tech

South Park: War of Warcraft

Posted by _tango! on October 6, 2006

Posted in: entertainment, fun, information, tech, thoughts. 2 comments

I had the Best time watching this episode of “SouthPark: WarCraft” making fun of RPG’s(role playing games) filled with very real stereotypes that all you gamers will reflect upon. If your a gamer or just someone that knows a gamer, this is a definite dose of laughter!

Sidenote: It’s amazing how you can find TV episodes online for free the next day, or even minutes after shows are out. Will PVR’s(personal video recorders) like Tivo live on…Will online sales on iTunes work? Do we really need to download shows anymore(bit torrent, kazaa, etc) or will it all be free like most of us like it(daily motion, VeoTag, youtube, google video,(rumors are google might buy Youtube)), and TV’s vanish as online content is there anytime we want with most the ads edited out already? I could go on and on about this topic, so I’ll pause here… but free content rocks!

update: The original video(probably down still) I posted was ripped down for copyright blah blah blah, hence, I spent 10 seconds, and found another one!! Don’t they get it…once it’s out, it’s out…don’t bother…yihawww internet world!

Engineers Claim Machine Makes Free Energy

Posted by _tango! on October 4, 2006

Posted in: information, inspiration, tech, thoughts. 1 comment

“Engineers Sean McCarthy and Richard Walshe claim to have â€œfound a way of producing free, clean and limitless energy out of thin air.â€ Videos after the jump.” (here and here)

Personally, my optimistic curious mind believes there is a solution for free energy, but then again, I think when it’s discovered, all hell will break loose. Anyhoots, check out the brief videos and form your own opinions… As far as I know, we could have had cars fueled by water many years ago, but freaking patents, politics, and oil tycoons own these great inventions, hence they will squeeze every penny they can before letting us all have it.via Techeblog

NextFest 2006

Posted by _tango! on October 3, 2006

Posted in: art, design, entertainment, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, me, tech, thoughts. 3 comments

Nextfest nyc ended this weekend with tons of attendees, free Wired subscriptions, and my very tired feet. My partial 2 days of browsing Wired Magazine physically was great, but also a reminder of what crowded conferences feel like.

Pictured above is my friend Vincent Leclerc’s project “Revolver” which is a very simple solution in creating a cost effective 3D display. For more on this project go to EskiStudios. If you ever meet him, try to get a video of his first mock-up, cause it rocks!
Tons of pics after the jump!

Is Advertising Dead?

Posted by _tango! on September 29, 2006

Posted in: ideas, information, me, tech. Leave a Comment

Here’s a great hour long Q&A panel hosted by Guy Kawasaki asking a bunch of tech questions to a few 18-24 year olds in regards to cell phones, camera, ipods, music, social networsk, IM’s, etc. The discussions will either be like “duh” or surprise you. Personally, I’m in the “duh” region, but I live tech, though I suspect kids younger than me are even bigger tech addicts!

via Guys Blog (with a good brief of the chats)

Nextfest 2006

Posted by _tango! on September 29, 2006

Posted in: art, design, entertainment, experience, fun, information, me, tech. Leave a Comment

I’m off to Wireds NextFest2006 in NYC to check out the best of what’s next! Here’s a great list of exhibits there!
Nextfest is:
“WIRED’s vision of a new world’s fair, WIRED NextFest is a four-day festival of innovative products and technologies that are transforming our world. Patterned on the great World’s Fairs of the past, this year’s NextFest in New York features more than 130 interactive exhibits from leading scientists and researchers around the world. Experience the future of exploration, entertainment, transportation, health, communication, design, security, and green living.”

If your in NYC check out! I’ll be back with crazy fun pictures next week!

Moo MiniCards: Flickr Contact Cards!

Posted by _tango! on September 24, 2006

Posted in: design, fun, ideas, tech, thoughts. 6 comments

If your craving some cool contact cards and have a Flickr account, head on over to Moo.com to get your very own Flickr Mini Cards! Basically, you get some cute contact cards with your Flickr pics on them, which you can custom fit.
I love the idea of turning customer created media into unique products. Perhaps they can use YouTube to make a comic book or optical contact video card. I might end up using Moo to make cards for Designverb, with selected posts on the backs of each card, then I’ll have a physical blog in a weird way spread throughout the people that I meet. They should fit perfectly into my custom pantone paint chip card holders, which I recently made for my own cards.(I’ll post after the jump)
via boingboing
Continue Reading

HP’s slimming feature cameras!

Posted by _tango! on September 19, 2006

Posted in: brand, design, ideas, tech, thoughts. 1 comment

My gosh! What’s become of our society. Of all the features to add into a camera, I never thought I’d see this. In HP’s terms, “slimming” squashes your image horizontally making you seem thinner. Now I know lots of us have extra pounds on us, but seriously, does it really make us feel better by digitally losing weight or squashing ourselves? After streaming through a slideshow of pictures from this camera, your going to look back at reality and think, damn, we all look so fat. At least the fashion worlds banned models that were too thin this past week to strut the catwalk. The only reason I’d want to use such a device is to squish back together those widescreen plasma screens that stretch images apart that don’t seem to bother some.(this seriously bugs me) Anyhow, as far as I know, every camera will be a mini photoshop on the go down the road which could be fun.via ohgizmo

I’ve squished the picture above even more after the jump. Continue Reading

Blogmusik.net

Posted by _tango! on September 19, 2006

Posted in: entertainment, me, music, tech, thoughts. 2 comments

Most of you have heard about this already, but if not, check out blogmusik.net for an impressive collection(network) of ad-free music! Once you try this ipod like interface you’ll enjoy the sweet music fades between songs and custom playlists. They even have a firefox plugin for quick song finds.
Many have doubts this site will stay legal, so have your go at before it shuts down! Personally, I still use Yahoo’s Launchcast which rocks since it uses Gracenote tech to suggest songs to you much like Amazon does for books.

Online goodies!

Posted by _tango! on September 16, 2006

Posted in: ideas, information, me, tech. Leave a Comment

I’m playing around with some online apps. Give them a shot and let me know what you think:

meebo.com– Great online ajax client for all your IM’s. They’ll have a mobile version soon! They also have MeeboMe, letting your non-tech-centric friends or strangers IM you! KoolIM and Wablet are also promising.

30Boxes.com– Online sharable calendar. I’d put this one up against Google Calendar(I wish they had an offline version to sync to)

AimPhoneline.com– FREE real phone number people can call you on! Be a good 800# for your house. Stanaphone gave out free numbers before, but now charge for this service.

JaJah.com– Web-activated telephony in a click! An interesting approach to voip with some added services. I called Hong Kong on my cell phone for free!!! I still use Skype and Stanaphone though.

goowy.com– Online desktop made simple, though it was glitchy on me at first!

SellaBand: Bands Funded by their Fans

Posted by _tango! on September 8, 2006

Posted in: brand, entertainment, experience, ideas, information, music, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

SellaBand creates an awesome platform enabling fans to invest in their favorite bands and get a piece of the profits in return!!! Yes, the passionate fans become the bands investors, marketing crew (word of mouth), and profits are split between SellaBand, the band, and the fans!!! How cool!!!

So how does it work: fans find artist they like on SellaBand.com. For $10, they can buy a share, or ‘Part’. Once the band sells 5,000 parts, SellaBand arranges a professional recording in top studios. Fans receive a limited edition CD of the recording and splits profits from CD sales, Ads, etc. Basically, the more ‘Parts’ you purchase, the more shares in a band you own from the 5000 available.

This strategy is a step up from Threadless.com’s vote-to-make-real method by allowing anyone to become an investment fan “brand sneezer” in a band they love and believe in! Otherwise, it’s just like the stock market for music fanatics. I’ve been through a few musicians tunes and found some really interesting sounds. Check out the site, listen to some musicians, and invest in the ones ya crave!

SellaBand.com
Here’s another interesting angle to music by the users!

Powering Up, One Step at a Time

Posted by _tango! on September 7, 2006

Posted in: green, ideas, information, materials, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

It’s about time some people started working on this… generating power through our footsteps! Yup, kinetic energy! British engineers are converting street vibrations into electricity and predict a working prototype by Christmas capable of powering facility lights in the busiest areas of a city.

“We can harvest between 5 to 7 watts of energy per footstep that is currently being wasted into the ground,” says Claire Price, director of The Facility Architects, the British firm heading up the Pacesetters Project. And a passing train can generate very useful energy to run signaling or to power lights.”

We have the Ocean Power Delivery Systems, Floor and Turntiles in Subways, Solar projects (CA just passed a huge home solar panel law), and finally sidewalks. Wohooo for energy!

via Wired

update: Now a sustainable night club dance floor in which the dancers transfer their disco lovin enegry through the floor to whatever powere the bar, dj, speakers, toilets, or lights need!

The Sultans Elephant: Giant Girl Puppet

Posted by _tango! on September 6, 2006

Posted in: art, entertainment, experience, fun, information, inspiration, tech, wacky. Leave a Comment

Wow!!!… Watch this video and be astonished, memorized, and creeped out all at the same time. I thought it was CG then realized it was freaking real!! What an awesome experience this must of been watching these master puppeteers work their magic in this festival! I wished I was in London when this event (The Sultans Elephant by Royal de Luxe) happened, but it’s not too late as the show will continue on to Calais (September 28-October 1) and in Le Havre (October 26-29,2006) I’ll admit, my first craving for puppeteers was while watching Being John Malkovich and now this amazing creation! I’m sure everyone felt like a kid again in some mysterious way. I want one! More pics after the jump!
More pics on Flickr here.
The video of the Giant Girl!
The Amazing Elephant!