Santa uses RFID to Sort Out Photo Problems

Santa's house, in case you were not aware, is located in the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi, Finland, where the North Star is overhead pretty much all the time. Every year, he gets many thousands of visitors from all over the world who meet his reindeer, explore his home, and soak up the Christmas spirit.

Although they speak many languages, the Elves were having some trouble with their photography projects. People would pay for a photo with Santa Claus, but then the Elves would have a hard time locating the photo in order to print it out.

On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on RFID! The elves now hand each person an RFID-enabled ticket at the point of sale for the photography line. The ticket is tracked through the photo process and associated in a database with the picture file. When the guest reaches the printing area, simply dropping their ticket on the counter causes the database to recall the correct set of photo files. :-)

Food for Thought

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."

- Anaïs Nin

Amazing gear coming!

I have to admit. Microsoft has knocked my socks off this time. Their surface computing stuff looks pretty awesome.

Don't settle for reading an article; you've got to see this thing in action: http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9723647-1.html 

It's being proposed for uses on restaurant tabletops, though, which to my mind is a bit impractical. I'm thinking this will be fairly pricey, and do you really want a restaurant patron dumping a plate of spaghetti on your extremely expensive computer?

Still, kudoes to Microsoft for bringing us ever-closer to the world of Philip K. Dick.

Should this be possible?

I have often wondered if Microsoft was sending me subtle messages through my operating system, enticing me to waste time skimming MSN, or to buy the next version of Windows.

Now, there is free subliminal messaging software online, with which you can program yourself to do all sorts of things. Or, rather, you tell the software what you'd like to accomplish, and it brainwashes you to achieve your goals.

This doesn't seem like a good idea to me. It seems to me that most of the free things on the Internet are loaded with advertisements. If something is subliminal, it means it isn't visible to the naked eye, which leads me to believe that anything is possible. What if I start trying to subliminally program myself to work more efficiently, but instead I find myself craving herbal supplements and cheap, cheap airfare? Next thing I know I'll be on a $59 flight to Bogota, where I can buy discount pharmaceuticals and invest some money in a private fund in which I am certain to become a millionaire as soon as someone in Africa can properly collect his inheritance.

I think the Internet does enough 'programming' of my brain as it is. 

Google Fun Activity

Here is some fun for your lunch hour entertainment.

Go to Google.com
–Click on Maps.
–Click on Get Directions.
–In the "From" field, type New York,New York
–In the "To" field, type Paris,France.
–Get your directions, and read line # 23.

SETI finds something!!

The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project found something today! Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they didn't find an alien. Instead, they found someone's stolen laptop computer. 

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2007-02-21-seti-laptop_x.htm

Girls use computers? No way!

For the first time since the award's creation in 1966, a woman is set to receive the A.M. Turing award for computer science.

Video Games for Docs

Want to be a great surgeon?

Play more video games. According to an article published in this month's "Archives of Surgery" journal, surgeons who had played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before.

I wonder if this applies to other tasks requiring fine motor skills, visual attentiveness, and eye-hand coordination, like driving a car, or flying a plane.

USB storage like a cockroach

For the geek who has everything, here is an indestructable USB device. It's designed to survive a nuclear detonation, among other catastrophes. Also, I think you could use it to bop someone on the head in a pinch.

 http://www.irondriveusb.com/

 Not that I advocate head-bopping; but it is possible with this particular USB device.

Armchair World Tourism

After a week of braving the chill, I am determined to spend this weekend wrapped in fleece, guzzling cocoa, and not setting foot outside my house.

How will I avoid the stir-crazies and the quizzical looks of my dog and two cats, while convincing myself that I'm learning and seeing new things? I plan to tour the world with Google Earth. Their new stuff is just plain amazing.

http://news.com.com/2300-1046_3-6149205.html?tag=nefd.gallery 

Amazing new gadget for Gidget

Here in chilly Michigan, it's hard to become a surfer. When our teeth are chattering and there's a foot of snow on the ground, however, some Michiganders dream of Hawaiian waves, the beach at Coronado, and other great and toasty spots. As a Michigan native, however, I have been spoiled by the shark-free splendor of the Great Lakes.  Sharks are salt water animals, and cannot survive in Michigan's freshwater. This means that my efforts on the surfboard have thus far been limited by my own chondricthyes inexperience and Hollywood's anti-shark propaganda. Surely the people in Hollywood know better than I, since they live so close to the Pacific, right?  No big surf adventures for me.

My interest was therefore peaked when I saw today's latest and greatest gadget...   The Shark Shield. It mounts on your board and harmlessly zaps the sharks so they can't snack on your limbs.

Yay for modern R&D!  Big barrel here I come!

Great Mouse for Nanook of the North

Remember last week I mentioned the warming mouse?

It arrived at my house last night. It came in a brown bubble-pack envelope with actual stamps someone in the UK had to lick in order to ship it, so I guess they really aren't marketing them very much in the US. The total cost to me was $26, which isn't that bad for a very accurate optical mouse with scrolling. Since it is bitterly cold here and we are expected to get 4-6 inches of snow today, the first thing I did at work this morning was plug it into my Thinkpad and turn on the heat!

I love it and I am never, ever, going to turn it off.  (Well, not until summer, anyway.)  The heated mouse gets downright toasty, but not too hot to hold comfortably. It is about the same temperature as my hot coffee mug when the coffee inside is fresh and steamy. As a mouse it seems to work just fine, although I had to tinker with the click speed a little bit so that it could tell the difference between my single- and double-clicks. Two thumbs up!

IM-Speak in the classroom

I'm not sure if I think this is funny, sad, or simply a sign of times to come. Students are getting into trouble with their teachers by slipping into "IM-speak" in their written schoolwork...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/02/09/chat.lingo.ap/index.html

Oh, no! China loses a bit of its humorous charm...

In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing officials are removing some of the funniest signs from their streets.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117063961235897853-U_f3y5c3vvlXGKCWb14Va6aDj6E_20070212.html?mod=blogs 

Professor Chen Lin, a consultant on the job, says "Beijing will have thousands of visitors coming. We don't want anyone laughing at us."

That's really too bad; I think he's missing Americans' emphasis on ironic humor, and the fact that most of us would probably find a street sign that says "Show Mercy to the Slender Grass" both comical and endearing.

I guess we'll have to get our laughs while we can.

Our New Building!

Here you go, long-awaited photos of our new facility. I went outside when it's -3 degrees outside for these photos, by the way...

 Our building and sign:

 

The view across our street:



Our reception area:



Work area:

Happy Birthday Angela Wolf!

Angela is a customer service representative here at Dynamic, and we're all wishing her a happy birthday. That's Lori dishing up the cake!

Pretty funny stuff...

If you have somehow missed the "GetAMac" ads, you really ought to check them out. They are pretty funny, even when viewed on your PC.

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

Dodging the Lodge

This information might be useful to folks in the Detroit area:

http://www.michigan.gov/dodgethelodge

It's a new Michigan government web site intended to help you get around the huge chunk of freeway they have closed for repair until next November.

Proof that the Internet makes money...

It just goes to show that a truly innovative entrepreneur can laugh at the cynics and turn the Internet into a great opportunity:

http://www.cuteoverload.com/

I thought this was a joke until I saw their rather impressive list of recommendations here: http://www.cuteoverload.com/press.html . Only on the Internet can a someone make a living sharing photos of bunnies and puppies.

Cold weather gear for techies

It is bitterly cold here in Michigan today, with a wind chill far below zero. Here are some amusing USB solutions for staying warm!

A  warming mouse is an optical mouse with an added heat element. Come to think of it, I may order one. It's pretty cold today!

A  warming mouse pad fish thing, which is another handwarming approach, albeit an odd one.  You put your hand inside the fluffy fish to keep it warm?

An electric blanket  for a totally immersive USB warming experience.

All of these products are made overseas, and don't seem to be marketed here in the USA. Perhaps Dynamic should start offering some warming mice! USB-heated bunny slippers might be nice, too.