Monthly Archives: February 2004

general February 4, 2004 posted by

Pet obsessed?

If you really love your pet you…er…love them. Right? Right! But do you love them enough to visit the PetObsessed.com store? All in the best possible taste of course. ‘These whimsical works are digital art that combines your pet’s image with the great works of the Masters (Rembrandt, van Gogh, da Vinci, etc.).’

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Meet the parents.

The Parental ControlKey. Or how to show your children that you really love and trust them. No really. $59.99. Review here. ‘ControlKey addresses the concerns of parents who are worried about the amount of time kids spend online or on the PC itself.’

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Nowt for owt.

Oh yes. This enterprising…er….fellow appears to have just auctioned off nothing on eBay and received �6.50 for it. Earth calling dweeble, earth calling dweeble. I’ve got a bridge here…. ‘This auction is for absolutely nothing. If you win it then absolutely nothing will be despatched to you without delay.’

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Long time no see.

The 10,000 year clock. ‘I want to build a clock that ticks once a year. The century hand advances once every one hundred years, and the cuckoo comes out on the millennium. I want the cuckoo to come out every millennium for the next 10,000 years. If I hurry I should finish the clock in time to see the cuckoo come out for the first time.’

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Laptop bargains.

Now here’s interesting. Vodafone and Fujitsu have come up with the Connect2Air package which lets businesses purchase laptop computers in the same way as they would mobile phones. So voila, a �99.00 laptop on a 24 month GPRS and WiFi airtime contract. Just think if we bought everything like that. Cars, houses, or even got married with an airtime contract. Boggle.

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Pigeon post.

Ferget about Google’s pigeon rank, now it’s all about the pigeon net. Or one lads canny way of solving a tricky data transmission problem. Marvellous. ‘Mr Andreef said he rattled his brain to think of a way staff could work on the digital images before the tourists got back. “We don’t have phone lines and telephone exchanges of sufficient quality to transmit the data, so we came up with the pigeon concept.” Caving guides took the memory stick from their…

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

3G or not 3G, that is the….

Nice Guardian piece by Monsieur Ashley Norris suggesting that the days of Wifi may be numbered now that Vodafone is about to introduce 3G laptop cards which will apparently provide mobile net access at speeds of up to 384kbps. That’s fast, sure enough. Regular Ferrety readers will remember that we have been predicting the demise of WiFi for a while now, due in no small part to the fact that it’s just not available in enough places with the right…

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Making a splash.

In 28 days at the Geneva Motor Show, the folks at Rinspeed are going to unveil the Splash. A car that turns into a water skating hydrofoil. ‘The “Splash” is powered by a light weight 750 ccm engine producing a whopping 140 hp and running on natural gas (CNG). The turbocharged two cylinder power-pack propels this extraordinary NGV (Natural Gas Vehicle) to a top speed of approximately 200 km/h on the road and 50 km/h on the water, respectively 80…

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

The invention machine.

Stephen Thaler has created an invention device. He calls it the Creativity Machine. It is basically a neural network that introduces noisy disruptions in its ‘thought processes’ which lead to new ideas. Does it work? Well apparently amongst some other things it invented the Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush. Some corporate stuff here. ‘And Creativity Machines are their own best critics. In fact, they have critic networks built right in. The critics select the best ideas generated by the noisy networks and…

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Game on for GameBoy.

Wrinklies who remember those classic old Sierra computer games like Kings Quest, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry might be interested to know that you can now play them on the GameBoy Advance handheld console, courtesy of some clever programming by one Brian Provinciano. The GameBoy Advance Adventure Game Interpreter is an emulator that you can download for free from his site. You’ll have to source the games yourself, and burn them to a cartridge, but apart from that you…

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general February 4, 2004 posted by

Morgle Morgle.

The folks at Morgle.com, purveyors of email to telephone number services, have come up with a new wheeze – an anti-spam anonymous email sending service. ‘Morgle Mail allows you to send and recieve [sic] emails without revealing your real email address. You do not get a new email address, just a new way of protecting your existing one. You don’t have to use it for all emails. Only when you don’t want your real email address known.’

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general February 3, 2004 posted by

Think PC, think orange.

Think Tank ‘is the world’s first computer to fuse top-of-the-line technology with a customized black motorcycle tank dressed in classic hotrod flames.’ That’s right, it’s a PC, but built right into a little ole motorbike gas tank. Complete with an AM/FM radio and CD player and priced from $1150.00. You simply couldn’t make this stuff up, could you?

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general February 3, 2004 posted by

Fore.

I’m sorry, but I’ve got to say that this is one of the most asinine ideas I have yet to come across in the IT field. Ever. The enterprising folk at GPS Industries have come up with the idea of introducing WiFi to golf courses. That’s right, now your local golf course can be completely Internet enabled. Just what you need when you’re out trying to relax over a nice round of golf, some muppet in front of you checking…

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general February 3, 2004 posted by

Word.

Now I could be wrong here, as my Korean is not what it was, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the BibleMate [Babel] (DAH 600) is a combination MP3 player and…er….audio bible reader. Complete with a download and/or streaming bible service. I think! ‘The BibleMate report the portion which listening to being the possibility of reading the www.biblemp3.co.kr leads with only the existing eye…’

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general February 3, 2004 posted by

Bluetooth protection.

Whoever said that Bluetooth would never take off must have been bonkers. Here we see how it’s even infiltrated the motor-cycle helmet market. Which, as we know, is an exceedingly tough nut to crack.

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