37 posts tagged “technology”

Windows/Mac/Linux: Freeware application Phantasmagoria adds effects to your digital photos through a slick, simple-to-use interface. The program provides an impressive range of effects and can upload the results to photo-sharing site Flickr or easily share your results over Twitter. You can snap and annotate screenshots, and take webcam photos and go straight to adding effects, similar to OS X's Photo Booth. Phantasmagoria is freeware, cross-platform, requires Java. Check out the sample page for a closer look at Phantasmagoria in action.

Sitting flush with the floor, the water flows right to the brim, making it look like a pond sitting in the floor of your bathtub. Once you get in, 8 hydrosilent jets take action. Did I mention how slick it looks? I want one.

Looking to zoom through the oceans in a stylish, but also somewhat environmentally friendly, manner? Check out the Czeers MK1 prototype solar speedboat, a 10-meter long rig that manages to pack in 14 square meters of solar panels to power an 80kw electric motor. The MK1 plows through the water at a breakneck 30 knots, using no oil and producing no fumes or engine noise. Hit the jump for a video of the boat in action.

WHY YOU THINK YOU’RE COOL: You can access e-mails, high speed internet, and watch videos, all on your phone. Because really, normal people around you are so f*&king boring you can hardly bear actually interacting with them.

The U.S. Military has spent millions of dollars on counterfeit computer components over the years, according to an FBI report. This not only screws over businesses, but it also makes it easier for cyber-terrorists to hack into our systems by putting trojans and viruses in fake circuitry. An anti-counterfeit initiative by the FBI, led to 15 criminal cases and over $3.5 million worth of seized products.

Kodak's Steve Sasson has come up with a brand new alternative to film. Dubbed "Film-less Photography", the prototype camera records images and plays them back on a television set. Sasson hacked together the camera from spare parts: the lens is from a Super 8 movie camera, the image is captured by a CCD (Charged Coupled Device, an array of capacitors which convert light into an electrical signal) and the resulting image is recorded onto a cassette tape. The whole thing is powered by 16 nickel cadmium batteries.

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Many people eat their lunch at their computers, leaving crumbsSome computer keyboards harbour more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat, research has suggested. Consumer group Which? said tests at its London offices found equipment carrying bugs that could cause food poisoning. Out of 33 keyboards swabbed, four were regarded as a potential health hazard and one harboured five times more germs than one of the office's toilet seats. Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson said a keyboard was often "a reflection of what is in your nose and in your gut". During the Which? tests in January this year, a microbiologist deemed one of the office's keyboards to be so dirty he ordered it to be removed, quarantined and cleaned. It had 150 times the recommended limit for bacteria - five times as filthy as a lavatory seat tested at the same time, the research found. Should somebody have a cold in your office, or even have gastroenteritis, you're very likely to pick it up from a keyboard Dr Peter WilsonConsultant microbiologist The equipment was swabbed for bugs, such as those that can cause food poisoning like E.coli and staphylococcus aureus. Dr Wilson, a consultant microbiologist at University College London Hospital, told BBC Radio 5 Live sharing a keyboard could be passing on illnesses among office workers. "If you look at what grows on computer keyboards, and hospitals are worse, believe it or not, it's more or less a reflection of what's in your nose and in your gut," he said. "Should somebody have a cold in your office, or even have gastroenteritis, you're very likely to pick it up from a keyboard." Which? said one of the causes of dirty keyboards was users eating lunch at their desk, with crumbs encouraging the growth of bacteria. Poor personal hygiene, such as not washing hands after going to the toilet, could also be to blame, it said. Cleaning techniques Which? computing editor Sarah Kidner advised users to give their computer "a spring clean". "It's quite simple ...