Unanticipated
Convergence
Takara will start selling a toy car
on June 28 with a built in stereo. Called the M Choro-Q (short for Music
Choro-Q), the mini Volkswagen Beetle will cost about $160. It uses Memory Stick Duo storage and plays the ATRAC3 format. Just two inches long and weighing about an ounce, the
car plays music for about 2.5 hours on a charge, thanks to tiny, built-in lithium-ion batteries. An attachment battery pack gives you 20 hours
(I haven't seen it, but could it come in the shape of a trailer?). You can also plug a CD player into
the car and record directly from the CD. It records at either 66 kbps or 105
kbps, depending on which setting you choose. The M Choro-Q is propelled by pulling it back against the
floor (and thus winding up an internal spring) and letting go. Meanwhile, the company is also "toying," irresponsibly, I might add, with the idea of music players that look like
lighters
and toy
dogs.
Proof You Can Buy Anything on the
Web
You really can buy anything on the
web, including a picture of your pet photoshopped into a classic painting.
Still not convinced? OK, how about an aircraft
carrier? (A steal at $4.5 million -- good luck with slip
availability and fees...)
Tri-Corder Readings Indicate Lung Cancer, Captain
Just how much damage does second-hand smoke
cause? Researchers at the Dublin-based Media Lab Europe are working on a gadget that will monitor the quantity of carbon monoxide
and other toxins found in cigarette smoke. The current version simply shows the levels of chemicals in the air. Future versions will take that data and actually describe the resultant lung
and skin damage. It will even calculate reduced life expectancy as a result of the smoke. The device, which is based on
the HP iPaq, has been presented to the World Health
Organization and may influence the current debate in Ireland
about bans on smoking in pubs and restaurants.
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Found Video
Kiro is a robot that plays table soccer.
Here's the
video. Here's
more.
Mike's List on
the Radio
Craig Crossman's
Computer America features Mike Elgan every
Thursday night. The show runs from 7pm to 9pm SVT (Silicon Valley Time). Listen
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America!
Reader Web Site o'
the Week
Our Reader Web Site o' the Week is from Mike's List reader (and
my wife) Amira Elgan, who just launched the Vegetarian Organic Life e-mail newsletter. Amira is an
expert on healthy
cooking and she reveals her secrets in this free, weekly publication.
Go here to visit
the site. Subscribe by sending e-mail to: [email protected]
Get YOUR web site on the high-traffic Mike's
List Reader Links page. HERE'S
HOW!
Gotta-Get-It
Gadgets
Platinum sells a $90 ball point pen with
128 megabytes of
storage. Just pull the cap off to reveal the USB 1.1 connector.
There's no battery to charge or software to install, and it works with all version of Windows after 98, Mac OS 9 and above and Linux Kernel 2.4 and newer.
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Wacky
Web Sites
You've no doubt seen "Jesus Fish" glued
to
cars. And you've probably also seen the
"rebuttal" fish, including Darwin fish with feet, etc. The
Fish Wars web site
catalogs all known species of car fish, including the Jewish Gefilte Fish, the Linux Fish, the English "Fish 'N Chips Fish and dozens more!
Christian motorists: What hath you wrought!?
There are dull blogs and very dull blogs. But the self-described
Dullest Blog in the World definitely lives up to the hype.
Plano, Texas, masochist Paul Mathis has wired his home with web cams (8), web-controlled lights (10) and microphones and invites random visitors to his web site to flip the lights on and off, move the cameras and even drive a remote-controlled car around the house via the web site. Do it all
at DriveMeInsane.com
Bob Shamey carves cherry pits into miniature sculptures and, of course, he has a web site to prove it.
No realm of human activity escapes the scrutiny of the web. Including the art of making "string figures" with your hands.
World Wide Webs is the inevitable title of the site.
The StrangeBanana web site automatically redesigns itself with random elements each time you refresh. Why,
I have no idea.
Penguins!
Reader Comment
Mike's List reader Howie Mirkin wrote a note to Harvard Law Student Fellow Ben Edelman, who I told you in
last week's edition has developed a way to automatically determine which ads Gator associates with which web
sites. Howie copied me. He wrote:
Although I can't say that I was astonished at the names of the companies using Gator, I would like to recommend that instead of putting in just the logos on your web site, you put in a list of their URLs, and instructions for adding their URLs to the restricted sites in Internet Explorer, similar to what
Spysites does.
Howie Mirkin
And Ben replied:
This is an interesting idea. My own perspective -- as a researcher rather than an advocate -- requires that I decline. But if you or someone else puts together such a site, I would definitely link to it for the benefit of anyone interested.
Ben Edelman
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
_______
Mike,
I checked out RoboForm after reading good review in PC Mag. Downloaded and installed it. Much better than Gator, and no adware or spyware. Thanks for your heads-up. Odd that I never considered looking for a similar program as Gator. Glad I read your column to get me thinking. And RoboForm has an integrated setting for "Import Gator." Very cool.
Bob K.
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Big Number o' the Week
1,000
(The number of Dick Tracy style wristwatch phones sold by NTT DoCoMo
in the first
20 minutes of availability.)
Geek Trivia o' the Week
Why do we use the
phrase "to boot up" when we mean to start up a
computer system?
Know the answer? Send
it to [email protected] (be sure to say where you live).
If you're first with the right answer, I'll print your name in the
next issue of Mike's List!
LAST WEEK'S GEEK TRIVIA ANSWER:
Last week I asked, "What is LifeLog?" �LifeLog� is a research proposal of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) �to develop an ontology-based
subsystem that captures, stores, and makes accessible the flow of one person�s experience in and interactions with the world in order to support a broad spectrum of associates/assistants and other system capabilities." The
objective of this "LifeLog" concept is to be able to trace the "threads" of an individual's life in terms of events, states, and relationships.�
Congratulations to Craig A. Mitchell of Newport Beach, California, for being first with the right answer.
Mystery Pic o'
the Week
What is it? Send YOUR guess to [email protected] (be sure to say where you live).
If you're first with the right answer, I'll print your name in the
next issue of Mike's List!
 LAST WEEK'S
MYSTERY PIC:
No, it's not Carly Fiorina, a "geek's dream date," or even a "holographic water cooler driven by an HP
NetServer that displays corporate propaganda (The water tastes a bit funny due to ionization...)" as suggested by some readers. In fact, it's an HP Labs project called the
BiReality remote communication
system, which involves a remote-controlled robot acting as a worker's emissary on one
end and a total-immersion environment on the other, giving the user the ability to roam hallways, hold conversations and interact remotely through the robot. Congratulations to Charles Sweigart from Reinholds, Pennsylvania, for being first with the right
answer!
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