by Paul Miller, posted Jul 7th 2008 at 11:25AM
The folks at SETI@home have put out a desperate plea for the community to bust out those quill pens and start writing strongly-worded letters to congress persons. Apparently the Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope and SETI@home’s data source, is being threatened with some massive budget cuts. Given that a replacement for Arecibo won’t be online until 2020 at best, folks are understandably upset. Turns out Arecibo is also one of the best shots we have at detecting an earth-threatening astroid before it’s too late and we have to sit through another Elijah Wood movie on the subject. You know what you have to do.

[Thanks, Brian]

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Google Images connects us to the world we can’t see for ourselves. Just pop in a query for any location and BOOM! You’re whisked off into imagery heaven. Well, at least this works for most locations. But of course, if you live in a one-horse town, you’re going to have a tad bit more trouble finding relevant images for your location.

But hey, a man can dream. And when a man can dream, a man an create. Hence the “It’s A Google World” project, which allows you to print out a Google image page. When the proper spots are cut away literally any location becomes a Google Image page.

It’s really simple. All you do is print out the special Google Image page, cut out the designated image areas, and you’re ready to create the Google Image page of your dreams. Take a visit to a local landmark and line-up the images within the image squares. Instant gratification.

The example city being used is Stockholm, but of course, the “It’s A Google World” pages would work with any and all locations, as long as there is something to be seen and divided, grid style. Extra points for good composition and interesting perspective.

Source via Designboom

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This next product is truly a parent’s dream come true. I can’t begin to count all the times that I’ve had to pack a stroller into my trunk, then move one of my children from their carseat to it when I arrive. For my infant son, I have a carseat that can click onto my stroller, but why should I have to lug the huge stroller apparatus around?

Someone has finally developed an All-in-One Car Seat and Baby Stroller, which is a standard car seat or booster seat that can convert into a four wheeled stroller.

The seat can hold a child from 5 to 40 pounds, and has a completely adjustable handle for a stable center of gravity. It also has a rear storage pocket for all kinds of stuff that are the parenting essentials when traveling with baby.

This has to be one of the most logical transformers ever made. It works by folding the wheels up inside the body, and the handlebar is made to slide up and down as well. Once the stroller is turned back into a car seat, it can be easily put in the car, dining seat, or even an airplane seat.

You should be able to get the All-in-One Car Seat and Baby Stroller on the ever-so-popular Hammacher Schlemmer site for about $249.95.

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Napoleon Dynamite here, and I just discovered a flippin’ leak. Motorola is rumored to have added something new to their Q collection with a phone that they call Napoleon. I suppose it would have been really cool if they had spelled my name right on some sources. I mean, some blogs actually spelled it “Napolean”. Is it really that hard to spell my name right? Gosh!

At least the phone is rumored to have some flippin’ sweet features. For example, it is a CDMA EV-DO Rev. A Q9 with GSM world roaming capabilities. That means that you can call pretty much anywhere. This would be great for my Uncle Rico, who’s on the road a lot. I wish he’d get on the road right now in that stupid orange van!

Oh yeah, there is also some killer Wi-Fi in case you want to be chattin’ online with babes all day like my brother Kip.

So far as I know, it will only run on Verizon, but I heard it might be good for AT&T subscriber guys too. That might be good enough for my hometown of Preston, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere!

Anyway, I thought the fingerprint scanner and the 2 megapixel camera with flash were also cool, and the Windows Mobile 6.1 from my buddy Bill. Yeah, me and Bill Gates hung out. If you don’t believe me, check out this sweet YouTube Video. It’s pretty much the best video ever made. I’m hoping to get together with him and Pedro now that he’s like retired and all.

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jul 7th 2008 at 9:36AM
If you’ve been stuck waiting on Sony to get its act together concerning firmware 2.40, you might not have to hang back much longer. According to ComputerAndVideoGames, reps from the console-maker say that an update to the broken, PS3-bricking system software will be headed out to users “midweek.” The company hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but it certainly is looking like 2.41 will become a reality sooner rather than later, which should be music to the ears of a lot of deeply annoyed gamers.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

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by Darren Murph, posted Jul 7th 2008 at 9:15AM
So maybe your stress level isn’t sky high just yet, but even after an extended weekend, all it takes is that one email to get you right back where you were last Wednesday. As if you really needed something to tell you that (and if you don’t have time to wait for Sweety to become a reality), a host of researchers have created a sensor-laden vest that will be able to inform wearers just how stressed they are. Developed as part of the EU’s CONTEXT project, this sure-to-be-hip vest packs ultra-sensitive electrodes which register changes in muscle tension as individuals get more and more stressed, and in theory, letting someone know what’s happening will allow them to simmer down before they further jeopardize their health (and the livelihood of colleagues, if you dig). Eh, we still prefer the Dr. Whippy method, honestly.

[Via Talk2MyShirt, thanks Tony]

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A recently surfaced blackberry roadmap has just shown its face for Rogers. While this has not been officially confirmed yet, the projected dates are however believable and seem to fit in well with the prior rumors.

First up, it looks like Rogers is on track to offer their customers the BlackBerry Bold before AT&T here in the US. However it looks like the earlier projected date of July 25 is only partially true. It looks that the phone will be available to dealers on that date, with it hitting the regular retail market just a few days later on July 29.

The next two, both of which should be exciting is the newly announced flip-styled KickStart, which is expected to be available in September, however no specific date has been announced, or even rumored aside from mid-to-late September. And finally the Javelin is expected sometime during late November or early December, in other words it will be there in time for the holidays.

Via [CrackBerry]

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by Paul Miller, posted Jul 7th 2008 at 10:22AM
We’re still a bit unconvinced about this whole “using our own energy to induce motion” thing, but if you got restless leg or some other siren call to the bicycle, the Lithium Vivi RX-10S seems the way to go. Panasonic is launching the bike in Japan this August, and stuffed in some fancy hybrid car-style regenerative braking to set it apart from the pack (though Sanyo does have something similar). There are four levels of assistance electric motor assistance, which means you’re probably going to end up peddling now and then, but the bike’s range with regenerative braking to power a secondary battery is almost 78 miles, compared to 56 miles without it. You’ll obviously benefit more if you have a lot of hills and “stop and go” type stuff on your commute, but that’s certainly nothing to scoff at.

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Apparently I’m on a disinfecting kick today, because this is the 2nd one of the day.  This time though it’s actually sold in the US and it’s a case that not only carries your toothbrush, but disinfects it as well.  Which is great for when it is at home, just purely because of the bacteria in the air in the bathroom.  It would also be nice for travelers since research has shown that those that stay in hotel rooms go home with germs and tend to get a cold or the flu.

The company that makes the izap (Violight) actually makes several different similar sanitizing products.  All of which use UV technology to eliminate 99.9% of the germs.  This is the cheapest and most portable, but if you’re looking for something that does several at once, you can check out the site for more.  The izap itself comes with a free toothbrush and automatically will start working when you close the lid.  It comes in clear, blue and orange and is being sold for $19.95.  You can buy it online or at Walgreens.

Source: teechee

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Don’t mind the seemingly explosive brand name. This basic mobile handset from Kyocera is a simple handset that won’t give you any touchscreen features or high megapixel resolution cameras. It’s just your basic mobile handset minus the frills of other high-end phones. But in this trying times, the Kyocera TNT!, which is available now over at Virgin Mobile for a mere $19.99 might just be what everyone needs.

So, what do you get from a dirt cheap phone such as the TNT! from Kyocera. Surprisingly, for the not so sophisticated mobile phone users, the TNT! some decent features worthy of its price tag. It has a full color screen, mobile web browsing, text messaging, two-way speakerphone, and a TTY/TDD enabled for the hearing impaired. It gives out 200 minutes of talktime and 120 hours of standby time, and it also allows you to download some cool stuff from Virgin Mobile network, such as real music (MP3) ringtones, chat park, graphics, games and more.

Product [Virgin Mobile]

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