Ford F-150 Pickup Truck With Jet Engine

More augmented reality

Here’s more info on augmented reality, including a program which collects environmental data from many sources (including networked furniture?!?) and presents it to you.

the man wall

Are you a man who likes watching sports, drinking beer and smoking cigars?

Then this is the piece of furniture that you NEED!

The Man Wall

Features include:

• 52″ Vizio Flat Panel LCD HDTV
• 2 – 26″ Vizio Flat Panel LCD HDTVs
• 1200 watt Panasonic 5.1 Home Theater System
• DVD player with 5-CD changer
• iPod docking station
• 2 – Wireless surround sound speakers
• Live 7-foot sports ticker with built-in computer
• 1 year free service for sport’s ticker
• Full-size built-in beer refrigerated beer keg with tap
• 1000 watt microwave oven
• 2 cigar humidors (holds 25 cigars each) complete with gauges
• 32-bottle wine rack

gdgt

gdgt (like “gadget” — or g-d-g-t) is a new kind of technology site — a social gadget platform that enables you to connect with the community through your gadgets, and connect with your gadgets through the community. It’s a place for you to engage with your devices and hang out with people who are as passionate about their gear as you are.

gdgt is all about providing you with useful, contextual information — both from here and around the web — to help you get more out of the products you already own, as well as help you discover that next great device to add to your collection. We hope that gdgt will be the last personal technology destination you’ll need, and the place to call home for you and your gadgets.

Want to create your own gadget list and start connecting? Go here to sign up for an account.

The place for you, me, and all the gadgets we know

• Sign up for a free account
• Build your gadget list
• Write reviews and discuss your devices
• Connect with other gadget users
• Check out useful tips and tricks
• Find your next new device
• Read up about the latest gadgets

Glims for Safari

Glims is a little add on for your Safari that will allow you to control your search bar and use it with many other engines (amazon, ebay, facebook, etc…) and you get a preview of the most relevant sites while you type.

Improvements to Google apps contacts

For starters, they have launched a new API that, when combined with the existing shared contacts API, gives administrators the ability to maintain an updated and detailed global address list in Google Apps.

Google has also updated the Contacts interface throughout the Google Apps suite – particularly in Gmail – making it easier for employees to find and start collaborating with all other users on their company domain.

Global address list management
These GData APIs let administrators maintain and manage their company’s global address list in Google Apps.

User profiles API
Administrators can retrieve and update profile information for all users on a company domain, giving companies the option to provide rich user information to make it easier for employees to find and contact each other.

Shared contacts API
This API (launched in December of 2008) lets administrators perform all of the above, but for users who do not have accounts provisioned in Google Apps, ensuring that all users (not just those with a Google Apps account) are accounted for in the company’s global address list.

These APIs are available exclusively to Google Apps Premier Edition customers.

Enhancements to Contacts
Until today, the only entries that would appear in Contacts in Gmail were those that the user had either explicitly added or had previously emailed. Starting today, when you search for a name, you’ll see relevant results from your company’s entire global address list, not just people you’ve emailed with in the past.

We’ve also made some improvements to the Contacts interface. When administrators add user details (job title, office location, department, cost center, etc.) through the APIs above to the company’s global address list, the additional information provided will also display, making it easier for users to get in touch with each other. This also ensures that you get the most updated contact for everyone in your company.

(from google enterprise blog)

pingdom: free website monitoring

Over the last few years, Pingdom has established itself as a well-regarded uptime monitoring service, but until now, its services were only available to paying customers. Today, however, Pingdom launched a free version of its service. The free service offers all the features of Pingdom’s paid accounts, though users are limited to monitoring just one website or server. This free account also comes with up to 20 SMS alerts per months, which is a nice perk, given that you probably want to know that your site or server is down as soon as possible.

Pingdom gives users a large number of options. You can, for example, choose to have it ping your server anywhere between once per minute or once per hour. Pingdom is also flexible enough to be able to ping specific ports on your server and also check the state of your SMPT, POP3, or IMAP email server – though with the free account, you can obviously only choose one of these.

In addition to its free service, Pingdom also offers a basic account for $9.95 per month, which allows users to monitor up to 5 sites. The company also offers a business account for $39.95 per month, which can check up to 30 sites. The basic account also comes with 20 free SMS alerts, while business account users can receive up to 200 alerts by text message.

Gmail drag and drop labels

Gmail is constantly adding features to help people become more organized. Today, Google has tweaked its Labels feature to add more functionality to the labels toolkit, helping users implement labels in a more organized way. Your labels will now be located in a new area on your Gmail interface, above your chat list and grouped together with Inbox, Drafts, Chats and other system labels. You can also now control which labels you’d like to show on your UI and you can hide the rest under a “more” tab.

Of of the more innovative features that has been added is the ability to drag and drop messages into labels, just like you can with folders. You can also drag labels onto messages too. It’s also possible to drag labels into the “more” menu to hide them, making it easier to change labels than going to the Settings function. This feature is huge for those people who complain about Gmail not having some of the drag and drop features of Outlook.

Pogoplug

The Pogoplug connects your external hard drive to the Internet so you can easily share and access your files from anywhere.

So forget about expensive NAS systems, configuring your firewall and router… buy this box, plug your USB Hard Disk and access to it via web from anywere!

You have even an iPhone app ;-)

Box.net vs SharePoint

Plenty of enterprise 2.0 companies have set their sights on replacing SharePoint.

Based on the premise that “sharing should be simple” and implying that SharePoint is anything but, Box.net’s campaign is more than a marketing ploy. It’s a bold sign of the growing conflict between hungry young startups and Microsoft over who will dominate business collaboration in the years to come.

The question remains if this is just a stong marketing campaing or is it a serious competitor. Simplicity is one aspect but can box.net offer what companies are looking for?

Not even Zoho, Adobe or Google Docs have dared to do anything like this.

Google apps sync for Microsoft Outlook

Now businesses can run Microsoft Outlook on Google Apps instead of Microsoft Exchange, so they can achieve the cost savings, security and reliability of Google Apps while employees use the interface they prefer for email, contacts and calendar.

Not Quite Gears

“Although we use the same protocol as gears, we don’t use gears per se,” explained Vander Mey. “It’s all saved in outlook PST files. From a technical level [there] is a MAPI provider; when you connect to Exchange we have built our own MAPI provider – we just change what’s going out on the wire – as opposed to licensing from Microsoft.”

Key Features:

E-mail, calendar and contact sync
Synchronize all Outlook fields in both directions, keeping them up-to-date; Uses a Google native e-mail protocol.

Free/Busy and Global Address look up
The Global Address List feature lets you search for and access e-mail addresses of users and resources in your domain.

Simple, user-driven data migration
Letting users move data to Google instead of having to wait for IT admins.

You’ll need Outlook 2003 SP3 or 2007 SP2 (or SP1 with a hotfix), running on Windows XP SP2 (with selected hotfixes) or Vista SP1 (with a hotfix).

If you want to see how Google Apps for Microsoft Outlook works, watch this three minute video.

NASA releases the most complete map of the earth

NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and industry (METI) released the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) to the worldwide public on June 29, 2009.

It covers 99% of the earth’s surface and it is available for downloads.

The GDEM was created by processing and stereo-correlating the 1.3 million-scene ASTER archive of optical images, covering Earth’s land surface between 83 degrees North and 83 degrees South latitudes. The GDEM is produced with 30-meter (98-feet) postings, and is formatted as 23,000 one-by-one- degree tiles. The GDEM is available for download from NASA’s EOS data archive and Japan’s Ground Data System. In this colorized version, low elevations are purple, medium elevations are greens and yellows, and high elevations are orange, red and white.

Firefox 3.5 will be available today

Firefox 3.5

The Pirate Bay Sold For $7.8 Million

Today, Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X AB has announced it has acquired The Pirate Bay website for 60 million SEK, which is roughly the equivalent of 7.8 million dollars.

This was almost immediately confirmed by The Pirate Bay. Although the title of their post is entitled “TPB might change owner,” from the text of the post it is obvious that the site has indeed been sold.

Two facts strike the eye: the incredibly small amount for which The Pirate Bay was sold, compared to its huge popularity and worldwide influence, and the fact the site which has always been perceived as independent and quite controversial, was sold at all. The second fact explains the latter: yes, The Pirate Bay is one of the top 100 visited websites in the world, but it (and its owners) is also encumbered by a recent loss of a very important lawsuit.

The Pirate Bay definitely has a lot of value beyond its controversial core business, the torrent tracker. The team behind it launched several of noteworthy projects, and their words and actions are highly influential, which has recently been proved by Sweden’s Pirate Party triumphal entrance into the European Parliament, largely indebted to the attention it received after The Pirate Bay’s owners lost the lawsuit.

Normally, one would think that this sale is just some quick scraping for cash while they still have something to sell. The Pirate Bay founders are trying to convince us otherwise. From their blog post:

“The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets. I hope everybody will help out in that and realize that this is the best option for all. Don’t worry – be happy!”

This might very well be true, but the bigger problem is: what will happen to The Pirate Bay now that it has a new owner? The founders claim “nothing,” but I remain skeptical.

“If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That’s the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want to. And – you can now not only share files but shares with people. Everybody can indeed be the owner of The Pirate Bay now. That’s awesome and will take the heat of us.“

Compare this to the statement from Global Gaming Factory CEO Hans Pandeya:

“The Pirate Bay is a site that is among the top 100 most visited Internet sites in the world. However, in order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary. Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers’ need faster downloads and better quality”

It is obvious that this is an end of an era: The Pirate Bay will change; the only question is whether its independent spirit and influence – which were always more important than the torrent tracker itself – will live on, or perish.

(from mashable)

Fauxtoshop: 15 More Real Photos that Look Faked

A man walking on water, a bunny the size of a dog and a fetus floating in a starry sky – none of these things can actually be real, right? In an age when almost anyone can effectively manipulate images in Photoshop, it’s easy to scoff at every incredible photograph that you see on the internet. Don’t let your cynicism get the best of you. Some are the result of sheer dumb luck, others from hours of careful preparation and some exist because reality is simply stranger than fiction, but these 15 images are 100% authentic.

Walking on Water

(image via: marianitoz)

Speedboat driver Joe Peroceschi walked on water… sort of. After windy conditions caused his boat, Smokin Joe, to flip during the Budweiser Drag Boat Nationals race on Wappapello Lake in Missouri, Peroceschi appeared in photos to be momentarily running across the surface of the water. In reality, he was about to get hit by a competing boat. Miraculously, Peroceschi survived to walk again.

Faux Photoshop, Literally

(image via: Stupid Videos)

Using a couple cardboard props and a checkered background, this photographer imitated the look of a photoshopped image in progress, seemingly using the eraser tool on himself. Impeccably lined up with the background, it’s difficult to tell at first that this isn’t an image in the process of being edited.

Trippy Illusion in a Parking Garage

(image via: de-war.de)

Driving through a parking garage and seeing words floating around might lead you to think that perhaps someone put a little something in your drink. Graphic designer Axel Peemöllerpainstakingly painted distorted letters on the walls, floors and beams of a Melbourne, Australia parking garage so that when you stand in the right spot, they seem to hover in mid-air.

A Jumping Shark and Some Surfers

(image via: BoingBoing)

A CNN photographer just happened to snap a photo in the right place at the right time, capturing a spinner shark jumping out of the water in New Smyrna Beach, Florida just yards behind two oblivious surfers. Don’t believe it? CNN has video showing additional images and testimony of witnesses.

Johan Lorbeer’s ‘Still Life’ Performances

(image via: ahboon)

Like Li Wei, Johan Lorbeer puts on seemingly gravity-defying public performances, hovering above the ground with one hand against a wall for hours at a time. He’s surrounded by puzzled onlookers who just can’t figure out how he does it. His secret? A fake arm connected to a harness. His real arm is hidden inside his clothes.

Andre Agassi and Roger Federer: Tennis on a Helipad

(image via: The Guardian)

Surely, those guys aren’t really playing tennis that high in the air, right? Well, yeah – and ‘those guys’ are Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. The too-crazy-to-be-real setting is actually a helipad at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Good thing these two tennis greats aren’t afraid of heights.

Can a Bunny Really be This Insanely Huge?

(image via: Blogsters Guild)

This photograph is one of many that have been circulated around the internet to instant cries of “Photoshopped!” But, believe it or not, rabbits this big do exist. Seriously. There’s video. These giant rabbits are bred in Germany by Karl Szmolinsky – as a source of meat for the North Korean population. You can’t make this stuff up.

Truck Chased by Missiles on the Highway

(image via: CannesLions)

Without the little inset photo, in which you can see the tethers, this photo of a truck being chased down a highway by missiles would be pretty hard to swallow. But, the missiles are just harmless balloons. The ‘Missile Car’ was an entry in the 2009 Cannes Lions International  Advertising Festival.

Japan’s Futuristic Flood Prevention System

(image via: Neatorama)

A science fiction movie could easily be shot in Japan’s underground flood tunnels. The reflective floors, endless rows of towering pillars and eerie lighting makes the G-CANS project look like something out of this world. It consists of five concrete containment silos that prevent overflow of the city’s major waterways and rivers during rain and typhoon seasons.

Apocalyptic Street Scene

(image via: Metanamorph)

Street artist Edgar Mueller is a master of optical illusion, creating chalk drawings on pavement and other surfaces that transform the space into something altogether different. This post-apocalyptic scene of a German street disintegrating into a churning sea is just one example of Mueller’s many jaw-dropping street scenes. Mueller’s work relies on the viewer to stand in just the right spot to see the illusion.

Storefront Security Gate as Fender Guitar Amp

(image via: Music Radar)

A guitar store in Southampton, England found a brilliant way to not only make its security gate more attractive, but announce what it sells in the most gleefully attention-grabbing way possible. A Fender logo adorns the gate and a sign above the store is complete with controls turned all the way up to 11.

Invisible Car Art by Sara Watson

(image via: The Telegraph)

What appears to be a ghostly apparition of a vehicle over Sara Watson’s shoulder is actually a Skoda Fabia spray-painted to blend in with a parking lot and art studio entrance. Watson, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, worked on the paint job for three weeks. “People have been stopping in the street to look and coming up and almost bumping into it, so it’s had the desired effect.”

The Impeccably Camouflaged Orchid Mantis

(images via: 37signals)

It’s hard to tell at first whether you’re looking at a flower that looks like a mantis or a mantis that looks like a flower. In fact, the orchid mantis is a rainforest insect whose legs resemble flower petals and coloring perfectly matches that of the flowers it is often found hiding inside.

Three Eagles Fighting Over a Fish

(image via: thelastminuteblog)

What looks like a somewhat cheesy patriotic digital image created by a computer is a real photograph of three eagles fighting over a fish in Homer, Alaska taken in March 2008 by photographer Jose Hernandez. This incredible image was one of the winners in the National Geographic 2008 International Photography Contest.

A Fascinating Peek Inside the Womb

(image via: World Famous Photos)

A fetus, still in its gestational sac and attached to the placenta, floats eerily against a starry background. But this is no collage, no matter how unreal it seems. It’s an actual living fetus taken inside a pregnant woman’s uterus with an endoscope. When Lennart Wilson showed it to LIFE Magazine’s editors in 1965, they demanded witnesses to prove that it was real. It remains one of the magazine’s most iconic cover images.

(from weburbanist)