In case you haven’t been keeping count, they’re up to Node 3 which should be set to attach sometime December 2009. Before casting you’re vote there’s a couple of things you should know. NASA wants to keep the name in the same spirit as the first two nodes, Unity and Harmony. Their poll has five selectable options; Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity, Venture, and a place where you can type in your own.

Photo - Front Of Node 3

In case you’re wondering what Node 3’s functions will be, it will serve a couple of purposes. First, it will have six windows, providing the astronauts with a wide view of Earth. The panoramic view being implemented has never been attempted like this before, and is one of the major feats of the node.

The Node 3 package will be carrying some major upgrades for the space station as well. It will come equipped with a robotics workstation, so they can use the giant robotic arm attached to the station. It will also be carrying many life support systems being transferred to the IST. Here are some of those components, and their general fuction:

– Oxygen Generation System (OGS), which takes the station’s water and splits it apart into hydrogen, which gets vented into space, and oxygen, which is returned into the cabin for the crew to breathe

– Atmosphere Revitalization System (ARS), which controls the station’s carbon dioxide levels and maintains the temperature and atmospheric pressure at comfortable level.

– Water Recovery System (WRS) and Urine Processor Assembly (UPA), which take waste water from the station and purify it, separating any contaminants and making it safe for the crew to drink

– Waste and hygiene compartment, which provides a place for the crew to use the bathroom in a way that allows the station to process the majority of the water used onboard so that it may be used again, greatly lessening the need for resupply flights from Earth.

Seeing as how the overall theme of the node seems to be the Earth, and providing life support systems I think I have an appropriate name: Genesis. Here’s the story, along with the poll if you wish to vote yourself.

What are some names you think should be given to Node 3? Leave your entries, or votes in the comments section below.

Mail Online has an in-depth look at “Jules,” the human-looking robot head, which can mimic real human facial expressions. And in real time no less.

Mail Online reports:

Jules mimics the expressions by converting the video image into digital commands that make the robot’s servos and motors produce mirrored movements.

And it all happens in real time as the robot can interpret the commands at 25 frames per second.

You can see plenty of images of Jules at that site, but you can also see Jules in action in the video embedded below.

Creepy, exciting stuff. For a look at fictional Terminator news, read my thoughts on the upcoming sequel.

Wow, this is a great day for SpaceX and the culmination of an enormous amount of work by a great team. The data shows we achieved a super precise orbit insertion — middle of the bullseye — and then went on to coast and restart the second stage, which was icing on the cake.

I will have a more complete post launch statement tomorrow, as right now I’m in a bit of a daze and need to go celebrate

This is a pretty great day for any space enthusiast.  Another private company has gotten off of this planet.  I’m still of the opinion that while NASA’s research and their achievements shouldn’t be overlooked, what is going to get us off of this planet and into a permanent position in our solar system is going to be the private corporations.

This is great news!  If it weren’t for the past 4 days being completely cloudy, I’d be staring up at the skies right now.  Congratulations to those at SpaceX and all of the folks anywhere who labor and give towards the goal of getting up there.

Technorati Tags: spacex, falcon 1, orbit, space, successful launch, civilian space effort, blast off

Let’s hope for no explosions there either!  Way to go SpaceX!

Technorati Tags: spacex, space, civilian space flight, rockets, it really is rocket science

Click here for ultimate satellite tracking power!

This is not only fun for folks like me who could easily burn an hour or two finding out where sattelites are in real time but it’s also useful.  Planning on placing a bet on whether or not the Shuttle will collide with something on the way up?  Use this tool to calculate your odds before Vegas does it for you!  Want to create your own rocket/space program in your barn?  Well you’ll need to know what is up there so you can avoid it on the way up and down.

Once you launch the app, here are some useful shortcuts:

Shift+Click      Zoom In
Ctrl+Click     Zoom Out
Click on satellite     show trace
Click in list     show trace
Drag     rotate in 3d

While graphically this is no Crysis, the program is simple and easy to use.  You can track numerous sattlelites via a drop down menu or simply click on the dot in the app.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: space, science, nasa, sattelites, DIY Space Program, science geeks

Right?

Realistically, they’re just starting the long sequence of starting this massive thing up.  There won’t be any collisions until late October.  I read earlier this morning that one of the major players involved has received death threats related to this . . . which seems to me to be way over the top.

Either way, if there’s something you’ve really wanted to do, now might be the time to attempt it.  Tomorrow we see science taking a huge step forward.  Or we’ll see a quick flash and then. . .Half Life 2 folks.

If you want to watch it live, grab some popcorn and go here to the webcast.

Technorati Tags: lhc, end of the world, not likely, black holes, science, death threats, half life, science

The new book by Nick Sagan (son of Carl Sagan), You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised, is characterized by explanations of some of the fascinating technologies envisioned in classic science fiction along with explorations of the progress modern science has made towards achieving those visions. Classic science fiction references appear side-by-side with summaries of state of the art scientific research.

The book is divided into 5 broad chapters, each covering 10 technologies that we have made progress towards realizing. The chapters are Travel and Transportation, Computers, Cyborgs, and Robots, Communications, Weapons and Security, and Life, Health, and Sex.

The Pros

This book is very well written. Each technology is described with multiple fictional appearances as well as detailed accounts of modern advances involving that technology. I was also surprised at how realistic many of the concepts once considered impossible have become. There were also detailed diagrams and high-quality images for all of the sections, which made the content much more engaging.

The Cons

Some of the technologies in the book were much less interesting than others. In a desire to have the same number of sections in each chapter, some sections were added that probably could have been left out - language translators, watch toys, and sex toys, for example.

I definitely recommend this book. It was a quick read, and each section was engaging and interesting. The price is very reasonable, as well.

The Stats

Title: You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised
Author(s): Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, and Andy Walker
ISBN10: 1556526857
ISBN13: 978-1556526855
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Cost: $11.21 (from Amazon)
Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Published: April 1, 2008

Technorati Tags: Carl Sagan, Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, Andy Walker, science fiction, technology, books, book reviews, You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised

We have no way of knowing what it is that the inhabitants of the Death Star want, or even if they are friendly. But one thing is for certain. On the fateful day when we must finally engage our enemy in combat, the greatest weapon available to us will be Jeff Goldblum and his Macintosh of Doom.

Technorati Tags: Jeff Goldblum, Star Wars, Independence Day, Macintosh, Death Star, San Francisco, video

THE Singularity, that’s what he’s talking about.  You know, the point where machine intelligence jogs past human intelligence and brings us to a new era where combined computer cognition is the equivalent of a minor deity.  Not only that, but it’s Kurzweil, without the T.  I don’t know if that’s Intel’s fault or Cnet’s on the transcription.

What is the Singularity really?  It’s where machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence - even by just a tiny bit.  At that point, the machines, which are now more knowing than we are, can recursively improve on themselves in a never ending and rapidly accelerating cycle of getting better and better.

Kurzweil tones it down a bit and simply says it’s going to be a time where machines can manifest their own rapidly advancing technology.  The implications of a meteoric rise in technology, self replicating smarter than human intelligences and you know, superbeings. . . it’s all still there though.  Perhaps in Intel’s mind, the Singularity involves computers designing processors for their next of kin to the point where we have the 1nm Intel processors featuring 10,000 cores.

Is this something we really want to work towards?  Is it inevitable?  And will these machines become self aware?  No one really knows but it’s certainly an interesting concept to think on.

For their part, I’ve awarded the first ever ArsGeek Overreaching Statement Award to Intel.  Congratulations Intel! Stating that they are actively working on the Singularity goes a bit beyond miniaturizing processors and coming up with interesting ways to optimize code for multiple cores.  It’s a bit like casually stating that your experiments on family dog have yeilded a doberman with the intelligence of your or I and the ability to speak several languages.

Technorati Tags: singularity, intel, ray kurzweil, ai, overraching statement award, computers, technology, other geeks, our future overlords

Technorati Tags: space, mars, web cams, 90s, science, technology

One of the primary hurdles that Image Metrics faces on a daily basis is the Uncanny Valley.  The Uncanny Valley is a term that refers to the observed revulsion of people viewing objects demonstrating near lifelikeness.  You have experienced the Uncanny Valley any time you’ve been creeped out by a baby doll.

Technorati Tags: Uncanny Valley, animation, facial animation, Image Metrics

Technorati Tags: homebrew, fusion, reactor, fusors, science, nuclear

If You Use the Web, You May Have Already Been Enlisted as a Human Scanner
Those anti-bot security forms that slow you down when you’re entering information just might serve a larger purpose- Scientific American

By Adam Hadhazy

You’re just about ready to buy a pair of tickets on Ticketmaster, but before you can take the next step, an annoying box with wavy letters and numbers shows up on your screen. You dutifully enter in what you see—and what a bot presumably can’t—in the name of security.

But what you may not know is that you also have helped archivists decipher distorted characters in old books and newspapers so that they can be posted on the Web.

You might think that computer scientists would have figured out a way to get computers to decipher those characters. But they haven’t, so instead they’ve figured out a way to harness all that effort you’re making to protect your security. “When you’re reading those squiggly characters, you are doing something that computers cannot,” says Luis von Ahn, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University (C.M.U.) in Pittsburgh.

Von Ahn and colleagues reported last week in the journal Science that Web users have transcribed the equivalent of 160 books a day—that’s more than 440 million words—in the year since researchers kicked off the program. The initiative is similar to “distributed computing” schemes like SETI@home, which take advantage of unused personal computer processing power to sift through signals received from space for those that might be generated by extraterrestrial intelligence or to figure out how proteins fold. But the difference with this system is that people, not processors, do the calculations.

“We are getting people to help us digitize books at the same time they are authenticating themselves as humans,” von Ahn says. “Every time people are typing these [answers] out, they are actually taking old books or newspapers and helping to transcribe them.”

Other large digitization projects, such as the Google Books Project and the Internet Archive, rely on optical character recognition (OCR) software. Basically, computers take a digital image of a book or newspaper page, then try to discern the individual letters, von Ahn says. But he and other C.M.U. researchers estimate that these programs misinterpret or fail to read up to one out of every five words on weathered, yellowed paper or on pages with faded or smeared ink. Such electronically illegible words and texts must then be manually transcribed by human workers at a relatively high cost, he says.

Von Ahn’s team’s method is a twist on the Web site tests known as CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), which have been in use since 2000. The new twist on CAPTCHAs is to use a set of letters from old, weathered books and newspapers that computerized transcribing programs cannot recognize. Much of the raw “fuel” comes courtesy of the Internet Archive project, which transmits words that its OCRs cannot recognize or do not appear in the dictionary.

About 40,000 Websites now use the service, called reCAPTCHA, which the project’s site offers for free. Facebook was one of its first major patrons.

Von Ahn estimates that at reCAPTCHA’s current rate of transcription (about four million words a day missed by OCR systems), the program does a week’s worth of transcription from 1,500 professional transcribers in a single day. This data is stored on hard drives at C.M.U. and then sent back to the organization that requested the transcription. (The New York Times, for example, has enlisted reCAPTCHA to digitize the newspaper’s archives dating back to 1851.)

Von Ahn acknowledges that the overall cost for reCAPTCHA is still a bit higher than just using OCR for more recently written, more easily scanned texts. He would not say exactly how much, citing nondisclosure agreements with clients using the software.

When the researchers compared how reCAPTCHA and OCR transcribed five Times articles, reCAPTCHA did a significantly better job—99.1 percent accuracy—than OCR of the sort that Google uses for its book project, which came in at 83.5 percent. (Google declined to comment for this story.)

But as is the way with most technology, today’s innovation is tomorrow’s VHS tape. Eventually computers will be able to decipher reCAPTCHAs, too. “We’ll get a few good years out of reCAPTCHAs,” says co-author Manuel Blum, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon and key developer of some of the first CAPTCHAs.

OCR will continue to improve as well, Blum says, along with so-called machine learning in general.

Either way, with some 100 million books published prior to the dawn of the digital era, says von Ahn, that “makes for a lot of words.”

The best part of the video is when Adam breaks from the itinerary to show a slow-motion video of fellow co-host Jaimie Hyneman slapping him across the face in an attempt to sober Adam up.  While locating the file on his laptop, someone in the audience points out the somewhat suspiciously named “Batman The Dark Knight.avi” on Adam’s desktop, to which Adam responds, “Well, I hadn’t seen it yet.”

The video is an hour long, but totally worth watching.

Edit: It turns out the video in question was just the trailer of Batman.  But still, Adam is a Batman fan, he recreated a Dodo skeleton, he hand-drew a map of Middle Earth, and his official occupation entails blowing stuff up on TV.  He would be hard pressed to be any geekier (or cooler).

Technorati Tags: Mythbusters, hackers, H.O.P.E., Adam Savage

The Way Toys Work is a book that explores the origins and inner workings of 50 popular toys.  A guide on how to recreate simple versions of each toy is also included, as well as various science experiments that can be performed with them.

The book is divided into 50 chapters - one for each toy.  Each chapter includes sections on history, function, dismantlement, and duplication.

My opinion of this book oscillated between excitement and disappointment.  But as I eventually recognized the goal of the authors and who their target audience was, I became very satisfied with the book.

The Pros

What the book does especially well is describe the origins of each toy.  I was a little shocked to discover how many popular toys were created by people with no toy-making experience.  I found the histories genuinely interesting.  I also enjoyed the in-depth explanations of how many of the toys worked, especially ones that involved scientific principles more complex than gravity and aerodynamics (the Dunking Bird is powered by methylene chloride vapor, for example).

The Cons

It is difficult to tell who would best benefit from reading this book.  The brief histories and simple related crafts would best benefit school children, but the in-depth scientific analyses would frequently be over their heads and better suited for older geeks.  Also, each chapter is disconnected and it is sometimes difficult to read the book for more than a few chapters.  I found it best to leave the book sitting out and read a chapter or two when I was bored.

I eventually decided that this book has a place both in the classroom and at home.  Children can benefit from the brief explanations of how their favorite toys work, and adults can benefit from the interesting backgrounds and inner workings of their childhood playthings.

I would certainly recommend this book to geeks of all ages.

The Stats

Title: The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More
Author(s): Ed and Woody Sobey
ISBN10: 1556527454
ISBN13: 978-1556527456
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Cost: $10.17 (from Amazon)
Format: Paperback, 178 pages
Published: May 1, 2008

Technorati Tags: books, book reviews, The Way Toys Work, The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More, Ed Sobey, Woody Sobey

These things are about the size of an action figure, fully articulated and balanced bipedal robots. They’re capable of extremely complicated maneuvers like quick sidesteps, blocking and grappling, and righting themselves when knocked over. If there were ever any doubts as to which country’s robot army would eventually rise to dominate the human race, we can now lay them to rest.

Technorati Tags: robot, fight, fighting, robot wars, battlebots, robotics, japan, japanese, competition

He was not forthcoming on probings.

Edgar Mitchell is not only an astronaut, but someone who’s interested in paranormal phenomena.  While on Apollo 14, in addition to doing cool back flips and science stuff, he conducted private ESP experiments with friends back on Earth.  He’s also a founding member of the Institute of Noetic Sciences.  Here’s a guy who’s been places and seems to think that there’s a connection between the spirit and all that provable science stuff.

The IONS is, in their own words:

A nonprofit membership organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The Institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.

In my words that translates out to “Crap we can’t prove“, but hey each to his own.  The guy’s ex-military and has been in space and that’s gotta be worth something.

The Daily Mail is reporting on Dr. Mitchell’s beliefs that aliens are here, have way better toys than us and do indeed have large eyes.

Aliens have contacted humans several times but governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, the sixth man to walk on the moon has claimed.

Apollo 14 astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell, said he was aware of many UFO visits to Earth during his career with NASA but each one was covered up.

Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as ‘little people who look strange to us.’

He said supposedly real-life ET’s were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

Chillingly, he claimed our technology is ‘not nearly as sophisticated’ as theirs and “had they been hostile”, he warned ‘we would be been gone by now’.

Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.

‘I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we’ve been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real,’ Dr Mitchell said.

‘It’s been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it’s leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it.

‘I’ve been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it’s been happening quite a bit.’

Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated.

He told the astonished Kerrang! radio host Nick Margerrison: “This is really starting to open up. I think we’re headed for real disclosure and some serious organisations are moving in that direction.’

Mr Margerrison said: ‘I thought I’d stumbled on some sort of astronaut humour but he was absolutely serious that aliens are definitely out there and there’s no debating it.’

Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down.

In a statement, a spokesman said: “NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe.

‘Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.’

Technorati Tags: aliens, among us, astronauts, nasa, ions, space, technology, the final frontier, lgm

From the European Space Agency:

Echus Chasma is bounded to the west by the Echus Chasma plateau which lies about 4 km above the Echus Chasma floor. On the plateau are deeply incised valleys which connect to the Echus Chasma valley.

Technorati Tags: space, mars, echus chasma, mars express, picture

Here’s a snippet from Cosmos that I love - the evolution starter kit, bringing us from single cells right through to folks like you, me and Jack Chick.

Technorati Tags: carl sagan, video, cosmos, video, evolution, dinosaurs, science, seven and a half minutes of fun

Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope and the source for
the SETI@home data that your computer analyzes, faces massive budget cuts that
will END its ability to continue the search for life beyond Earth. The decision
to ensure full funding currently rests upon votes in Congress on Senate Bill S.
2862 and House Resolution H.R. 3737. These bills desperately need more support.

Please take a moment to help us SAVE ARECIBO.

Clicking THIS LINK will direct you to a web page that allows you print
out letters prepared for your Senators and Congressional Representative urging
them to support Arecibo. Printing and mailing the letters is really easy, too!
You will also have the chance to add a few personal thoughts, if you wish, to
let your Senators and Representative know why this funding is important to you!
And if you’re really feeling passionate about saving Arecibo, please use these
letters as the basis for letters you write yourself, urging your congressmen
and women to vote to save Arecibo.

Because our representatives in Congress rarely give much attention to all the
email they receive, printing out and MAILING these letters via standard U.S.
Postal mail remains our best option for contacting them and our best hope for
saving Arecibo (The second best option is to call your representatives). Your
42 cent stamps on these letters could help us get the millions of dollars
needed to save Arecibo.

Our search cannot continue without the necessary support. Your work, as
SETI@home participants, represents an indispensable resource for conducting the
search. Now, we need your help to ensure that our other most valuable resource
- our eyes and ears to the cosmos - can continue to probe the universe as we
seek to answer the question: Is there anybody out there?
Photo courtesy of the NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pluto, demoted from planet status in 2006, got a consolation prize on Wednesday — it and other dwarf planets like it will be called plutoids.

The International Astronomical Union said in a statement that its executive committee meeting in Oslo, Norway, decided on the term.

Plutoids will be defined as celestial bodies in orbit around the Sun farther away than Neptune. They must have near-spherical shape, and must not have swept up other, smaller objects in their orbits, said the organization, which names newly discovered planets and other celestial bodies.

The two known and named plutoids are Pluto and Eris, but astronomers expect to find more.

Another dwarf planet, Ceres, does not merit the plutoid designation because it is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox)

Technorati Tags: Pluto, plutoids, Mickey Mouse

Technorati Tags: nasa, moon, name, yours, send, vroom, space, cool, technology

Anyway, let me take you on a journey to “I Want One of Those”… because I do. I want several of “those”. I’ll probably never get any of “those” but it feels good to want.

From WiFi Signal Detector T-shirt to Space Putty- I’ve got you covered… or myself covered for the far away holidays.

I present you with my top 10 “Must Have” My intro’s are in bold italics and everything else is from the site:

This first one I chose to give as a gift to someone you hang around with often. Not because you care about them, but because it makes them essential to your geek habits.

This is geek chic at its pinnacle, its apex, you know, the top basically. These slim fitting (but not tight) black t-shirts have a WiFi signal detector built into them, which is pretty darn cool. When you wander into a WiFi area the little arrows do their light-up sequence spinny thing, and the five bar detector on your chest will illuminate to show you the strength of the signal. The shirts are black and come with a choice of a blue or green Wi-Fi signal, and in a variety of sizes depending on your diet. Whether you’re a laptop roving geek-head or not is of course irrelevant, light up T-Shirts are so ‘now’ and so ‘tomorrow today’ that going out without wearing one will soon seem so very yesterday. That may not have made much sense, but since when did that matter? Possibly tomorrow, but definitely not today. Powered by a couple of AAA batteries and fired up by WiFi signals, these T-Shirts will turn you into your very own hot-spot beacon without you having to buy a coffee or skulk round an airport (did that make any sense?).

Features
A black t-shirt with illuminating WiFi detector.
The detector has 5 bars to determine the strength of 802.11b or 802.11g signals.
Choose a t-shirt with a detector that glows in either blue or in green.
The t-shirts are slim (but not skinny) fitting.
The t-shirts are 100% cotton.
T-shirts are available in small, medium, large or extra-large.
Hand wash only.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Requires 2 x AAA Batteries (not included).
£19.95 $35.91  €29.53

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/essential-gadgets/wifi-t-shirts/index.html

I picked this because who hasn’t felt the heart drop once you saw your shiny new gadget inflicted with it’s first scratch. It SUCKS when that happens!

Invisible Shield is the ultimate in gadget protection and is the toughest, most durable gadget scratch-protection film available on planet Earth. A gadget is so irresistible when it’s shiny and new, a gleaming totem of gorgeous technology. Sadly, within no time at all, it gets scratched and damaged - and you end up losing that ‘loving feeling’ you got when you first opened it. So next time you splash out on some flash piece of kit wrap it in this simply amazing Invisible Shield stuff and it will stay looking brand spanking new for years, every time you use it will be as if you’ve never touched it before.

Developed for the US military to protect the leading edge of helicopter rotor blades in the desert sand, this wonder stuff is absurdly tough. It’s basically an ultra thin clear urethane plastic, that’s virtually invisible and more or less invincible, after all if it can protect rotor blades moving at hundreds of miles an hour, imagine what it can do to your iPod, iPhone, Wii, PSP etc. The Shield creates a complete wrap-around protection (slightly fiddly to apply, but so, so worth it), so no more scratches, knocks, oily finger marks, nicks, all the little things that stop your gadget looking as good as it should.

This stuff is so tough you can scratch a key across your iPhone screen without it leaving a mark! Invisible Shield is probably the best gadget accessory we’ve ever seen, no forget that, it’s definitely, unquestionably, the best gadget accessory we’ve ever seen. When you love gadgets as much as we do, you want to keep them looking perfect, and this wonder stuff does it.

The moment you buy your shiny new toy, wrap it in Invisible Shield and it will look brand spanking new for years.
Features
The most durable protective film for gadgets ever invented.
Originally designed to protect military helicopter blades, the invisible SHIELD gives military protection to your tech pieces.
The shield is made from invisible and invincible clear, urethane plastic.
The shield wraps around your entire gadget offering 100% protection.
The invisible SHIELD allows gadgets to be scratch-free and look as good as new years after purchase.
The invisible SHIELD is idiot proof to apply.
Suitable for use on the most popular gadgets (see list at the top of page).
Sizes vary according to the gadget they fit.

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/essential-gadgets/invisible-shield/index.html

Okay, this may not be a dire essential but OMG- how cool would *this* be?? Imagine you to be on a romantic walk by the stream and you hear a splash- “There’s fish in them there waters!”

You’ve never got a fishing rod on you when you want one. Oh how we remember all those times strolling along the banks of the Limpopo, when up pops the fin of a marlin, or perhaps we hear the splash of a leaping sword-fish, and darn it if we’ve forgotten a fishing rod. If only we’d had a Pen Fishing Rod to hand? Of course marlin and swordfish are not fresh-water fish and we’ve never been to the Limpopo, but it sounded more appealing than watching a dead perch floating in the Grand Union Canal. We’re getting off the point somewhat (again!). Ok, this clever little gadget is about the size of a large marker pen at only eight inches long, and yet opens up to become an aluminium alloy 4ft fishing rod, complete with a left and right handed reel (packed separately), a 5lb breaking strain line, and even includes a triple hook spinner. Never again will you be caught short when you spot a fish rise, and it’s small enough to carry with you everywhere!
Features
A 4ft fishing rod that compacts into a slimline case, designed to look like a large pen.
The rod has a minituarised reel with a switchable rachet ideal for left and right handers.
The rod has a line brake and line fastener for exceptional stability.
The rod itself is made from aluminium alloy.
The line has a breaking-strain of 2.5kg.
A triple hook and spinner are included.
Suitable for ages 14 years+.
Size: 22 x 1.5 x 1.5cm (in ‘pen’ form).

£24.99 $44.98  €36.99

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/gadgets-gizmos-newarrivals/pen-fishing-rod/index.html

This one is just plain old cool. If you don’t think so then you must leave now because you are not worthy of being called a geek:

If you’ve ever had a problem telling the time, then worry no more. The Binary Watch is so completely impossible to use (unless you’re a code-head) that not being able to tell the time is no longer a cause for worry, but just perfectly normal behaviour. Of course for those of you who ‘get it’, the Binary Watch - whilst palpably a watch - is not about telling the time, it’s about being carefree and eminently cool. It either says ‘I’m sufficiently techno-cool that I can actually tell the time on this thing’ or ‘I’m so laid back I don’t need to know what the time is, but cool lights, huh?’.

As the classic joke goes, ‘there are only 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary, and those who don’t’ and it doesn’t matter if you’re a 1 or a 0, it’s a unique if slightly daft gizmo whichever way you look at it. Though of course if you look at it upside down, the time will be different. Nevertheless, despite the whole very-hard-to-tell-the-time drawbacks, this is one cool watch. And here’s how it works…

The Binary Watch displays time in binary format. (Now there was a useful sentence.) Using blue LED lights to indicate hours and minutes, the LED “ON” means 1, and the LED “OFF” means 0. The first row denotes the hours and the second row indicates the minutes, and apparently the translation of time from binary to decimal is easy: simply (huh) add the numbers of lit LEDs on the upper row to tell hours, and add up the numbers of lit LEDs on the lower row to tell minutes. The upper LED-row (8-4-2-1) shows hours. The lower LED-row (32-16-8-4-2-1) shows minutes. The time is displayed for five seconds when the side button is pushed - but if you think that’s long enough to work it out then you’re considerably cleverer than we are.

It comes with a leather strap, is made from solid stainless steel, and is water resistant to 90 feet - just in case you wanted to show off your binary proficiency to a halibut.
Features
Blue LED display
Leather strap
Solid stainless steel case and back
Water resistant 3 ATM - 90 feet
Battery included (type CR2032)
Size : 25 x 1cm x watch face of 5cm

$89.91 £49.95 €73.93

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/hot-watches/binary-watch/index.html

Another awesome must have. I’m an astronomy geek and gazing at the stars/planets is a passion of mine. Unfortunately I live in the NW where clouds conceal my view regularly. I still love to gaze though and picture the stars beyond the atmosphere.

Staring out at the infinite reaches of space on a dark and starry night is an awesome experience. Only trouble is, not many of us know what we’re looking at, and space becomes about a thousand times more fascinating and beautiful when you can unlock some of its secrets. mySky (forgive the lowercase m, it’s a brand thing apparently) is your very own handheld interactive guide to the universe. Point it at the night sky, and it will locate and identify celestial objects. No knowledge of the night sky is needed, it will align what it sees, and is capable of identifying over 30,000 celestial wonders. Just pull the trigger to find out about the planets, stars, nebula and galaxies in your night sky.

Once it identifies the object that you’re pointing it at (as long as it’s not an alien - this looks a bit like a ray gun, so best not to start some inter-galactic war by putting the wind up any passing ET’s), it will show you a multi-media presentation on its full-colour LCD screen. mySky will also take you on a guided tour of the sky above you highlighting the best things to look at depending on your time date and location.

If you’ve got a telescope, you can also hook this gizmo up to it and it will control the telescope, moving it and pointing it at any object the mySky can find.

Let the universe unfold before you.

Please note, this product is exempt from all special promotions and discount offers.
Features
Identify planets and stars in the night’s sky.
Visual and audio guided tours of the stars in your location.
Find and display mode for constellations.
LCD screen with full colour display.
Real time sky maps found.
Satellite finder.
Ergonomically designed to be comfortable to use and hold.
Can be connected to computerised telescopes in order to direct the telescope to the chosen constellation.
Adds a GPS function to a non computerised telescope.
Includes an SD card.
Six hours of battery life.
Suitable for ages 14 years+.
Requires 4 x AA Batteries (not included).
Size: 27 x 24 x 9cm.

£299.00 USD $538.2 €442.52
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/my-sky/index.html

Come on now- AWESOME??? Right? Right? Tell me I’m wrong… this is just TOO COOL! I can be the faux guitarist in my friends band! Or at least be the coolest person in the office (gawd I wish I was an associate… )

Were you born to rock, were you born to roll, were you born to sell your immortal soul - surely that?s a lyric from some Quo, Cooper, Sabbath, Leopard, long haired scream? If not it should be, and this testament to guitar thrashing rock is (obviously a bit daft) in actuality, an iconic 1GB MP3 Player, complete with its own mini guitar amp speaker. It’ll hold about 250 of your favourite tracks, and scrolls through them sequentially. There’s no LCD display, or glowing little buttons, this MP3 Player is all guitar. It comes with a mini stand, so you can sit it on your desk, a plectrum as well as headphones and a lanyard for hanging it round your neck. So next time you feel the urge for a damn good thrash, grab the U Rock MP3 player and play air-guitar until you pass out. It looks super cool, and after all, that’s mostly what rock is all about.

Please note, this product is exempt from all special promotions and discount offers.
Features
An electric guitar shaped MP3 player.
Guitar detail includes strings and machine heads.
Mini stereo speakers disguised as a guitar amp.
A plectrum.
Lanyard.
Headphones.
1GB of memory holding up to 250 songs.
No software required.
Scroll along your playlist tracks.
Colours may vary.
USB and 3.5mm cables included.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Size:-

Guitar: 16.5 x 5.5 x 1cm
Amp: 9 x 8 x 5cm.

£49.99 $89.98  €73.99
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/mp3-audio/u-rock-mini-guitar-mp3-player-and-amp/index.html

Considering I had just written an article on this I *had* to pick it- The Geek Gods heard my cry!

Isn’t it strange how when you’re driving along it’s always everyone else who’s the idiot? Of course from time to time we’re all idiots, and for the most part not intentionally, but nevertheless inevitable and puerile hand gestures always seem to follow. Well the LED car sign let’s you express yourself in more efficient and most of the time a very much more considerate manner. You just fix the wireless remote in the front of your car, and place the unit on the back shelf. You have five different messages you can illuminate to whoever is behind you, a Smiley Face, and Winking Face, ‘Thanks’, ‘Back Off’ or ‘Sorry’. It’s pretty silly, but we reckon it would help calm a lot of the over-heated nonsense that goes on out on the open road.
Features
LED Emoticon to communicate to fellow road users.
Five buttons on a mini control unit to be kept near your fingertips.
Each button corresponds to one of five messages to other drivers.
Messages include ‘Back Off’ for those riding a bit too close for comfort, ‘Thanks’ for putting a smile on the nice man who let you out’s face, ‘Sorry’ for the dodgy moves, a smiley face or a winking face so your mood at good manoeuvres and attractive passers by can be illustrated.
Sucker for attaching it to your rear windscreen.
Always drive with due care and attention to other road users as well as pedestrians.
Suitable for ages 17 years+.
Requires 4 x AA Batteries and 2 x AAA Batteries (not included).
Size: 17 x 17 x 4cm.

£24.99  $44.98  €36.99
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/travel-gadgets/led-car-sign/index.html 

I *love* camping. I get scared as hell when everyone’s asleep, it’s late at night and you have to use the bathroom but you don’t want to run down the batteries on the camping light or you’re too groggy to light the lantern. Feel great knowing you can wind up and then wind down.

Camping is a joy, camping lights however are so often not. Finding batteries in the midst of the wilds is no easy task, which is why this wind-up camp light is such a dream. Unlike so many of its predecessors, this light has an incredibly efficient winding mechanism, and as it uses LEDs, you’ll never have to change the bulbs. As well as a bright main light that casts a beautifully even glow, there are also two safety/night lights which from a full wind-up charge will glow for up to 48 hours, so you’ll always be able to find it in the dark.

The eco-friendly wind mechanism will give you thirty minutes of ambient light from just one minute’s winding, and a full ‘wind-up’ will give you four hours of light. Its table-top design is augmented by a recessed hanging loop in the base, so you can pop it on a table, or string it up on a tree, the top of your tent, whatever. As well as muscle power, it comes with a 12v in-car charger, so you give it a quick boost in the car if you’re feeling too knackered after all that trekking to crank it up. It’s a smooth wind-up light that’s built to last, and is in our opinion the perfect camping light.
Features
An eco-friendly, super reliable camp light.
5 super bright LEDs with over 50,000 hours life.
Two modes: ‘Normal’ (5 LED Lantern), ‘Nightlight’ (2 LED nightlight with amber glow).
A 1 minute wind= 30 minutes of light.
A full wind gives four hours of constant light or 48 hours on ‘Nightlight’.
Splash resistant.
Comes with an in-car charger.
Requires an internal NiMH battery (included) with a 600mA capacity giving up to 8 hours continuous light output.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Size: 16 x 12.5 x 12.5cm.

£19.95 $35.91 €29.53

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/travel-gadgets/wind-up-led-camp-light/index.html

My photo gallery is proof that self pics are a pain. I lack the equipment to use my digi cam and have to resort to the limited web cam. If I had one of these things I can walk up to strangers and take decent pics with them ALL THE TIME! “Hey check out person, you saved me 35 cents! Let’s take a picture!”

It’s so simple isn’t it, you see it and think, now why didn’t I think of that? Often the simplest ideas are the best, and the Quik Pod (despite the rather annoying missing “c” in Quik) is no exception.

How often have you been out and about or on holiday and wanted to get a snap of yourself? The outstretched hand approach always results in half a head and a rather startling strained expression, or god forbid there’s the excruciating advance on some stranger tactic to ask them to take your picture for you. This is of course fraught with problems, odds are they don’t speak English, they’re undoubtedly going to take a really lousy picture, and they may of course just run off with your camera.

Enter the Quik Pod. This handy telescopic monopod takes any camera or camcorder, allowing you to hold your camera at a distance so you can take a proper snap of yourself and your partner. It’s brilliant. Not only does it take a picture that doesn’t look as though you took it yourself, but you can also use it to photograph way above the heads of the crowds at gigs, film yourself as you ski, or cycle, skate or blade, or sneak your camera round corners for candid pics, the opportunities are endless. Making your You Tube masterpeice has never been easier, and the Quik Pod will make your opus considerably better than all those dark bedroomed half headed monologues out there. Packing down to the size of a saveloy (huh?), the Quik Pod is the must have camera and video accessory of the year.
Features
Extendable hand held telescopic monopod.
Gives your camera that extra distance to get better pictures of yourself and your companions.
Attaches to all cameras and camcorders weighing up to 450g with the standard tripod fitting (universal 1/4-20 screw).
A mini tripod.
A built-in self-image positioning mirror allows you to crop the image.
As it weighs just 100g it’s perfectly portable.
Easily fits in your backpack, rucksack or pocket as it’s retractable.
The Quik Pod is made of high quality polycarbonate and aluminium components for strength and durability.
The opportunities to use Quik Pod are endless:

Brilliant for holidays and travel - you can get a snap even when you ski, cycle or skate.
Use it underwater with a water - proof camera.
Reaches above the heads of the crowds and helps you sneak your camera anywhere you like for candid pictures.
Great for photo or video blogs.
Quik Pod pack includes:

Quik Pod,
Pocket Clip,
Hiking Clip,
Wrist Strap,
Sporty Style Carry Bag.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Size:
- Retracted length: 19 cm.
- Extended length: 47 cm.
£19.95 $35.91 €29.53

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/travel-gadgets/quik-pod/index.html

Space putty… because it’s space putty!!! Nuff said?

It’s squidgy, bouncy, runny and yet hard, this Space putty is an un-put-downable liquid lava goo. What once used to be silly, and occasional potty, has now become spacey. These iridescent pots of putty could not be more addictive to play with. It’s a ‘love at first squeeze’ thaing, no meeting or moment of idle thought is complete without a lump of this malleable magic stuff in your hands. You can mould it, bounce it, shatter it, stretch it, or in the case of the Iridescent Green one, even watch it change colour as you play with it. What you can’t do with it however, is put it down. You have been warned, Space Putty is highly addictive.
Features
Malleable, iridescent putty.
Totally addictive.
Available in Metallic Silver, Oil Slick, Royal Blue or Colour Changing Iridescent Green.
Suitable for ages 8 years+.
Size: 6 x 6 x 3.5cm.

£4.95    $8.91  €7.33
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/office-toys/space-putty/index.html

(the site states all US amts are approximate- don’t get mad at me if it’s wrong)

Technorati Tags: cool geeky stuff

Found on LiveScience which was taken from The Associated Press:

ALLEGAN, Mich. (AP) — Is fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam smarter than the Smithsonian? On a winter break trip with his family to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, the 11-year-old southwestern Michigan boy noticed that a notation, in bold lettering, mistakenly identified the Precambrian as an era.

Since it opened in 1981, millions of people have paraded past the museum’s Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time. Kenton was the first to point out the error.

Kenton, who lives in Allegan but attends Alamo Elementary School near Kalamazoo, said his fifth-grade teacher, John Chapman, had nearly made the same mistake about the Precambrian in a classroom earth-science lesson before catching himself.

“I knew Mr. Chapman wouldn’t tell all these students bad information.” the boy told the Kalamazoo Gazette for a story published Wednesday.

So Kevin Stufflebeam took his son to the museum’s information desk to report Kenton’s concern on a comment form.

Last week, the boy received a letter from the museum acknowledging that his observation was “spot on.”

“The Precambrian is a dimensionless unit of time, which embraces all the time between the origin of Earth and the beginning of the Cambrian Period of geologic time,” the letter says.

The solution to the problem would not involve advanced science but rather simply painting over the word “era,” the note says.

While no previous visitors to the museum had brought up the error, it has long rankled the paleobiology department’s staff, who noticed it even before the Tower of Time was erected 27 years ago, said Lorraine Ramsdell, educational technician for the museum.

“The question is, why was it put up with that on it in the first place?” Ramsdell said.

Excited as he was to receive the correspondence from museum officials, he couldn’t help but point out that it was addressed to Kenton Slufflebeam.

In Allegany.

Photo Source

Technorati Tags: Smithsonian mistake, Kenton Stufflebeam, I want a cool last name like that

Okay, it’s really a cloud, but given our tendency to take abstract patterns and glom them into something relatively familiar - we get the Starship Enterprise. It’s nice to know that while we fumble about with space flight and much, much slower than light travel that the boys and girls from Starfleet are keeping Mars safe. (Click the picture for a larger version)

While I’ve never been a huge Star Trek fan myself, the show did do a lot for me in a round about way by getting lots of other folks thinking about spaceflight, science fiction and what have you. It certainly helped birth several generations of scientists, authors and creative media types. I think it’s only right to pay some respect to the old ship and somehow fitting that the MGS should have come up with this photo.

The photo was captured by Mars Global Surveyor on March 27, 2001 as it was performing a slewing maneuver (an “off-nadir spacecraft reorientation”). The camera captured both the surface of Mars (bottom part of the image) and black space at the top of the image; features appear distorted because of the motion of the spacecraft. During the maneuver Mars Global Surveyor happened to catch some high clouds silhouetted against space. Humans have a propensity to see faces and other meaningful shapes in randomly occuring natural patterns, a phenomenon known as pareidolia.

Thanks to the Planetary Society.

Technorati Tags: star trek, enterprise, mars, surveyor, klingons, spaceflight, boldly going

Has anyone called Mulder or Scully yet? You’d think that if something like this really was taped, we’d be watching this video on CNN, not on ArsGeek.

Technorati Tags: ufo, mulder, scully, the truth is through the window, et, extra terrestrials, aliens, airplane, hub caps

WARNING: Bird Armageddon contained in this video.

Technorati Tags: shuttle, nasa, ouch, bird, thwack, space, technology, video, carnage

Technorati Tags: shuttle, space, technology, nasa, flight, home

What the hell is that you might ask?  Why it’s instructions on how to get to London.  FROM SPACE!  Or er. . . maybe a moterbike course.

Anyway, here’s how it looks in Google Earth (red lines added by me):

See, located just North of the giant white beach balls and North East from the collection of random tents is the Alien Signpost.  This is actually a picture of the RAF Feltwell base as seen from satellite via Google Earth.  When interviewed by the Metro UK, Kate Hudson said RAF Feltwell was so secret ‘almost anything could go on’.  She added: ‘The 12,000 US troops based in Britain are involved in all sorts of surveillance operations.   But she isn’t just a movie star, she’s also the chairwoman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK.

The RAF demurs shyly and says that what you’re seeing is really a motorbike course, where motorcycle safety is being taught.  TO ALIENS!

Technorati Tags: aliens, lgm, raf, super secret, space, technology, spacemen, shhhh

If an astronaut who is not consciously trying to be an artist takes a picture of the space shuttle, like the one below, is it art?  Can art be created accidentally or does there always need to be thought behind it?  This picture for instance, which to me is beautiful and I’d gladly frame and put on my wall, was taken for the purposes of inspection.  Any damage to the leading edge of that wing?

If it’s not art, what does it take to make it art?  If it is art, then can anyone armed with a relatively inexpensive digital camera start holding shows in New York?  Where does the line between a simple photograph, a picture of your Aunt Stelle or the Shuttle, turn into art?

Technorati Tags: shuttle, space, art, artists, what makes it, technology, beauty, accidental art