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Star Wars Inspired Stamps for All of Your Galactic Mail

Kristina Hall — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:00:23 +0000

Just in case you need to mail something to the Dagobah System, the Space Station, Space Shuttle, to the Mother Alien ship or just want to send an old fashioned birthday card to a friend, why not consider a series of fun and cool artsy stamps inspired by the Star Wars world.

Graphic artist Stefan van Zoggel has created a series of art stamps that bring to life the inter-galactic world imagined by Star Wars. van Zoggel gained fame in February of this year for creating a series of movie posters titles Meme Movie Posters.

One of the fun aspects of the new series of Star Wars inspired stamps are that they are a mix of old world travel type posters overlaid with Star Wars locations.

And the coolest part of all - R2-D2 is the postmaster!

iRobot - Robots Engineered for Cleaning Performance

Kristina Hall — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:00:05 +0000

Who really enjoys doing housework? How would you like to have an automatic system that vacuums and scrubs the floor, cleans your pool and cleans your gutter?

Welcome - iRobot. This amazing device has revolutionized the way we clean our homes. Roomba is a robotic system that is designed for everyday chores such as sweeping and vacuuming. One touch of a button and Roomba picks up dust, pet hair, kitty lit term dirt and debris from the floor, including under furniture and along wall edges.

Next comes Scooba - the floor washing robot. No more dirty mop water and mop wringing with this technology. Scooba uses a patented cleaning system that uses clean solution from start to finish, effectively removing up to 98% on common household bacteria (according to iRobot.)

Moving on to the pool, welcome Verro. Verro cleans your pool without any installation, hoses, or booster pumps. Just drop Verro into your pool and let the advanced robotic technology do the job of cleaning.

And to top it off, we have Looj, which will automatically clean your gutter. All you have to do is put the ladder in one spot, put Looj into the gutter system and off it goes, blasting away dirt, leaves, sludge and gunk that makes cleaning gutters an ugly task. Looj takes care of all of this for you.

Now that you have all cleaning systems covered, what are you going to do with your free time?

Face Tracking and Digital Ads

Kristina Hall — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:00:51 +0000

Did you know that your face is being tracked by advertisers? We have all become accustomed to seeing digital ads in shopping malls, airports and numerous other public places. Some of these ads are looking back at you!

Intel's AIM Suite digital signs uses face detection cameras and software that can help determine a consumers age and gender, and then tailor the ad to what the software finds. Wow! A young woman walks by (and the software picks up the long hair and stride and perhaps dress) and may show an ad for hair products or fashion accessories. A man walks by and the ad may show a BMW. How does it know how to do this?

AIM Suite is designed to detect broad age ranges--basically 18 and under, 18-35, 35-60 and then 60 and over. Not quite sure how they can tell the age really. I sure as heck have a hard time telling someone's age anymore.

What AIM Suite does, is sends data back to the advertiser, like how long the consumer may have looked at the ad and did they come closer to the ad for a deeper look. Advertisers hope to gain valuable specific-target marketing to consumer groups with this new technology. Guess you better really want what you are looking at.

Mining Asteroids - Who Gets the Goods?

Kristina Hall — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:56:07 +0000

The future of mining on near-Earth asteroids is becoming a probability - and with that comes issues of legality, who get the property rights?

According to the Outer Space Treat, written in 1967 by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs:

"Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means."

Article II of the Outer Space Treaty clearly bans “appropriation,” other provisions actually support property rights. The treaty makes clear that both the exploration and use of outer space shall be free of restraint and discrimination, and that there will be free access to all parts of space. It also states that the use of equipment and facilities necessary for peaceful activities is fine. And anything launched into (or built in) space remains the private property of its owner.

The question remains for the future to answer who will actually get the mining rights to an asteroid, but according to NASA, they believe that any kind of samples from space are a limited resource, a future heritage and should be used for research, education and public display.

We will see how this thought process of education versus capitalism in outer space plays out in the future.

iPhone 5 Coming in June 2012?

Kristina Hall — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:00:43 +0000

Oh the rumor mills are on high-speed these days! According to a Foxconn recruiter, we are to expect a new iPhone in June of 2012.

Supposedly, and according to an interview with the recruiter, the company that makes iPhones is "looking for 18,000 employees to make the fifth-generation phone." Which, if the rumor is true, will be the 6th iPhone released by the company.

Oh the excitement builds! Is it true? What new features will inspire thousands - millions of iPhone users to abandon their current iPhone for the "new iPhone?" Stay tuned to see what occurs -

Tumblr Adds Facebook Timeline Integration

Kristina Hall — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:30:35 +0000

Social plug-ins keep growing and growing and growing…..

Social media networks keep integrating. Now Tumblr, the social blog, announced that sharing posts to Facebook is about to get a whole ton easier. Posts will now appear on your Facebook Timeline, News Feed and Ticker - oh my! All one has to do is to chose "send to Facebook" option.

How integrated are we to get? How much information can we intake every day?

Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleIUpon, Pinterest - I am concerned that we will never move away from the computer. We are physically meant to move our bodies as human beings - how much time do we sit in our high-end office chair and spend on the computer?

Anyway - Tumblr and Facebook are now an item :)

BMW Unveils New Sporty Hybrid Concept Car: i8 Spyder

Kristina Hall — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:30:42 +0000

Really - who does not openly love a sporty BMW car? They are classy, built for longevity and are truly beautiful to look at.

BMW has begun a series of gas-hybrid vehicles and are part of the i8 series. Their newest creation is the i8 Spyder.

The i8 Spyder sports a 96 kW/131 hp on the front, coupled with a 164 kW/223 hp gasoline engine on the back, which accelerate the car from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5 seconds, with a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).

As far as fuel consumption goes, BMW claims 3 liters per 100 km (62 miles), with 30 kilometres (19 miles) of autonomy on electric power alone.

Enough of the technical data - what I find super cool are the lines and designs of the i8 Spyder, with lots of black and electric blue details, upward swiveling doors and (this is really cool) there is a semi-transparent "V" on the front end which allows gawkers to look inside at the electric engine - all without having to pop the hood.

BMW has not released the car yet - but those in the know believe that the upcoming New York Auto Show will probably be a good place for them to debut this hot new ride!

Apple Corporation to Fuel New North Carolina Data Center With Biogas

Kristina Hall — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:30:50 +0000

Apple always seems to be ahead of the curve of technology and innovation - so it comes as no surprise to find Apple building a new data center in North Carolina that will run on methane based bio-gas.

The company recently filed technical details with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Included in the data were the specs for the 4.8 megawatt facility, which will hold 24-200 kilowatt fuel cell systems. Each system will have six power-generating modules.

Pretty exciting is the fact that the fuel cells are run on methane which is produced by animal waste and then converted into electricity. Wow!

The data center plans to begin running in earnest by November of 2012 and in addition, Apple is building a massive 20-megawatt solar array next door.

Hats off to Apple for moving forward in the world of green energy!

Google and High Speed TV

Kristina Hall — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:01:36 +0000

Are you looking for a new video service to add to your online viewing repertoire?

If you live in Kansas City, Mo and have access to Verizon's Fiber Optic Services, you will have soon have access to Google's new offering of video packages that include live TV, on demand and online access TV channels. Google plans to expand their TV market in the new future.

Google chose Kansas City for it's access to huh internet connection via fiber optics connections which claim to have 100 times faster than average internet connection.

If Google goes through with this super high fast internet TV connection and expands, would you pay for this service? Frankly, I sure as heck would! When I am looking forward to watching a show, I do not want to be slowed down by a slow speed internet connection. I say, "Go Google."

Wearable Fabric That Converts Body Heat Into Electricity

Kristina Hall — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:00:37 +0000

Imagine being able to wear a shirt or jacket that conveys the body heat that you generate into electricity that can charge your iPod, cell phone, flashlight or weather station. Wow! Talk about a great survival tool!

The company Power Felt have created a unique form of creating energy called thermoelectrics. Power Felt uses tiny carbon nanotubes and plastic fibers that help transform body heat into electricity.

Graduate student Corey Hewitt states, “We waste a lot of energy in the form of heat. For example, recapturing a car’s energy waste could help improve fuel mileage and power the radio, air conditioning or navigation system. Generally thermoelectrics are an underdeveloped technology for harvesting energy, yet there is so much opportunity.”

As more and more of us use electronics that require a continuous source of electricity, thermoelectric "power plants" could truly be the rave of the future.