mobrec

My Personal Infocloud

So
This is a somewhat detailed (and well illustrated) discussion on what it takes to design applications for the iPad — with an emphasis on design (not just slopping code onto the device). Definitely worth a read, especially if you are concerned about how your content looks and feels on the iPad.

Over the last two months we have been working on several iPad projects: Two news applications, a social network and a word processor. We worked on iPad projects without ever having touched an iPad. One client asked us to “start working on that tablet thing” even before we knew whether the iPad was real. The question Are we designing desktop programs, web sites or something entirely new? has been torturing us until that express package from New York finally crossed our door sill. A quick write up of design insights before and after the appearance of the iPad at our office.

Technorati Tags: apple, design, ipad, webdev

So
This OP-1 Synth looks like it would rock hard and be a load of fun to play/create with. Unfortunately, price and release date TBD, but it looks well worth the wait.

If you are unconvinced by reading the specs, check out the videos (via YouTube)

Technorati Tags: design, gadgets, music, synthesizers, technology

So
Ever wonder what it would be like to be inside of a football stadium while it is being imploded (like some Die Hard-esque movie)? Here is a taste – they placed a 360 degree camera inside Texas Stadium as they took it down.

Fun to watch, but I am certainly glad I wasn't actually there (on the inside, anyway).

Technorati Tags: fun, video

So
Teabonics A rather revealing photographic look at the well educated, well informed folks in the tea tantrum movement (sponsored by Faux News).

Technorati Tags: dubious, flickr, photography, politics

So
Looking to find that witty tweet that you made a few months ago that the Twitter site has aged off? Fear, not topsy to the rescue! You can search by tag, user or plain text — not sure why the twitter site doesn't do this itself.

Technorati Tags: search, twitter, webtools

So
In discussing location-based sites like foursquare, britekite and the like I coined the term 'incentivores' — people who live to chase after virtual incentives (badges, titles) by participating in social web sites. I suppose this could just as easily apply to coupon chasers and the like.

Technorati Tags: ideas, socialsoftware, webtools

So
In Norway, they have founds that by cutting down on antibiotics, they can reduce serious infections and even deaths by infections. Counterintuitive, but effective:

Aker University Hospital is a dingy place to heal. The floors are streaked and scratched. A light layer of dust coats the blood pressure monitors. A faint stench of urine and bleach wafts from a pile of soiled bedsheets dropped in a corner. Look closer, however, at a microscopic level, and this place is pristine. There is no sign of a dangerous and contagious staph infection that killed tens of thousands of patients in the most sophisticated hospitals of Europe, North America and Asia last year, soaring virtually unchecked. The reason: Norwegians stopped taking so many drugs. Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway's public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics.

This is, of course, not to say that antibiotics themselves are evil. It does, however, point to using anything in moderation and with a clear assessment of the consequences of over use.

Technorati Tags: ideas, medicine

So
Apparently just the bacteria on your body can be used to uniquely identify you. Interesting forensic technique that I am sure could be abused in for other purposes.

Let's say you wanted to find who has been using a particular office computer. Here's how it would work: “We could swab a keyboard key, for example, pull the bacterial DNA off that swab, and then identify all or nearly all of the bacteria that make up that community,” says Fierer. So that's what he did. He and his colleagues swabbed the individual keys from three personal computer keyboards, “and then matched those keys to the bacteria on the fingertips of the owners of the keyboard. And we showed that we could basically identify whose keyboard it was pretty well.” Fierer then tried a similar experiment with people's computer mice, and he could match a mouse to its owner. The findings appear in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In one final experiment, Fierer and his colleagues found that they could still perform an analysis of bacterial DNA two weeks after it had been left on a surface. Fierer says he's already had some informal discussions with law-enforcement agencies about his bacterial ID techniques, and there's been interest in this approach. But Fierer's the first to say it's not ready for the courtroom. At least not yet. “There's a lot of work we need to do to figure out how accurate it is and what are the limitations and so forth, but, yeah, it's encouraging. It does seem like we can actually take advantage of that uniqueness of our bacterial communities,” he says.

Technorati Tags: forensics, ideas, science

So
Failing airline JAL, in addition to its obvious financial woes is experiencing another that it probably never anticipated: stewardesses uniforms are highly prized by fetishist and are being stolen and resold for enormous sums.

The outfits, early versions of which were designed by Hanae Mori, are incredibly popular among fans with a uniform fetish and can command exorbitant prices on on-line auction sites.

A jacket alone can fetch several hundred pounds, while one site is presently advertising a full set for more than £2,000. JAL's domestic rival, All Nippon Airways, has a similar problem and an ANA stewardesses' uniform is also on sale on-line for £3,745. Items that have been worn command higher prices.

“We have very strict rules on our uniforms and when people leave the company they are required to return them,” a spokeswoman for JAL told The Daily Telegraph.

“It's a question of security, as anyone wearing a JAL uniform at an airport could quite easily access restricted areas, but we also do not want people misrepresenting the company or damaging our image in any way,” she added.

Technorati Tags: airlines, dubious, oddnews

So
In Japan they are testing personalized billboards similar to those seen in the movie Minority Report.

The new billboards, developed by Japanese electronic company NEC, scan the faces of passing shoppers, quickly determine their age and gender, and then display demographic-appropriate ads

Critics fear the technology as an invasion of privacy, but NEC say people will remain anonymous, their faces instantly deleted. The technology will get an American trial later this year.

Technorati Tags: advertising, privacy, technology