New Anti-Sleep Drug. Washington Post article about modafinil, a new drug that kills the urge to sleep. (Personally, I love sleeping.)

In trials on healthy people like Army helicopter pilots, modafinil has allowed humans to stay up safely for almost two days while remaining practically as focused, alert, and capable of dealing with complex problems as the well-rested. Then, after a good eight hours' sleep, they can get up and do it again -- for another 40 hours, before finally catching up on their sleep.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Kevin!) [Boing Boing Blog]

Remember, this is bad stuff folks.

10:23:44 PM    

World: Palestinians Reject Bush Threat on U.S. Aid. 06:35 ET - Reuters [NewsBlip.com]

Interesting bargaining chip. While the Palestinians point out that the US does not give them any direct aid, the US counters that we provide humanitartian aid, as well as funds for development projects.

11:16:03 AM    

Transmeta gadgets and paradigm shift gear grinding. Transmeta threw a great party last night at the Rockefeller center. Lots of nifty Crusoe-based gadgets were on display, including the OQO Ultra-Personal Computer. It wants to be a universal engine that powers your desktop, detaches and docks into a notebook, or stands alone as a somewhat portly PDA. Everybody wanted one, including me -- and I'm not known for gadget lust. ... [Jon's Radio]

Man, I cannot wait to try out an OQO. This is a great sign.

10:08:36 AM    

Magnetic wood blocks mobile phone signals. Theatres and restaurants could use the new wood to stop people using their cellphones without resorting to signal jammers [New Scientist]

First of all, it's not magnetic wood, it's a sandwich of wood and a ferrite substrate. Thank's for teasing me there folks. But what is cool about this is the fact that it can be used to block cell phone signals, allowing a builder to make a signal free zone without installing the illegal signal jammers.

Possible uses mentioned in the article: Theaters, restaurants, residential for limiting access to different networks in a confined area.

My thoughts: Homespun Faraday cages for privacy and for those who don't like the idea of being bombarded with differing wavelengths. Appliance garage for a microwave oven. To minimize intereference when shooting a movie in digital (I seem to recall that Lucas had to make a studio stage into a massive faraday cage as there was a lot of interference form outside sources while he was shooting his latest film.) Sheathe a home in the material to minimize RF intereference from outside devices.

9:40:00 AM    

New Ren & Stimpy coming to TNN. TV Guide reports that John K. is busy making a new series of Ren & Stimpy cartoons! He hates TV executives (see my interview with him) so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Link Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

John K is insane, and I love his sense of humor. I cannot wait to see the new shows.

8:24:31 AM    

"Handheld Games For Grownups".

The Wireless Arcade

"They don't have fancy 3-D graphics, but video games for handheld devices stand poised to capture a huge U.S. market. Why? Because we all have to wait.

It’s game time....

Inside the conference room, a standing-room-only crowd has assembled for the “Wireless Game Summit,” a marathon exploration of the first new gaming platform in three decades....

Wireless games are played on Internet-enabled portable devices such as personal digital assistants and, particularly, cell phones. Though most of us are now familiar with the idea of getting driving directions or surfing the Web on a cell phone, the real killer app of wireless devices is games. Primitive-looking wireless games have already gained enormous popularity overseas. And bolstered by new software tools that allow game creators to deliver robust, colorful images, and by the emergence of third-generation, or 3G, cellular networks, wireless games may be on the verge of commercial success. The New York-based market research firm Datamonitor projects that by 2005, 80 percent of all wireless users in the United States and Western Europe—200 million people—will at least occasionally play games on their handhelds. In that period, the wireless-games market will zoom from less than $1 million per year to $6 billion, if the rosier estimates are to be believed.

Everybody waits: for school to let out, for planes to arrive, for dentists to see us. To the wireless-gaming industry, these unoccupied interludes in an average day are opportunities—minutes waiting to be killed with their creations. 'There are plenty of time-saving applications,' says Paul Goode, entertainment platforms group manager for Motorola. 'We’re working on the time-wasting ones.' " [Technology Review]

Remember - no one thought solitaire would be one of the most popular apps on a PC. Wireless gaming will be huge - mark my words.

[The Shifted Librarian]

There is nothing quite so satisfying as killing time playing a game on my PDA or Cell Phone while waiting in line, or on a bus, or a plane. Being able to compete while in any of the above would be even better.

8:17:24 AM