Archive for November, 2009
CONCRETE CLOTH: Flexible Material Makes Durable Disaster Shelters
When a disaster strikes, it’s often difficult to get shelters up in time for displaced residents. Enter Concrete Canvas’s new Concrete Cloth, a durable waterproof building material made of cement sandwiched between fabric. The cloth, which won Material ConneXion’s Material of the Year 2009 award, can be molded into any shape when bonded with water [...]
How to Test Your Internet Connection Speed
You’re probably paying good money for broadband, but you might not be seeing the high-speed numbers your ISP promised. How do you know if you’re getting what you’re paying for? In the first of a three-part series on getting the most out of your broadband connection, we show you how to tell.
Chrome OS ‘Diet’ version fits on a 1GB USB key, brings more WiFi support
Not everyone has a 4GB USB key or SD card just lying around, which was required to run Hexxeh’s first build of Chromium OS, and we’d say that 8GB keys are exponentially more rare, which is what Dell requires with its build of the Chrome OS open source variant. Well, you can cancel that Fry’s [...]
Playmesh Tops the Charts with #1 Game on the iPhone: iFarm downloaded 1 million times in 10 days
You might find this suprising, but the top social gaming companies on the iPhone are not the same ones you know of from Facebook and MySpace. Zynga, despite $54.2M in funding, has hardly made a dent on the iPhone. Neither has Playfish, which was recently bought for $300M. Playdom hasn’t done squat, either. Although “the [...]
“We f**cked it up” – Europe’s Media Companies Don’t Get Startups
There were some interesting panel discussion today at the NOAH conference – a new event in London aimed at presented tech companies to the private equity and banking sector – but the plethora of suited and booted attendees were shocked out of their chairs a little when Klaus Hommels, (one of the first angel investors [...]
Doka Harumi’s robot dance routine fills us with shame for humanity, but mostly Japan
Have you ever felt guilty after watching a robot dance? Don’t worry, you will soon. Worse than that time you “accidentally” sat through four episodes of Sailor Moon. Worse than that time you watched the Helicopter Boyz video and then sent it to all your friends. Worse than that time you got a J-pop song [...]
No Country for Old Typewriters: A Well-Used One Heads to Auction
After five million or so words, Cormac McCarthy bids farewell to his portable Olivetti.
Arts, Briefly: ‘Pulp Fiction’ Writer Is Sent to Jail
Was Roger Avary, below, a screenwriter of “Pulp Fiction,” moved from a prison work furlough program to a county jail in California because he was tweeting about his prison experience? Depends on whom you ask. Mr. Avary, who shared an Academy Award in 1995 with Quentin Tarantino for “Pulp Fiction,” was sentenced in September to [...]
A Takeover Movie for Hollywood to Watch
As the movie industry struggles to find its footing, the takeover of Universal Studios by Comcast may serve as a learning experience for everyone.
Hardware Chart Lists Chrome OS-Compatible Gear [Chrome Os]
Eager to play with Google’s just-released Chrome OS but don’t want to waste your time if your hardware isn’t supported? This simple chart from Google helps you figure out whether or not your equipment can work with current Chrome OS builds. Populated by developers who’ve played with Chrome OS and gotten it up and running [...]
