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Rowbike

If the treadmill bike wasn't enough, check out the Rowbike

 

At last: an exercise machine that provides total body conditioning with the experience of being outdoors. Imagine gliding your way to a fitter, slimmer body, lower blood pressure, higher metabolism, -- with the revolutionary exercise tool that is virtually stress-free on the body! Customers choose the Rowbike over home gyms, rowing machines, ellipticals and treadmills. Busy professionals can sail away from workday stress with a high intensity, low impact workout!

By Scott Olson (RowBike & Rollerblade Inventor )

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ClustrMaps: See where your blog readers are located

ClustrMaps is a neat free service that lets you see where your blog readers are in the world:

See at a glance where your site's visitors are located: instantaneously, even when the numbers are enormous! Visitors don't need to click on anything: just viewing your page is sufficient.

One thumbnail map on your site shows it all: We provide (free) the HTML that gives you a thumbnail map, like the one on the left. When it loads, it increments a counter and shows the locations of all the visitors to your page, cumulatively (even for huge numbers). Clicking on it zooms in to a big world map, and (optionally) lets you zoom in to the continents, as in the example below.

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Colissimo almost Coolissimo

Almost Coolissimo (seen in France):

Thanks cuzzle

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Lego Movies

Playing with Lego with the kids is great fun. A shame they’re growing so fast I'm left playing by myself:-)  Serious fans make “brick films“ (Spite Your Face and BrickFilms)

We are a community dedicated to the art of stop motion animation. Our main focus is the animation of plastic building toys, or bricks (LEGO, Mega Bloks, Best-Lock etc), which we call "brickfilms" (these films are also commonly called "LEGO Movies"). We also encourage other forms of animation, including 3D and Flash. On this site you will find a searchable directory of hundreds of films, contests, a busy forum, and great resources to help animators of any level in the creation of their movies.

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Digitally paint your house

Try before you paint with these step by step instructions for digitally painting your house 

Changing the color of your house is a big decision, and painting it the wrong color is a mistake that’s not easily fixed. Thanks to digital photo-editing programs like Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006, you can change the color of your house on your computer before you ever touch a brush to your house. This technique will help you in the color selection process, but it can also be fun just to see what your house might look like in a different color.

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Densa test

The Mensa Densa test lets you check if you are;
12 Genius
10-11 Above Normal
7-9 Normal
4-6 Slow
1-3 Idiot
0 Brain dead

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Last longer without DRM!

The batteries last longer with MP3 than DRM formats

Those who belong to subscription services such as Napster or Rhapsody have it worse. Music rented from these services arrive in the WMA DRM 10 format, and it takes extra processing power to ensure that the licenses making the tracks work are still valid and match up to the device itself. Heavy DRM not only slows down an MP3 player but also sucks the very life out of them. Take, for instance, the critically acclaimed Creative Zen Vision:M, with a rated battery life of up to 14 hours for audio and 4 hours for video. CNET tested it at nearly 16 hours, with MP3s--impressive indeed. Upon playing back only WMA subscription tracks, the Vision:M scored at just more than 12 hours. That's a loss of almost 4 hours, and you haven't even turned the backlight on yet.

We found similar discrepancies with other PlaysForSure players. The Archos Gmini 402 Camcorder maxed out at 11 hours, but with DRM tracks, it played for less than 9 hours. The iRiver U10, with an astounding life of about 32 hours, came in at about 27 hours playing subscription tracks. Even the iPod, playing back only FairPlay AAC tracks, underperformed MP3s by about 8 percent. What I'm saying is that while battery life may not be a critical issue today, as it was when one of the original hard drive players--the Creative Nomad Jukebox--lasted a pathetic 4 hours running on four AA nickel-metal-hydride rechargeables (and much worse on alkalines), the industry needs to include battery specs for DRM audio tracks or the tracks we're buying or subscribing. Yet, here's another reason why we should still be ripping our music in MP3: better battery life, the most obvious reason being universal device compatibility

Via Pocket PC eBooks Watch - eBook and beyond

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Seen On Slash

Seen On Slash has the best comments from slashdot. Some of my favorites:

• It's always a long day... 86400 doesn't fit into a short.


• I was in the park, wondering why frisbees get bigger and bigger as they get closer. Then it hit me.

Via James Manning

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Treadmill bike

Why run or bike when you can do them both at the same time with the treadmill bike

Via JAUB!

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Click and Fire USB Powered air dart

The perfect tool when the boss gets too close

The USB Powered Air Darts cost ~$30. With a web cam you can even defend your cubicle when you are out of office.

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Anti stress flash: make the kitty purr

Make the kitty purr (rub the belly with your cursor)

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Twisted bike

Now this is one twisted bike:

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Nabaztag

Nabaztag wifi bunny

Some of the free services that your Nabaztag could give you.

• Talking Clock: Like a cuckoo clock, Nabaztag will speak the time on the top of every hour.


• Wake up rabbit : Just select your favourite MP3 and Nabaztag will sing it to wake you up. You can ask Nabaztag to send you to bed, too!


• Weather forecast: Want the weather forecast for where you live... or for the antipodes? Nabaztag can tell you all day, in colour. Or with his nice little voice, whenever you ask.


• Stock market:  Your Nabaztag keeps an eye on market indices for you. It provides financial information with light signals, or speak them whenever you choose.


• Email alerts: Sitting in front of the computer waiting for email? Silly you; Get along with your life, when the messages gets there, Nabaztag will warn you.

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Desktop earth 2.0

Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you're logged on and updates your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment.

There is an image for every month to accurately depict snow and foliage changes, and the night view is simply stunning. You can even get (almost) real time updates of cloud images via the internet.

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Podcasting with LiveBlog 2.0

Blog audio & video on the go with a Nokia phone and LiveBlog 2.0

Mobile bloggers using a new version of Nokia's Lifeblog software can automatically attach location, time, and relevant calendar information to photos, videos, and audio clips, Nokia said Wednesday. The new software, Lifeblog 2.0, will also allow users to attach audio clips to their blogs.

Via InfoWorld

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Flash game: Splash Back

The Splash Back rules are simple but the game is challenging. Add one drop to a blob by clicking the blob with the mouse. When the blob is full it "explodes", spreading drops in all directions. Create combos to earn more drops.

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Stay in touch with your dog with PetsCell

I lost my dog once. We found it later but I would have given anything for a PetsCell at the moment:

 The ability to track a lost pet has most dog lovers excited. The PetsCell has a "call owner" button in case Rover strays. It also includes assisted GPS, or A-GPS, which works indoors, allowing dog owners to map their pup's coordinates from any web-enabled device or by dialing a voice-enabled call center.

Measuring approximately 5 cm's wide, 2.5 cm's thick and 9.4 cm's long, the PetsCellTM sets the standard for GPS tracking devices for pets. Incorporating industry leading GPS technology, the 2-way communication ability of the PetsCellTM will deliver a consistency and quality of fixes across a spectrum encompassing conditions that existing pet tracking devices will not match. With remote programmable geo-fence capability and a temperature sensor accompanied with a variety of other attachable devices, the PetsCellTM will quite simply be the standard against which all other pet tracking devices are measured. The PetsMobilityTM PetsCellTM is the solution for lost pets.

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GMail Drive

GMail Drive lets you use GMail as an external disk.

GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to.

Via JAUB!

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Remote Controlled Robotic Shark

Make the days go faster on the beach with the Remote Controlled Robotic Shark

A full 2' long, this unique robotic shark has a full-range of motion to replicate the smooth, sleek swimming of one of nature's most efficient predators. It is able to gracefully maneuver up, down, left, right, and even backwards through water, in depths up to 9'. The shark can swim up to 40' from its handheld remote unit which is also submersible, allowing you to swim with your shark.

Via The Red Ferret Journal

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Dog lips

Dog lips toy

Cool or not, it made me smile.

Features:

• Giant rubber lips with toothy grin fetch toy.


• Cylindrical mouthpiece attached to the comedy lips.


• Made of non-toxic rubber.


• Size: - Toy: 9.5 x 9 x 8cm (in its entirety)


• Mouthpiece: 5 x 3 x 3cm. 

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Nostalgic? Why not try something old you know works

Abbandonware at the underdogs is a great site for finding PC versions of "old" games that you cannot find anywhere like 1942 and 688 attack sub.

Old Version lets you find old versions of software because new is not always better.

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Encyclopodia: Wikipedia on your iPod

Encyclopodia is a free software project that brings the Wikipedia, which is one of the largest encyclopedias in the world, to the Apple iPod. Encyclopodia can be installed on iPod genarations one to four, as well as on iPod Minis and Photo iPods.

Via Fosfor Gadgets

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Skype speaker phone by USRobotics

No, the USR9610 is not a UFO buut a USB Skype phone:

It is powered by the USB bus so there is no need for an external power supply.

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NASA: force field for astronauts

Science Fiction writers have talked about force fields a long time. NASA looks into using force fields to block a astronaut killer: radiation

The most common way to deal with radiation is simply to physically block it, as the thick concrete around a nuclear reactor does. But making spaceships from concrete is not an option. (Interestingly, it might be possible to build a moonbase from a concrete mixture of moondust and water, if water can be found on the Moon, but that's another story.) NASA scientists are investigating many radiation-blocking materials such as aluminum, advanced plastics and liquid hydrogen. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
...
Like charges repel. So why not protect astronauts by surrounding them with a powerful electric field that has the same charge as the incoming radiation, thus deflecting the radiation away?
..
The research is still preliminary, Buhler stresses. Moondust, solar wind and other problems are still being investigated. It may be that a different kind of shield would work better, for instance, a superconducting magnetic field. These wild ideas have yet to sort themselves out.

But, who knows, perhaps one day astronauts on the Moon and Mars will work safely, protected by a simple principle of electromagnetism even a child can understand.

 

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Yamaha Divide

The Yamaha Divide is a neat concept electric scooter by Yamaha

The Divide uses CF die-cast technology to create a new art form. This electronic commuter is based on the Passol power unit with its motor-in-wheel design. With the push of a button the machine folds up and locks. Even folded up, electric assist makes it easy to move about. And because Divide uses no gasoline or oil, you can store it in the house where its artistic merits can be appreciated. Divide - Modern art you can ride

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Chess 960: the way chess should really be played

Chess 960

The rules of Chess960 are mostly the same as orthodox chess -- but the setup incorporates something once considered anathema to the game: chance. Pawns begin where they always do. However, the pieces behind them on the white side are arranged at random, with the proviso that bishops must end up on opposite colors, and the king dwell somewhere between the two rooks. The black pieces are lined up to mirror the white.

Fischer unveiled the new chess at a 1996 press conference in Buenos Aires. The idea was simple: With so many possible starting positions, Chess960 -- or "Fischer Random Chess" -- takes rote memorization off the board. Opening books are obsolete, and competitors live and die by skill alone from the very first move.

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Canon i70 mobile printer

The  Canon i70 mobile printer  is small, portable and has a lot of great features:

• Supports optional battery for fully portable operation


• Up to 4,800 x 1,200 color dpi resolution


• Up to 13 ppm black, 9 ppm color; true borderless photos


• Direct printing from select Canon digital cameras


• USB interface; PC and Mac compatible; wireless IrDA for Windows
  

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USB Security lock

Think Geek has a neat USB security lock. Just walk away and the PC is locked.

Each kit is composed of a USB receiver dongle connected to the computer, and a battery-powered access transmitter, which is to be carried by the authorized user. When the user moves more than 2 meters away from the computer, the security dongle will disable access to the computer until the user carrying the transmitter has returned within the vicinity of the computer.

Features:

• Automatically locks PC when the user is physically away from the computer


• PC resumes automatically when user is within range (2 meter range)


• Grant access to authorized user within 2 meters of the protected computer


• Requires zero user interaction to initiate/release security protection, eliminating user error


• Password override can unlock PC if transmitter is lost


• Reliable Radio Frequency wireless technology


• USB interface, compatible with USB 1.0/1.1/2.0


• Easy to install and use


• Transmitter uses 3V/CR2032 battery (included)


• Operating frequency: 315 MHz


• Includes: PC Lock transmitter, PC Lock USB receiver, battery, software CD, 2" leash


• Software works with Windows 98/SE/ME/2000/XP

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Delete unwanted features from photos

Microsoft researchers have come up with technology that can remove an image, say a person, from the foreground and then replicate the background that the no-longer-visible person was blocking. The technology, developed by Microsoft's China research lab, was on display at the expo hall at the Professional Developers Conference here.

Cool Or What?

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Gallery of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci

The gallery includes some of his inventions

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Tell them to get lost by e-mail with PaperNapkin

PaperNapkin

So here's the scenario: You're out at a bar, riding transit, or even just walking down the street, and some bozo who desperately wants into your pants starts up a conversation with you. Rather than make a scene or make them upset, you're polite and at least nod at the proper times. Then, of course, they ask you for your number. Except this is 2006, so maybe they ask for your email address instead. Paper NapkinThat's where Paper Napkin comes in. Give them anyname@papernapkin.net (or paamail.com, to be less suspicious), tell them it's your address, and when they write you, they'll automatically get a response telling them how badly they've been rejected. If they sound desperate enough, it may even get posted and ridiculed. Yes, it's cruel, so use it wisely.

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Incredible coin sculptures

Incredible sculptures built with pennies without glue

Via Boing Boing

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Star Wars Force FX Lightsabers

Cool Star Wars Force FX Lightsabers from ThinkGeek

Features:

Glowing blades ignites with realistic power-up/down effects!

Authentic sound effects digitally recorded from the movie.

Features four motion sensor controlled sound effects, Power-up, idle hum, clash, and power-down

Durable metal hilt looks and feels like a real lightsaber.

Sturdy blade is permanently attached to the hilt

Comes with a custom-designed display stand when you need a break from dueling

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Maxthon while waiting for IE7

Maxthon uses IE for its rendering but adds loads of useful features:

Tabbed Browsing Interface

Mouse Gestures

Super Drag&Drop

Privacy Protection

AD Hunter

RSS Reader

IE Extensions Support

External Utility Bar

Skinning

And Much More to Explore...

I particularly like the groups feature. It works like “sessions“ in Opera and it allows you to save the currently open windows as a group.

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Google news goes mobile

Google News for mobile phone users.

When Internet-enabled phone users visit google.com, they'll now see a news link that points to a page listing news headlines. Users can search for news stories from a variety of sources and browse based on subject. Only stories that are displayed on pages that have been optimized for mobile users are included, Google said Tuesday.

A line at the bottom of the page tells users when the information on the page was last updated. 

Via Infoworld

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Flash game: Moebius Syndrome

The Moebius Syndrome Flash game is great fun if you're a fun of puzzles. Click the pieces to make a loop which will be removed.