Future Clock.

so i have a totally good futuristic watch that makes people respect the fact that i am from the actual future. in addition... it makes it a pain for them to steal the time from me. because they will be unable to actually read it.

but what if people come to my house and want to steal the time? unfortunately as it currently sits... they can simply look at a normal hand-havin' wall clock and figure out what time it is. they don't have to ask how to read it or even have to ask if they are allowed to read it. they can just steal the time from me! completely unacceptable and completely non-representative of my 'from-the-future' status. and in looking at my old-timey hand-havin' caveman clock people might even assume i am not in fact from the future. this is ALSO completely unacceptable.*

my plan was originally to get a Nixie clock. as it is obviously from the future. but from the future where LEDs were never invented. sort of like the future from Gattaca where they have the electric-powered Avantis and Rover 2000s. but Nixie clocks only solve one problem... representin' the future. they do not solve the problem of people thieving the time from me. they also cost approximately four million dollars. enter the ThinkGeek TIX LED Clock.



i think i have found my new clock.

- cheap
- illegible by people not from the future
- it's from the future

check. check. and check. excellent. silver please.

z.

* and to think that i can never figure out why no one ever visits me.

Moon Man Guitar.

speaking of guitars... there is this cool hand-built device called the "Space Axe" that is totally awesome.



they have some sound clips online... it sounds sort of like a cross between those photocell theremins that are all over eBay and like a busted Gradius machine. which oddly enough... is basically what it is made from.

i think it is totally and completely worth the $525 price. and i especially love the choices used for the actual industrial design of the object. it's almost as if the future predicted in the original Star Trek actually came true.

there is also a considerably cheaper "Space Synth" but i don't think it is nearly as cool as the Space Axe... which is almost completely guaranteed to get you laid by some moon chick from the future the moment your electroclash band finishes up its set of ClockDVA covers at the local hipster club.

z.

Guitar Stuff.

so i got this acoustic-electric guitar last Christmas... and i've noodled with it a wee bit but not enough to actually know what i am doing. mostly i have been putting off using it in any songs until i have a computer at home and of course have a decent audio interface. i was thinking the "Asteroid" would be great. but i am getting the impression Steve J. is punishing all of us by not releasing it ever.

so i've sort of been looking around at other little bits and pieces that interest me in the mean time. that don't cost over $100 and/or offer some sort of functionality that would make them be useful even if i did have an Asteroid or other more fully featured audio interface.

i found these little dealios from DVForge... basically there are 2 of them... an XLR -> USB and a 1/4" -> USB... no cable... just a little adapter you can plug right into the instrument or mic to get an away-from-the-computer A/D conversion happening then sent along a USB cord to your computer. totally cool i thought. and only $40 each. i might even pick up both of them. or just the 1/4" one... and continue to wait for "Asteroid".



though DVForge is supposedly the new company of the Jack Campbell guy... based on a bunch of stuff i read on him he sounds pretty shiesterish. but supposedly has 'turned legit' (perhaps he read some of the Chick Tracts?) and is not a scam artist anymore. besides that... at Macworld he tossed me a free "The Mouse" at his MacMice booth (i was just randomly walking by as they tossed free schwag and caught one). and it is actually a pretty decent mouse.

and moving on... i have no idea how to tune a guitar. i mean. i can probably guess... as i have a pretty good idea what sounds 'right' and what sounds 'dumb'. but i saw this little gizmo...



a guitar pick with a built-in tuner based on LEDs. they have a little animation and description showing how it works. pretty sweet i thought. better than one of those wallet-sized looking things. though i honestly might just use the built-in tuner in Garageband 2... as i doubt i'll be tuning every 3 minutes or anything requiring a dedicated magic tuner pick. but $35 ain't bad. and it looks sorta cool.

z.

Holy Crap.

you know all those 'tracts' you would sometimes get on Halloween from the crappy cheap saved houses? or from door to door salesmen outreach? you can read them ALL online! you don't even have to go to church to get any! you should probably just get them at church though.

every single one of them! you can waste spend a ton of time reading all of them and learning all about the complete lies truth of the Lord.

i suggest everyone read at least 10 of them.

for instance... here are some Islam facts i learned :





i'm mostly interested in the backstory concerning why grandpa has an eye patch honestly. not that the Islam facts aren't interesting. i just think the tale of grandpa taking a bayonet in the eye from a Nazi might be more interesting.

z.

Neverending Tunnel.

this is like only like totally the coolest coffee table i think i have ever seen ever.



"From Sweden's Offecct and designer Eero Koivisto, we get vertigo staring down at the Vertigo Table's glass surface... made with "spy glass" an additional pane of mirrored glass sits in the lower shelf, which creates an optical illusion of bottomless depth."

considering it's from some hoity toity artsy place... and that the price isn't actually listed anywhere... it is most likely in the 'if you have to ask...' category. probably like $98,000 or something.

conveniently enough the description of the table gives you a good enough idea on how to make your own. should you be so inclined. and by 'you' i mean 'me'.

and while i'm knocking that off... i was thinking about knocking off the 'retro slats' wall decoration as well. and by 'knocking off' i mean 'make a parody of' or some other more legal sounding term.*

z.

*it's not like i'm going to knock it off then sell it... just saying like for my own personal use in my own personal house.

Netlabels.

i don't know how i missed this. i spent a ton of time at archive.org in the past downloading about 900 different clips from the Perlinger Archives. and i know i went to the audio section of the site at that time.

but anyhow... archive.org has a "Netlabel" section devoted to absolutely free music downloads. sort of like mp3.com was in the past... except organized as 'labels' ... meaning in theory there is still a presumption of having to be good enough to get on a label even if the actual final distribution is free. unlike mp3.com where any random yahoo could post a shitty heavy metal track recorded on an answering machine to the site.

i had in the past got a ton of free stuff from the Observatory Online site... and i got there through their 'real label' parent of Skylab Operations... of which i got there from looking for more Satellite Grooves albums and info. and also i have always been an Acceleradeck fan... just never bothered to look up any info i suppose thus never saw the site before... or something.

ANYHOW... the material that Observatory has on archive.org is actually much better quality than the stuff i originally got from Observatory directly! so i was very pleased... that and they added like a dozen releases since i had last looked. very nice. still looking through the site for more labels and artists i may be interested in. free is good. and good free is even better.

z.

Speaking Of Death Rays.

so speaking of death rays... the Fresnel Lens sure is cool and certainly has the capability to destroy stuff... but why not just cut to the chase and get a REAL LASER GUN! (bottom one on the page)



it says it's a Class IV laser... and from my 9th grade report on lasers... that means it should be capable of cutting through 4" of steel (if i recall correctly... which i don't). that sounds like it could be very very very fun... especially in the popular 'ray gun' form factor.

"A prelude to a weapon of the future - the technology is here! Now Available - hand held, battery operated, 500 joules of pulse energy produce an intense burst of light capable of burning holes in actual humans most materials."

it's $1750 assembled... and as much as i would like to believe that i could blast holes through solid concrete using a freakin' laser gun... i still have some doubts... like it's a bit too 'x-ray specs' from my liking.

the disclaimers make it seem a bit more believable though:

"This is a dangerous Class IV laser project and requires initial purchase of plans including our hazardous equipment affidavit that must be signed before purchase of the actual system."

hmmm... 'hazardous'... better be! it's a ray gun!

"The Purchase of Plans Is Creditable Actual Hardware Purchase."

that one is a bit vague. and sketchy. especially considering they sell 'antigravity' kits and all range of Coast To Coast approved devices as well... which i am sure consist of "actual hardware" as well.

z.

Solar Powered Death Ray.

it's like the grown-up equivalent to torching (evil) ants with a magnifying glass. and i need one real bad.



it's called a "Fresnel Lens"... and according to this guy it'll melt pennies and wood and people. what is truly amazing is that i haven't just gone and bought one instead of typing about it.

they sell them on this Alltronics site... and there they claim you can create a 'solar oven' of sorts in order to cook food. that sounds like a cool idea for Burning Man. i'll set it up in the middle of the desert and use it to blow up cars and set hippies on fire and use it to cook up some food for my camp-mates in an environmentally sound way.

z.

Drunk On Air.

so there were all these stories about a company that sells a device that lets you GET DRUNK ON AIR.

when i heard there was a way to drunk off of air and do so with the chic style normally associated with senior citizens with failing lungs... i started counting out my Hamiltons.

but come on... $299?! that's a bit steep to get drunk off of air (and vodka... i think i might have left that part out)... and the $299 unit is considered cheap compared to the larger "Party Size" multi-person $3000 units.



so then in one set of comments on one of the articles on one of the blogs... some guy said it's just a normal nebulizer like you would use to give asthma medicine (or something) to a small child. and that they run around $60.

so i've been looking around... and yeah. they are about $60-120 for one... but they are all like 7mL max capacity. i need something with a 50mL capacity at least. i'd go down to the local medical supply store and ask around... but they might not like the idea of selling nebulizers to people to GET DRUNK ON AIR.

but i'll totally impress the ladies with the way that i get intoxicated in a very alluring futuristic way.

z.

VW GTI Mac Mini Install.

this is easily the cleanest Mac Mini into a car installs i have seen yet. i mean... it looks like a stock component of the GTI. this guy put some serious work into it and it looks seriously professional.



i have got to become good friends with someone who can mill me custom chunks of metal for free.

i also really want the screen the guy used. i don't know what for yet. i just want it.

z.

Dog Blog.

my brother sent me this link a few weeks ago. the Dogblog. it wasted about an hour of my life and made me chuckle. and if i chuckled ... then you damn well better chuckle as well.

here is an example :



"I think if I were ever to become a homeless guy reduced to begging for change on the sidewalk, I'd want a dog like this to hang out with me. He looks like he can secretly talk, but he'll only do it with hobos."

(that was dog #157 ... FYI.)

z.

QR Codes.

QR codes are like the barcodes from the future. instead of storing just a few characters... they can store thousands... even up to around 2k of binary data! in the magical land of Japan they sell QR reading camera phones. you see a QR code on a poster or banner... point the camera at it and it'll pull the useful data from the code... email addresses / contact information / URLs / etc etc.

here is one i just made on the generator i found here (there are many generators around) :



sounds awesome and i only hope that they gain a little uniformity and come over to the US sometime soon. i'd wear a shirt with a big one printed up on it like all the time. with swears and stuff in it.

z.

Shuttle LCD.

this is totally completely old news. in that they have been out for infinity at this point in time.

i saw a few at CES this year and very much liked them in person. look very classy in my opinion and short of the Apple 20"-23"-30" probably one of the better looking (design-wise) monitors i have seen.



i'm sort of the in the market for a 17-19" 1280x1024 LCD screen to use with my eventual home music server (Mac mini) and to share a KVM with a web server and PC as well. so i'd been checking out the deals on TigerDirect and NewEgg looking for something combining cheap with good looking. mostly looking BenQ and Sonys.

then i saw this listed somewhere and re-remembered it... checked the review... and saw that it was about half the price i thought it would be. $380-ish isn't bad at all in my opinion.

if i remember correctly though from CES... it is a bit of a fingerprint collector. but it's not like a bunch of jam-handed 5 year olds will be using it or anything.

z.

Slim CRT HD.

so far... when it comes to HD TV... i really think the only current technology that really impresses me image/viewing -wise is good old fashioned CRT.

i mean sure... plasma sets aesthetically are quite pleasing... so thin and futuristic. but the color on them seems a bit cartoonish and oversaturated. cool... but not $2000-ish cool.

LCD? hell no. the viewing angle just isn't there and the blacks are all 0-black and look just wrong. granted it is getting much much better than in the past... but it's still not ready for primetime in my opinion. plus there is the whole fixed resolution issue. i guess some people are fine with a non-1:1 pixel ratio ... but it drives me nuts.

rear-projection i was just never a fan of. sorry. i don't know why. perhaps i was molested by a rear-projection television in my youth.

front projection ... like with an HD-ready DLP projector i think it is decent for the price. but the bulb replacement costs are (still) ridiculous. and have the same possible non-1:1 pixel ratio as on an LCD TV.

yup. for me... CRT is still looking hot in HD. especially this awesome new Samsung thin CRT. not as thin as a plasma... but way thin for a CRT. and with all the benefits of CRT. and supposedly to come in well-under $1000 including an HD tuner. basically priced much like current non-tuner-havin' non-thin Walmart/Sams Club CRT HD-'ready' sets go for.



for an interim HD set... while i wait to see if LCoS or SED turn out to be impressive and/or cheap and/or good technologies for HD... this Samsung seems like a great candidate. and it will be out this June. excellent.

z.

More HP 6700 Goodness.

according to this recent blurb on MSMobiles...

http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3634.html

the rumored HP hw6700 series Pocket PC + Phone... the one that supposedly ditches the GPS of the WiFi-less HP hw6500 series for actual WiFi... doesn't ditch the GPS!

that's right... it'll include the GPS and the WiFi!!!



of course. it has to loose something though right? yes. yes it does. the SD slot. at first that might seem like a pretty big thing to miss... (not that i was actually planning on EVER side-slottin' anyhow...) but there is nothing this phone doesn't have built-in that i would ever want to add with an SDIO card.

well what about extra memory... surely you would need that? yes... good thing it also has a miniSD slot! and miniSD can be had in the 1GB size these days for under $100.

so this HP hw6715 truly is sounding like totally the best thing ever in terms of convergence phones.

once again i must pray it won't have a ridiculous BenQ P50-esque price. and instead have more realistic HP 6315 prices. please please please please please!!!!

oh... and HP hw6500 series out by May. and HP hw6700 series out by June. or so the rumor mill says so far.

z.

No More Kyocera Cameras.

sort of a shame... but Kyocera is ditching it's camera division apparently.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0503/05030301kyocera.asp

i have a Kyocera SL300R... and talked quite a few other people into getting one as well. when it came on the market it was (in my opinion) one of the best deals around. you got a slimline camera... with optical zoom... decent enough a pixel count... SD media...640x480 video with audio... great battery life... all in a cool furturistic looking rotating body.



i ended up using far far far more often than i ever did my previous larger cameras... simply because i could carry it around easier. with the larger cameras i had to make an actual decision whether or not i thought lugging the camera and bag around was going to be worth any potential picture opportunities. with the Kyocera... i could just put it in my pocket and forget about it.

so it's kind of lame that i will now not be able to replace it with a fictional SL500R... which in my imagination would include a 5 megapixel pickup and a larger clearer (OLED maybe?) display. and maybe use something like miniSD.

stupid Kyocera. you're totally NOT the best thing ever. anymore. hmpft.

z.