Fantastic Everest

The GlacierWorks project has a fantastic gigapixel image of Everest that is worth looking at.  When you zoom in you can see the base camp tents, and even tents on the face of Everest.  Does an excellent job of providing scale to the massive mountain, and you can listen to an interview of the project on npr. 

Lit Motors

Lit Motors is creating a new kind of self contained electric motorcycle that will stay balanced (even at stop) with the help of internal gyros.  Very cool, and you can place your orders now for just under $20k.  Slick looking bike, and way better commuter option then the old NgM.
My hope is that Lit Motors will
take their design and create an "Akira" style bike from it.  (would be way cooler).

Netflix Ranks Residential ISPs

Special thanks and shout-out to Netflix for positing a listing the performance of residential ISPs for North America.  Looks like they will do this monthly and post it on their blog. 

Grail Maps Moon

The GRAIL team has just published some interesting info on the moon, including a full density map, and data on the thickness of the crust.  The Chronicle notes some of the results of the GRAIL Satellites and so does Wired, with more videos. 

Water Robot

The Wave Glider is a robot that just finished a voyage from SF to Australia.  The company who manufactures it, Liquid Robotics, uses a cleaver method to propel the craft: a small kite hanging below that moved forward as it's lifted or dropped by the craft over the waves. (which gives it about 2 knots of speed.)  NOAA has a page on the unit, and Wired also wrote about it when it made it to Hawaii. 

Earth At Night

Cool Picts from the Suomi satellite mapping the earth from the nighttime.  Both BBC and Wired have good posts on it. 

There can be only one!

Nothing better then simply running linux and having a native shell.  (one of the big advantages of Macs).    But some of us are forced to use Window, and thus we must put up with Putty (a truly great value, but still...).  Well, now there is MobaXterm.  Simply said, it does everything.  (kind of scary everything.)  Check it out.

It's Full Of Stars!

Google has a new webpage that lets you navigate around the sun and visit it's nearest 100,000 stars. 
- see slashdot, and TNW for more info. 

Maybe we dont' vote based on party?

NPR has an interesting article on how Professor Allan Lichtman has created a prediction model that suggests that the next president can be predicted more then a year in advance (before the candidates have been chosen), based simply on how things have been going.

Ticketing

BMC Remedy is the de-facto Ticketing solution out there, and if you ever had to install it, you would understand the choice of picture.  It's massively bloated, costs millions if done completely, takes months or years to install, and if you don't spend even more time thoroughly customizing it, no one will be able to use it.  (or only swear when they need to.)

As an alternate, check out the great open source ticketing system Best Practical's RT: Request Tracker.  Its Perl based, very-very easy to customize and easy to add automation to it (very good api).  If that seems like too much work, check out Asana, a completely hosted and very easy to use online ticketing solution.  (all you need to do is log in and start using it.)

Photo Tour of Google Datacenter

Google Photo Tour of the Google Data centers.  (link this under datacenter porn.)

Size of the Solar System

BBC has a nice diagram visualizing the size of the solar system.

 

Learning Programming for Free

More links to come, but here are some good ones to start:

• Code Academy: Learn Java, Ruby, PHP and Python
• Python Tutor: Learn Python
• Lua language helps kids create software:  Programming for Kids!  
• Physically, there's CoderDojo for kids! Read about it.
• Scratch:  coding for kids
• CodeSpells: First-person video game to teach kids coding

Warp Drive

Back in Jan 2000, SciAm had an article titled "Negative Energy, Wormholes and Warp Drive" where they described the method of creating a ring of negative energy that could potentially pull space together and allow you to "travel faster then the spread of light".

Slashdot was nice enough to point out that

recent calculations showed that if the shape of the ring encircling the spacecraft was adjusted into more of a rounded donut, as opposed to a flat ring the warp drive could be powered by the energy of a mass as small as 500 kg

Gizmag also has a Oct 2012 article: Warp drive looks more promising than ever in recent NASA studies.

3-D Wall Display Thingy

Not sure exactly how to describe it...Hack a Day points out this very cool computer controlled walls whose blocks can flex in and out on servos.  (actually they are Styrofoam blocks mounted against the walls that move, but the effect is very cool.)


2012 Yeosu EXPO HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP - Hyper-Matrix

Decode the Political Lies: DecodeDC

From OnTheMedia (Aug24, 2012):

NPR Congressional Correspondent Andrea Seabrook left NPR recently, citing frustration with the daily grind of covering politicians who "lie" to her face, all day, every day. Seabrook is starting a new project called DecodeDC, where she hopes she can blog and podcast her way to some deeper truths about Washington. Bob does an exit interview with Seabrook to discuss why political reporting is broken, and what might be done to fix it.

Slightly off topic, Marketplaces Tess Vigeland points out Super PAC App, which will listen to the adds you hear on TV or radio, and tell you if they are lying, and where the money comes from to produce it.  

Nikola Tesla rocked and Thomas Edison was a douche

Matthew Inman from The Oatmeal wrote a great comic outlining Why Nichola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived.

As pointed out in NPR, this caught the eyes of Jane Alcorn, the president of the nonprofit group The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe who is trying to save Tesla's laboratory and turn it into the only museum dedicated to Tesla. She asked Inman for help with great success. 

Now The Oatmeal is running Operation Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum, where they asked for (and got) $850k to be used to purchase Tesla's lab.  It was a HUGE success and  now they are looking for more money to actually build the Museum from individuals and businesses.

Sunday Drive Through SF

As pointed out in SFGate, Ken Block manages to get some quality time on the streets of San Francisco. (very fine bit of driving)

More about Coffee

Not only is it better for you then MtDew, but it's also more interesting, thanks to The Oatmeal!  Note that you can even get a poster for above your coffee machine!

Things that go boom!

Japanese artist Isao Hasi put together this nice 7 minute video clip showing a time lapse of when and where all the nuke explosions on earth have happened.
   

AS Peering

The guys over at Harvard Law put together an interesting diagram that maps out all the AS's, how they (mostly) peer together, and what countries they are based out of.  (Their take on this is what AS's are "controlled" by what countries, and who can filter what.)

 

(thanks to akg, for pointing this out)

GUI Solarsystem

The guys over at SunAeon, has a really nice flash map of the solar system that guides you through all the planets and their facts.  Nothing extra as far as info, but good eye candy.

Internet Defense League!

PC Mag notes that lots of folks are "gearing up to battle SOPA-like legislation via the Internet Defense League, a new organization intended to protect the open Web."  All Things D points out that the "League" has done a good job already gathering supporters.  

Check out the Internet Defense League's main page:

When the internet's in danger and we need millions of people to act, the League will ask its members to broadcast an action.  (Say, a prominent message asking everyone to call their elected leaders.)  With the combined reach of our websites and social networks, we can be massively more effective than any one organization. 

First, sign up. If you have a website, we'll send you sample alert code to get working in advance. The next time there's an emergency, we'll tell you and send new code. Then it's your decision to pull the trigger.

Credit Card Number Code

byJess.net has a nice diagram on the codes used to create a credit card:

RSA's big hole

RSA got hacked a while back (March, 2011).  Here's some notes on the incident:

• NYTimes on What Happened.
• Znet on what happened. 
• Overview of the tools, techniques and procedures used in the attack from Command5. (pdf)
• RSA tells everyone to replace SecurID tokens (RSA, Mar/2011)
• Wired discusses how F-Secure figured out what the Worm was that got into RSA.

And then slashdot points out: 

"A researcher has found and published a way to tune into an RSA SecurID Token. Once a few easy steps are followed, anyone can generate the exact numbers shown on the token. The method relies on finding the seed that is used to generate the numbers in a way that seems random. Once it is known, it can be used to generate the exact numbers displayed on the targeted Token. The technique, described on Thursday by a senior security analyst at a firm called SensePost, has important implications for the safekeeping of the tokens. An estimated 40 million people use these to access confidential data belonging to government agencies, military contractors, and corporations. Scrutiny of the widely used two-factor authentication system has grown since last year, when RSA revealed that intruders on its networks stole sensitive SecurID information that could be used to reduce its security. Defense contractor Lockheed Martin later confirmed that a separate attack on its systems was aided by the theft of the RSA data."

Monitoring your Utilities

HackaDay has a nice piece on how to monitor your utility usage via wifi.   As a natural followup, slashdot points out that the FBI says that smart meter hacks are on the rise. 

More Coffee Shop Hackary!

I love my N900!  There is a great pen tester that can run either on it or a plug-pc running Ubuntu.   Its called pwnieexpress! Both the plug-pc and (obviously the n900) will let you pen-test  wired, wireless, and 3G networks.

Murphy's Law - A History

Improbable Research has a fantastic primer on this history of Murphy's Law, were it came from, and why rocket sleds are cool. (Note that you can also buy the book "A history of Murphy's Law" that discusses this in more detail.)

Cool Weather Maps!

Couple of cool new ways to see what the weather is.

Wind Map: Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg over at hint.fm came up with a very cool way to present how the wind is flowing over the US.

Weatherspark: James Diebel and Jacob Norda have put together a fantastic (the best I have ever seen) weather site. It allows you to view combinations of graphs to better understand the data that comes out of NOAA and all the other online weather services.

Thanks to Robert Krulwich for pointing out NASA's world wind animation video (unfortunately, it's just a video, and not an interactive page. )

Want to track down where someone was born (or at least where they got their SSN) if you have their Social Security Number?  EFF has a quickie doc on decoding SSN to issued location.

Thermal Imaging

New Scientist has a cool little project that lets you record the lack of insulation in your home.

Make a simple thermal scanner with an Ardunio card, and then record the observed temperature not with a number (in Fahrenheit) but with a colored flashlight that is pointed on to the surface that you are measuring. Thus, hot surfaces get red light shined on them, and cold surfaces get blue. Then use some time-lapse photography to compile all the readings into a single photo.

Things you will need:

Arduino Card

Photo thermal scanner wiring diagram:  Circuit diagram for 5v Melexix Sensor

Code for Arduino Card: (Have not found yet)

Time-lapse (long exposure) app: Glow Doodle, iPhone app guide, 

crapscatter X-ray

"TSAourOfOurPants" demonstrated how he got around TSA's backscatter X-ray system by simply putting the metal object to the side rather then the front of his body. 

At $100-$200k a unit, and all the hubbub over cancer and embarrassment, are these really the best method to keep public air travel safe?  A good string of methods and procedures should be used, but is this the best bang for the public's buck.  (ok... bang is maybe not the best word to use..)

Stelth Car

I'm digging Mercedes new add campaign for their new F-Cell (hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle) car.  To add attention to it, they strapped on a sheet of LED's and made it very well camouflaged. 

Only problem it's only on one side of the car, and the lights are held together with black sheets, so you can't really see through them.  A better material to hold the lights together, and enough cameras inside the car to properly project the correct image on all the sides of the car, and you have an awesome camo system!

Helmet Cams

With the availability of low cost and very rugged helmet cams, we are seeing some very interesting (and some well produced) youtube videos popping up.

Some notable videos:

1. Biking somewhere in Europe. (note the lovely rock formations!) ...Least you be inspired to do this, please note this video.
2. SF* Fireman rescues person in house fire (*San Leandro, not SF but close enough)

Count De Money

In regards to all the budget woes, and where are we really with shortfalls and all that... (in diagram form.)

• CBO's description of the budget and shortfalls: revenues and spending in nice pie charts
  
• The year in 4 charts: Best judged diagrams related to our current fiscal status
• The Most Important Graphs of 2011: The Atlantic's list of best descriptors of where we are and how we got here.
  

Open/Closed Offices?

I've always been keen on the open-office layout, new study's are showing that privacy is best for creativity (with quick access to group meeting areas).

• How To Generate A Good Idea: We need private spaces to work, but easy access to group meeting areas.
• In Defense of the Open Plan Office Layout: Yea, there are lots of distractions, but they end up saving time as it increases knowledge flow.
  
• Cubicle wars: Best and worst office setups for tech workers: Review of how open office and closed are good and bad, and which parts we should keep
  
• The Ultimate Software Development Office Layout: Lists of things to think about with your designs, and links to may different other resources
  
• Open Office Layout is Bad for Brain !: Too much stress and distraction in open environments

and on the side note...

• Cloud Ceiling: Worker output boosted by illusion of open sky overhead
  

How to Salvage a Sunken Ship?

With all the news about the wrecked cruse ship Costa Concordia, and the mess it has created, comes an interesting article from the past regarding the huge car transport ship MV Tricolor, who sunk in the English channel and how they salvaged her.

Swarm Builders

IEEE Spectrum discusses how a swarm of quadcopters were able to build an 18 foot tall "tower of foam bricks". Great example of automated construction and swarm tech. Note: Robert Krulwich also writes about this.

Don't Lecture Me

Emily Hanford at American Public Media writes about how collages are rethinking teaching, specifically by coming up with other methods of teaching other then lecturing. A choice quote from Dr. Joe Redish from UM:

"With modern technology, if all there is is lectures, we don't need faculty to do it," Redish says. "Get 'em to do it once, put it on the Web, and fire the faculty."

Emily also wrote a short (7min) report on NPR titled "Physicists Seek To Lose The Lecture As Teaching Tool", and she notes

"But lecturing has never been an effective teaching technique and now that information is everywhere, some say it's a waste of time. Indeed, physicists have the data to prove it."