Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale

I am happy to say that I liked Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale a lot more than Serenity, Vol 1: Those Left Behind. The Shepherd’s Tale seemed to have a more solid storyline, as if it were always meant for the series but never got the chance to come to fruition. All browncoats have an idea of Shepherd’s past, having worked with The Alliance, but the surprise for me came with the realization that Shepherd Book’s childhood was riddled with abuse and abandonment. Which led him to a life of murder, crime, and complete lack of remorse, before his quest for redemption. Also surprising to me was how he came about to be in The Alliance. I always assumed he was a conservative type born on a central planet, sort of like the Doc, who joined The Alliance with the belief that he was contributing to the greater good. And after [...]

Make Your Own Tron Quorra Suit

Well, Halloween may have already past this year, but anytime is the right time for a Tron Suit! Designer Syuzi Pakhchyan has created this awesome Tron: Quorra costume, complete with luminescent striping and “identity disc”. I think this is my all time favorite Halloween costume. Not only is it a great character to mimic, the simplicity behind the design makes it especially appealing to me. According to the article, Syuzi will be posting diy instructions in the next weeks to make your own Quorra suit. So, if you’re interested, check back at FashioningTechnology for updates. Syuzi says: The costume is made from faux leather and EL Film strips. The luminescent panels are removable, velcored onto the leather vest in order to make the top washable. To be frank, the cutting and re-soldering the EL film was quite tricky to work with but I think I managed to the tame the [...]

Eye-Fi Pro X2 for iPad and DSLR Cameras

Nov, 07 2010
By anthropod
Gear, Geeking Out, Photography, Technology
No comments

Eye-Fi Pro X2 tethers dslr camera to ipad The Eye-Fi Pro X2 is a great device that allows a photographer to read a DSLR memory card into an iPad wirelessly. That’s right, no wired connections. The Eye-Fi Pro X2 replaces your standard memory card and allows an interface with your iPad. This is great for live demos, fast quality checks, etc. The Eye-Fi Pro X2 ($130) makes the transfer through any available wireless internet connection. It is also possible for it to directly transfer from the camera to the iPad using the less expensive Eye-Fi Connect X2 ($45), but to do so requires you to “jailbreak” your iPad. Additionally, the direct method requires a $20 app from the “Cydia” store, and an $8 app from the standard app store. So, you could purchase the Eye-Fi Pro X2 and use it through wi-fi connections on the go, or you could use [...]

Serenity, Vol 1: Those Left Behind

Serenity, Those Left Behind Warning: there are spoilers ahead, if you’ve not read the comic yet. I am a huge fan of Serenity/Firefly, particularly the series. Although I am not as fanatic as most, I particularly enjoy the storyline and the high level of detail that went into its inception. So, I purchased the comic Serenity, Vol 1: Those Left Behind recently, hoping to find a little treasure of unexplored Serenity/Firefly plot. Well, I’m sad to say that I am more than a little disappointed in the book. In summary, it’s like reading a fans fantasy of what the character’s should have been, rather than what they were. Every personality is over-exaggerated to the point where they are only reminiscent of the series and movie. The lingo is fairly accurate to that of the series, if overly-simplistic most of the time. But the actions and behavior of the crew are [...]

Solar Flare Snapshot

This false-color photo captures by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows a solar flare accompanied by a coronal mass ejection. The ejection reached Earth’s magnetosphere within two days (93 million miles away), creating a geomagnetic storm, and subsequently aurora borealis displays seen from both poles. Source NASA’s Astronomical Picture of the Day View more photos and videos at NASA Multimedia

Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 11-13

The annual Perseid Meteor Shower, which is viewable every year in August, will be viewable from the 11th through the 13th. According to space.com, In 2010 the Earth is predicted to cut through the densest part of the Perseid stream sometime around 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday. The best window of opportunity to see the shower will be the late-night hours of Wednesday on through the first light of dawn on the morning of Thursday, and then again during the late-night hours of Aug. 12 into the predawn hours of Aug. 13. The Moon, whose bright light almost totally wrecked last year’s shower, will have zero impact this year; unlike last year when it was just a few days past full, this year it will be new on Monday, Aug. 9, meaning that there will be absolutely no interference from it at all. What to expect, A very [...]

Sharpie Graphite Pencil Ink

Not sure how useful this will be in a world dominated by keyboards, but Sharpie has come out with a pen that has “liquid graphite” ink, as in pencil graphite. It writes like a pen, but the graphite ink is erasable for up to three days. One good application would be contract writing on the fly…. maybe, I don’t know. Or note taking in class. $4.99 at Office Depot Source: The Daily Wh.at

Memory Pen

Wang Xuelei has designed the Memory Pen USB Flash Drive. Essentially, it is a pen that does not require paper. You can jot down memos and little bits of info on almost any surface, and the pen stores the virtual motion of the pen strokes in it’s memory. Then you plug it into your computer as a Flash Drive and download digital representations of what you wrote with the pen. Although obvious issues exist with not being able to actually see what you’re writing, this would undoubtedly be a useful gadget. Also, it would save a huge amount of paper, which is a step in the right direction towards focusing on environmentally-responsible equipment. Source Yanko Design

RACER: Low-Tech Wipeout

Remember the arcade game Wipeout, where you’d use a steering wheel, shifter, and accelerator pedal to careen recklessly down a highway full of obstacles, such as motorists, billboards, people? Well, Malte Jehmlich and Matthes Mikysec of sputnic.tv have re-invented the game in a lower-tech way, using a cardboard racetrack, an RC car with mounted camera, and the actual arcade game housing to control the car. It’s pretty darn cool. Here’s the video, which will undoubtedly explain things much better. RACER DEMO 0.1 – video game mashup from sputnic on Vimeo. Source: TechnaBob

The Disappearing Spoon

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the Elements. Whew, that’s a mouthful. The Disappearing Spoon is a new book by Sam Kean, that details interesting, little known, and funny tales and facts about how the elements have played roles in art, war, literature and more. The title refers to a trick chemists sometimes play on unsuspecting persons, wherein a spoon made of gallium is given to the victim to stir their tea with. And since gallium melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit, the spoon would melt and disappear in right before their eyes. Amazon Says: “Official bio: Sam Kean spent years collecting mercury from broken thermometers as a kid, and now he’s a writer in in Washington, DC, for Science. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Mental Floss, Slate, Smithsonian’s Air & Space, and New Scientist. In 2009 he was [...]

Stuff I found on Etsy: Steampunk Goggles

I love browsing Etsy.com for unique items. After viewing Mary Andrews’ works yesterday, I found myself looking at necklaces, then found some Steampunk stuff and decided to do a search for all Steampunk. That’s when I discovered for the first time the numerous and wonderful goggle available. If you’re a fan of goggles, and I know I am, you should check out the plethora available on Etsy. Just do a search for “goggles” and BAM, you’re in goggle heaven. Some are handmade, some are vintage welder’s goggles, some are just plain crazy. My personal taste is more towards the traditional steampunk look, with usable-quality craftsmanship. There are also lots of industrial, cyberpunk, and gothic styles as well. Here’s a few of my favorites (with links to each artist page) Jaded Minx edmdesigns edmdesigns BrazenDevice torquearm creations Thin Gypsy Thief (steampunk22) Highwind Steamworks Parkers and Quinn Kelvin Shaw & Co. (signalfromspace)

YouTube Hidden Snake Game

So when you’re bored waiting for your video to load, you can play the hidden YouTube Snake Game. The clever folks over at Google/YouTube have hidden a little game that entails a snake gobbling up dots. The more it eats, the longer and faster it gets, and touch the sides or your own tail and it’s game over. The folks over at urlesque have posted a nifty video to demonstrate how to unlock and play the game. It’s basically holding down the left mouse button for a period of time… here’s the video.

Apple Magic Trackpad

Jul, 30 2010
By anthropod
Gear, Geeking Out, Technology, Web & Graphic Art
No comments

The Apple Magic Trackpad is now available, for $69. It’s supposedly just like the trackpad on the MacBook Pro, but larger and made for your desktop Mac. Wireless Bluetooth, of course, and designed to match the “sculpted aluminum” Apple Wireless Keyboard. Click, scroll, swipe, pinch, zoom, and rotate with your fingertips…. or turn off those gestures you don’t want to use. Personally, I wasn’t impressed one bit by the magic mouse, so I’m a bit skeptical of this one too. Still, I have hope that the Magic Trackpad will leave me stunned and amazed…. or at least empty pocketed and confused :) Right, and I right here folks? (please don’t lynch me) See more at www.apple.com/magictrackpad

Bad Ass Legos with Tattoos

This creative marketing campaign by Barcelona-based Grey Agency, for Pilot Extra-Fine tipped pens, features lego minfigs sporting intricate full body tattoos. Like the guys over at geekologie, I too question the actual size of these minfigs canvases. They are probably drawn on larger figures, but either way, it’s a pretty clever ad campaign. Awesome chest fur on the second dude, too.

Space Invader Couch

By industrial designer, Igor Chak, the Space Invader Couch is as cool as it is whimsical. 8-bits combined with modern sleekness makes an oddly cute creature. Although super cool looking, looks like it would be a bit unforgiving in the tush area :) But what would I expect from an alien bent on destroying Earth…. I think some throw pillows in the shape of the 10- point alien would make it perfect :) Check out more at www.igorchak.com