Mmm…wonder if it works?
Web2Logo.com. I’ve got to admit I quite like this silly little idea. Basically just slap a whole heap of ‘web 2.0’ clickable company logos on a page – size indicating influence – and let rip. Nothing mind-blowingly useful, but as good as way as any to browse through some familiar and not so familiar brand names that are making news nowadays. Take a gander, you may enjoy it too.
Email Route Map. A lovely little Google Maps mashup which lets you trace where your email messages have come from geographically. Just enter in the header information from the message you want to trace and off it goes. For some strange reason, some of my stuff is going through an obscure European town before arriving here. Fascinating. Paste an email with full headers (we need the ‘Received’ lines — we don’t need your email addresses, digg). The app will…
The Time Magazine folk have asked me to mention their new issue which covers, inter alia, What’s Next in Gadgets. Which is quite an interesting and flattering thing really, isn’t it? Bloggers being asked to promote mainstream media? Churlish to refuse, and anyway it’s becoming clear that things are a changin’ everywhere. Maybe we’ll all just get along in peace from now on, eh? :-)
Zoho Creator. Yet another pastel Web 2.0 application, this time with shades of Ning. Basically an online application creator, you build it and they will come. Maybe. Create, customize and share. Hmm….. What can I do with Zoho Creator? You can: – Create applications from scratch without coding – Browse social public applications, copy and customize to your needs – Add one-or-more Forms and Views to a page – Create sophisticated Views with pre-set criteria – View data in Calendar…
Ameritz. Backing tracks. Over 10,00 of ‘em. No, not MIDI, real live musicians and covering a wide range of styles, dates and genres. It’s quite an impressive – albeit pricey – service. Five tracks for £20.00. Oh and you can have your own custom track made too. Once you have placed your order you will be sent to your own unique download page. By clicking in the ‘download’ link to the right of each track title you will be able to download…
Biometric fingerprint scanning technology appears to be evolving in quite interesting ways. Take this Ibidentifi system which does all the usual scanning stuff to protect your computa, but also includes an ‘alarm finger for duress’ feature. If you’re being forced to scan your finger to gain access, you just use a specially pre-chosen finger and lots of very silent alarms will be set off. I think it’s called duress finger mode. Interesting.
Spot Runner. Interesting new concept – a complete pre-packaged, templated, TV advertising campaign creator designed for small companies with local campaigns. A kind of Adsense for TV, perhaps? Choose from ready made generic ads, and set your airtime budget, length of campaign etc, etc. Delivered through standard channels like Discovery, CNN, ABC, etc, and expect to pay around $1500.00 plus for the cheapest campaign in your zip code area including the airtime. Wonder how many spots will end up at the 12am graveyard shift…
AskAdvatar. A nine foot tall information kiosk with a difference – it’s got a driver. Yep, it’s a Segway based mobile kiosk, guaranteed to creep up and scare you to bits in the mall. Interesting idea nonetheless. They should use these for traffic cops too, so they could earn money advertising while they’re directing us every which way. Ask Advatar mobile units are more than just traveling billboards. They are interactive goodwill ambassadors that facilitate consumer interaction for product sampling, couponing and the…
My old boss Michael Robertson of MP3.com fame has just launched his latest venture, created with the assistance of that well known rebel coder DVD Jon Johansen. The MP3 Tunes Locker service is an online locker which lets you upload, store and play your music tracks from any Web enabled device. The free service offers upload and stream at 56K quality, the $39.95 a year version gives unlimited storage, sync from device to device and streams at 128K. Nothing new here, perhaps, except…
Call Recorder. This new remote service lets you record your cellphone or landline telephone calls without having to invest in any hardware. Should we file this under ‘slightly spooky-ware’? 250 minutes of recording time for $99.99. When the system is active, each call is channeled through a recording switch before it is picked up by the receiving party. The Card does not in any way connect to the phone, nor does it replace existing phone service. This advance in telecommunication…
The Smart NC. Plug this clever little puppy into the standard motherboard IDE socket in your PC and it’ll boot up yer machine for you without a hard drive. Twenty second boot, broadband aware and a kiosk mode. Very clever, very Japanese language only though at the moment. $122.00. Oh, and there’s a notebook version too. # You just install in PC self boot. # HDD unnecessary. Diskless PC it makes easy actualization. # Installation is simple. Because it is IDE…
Earworms. The musical brain trainer. Did you know that music helps you remember stuff? No, neither did I, but it actually sounds quite logical. Just think of those times when you’ve tried to get a catchy tune out of your head. Well these people have developed a language training course based around music, and according to their blurb – ‘pupils using this technique regularly achieve average marks of over 90 % compared to less than 50 % with conventional book based learning.’…
Hmm..so Wired and others are starting to call for a global boycott of Sony CD products? Radical, but is it feasible?
Studio in a Box. Kind of…got a room? Wanna build a recording studio? Well here ya go then, just don’t moan when your mother wants her kitchen back. Around $530.00. Each package includes Image Tools to control comb filtering arising from strong reflections, Spatial Tools to increase the diffusion in small rooms, and Bass Tools to minimize low frequency room modes and speaker boundary interference
The Bullet Proof Denim Jacket. You have to understand boys and girls, it’s not that we condone violence and sanction overt covertness, it’s just that…well it’s a bit strange to think that there are probably ordinary folk walking around wearing things like this right at this very instant. Actually at £581.63 a pop [argh – Ed] perhaps not. This is a regular Levis Strauss type denim jacket with a level IIIA bullet-proof lining cleverly sewn into the inside. Perfect for…
