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After discussing the Apple MacBook Air, there are other portable computers “laptops” “we could be talking about, namely, the Osborne 1 and the TRS-80 Model 4P. The Osborne 1 was the word’s first self-contained portable personal computer. Many of the design decisions and innovations first seen in the Osborne 1 are still being used today some 25-plus years later. We could not resist taking a look inside this piece of computing history.” link
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Here is a cool gadget for those who always knock themselves on furniture while trying to reach the washrooms at night (… or while trying to get a night snack) . 
Jeanna Bryner of Live Science says, “The glow that the rug emits is very soft,” said co-inventor Leona Dean, of London South Bank University, who also noted the innovation’s party applications, “It can provide ambient mood lighting or flash in time to music as a talking point at a party.”[Live Science]
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The company Nihon Uni engineered a shirt that protects you against stab wounds.
Due to an uprise in stabbings , they needed a lightweight way to offer a bit more safety. Yhey probably got inspired by Frodo’s mithril vest. It’s made from a fiber 3 times stronger than the cotton used for an average T-shirt.
The piece of clothing is made from ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber and would probably be popular among 7/11 clerks.
Pricing:
Short sleeves: $190 - $522
Long sleeves: $220 - $590
[via gearfuse]
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If you had a chance to be with the perfect romantic partner, you’d probably take it, right? So what if you could build that ideal partner from scratch? Gizmodo posted an interview with Zoltan, who after a serie of bad relationships with real flesh and blood women, created 3 robot girlfriends.
This story sounds like a B movie sci fi flick on space channel. But it seems to be true. The impulse to want to create the perfect partner has been with us since the ancient times. Zoltan seems to like this type of relationship better than with a real flesh and blood human female. It reminds me some book I heard about in a CBC radio show. The title is Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships .
Here is a snippet from Gizmodo’s post:
“Sniffing around the web a few months ago, I came across Zoltan’s webpage, a science-heavy, how-to site in all things robosexual. As well as basic instructions on how to make a robot girlfriend from components, there are pictures of Zoltan’s three bots, Alice, Kiri and Hal. Hal is just a male ‘bot that Zoltan built to encourage girls who might be interested in a robot boyfriend. Kiri is, in her owner’s words, “basically a sex slave.” And then there’s Alice, aspects of whose life with her creator/husband he has documented, from kissing to conversation—to, of course, sex.”[Gizmodo]
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The Guardian reported in 2005 that 1 in 25 fathers are not the real biological father of the child they believe to be theirs.
This product might be the solution to this problem. Identigene DNA Paternity Test Collection Kit can be purchased at Rite Aid drug stores throughout the U.S. The company claim that the DNA kit is easy-to-find near pregnancy tests and other family planning products.
The product is priced at $29.99. You can collect DNA samples from each person involved including the alleged father, child, and mother. Once the DNA collecting is done you just have to send the DNA samples and the $119.00 laboratory testing fee to IDENTIGENE using the postage-paid return envelope. The total cost is around $150.00.
We don’t know at this time if Canadians can access this service without custom problems.
via boingboing
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Star Trek fictional VISOR worn by Geordi LaForge might become reality soon, researchers say. The Star Trek Visor is a device used by the blind to artificially provide them with a sense of sight. The device scans the electromagnetic spectrum, creating visual input, and transmits it into the brain of the wearer via the optic nerves.
“Researchers have proposed a brain impant for the blind, whereby visual signals could be wirelessly beamed directly into the brain. The idea behind this is that a blind person would wear a special pair of glasses that could record video images using two digital video cameras. This video would then be wirelessly beamed into an implant that would translate that video into electrical signals to stimulate a specific area of the brain. This area of the brain is called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and is a part of the brain’s processing system for sight. By electrically stimulating this area of the brain, it can give a blind person the impression that they are actually seeing something visually. Scientists have already electrically stimulated this area of the brain in primates and found it had induced sight perception.” via [Brain Stimulant]
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This design concept was submitted as part of The Greener Gadgets Design Competition which took place during the month of February, 2008 in New York city.
Sevin Coskun says’
“Wasup” is a conceptual design integrating washing machine with toilette-flush. It suggests a sustainable water consuption by storing the wasted water in toilette-flush tank and reuse it with flushing.” [CORE77]
via boingboing
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A miniature effect is a special effect that is usually generated by the use of scale models. Their use dates back to the earliest days of cinema. The miniature effect below is different, because an electronic device known as a matting amplifier is used. It produces artful double exposure effects enabling a “reduced” actress.
“Barbra Loden cavorts in miniature on the Ernie Kovacs’ show, astounding and amusing audiences with her feats.
BARBRA Loden is TV’s tiniest performer by virtue of electronic wizardry. In reality she’s a shapely 5 ft., 5 in., 112-pound gal with a mighty fine specification sheet reading 36-23-34. She performs on Ernie Kovacs’ show twice a week, cavorting through a series of weird Lilliputian escapades dreamed up by Kovacs and director Barry Shear.” via [Modern Mechanix]
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Cool futuristic device allows its users to do more than taking pictures.
Hardgeek says,
“The idea behind this concept is exploit the internet ability in a mobile device. Touch screen, built in camera, scanner, WiFi, google map (hopefully google earth), google search, image search all in one slim device.”[HARDGEEK]
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Have you always been afraid to fall asleep while a candle was burning. Here is a candle you can leave unattended because it will extinguish itself when you want it too.
“The Candle by the Hour Rope Candle is designed so that you can have it burn for a set amount of time and it will then extinguish itself. Nothing too fancy here, just feed a few inches of the rope candle through the candle clip and the candle will burn for about an hour.”[NERD APPROVED]
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