vegetable soup.

You don't have a $450 low-temperature water oven? No problem. Serious Eat's The Food Lab cooks The Perfect Rack Of Lamb.  Make offers plans and advice on building your own  Sous Vide Immersion Cooker.

Photo: At NASA’s Drawing Board

"At NASA’s Drawing Board" by J R Eyerman

Link Round-Up: March 11, 2013

Source: Silicon

13 Ridiculously Cool Buildings Made of Ice


File these away for your next fictional arctic/volcanic setting: Russia has some amazing ice caves.
I’d want this on every portable device I’d ever own: This iPhone case sports a simulated bubble wrap feature.

McDonald’s Has Names For Each Of The 4 Different McNugget Shapes.

The new SimCity has had a very poor launch, and among its woes it can now include Amazon ceasing sales of digital download copies of the game. Some are holding out hope that the difficulties are just a part of the simulation, like Godzilla stomping your infrastructure. In better news, Age of Empires II will be on Steam soon.

Only six minutes? It’s Everything Wrong With Twilight in Six Minutes. A bit like staking vampire fish in a barrel, but there you go.

Splitman 2 is a game where your heroic powers include using enemy saw blades to make more of yourself. Use these clones to solve each platforming level, and try not to feel bad about the fact you callously leave them behind.

Video Distraction: How Guys Will Use Google Glass

"How Guys Will Use Google Glass" by DartanionLondon

"The future is coming, ladies. Sorry about that."

Tech: iCub Learns Language

Simpler Brain Lets iCub Learn Language:
Not all would agree but I think this advancement in robotics could be a gigantic leap in the way artificial intelligence (A.I.) grows in future robots that will need some kind of advanced A.I. For instance, how do we suppose any sentient being with the capacity to learn..learns? Although it may not be the paramount function of robotics, communicating is definitely up there in the list of obstacles needed to be apprehended if we are to have competent robots making human interactions. For it is because of communication that we learn to pass on data, and language is a form of it.

Think of it this way, a robot that understands how language works and even knows how to use it, is a robot that has been given a new pathway to understanding. A pathway that we as humans have acquired and while we haven’t mastered it I believe we do have enough experience with it to imitate it and implement it in fields where it is most needed. What I really took from this article however is the fact that the researchers looked at how the brain actually works in order to mimic the way we form and understand language. This is how robotics ought to be looked at, we see our biological nature and mimic it to the best of our abilities using technology. Working with simpler versions while upgrading along the way.

Inspiration: Genius Is…

"Genius Is…" A comic for Red Lemon Club by Grant Snider

Trivia: What if You're Exposed to Space?

"What Happens if Your Body is Exposed to the Vacuum of Space?" by SciShow

Hank answers a SciShow viewer's most pressing question. What happens if the human body is exposed to space? Would your head really explode? Would your blood boil? Would you freeze solid instantly? Turns out the answer is no. You'd only suffocate.

Photo: Botanical Garden of Curitiba

Botanical Garden of Curitiba in Brazil

Tech Links: March 7, 2013

Business

B&N CEO Lynch: “We’re not going to continue doing what we’re doing”

Barnes & Noble Weighs Its E-Reader Investment

Brave New World: How will shrinking shelf space impact publishing?

Why B&N should abandon hardware

Video Distraction: Secret of the Stars

Symphony of Science - Secret of the Stars by melodysheep

Melodysheep continues his “Symphony of Science” series with “Secret of the Stars”

Lecture: What Most Schools Don't Teach

What most Schools don't Teach by CodeOrg

Learn about a new "superpower" that isn't being taught in in 90% of US schools.

Link Round-Up: March 5, 2013

Apple IIe Running The Matrix at the Panic HQ

News: Woman shot by oven while trying to cook waffles

8 Things Working At Disney World Taught Me About The Human Race

Here is what a bunch of folks seem to think are the 74 Things Every Great Star Wars Movie Needs.

IBM commissioned a short promotional film to sell the MTST. among others. It was commissioned in 1967 from Jim Henson. With a score by Raymond Scott. How good could that be? This good.

You got your cuisine in my astrophysics; no, you got your astrophysics in my cuisine: Neil deGrasse Tyson interviews Anthony Bourdain. Alton Brown talks to Google about bow ties, trying to find recipes on Google vs. on the Food Network website, and trying to impress his daughter by blowing things up.

Video Distraction: Most Insane Rope Swing Ever

World's Most Insane Rope Swing Ever! by devinsupertramp

Filmmaker Devin Graham captured a group of his friends on film as swung through a canyon on a 400 foot rope swing. You can get a better look at how deep the insane drop actually was on the video blog shot on sight.

Quotes: TED2013 Quotables

TED2013 Quotables

Photo: Roots fighting with Bricks

"Roots fighting with bricks" by Vincent Guyaux

Software: Roll20 Dungeons & Dragons Platform

Roll20 is a fully customizable virtual Dungeons & Dragons platform that allows you to organize and play through campaigns with your friends whether they’re close by, in another state, or on the other side of the world. As the Dungeon Master, you can add your own tokens, maps, character portraits, and background music, or choose from Roll20′s libraries. The DM and players can draw diagrams and roll dice directly on the virtual tabletop in real time, and Roll20 also supports video, voice, and text chat. The service is completely free, though some artwork and tokens can only be purchased through the Roll20 marketplace.