TechPin

Remember Jurassic Park? The first film featured some cool Animatronics dinosaurs that were about 15” tall and were neatly combined with CG to recreate the fierce reptiles of the past. The next two films featured only CG dinosaurs, but this is not the point of the current article. What I want to show you now is some advanced Animatronics dinosaur, but I’m not referring to a toy-sized dinosaur, I’m actually referring to a T-Rex twice the size of an average man. The robotic dinosaur can be found at the LA Museum of Natural History. Check it out in this video:


Extinct, my ASS! from The Original Joe Fisher on Vimeo

Gizmodo says there are absolutely no computer generated effects in this video. The dinosaur you see is an Animatronics-like mechanical robot, but with more refined movements than those Jurassic park monsters. It looks pretty real, and it might even eat up your kids if you let them alone with the famished robot. Well, not really, but it sure can scare the living daylights out of a bunch of meddling kids that are ready to lay waste on your backyard. Or it could help you with those pesky trick-or-treaters that come around Halloween. Eheh, they would be in for a nasty trick… raaaaahr!

This is not an ordinary sewing machine, but a high-end sewing and embroidery system made by the swiss company with over 100 years of experience in this industry.

The 8 Series brings two models, the Bernina 820 and 830 Bernina embroidery machines, the first one being prepared for the market in 2009, featuring a 12-inch extended arm, a 12.8-inch diagonal space, 5.12-inch height, the world’s fastest home sewing speed of 1,100 stitches per minute, the Bernina Stitch Regulator for free-motion sewing, a pop-out jumbo bobbin with 40% more capacity than the other machines, the Bernina Dual Feed for better control your largest quilts, presser-foot height adjustments, a row of bright LED lights illuminating the work space, and multiple spool holder for large and small cones.



Bernina 830 has a larger extended arm of 15 inches, 12 inches to the right of the needle, expanded height clearance, 12 ½ inches of diagonal space, 40 inches long, optional jumbo hoop of 16 x 10 inches for larger space, a 15mm clearance under the foot, 1,100 sewing stitches per minute, up to 1,000 embroidery stitches per minute, no vibrations, the BERNINA Stitch Regulator, the unique 360-degree-multi-directional sewing on all 9mm stitches, adjustable length and width, quick-reverse feature, Altered Stitch Memory that remembers altered stitches when the power goes Off, and an impressive central 7-inch touchscreen TFT displaying high-definition color images of all the functions you need. The interface gives you access to wallpaper customization, 3D icons, soft keys, and screen adjustments for light and contrast.



Bernina 830 was designed according to the needs of passionate sewers, quilters and embroiderers worldwide, and is based on 70 exclusive features and 15 patented
Features.



"For the first time, there is one machine with all of the features and technology to allow sewers and quilters to express their unlimited creativity," said Martin Favre, president of Bernina of America. "It's a
milestone to see the BERNINA 830 come to life after almost a decade of research and development that will change sewing history as we know it."



Unlike the 820 model, Bernina 830 will be available later this year and is available now for pre-orders.
We have contacted the company to find out the price information, and we'll get back to you with it as soon as we'll have it.

The portable eBook reader from Booken is characterized by an intuitive interface with native multi format support, high-resolution E Ink screen and long battery life to allow you browse and read large content amounts, from dictionaries to best selling books.

E Ink gadgets use an electronic paper display with high contrast, very low power consumption and a lighter-weight thin shape. The ink carries a charge and can be updated electronically. It consists of millions of tiny micro capsules having positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid. As the negative electric field is applied, white particles start moving to the top of the micro capsule, becoming visible to the user.

Cybook GEN3 is the most improved version of this portable eBook reader model, featuring the E Ink-based display offering high viewability in any light conditions, from any angle, without showing flicker effects. As it looks like a normal paper, you can’t use it in dark environments, but it has a resolution of 166 dpi, 600 x 800 pixel, black and white display, 6 inches in diagonal, 4 grey levels, portrait or landscape modes, and the Vizplex technology, the fastest and brightest electronic paper display from the E Ink Corporation, providing 80% improved refresh rate and 25% more brightness.
As it was designed with a 1-mm thick screen and integrating a very small Lithium Polymer battery, the new Cybook portable eBook reader measures just 188 x 118 x 8.5 mm at a weight of 174 grams. The E Ink technology doesn’t require power to maintain an image so while you read a page it doesn’t consume power, this leading to an increased battery life for up to 8,000 screen refreshes.



You can store your books either in the internal memory of the Cybook or in an extra optional memory card. The books can be stored either on its internal 512MB space or on a memory card with which you can add up to 2GB, meaning 10,000 standard books in Mobipocket, HTML or Text format.
The 1000 mAh Li-Pol battery charges via the Cybook USB connector in 3 hours, and to maintain it you could switch between the following modes: Sleep mode, which increased the battery life up to one week; Off mode; and the Normal mode with the processor running at full speed and with the MP3 playing. The latter lasts up to 3 hours.

Cybook GEN3’s interface is described as highly responsive, accessible via buttons, so you can turn page forward/backward, jump to a specific page, display position in the book, increase font size and reflow text automatically, modify font family and reflow text, display/hide header information, activate hyperlink within text or image, lookup word definition or translation from loaded dictionaries, add bookmark to pages, switch layout to landscape mode, zoom pages, modify number of items displayed per page, filter by document type, sort documents, start/stop slideshow between images or eBooks, deactivate/activate flashing between screen, activate/deactivate auto shut-off, playback MP3s, and generate custom newspaper with RSS feeds and synchronize it via USB with the Cybook.
Also, you have access to the free Mobipocket Desktop Reader software with tones of books available for download on the Cybook.
You can even read several books at the same time.



The Cybook GEN3 eReader is available at Booken online store at a price of $350.

After watching the following demonstration video i realized that i don’t like its black&white interface and the flash-like light between changing pages, but this is how far the electronic paper technology was developed by now.

You think you need drugs to experience some out of this world hallucination? Sure, if you are in the Netherlands, you might want to use a bit of mescaline, which should be legal, but what about us people from the other countries? Isn’t there something similar that can open the doors of perception to a whole new Universe? You bet! Check out this video:


NOTCOT at GLOW: Usman Haque's Primal Source from Jean Aw on Vimeo

This clip was filmed in Santa Monica, CA, at Glow ‘08. Glow is an annual art and music festival with a bunch of cool events and attractions, and this year’s coolest event has been the "Primal Source," a gigantic fountain with projections on it built by Usman Haque. It looks like a gigantic drug-induced hallucination. Projecting laser stuff on walls would have been outdated, but projecting hallucinatory light patterns on veils of water is something you don’t see every day. The agglomeration of psychedelic lights really confuses and adds to the impression you’re being stoned.

Apparently, there was some pot and acid available for the people on the beach, but the light show on its own was enough to drive most of the people crazy. You can hear some of them reacting pretty weird to the psychedelic lights.

Here’s one more item inspired by the Star Trek franchise. This time it’s a futuristic timepiece designed by Arny Kapshitzer, a big fan of Star Trek, himself. His latest creation, known as the HMS Automatic Warp Watch, features some interesting similarities with the strship Enterprise.

Now, don’t expect this thing to teleport you to some other worlds. Anyhow, most of the body and mechanisms are made out of carbon fiber, and the perfluorinated, hypoallergenic rubber wristband is impervious to "all acids," according to the designer. Acids? Wait; is this going to become standard gear for the future marines pitted against those swarms of Aliens?

Gizmodo informs that the designer factored in the natural asymmetry of the human arm, and made the crown side of the watch thicker so it would fit almost perfectly. The new breed of rubber that makes up the band is also used to seal the watch, and Kapshitzer guarantees it’ll last for 50 years.

OK, it looks cool and all that, but does it actually tell the time? Located eccentrically towards the right of the dial, a cut-away metal piece reveals the jumping hours and minutes on two superimposed discs. The seconds are displayed in the 3 o'clock area on a cylinder linked directly to the crown. The 9 o'clock area of the dial forms the tail of the “spaceship.”

Alright, Data, set course for Earth 2, warp 9!