martoon

28.7.05

CULTURE - Grandmother Sues Rockstar Games/Take Two Interactive

  • Old Lady


  • Incognito let's loose a scathing opinion on how "F-ing stupid" an old lady was for supplying a 14 year old with a game intended for over 17 year olds and then she goes on to sue Rockstar because "it contained hidden, sexually explicit scenes..." I guess she has no problem with her 14 year old explicitly sniping the heads off of pedestrians from a rooftop. Classic!

    CULTURE - survey says, kids almost completely wired

  • Wired Kids


  • The report compiled for the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that nearly 9 of 10 youths age 12 through 17 have online access--up from about three-quarters of young people in 2000. The report goes on to say "Not only has the number of users increased, but also the variety of technologies that teens use to support their communication, research, and entertainment desires has grown.

    These technologies enable a variety of methods and channels by which youth can communicate with one another as well as with their parents and other authorities. Email, once the cutting edge “killer app,” is losing its privileged place among many teens as they express preferences for instant messaging (IM) and text messaging as ways to connect with their friends."

    WWW - Encyclopediadramatica

  • Encyclopediadramatica


  • The other night, I was mindlessly clicking around the net and found myself on what I thought was wickipedia article about england and it wasn't until i read that "The English are asymmetrical along the body, meaning that the left part is not a mirror image of the right. They do not have hardened exoskeletons, which results in horrible skin conditions. They breathe via their lungs through their permanently flared nostrils..." that I knew something wasn't right. It turns out the site is a parody site that runs off of a wickipedia engine but instead of balanced, self-correcting facts, it offers up funny bits that are intended to get a laugh. The idea behind the site was "Sparked after several people were denied from posting to wikipedia.org"

    22.7.05

    TECH -Bootable Linux Computer-On-a-Stick Flash Drive

  • geekzone


  • FingerGear is introducing the Computer-On-a-Stick Flash Drive. The Computer-On-a-Stick is a bootable USB 2.0 Flash Drive featuring a complete onboard Operating System.

    Based on Linux 2.6.x Kernel with Gnome GUI Desktop, the device comes in configurations with 256MB, 512MB, 1G, 2G, 4G, and 8GB.

    The device also features the OpenOffice Productivity Suite, along with many of the most commonly used desktop and Internet applications. The Computer-On-a-Stick allows users to take their entire software environment with them and move from hardware to hardware.

    The device is bootable from any PC with an x86 processor supporting USB boot. All bookmarks, address book, emails, and office documents are stored securely on the device and never leave a trace on the host PC. Users enter a login password at each session.

    TECH - Do You Know What Podcasting Is?

  • internetnews.net


  • Working in the tech-biz, I sometimes think that what I know is common knowledge, but it's like the plumber thinking that everyone knows that a "riser" is vertical water pipe carrying the mains water supply. Internetnews published an interesting article that puts it back in perspective for me.

    Not sure of what the terms Podcasting (define), RSS (define) or Phishing (define) mean? You're not alone.

    Though the tech news media regularly use those terms in stories, most Americans are not familiar with the digital audio file nature of Podcasting, the Web site syndication protocol RSS or the e-mail scam known as Phishing, according to a recent survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project.

    Pew surveyed a sampling of 1,336 people over the phone between May 4 and June 7. Sixty-five percent of respondents indicated they weren't really sure what RSS is, and 26 percent said that they had never heard of the term.

    CULTURE - Driving In NJ - Dick to close Rt 1 today!

    This Just In: "According to today's TRENTON TIMES:

    VP CHENEY to VISIT WESTIN HOTEL at the PRINCETON FORRESTAL VILLAGE for
    REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISER:

    The event is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the hotel. Nearby
    roads, including Route 1, likely will be closed in the late afternoon
    or early evening for security purposes.

    ... Vice President Cheney will be here in town on Friday July 22,
    2005. We strongly recommend that residents and drivers avoid the use
    of US HWY 1 between the hours of 330pm & 700pm this date. Please make
    the proper arrangements to choose a different route of travel."

    21.7.05

    FASHION - Custom Spider Man Outfits

  • Custom Spider Costumes


  • Margaret will make you your own custom Spidey outfit and you'll be as happy as this guy, ""I've been wearing the costume all around. I've been driving all around town! Thanks again! David S.

    TECH - Improve the range of your Belkin Tunecast2

  • Belkin Mod


  • This would be great for broadspamming your music during those boring morning traffic jams. The Belkin Tunecast2 is a nicely designed piece of technology, superior to other devices of its sort due to its ability to tune to any FM frequency that you desire. The device is only limited by its range of operation. Before I modded my Tunecast2, it would operate efficiently at a distance of up to about 20-30 feet. After the mod, I was able to rebroadcast audio clearly without interference througout my entire house and even outside the house!

    TECH - Swiss-Army Flash Drive

  • swissmemory 1GB flight


  • I guess with all the swiss army knitting needles getting confiscated on commercial flights, the knife company has decided to expand their product line with flight safe flash drive version of the historical multi-tool. Storage ranges from 256, 512 to 1 gig and come equipped with a laser sight for accurate aiming to the USB port. And for you folks with a pilot's license, they do offer a version with blades.

    TECH - Tiny Apps For Tiny's sake and everything else

  • tiny apps


  • TinyApps.Org, a guide to very small software for your PC. The link above links you directly to the MAC section, but they have tiny software for Mac, Palm and Windoze. The app sizes range from 1.44 mb all the way down to a miniscule 448 bytes! Perfect for carrying around on your swiss-army flash drive.

    MUSIC - Xpod: get music from iPod without iTunes

  • Xpod


  • Xpod 81k ipod music downloader, stick it on your key drive for emergency mooching! For Apple Mac OS X only, hahahahahahahah!

    ROBOT - Swedish Mini Robot H2

  • H2


  • The HR-2 robot was constructed during a period of three months at Chalmers University in Sweden. It has 22 degrees of freedom which enables it to easily move around imitating human motions. The robot is also equipped with stereovision giving it possibilities to perform hand-eye coordination. For that task an artificial neural network is evolved. Furthermore, the artificial brain is capable of tracking faces as well as recognising them. The HR-2 is also able to speak. They have a nice video showcasing the robots ability to mimic the motions of the demontrator.

    TECH - Star Trek Screensaver

  • Star Trek Screensaver


  • Reblogged from TUAW meWHO's Star Trek screensaver turns your Mac into your very own starship in the service of Starfleet. Not only does this screensaver create a complete LCARS (Library Computer Access and Retrieval System) menu system on your screen, but it is also accompanied by authentic sounds from the series (though you can turn the sounds off).

    TECH - computer crashing? Think positively

  • Mind May Effect Machines


  • A researcher says that his experiments may prove that your thoughts may have an effect on electronic devices.

    Researchers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, or Pear, have been attempting to measure the effect of human consciousness on machines since 1979.

    Using random event generators -- computers that spew random output -- they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines' output. Out of several million trials, they've detected small but "statistically significant" signs that minds may be able to interact with machines. However, researchers are careful not to claim that minds cause an effect or that they know the nature of the communication...

    Radin said the phenomenon could be similar to quantum entanglement -- what Einstein referred to as "spooky action at a distance" -- in which two particles separated from each other appear to connect without any apparent form of communication.

    18.7.05

    TECH - HOW TO make Enhanced Podcasts (images, links and more with audio)

  • make


  • Hatch has been finding great podcasting bits, here's the latest: Reblogged from hatch.org "Apple's new iTunes 4.9, iPod color, allows you to view (and listen to) "enhanced podcasts" these are audio files that can have slideshows, URLs and some cool features we have discovered."

    FLASH - Fullasgoog flash blog aggregator

  • Fullasgoog


  • An aggregator for all of the best Flash related blogs out there, and has valuable information popping up daily.
    "Why did you bother to build Full As A Goog?
    Blogs are a useful way of distilling information from people in the know. Blog authors in turn distill information from their experience, mailing lists, the web, even other blogs. The problem with any diary is that it's updated now and then. I got tired of having to check through my list of favourite blogs for changes. I wanted a one stop clog of blogs and so "Full As A Goog" was born.
    "

    FLASH - PAPER:What About Flash? Can We Really Make Games With It?

  • Scott Bilas


  • I'm designing a racing game, and although I am a master of "goto", a first person driving game is going to need some professional grade programming behind it. Fortunately, I work with a bunch of brilliant programmers and have run into problems trying to explain to them how flash programming differs from .NET. This article from Scott Bilas does a great job explaining what those differences are as well as the strengths and weakness of programming in flash. "This paper is the story of the Oberon development team’s experiences with building games in Flash. All of us came from big games where we built our own tech (the author was a C++ game systems engineer for nearly ten years), so why did we choose Flash as our development platform instead of building our own casual games platform? What was so hot about Flash, and what caused us headaches? And, most importantly, when should we avoid using Flash entirely?"

    GAME - Flash lawnmower and gopher

  • gopher-it!

  • This is more of a demo than a game, being that it doesn't keep score and has no ending. But sure is a sweet concept. You are in control of a lawnmower in a gopher infested lawn. hit the refresh button to get out of a finished level. Happy trimming :)

    16.7.05

    TECH - burn calories playing video games with an exerciser controller

  • Power Grid Fitness


  • A controller disguised as an exercise device! I wish I heard of this before I put on 40 lbs of experience points. It's based on isometric exercise The Kilowatt resistance rod measures force, not distance, so it never actually moves. The resistance rod is reading the amount of force you’re exerting against it and translates this force into the video game. You push and pull against a pole that measures pressure. If your playing a racing game, the harder you push, the faster your car will go. Works with all major consoles.

    TECH - Hoax or Hack? Hackaday.com displays strange home page

  • hacka-a-day


  • 9:33 pm, 07-16-05 - I'm par-oozing my blogs and have come across a strange message on the hackaday home page. Hackaday is just that, a blog with new hack every day, sometimes it's getting some cool software to work on your toaster, other days it's how to turn your electric shaver into a hedge-trimmer. Today, the only message on the site is a blank white page with the text, "Fuxz Ownz You! fuxz0r@gmail.com" Hmm, is this for real? Time will tell.

    11:52pm, everything seems back to normal

    UPDATE: It was a "simple defacing"

    ROBOT - Robots have been used to race camels for the first time in Qatar

  • Camel Racing Robots


  • Robots have been used to race camels for the first time in Qatar. It follows the introduction of a new law in the Gulf state, long-sought after by human rights groups, banning the use of child jockeys. Seven robots, operating by remote control, were used in the competition at the Shahaniya race track this week, watched by hundreds of spectators, the Emirates-based newspaper Gulf News reported. This is good since, according to BBC news, several thousand boys, some as young as four, work as jockeys - many after being abducted or sold by their families. The boys are kept in terrible prison-like conditions where they are deliberately ly underfed to keep them light so the camels can run faster.

    TECH - pocketBlogger, update your blog from your Pocket PC

    http://www.pocketblogger Pocket Blogger is an application that allows you to post to you Blogger.com blogs from your Pocket PC. I'm using pocket blogger for this post and although it sounds like an excellent idea, the fact that it does not fully support copy/paste makes this software difficult to use. Once that feature is working though, I'm certain I'll use it more often

    14.7.05

    TECH - BIT-Torrent for your PDA

  • reblogged from ENGADGET


  • WinMobile Torrent is a sophisticated and easy-to-use BitTorrent client that allows you to leech and/or seed multiple torrent files.

    MUSIC - first major U.S. concert tour featuring music from the most popular video games!

  • VGL home page


  • Sunday, August 14 - Camden, NJ - Tweeter Center at the Waterfront - Video Games Live will feature the best music and video clips from the most popular games from the beginning of video gaming to the present. Games include: Mario™, Zelda®, Halo®, Metal Gear Solid®, Warcraft®, Myst®, Final Fantasy®, Castlevania®, Medal of Honor™, Sonic™, Tron, Tomb Raider®, Advent Rising, Headhunter, Beyond Good & Evil™, Splinter Cell®, Ghost Recon™, Rainbow Six®, EverQuest® II and a special retro arcade segment that goes from Pong® to Donkey Kong®!

    CULTURE - Driving in NJ - 30 day ticket-fest

  • ticket fest


  • I don't know the validity of this... this is an email i recently recieved from sumone "with connections", i got it on June 28th, so im guessing its gonna be a July thing, so watch out! "New Jersey will launch a 30 day speeding ticket frenzy. The state estimates that 9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets. 1 million will go to pay state troopers over time. There will 50 state troopers on duty at all times patrolling the 9 main intersections and highways.

    CULTURE - Driving in NJ - Proposal to Ban Smoking In Your Car

  • New Jersey Legislator Wants to Ban Smoking in Your Car


  • New Jersey legislator proposes $250 ticket for smoking while driving. Lighting up while driving would become a crime if legislation proposed by New Jersey Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) makes it into law. Assembly bill 4306 would allow police to issue an extra $250 ticket to a smoking motorist who is pulled over for a primary offense such as speeding. The bill has the heavyweight support of the Assembly's majority leader, Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and has been referred to the Assembly's Transportation Committee for consideration. Anybody else think this is ridiculous?

    CULTURE - Driving in NJ - Drunken Zamboni Driver Arrested

  • ZAMBONI


  • Peragallo, a Jersey man, was found driving drunk in his Zamboni. In Jersey, you're considered drunk with a blood alchohol level of point-zero-eight. Peragallo blew a point-one-two.

    CULTURE - Driving in NJ - Jerseyans the safest speeders

  • Jereyans the safest speeders


  • Excessive speed is a contributor in one out of every three fatal motor vehicle accidents nationwide, killing about 1,000 people a month, according to data released yesterday by federal safety regulators. But not, oddly enough, in New Jersey.

    TECH - Star Wars Origami (for real)

  • happy maggy


  • Complete diagrams to create your own Tie Fighter and R2D2 out of paper. I know, the image has nothing to do with star wars.

    ANIMATION - realtime 3d game in flash

  • 3d flash!


  • Ivan Ivanaoff created a 3d engine for flash. I didn't know it was possible to do something like this in flash. I've seen spinning boxes and rotating spheres, but never an entire environment. FlashEd is a 3d engine, specially designed and optimized to work in Flash, and oriented exclusively to the development of games and/or interactive spaces.

    • Multiple Cameras
    • Collision Control
    • Rendering Effects
    • Gravity
    • Polygon Animation
    • Rounded Objects Rendering
    • Linkable Cameras And Objects
    • Shooting Control
    • Active Zone Control

    and if that wasn't great enough you can also download the devkit here: Flash Ant

    TECH - Fujitsu unveils low power flexible display

  • bendy


  • The display uses passive-matrix, reflective type cholesteric liquid crystal technology. Two 3.8-inch diagonal QVGA prototypes, a monochrome display and a color version able to display 512 colors, were shown.

    Differing from flat displays that have color filters comprising red, green and blue pixels, the paper display has a three-layer structure measuring 0.8 mm thick. One layer consists of two 0.125 mm-thick films sandwiching liquid crystal. Cholesteric crystals in each layer are twisted in a certain pitch to reflect only red, green or blue light respectively.

    13.7.05

    TECH - 35 wifi hotspots on my commute home


    There was nothing on the radio today and I ran out of podcasts. So I decided to fire up the wireless on my Smell Axim 30 and monitor wifi hotspots on my ride home. I was kinda surprised that, just as I left my lot, I came across a network called "Warehouse". It made sense since I work smack dab in the middle of warehouse central right off the Jersey Turnpike. But as I took the back roads past all of the new McMansions sprouting up all over McJersey, the detecter started logging multiple signals simultaneously. As many as 5 or 6 at a time. I wonder how many wifis other people can log if they did the same thing.

    12.7.05

    TECH - Humphrey the humping dog

  • Humphrey


  • Who needs cocktails when you can impress a prospective date with one of these high tech gadgets strapped to your leg?

    CULTURE - Missouri #1... Slackers

  • Missouri #1


  • Although gender played no part in time wasting, geography loomed large. The No. 1 state for wasting time was Missouri, where workers who responded to the survey reported slacking off 3 hours and 12 minutes a day.

    VIDEO - an entire site devoted to stupid videos :D

  • stupid videos


  • stupidvideos.com has amassed an impressive collection of hilarious downloadable clips

    VIDEO - The best scene from Fresh Prince of Bell Air... ever

  • Get On It!


  • This is the funniest clip of the entire Fresh Prince Universe. The Fresh Prince and his nerdy cousin enter a last minute dance contest and comedy ensues.

    ANIMATION - popping robot transformer bacon commercial

  • mmmmmm... bacon


  • This bacon company is riding the meme-wave on citroen's amazing transforming popping and locking automobile with their own amazing transforming popping and locking plate-o-bacon.

    GAME - Globz Twin Spin one-click mini game

  • Twin Spin


  • This is a fun simple puzzler. You move around the screen popping colored spheres using only one click on the mouse. You don't click on the screen to move the sprite, you time the click to get the sprite moving in the right direction.

    GAME - Raiden X flash game

  • Raiden X


  • I was a little iffy on this game until I had a chance to play it on a fast machine. It uses some pretty nifty flash techniques for the laser blaster that bendsand twists as it homes in on the enemy. The gameplay is old-school-shoot-em-up complete with power-ups and mega-bosses - - -

    GAME - PSP Stuck Pixel Fixer?

  • PSP_Stuck_Pixel_Fixer


  • This one claims that a dead pixel on a laptop can be revived by forcing a current through the LCD by cycling red, green and blue over and over and over until it begins to work. He generated a video clip specifically for the PSP to flip through the colors.this is a file that i made that was intended to fix Stuck Pixels on the PSP. So far, it has worked around 60% of the time. I tried it on my friends, that had 6 stuck pixels, and it fixed them all. The only real thing you can do is set the video to repeat and leave it on for a few hours.

    10.7.05

    TECH - iLamp upgrade iMac Flat Panel G4 to 1.35 GHz...

  • DAYSTAR


  • Double the flat panel Imac from 700 to 1.35 GHz. I was thinking of buying a new iMac G5 but now there seems to be an upgrade path to my current g4. It would be great if they also could include support for a second monitor. No word on price yet. Here's the scoop...
  • xBench Scores jump from low 70's to over 130, surpassing the fastest iMac G4 every shipped.

  • Factory installation via Apple Certified Technicians.

  • Effortless shipping with Daystar's custom boxes and prepaid DHL shipping options.

  • Compatible with any Mac OS since 9.2... Including Tiger 10.4.1.

  • Supports dual boot systems

  • Includes XLR8 MAChSpeed Control for exclusive G4 performance / compatibility.

  • All upgrades warranted at speeds sold, with Daystar's exclusive 90/720 warranty program.
  • GAMES - flash game "CHAOS"

  • chaos theory

  • Simple game. Click on one of the dots that shoot up from the bottom of the screen and try to create a cascading chain reaction of explosions reminiscent of missile command. The bigger the chain, the biggerer the points. WARNING: extreme japanese text instructions

    GAMES - $5 coupon for Best Buy for PS2 games

  • cheap ass gamer


  • Registered CAGs can print out this coupon good for $5 off PS2 games at Best Buy (in-store only).

    8.7.05

    TECH - Mobile Wiki with Wapipedia

  • Wapipedia

  • A mobile version of the famous Wikipedia encyclopedia is now
    available.
    - BONUS : pretty fast version of the site

    UPDATE - from the creator of Wapipedia - posted on 2-JUL-2005 20:08 - I recently picked up a Smartphone and, keen to surf the web one small page at a time, I added GPRS to my mobile plan. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the greater web was just so much ‘dog food’ as far as mobile browsing went: you could eat it if you were hungry enough, but it wasn’t really what I’d call fit for human consumption.

    Hoping to redress the balance in a small way, I’ve put together a slimmed down, XHTML version of the Wikipedia. You can find it at: http://wapipedia.org

    As a newcomer to the mobile browsing world I’ve only just started thinking about interface issues, so I'm after some feedback here. If you have any suggestions please send them to me at pshanks@megalong.com.

    MUSIC - 3000 freesounds @ freesound project

  • freesound

  • "The Freesound Project - a collaborative database of Creative Commons
    licensed sounds.
    - reblogged from hatch.org

    TECH - soon you can have that info @ your fingertips : literally

  • Mirror Dot

  • clever men have figured out how to write data onto your fingernails. could turn out to be handy.

    CULTURE - who would win @ dodge ball?

    Sweden — Population: 9,001,774
    New York — Population: 18,976,457


    NY has more on their team, but the swedes have the power of cheese

    7.7.05

    No Posts Lately?

    I've been real busy. We're baby sitting two kids for the past
    two weeks and work has been hectic. New posts this weekend. I promise.

    1.7.05

    ANIMATION - endlessly falling bikini woman

  • endlessly falling down thing


  • Every flash demo should include bikinis as the main focal point. This bikini showcase is interesting because of the rag-doll physics applied to the endlessly falling and contorting woman.

    ROBOT - creepy little girl bot

  • repilee R1


  • Verry Verry Creeeeeeeeeepy! I guess this is a good thing to have if you need a robot little girl around to help protect you from a rabid pit-bull with her super-human strength and photon laser vision.

    TECH - transforming SD Card to USB

  • 1GB Ultra II SD Plus


  • These crafty folks took an SD card and crammed a USB attachment into it. Pretty nifty indeed.

    TECH - turn blogs into podcasts with Talkr

  • talkr


  • Talkr basically takes a blog posting and rips it through a text to speech software system that does a pretty good job of translation. What you end up with is the ability to follow your blogs without having to read them. Sign up with them and they will provide you with a bunch of blogs they signed a deal plus and an additional 3 of your choosing. Sign up for a premium package and you will get more - Talkr provides a service that allows you to listen to your favorite text-only news sources rather than read them. If you can point us to an RSS feed (a machine-readable version of your favorite blog or news source) we will convert that feed from text to speech. -