Tag: technology

Categories
internets

Accessibility rules!

Want an argument for accessibility?

Here you go! (via Ma.tt)

 

Uber-cool Glenda Watson Hyatt, aka the Left Thumb Blogger, shares her perspective on how WordPress has improved her ability to communicate effectively on the internets.

Whether you are 100% able-bodied or not, accessibility is important. Because no matter who you are, the future is coming. Some day many of us may have devices assisting us, whether we need them or not, and completely removing all barriers between humans and machines will be an important first step in enabling us to proliferate on the digital grid – on a truly level playing field.

I’ve committed to making my upcoming theme be as accessible as possible. You should too, especially if you want to meet the Future head-on. Keeping all variants of humanity and machinery in mind when designing user interfaces of any kind will be important there.

Categories
uncategorized

Accessibility rules!

Originally published at jeremyjarratt.com. You can comment here or there.

Want an argument for accessibility?

Here you go! (via Ma.tt)

Uber-cool Glenda Watson Hyatt, aka the Left Thumb Blogger, shares her perspective on how WordPress has improved her ability to communicate effectively on the internets.

Whether you are 100% able-bodied or not, accessibility is important. Because no matter who you are, the future is coming. Some day many of us may have devices assisting us, whether we need them or not, and completely removing all barriers between humans and machines will be an important first step in enabling us to proliferate on the digital grid – on a truly level playing field.

I’ve committed to making my upcoming theme be as accessible as possible. You should too, especially if you want to meet the Future head-on. Keeping all variants of humanity and machinery in mind when designing user interfaces of any kind will be important there.

Categories
current events uncategorized

unholy thing

Oh my god. This creepy, unthinking mechanical thing is the precursor to the terrible things that will replace us. I, for one, welcome them with open arms.

Categories
internets media uncategorized

Spore

Will Wright is an incredible genius! The man behind the “Sim” games, his new game, Spore, is most definitely going to be the most amazing and mind-blowing game ever created. It will be a very, very, very long time before anybody ever tops this one. Watch the entire video to get a sense of the sheer godawful scope of this gargantuan thing. Mere words simply cannot do it justice.

[googlevideo]8372603330420559198[/googlevideo]
Categories
current events uncategorized

Cloaking Device Invented (sort of)

Scientists Take Step Toward Invisibility

Dr. [David R.] Smith warned against getting ahead of the day’s announcement and envisioning the disappearing Romulan warbirds of “Star Trek” on the horizon. The work “is really a scientific explanation,” he said, adding, “Whether it’s useful is always a question.”

Creating a cloaking device in the visible spectrum would be vastly more complex, he said, since the device would have to warp all of the wavelengths of light. The chance of creating such a device is “dim,” he said, but, “The theory doesn’t prevent it from an electromagnetic point of view.”

A real invisibility cloak? Wizard!

“Our cloak allows a concealed volume, plus the cloak, to appear to have properties similar to free space when viewed externally,” Professor David Smith, of Duke University, said. “The cloak deflects microwave beams so they flow around a ‘hidden’ object, making it appear almost as if nothing were there at all. The waves’ movement is similar to river water flowing around a smooth rock.”
Categories
internets memories uncategorized

RuBot II- Rubik’s Cube solving robot

YouTube has an amazing video of RuBot II – The Rubik’s cube solving robot. I so want one. My birthday’s coming up, but the creator’s website isn’t, so I have no idea if they have a Wishlist feature. [UPDATE] I was typing in the wrong address; it’s http://mechatrons.com/.

[youtube]jkft2qaKv_o[/youtube]

This is the new version of RuBot by Pete Redmond from Dublin, Ireland. It’s very different to the prototype but it has to be the coolest looking robot solver ever. There are cameras in the eyes of the head that scan the cube before the pneumatic arms solve it. It usually solves the Cube in a max of about 50 seconds (not including the scan) no matter how much it is mixed up.

The solving algorithm is taken care of by Herbert Kociemba’s Cube Explorer software and usually solves the cube in a maximum of about 20 moves. In this video, the cube wasn’t mixed up too hard so RuBot was able to find the optimum solution.

Thanks to all of those who think it is too good to be true. That is a real compliment!

Categories
current events uncategorized

Hacking Your Way to a Better Tomorrow

Did you know: If you’re really serious about getting your favorite greasy politician elected, you could

  • invest hundreds of hours (unpaid in most cases) campaigning for them

    • or you could

  • simply hack the Diebold machine taking the votes, which only requires a few minutes of your time.
Categories
life uncategorized

My favorite gadgets

Gadgets that seemingly transport me weeks into the future:

  • SanDisk Sansa e140
    • Now i am never without my first true love – music. 1 Gigabyte will easily store 15 albums’ worth of good-quality mp3s. Expandable with an SD card. And an FM tuner for when you’re standing right next to a radio tower and want to nearly discern what’s being broadcast.
  • various LED flashlights
    • I will use these things at the drop of a hat – even in direct freakin’ sunlight. And i have yet to change the batteries after months of constant use. Very bright.
  • Samsung LCD monitor
    • Flat, sleek, crystal clear, colorful, nearly weightless, and relatively microscopic footprint. Very sexy.
  • Acu-Rite weather monitor w/ remote sensor
    • I only say “what’s it like outside?” out of pure habit. I don’t really mean it, though. I can know at a mere glance. Makes one feel meteorologically omnipotent.
  • Yamaha tuner/metronome
    • Always in tune, always in time. Theoretically, anyway.
  • Mad Catz wireless controller for PS2
    • Now if only my PS2’s fuse wasn’t going bad, i could play without that stupid big thick stiff cable always knocking shit over.
  • Digitech Distortion Factory
    • I can dial in any tone, from warm overdrive to jangly crunch to thick meaty distortion to scooped out slog-metal. Rawk.
  • Laser pointer
    • Don’t knock this relatively old-school tech – it’s the best dog toy ever created! No crazy squeaking to annoy you during the late-night movie sessions, and it won’t make your pooch morbidly obese.
  • Logitech wireless optical mouse
    • Overlooking the battery drainage, the fact that it won’t get in your way, stays smooth as silk, and never needs cleaning makes this damn thing a killer piece of tech.
  • various small desktop-style speakers
    • I seem to have pairs of these things all over the freaking apartment for TV/DVD/PS2, boomboxes, PC, etc. Although i’m not yet 5.1, i’m never without rich, stereo sound, and they never get in the way. Even the wires are easily hidden under small rugs.
  • rechargeable batteries
    • I never lack power or mobility. Not for several hours at least. Then, i transform back into my regular, mild-mannered, powerless and immobile self. But only until i recharge a few more cells!
  • Phillips automatic A/V selector
    • Doesn’t matter what device i turn on, the TV will show me what i want to see most. Well, within reason. I’m still waiting to see a semi-intelligent, at least partially-evolved creature take back control of the most powerful nation on Earth. And 24/7 boobies. In that precise order.
Categories
current events internets

Breaking robot/chicken news!

No matter how much you want to believe otherwise, you’re just not ever going to believe these startling, floor-dropping-out-from-under-you news stories of Ro-bots*, and of chickens. Science to the rescue?! I think not, good sir! If only we could turn back the hands of time toward yesterday, when things were so more… innocenter.

The tables have finally turned! Humans can now control The Ro-bots via thoughts! Never again will a Ro-bot control my thoughts, or control me with its thoughts! And i’m kinda glad about that, i guess, but i think that by some measure, i will miss the old days.

This just in: Egg came first after all. I really do wish i didn’t have to keep continually using this next phrase, but it certainly is warranted in this case: Sorry, chicken.

* or, as Holly calls these metal demons, “Ro-bits”

Categories
current events

Light goes backwards… faster than self?!

So, ya know how those wacky scientists have been slowing down light more and more over the past several years now? To the point where you could physically see the motion? And even to the point where it’s stopped?

Now, Robert Boyd, the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics at the University of Rochester, has actually slowed time so fucking much that it moves backwards.

That’s right. Backwards. But that’s not all!

It apparently does so faster than the god damn speed of light.

Categories
current events internets

link roundup

Korea unveil’s world’s 2nd (life-like) android. I had no idea there was another, but there is: it’s Japanese.

Best Buy invaded by faux blueshirts! Hail Eris!

Security guards and managers started talking to each other frantically on their walkie-talkies and headsets. “Thomas Crown Affair! Thomas Crown Affair!,” one employee shouted. They were worried that were using our fake uniforms to stage some type of elaborate heist. “I want every available employee out on the floor RIGHT NOW!”

Student kicked out of private university for – get this – being gay! Honestly, wtf?!

This revolving kitchen is a serious space-saver. How awesome is that?

Superhero underwear fetish spoof! Female superheroes have always been objectified as so much T&A… now male superheroes can be fluffy C&B models!

German superhero Robin Hoods steal gourmet food to give to the poor!

“The Not Your Soldier Project gives youth the tools we need to stop the military invasion of our schools and our communities.”

Creationism dismissed as ‘a kind of paganism’ by Vatican’s astronomer.

Remix My Life in the Bush of Ghosts tracks!

3D pictures of 9/11.

The Skeletor Show. Yup. The Skeletor Show.

Terrorist video game mod is a hoax. Who knew? Anyone with half a brain, that’s who.

Categories
current events internets media

link roundup

Woman, 56 and wheelchair-bound, killed by Taser. Taser use is quickly getting out of control. When i lived in Jacksonville, Florida, it was practically a death sentence to be mentally impaired and have a bad day. I remember several incidents where citizens would have a bit of a public freak-out and wind up in the morgue. Then, it was a case of the police using unsafe choke holds. Now, they’re using the magic of electricity to subdue. I think it’s just a little too easy. I mean, i don’t like guns one bit, but this allegedly non-violent solution is unfortunately a heavy factor in many unnecessary deaths. From a related article:

And even though Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taser, Inc–the company that created it–said it should never be used on children or the elderly, Florida leads the nation in deaths by Taser. The oldest victim to date? Ninety-five. The youngest? A 6-year old boy.

Googlemap of historic nuclear accidents. Spooky, and makes you rethink how safe nuclear energy is.

ACLU releases its FOIA-enabled report on prisoner abuse.

Boing Boing has a great roundup of Immigrants’ Rights rallies for May 1.

Neil Young‘s new Living With War album now streaming. It’s a fuckin’ scorcher of a rock record!

Weird Video: “Stop the Madness,” the only White House-sponsored rock video ever made. Antidrug. Very, very bizarre. I’m telling you, i actually took drugs just so i could stop this madness. [disclaimer: i do not use any drugs besides nicotine these days.] Although this video probably aired less than 20 times nationwide, it was probably actually really, really cool… for a negative amount of time. Seeing such sights as Nancy Reagan lip-synching the words, and a living, talking threatening David Hasselhoff poster, however, may make you feel like you really are on drugs.

Weird Video: C for Cookie, a V for Vendetta spoof. Awesome!

Weird Video: New Logitech Orbit webcam. Awesome!

Categories
current events internets media

link roundup

The universe just gained a lot of weight: Neutrinos evidently have mass after all.

Speaking of fat: Homer now has to have a bigger screen.

Prayer probably powerless. Having heart surgery? Prayer won’t help you. Looks like regular exercise and a healthier diet is all that can save us now.

“Only three things are certain in life. MySpace, Taxes, and Death.”

Coolest. Case mod. Evar.

Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) on The Future of the Web (w/ mp3).

From the WTF!? files: Flying Spaghetti Monster (anti-ID spoof) on Al-Jazeera. Do not adjust your set; you read that correctly.

“Respectfully missing” David Byrne/Brian Eno …Bush of Ghosts track “Qu’ran” turns up as mp3 on blogs.