Author: Gary Cutlack
Midori-san – the world's highest-profile blogging houseplant
A company called KAYAC has developed a kind of “botanical interface” that allows plants to speak and emote with us little humans. And, as is any sentient life form’s right, the plant has now started up a blog to air its inner angst.
Midori, as the plant is known in the Japanese blog-o-sphere, has an auto-generated blog which can be found here. It’s in Japanese, so won’t make much sense, but should you have an understanding of the squiggly language you’ll be able to read Midori’s feelings…
Humans hit evolutionary limit – here's how SCIENCE should intervene and make man BETTER
According to some scientist, humans have stopped evolving. This means we’re not going to get any better – at least not naturally.
So I propose science steps in to make us better, seeing as Mother Nature can’t be bothered any more. Here’s how. These are the evolutionary steps scientists need to introduce to our gene pool ASAP.
1. SIDE EYES
Seeing as our ears are always in use listening to MP3s of 1980s cover versions, it’s hard to hear cars, bicycles and lorries coming toward you. I therefore suggest moving our eyes to the sides of our heads, like horses, so we’re less likely to step out in front of buses because we can’t hear them coming. You never hear about horses never get run over because they’re too busy listening to the new Oasis album to listen out for cars, do you?
2. WIDER EAR CANALS
Dunno about you, but my ear holes are never big enough to accommodate all these so-called “in ear” earphones. You know, the ones you’re supposed to ram right in. I ram them in so hard it hurts and my brain pops, yet they still fall out after three minutes when the cable snags on my shirt. I therefore suggest we evolve wider ear holes for better audio clarity and comfort “on the go”…
Show your disregard of the global financial crisis with the sapphire-encrusted INCRUDO Phantom
The INCRUDO Phantom is, despite all the jewellery, a phone that has been designed to include a “Man’s character.”
Maker INCRUDO is clearly a bit insane. It says the “man’s character manifests itself in the combination of minimalism and simplicity and maximalism in materials, construction and characteristics of the device.”
While we respect INCRUDO’s excellent invention of the word “maximalism,” we can’t help but…
Vodafone extends entertainment portfolio with exciting new "books" option
Vodafone has teamed up with GoSpoken.com to sell books on your mobile, through Vodafone Books on Mobile. It will offer books for between £5 and £15, which seems quite a lot, to be honest, seeing as you’re basically paying to download an audio file.
Vodafone reckons that, if you’re using an HSDPA network, a three-hour audio book will download in three minutes. Then you’ll have £5 or £15 or maybe £7.99 added to your bill, as that’s what it’s all about…
Sony working on "Annihilation Assisted Upconversion" – bendable OLED screens
OLED development race winner Sony has announced its plans to start making OLEDs less than 1mm thick – that are flexible enough to be bent and wrapped around angles.
This’ll come in handy for when you need to… bend a screen. Or, these thin, semi-transparent OLEDs could be piled on top of each other to make 3D displays, used as HUDs in the windscreens of expensive cars, or even used as a way for Sony to carry on charging us lots of money for new TVs that aren’t particularly different from our existing TVs…
Clever German uses an MSI Wind, and a grinder, to create a fake MacBook Mini
The fans of small computers over at Liliputing – who must be well happy about the rise and rise and rise of the “netbook” and the impact it’s having on their Adsense earnings – have sourced a rather insane guide that shows a technically adept person how to build a MacBook Mini.
So, if you can’t quite bring yourself to spend the vast sums required to get a MacBook Air, you can have the next best thing – thanks to a German user on the MSI Wind forums. Yes, that’s just a lovely MSI Wind, with an Apple logo cut into the lid…
The future of Xbox 360 is orange – Sainsbury's starts selling the Xbox 360 Arcade for £99
That’s £99 for a console that’s had its price slashed to £129 a couple of weeks ago anyway. Aren’t things in shops supposed to be getting MORE expensive?
As well as reducing the “entry level” non-hard drive Xbox 360 Arcade to £99 as from today as part of its pre-Christmas price warring, Sainsbury’s is also going against retail recommendations and selling the regular 60GB Xbox 360 for £139…
UPDATE: Stroppy Apple threatens to close iTunes in MASSIVE SULK over royalty payments
There are two very important financial rulings being voted on today. One is something to do with banks and mortgages and the world not ending, which we couldn’t care less about and certainly don’t intend trying to understand.
The other is to do with Apple and the amount of royalties it pays to record labels in return for selling their music on iTunes. Three Copyright Royalty Board judges are meeting in Washington today, to decide if Apple should be forced to boost its royalty payments from 9 cents a song to 15 cents a song for each track sold via iTunes – a 66% increase.
Apple has, incredibly, threatened to CLOSE iTunes…
eBay Nutcase of the Week: Woman buys house she hasn't seen for $1.75
No, that is not an error. We didn’t mean $1.75m. We really do mean $1.75, as in about 90p at today’s rapidly-plummeting exchange rate. Less eBay fees and PayPal commission, of course, but they won’t be that crippling considering the buyer’s getting an entire house.
The woman in question is mature student Joanne Smith. She was browsing eBay for “PlayStations,” when she noticed an alert for a house on sale with no starting price. So she placed a bid of $20 – eventually winning the auction for $1.75…
VIDEO: Energy & Efficiency, Episode 2
Today, I’m looking at renewable energy sources, with this video review of a wind-up torch. Is it a good idea? Does it work? Is manual electricity generation a viable alternative to traditional plugs, bulbs and power leads? Let’s find out!
I apologise for the poor sound quality.
In summary, wind-up torches work, but require constant winding. There is an additional energy saving to be found…
