GlitchNYC.com

Hitachi's Strange Educational Marketing

Hitachi has produced a very weird "School-House Rocks"-type animation to promote their new perpendicular data storage method, which they claim may increase the current space limit on their hd's (specifically their space constrained microdrives) 10 fold.

I've never seen disco-dancing bits before. This one just has to be seen to be believed.

I'd love to know the back-story behind this video. I wonder if some of they guys working on the drives just got bored one night. It's very similar to the HomeStar Runner video for the Bare Naked Ladies "Experimental Film"

11:00 am | permalink | /technology/gadgets | 0 writebacks |

How Ajax (and lots and lots of amateurs) are Changing the Web

Adaptive Path published a piece back in February about the way that smart web applications are changing the web by doing away with the click-reload-click-reload paradigm. You only need to look as far as Google Maps to see why this is a great thing. If you're a web designer or just entranced by how cool not having to wait for Google Maps to reload is every time you move the map check the piece out. It's fascinating.

A few days ago, Adaptive Path's CEO (who boasts clients such as the UN and Intel) busted out with a very "1999"-ish prediction: the web itself is about to change.

The catch here is that Janice Fraser was here in 1999. In fact, she worked for Netscape back in 1996. She's intensely familiar with the whole "bubble" thing and isn't about to be sucked in by one cool new technology that promises to change everything.

Instead, she sees changing coming from the outskirts of the web, growing like a tide. She sees our army of amateur encyclopedia writers at wikipedia, our wannabe news-writers blogging away, our hobbyist geeks churning out open source code. And she's not alone.

Combine that groundswell of truly innovative development power (in the way that only hobbyists can innovate because they've got nothing to lose) with the coming shift from click-reload to true web based applications - and suddenly, her predictions of massive change don't seem that crazy. Speaking from my own experience as both a serious web-surfer and a writer/web-designer, my habits have changed significantly in the past few months. I get most of my "web" fix through my email client, thunderbird's rss reader. I've switched back to doing most of my design in a text editor using php and CSS+XHTML. The web is changing and the way you surf may never be the same. The user has more and more control over the content they consume every day. Some people see the tides of change as scary and threatening.

I say, grab your board - surf's up.

3:54 am | permalink | /technology/web | 0 writebacks |

8-Bit A Cappella

An a cappella group from Wisconsin sings a medley of the best music of the 80's, and by that I don't mean Madonna or Cyndi Lauper (although Cyndi did kick ass...). I mean the soundtracks to the video games we were raised on.

The vocals aren't 100% but you can tell they had a blast doing this. I wish we'd thought thought of this when I was in school! Check out the video.

11:27 am | permalink | /technology/games | 0 writebacks |

Just an Innocent Picture?

Okay - Here's Sara and I with the Liberty Bell this weekend while in PA for a wedding. Seemingly innocent picture.

Now, notice the guy back here with the goofy "where am I?" look on his face?"

Pan down and look at what's happening with his butt. Someone's either about to grope him or picking his pocket... or both! We had no idea when this was taken that all that was going on in the background!

2:36 pm | permalink | /life | 0 writebacks |

Mukhwas: India's Spicy Little After-meal Secret

Recently, I went to lunch with my friend Sweta at an amazingly authentic Indian fast-food (aka Chaat) restaurant called Dimple. I've raved about the chaat I had there since, but the thing that I've been truly craving is the Indian equivalent of the after dinner mint.

I'm addicted to having a small sweet after eating (usually a single dark chocolate hershey kiss) just to cleanse the palate and finish the meal with a nice coda. Being that the Samosa Chaat at Dimple was extremely tasty and spicy (did I mention I loved it?), I was looking for mint or something while we were checking out.

I saw Sweta reach up to a little bowl, take a spoonful of something and put in her hand, and then pop it in her mouth. After a slightly comical moment of me sniffing and inspecting, I popped a small palmful into my mouth as well.

There's almost no explaining how great this little snack, which I've just learned is called a mukhwas (which means mixture), is. Although mukhwas vary considerably, the two that I've had so far generally contain some combination of spices including fennel, small nuts and or seeds, and tiny bits of rock-sugar or candies to sweeten the mix.

The net effect is something like a natural good n' plenty that doesn't gum up your teeth had has nearly endless flavor, and the texture of sunflower seeds. It's no surprise that mukhwas are a staple at Indian weddings and special events! I'd want this at the end of every meal if I could get it.

Knowing that I'm enthralled with them, Sweta just dropped off a bunch of little "shots" of the fantastic stuff left over from her sister's baby shower.

I'm a seriously happy camper today.

12:36 pm | permalink | /life | 0 writebacks |

likeAbike = Awesomely simple bike + walking training for kids

I just saw this incredibly simple but brilliant gadget and had to mention it here. It's basically a bike with no pedals, low enough to the ground so that kids can use their legs to push off and balance. It's not quite a scooter, not quite training wheels. Like their site says, it's simply "likeAbike."

I didn't really "get" it until I watched the video, and then I wanted to get one for all of the couples with teeny-tots we know.

From the site:

A LIKEaBIKE has no pedals. When first trying to ride, kids play with their LIKEaBIKE as they would with a hobbyhorse. They become familiar with the saddle first, carefully sitting on it. Soon they start to walk with it, then run. In no time the little rider becomes more confident and by pushing off, picks up speed. If the bike starts to tip, kids instinctively regain their balance with their feet.

My only gripe is the hefty $279 price tag, but I imagine with a larger production run they could bring that down quite a bit. Either that, or they'll be an Ikea version in a few years. (Seeing as likeAbike lays out the prior art right on their site, I imagine this is fairly hard to patent.)

Link lifted from a conversation with Adam, who helped design the site

12:50 am | permalink | /technology/gadgets | 0 writebacks |

Icon 24: First Impressions

Sara and I spent this weekend at Icon, the giant annual Sci-fi / Fantasy / Anime / Gaming / Etc... convention on Long Island once again this year.

It's hard to explain a "con" to someone who hasn't been there. Conventions, particularly ones where cosplayers are in abundance, are safari's for people watchers. There are people of every shape, size, persuasion, sociability, and dress, all crammed into one geeky place together. It's incredible to watch the interactions, and fun to be part of them yourself.

This year, I volunteered to help with the con because I like to be active and busy (and I got a free ticket out of it), but I felt a bit like Steve Irwin jumping into a (geeky) crocodile swamp.

"Well, I've just subdued the angrusgeek, he was a really fiesty fell.. OH WOW, lookit that, ova there is a particularly rare breed - the bifurcated gothling! She's nearly cut in half by that corset, and you've just got to wonder where her organs are. I imagine it's only a matter of time before a swarm of hornigeeks start to... Oh look, here they come."

This year, we decided to join in the fun and actually cosplayed ourselves. It was a lot of fun to put together the costumes over the past few months, and theres something wonderfully validating about being told that some thing looks "amazing" when you've worked really hard on it.

I'll be doing some more "side by side" shots in the coming posts so that you can see what people were going for with their costumes, but for now, you can flip through the truckload of pictures here.

2:41 pm | permalink | /life | 0 writebacks |

J.K. Rowling Reads and Debunks Elaborate Fan Theory

For fans of the Harry Potter series of books, these are exciting times. Book 6 is on the way with the promise that book 7 can't be that far behind (or the actors will be too old!) and the 4th movie already done with principal photography.

Many of us waited a while to jump into the Potter craze so as not to get caught up in the waiting game, but it's addictive. Once you've read the first 20 pages of book one you're on the hook for the rest of them. Now, we're all caught up to the author and left to stew as she creates, and although she's managing a book every few years, it can seem like an eternity. This has had added the side-effect of creating massive amounts of speculation about and imitation of her works.

Recently, the amazing Knight2King theory, which discusses the chess game at the end of book one as a metaphor for the entire series, has been passed around and apparently even caught the eye of Jo herself! The theory, in analyzing Ron's dual role in the chess game as both Knight and metaphysical "player," comes to the conclusion that Ron must also be Dumbledore.

Expecting people to go "What!?," the authors of the theory proceed to stack up the evidence and speculate on how it might come to pass (or might have already come to pass, as the case may be.) You'll have to read the theory yourself if you want to know more (it's a fun refresher of what's happened to date if nothing else)

Although J. K. directly debunked the theory yesterday, I have this feeling that somewhere in Europe, Jo is stomping around her flat going "Crucio! How in the name of Sirius am I going to come up with ANOTHER ending!" (I like the idea that she swears in her own made up spells and takes her own dead characters names in vain.)

Apparated from The-Leaky-Cauldron.org

2:42 am | permalink | /life | 0 writebacks |

Embracing your Dorkdom

Sara and I were skeptical about last year's Icon, but came back loving it. This time, we're putting a bit more effort in.

This weekend should be a blast, and we get to meet the guy in the Chewie costume! I'm totally going to make the wookie noise at him just to see if he's fed up enough with everyone doing it that he punches me in the face.

1:38 am | permalink | /life | 0 writebacks |