Monday, February 27, 2006

 

Fractal Fotos

Check out this Flickr slide show by David S. April.

Monday, February 20, 2006

 

World's Smallest Website

Thanks to the 10Feb06 podcast "Buzz Out Loud" for the link to GUIMP. Play pong.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

 

Stunning Graphic Videos


Check out these creative commons licensed stunning graphic videos at teczno.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

 

Oh Boy, Sky Scout


I was reading Popular Science and came across a description of Celestron's SkyScout. Wow, what a gizmo! I searched the PopSci website, but couldn't find the reference. Here is the description:

The SkyScout is a revolutionary handheld device that uses advanced GPS
technology with point and click convenience to instantly identify thousands of stars, planets, constellations and more. Simply point the SkyScout at any star in the sky and click the "target" button. The SkyScout will instantly tell you what object you are looking at. To locate a star or planet, select the object's name from the menu and follow the directional arrows through the viewfinder. SkyScout tells you when you are on target. It's that easy!


Tuesday, February 14, 2006

 

The eBay Model for Money

Steven Johnson pointed me to this NYT article about Prosper.com:
Prosper's users lend money to and borrow money from other people on the site at what the company says are better interest rates than those available through traditional financial institutions and without some of the risk that comes from typical person-to-person loans. "We looked at eBay and said, 'Why can't we do this for money?' " said Chris Larsen, Prosper's chief executive. Mr. Larsen, who founded and led E-Loan, an online lender that was bought last year for $300 million by Popular Inc., says Prosper could save borrowers and lenders money because it was a leaner operation than traditional financial institutions. He noted that consumers make, at most, about 4 percent on their savings accounts, which banks then lend to credit card customers at 14 percent or more. "That's just a huge spread," Mr. Larsen said. "We think if you allow people to participate directly, it's a more efficient marketplace. People can make a better return on their deposits, which then become the source of credit to others."

Monday, February 13, 2006

 

Two New ITConversations


 

Exercise the Mind - Virtually

Steven Johnson pointed me to a Globe and Mail article, which says in part:

A body of research suggests that playing video games provides benefits similar to bilingualism in exercising the mind. Just as people fluent in two languages learn to suppress one language while speaking the other, so too are gamers adept at shutting out distractions to swiftly switch attention between different tasks.

A new study of 100 university undergraduates in Toronto has found that video gamers consistently outperform their non-playing peers in a series of tricky mental tests. If they also happened to be bilingual, they were unbeatable.


Thursday, February 09, 2006

 

The Laszlo Platform . . .

. . . is cool Web 2.0 technology. Check it out. Thanks to Innovation Creators for the tip.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

 

State of the Blogosphere

David Silfry's posting contains great stats.

 

A Couple of IT Conversations . . .

. . . that I want to listen to:

Leander Kahney on the cult of the iPod
Clifford Nass on human ears and computer voices

plus

World Economic Forum session on powering a creative economy

Monday, February 06, 2006

 

How fast is your connection, really?

Try this NSF site to check how fast your upload and download speeds are.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?