Evan Williams Ad

I was looking at this ad in a magazine, and although I have felt that other ads in the Extra Aged Evan Williams series have been alright this one just doesn't do it. The add shown here shows a car split by periods of time the older side saying "the longer you wait" and the right, modern side, saying "...the better it gets"' While in the previous ads (one shown here) have used the same past/present split in the ads they have been much more clear in presenting there position. The older ad with the woman shows an obvious improvement during the time passage. The car add shows the same car, the house isn't clearly larger due to the angle viewed, and the price tag has gone up not down. While the car in the ad is for sale meaning if the house was portrayed to be the viewers they would receive more money from the sale they are still selling. Not a good ad.

Teleportation

While this new breakthrough in the field of quantum information processing can't really be considered teleportation, at the time there is really no better term for it. The information from one atom was instantaneously transmitted over a contained distance of one meter to another atom, transforming the receiving atom into one that acts exactly like the first. Future applications for data transference and computing speeds are huge.

handyman's x-rays

A new device that is expected out in mid-2010 will allow the contractor and even the home handyman to literally see into walls to see if there are pipes, wires,etc. by using microwaves. The device will way less than 3lbs and emits less radiation than a cellphone. Not much else to say, it is great and speaks for itself. If you do the work to need it, get it

Portable Ultrasound

This hand held and self contained device is as powerful as a standard ultrasound machine, but is the size of a cellphone. The manufacturing cost will be greatly reduced to the old units as well. The device will save critical time in medical diagnoses of many kinds and is a new avenue of hope for village medical diagnosis.

Vertical Farming

With less space and growing needs today's population is working on solutions, vertical farming is one of the more promising. The mechanized towers rotate the plants so they receive the necessary light and nutrients. It is always good to think that with factors that societies are unable (or unwilling) to do anything about creating ever greater strain on the world that innovation can help relieve some of the burden.

Solar Shingles

While solar panels have been available commercially for years and solar panels that resemble metal roofing have been installed for a bit now the next in the home solar revolution is the solar shingle. The solar shingle looks and installs like a normal roof shingle. The solar shingle can be mixed in with the normal shingles as well, other added bonuses are that the solar shingle is easier to install than other panels and will cost 10-15% less. Available now.

Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1

Some of the stuff that I have posted on is in progress, this is some future now. This camera is the next step in photography, a step that should have been thought of before now. The camera utilizes two lenses working in unison and separated by about the same approximate distance as the human eyes to add depth and the 3rd dimension to your pics. I little pricey right now at about $600 retail I'd wait a bit and this price will drop.

Philips LED 60 watt light bulb

Philips Electronics designed this light bulb in a response to the Energy Department's $10 million competition to create a superior 60 watt bulb, a competition that also includes lucrative federal purchasing agreements for the winner. The bulb emits the same amount of light on only 10 watts of power and lasts 25 times longer than halogen (about 25 years!). The expected price tag is $40, which will be totally worth it for a money saving light bulb that lasts 25 years.

Floor

This installment at the IMA titled simply "Floor" is one of my favorite pieces in the Indianapolis Museum. Found in the contemporary art gallery this work by Korean born Do-Ho Suh is a large 32 panel installation that is, as the name suggests, a floor. The floor when standing on it looks like it has vibrantly colored speckles, with closer inspection the colored dots are seen to be tiny hands with the panels of the floor held up by a small plastic people of many varieties all working in unison to support the weight. It is awesome and took from 1997-2000 to create, go check it out.

Sacred Spain at the IMA

The Indianapolis Museum of Art is hosting a painting retrospective called "Sacred Spain" that is based on the religious iconography of 17th century Spain. Many of the pieces in the collection have never been scene in the US before. The Clowes Charitable Foundation helped fund the project, which to those who have it available an iPhone or ipod touch app. is available called tap that give the user an interactive multimedia interaction with the collection. For someone who doesn't have access to these devices ipod touches are available to rent. I didn't use the multimedia portion, mainly because I am not really interested in any religious interpretation (especially one that mostly pictorials suffering). The app is a cool idea however. If you want to check it out the exhibit is running until January 3, 2010.

"The four best days in gaming"

GenCon 2010 is happening in Indianapolis, In. from August 5th through the 8th. It has almost everything gaming related and hundreds of exhibitors. The event (website aside) is great. Info can be found at gencon.com and a mobile iphone app is available from itunes. Approximately 30,000 will be attending. If you like gaming and gaming culture check it out.

Royal Enfield

I have always loved the design of classic Triumph style motorcycles and the more retro of the Harley lines, but the price is crazy. Looking at bike designs I came across a brand that to me was surprisingly the oldest motorcycle company still in production, Royal Enfield. The lines on the bike are classic, and my favorite is the oldest running model the bullet which has a very reasonable price of $4500 base and a reasonable mileage at 70+mpg highway.

Candy and other obvious products.

Snickers has been around since 1930 and 72 years later they get the idea to try a second kind of nut, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups took about the same amount of time before they came up with a spin off product. These are not giant innovative leaps by any means, especially when you take into account that these are companies that pretty much exclusively make candy. Maybe it is just that people in the past didn't care about options, but that clearly isn't the case now with every kind of candy having a white chocolate version, a crunchy version, and dark chocolate version. There are even candies that Frankenstein 5 kinds of candy to quench those that can't even commit to a candy bar. When I see these candies stacked in the checkout lane I always think back to a trip I took the the GM car design studio that I went to when I was a little kid. They had cars designed out to 20+ years into the future. I looked at these cars that were meant for decades out and I thought those are the cars I want now, comparatively the lame little changes they had for the next year sucked. Even as a kid I thought that though the future design was great they were designing like cowards, acting like they would run out of ideas if they just through them out now. You can always think of something new. I know that there aren't a lot of ways you can configure nougat, carmel, chocolate, and nuts but 70 years is a bit to long to start to innovate.

Texting when driving

I think that the last non tech portion of our society must have finally caught on to texting because the myriad of already bad drivers has really kicked up a notch in the last few months. The number of people I see texting while driving is terrible. These people are bad at driving already and then you add typing, a small screen, and word selection. While there is a current ban in Indiana on kids younger than 18 using cells while driving there is no such law for any other part of the population. While I personally feel that there is no need to go as far as a total cell ban, I do think that texting is going too far. There is going to be a proposal for 2010 in the Indiana legislature on a texting initiative, let's hope something gets done.

Scribblenauts

I don't play the Nintendo DS often, in fact my iphone sees more game action. A game that has increased the portable system's usefulness is Scribblenauts, a game released in September of 2009 that was designed by 5th Cell. In the game you solve short puzzles by typing the names of props in the form of non vulgar nouns. The nouns appear in the game and interact with you character, the environment, and other characters. The game has a deceptively simple appearance, but the library of words that the game hold is enormous. Simple word can be combined to make items like "spring shoes". It is a fun, clean game that is addictive.

DaFont.com

Another great website is DaFont.com. A good number of fonts and access designs are available on the site for free and the rest are free for personal use only. I used the site making a mock game design logo a while back and the download was usable in illustrator, photoshop, and loaded directly into word. There are a lot of places to find fonts, but this is a great start.

Grandma's Boy

Video Game design, karate monkeys, the old lady from Everybody Loves Raymond. If you are looking for a geeky and underappreciated movie try this one on. Steady pot referrences aside most could find humor with this movie. Make sure to get the 2006 movie, not the 1922 movie of the same title (Doris Roberts might have been in that one too). Critically panned on release the movie went on to make more than 4 times its box office on dvd sales. It is up for rent, or purchase for around $10.

ThinkGeek.com

From the last two entries you knew it was coming. ThinkGeek.com is great online store. The Microbe Plushies and the NES/SNES duo system are but two of hundreds of products on this site. Survelance cameras, science tech, movie props are all just some of the many things available. Ever want your own phaser? Laser Keyboard? Check out this site. Products are available for any event. There is gonna be something you want.

Dual NES/SNES Gamesystem

This is a break for me, as someone who has gone through many gaming system over the years. The line had to be drawn somewhere, systems were piling up, although each one had some fond memories you didn't visit them much. With this duo system two of them can be reclaimed. Available on thinkgeek.com the NES/SNES system is smaller than either one of the original systems. Also available in an NES/Genesis configuration this system runs $50 for either.

Unusual Plushies

Giant microbe plushies, anime plush toys, video game dolls. The standard in America was always the teddy bear in plush toys, but the increasing influence of Japanese culture on the United States has given rise to more unique and dynamic plush toys. What began at amusement parks and carnivals with a Mario or Sonic seen here or there has become a online influx carried on by the special cultural interest groups. Above is a picture of plush microbes in a special petri dish container that is sold by thinkgeek.com. Other online vendors include yukariskawaiishop.com (kawaii being the japanese equivalent to cuteness) and gambattletoys.multiply.com.