The Current Buzz - Tech

Uke, washboard, and kazoo music from 1928

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

Amy Crehore found this video of Eddie Thomas and Carl Scott playing “My Ohio Home.” Hokum Music on YouTube

Nokia N85 pops up at Amazon for $556 unlocked

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

No matter how accustomed we should be by now, it’s always jarring to see one of the Nokia N-series phones drop at some outlandish unsubsidized price — if you think the 6 tag on this N85 is hefty, keep in mind that Amazon is claiming that’s already been steeply discounted from an atmospheric ,200 “list price.” While the phone is available to “buy” right this second at Amazon.com, there’s a 3 to 5 week ship time quoted, so there’s no telling if this’ll be the first spot to nab the hotly-anticipated, N96-besting AMOLED handset in the States — though it might be the first to take your hard earned cash for such a purpose.

[Via OLED-Info]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia N85 pops up at Amazon for 6 unlocked originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trains on the Brain

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

The holiday season brings back memories of toy trains running under the Christmas tree. My father built a six-foot-long platform for an American Flyer train set that was mine and went under the tree. My younger brother had a square platform for an HO-scale Lionel train and it sat off to the side. Each holiday season, we’d get these train-boards down and set up the track, fitting the sections together to create the oval. We’d unwrap the plastic pieces that made up the model village, and place the styrofoam train tunnel carefully around a bend. Finally, we’d wire the transformer to the track and get the train running along. Of course, we’d crank up the power and see how fast the train would go without it jumping off the tracks. It’s a time when you’re glad to have younger siblings distributed around the track ready to put the cars back on track. Trains were something to enjoy through the holidays and we’d complain not only that the holiday ended but that it was time to put these trains away.

when I was young growing up in LA, my favorite place to eat was a diner that had sawdust on the floor. What I remember most is that the diner had a train that ran along the u-shaped counter and made a loop back into the kitchen. Sitting at the counter, I wrote down my order and clipped the piece of paper to a boxcar and off it went to the kitchen. Soon, the train returned and stopped in front of me with my plate sitting on top of a flatbed car.

When my own son was young, we set up some trains at Christmas and enjoyed them. I don’t know if they occupy the same place in his brain as they do in mine. Video games have meant more to him and honestly, race-car sets were much more fun. Nonetheless, coming upon Christmas again, I want to build a train board and get a train set. I’ve been looking at what’s new in trains, and I see digital command systems. It’s a little hard to figure it out. I’m curious how trains and computers (microcontrollers, even) might play together today.

Recently, I was re-reading Steven Levy’s book, Hackers, and it begins by telling the story of the MIT Model Railroad Club. There were two groups in the student club — one that worked on the detailed layouts and the other that worked on the switching. It was the latter that saw the possibilities for using computers to control the trains. It was this group that first defined the hacker ethic and what Levy called the “hands-on” imperative. If you couldn’t get your hands on something and take it apart, you could not understand how it works and learn to use it. In those days, computer manufacturers wouldn’t have thought that a model train set was an appropriate application for computers, nor could they have imagined that the future of technology would be influenced so much by hackers.

Over the weekend, I visited the Golden State Model Railway Museum in Point Richmond, California. The trains weren’t running on the day I visited but I did get to see the different layouts, simulating different California scenes. The museum is a little sleepy, with old men working on the tracks. Frankly, what I imagine going on there is more interesting than what is actually going on. I want more interactivity than what’s possible with the large-scale train layouts. I also recall over the years visiting men who had elaborate train yards in their garages. The layouts are meticulous and each one must have taken years to build. I don’t necessarily want to the be that kind of person.

Afterwards my wife and I went on a beautiful walk in the Miller-Knox Regional Park across the street from the museum. It’s the site of the Ferry Point Terminal, where, in the days before there were bridges over the Bay, trains arrived at this pier. Passengers and cargo were unloaded on to ferries and transported across the bay. Today, Ferry Point is a makeshift fishing pier but the shadowy hulk of train tracks and a rusty crane remain in place.

Boing Boing’s Holiday Gift Guide part five: Nonfiction

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

Here’s part five of the Boing Boing Holiday Gift Guide, a roundup of the bestselling items from this year’s Boing Boing reviews. Today’s installment is nonfiction books.

Don’t miss the rest of the posts: kids’ stuff, fiction, gadgets and comics. Tomorrow I’ll wrap it up with DVDs and CDs.

Good Calories, Bad Calories
(Gary Taubes)
Gary Taubes, whose NYT article on Atkins rekindled the low-carb eating movement, sums up his reserarch on low-carb eating
Original Boing Boing post

Transit Maps of the World
(Mark Ovenden)
Sheer subway-porn
Original Boing Boing post

Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurers
(Henning Nelm)
Classic book about conjuring has many lessons for writers
Original Boing Boing post

Laika
(Nick Abadzis)
Graphic novel tells the sweet and sad story of the first space-dog
Original Boing Boing post

Mutter Museum Historic Medical Photographs
(Laura Lindgren)
Haunting book of Victorian pathological curiosities
Original Boing Boing post

Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World
(David Koenig)
The secret history of Walt Disney World
Original Boing Boing post

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
(Michael Pollan)
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Original Boing Boing post

Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations
(Stephen M. Kosslyn)
Cognitive science vs. crappy PowerPoint slides
Original Boing Boing post

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
(Clay Shirky)
Clay Shirky’s masterpiece
Original Boing Boing post

The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism
(Matt Mason)
To get rich off pirates, copy them
Original Boing Boing post

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found
(Suketu Mehta)
Exhausting and beautiful love-note to Mumbai
Original Boing Boing post

Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan
(Lisa Katayama)
Make Magazine meets Hints From Heloise by way of postwar Japan
Original Boing Boing post

China Shakes the World: A Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future — and the Challenge for America
(James Kynge)
Book captures the grand sweep of changes in the most populous nation on Earth
Original Boing Boing post

Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy
(Abby Banks, Timothy Findlen, Thurston Moore)
Communal homes of the anarcho-syndicalist lifestyle
Original Boing Boing post

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need
(Daniel H. Pink)
Optimistic and iconoclastic career guide in manga form
Original Boing Boing post

Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture
(DJ Spooky)
Essays on the future of music edited by DJ Spooky
Original Boing Boing post

Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights
(Bill Ivey)
How the DMCA, Clear Channel and copyright extension are killing culture
Original Boing Boing post

The Future of the Internet–And How to Stop It
(Jonathan Zittrain)
How to save the Internet from the Internet
Original Boing Boing post

The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey
(Emmanuel Goldstein)
Best of 2600 Magazine anthology
Original Boing Boing post

A People’s History of American Empire
(Howard Zinn)
Fantastic comic-book adaptation of Zinn’s classic A People’s History of the United States
Original Boing Boing post

Secrets of the Mouse: An Unofficial Behind-the-Scenes Guide to Disneyland Park
(Alan Joyce)
Insider Disneyland guide
Original Boing Boing post

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
(John Medina)
Oliver Sacks meets GETTING THINGS DONE
Original Boing Boing post

My Mother Wears Combat Boots: A Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us
(Jessica Mills)
Kick-ass punk-parenting book
Original Boing Boing post

True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society
(Farhad Manjoo)
The science, history and economics of self-deception
Original Boing Boing post

The Quirks & Quarks Guide to Space: 42 Questions (and Answers) About Life, the Universe, and Everything
(Jim Lebans)
Bite-sized answers to the massive questions of inquisitive astronomical ponderers
Original Boing Boing post

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future
(Cory Doctorow)
Collection of my infamous articles, essays, and polemics. championing free speech and universal access to information
Original Boing Boing post

The Baby Sleep Solution: A Proven Program to Teach Your Baby to Sleep Twelve Hours a Night
(Suzy Giordano)
The best parenting book I’ve read
Original Boing Boing post

How Children Learn
(John Holt)
Cllassic of human, kid-centered learning
Original Boing Boing post

The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes, Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies
(Patrick Buckley, Lily Binns)
Nerdy cookbook for kitchen hackers
Original Boing Boing post

Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin
(Kenny Shopsin, Carolynn Carreno)
Memoir and cookbook from Shopsin’s, the best, most eclectic eatery in Greenwich Village
Original Boing Boing post

How Children Fail
(John Holt)
Angry lessons from failures to teach
Original Boing Boing post

Alan’s War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope
(Emmanuel Guibert)
Extraordinary graphic novel memoir of a US GI who arrived in Europe at the end of WWII and stayed
Original Boing Boing post

Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
(Michael Lewis)
A timely moment to revisit 20-year-old memoir of the rise and fall of a financial bubble
Original Boing Boing post

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation
(Jonathan Hennessey)
US Constitution in graphic novel form
Original Boing Boing post

Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan
(Chip Kidd)
The lost Japanese Batman comics of 1966
Original Boing Boing post

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
(Leslie T. Chang)
Amazing memoir by American-born Chinese journalist
Original Boing Boing post

Bound by Law?: Tales from the Public Domain
(Keith Aoki, James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins)
The “Understanding Comics” of copyright, in a new edition
Original Boing Boing post

The Essential Groucho: Writings by, for, and about Groucho Marx
(Stefan Kanfer)
A book of fine grouchovian material that contains at least five guaranteed laughs on every page
Original Boing Boing post

Corrupted Science: Fraud, Ideology and Politics in Science
(John Grant)
The history, cause, effect and state of bad science
Original Boing Boing post

Atari 2600 stuffed into Game Gear, Sega Nomad seen casting envious glances

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

Oh sure, there’s bound to be some protrusion when shoving a retro console into a gaming handheld, but inelegant styling was a way of life for Sega back in the mid-90s. Modder Chris Koopa has achieved the impossible by stuffing an Atari 2600 (or the important parts, anyway) along with 40 games into a hacked up Game Gear and enabling it to operate for nearly a full workday with just five AA batteries. And yeah, there’s totally a 2600 cartridge slot to allow for playback of original titles. You know you’re oddly interested in seeing more, so tap the read link for a few shots from the rear / side.

[Via technabob]

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Atari 2600 stuffed into Game Gear, Sega Nomad seen casting envious glances originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blockbuster CEO talks up 2Wire MediaPoint, says rentals coming to BD decks in Q1 2009

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

Many may still be scratching their heads at why exactly Blockbuster decided to delve head first into the world of digital downloads this late in the game with such a weak (on paper, anyway) offering. CEO Jim Keyes recently sat down with E-Commerce News to clarify a few things, and here’s the skinny. For starters, it’s not using a pure “streaming” method on the MediaPoint; instead, it’s using a “progressive download” in hopes of improving the quality of the experience for those without a pure, continuous connection. Next, it’s solely relying on an à la carte way of delivering films in order to bring new releases to the home faster, and if you’ve taken a look at Netflix’s online availability of those very titles, you’ll start to see the difference. Potentially most revealing were his quotes on future endeavors, where he candidly admits that its download services will be coming to undisclosed Blu-ray players “by the first quarter of next year.” Whether or not the public will actually view that as a selling point, however, remains to be seen.

[Image courtesy of CEOSmack, thanks Anthony]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Blockbuster CEO talks up 2Wire MediaPoint, says rentals coming to BD decks in Q1 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Memorex SingStand iPod karaoke mic critiqued and in the wild

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

Sadly (very, very sadly, in fact), this isn’t the first device we’ve seen that poorly attempts to mix your iPod into a karaoke-type device, which probably means you’ll be glancing right over it. Memorex’s recently released SingStand MKS-SS1 Microphone and Speaker System was apprehended and photographed by the iPod fanatics at iLounge, and while the powered speaker base, auxiliary input for an additional microphone / instrument and the audio controls were swell, the lackluster iPod integration sort of left the critic wondering why Cupertino’s darling was even associated. And seriously, are you really considering spending on this with Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 widely available and able to satisfy your off-key singing desires? No, no you are not.

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

Memorex SingStand iPod karaoke mic critiqued and in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refurb Kindles now available for $329; please, try to contain yourselves

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

[Via KindleBoards]

Filed under: Handhelds

Refurb Kindles now available for 9; please, try to contain yourselves originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Robots to perform menial tasks by 2025, write for Engadget quite a bit sooner

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

While robots have certainly been around for a long enough time doing things like sweeping your floors and even conducting symphonies, up to now they haven’t been “human enough” to replace actual people. However, according to a new report from the National Intelligence Council, they should be able to by 2025. The report goes as far as saying that an influx of robo-workers could even “disrupt unskilled labor markets” and occupy jobs currently performed by migrant workers and hapless high school students. Additionally, the report asserts that new technologies could be used to augment human abilities as well as to perform other tasks such as caring for the elderly. Unfortunately, the report had no word on the progress of accompanying synthetic saliva glands for the inevitable robo-waiters, so no need to fret — yet.

[Image courtesy of benefisho]

Filed under: Robots

Robots to perform menial tasks by 2025, write for Engadget quite a bit sooner originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why Homebrew is Better

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments

Every professional performer always does the same thing at exactly the same moment in every show they do. What I like are things that are different every time. That’s why I like amateurs.

– Andy Warhol

What Andy Warhol said about professionals vs. amateurs is true not just in theatre, but in lots of DIY pursuits such as brewing your own beer. Homebrew is better because each time it’s different.

The beer that you buy is made by pros with the goal of replicating the same recipe each time; the same ingredients, the same process, the same consistent result. If you make your own beer, you can forget the same-old, same-old. In fact, it’s rather hard to brew the same exact thing each time following home-made processes. As an amateur, you get to enjoy these small but noticeable differences. Homebrew has its own design goals, mainly exploring lots of variations that allow you to see how different beers can be. For instance, we’ve used fresh hops that I’ve grown when they’re in season; we can dry the hops for use later in the year. We’ll also buy hops from the brewing supply store.

I’ve got a setup for all-grain brewing at home and it takes about six hours to get a batch ready for fermentation. In the photo below, you can see the underlying IPA recipe and my notes outlining the steps. The notes help me structure the process and remember to do everything I need to do. I also use the notes to record times and other measurements.

The photo at right is next-to-last step, siphoning the cooled-down brew into a 7-gallon glass carboy. We’ll add yeast and the fermentation will start. It takes several days for the sugars to be converted into alcohol. I like to check on the batch and see this vigorous activity up-close.

Brewing is fun to do with a group of people. The brew room, like a workshop, becomes a hangout and you get to talking while you’re doing something. My daughter’s fiance, Ryan, is learning to brew along with me. Ryan understands much more of the science behind brewing. We made a tasty Pumpkin Ale for Thanksgiving. Yesterday, we started a batch of light-colored German-style beer, which we’ll eventually bottle for holiday presents.

More serious home-brewers try to perfect a recipe and repeat it each time, especially those who enter competitions. But not everyone needs to have that goal. To cite a phrase made popular by Perl programmers, there’s more than one way to do it. That’s what makes homebrew so interesting.