“New calculations show how to make an electromagnetic “wormhole”—a tube that is invisible from the sides, allowing light to shine down the centre unseen” Original Source: /.
Category: Innovation
Need not read, hear it
BlueGrind is a useful service which converts text based blog/news articles into speech. Although, it is not a new technology, yet the presentation and the implementation is pretty neat. The service is primarily aimed at facilitating visually impaired people, however, the ability to download the converted audio files as mp3 means that you can carry your news around in your portable media player as a podcast.
“Adobe Systems Inc. unveiled on Sunday video-player software that lets consumers play back video online or offline, a move that could help reshape an acrimonious debate over video-sharing. Adobe Video Player builds on the leading design software maker’s Flash player, already the dominant technology used to stream video online by sites ranging from YouTube to MySpace to MSN to Yahoo Video.” – PC Magazine
Joost, a follow up
I received a Joost invitation to test the Beta version after 2 months of signing up for it on its website. The first impressions of the website/application are great. The whole look and feel makes it a very pleasant experience. However, on my 1.2 GHz PIII Mobile Laptop with 510MB (available) Ram, and 4Mbps internet connection, the video is rather jerky and the application crashes very often. If you want an invitation to test it, drop in a comment to this post (update: more invites available).
Related Posts: Joost may make IPTV a reality?
The most valuable truths are the ones most people don’t believe.
Computer Virtualization in Java!
“Researchers at Oxford University have produced a Java-based x86 emulator that they hope will be useful in testing applications and learning about viruses without damaging the host, utilizing the robust sandboxing that Java provides. They have an online demo available that boots DOS and has some games to play. Being purely Java, this emulator should be able to run on almost anything, including cell phones.” Via /.
I’m surprised that Flashpaper hasn’t been all over the blogosphere! It’s looks like an amazing thing. No additional viewer to load! Flashpaper file over the network outperforms loading the viewer on my system, scrolling page is faster & neater; the overall experience is very cool! It also seems to be very closely compatible with PDF. Also see, Scribd — very elegant UI and design.
Related Post: Scribd
Freecycle to recycle
Got something you don’t use anymore, but can’t be bothered to sell it on eBay? Don’t throw it away and contribute to unnecessary waste, but consider freecycling it! Alternatively, interested in a freebie and looking for the next bargain at £0.00? Freecycle is for you! Freecycle network consists of local groups that give/get such things for free.
Disposable credit cards
Paranoid about shopping online? Disposable credit cards will be of interest to you. Use them for a single transaction, with a limit of transaction amount to ensure you are not over-charged for any reason. Neat! Launched nearly five years ago; and has shown some success.
Disruptive Innovation
Clayton Christensen describes how one of his friends was responsible for that choice when he commented that “those who study genetics avoid studying humans because new generations come along only every thirty years or so, it takes a long time to understand the cause and effect of any changes. Instead, they study fruit flies, because they are conceived, born, mature and die all within a single day. If you want to understand why something happens in business, study the disk drive industry. Those companies are the closest things to fruit flies that the business world will ever see”. More about Disruptive Innovation at wikipedia.