And they call me an Engineer

If you are like most Americans, not only do you have money deposits at multiple financial institutions, but you also have credit cards, 401k account and perhaps a stock market account.  If you’re like me, you hate having to flip through multiple paper statements or web sites trying to get the big financial picture.  You can use an installed application like Quicken or Microsoft Money, or you can try something fresh in the financial scene — Mint.com.

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I’ve always wanted to go to Italy.  It don’t know what it is exactly, but the place just seems cool.  Rome intrigues me with all the history and amazing sites.  I’ve always dreamed of a month-long European trip with at least a week in Rome.

But now I don’t have to go.  I’ve already been there.  Recently, Google updated their Street View feature with images of Rome.  And now with additional features just released today, Google allows me even more of a feeling of “being there.”  The only thing better than this for exploring Rome is to actually go there (which I must admit, I still dream of).

View Larger Map

Remember to view the original post if you can’t see the above embedded Google Maps Street View.

Have you ever wanted to see what Rome was like in ancient times?  Time travel would be nice, but until that happens, you can use Google Earth.  Google recently announced a new layer in Google Earth that allows you to “go back in time” to see what Rome was like in 320 AD — in 3D.

Check out the Colosseum or the Roman Forum or any number of ancient structures.  For you architects, this is a great opportunity to see what these old buildings really were like.  They even have full interior on some buildings.

View the following video for a fly-by as well as more details on the project.

I’m not sure how my wife would feel about this doorbell, but I think it’s rather elegant.  A must have for any true geek.  The problem… it’s not even close to available.  It’s just a design concept from renown designer, Li Jianye.

Come on ThinkGeek, hope on the stick with this product.

It’s so cool, er, geeky.  Heck, I’ll take two (one for the dog house I will be in after installing this on the house).

I recently posted about an iPhone App from Fonix for handling voice-dialing with the iPhone.  The app still isn’t out, but Fonix recently released a demo video of the application.

Check it out:

It looks great.  My only remaining issue is initiating a voice command.  It appears I will still need to be looking at my iPhone and tap the application in order to start the voice commands. I’d like to be able to tap the button on my bluetooth headset or a physical button on the iPhone.  Ideally, Apple would open up the iPhone home button to be assigned to third-party applications (currently it will only open your Contact Favorites or the iPod interface).

All in all, I’m excited for this app to finally hit the App Store.

The electronic eye takes photos in a 3D space rather than flatted in 2D

You know you’ve dreamed about it.  You want a bionic eye.  Everyone does.  Since you were a kid watching The Six Mission Dollar Man, you’ve dreamed of the day when bionics could become a reality.  Most of the bionic parts of Steve Austin already exist in some form (although not usually exceptionally powerful).  But the bionic left eye has been rather elusive.

Your dream may soon be coming true.  Researchers from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University are working on a camera that could some day replace a human eye.  With a similar form factor as the eye, it could easily fit within a human eye socket.

It’s the curve of the camera that makes it most like an eye.  Unlike most cameras that often blur or minimize the focus of parts of the image on the outer edges, this new curved technology allows an image to be in focus in all parts of the image.

Check out the additional photos on CNET.

Lee Majors has nothing on us now.

Second Life (an online virtual 3D world) has been around a while now.  It’s incredibly popular and even has its own economy.  You can enter Second Life and “live” a life completely different from who you really are.  It’s somewhat of a game, but it mimics real life as much as possible. Companies (mainly IBM) have been known to hold virtual meetings or conferences within the Second Life universe.  But the main problem with Second Life is you have to download a rather large installation program and have to have some decent hardware to run it.

Second Life is about to get it’s first real competitor, LifePlace.  Not only does does the virtual world look more amazing and real (and slightly unsettling), but all the visual imagery is rendered “in the cloud.”  There is no installation.  You will visit LifePlace through a web browser and all the rendering is done on the server side.  So even if you don’t have amazing hardware with the latest and greatest graphics card, you will still be able to partake in the amazing world to be. You will even be able to stream it to a mobile device (the video below was captured on a Palm Treo). The technology is developed by a company called OTOY.

Gizmodo and TechCruch both have articles about LivePlace, but it’s the video that really does the talking.

Remember, if you can’t see the embedded video. View the original posting.

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.

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.

Have you ever been on vacation and wanted to know where the closest LDS Church is?  How about moving to a new area and wondering to which ward you belong, to which building you should go and what time are services?

The IT team for the church has just released a beta version of their new mapping application.  This will eventually replace the current “Meetinghouse Locator.”

Check it out.  It’s nicely done.  Even if you don’t know an address, you can “Place a Marker” (click the icon on the top left of the map and then click on your desired location) and it will figure it all out for you.  It provides surrounding meetinghouses and all the wards that meet at each location as well as contact information.  It will also identify to which ward that location is assigned (even gives you language and YSA wards).

Under the hood, it can either use Google Maps or Microsoft’s Live Maps.

Well done guys!