A $25 Handheld Computer for Education
Raspberry Pi is a new credit card-sized computer designed specifically to teach computer programming to students. The device is the brainchild of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a U.K. charity that “exists to promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level” and wants “to put the fun back into learning computing.” ...
Paper-Thin Batteries
Most batteries require some amount of bulk, making them impractical for use in flexible and lightweight objects. But a team of materials scientists at Stanford have succeeded in creating a paper-thin battery that could be the answer to all of those nagging problems and finally usher in the era of e-paper, powered packaging and electronic ...
Smartphones Begin to Replace Hotel Keycards
Two Holiday Inn hotels have begun using iPhone, Android and Blackberry smartphones as room keys, meaning guests don’t even need to stop at the front desk on their way in the door. With the new system, which will be in testing through December, hotel guests can reserve their accommodations online. A text message is sent ...
iOS 4
Along with millions of other geeks, I updated my iPhone 3G to Apple’s release of iOS 4 today (while others have already been playing with the jailbreak version). The update took a while and I’ve seen a few people in my Twitter stream say that it’s slowing down their 3G. Still others with 3GS are ...
Mind Over Mass Media
The new media have caught on for a reason. Knowledge is increasing exponentially; human brainpower and waking hours are not. Fortunately, the Internet and information technologies are helping us manage, search and retrieve our collective intellectual output at different scales, from Twitter and previews to e-books and online encyclopedias. Far from making us stupid, these ...
“Fair Trade” Electronics
From Foxconn Suicides: Is It Time For “Fair Trade” Electronics? Would You Buy A “Fair Trade” iPhone? by Tom Foremski All the large tech companies such as Apple, Nokia, Dell, etc have agreements with their suppliers that they do not employ children, and that they will abide by certain standards to protect workers. But it’s ...
Why So Few Women in Silicon Valley?
Women own 40 percent of the private businesses in the United States, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. But they create only 8 percent of the venture-backed tech start-ups, according to Astia, a nonprofit group that advises female entrepreneurs. via Why So Few Women in Silicon Valley? – NYTimes.com.
The iPad Arrives
As I’m sure you know, tech and geek news has been buzzing for weeks about the arrival of the iPad and today was the day for pre-orders to arrive by UPS and for in-store purchasing. We went by the Apple Store on Stockton Street here in SF this afternoon and saw Jonathan Ive as he ...
SMS Donation for Haiti
There are numerous ways to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti. I chose to text the word “QUAKE” to 20222 to donate $10 (charged to your cell phone bill) through the William Clinton Foundation Haiti Fund. I plan to donate more through the Red Cross online, but it was fast and easy to do ...
Google Chrome OS
Google demonstrated Google Chrome OS for the first time on Thursday in Mountain View. Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of ...
Web Open Font Format Moves Ahead
From Ars Technica: Efforts to bring advanced typography to the Web have reached an important milestone. Type designers Tal Leming and Erik van Blokland, who had been working to developing the .webfont format, combined forces with Mozilla’s Jonathan Kew, who had been working independently on a similar format. The result of the collaboration is called ...
WordPress 2 for iPhone
The WordPress version 2 iPhone app (iTunes link) is now available at the App Store. There’s also a new blog focused on the iPhone app. The app, just like WordPress itself, is open source so anyone can contribute to it. This is a community effort! From the WordPress iPhone blog So, what’s new in version ...
Snow Leopard: Smaller, Faster, Better
The Apple and tech blogs have been buzzing with this week’s early arrival of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, available this Friday, August 28, 2009. We’ve already pre-ordered our family pack upgrade. If you haven’t yet, it’s worth the upgrade at only $29 for an individual (or $25 at Amazon; $43.99 for the family ...
Augmented Reality Slowly Becoming a Reality
While it’s probably some time before Augmented Reality (AR) is part of everyday practice, it’s good to see that some applications are coming to fruition. Today, Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb posted that Metro Paris Subway (iTunes link), a French app from PresseLite has appeared in the iTunes store. A commenter on Marshall’s post, Tim, speculates ...
gdgt party
After working with founders Ryan Block and Peter Rojas on the design of gdgt many months ago, it was great to go to the first SF party to celebrate the idea becoming reality.
Our Sixth Sense: Wearable Fluid Interfaces
This week at the TED conference, Pattie Maes from MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group showcased the latest work of her students, “a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen. The wearer can summon virtual gadgets and internet data at will, then dispel them like smoke when they’re done.” Pattie ...