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Windows Live Translator - Remarkably cool
2007-11-27 17:59:00
This is just dang cool and once again shows us how the world does not stand still.  Innovation continues apace. http://translator.live.com/Default.aspx?M KT=en-US So you say...big deal that's just like babel fish from years ago.  Well yes and no. techRivet Translated Voila'.  There's techRivet translated for you. Still you doubt it.  Been done already. OK, check out the techRivet homepage.  Look up in the top of the right hand column see the translator drop down?  For the vast international audience of the techRivet blog, this must be a welcome relief. Choose language, click and go. And for techRivets IT staff it was a simple implementation.  I didn't even have to get the Project Managers involved just spoke to the developer directly and he had it up and running in a matter of minutes.  (The layers of bureaucracy over here is mind numbing). The UI is intuitive and easy and configurable.  All goodness. Windows Li...
More About: Windows Live , Cool , Live , Translator

Crayon physics on a Tablet PC:
2007-11-26 21:41:00
kloonigames Cool monthly experimental games from Petri Puhro. Here's an interview with him. >
More About: Physics , Tablet

Exo-skeleton suit.
2007-11-26 18:21:00
Remarkable suit that is reminiscent of the forklift suit from "Aliens". Only smaller and quicker and cooler. >
More About: Skeleton , Suit

Paralyzed man's mind is "read"
2007-11-21 22:33:00
Paralyzed man's mind is 'read' Eric Ramsay can only "speak" by moving his eyes.  Now scientists and doctors are on the verge of being able to interpret his brain signals as speach... "We have been moving towards decoding primitive vocabulary for a while now. But this is certainly an interesting development, although invasive techniques, where something is out in someone's brain, such as these will of course carry risks." This is remarkable. The forefront of Brain Computer Interface.  This is not a completed interface but the doctors and scientists involved believe they are getting close.
More About: Read , Mind , Paralyze

Of Blogrolls and Bloggers.
2007-11-19 23:46:00
So. I like blogrolls.  I think they play an important role in the "atmosphere" a blog projects.  Maybe I'm alone in this but when I go to a blog that doesn't have a blogroll I form an opinion of the blogger.  He starts a notch down for me.  Now the reason a lot of people advocate against including a blogroll has to do with SEO placement and Google branding your site as a link farm.  This seems a rather sad state of affairs, designing a site on a third party's arbitrary requirements. Google apparently dings you once your page has more than 120 links on it...holy schmolies by some methods of determining my homepage has over 500 links on it.  That is if you take into account all the "digg" and "stumble upon" links for each entry.  Trimming my blogroll isn't going to have much affect on that result. If you feel the need to try and stay under that arbitrary link count of 120 then by all means do what you need and that may result in a bette...
More About: Bloggers , Rivet

Theory of Everything - Could it be Done? By a Surfer in Hawaii no less? G
2007-11-16 21:17:00
Garrett Lisi - Surfer ...Snowboarder...Supra-Genius! Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything Yes that is Garrett in the middle also. Einstein for the 21st Century. From what I gather there has been a breakthrough over the past several years with regards to an elegant geometric pattern named E8. It was first discovered in 1887 but only completely understood this year by mathematicians. To solve that problem it took a huge effort. Mathematicians are known for their solitary style of working, but the combined assault on what is described as "one of the largest and most complicated structures in mathematics" required the effort of 18 mathematicians from America and Europe for an intensive four-year collaboration. Once the structure of E8 was understood, Garrett Lisi had a basis upon which to build his work. In fact the article from last March regarding the understanding of E8 Symmetry has a lot of foreshadowing for the discoveries that Garrett has g...
More About: Hawaii , Theory , Done , Theo

techRivet Poll: "I will live to the ripe old age of..."
2007-11-16 19:01:00
techRivet Poll : "I will live to the ripe old age of..." Will be closing today.
More About: Live , Old Age

Google Open Source Phone Platform: "Android"
2007-11-15 21:57:00
All open API's...meaning, you Mr. Phone company can take this platform and use it on your technology.  Freaking cool. And as an aside doesn't Sergey Brin have a weird eye thing going on?  Freaky.  Is he trying to compel us with his evil mind-powers?
More About: Google , Open Source , Open , Source

HD Video of Earthrise and Earthset
2007-11-15 01:39:00
I was able to find the video of this awesome footage on YouTube today.  The rising image Wide Shot taken from near the North Pole, and the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean can be observed on the Earth. The setting image Tele Shot taken from near the South Pole, and we can see the Australian Continent (center left) and the Asian Continent (lower right) on the Earth. Scooter GadgetGrid.com
More About: Video , Earthrise

HD Earthrise and Earthset
2007-11-14 03:09:00
A Japanese moon probe, Kaguya, has recaptured the Apollo "Earth-rise" photograph but, this time it was captured with high-definition imaging. The relative locations of the Kaguya probe: the moon, and the Earth as the imagery was made. Credit: JAXA/NHK: Earth-rise (2): In the image, made from a moving image taken onboard the Kaguya spacecraft, a region of the moon's surface near its north pole is shown.  Credit: JAXA/NHK: Earth-set (1): This still image was taken from a moving image shot by the HDTV onboard Kaguya and sent to the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center. The Moon's surface is a region near its south pole.  Credit: JAXA/NHK:   Earth-set series: Via Space.com Scooter GadgetGrid.com
More About: Earthrise

Finnegans Wake == The Art of Computer Programming
2007-11-13 19:32:00
I once told an English professor of mine that I had a goal in life of reading Finnegans Wake , she said, incredulously, "Why?!"  I didn't really have an answer at the time but I think it comes down to the fact that it is probably the hardest book in the English language [tenuously tied to English though it is] and I wanted to test my reading skills. There are two books that occupy the same place on my bookshelf.  Donald Knuth's tome "The Art of Computer Programming " and James Joyces "Finnegans Wake".  I have this undeniable urge to read them and I am frustrated by both of them. Each time I try to read them I get about 50-75 pages in and I have to start over because everything I've read previously in the book seems to evaporate.  It's like I'm grasping what I'm reading right now but the context is hard to hang onto. I'm like Jason McCullough from "Support Your Local Sherrif", he's always saying he's really on the way to Australia the whole way th...
More About: Computer Programming

What the heck is this thing? Air Ray?
2007-11-13 06:23:00
> > Man it's cool. Could we make fully functional mechanical beasts?  I mean think about it.  We just need to design a way for it to search for a power source to get energy.  A way to syphon said electricity.  The procreation thing is the hard part. Air Ray PDF Air_ray is a remote-controlled hybrid construction comprising a helium-filled ballonett and a flapping-wing drive mechanism. The ballonett is a gastight bladder of aluminium-vaporised ?PET foil? with a specific mass of 22 g/qm; it can be filled with up to 1.6 cbm of helium. Since 1 cbm of helium generates approx.1 kg weight of buoyant force, Air_ray?s overall mass must not exceed 1.6 kg. Air has a density of 0.0012 kg/m3 at 20° Celsius at sea level; by comparison, the density of water is about 1 kg/dcm3. In the design of Air_ray, the difference in density between these two media necessitates an extremely light construction. This enables Air_ray to almost hover in the air by means of the bu...
More About: Thing

Webpage trick, make the images fly. On ANY page.
2007-11-13 05:22:00
So I found this little trick over here --> http://www3.webng.com/redtophank/cit.html But here it is for you: Crazy Cool Internet Trick ! by Justin Benton Try this crazy cool internet trick in your browser! Go to Google images. Search whatever you want. Then copy/paste this code in your internet address bar: javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI= document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i<DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++} setInterval('A()',5 ); void(0) Hit enter. Crazy, huh? Hit refresh over and over to make it go faster. It also works on the main Google images page, as well as many other web sites if you just look around! To see the YouTube video of this being done, simply Click here. Enjoy! it's safe...I've checked it out. What it does is 1. sets up an algorithm for movi...
More About: Images , Page , Make , Webpage

Future Space Transport Systems: Shane Ross - Speech
2007-11-12 20:13:00
So interplanetary travel...cool yes? How do we do it? Shane Ross gives a compelling speech about the use of LaGrange points as entry and exit points into orbits of planetary bodies. The Interplanetary Transport Network Essentially there are low energy paths that lead from Earth orbit to L1 or L2.  There are then low energy paths that lead from L1 to the Earth-Sun LaGrange point called E1 or E2.  And from there more low energy paths to the LaGrange points around other bodies in the solar system. He uses the Genesis project as an example of very low energy orbits.  The Genesis project used these low energy pathways to make its way from Earth to L2 and from there to E2 where it stayed and sampled the solar winds for 2 years. It then used the reverse of those paths to make its way back to Earth again. Genesis was able to do all this travel while using "...five hundredths of 1% of the fuel that it takes to get a rocket into Earth orbit."  That is remarkab...
More About: Space , Future , Systems

I must atone for my sins: I have only now discovered Rands in Repose
2007-11-12 03:07:00
The blog that pins me to the wall with its fine darts of nerd lightning. If you are a geek or a nerd or afflicted with some similar...affliction, you are encouraged, nay, required to go read the Rands in Repose. How I came this far without reading it is a mystery.  Frankly I  blame all the rest of you for not sending me a link to the blog sooner than now.  How dare you hide such witty wittiness from me. Don't let it happen again! recommended entries: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/200 7/11/11/the_nerd_handbook.html http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/200 3/07/10/nadd.html
More About: Sins , Tone

techRivet's New Writers: Kedar Dhuru and Justin Davey
2007-11-10 18:10:00
I'd like to welcome aboard two new contributors to the mighty techRivet : Kedar Dhuru and Justin Davey. Justin comes to us as an online editor of TVSnobs.com and also blogs on his own site over at Emerging.  Welcome aboard Justin! Kedar is an engineer with an anti-spam company in good ol' Sunnyvale California.  Welcome aboard as well Kedar. I look forward to both your contributions to techRivet.com.
More About: Writers

Autonomous Cars will change urban living
2007-11-09 20:00:00
Follow along with my thinking here. If autonomous cars become a viable technology, which I believe they will. Then you can expect to be able to have the car "drive" you to work with little or no supervision. Why then would you need your car to stay downtown or at your work after it drops you off? You could send it home. If a car is expected to provide door to door service and then return to its starting point, couldn't it then provide someone else with ridership service, doesn't that imply a few things about our urban centers. Would we need as many parking lots?  Would we need ANY parking lots? Do the new autonomous cars replace buses?  bikes?  Routine Maintenance: Think about this.  Your car needs routine maintenance.  It messages you on your handheld at work.  Providing suggestions for service locations automatically researched for price and quality.  You choose one and away your car goes.  You come out after ...
More About: Living , Cars , Change , Urban , Chan

Rube Goldberg loooved his Guiness!
2007-11-09 19:35:00
You know it. So I previously pointed to this: [The Best Rube Goldberg Machine] as the best Rube Goldberg machine.  That may be...for amateurs, but this commercial by Guin ess is awesome. Too bad it is not a TRUE Rube Goldberg machine.  There were many sequences spliced together. The advert took a week to film, with some of the sequences having to be reshot up to 15 times. New Guiness Advert: Giant domino village Still it's a fun commercial. >
More About: Berg

Do you want to write for techRivet?
2007-11-09 02:12:00
- bump - I am going to take this opportunity, while there is an influx of new eyeballs from the weblog 2007 awards underway, to tell you all that techRivet is always interested in having more contributors on board. If you are interested in writing for the rivet please drop an email to: editor@techrivet.com.
More About: Write

Weblog Awards: techRivet Wins!
2007-11-09 00:44:00
Ok...maybe not quite, actually, precisely a win...ok maybe we were a bit off the pace of engadget and gizomodo...ok a lot.  But we weren't in LAST place. w00t! techRivet Rules! http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-t echnology-blog-1.php
More About: Awards , Weblog , Weblog Awards , Wins

Home Fab Lab Kit.
2007-11-08 21:37:00
This is quite cool: Fab at Home , Open-Source 3D Printer, Lets Users Make Anything A Fab at Home kit costs around $2400. Lipson compares it to early kit computers such as the MITS Altair 8800, which democratized computer technology in the 1970s. At-home fabrication, Lipson says, ?is a revolution waiting to happen.? As for that robot? Wait a year, he says, and it really will walk out of the machine. Here is their homepage:  Fab@Home So, while we may not be making our chicken soup in a fabber anytime soon, how about a replacement flashlight...or a toaster [my toaster just gave up the ghost this morning].  Download the plans, pour in the raw material, switch the machine on, snap the finished parts together, plug in the wall and toast bread. We've got a ways to go.

Our cars will drive themselves.
2007-11-08 20:45:00
When?  I don't know but it is remarkable how far the scientists and researchers and engineers have come in just a few short years. DARPA held the first Grand Challenge in 2004.  An off-road course to challenge a fully autonomous robotic car.  Not one car finished.  Most failed within the first few miles. DARPA ran the same challenge a year later.  5 cars finished and most of the rest of the field improved on previous results. This year DARPA ran a new challenge, the Urban challenge.  Designed to replicate an Urban experience.  It was won by the team from Carnegie Mellon University. Tether said Tartan's vehicle averaged about 14 miles per hour throughout the course, which covered about 55 miles. Stanford averaged about 13 miles per hour, and Virginia Tech averaged a bit less than that. In response to a question from the press, Tether said that MIT came in fourth place. Remarkable. Carnegie Takes First in DARPA's Urban Challenge. I...
More About: Cars , Drive

test
2007-11-08 01:31:00
test
More About: Test

So I found this graphic that sums up the Weblog 2007 awards process...
2007-11-07 19:39:00
It's for the South African Blog Awards 2007, but it could just as well be a symbol for the generic Weblog Awards 2007. I found it over here: Ideate - a South African blog. Via this link: stii.za.net - another South African blog. - Go check it out.
More About: Graphic , Process

Mersive Technologies: VR simulator - unbelievable.
2007-11-06 23:54:00
Wow. This is very impressive.  When can I get one for my XBox. Mersive's homepage: http://www.mersive.com/
More About: Technologies , Unbelievable , Simulator , Logi

Lego Assembly Line: Best Lego Contraption
2007-11-06 23:11:00
I've got a soft-spot for Lego contraptions.  This one is the best I've seen.  Apparently the internet story is that this was done by some German high school students.  There appears to be a geek gap between us and the Germans.  Can we get a congressional committee to study the impact of this gap?
More About: Assembly , Line

People don't think in logarithmic scale: Moore's Law in an Arithmetic scale
2007-11-06 22:26:00
So you've probably seen this chart or one like it: We aren't holding tightly to Moore's law  which states that the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuit is increasing exponentially, doubling approximately every two years.  But we are holding a line that is close. And that's pretty cool but the human brain looks at that and says, "big deal...it's getting faster...so what?" Let's take a look at that chart in a way that the human brain can clearly see what "doubling" does over time.  Here is a representation of Moore's law (not the actual observations) changed into an arithmetic scale. [click on the image to see a larger view] This stretches across the time frame from 1981 to 2021. It is only approximate, but does illustrate what is actually going on when we speak of doubling the number of transistors on an integrated circuit.  Oh and by the way...the knee there, where the graph turns north?  T...
More About: People , Scale

techRivet is a Finalist for tech Weblog of the year.
2007-11-06 19:56:00
-bump- -bump again- vote here We here at the palatial headquarters of techRivet.com would like to thank the academy and all the little people. the 2007 weblog awards: Finalists Announced This is an honor that proves the old maxim of "Vote early and vote often"...I mean "the cream will rise to the top."
More About: Weblog , Tech , Year

Do you want to write for techRivet?
2007-11-06 02:14:00
- bump - I am going to take this opportunity, while there is an influx of new eyeballs from the weblog 2007 awards underway, to tell you all that techRivet is always interested in having more contributors on board. If you are interested in writing for the rivet please drop an email to: editor@techrivet.com.
More About: Write

"The Milliard Gargantubrain?" said Deep Thought with unconcealed
2007-11-06 01:18:00
Would Deep Thought have been so dismissive about the new supercomputer from NEC?  The NEC SX-9 Vector Supercomputer System.  (Although Milliard Gargantubrain is a much cooler name for a super computer.) Consisting of 16 nodes. Capable of a peak vector performance in excess of 100 GFLOPS. Available in six colors including periwinkle. The SX-9 is the current fastest supercomputer in the world.  It closes in on the PFLOPS range.  World's fastest vector computer goes live.  Update: Ok I lied about the colors, you can only get it in black.