Science Friday: Explore the Milky Way Galaxy with Chrome
November 16, 2012
Michael Eades mentioned this yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to check it out fully until today. The makers of Google Chrome are doing some very cool experiments with their browser, pushing the limits of what’s possible. This scalable, true-to-scale visualization of our home galaxy, centered on our own Sun, is simply phenomenal. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the internet in quite some time. Bravo, Chrome-people. Bravo. Do yourself a favor and check it out now.
New Coach mixtape/some gadget musings
April 13, 2010
One of the most well-kown DJs in Nashville’s dance/electronic music scene right now is DJ Coach (aka Jeremy Todd). He formed the now huge weekly Sat. dance night “Coach Vs Kase” (now called Y2K) with Ke$ha live DJ Justin Kase at 12th and Porter, and has kept that going strong for over a year. He also spins regularly at Mai, Happy Valley, and Swag in Murfreesboro. He just released his summer mixtape “Take-Out Vol. 2” to the masses, and you should grab it now. It’s smooth and warm, just like a summer night…
Download: Coach- Take-Out Vol. 2
In my post yesterday about Treasure Fingers, I made the horrible mistake of forgetting to mention that he’ll be coming through Nashville on tour later this month. On Fri. April 30th he’ll be spinning at Mai, with Coach, Hands off Sam, and Potamus opening. Tickets can be purchased here. I may be mistaken, but I think the last time he played here was a Buddytown party at the Trace. My how things have changed…
While all the early-adopters are creaming over the iPad, Google is apparently prepping it’s own tablet PC, which could prove to be formidable rival for the iPad. It will likely run the Android OS but little else is know about it. (Via Gizmodo)
In other gadget news, Microsoft is about gain some ground in the battle against Apple… if their new Windows phone 7 and “Kin” phone are as awesome as they appear to be. The new Windows mobile platform is a total overhaul of their lame older versions, and is a VAST improvement. It’s expected to be out on mobile devices late this year. (More on Windows 7 phone at Engadget) The Kin phone is a version of Windows 7 phone that is centered specifically on social media. Basically it’s aimed directly at hipsters who have iPhones. Stealing hipsters away from Apple products seems like a futile endeavor, but it just might be possible. More on the Kin at Live Science)
Bizarre balloon-rocket moon mission/Gibson gets raided by the Feds
November 18, 2009
Two cool things come your way via Universe Today today:
Apparently a Romanian group is competing for the Google Lunar X-prize with a bizarre balloon-rocket combination. They have a nice animation video in the post that explains the design far better than I could with word, so just check it out for yourself. I never thought I’d see helium balloons involved in a project where getting to the moon is the final goal… It’s one of those things that’s mind-numbingly simple and you say “why did no one think of this before?”
Also from UT is this cool HD video of Space Shuttle Atlantis blasting off on Monday. The shuttle docked today with the ISS.
Regarding the Feds’ raid of Gibson HQ yesterday: (FYI- it wasn’t the FBI, it was the Fish & Wildlife Agency that raided them…)
Via Hartley
Google UFO explained/Shuttle photos/EEstor
September 8, 2009
Image via Universe Today
Whew. That was quite an eye-gasm wasn’t it? That was taken on the current space shuttle mission (STS-128) to the International Space Station. The mission is about to come to an end, with a scheduled landing on Thursday. (Via Universe Today)
I also found on UT the final explanation of the Google UFO logo that caused quite a stir yesterday all over the interwebz. The Google tech-nerds were simply showing some love for the Japanese video game Zero Wing, the one with the famous quote “All your base are belong to us” at the beginning. Google also tweeted a mysterious set of numbers. It turns out if you insert the corresponding letters of the alphabet, you get “All your O are belong to us.” No, Google doesn’t know something we don’t. No, it wasn’t a hint that we’ll soon be visited by aliens, or that the government will finally come clean on a huge conspiracy theory. Sorry, Fox Mulder.
Until this morning I’d never heard of EEStor, but this new technology could revolutionize…. everything. But apparently it’s been met with quite a bit of skepticism. Basically it’s a new way of storing electricity, much more efficient than a lithium ion battery, and it would make storage of power generated by wind turbines and solar cell arrays much easier. The problem with power from the wind and sun is that it isn’t constant, therefore you need a way to store that power so that it can be used at all times, even when it’s dark or there’s no wind. That storage has been a big hurdle for the progress of these types of energy. Basically what they’ve done is invent a capacitor capable of storing much more energy than any capacitor before. It was once thought that basic problems with the very laws of physics prevented the development of capacitors with this much storage potential. But apparently this company has managed to convince the Zenn motor company, along with several investors with deep pockets, that they have found a way around those problems. If they’re really on to something it could make 100% green, sustainable power much closer to reality. If you’re a total electronics nerd and want to read the nitty-gritty on this, check out this article. (Via EcoGeek)
Brooklyn Vegan reports that a Woodstock 40th anniversary show will go down at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in upstate New York, which is where the original Woodstock festival was held. Among the performers are Woodstock vets Levon Helm and Country Joe McDonald.
As promised here are a couple of mp3s from bands that are playing my 8 off 8th this coming monday. First up is Paper Navy, a relatively new band with my friend Simon Lynn (formerly in The Whole Fantastic World) on drums, and a few other Murfreesboro music veterans. The standout track from their EP “All Grown Up” is the title track. The EP can be downloaded for free at their website.
Second comes a track by Codaphonic. This band will not feature its original lineup, but frontman Cody Newman decided to keep the Codaphonic title for whatever he does musically. From what I understand he’s got a lot of new material, but it’s along the same vein as the older material. Here’s “The Most Important Thing” from the Codaphonic album The Ballad of Codaphonic.
Codaphonic- The Most Important Thing
Google will soon be introducing a very useful new service/product called PowerMeter. It will allow you to use Google to monitor your home’s power consumption and see what’s using the most energy and why. Their description says it perfectly:
Google PowerMeter, now in prototype, will receive information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provide anyone who signs up access to her home electricity consumption right on her iGoogle homepage.
Sign me up! Via Kottke.org.
Finally some encouraging news is coming down the pipe about the state of NASA and its hotly contested Constellation program. In case you’ve been under a rock, the Constellation program is the over-arching name for a system of rockets and modules (Ares I, Ares V, and Orion Crew Vehicle) that will replace the space shuttle as NASA’s means of taking astronauts into space and eventually back to the moon. Since Obama took office, NASA’s lost its administrator and suffered from a “sense of drift.” This article in the Orlando Sentinel reports on a new study by the Obama Administration to see if Constellation is really the right choice to replace the space shuttle. In short, they want to address the engineering problems and budget overruns that the Ares I rocket and Orion Crew Vehicle have experienced. Some studies were done into alternatives to Constellation, but a 2005 study found that Constellation was the best choice. Unfortunately many contractors and rocket companies expressed dissent regarding that study and claimed that it didn’t consult enough of them to have a balanced perspective. I really look forward to seeing the result of this, and I really hope Obama picks a new Chief Administrator for NASA soon. I don’t really care what the results are, just that we’re going in the right direction with this, and that our money isn’t being wasted on lame duck projects. Via Universe Today.
On a completely different and random note, I had a bizarre dream last night that I was in someone’s house and caught a rattlesnake. Then we put it in a bag… I think it was made of cloth. For some reason I then decided that the snake would be scared in the bag, so I dumped it back out, caught it again, and held it behind its head for a really long time. Then the dream ended. WTF?!? At least no one got bitten?
Today Google has announced the world’s first real artificial intelligence called CADIE, or “Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity.” This is a milestone in technological achievement, people. Just look at CADIE’s homepage.
In music news, Bjork has agreed to join Led Zeppelin as their new lead singer for their upcoming reunion tour. Via You Ain’t No Picasso.
Expedia.com has just announced that they’re offering super package deals for trips to Mars. Of particular interest is the Utopia Spa & Resort, which was obviously modeled after a very familiar comic-inspired structure right here in Nashville. While there, you can take part in some amazing activities such as Dust Surfing, Super Low-G Martial Arts, Mars Rover Rides, and best of all, the Pareidolia Tour, “including the Smiley Face Crater, the Chryse Alien Head, and even the mysterious Face on Mars.” Via Nashvillest.
Finally, today we bring you the deleted sex scene from Twilight.
GMDesk/fat cats
March 25, 2009
Today is a slow day for whatever reason. The most interesting thing I’ve come across (I actually first came across it yesterday at Yewknee) is the new application called GMDesk. It’s a standalone app that displays all your google stuff in one place, outside of your web browser.
GMDesk is an application that lets you run Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Maps as a stand-alone application to do all your mail handling, calendar event reading etc with. No need to open it up in a web browser, or have it clutter your workspace.
I will be giving it a try in the next week or so.
Apparently a really drunk dude tried to buy beer in the nude last night. He just “didn’t realize it would come to this.” Via Nashvillest.
Oddee has 8 of the most bizarre body manipulations. WARNING: These are pretty intense and not for anyone with a weak stomach.
Finally… fat cat attempts to get through door flap.
steve cross loves music and science 