.: Kobot :.

Saturday, July 31, 2004

MDI AIR CAR| It's already looking like the MDI Air Car will be one of the major technological discoveries of the new century. Inventor Guy Negre has developed a car capable of a top speed of 110 km/h, 300 kilometres on one tank of fuel and at a cost of just a penny per kilometre. All of this at "zero pollution". In fact the car cleans the air it uses!

The automobile is fundamental to our lifestyle, but city pollution is seriously damaging our standard of living. According to Spanish national newspaper "El Periodico", 1/9/2000: "The pollution produced by automobile traffic causes tens of thousands of deaths in Europe..." |Julia Set|

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004

INTRODUCING THINK TANK| The world's first computer to fuse top-of-the-line technology with a customized black motorcycle tank dressed in classic hotrod flames. |BoingBoing|

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Tuesday, July 13, 2004

A NEW MICROSOFT OPTICAL MOUSE BY S+ARCK| Microsoft Hardware long ago bid adieu to boring beige. A new mouse conceived by the cutting-edge European designer Philippe Starck is the centerpiece of the latest collection of input devices Microsoft design executives unveiled today. |Kottke|

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Monday, July 12, 2004

SERIOUS COMICS| You can't pinpoint it exactly, but there was a moment when people more or less stopped reading poetry and turned instead to novels, which just a few generations earlier had been considered entertainment suitable only for idle ladies of uncertain morals. The change had surely taken hold by the heyday of Dickens and Tennyson, which was the last time a poet and a novelist went head to head on the best-seller list. Someday the novel, too, will go into decline -- if it hasn't already -- and will become, like poetry, a genre treasured and created by just a relative few. This won't happen in our lifetime, but it's not too soon to wonder what the next new thing, the new literary form, might be. It might be comic books. Seriously. Comic books are what novels used to be -- an accessible, vernacular form with mass appeal -- and if the highbrows are right, they're a form perfectly suited to our dumbed-down culture and collective attention deficit. Comics are also enjoying a renaissance and a newfound respectability right now. In fact, the fastest-growing section of your local bookstore these days is apt to be the one devoted to comics and so-called graphic novels. |NY Times Magazine|

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Friday, July 09, 2004

TERMINAL HOPPING| Someday in the future, once people have stopped giggling about how all telephones once were wired to the wall, they'll still have trouble containing their laughter about laptop computers."Just think," they'll say giddily, "people actually used to carry their computers around with them!"

In this future, computers are so ubiquitous that the idea of lugging your own will seem as odd as someone today carrying around their own TV. With computers everywhere, why bring your own?

Prices of computers continue to plummet, so the economics of ubiquitous computing may make sense. But getting people to feel comfortable about flitting from computer to computer ---- using whatever machine is available at work, at home or on the road ---- will require some innovations. |Slashdot|

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THE GUARDIAN ON WHY PHIL GYFORD RULES| Phil Gyford is not a name that trips off the tongue alongside those of internet visionaries such as Jeff Bezos, Sergei Brin or Larry Page. For Gyford's business - if you could call it that - is not big, and it doesn't make headline news. He would probably be the last person to describe himself as a guru, but Gyford has made a real mark on the net.

An unassuming freelance web designer by day, by night he's an amateur agitator, an unpaid online inventor with a track record of qualified, but recognisable, innovation. Gyford's wide range of pet projects combined with his no-nonsense approach to the net, continue to draw admiration from casual surfers and web experts alike. Gyford's ambition, though, is to build useful websites, not to cover himself in glory. He believes voluntary projects benefit from a lack of the bureaucracy that can make commercial projects so difficult, and if Hansard came up with an official version to compete with TheyWorkForYou, he would be among its first supporters. |Plastic Bag|

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Tuesday, July 06, 2004

TOUR DE LANCE| Lance Armstrong is obsessed with numbers: He measures his seat height by the millimeter, his food by the gram, and his performance by the watt. Such attention to detail is de rigueur in cycling, one of the most data-driven sports of all. Consider the numbers behind the Tour de France: 21 days of riding; 2,110 miles; 5,200 calories burned per day; a peak of 1,000 watts output at any given moment (enough juice to run seven iMacs). The two most important figures: 6, the number of consecutive victories Armstrong will have if he wins the Tour again (a new record); and 61, the number of seconds he won by last year, his narrowest margin yet.

To ensure the 32-year-old Texan has every advantage, his equipment sponsors have joined forces in an unprecedented, cost-be-damned collaboration known as F-One. Their goal: to get Armstrong's rig as close as possible to the Union Cycliste Internationale minimum bike weight of 6.8 kilograms (about 15 pounds) and make the rest of his gear as light and aerodynamic as possible. After all, even the slightest improvements can pay off. In 1989, Greg LeMond won the Tour by eight seconds - a victory universally attributed to the aerodynamic handlebars he used in the final time trial. While some of Armstrong's custom-made equipment won't be ready until race day, other items are premium versions of gear for sale at your local cycling shop. Here's a glimpse at the hardware designed to keep Armstrong in the yellow jersey. |Wired|

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Monday, July 05, 2004

THE RISE OF NETWORKED INDIVIDUALISM|Changes in the nature of computer-mediated communication both reflect and foster the development of networked individualism in networked societies. Internet and mobile phone connectivity is to persons and not to jacked-in telephones that ring in a fixed place for anyone in the room or house to pick up. The developing personalization, wireless portability, and ubiquitous connectivity of the Internet all facilitate networked individualism as the basis of community. Because connections are to people and not to places, the technology affords shifting of work and community ties from linking people-in-places to linking people at any place. Computer-supported communication is everywhere, but it is situated nowhere. It is I-alone that is reachable wherever I am: at a home, hotel, office, highway, or shopping center. The person has become the portal. |Pat Kane|

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Friday, July 02, 2004

CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?| For two days, players online were able to play against members of Blast Theory in a chase live on the streets of Sheffield. Online, your player was dropped onto a map of Sheffield city centre. On the streets, tracked by satellites, Blast Theory runners used handheld scanners to track you down. With up to 20 people playing online at a time, players could exchange tactics and send messages while an audio stream from Blast Theory's walkie talkies allowed you to eavesdrop on your pursuers: getting lost, cold and out of breathe on the streets of Sheffield. |Near Near Future|

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TECH FROM THE TOUR DE FRANCE| While a lot of the coverage will be on the riders and specifically Lance Armstrong Engadget covers some of the gadgets and technologies used in and around the race- the on bike computer, the two-way radio, tv coverage and getting updates on your phone. The 91st Tour de France takes place from Saturday the 3rd of July to Sunday the 25th of July 2004 in France, with 21 teams of 9 riders each, making a total of 189 competitors with a total distance of 2,100 miles. |Engadget|

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THIS RADAR CAN SEE THROUGH WALLS| According to Haaretz, an Israeli start-up has developed a new radar technology to see through walls. This radar system, based on UWB (ultra wideband) technology, can produce 3D images of what stays behind walls. The real breakthrough is that this system can be used from a distance of up to 20 meters, which will benefit rescuers as well as military personnel by providing useful information about the number of people inside a room, their locations and even their weapons. The newspaper adds that the images are of good quality, allowing the users of the system to follow what is happening behind the wall in real time. However, don't expect to get one today. The first devices are expected to be available within 18 months. |Roland Piquepaille|

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COST OF CYBERLIVING| Internet cafes are often heralded as a simple route online. But in many countries, the cost of one hour of Internet access can wipe out a day's wage. This map shows hourly rates at Internet cafes and the percentage of people living on $1 per day in 26 nations. |Slashdot|

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Thursday, July 01, 2004

PREVIEW OF MICROSOFT'S NEW SEARCH ENGINE| Microsoft wants to compete with Google for the spot of number one search engine on the internet. The search page on Microsoft's MSN website is to be replaced with a cleaner, more minimalist interface that shares a similarity or two with Google. According to the Wall Street Journal, for now Microsoft will continue to use Yahoo technology for its search results and related text adverts.

But, not content with using Yahoo forever, Microsoft is releasing a trial version of its very own search technology. Apparently, Microsoft has been working on the engine for a year, hoping to become a serious rival to Google and Yahoo. The search technology will be up on Microsoft's MSN site by the end of the year, if all goes to plan. Microsoft is slapping a $100 million price tag on the search site alone.

A few details the preview from MSN: there are currently about 1 billion Web pages in the index (this number will grow quickly), you may find the site slow at times. You might also notice incomplete or missing features, or results that are inappropriate for your search.
|Slashdot||Inquirer|

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