Monthly Archives: September 2003

general September 29, 2003 posted by

Tube happy…

A super clever mobile phone convergence service here in sunny London. The Tube Refund site helps beleaguered travellers claim their rightful refunds on underground train journeys which are delayed for more than 15 minutes. There is an official way to do it, but this service acts as the middle man to take out the hassle factor. Simply register on the site, buy 25 refund tokens for �5.00, and use them by sending a one line SMS message whenever you’re delayed….

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Commander Gauntlet.

The Commander Gauntlet is ‘a comprehensive wireless communications device incorporating voice, data, audio, video, text messaging and extreme lighting.’ We’re talking GSM, satellite, GPS, weather forecasting, email and a heap of other ‘stuff’. This is one powerful glove puppy, designed for emergency services and inevitably the armed forces. Freaky looking though, isn’t it? …and what exactly is extreme lighting?

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Game on…

Ever come up with a cracking idea for a new computer game, but lacked the programming skills to turn it into reality? Then maybe you need the free Game Maker program by Mark Overmars. Looks cool! ‘Game Maker can be used to create many different kind of games, like scrolling shooters, platform games, puzzle games, and isometric games.’

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Home vend.

No listen, what you really really need is the slurptastic Skybox Beverage Dispenser. This little doozy sits in your den and lets you play vending machines owner all day long. Holds 66 12 ounce cans of tipple and comes with a parental lock to keep the little tykes out. No coin slot though, so no charging gran $5.00 a Pepsi! Yours for a mere $498.99.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Media cliches

The Cliche Challenge aims to list the most popular media clich�s in the world at the moment. It’s based on Google searches. Top of the pile at the moment by a long way is ‘prior to…’. Personally I think that it’s a world class site, which uses state of the art design that experts agree is a wake up call to the dominant culture of the moment.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Trainee environmentalists apply here.

The Fuel Cell Car and Experiment Kit looks like a fun way to learn about solar and fuel cell technology. 30 experiments in the pack in total, and priced at $149.95. Sounds like a great pressie for that ‘earnest’ young relative.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Destruction derby..

Fab fun in the Ukraine as contestants gathered for the first Open Computer Destruction Championship. Three events – throwing the keyboard, kicking the mouse and ‘creative destruction’. Hand me that sledgie, nurse.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Heritage World Tour

The Heritage World Tour is a brilliant project to catalogue all of the UNESCO World Heritage locations in the world via beautiful panoramic photos. So far 7% of the 754 locations have been covered, 52 sites via 270+ VR photos. Great project.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Picture this then, my lovely!

The GemSOC IPC 4000 is an 802.11b/Wireless MPEG4 video camera, which captures MPEG-4 format video streams and can send them to your PC, PDA or mobile phone. It’s got a web and FTP server on board, and has motion detection built in. There’s a demo site with live video here.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Fastest electric car ever?

This is a mock up of what the jolly keen researchers at Keio University in Japan hope will be the world’s fastest ever electric car. The Eliica will be capable of speeds of up to 400 kph see? The project will cost around 500 million yen ($4 million). Which is a lot, isn’t it? Uh-huh, and if the car seems familiar it’s because it’s from the same team that brought Kaz to the world.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Origin of phrases.

The Origin of Phrases site provides a fab and comprehensive explanation of commonly used phrases and their origins. ‘Flash in the Pan: Something that shows great promise, then disappoints by being over too quickly. Origin: Flintlock muskets have small pans to hold the gunpowder fuse. Sometimes the gunpowder in the pan would flare up without firing the gun. That would be a “flash in the pan”.

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Speak up.

The SpeechEasy is ‘the most advanced, smallest and effective new treatment for the problem of stuttering.[sic] It is small enough to fit completely in your ear canal, yet it uses an advanced microprocessor that has all the power found in a computer.’ Priced from $3600.00 upwards. H-h-h-how much?

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general September 29, 2003 posted by

Morgle this…

Morgle.com is a free telephone switchboard for web sites. ‘On Morgle, customers looking for your web site enter all or part of your telephone number and they are automatically switched to your web site. Is this good or useful? I dunno! Really.

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