|
Wireless Love Ring Invented
Inventor/artist
Alison Lewis has invented the idea of a pair of rings worn by
two lovers separated by distance. When one lover
touches the ring, it illuminates and releases heat in the other's ring.
It's called the Think Of Me, or "T.O.M." ring. The rings
currently exist in concept only. They would be powered by watch
batteries, and feature heating coils for warmth, L.E.D.s for
the light, and 900MHz transmitters and receivers for wireless
communication. The idea started as an M.I.T. thesis. Alison
told me she's looking for investors and OEM companies to
realize the vision.
Ink-Jet Technology Used for
Printing Human Organs
Mad scientists at
the University of Missouri recently showed how
human organs might be printed using an ink-jet printer.
Folks, I'm not making this up. Patients who need a new organ
would donate cells from which a modified ink-jet printer would
print new organs in layers. It's alive! IT'S ALIV -- Whoops!
Need to run down to OfficeMax for another bio-cartridge.
3-D
Hologram Projection Works Just Like In Star Wars
Hitachi announced
a stereoscopic, 3-D projection system, just like the one R2-D2
used in the movie, Star Wars. The image can be viewed from 360
degrees and should eventually
revolutionize pornography.
Commodore 64, Thought to be
Extinct, Spotted In the Wild
OS News is
reporting that a Commodore 64 computer, long thought extinct,
is actually running at the MYER Centre main bus station
terminal in Brisbane, Australia -- and they've
posted rare pictures!
Robotic
Muscles Give Puny Humans Super Strength
Researchers at the
University of California at Berkeley are developing a robotic
exoskeleton that can boost human strength. Called the Berkeley
Lower Extremity Exoskeleton, or BLEEX, the unit consists of
external, self-powered robotic "muscles" worn outside the legs
that respond to human control. The system currently weighs 100
pounds. But even with a 70-pound backpack, it feels like
carrying a total of about five pounds because the exoskeleton is doing
most of the heavy lifting. The system could be used for
helping people with disabilities walk or
giving Lee Majors the ability to run at 60 mph.
Only
In Japan
NTT DoCoMo Inc.
is working on a "speech recognition" technology that
doesn't require actual speech. It works by measuring the
electrical activity in facial muscles that are used for
speaking. All the user has to do is "mouth" the words, and
they're, theoretically, understood. Unfortunately, three
electrodes must be touching specific parts of the face in order
for it to work.
Satan Crashes 'Passion'
Composer's PC; Reboot Helps
John Debney, the
man who composed music for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the
Christ," says he was "visited by the devil" while writing the
movie score. He said
Satan's image appeared repeatedly on his computer screen
(no word on whether it was a PC or a Mac), but he dealt with
it by rebooting repeatedly.
Don't Waste Your Money!
Spend
it on something worthwhile, like a quick and easy contribution
to Mike's List! The newsletter costs hundreds to host and send
each month, but has zero advertising, zero spam and zero revenue
from subscription payments. This exciting issue of Mike's List
is sponsored by your fellow readers who sent money in the past
week to support ad-free, spam-free content: Jacqueline ($20),
Rebecca ($10), Ulrich ($10), Robert ($10), Dennis ($10), Arthur
($20) -- and also by the Mike's List "Buck a Month Club": Jeff,
John, Ray, Joseph, Mark, Sherrin, Ian, Ricardo, Terry, Dennis,
Amira, Judy, "L", Joel, Charles, Glenn, Paul, Nicholas, Audrey,
Doug, Phil, James, Gloria, Timothy, Gordon, Brian, William,
James, Security, Bram, David, Evren, Ankesh, Roger, Peter,
Andrew, John, Rodger, David, Tim and my mom. Go here to use your
credit card via PayPal to
sponsor Mike's
List with a quick and easy contribution. (You can use your
credit card via PayPal.)
Proof You Can Buy Anything on the
Web
Just fire up your browser and all
this can be yours:
A
Florida Aligator Farm
Cell phone
background noises (so you can lie about your
whereabouts)
and even
Mike's List
merchandise!
Milestone: Apple Now Selling
'Sugar Water'
I thought I would
reflect on an ironic milestone in the history of computing.
Twenty years ago, Steve Jobs famously lured John Scully away
from Pepsi to become Apple's CEO by telling him: "You can
either sell sugared water to kids or you can help to change
the world." Well, it's interesting to note that, although
Apple hasn't changed the world recently, it has started
selling "sugared water." Scully, come back! Apple needs
your expertise now more than ever!
Cell Phone Follies
A company called Pokia sells
retro-styled headsets that harken back to the
phones of
yesteryear. That's right, your tiny digital cell phone can sport
clunky old handsets from the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. Why,
anyone would want this I have no idea.
I told you on
September 6, 2001,
about a company in Taiwan that created a cell phone designed to
enable Taiwanese wives to spy on their husbands traveling on
business to mainland China -- two-thirds of whom engage in
extramarital relations, according to local surveys. Now YOU can
buy one. The Italian company Endoacoustica is selling modified
Nokia and SIEMENS mobile phones to the world that are programmed
to enable you to
listen in remotely by simply calling the phone. It doesn't
ring or show any indication that anyone has called.
NEC and the Nara
Institute of Science and Technology have created software that
enables camera phones to work like scanners. Simply start
recording a video using the phone's video feature, then pass the
phone's lens over whatever it is you want to scan, and the
software does the rest.
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
to Computer America on your local Business TalkRadio station or
over
the Internet every weeknight. Don't miss Computer
America!
Gotta-Get-It
Gadgets
A
$700 underwater keyboard from Navigator PC is
submersible to a depth of 60 feet -- perfect for scuba
divers who don't want to miss Raw Feed updates (all you need is
now is an underwater PC, monitor and Internet connection). It's part of a
larger trend toward waterproof gadgets.
Hitachi has unveiled a whopping
300-gigabyte hard drive called the Ultrastar 10K300 -- the
world's first.
Fujitsu's announced one, too -- and with just four platters
instead of Hitachi's five (fewer platters mean better
performance).
 Mike's List Merchandise
By popular
demand, I now have a
Mike's List online store. You can also
buy a Mike's List
bumper sticker at the Computer America web site!
Wacky
Web Sites
Web sites don't get any more
wacky than this. The
Bush Yoga
web site shows a U.S. President George W. Bush doll in his
aircraft-carrier fatigues doing yoga.
Hacking
Google is fun!
The
Crazy
Limos web site asserts that "every car can be stretched." But
as some of the wilder limos demonstrate, not every car should
be.
If you're tired of high-resolution graphics, complex narratives
and sophisticated programming in your games, then visit the
80's Games
web site.
Crop circles are made by a) an advanced civilization of aliens
who crossed the galaxy to freak us out with unintelligible
sketches in our cornfields; or b) bored kids who drove their
pickup trucks across town to freak us out with unintelligible
sketches in our cornfields. Which is more likely? Regardless,
The History
of Crop Circles web site is pretty cool.
56K Modem Emulator
brings back the glory days of those screeching dial-ups.
Twisted
Games
KrassAir
Moon Base
Reader Comment
Mike,
I don't have your organization of
thought or eloquence, but I'll say this: you've not only
beautifully expressed an injustice of which the Academy Awards
should be ashamed, but the fallacy in its overall thinking as
far as the dramatic arts are concerned. Those voters probably
have no idea what they were seeing in the LOTR trilogy. They
simply passed it on as another fully digitized
performance--physically and vocally artificial. The only other
possibility is that they're cowards who are unwilling to stretch
the definition of method acting to include a digitized
"wardrobe," as it were. You mentioned the oft-referenced example
of John Hurt's performance in The Elephant Man, and it bears
repeating, because there simply is NO DIFFERENCE. It's a
blinkered Academy we're dealing with. Serkis deserves better.
Ella S.
I'd like to hear from you! Send me an e-mail and let me know
what you think of Mike's List. I
get hundreds of reader e-mail messages per week, so I can
publish only a tiny fraction of them. I reserve the right to
edit letters for length and clarity.
Go here to
send comments.
Mystery Pic o'
the Week
What is it?
Go here to send YOUR guess (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 a "robot contact lens," an "LCD screen for Barbie�s
60� flat screen TV" or even "Pringles' REALLY New-Fangled Potato
Chip" as suggested by some readers. In fact it's a new memory
storage device called the
Info-MICA (Information-Multilayered Imprinted CArd) developed by
Japan's NTT. Huge Mike's List
congrats to Jerry Winkler of Jacksonville, Florida, USA, for
being first with the right answer! Nippon Telegraph and
Telephone Corp (NTT) announced on Feb 12 that it has developed a
prototype of a new high-capacity memory storage device, designed
with a multi-layered waveguide structure and based on thin-film
holography. The prototype, shown in last week's Mystery Pic, has
100 layers and holds about one gigabyte of data.
Got a New E-Mail Address?
Don't forget to tell Mike's List! It's
easy!
Just go here to change it. The whole process takes about
5 seconds. Change your address as often as you like.
Mike's List Lite
If you'd like to
read Mike's List on your mobile device -- or if you just have a
spectacularly slow connection -- try the Mini-Me version at
www.mikeslist.com/lite.htm. It's a
text version of the current issue without live links, pictures,
graphics or colors. It's perfect for AvantGo and other mobile
content delivery services.
Recommend
to a friend
If
you don't have anything nice to say, say it to me!
Send rumors, gossip and inside information
here.
Go
here to keep Mike's List Ad-Free
The best newsletters anywhere,
personally recommended by Mike:
Get
healthy and feel great. Get Vegetarian
Organic Life,
published by Mike's vegetarian organic wife!
Master Windows and
your PC with the LangaList
Subscribe to one -- or all --
of the TechLetters with an easy, one-click sign-up
|
