Why Carly Fiorina Will Be the Next World Bank President
HP's ex-CEO tops the short list to lead the World Bank. Critics say she's just a marketing exec without the right experience. Sound familiar? I think she's going to get the job. Here's why.
Make Magazine is featuring a hand-crank iPod Shuffle charger. You know, for those times when you're trapped in the desert with no food, no water, and no way to recharge your music player.
In a shameless effort to "avoid doing their thesis work at the University of Calgary," Tony Tang and Eric Pattison invented an information delivery system called DartMail. They outfitted toy suction cup darts with RFID chips. To use DartMail, you simply punch up a file stored on a shared network, then wave the dart over a combination reader and writer. Then you use a toy, spring-loaded gun to shoot the dart at a co-worker, who can then wave the dart over his reader, and the file is automatically opened. Here comes the video!
Is that Howard Stern calling? No, it's just satellite radio on your mobile phone. Calypso Wireless has come up with technology that will make it easy to listen to satellite radio on mobile phones, PDAs and other gadgets.
Matsushita Electric Works in Japan plans to start selling in March a $130 motion-triggered camera that helps people obsessed with their pets feel less guilty about leaving them locked up all day while they're away. Called the Peppot Camera Mate, the camera has an interesting feature. Rather than activating and taking pictures only when the motion sensor is triggered, it actually takes a picture every second, 24 hours a day, then deletes them shortly after they're taken. The motion sensor merely prevents the pictures from being deleted. This enables the camera to save not only pictures taken during sensed motion, but a few pictures before that as well. The camera can store 1,600 pictures in its 32-megabyte memory card.
Hilton Hack Enabled By T-Mobile Failure - Wired News
Wired News is reporting that the crack that enabled access to Paris Hilton's privates was done through the exploitation of a well-known hole that T-Mobile failed to patch.
Japan is hard up for tourists, so to lure foreign travelers the government is loaning smart phones to incoming visitors loaded with a navigation system, maps, an electronic tour guide and information for dealing with the Japanese language. Hey, if they REALLY want to attract tourists with gadgets, how about a 60-second, all-you-can-grab shopping spree in Akihabara!
No Need For a 'Boss Key' -- New Game Lives On Taskbar
A Korean company called CCR has created a game that is played entirely on the Windows taskbar, enabling office workers to play without being caught. Using the company's patented technology, a Japanese card game sold by CCR called Hidden Gostop shows up not in windows on the desktop, but at the bottom of the screen, where the boss can't see it. They're planning on creating other titles using their "stealth" technology.
Scientists Scanning Brains to Learn How Ads Can Control Them
Evil scientists are hard at work reverse-engineering your brain to figure out how corporations can compel you to buy MORE, MORE, MORE! Researchers at Caltech, for example, are using brain scanners to figure out how consumers (formerly known as "humans") make "automatic judgments." Other scientists around the world are wiring the brains of shoppers as they wander around and look at products. The goal: to make advertisements so powerful that you decide to buy products involuntarily.
Proof You Can Buy Anything On the Web: Cray Supercomputer On eBay
Dell is for wimps. If you want a real computer, buy the Cray T3E-1200E supercomputer now available on eBay. With 30GB of memory and 134 Gflop-per-second performance, it's should be able to handle even Microsoft Outlook (unlike any known PC).
Pimp My Gadget! (Proof You Can Buy Anything On the Web)
A company called NYCPeach lets you custom pimp the gadget of your choice online. You select a gadget, such as an iPod, iPod Mini, iPod Shuffle, T-Mobile Sidekick, or any of a range of PDAs and cell phones, then click "next." You choose a pattern, then colors, and the site will tell you how much it will cost to cover your device with garish jewels.(props to Smartphone Thoughts)
