Have you ever wished that your mouse would work on any surface? I know I have. Some tables and desks are just problematic, especially if you don't have a mouse pad. Well, the answer is now here, and it is known as the Explorer.
Microsoft recently changed the way that a mouse works and made it better. Man I love innovation. Most mice function by using a red LED or laser light to take thousands of pictures of the shadows cast by the surface and then analyze the difference between the shots. The down side is that this doesn't work for some surfaces.
What Microsoft has done with their Explorer is use a blue LED, evened out with a diffuser, such that you get a larger spread of light taking pictures and reflecting light off more surfaces allows the mouse to run on just about anything. One classic non working mouse surface is carpet, due to all of the individual fibers, well the Explorer can pick reflect off of those fibers and run perfectly. This is yet another example of the innovation we need.
http://www.popsci.com/node/24533
Friday, October 31, 2008
The magic chair
Ever feel uncomfortable sitting in a chair? Perhaps it is a hard, uncomfortable plastic chair. Perhaps not. Maybe you have very nice and comfortable chair, that is cushioned, but still puts a kink in your back. Well, not there is a chair for you.
Herman Miller, the creators of the Aeron office chair, have just designed a new chair, the ultimate chair. This chair will a create custom fit that goes along with the shape and contour of each individual's body, by the use of 94 coils that individually bend to the shape of the person. The "springiness" of each coil is also different, each one different based upon where it is in the chair. Some in the lower part of the chair are more relaxed, like where the top of your legs rest, so that the chair does not inhibit movement at all, where as the lower back area is stiffer so that it offers support.
I wish I had a chair like this. I could definitely use it. This is the sort of innovation we need in the world. Take something people use every day, a desk, a hat, a spoon, a shoe, even a chair, and make it better so that it is easier to use.
http://www.popsci.com/node/24579
Herman Miller, the creators of the Aeron office chair, have just designed a new chair, the ultimate chair. This chair will a create custom fit that goes along with the shape and contour of each individual's body, by the use of 94 coils that individually bend to the shape of the person. The "springiness" of each coil is also different, each one different based upon where it is in the chair. Some in the lower part of the chair are more relaxed, like where the top of your legs rest, so that the chair does not inhibit movement at all, where as the lower back area is stiffer so that it offers support.
I wish I had a chair like this. I could definitely use it. This is the sort of innovation we need in the world. Take something people use every day, a desk, a hat, a spoon, a shoe, even a chair, and make it better so that it is easier to use.
http://www.popsci.com/node/24579
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Turned away, turned up dead...
On October 24th, in Tokyo, Japan, one of the most industrialized and modern cities in one of the most most technologically and economically advanced nations of the world, a woman died. A woman dying is not odd, nor out of place for Tokyo, or any other place in the world, but it is the circumstances in which this woman met her death that are truly sad.
A pregnant woman went to the hospital. She was complaining of headaches as well as vomiting. The first hospital she went to, and would later be admitted to, Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital, claimed that initially they could not admit her because there was only one doctor on duty at the time. She would get the same reply from the next six hospitals she would go to.
After she was finally admitted, it was decided that the woman's child should be removed via Caesarean section. After the child was safely removed, the woman then entered brain surgery to try and remedy her illness, where she died of a brain hemorrhage.
Now, we do not know that if she had been admitted sooner, she would have lived, but when hospitals in one of the richest cities in the world suffer from understaffing, there is something larger here that is quite wrong. I can only hope that the deceased mother's child has a good life and never learns of the fate of its mother.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/10/24/Turned_away_pregnant_woman_dies/UPI-12561224821036/
A pregnant woman went to the hospital. She was complaining of headaches as well as vomiting. The first hospital she went to, and would later be admitted to, Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital, claimed that initially they could not admit her because there was only one doctor on duty at the time. She would get the same reply from the next six hospitals she would go to.
After she was finally admitted, it was decided that the woman's child should be removed via Caesarean section. After the child was safely removed, the woman then entered brain surgery to try and remedy her illness, where she died of a brain hemorrhage.
Now, we do not know that if she had been admitted sooner, she would have lived, but when hospitals in one of the richest cities in the world suffer from understaffing, there is something larger here that is quite wrong. I can only hope that the deceased mother's child has a good life and never learns of the fate of its mother.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/10/24/Turned_away_pregnant_woman_dies/UPI-12561224821036/
Nintendo DS gets an upgrade
The Nintendo DS is the number one selling video game system in the world. Why? It is fun, portable, affordable, and just about anyone can get into at least one of the many different kinds of DS games.
In order to stay competitive in the portable device market, a market which they had control over for many years until Sony came out with the PSP, Nintendo has finally taken action by upgrading their newest portable device the DS(dual screen).
The new, DSi, adds new features not only to a Nintendo device, but for any portable gaming device. These new features include: a camera, a MP3 player, a SD card slot, and remote access to Nintendo's network to purchase and download new games. It should also be noted that this is Nintendo's first system of any sort to incorporate features that are not related to the playing of the game.
So if you love Nintendo, the DS, and want to have a few extra features, this is the thing for you. The DSi is expected to be out early in the first quarter of 2009 for roughly $180.
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/new-nintendo-ds.html
In order to stay competitive in the portable device market, a market which they had control over for many years until Sony came out with the PSP, Nintendo has finally taken action by upgrading their newest portable device the DS(dual screen).
The new, DSi, adds new features not only to a Nintendo device, but for any portable gaming device. These new features include: a camera, a MP3 player, a SD card slot, and remote access to Nintendo's network to purchase and download new games. It should also be noted that this is Nintendo's first system of any sort to incorporate features that are not related to the playing of the game.
So if you love Nintendo, the DS, and want to have a few extra features, this is the thing for you. The DSi is expected to be out early in the first quarter of 2009 for roughly $180.
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/new-nintendo-ds.html
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