Kid that can see with his ears using echolocation
Posted by Jason in Kick-Ass Stuff, Video on the Web on June 29th, 2009
I can’t let this go by without linking to it. It’s a YouTube video of a CBS segment about a blind kid who has learned how to “see” using echolocation – yes, like a bat. His abilities are astounding to watch – he can name objects around him, accurately throw pillows in a pillow-fight, rollerblade, and even play videogames, though that last one isn’t so much about echolocation as it is an incredible talent for picking out audio detail.
My favorite part of this clip is the interview with his doctor, who states that the child’s mother should be praised for the confidence she has instilled in her child, and the fact that she doesn’t baby him because of his disability, but rather instills in him the belief that he can do anything that kids with sight can do – and he can.
Links for 6/25/2009
- Review: Sealed-In Batteries in New Apple MacBook Pros | By Walter S. Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD
Uncle Walty supports the new sealed-in batteries used in Apple’s latest line of Macs.
The natural evolution from side project to full-time business – (37signals)
Some interesting advice regarding starting up a new business. Conventional wisdom holds that you should focus 110% of your energies on a new enterprise or it will fail; the folks at 37signals suggest that you should hold onto your day job as long as possible, giving you the longest possible runway to get your idea off the ground.
The blue and the green | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine
This is probably the best optical illusion involving colour that I’ve ever seen. At first glance, it’s virtually impossible to convince yourself that the blue and the green in the image are in fact the same colour.
Links for 6/24/2009
- 6 Intriguingly Shaped Communities As Seen On Google Maps
As much as these communities are interesting to look at from above, they don’t appear to be all that practical to, you know, actually live in.
Netbooks are temporary
Posted by Jason in Geek Stuff on June 24th, 2009
Mobile tech guru Michael Gartenberg has a column up at Engadget proclaiming Nebooks, R.I.P. Given the current incredible popularity of the category as evidenced by the huge amount of interest in sites like Liliputing and JKOnTheRun, it’s hard to imagine that Gartenberg is right. But he is.
Netbooks are primarily popular because they are inexpensive, relatively full-featured laptops. The fact that they are very small and therefore quite portable is also a big selling feature, but it is also the compromise that will eventually kill the category. Current netbooks offer cramped screens and keyboards, small drives, and underpowered processors; unfortunately, this means that some consumers are buying what they think are cheap laptops, but finding that they don’t work very well for media management or editing. As noted in the Engadget column, netbooks are already getting bigger to the point that both Microsoft and Intel are attempting to somehow artificially constrain the definition of what a “netbook” is to arbitrary an arbitrary size.
So why are netbook offerings getting bigger? Two reasons. First, because they can – you can now build a laptop in the $300-$500 price window that seems to define a netbook with a 12-inch screen and accompanying full-size keyboard, if not larger. The second – and more important – reason is that when given the choice, most people would rather work on a larger keyboard with a larger screen – they want laptops. This is evidenced by the fact that the number of netbooks currently selling with Windows on them has dwarfed those that are selling with Linux distributions on them despite the cost differential.
All of this points to the fact that computers have become commodities, and the prices on them are going to continue to fall. When you can get the equivalent of today’s 13-inch MacBook Pro for $500, will that still be considered a netbook? Is the definition of netbook “a computer that forces you to compromise”?
I think the point here is that the term “netbook” is likely going to die soon, since the definition was never really all that clear in the first place. Another possible alternative is that the “netbook” will continue to be used but simply signify “small laptop”, which certainly won’t have the same cachet as it holds today. Let’s hope the netbooks of the future are able to handle the ever-increasing demands of the software that we want to run on them.
Auto-tune the news – genius remixing
Posted by Jason in Kick-Ass Stuff, Video on the Web on June 23rd, 2009
This is a concept that had never previously occurred to me: what happens if you apply auto-tuning (the effect where any sound, most commonly a voice, can be forced to stick to notes of a given scale) to regular speech? Even better, what happens if you do this with news talking head personalities, then wrap an actual song around it? Finally, what if you pull all of this together as a video?
The results are nothing short of priceless (and a little astounding):
Links for 6/23/2009
- The Disappearing Male – Doc Zone | CBC-TV
This is definitely not the kind of stuff that I normally would choose to watch, but once I started it was so compelling and scary that I couldn’t stop. Basically, the chemicals in consumer products are reducing the number of male babies that are born each year, a decline which could eventually be a risk to the human species.
Bathtub IV – a stop-motion tilt-shift short movie
Posted by Jason in Kick-Ass Stuff, Video on the Web on June 23rd, 2009
This short little movie is very compelling, both in how it looks, and how it sounds. The song is called “Clementine” by an artist called Megan Washington, and it’s hauntingly beautiful. The video itself shows the story of a search and rescue helicopter in a visually stunning manner.
I’ve embedded the video here, but it looks much better in HD on Vimeo’s site.
Links for 6/16/2009
- Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them. | Derek Sivers
I’ve only just recently come across this advice that announcing your intentions to do something actually de-motivates you from doing it, contrary to popular belief. This is a good rundown of why.
Bipole spins you right round baby, right round
Posted by Jason in Fun and games on June 13th, 2009
Bipole is a mind-bending TimeWaster that requires you to use gravity to your advantage. In the game you control the board, which is a large circle by rotating it using the arrow keys. The goal in the game is to make all of the red and blue balls touch each other (red to blue and vice-versa) to clear them from the board. Once all the balls are cleared, you have beaten the level.
As the levels progress there are devices and objects that your balls will begin to interact with, such as magnets, polarity switchers that will switch an opposite-colored ball to its color, and hazards like electrified walls. Luckily, you get one more trick up your sleeve: the ability to freeze the balls while you rotate the board. While sometimes this is a very straightforward trick around a given hazard, at other times freezing the balls just complicates matters further.
The balls carry a bit of a magnetic charge as well. So although this tends to make opposite-colored balls attracted to one another, each level is creatively designed to make getting the balls together increasingly difficult.
[Originally written for Download Squad, until I discovered that it had already been covered there.]
Links for 6/12/2009
- Gmail is My FriendFeed Client | Stay N' Alive
FriendFeed is very powerful, but can feel a bit user unfriendly at first. Jesse’s article explains how to get your feet wet and start really using FriendFeed, instead of just glancing at it occasionally – and it’s incredibly easy!
Exploring the Mysteries of the Mind with the Sims 3 | Cracked.com
Hilarious article on Cracked.com describing the kinds of ethics-free psychological testing you can perform on your Sims characters.
Fast Food Apple Pies and Why Netbooks Suck — The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century
Accordion Guy nails the uneasy feeling I’ve had about netbooks all along. They’re cool because they’re cheap and almost like a real computer. But that “almost” is huge.
Links for 6/11/2009
- what consumes me, bud caddell » how to be happy in business – venn diagram
It would be too easy to pooh-pooh this advice, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Something to consider for any entrepreneur.
Implanted defibrillator saves soccer player’s life
Posted by Jason in Kick-Ass Stuff, Video on the Web, Weird Stuff on June 9th, 2009
The soccer player in this YouTube video has an implanted defibrillator. He apparently has a genetic condition that predisposes him to heart attacks, and when one occurs, the implanted defibrillator automatically goes into action, jolting the heart and effectively bringing him back to life. Scary, and inspiring the same time!











