Mittwoch, 15. Dezember 2004

Trust a Terabyte of Your Email to "Hellacious Riders". Hellacious Riders - Hriders.com 1 TB email: This can't be legit. Hriders.com gives unlimited free 1 Terabyte email accounts that include 500 Megabyte attachments. We have been asked why we would do such a thing. The answer is simple to help people store large amounts of information in a safe and secure environment. You gotta be careful in advertising this stuff, because Gmail advertised 1GB of storage, then The Screen Savers decided to test if that was true. Last I remember, the results weren't pretty. [Gadgetopia] 3:08:17 PM    comment []

Port-O-Jet, the toilet-racer. We[base ']re not exactly sure what kind of drag races you[base ']d want to get this thing into, but if you[base ']re the Al Bundy type, why not go on the go? Strapped to a 750-pound Boeing jet engine, no less. So if you[base ']re a wrench-monkey with ten grand to spare, you too can ride into the sunset (at 46mph) on your very own jet-powered port-a-potty. [Via TRFJ] 3:05:54 PM    comment []

Exclusive Resorts. If you[base ']re looking for that true home away from home, Exclusive Resorts may have just the right thing in mind. This ultra chic luxury residence club offers members access to multi-million dollar residences in exclusive communities all over the world. Each residence is maintained to impeccable standards with features ranging from [base "]private plunge pools to plasma televisions.[per thou] Destinations are selected based upon nearby conveniences like beachfront access, ski runs, golf courses and top flight spas. A personal assistant is made available to your beck and call as well for every day needs. [Luxist] 3:04:06 PM    comment []

the Joint Vehicle. A Toyota engineer demonstrates the manoeuvrability of the Joint Vehicle. The vehicle can travel in any direction by freely adjusting the arm positions to change the tyres' ground contact surfaces. The car was built to test engineers' skills during a company competition held recently. Photo: AFP Via IOL. [we make money not art] 3:01:16 PM    comment []

MPAA Have Shit for Brains - Official!. Sometimes we can all be forgiven for not learning from others' mistakes. Maybe we're not aware that the mistakes that have been made. Or perhaps we fail to notice the parallels. But the similarities between the much publicised RIAA's largely unsuccessful actions and the ones just about to be embarked on my their retarded cousins over at their Motion Picture Academy of America are blindingly obvious. Even if they succeed in closing down BitTorrent (unlikely as it has tons of legitimate uses), new ones will emerge Hydra-like somewhere else and be even more difficult to stop. Look at what happened with Napster. These court actions are just the MPAA's anger response, which has followed years of denial that this would happen. The bargaining, depression and acceptance phases are coming soon. What do you call a person who does exactly the same thing and expects a different result? "Optimistic to the point of stupidity" would be a kind way of answering the question. "Shit for brains" would be more honest. When will these people realise that you can't stuff this cat back into the bag? They need to accept that the world's changing, deal with it and move on. But initiating a round of legal initiatives against their customers just can't make sense. "Don't sue customers" sits alongside with "try and make money" and "don't greet your customers in the nude" as being such obvious rules that they're not even mentioned in even the most basic business books. [The Mobile Technology Weblog] 2:58:02 PM    comment []

Mobile Price Comparison. Last year social networking sites seem to be the vibe, despite no definable business model. Today, hardly a month seems to pass before another mobile price comparison service is announced. UpSnap are the latest to launch with their "Scrooge Buster" in the US. But unlike other competitors, this one is free, apart from the cost of the sms you send them. This neatly circumvents one of the key problems with price comparison - mean people don't like to pay for things :-) To use it, you simply sms them the make and model of the product. They search their database for the best prices and sms you back. You can then request that you're put through with a voice call to your merchant of choice. The business model behind this is not very clear apart from that they make their money from the merchant, not the user. So they either charge merchants to be included in the results they sms you, or they charge the merchant for putting you in touch with them with a voice call. If they charge merchants for being included in the search results (like Google's AdWords), it's not much use unless the merchant is also offering the lowest price. If people use a price comparison tool, it's pretty unlikely that they'll choose to buy a product from a more expensive supplier. So, unless the merchant thinks she's going to be the cheapest, it's a pretty useless advertsiing medium. If, on the other hand, they make money from connecting the user to the retailer they choose, they have a massive logistical issue as they need to sign up to their service every merchant they list. And if they don't sign up every merchant, they're not delivering their promise (finding the cheapest) to their users. And anyway, I imagine only a relatively small fraction of people will choose to be connected there and then, meaning revenues are going to be significantly lower than you might think. Hmmm. Am I missing something? Or is the price comparison game not such an easy one to crack? [The Mobile Technology Weblog] 2:56:44 PM    comment []

Ecobot Eats Dead Flies for Fuel. Researchers are working on autonomous robots that eat to produce energy. The problem right now is that batteries are much better. By Lakshmi Sandhana. [Wired News] 2:55:30 PM    comment []

Andrea Dezso: Shadow Books Andrea Dezso , an artist and instructor at Parsons School of Design, made these exquisite S hadow Books, "one-of-a-kind multi-layered, hand-sewn and cut paper theaters illuminated with light emitting diodes". These books tell the tragic story of a small girl, a goose and a witch in New York City. These books are in private collection, but are a beautiful example of what can happen when an old medium is mixed with some new concepts. Shadow Books don't connect to 17 varieties of wifi networks, or scan your irises before you can view them, but they take a little bit of technology and turn it into something so enchanting that they make me want to take a step back from all the buzzing gadgets and just walk through this paper world. For more on Andrea Dezso, and to read and see more about the increasingly lost art of bookmaking, visit Dennis Yuen's amazing new site devoted to paper: CaiLun . - Mia [Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women] 2:54:25 PM    comment []