Tag Archive for cool

Invisibility cloak is real

August 11, 2008 Reluctant New Technology, Science

Another one of those, “Wow! Science is cool,” moments just happened in California.  In Berkley to be more precise.

Researchers as the University of California, Berkeley have for the first time demonstrated the ability to cloak three dimensional objects!  Cool!

I mentioned this before, but didn’t think it would become a reality so soon.

The science involved here is amazing.  This is just another example of science finally catching up with Science Fiction writers.

The findings of the research will soon be available in the journals, Nature and Science.

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Olympic Tracking – Google Style

August 8, 2008 Reluctant Sports, Technology

In celebration of the Olympic Games that start today in Bejing, China, Google has created a widget that contains a medal tracker as well as event and venue information. All built on their mapping technology.

And here it is:

[If you don't see the embedded map, view the web original post on the site]

Be sure to come back often to see how the medal tally plays out.

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The Dark Knight

July 22, 2008 Reluctant Entertainment

photoThere are those who might say I am jumping on the band wagon here, but I’m jumping.

Last night, I saw the latest installment in the Batman series of movies, The Dark Night. I went in expecting a lot because I hadn’t heard a single bad review. Usually there is plenty of criticism for super hero (comic book) type movies.

But this movie lived up to the hype.  The entire 152 minutes is packed with action or significant dialog. Not to mention one of the coolest stunts I’ve seen in a movie (the semi truck).  I came out of the IMAX theater with sore muscles.  Not from bad theater chairs, but because I was tensing my body the entire time.

Critics have applauded the work done by the late Heath Ledger for his role as the Joker.  At first, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about, but as the film progressed into the later half, it became apparent that he did an amazing job.  As he walked out of the hospital, I realized that he nailed the role.  Is the performance deserving of an Oscar as some have proposed?  It’s surely worth a nomination.

The one let down was the part of Rachel Dawes, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. I didn’t feel anything for the character in this film.  The role was much better handled by Katie Holmes in the previous film, Batman Begins.  Maybe it was the script, but it just didn’t work for me.

All in all, a great film.  Definitely on my top 10 list.

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NASA triumph!

May 26, 2008 Reluctant Electronics, Internet, Rant, Science, Society, Technology

When Dwight D Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, in 1958, I wonder if he had any inkling of what kind of an impact that action would have on the world. Not only did the act create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), but also DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency).

DARPA later went on to contribute significantly to the creation of the Internet and several other technologies we use each day (like GPS), but let’s focus on what came from NASA research.  Everyone knows the many accomplishments of NASA in regards to space exploration; Apollo Missions, Moon Landing, International Space Station, etc.  But what about all the other technologies we use that have come from NASA research?

From HowStuffWorks.com comes a countdown of the top 10 daily used products that have come from NASA research.

» Read more..

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Google adds Greater Salt Lake Area to Street View

February 16, 2008 Reluctant Internet, New Technology, Society

Ratchet up the stocker fears.  Google has just released Street View for Salt Lake (including Utah and Davis Counties).

Some of you may recognize the following locations.  I’ll post about the fears and privacy concerns later.

» Read more..

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Google Apps rocks!

January 6, 2008 Reluctant Business, Internet, New Technology, Technology

Recently, I got a new server. While trying to get the email handling installed, I became very frustrated. Not only did managing the email consume a majority of my server administration time, but it took a lot of bandwidth just dealing with the spam I received. Because I’ve had my main domain (acucore.com) for over 7 years, it gets a large amount of spam.

Google AppsBut with the introduction of IMAP for Google Email (including their free gmail.com email service), Google has opened up a whole new world for me. In addition to the gmail.com service, Google has a service called Google Apps (previously Google Apps for Your Domain). It allows you to use several Google services (including email, calendaring and docs) with your own domain. This is ideal for small businesses.

» Read more..

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Where is the world is Santa?

December 24, 2007 Reluctant Computers, Family, Internet, New Technology, Technology

Google Earth tracks SantaEver wanted to know exactly where Santa is on Christmas Eve? Well, usually you would have to wait for the news or something similar. But this year, the traditional Santa trackers (NORAD) and Google have teamed up to give you the best way to track Santa.

Santa can now be tracked through Google Earth. If you don’t have Google Earth installed, click that link to download it. Then visit NoradSanta.org to download the tracker link. It will open in Google Earth and a nice 3D graphic of Santa and his reindeer will display and he will continue to move throughout the world. If you don’t want to download Google Earth, then NoradSanta.org has an embedded map that will update when Santa moves. But Google Earth updates much more often and is far cooler.

He’s already started and is in Ethiopia as I type. Not only is this a lot of fun for the kids, but it’s a great world geography lesson too!

Enjoy!

PS. For an interesting history on how NORAD started tracking Santa, check out the Wikipedia article.

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Google Street View has embeddable panoramas

December 11, 2007 Reluctant Internet, New Technology, Personal, Technology

Google just released a new feature for Google Maps. It’s an enhancement to Street View, the feature that allows you to see a 360 degree view of the streets in select cities. Now, you can embed the street view panoramas within your own web site. So I figured, I would try it out. Here’s one of my mission apartments in San Francisco:

» Read more..

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