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The Paralyzed Finger Trick.
2008-03-06 19:14:00
The paralysed finger Try this...it is impossible to lift your ring finger. Essentially your index finger and pinky have independent extensor tendons whereas your middle and ring finger share one. The index and small finger each have independent extension function through the extensor indicis proprius and extensor digiti minimi. There you go, now you know.  Maybe you can win some bets at a bar now...
More About: Trick , Finger

Digital Water is hard to do. So how do you do it?
2008-03-05 16:01:00
The envelope was seriously pushed in Pirates of the Caribbean 3. That scene was probably the biggest cinematic event that's happened to date.  Up until about 20 years ago there was only one side, and that was us, and now there's two sides.  and uh it's made movies better. John Frazier - Effects Specialist, of the physical/mechanical variety. Wired Article: How Physics and Computers bring an Ocean to Life for the Movies
More About: Water , Hard , Digital

R.I.P. Gary Gygax: Please observe a 1d4+1 moment of silence
2008-03-05 05:33:00
Gary Gygax has passes away at the age of 69. :( I am a geek.  If you are reading this blog the chances are you are as well. Gary Gygax was a geek of epic proportions.  HIs influence on the broader culture is greater then  non-geeks even realize.  Engineers, Software Developers, Artists, movie makers, authors and more have all been influenced by his seminal creation: Dungeons and Dragons. There are few that have had as great an impact on society as he.  And the crazy thing is most of the country doesn't realize it. D&D roots run deep.  It's all thanks to Gary Gygax. Enjoy Valhalla GG.
More About: Moment , Gary , Observe , Silence

Yes...Awesome, so Titan is awash in hydrocarbon goo...but can we get a pipe
2008-03-04 19:04:00
Titan?s surface organics surpass oil reserves on Earth "Titan is just covered in carbon-bearing material?it?s a giant factory of organic chemicals," said Lorenz. ...maybe when we get there we can bring along our big SUV's.
More About: Titan , Awesome , Awash , Pipe

Nanotech applications in Cancer treatment - Today!
2008-03-03 21:06:00
Once again the modern technology available to us today that just simply wasn't 20 years ago...or 10...or heck 18 months ago is remarkable. Cancer researchers believe that further engineering the shape or surface properties of nanoparticles can enable the particles to actively target tumors, and thereby maximize their diagnostic or therapeutic function at the cancer site, while minimizing collateral damage to healthy tissue This is merely the beginning, for this early nanotech being tested is for better, more targeted deployment of current medicines. "We're not trying to re-invent every aspect of the science," said Seth Feuerstein, president of Carigent Therapeutics in New Haven, Conn. "We focus on delivering current drugs better, and we're also working with companies whose drugs haven't yet been approved, to help make them more effective." It may remain primarily a deployment mechanism, but even so this could be a harbinger of the end of chemotherapy.  I kno...
More About: Applications , Today , Treatment , Cancer treatment

MS - World Wide Telescope - REMARKABLE BRILLIANT SUCCESS!
2008-02-29 22:39:00
> > > Free. Probably available this month. Made Robert Scoble cry. World Wide Telescope , created with Microsoft 's high-performance Visual Experience Engine?, enables seamless panning and zooming across the night sky blending terabytes of images, data, and stories from multiple sources over the Internet into a media-rich, immersive experience. Official WorldWide Telescope site:  you can zoom in and zoom and zoom and zoom... It stitches together views from all the best telescopes in the world... It's "like a magic carpet ride". Technology rocks.  We are living in the age of miracles.
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iTunes sells A LOT of music. Becomes second largest music retailer behind
2008-02-27 23:49:00
Kids don't like CDs: iTunes Store now #2 music retailer All this is quite fascinating and there is a lot of interesting information in that article.  I want to call out one stat that jumped up and bit me: It said that the number of US consumers using P2P file sharing for music plateaued at 19 percent during 2007, while legal music downloads grew. So not only has iTunes moved ahead of all other legal retail channels but one, the trend for illegal p2p file-sharing has flattened.  Illegal downloads are still approximately double the amount of legal downloads (19% to 10%), but the rate of increase has stopped.  (whether that holds is a question I leave to next years pundits). Like everyone always says...go read the whole thing.
More About: Music , Itunes , Mart , Largest , Retailer

Is Tay Zonday the future of the music industry?
2008-02-27 16:01:00
You've seen this. Did you know he has a whole set of videos up there? I like this one: This is fascinating. Check out his views: Chocolate Rain has been viewed 15 MILLION times... That is incredible.  The death of the music industry as a viable big business has been commented on at length out in teh intertubes, but I think Tay Zonday takes it to another level. What is the channel (as in distribution channel to sell his product) that he is using to sell his music?  Ummm...He isn't... How does an industry compete against free?  I mean Tay could set up shop and with just a little bit of help monetize his videos on his own.  Making himself a music pipeline of one. If I was the record industry I'd be a bit freaked out... p.s. check out this interview> of Tay.
More About: Music , Industry , Future , The Future , The Music

Useful Windows Software: Media edition!
2008-02-26 18:44:00
Over at Direct Neural Interface Brandon has put together a very good list of non-free and free applications to solve all your media needs.  He lays out some good options and has some good advice.  Go check it out. An email exchange with a colleague gave me the idea to post this. So here goes: anything and everything you (reasonably) need related to multimedia (images, movies, audio). Related post: techRivet's Free Media Pack 2007
More About: Software , Windows , Edition

Internet Bandwidth is now measured in EXABYTES!
2008-02-22 20:15:00
Excita bytes!  Xtreeeeem Bytes! An exabyte is one-quintillion byte unit of information.  That is equivalent to 50,000 times the size of the Library of Congress. The amount of data that is flying around the Internet right now is measured in that scale.  This opinion piece over at the Wall Street Journal lays out a bunch of fascinating statistics, this one caught my eye. Cisco's newest video-conferencing system requires 15 megabits per second in each direction. A one-hour conference call could thus produce 13.5 gigabytes, which is more than a high-definition movie. Just 75 of these Cisco conference calls would equal the entire Internet traffic of the year 1990. ...75 video conference calls == the entire Internet traffic of 1990.  Admittedly there weren't a whole lotta people on the Internet for that time, but still..75 calls.  My previous company did that many video conference calls by themselves in a month, maybe in as short a time frame as a we...
More About: Bandwidth , Exabytes

If you build it, they will come: Google; AT&T shocked by iPhone DATA us
2008-02-19 22:13:00
Google on Wednesday said it has seen 50 times more search requests coming from Apple iPhone s than any other mobile handset -- a revelation so astonishing that the company originally suspected it had made an error culling its own data. Holy Toledo! - Google iPhone usage shocks search giant! ...has seen 50 times more search requests...! So let me see if I understand this.  Build a beautiful device that makes it trivially easy to access the internet and search for what you want and people use it...makes sense to me. Apple removed the user interface barrier from between the user and what the user wants to do.  Because I can access the internet from my phone, but it is a bit painful.  I mean it ain't bad, but it ain't good. And just for the record I am very happy with my phone.
More About: Google , Iphone , Data

Stay at Home Server - "America's Talking!" - Microsoft marketing
2008-02-15 00:11:00
heh. Here's a clip: > > This is pretty funny.  In a way it reminds me of the Terry Tate - Office Linebacker campaign by Reebok. > > This is an expansion on techRivet's series of advertising as content: Viral Advertising as Content: Fight for Kisses Update: Viral Advertising as Content Viral Advertising as Content And elsewhere: Human Skateboarding - who knew?
More About: Marketing , Microsoft , Home , Server , Talking

GM Vice Chairman Calls Global Warming A "Total Crock of S**t" ! -
2008-02-14 21:11:00
Just saying what a lot of people are thinking. ? Global warming is a ?total crock of ****.? Then he added: ?I?m a skeptic, not a denier. Having said that, my opinion doesn?t matter. (With the battery-driven Volt), ?I?m motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2 (argument).? I think we are going to wake up from this mass hypnosis in 10 years with the realization that it was exactly as Bob Lutz has so succinctly put it.
More About: Global Warming , Calls , Total , Chairman

MySpace 2008 == AOL 2000?? Will MySpace Fail Like AOL?
2008-02-13 21:14:00
Let's dial back the history machine to the grand year of 2000.  AOL is the 800 pound gorilla in the room and merges with Time Warner.  It is seen by a large percentage of people online as the DE FACTO INTERNET. This is near the height of its dominance, plus or minus.  From there the rapid acceptance of broadband connections, which circumvented AOL's revenue stream which relied on telephone modem connections, and the growing education of the average user that AOL was in fact not the de facto internet led to its rapid fall. By 2007 the total value of AOL stock had plummeted from $226 Billion down to $20 Billion and its subscriber base had shrunk by two thirds from 30 million down to 10 million. Are we seeing a reflection of that same scenario taking place in the Social Network space? The Market is Changing Generation MySpace is getting fed up Have social network sites peaked?  Are we seeing similar superior substitutes available to consumers? Are th...
More About: Myspace , 2008

Aubrey de Grey on the Colbert Report
2008-02-13 00:56:00
Humourous interview with some good bits and inside it.
More About: Report , Grey , Colbert Report , Colbert , Aubrey

Image of the worldwide internet cables and which ones were damaged this mon
2008-02-11 21:20:00
This is an interesting picture that shows the undersea cables that carry the worldwide Internet traffic, I'm sure you've seen something similar in the past. This one also shows which cables were damaged and lays out who was impacted by the blackout.
More About: Cables , Image , Worldwide , Damaged

International Space Station Columbus Module Launched.
2008-02-08 18:31:00
The much maligned International Space Station keeps moving forward oblivious to its critics.  Yesterday the Shuttle Atlantis blasted off with the Columbus Module aboard. The Columbus module is another science module with the ability to hold 10 racks of scientific experiments. It is growing and finally becoming a significant platform in space.  I understand the critics that deride its lack of strategic space location.  Its in-between-ness that doesn't help us much to get anywhere else in the solar system.  I understand the critics that bring up the ROI on a manned space station and compare it to one of our probe missions like the Mars Rovers. I understand all that. But I believe it provides other benefits: It teaches us how to construct complicated things in space.  What we are learning from the ISS will be crucial for ANY construction we do in space and if you think there won't be much call for that...well I disagree with you. This has been don...
More About: Launched

ummm...yeah...Some inventions need to be un-invented: Wake n' Bacon (alarm
2008-02-07 00:52:00
So the concept here is good...I guess.  Use the alluring aroma of bacon to help you wake up in the morning but I just can't imagine the greasy smell lingering in my bedroom forever after days and days of the Wake n' Bacon alarm clock. So you have to get a frozen piece of bacon and put it inside the alarm clock every night...hello health department. And what about vegetarians? Kinda reminds me of the "memo" machine from "Risky Business".
More About: Inventions , Alarm , Yeah

Bigelow Aerospace wants to use Atlas 5 Rockets for their Commercial Space S
2008-02-05 20:12:00
...Commercial ...Space ...Station... Look, I don't mean to keep talking about all this accelerating change and stuff, but I really think we're on the verge of something here. 1. We have Virgin Galactic releasing their spaceship design and preparing for launches at some undetermined time. 2. We have SpaceX developing a new cost effective rocket system with the intent to be the only ISS supportable US based space system at the time the Shuttle fleet is finally grounded.  They have already had two launches and have several scheduled this year. And now this news from Bigelow . Bigelow Aerospace and Denver-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) have been working together for over a year studying what it would take to human-rate the Atlas 5 rocket. Industry sources said Bigelow Aerospace is ready to place an order that includes six launches starting in 2011 to begin assembly and early operation of the new station. We live in unprecedented times in so many ways this is mere...
More About: X-Prize , Rockets

Everyone has already heard so I won't post anything.
2008-02-01 18:52:00
About the Microsoft offer to buy Yahoo ! Nope. Not gonna do it. Go somewhere else to read about it. ...oh ok...since you forced me to. Damn! but what a bold move! It is a curious move though, in some regards because in many respects Microsoft and Yahoo have competing platforms: email, search, advertising.  But where the rubber meats the road in Internet superhighway is in the size (and quality) of audience. Google has been able to charge a premium for its advertising because it has the largest audience. This merger would put the combined Yahoo - Microsoft search engine market share at a near parity with Google.  Therefore they would be more able to compete in the market place. It remains to be seen if they can successfully merge the two efforts successfully, not a simple task.
More About: Post , Live

My new desktop wallpaper - Comet + Fireworks + Lightining = Awesome.
2008-02-01 11:37:00
BTW, that site is a great resource for finding wallpaper candidates. oh and BTW I'm on a dual monitor system. oh yeah one more thing, here is an indispensable tool for spreading an image over two screens in Vista: Display Fusion.
More About: Desktop , Wallpaper , Awesome , Fireworks , Comet

State of the World: Telecommunication Cables damaged in the Mediterranean S
2008-01-31 19:58:00
Egypt. Indeed. We are in the 21st century all right.  The sta tement in that article that truly sticks out to me is this one: "People should know how to use the Internet because people who download music and films are going to affect businesses who have more important things to do." Businesses in Egypt are so tied into the Internet now, just like the rest of the world, that when there is bandwidth issues the Egyptian government steps in and requests people refrain from needless downloads to protect commerce. The world is truly connected now.  I liked this comment as well. Egyptian blogger The Arabist said he would "resume posting after the problem is resolved" and predicted, with a hint of sarcasm, "complete social breakdown in vast swathes of (upmarket Cairo districts) Heliopolis and Mohandiseen as thousands are unable to update their Facebook status." heh.
More About: World , Cables , The World , State , Telecommunication

Poll Closing: Space Hotel ... I'd pay $$___$$ to stay up there.
2008-01-31 01:36:00
This Poll will be closing tomorrow Jan. 31 so get your vote in if you haven't already done so.
More About: Space , Hotel , Stay

Aerial Photography of the 1906 S.F. Earthquake...how did they do it back th
2008-01-30 23:43:00
Check this out. An enterprising midwesterner, George Lawrence, devised and patented this ingenious system of kites and wires, right, that carried a 46-pound panoramic camera 800 feet into the air. Kites!  Brilliant.
More About: Photography , Earthquake , Back

DIGG vs. SlashDot
2008-01-30 20:02:00
This is an interesting article at the NYT about SlashDot's new site "idle" set to compete against DIGG.  There are some interesting quotes from CmdrTaco (Slashdot 's founder) about how DIGG is broken. Basically it comes down to the debate around the "Wisdom of the Crowd" vs. "The Tyranny of the Mob".  I am of the opinion that DIGG is a "Tyranny of the Mob" site where a small vocal minority can drive stories.  You can read through the comments in the article and see the support for that argument.  I've written about this before with regards to DIGG vs StumbleUpon: Digg is broken - Virtual Schrödinger's Law. CmdrTaco echo's my opinion.  An open platform that relies on the wisdom of crowds is prone to coercion by a vocal minority.  This reflects our political system that is a representative republic and not a popular democracy. Is CmdrTaco an Elitist then?...

Billion Dollar XPrize for...
2008-01-29 19:03:00
If the X-Prize worked to get the private commercial space race kicked off and it was only $10 Million, what would a payout of $1 BILLION do for results.  This is an ambitious set of problems laid out by the Victory Project.  To the first person(s) that solves any of these Problems: Develop a cure for breast cancer. Develop a cure for diabetes. Reduce greenhouse emissions from petroleum powered automobiles by 95% without increasing the cost of a normal car more than 5%. Achieve 150 miles per gallon of gasoline in a 3,000 lb. car, using EPA standards; without increasing the cost of a normal car more than 10%. Is it big?   Yes. Is it different?   Yes. Will it work?   Yes. This is inspiring.  But some of these might take the full Billion dollar prize to develop. They're looking for donations, feel free to contribute.
More About: Dollar

Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShip Two model.
2008-01-24 02:28:00
Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShip Two model. $200k per trip. What will be the rate of failure? What are you chances of getting blowed up? There are more than 200 people that have already signed up to fly on the SpaceShip Two. I wonder if Branson will fly on one of the early flights. I suppose owing to his nature that he will. I mean I'm all for space travel and all that, but this is the FIRST commercial spacecraft.  I'm not sure I'd be all fired up to be part of the early adopter crowd in this space.  I think I would prefer to hang back with the pragmatists. Wait until the statistics get boring and the price comes down a bit...juuuust a bit.
More About: Model , Virgin

All Electric Porsche 914 - everyone should have one.
2008-01-24 01:30:00
> > What a perfect platform for an electric conversion.  The Porsche 914. Russ Cunniff is the creator.  A home inventor and engineering manager at nVidia.  Here is his blog detailing the entire process. volt914 - Electric Porsche 914.  Most excellent Russ.  We here at techRivet salute you!

Asteroid mission - who's smokin' something.
2008-01-22 23:41:00
I don't see the benefits in this plan: Space leaders work to replace lunar base with manned asteroid missions Well let me re-phrase that, I see the benefits, but I don't think they're compelling enough to make a political argument.  Which is the battle the space program needs to always fight.  And in general they suck at it.  They're engineers, not politicians. What they need to realize is the the whole man-in-space thing is a tough sell to congress.  And the only things that spark the political will when it comes to the whole man-in-space thing is big mountaintops to summit. Aster oid s are small and pointless.  Small foothills in the landscape of space. The MOON! MARS! Those are marketing messages a politician can sell. So my space program engineer side says, "duh, the moon doesn't help us get to Mars much."  But my congressional lobbyist side says, "Gimme something I can sell to joe sixpack, 'cause the asteroid belt ain't it." If...
More About: Mission , Missi

Off-Topic - Fed cuts rate by .75%
2008-01-22 17:54:00
Fed Makes Emergency 0.75% Rate Cut I know this is a technology focused blog, but this is an extraordinary financial event.  The Fed doesn't just "do" this.  The message this sends is "Holy crap people mellow out." A shock to the credit markets like this can have a strong impact as evidenced read through the article where it talks about how the European markets regained their losses after hearing of the Fed's move. Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled content.
More About: Topic , Cuts