If you’re dissatisfied with a limited underwater view when diving, then you might be interested to learn about Hydrooptix’ Mega-4.5d mask. After years of engineering, Jon Kranhouse – with the help of Hollywood computer gurus, who helped correct the once-fuzzy Hubble Space Telescope – has developed a mask that reportedly provides “a view almost five times wider than the view available through conventional flat masks, and the vision is completely distortion free.” Sounds great! But there is one small drawback…

Makes sense -- a flat view is inherently limited, and with the crazy optical properties of water, flat side vision doesn't work -- and standard curved technology would be entirely too distorted.

Because the “concave shape of water” creates an optical phenomenon, you must be nearsighted to use the mask. Many naturally nearsighted divers can use the Mega-4.5d with just their naked eyes. Apparently the view is so astonishing, however, that many divers with 20/20 vision have purchased contact lenses just to use the mask. Voluntarily becoming temporarily nearsighted, the divers claim that wearing contacts is worth the hassle, because of the vast improvement in vision. I wouldn’t’ve believed it if I hadn’t looked at the testimonials. The Mega-4.5d ships for $200; contact lenses not included.

Woo! I use a prescription mask now, that my mom gave me after her Lasik surgery. They work ok, but I worry about the difference in prescription. In this case... I finally have a vision advantage.

(Until I go through surgery, of course. It would be funny to start being a contact user AFTER losing the need for glasses).

Divester

Demiurge Studios is out there was well, and we'd wanted to meet them - they did a really cool mod called Clone Bandits, but since that time they've become sort of "go to guys" to make content and flesh out a retail game. I've really been wondering what the seven guys in a room developer is supposed to do when confronted with next-generation content, and it was such a comfort to see that they've made a place for themselves. What's more, they've banded together with other groups their size to make a go at their own project. It what you might call a "distributed garage" approach, and I'm just glad to see that it exists in any form.

They're a great group of guys, even though they smashed us in Brothers In Arms. I maintain that "sploitz" were employed. Oh, and their office is in the same building as Harmonix. So they hooked us the fuck up.

Demiurge are a great group of guys. When they were still located in Pittsburgh, their parties and weekly gaming nights were fun to attend. Kind of a double-take experience when reading Penny Arcade and seeing a name you know.

Penny Arcade! | East Side Sketchbook: Prototypical

Dell is ending its support for Intel's Itanium processor, an Intel spokesperson confirmed Thursday, closing the door on a product line that was a marginal part of Dell's server strategy.

Definately saw that coming...

The chip maker has since backed off its original statements about Itanium and is now promoting the chip as a high-performance replacement for reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors in Unix servers from companies such as Sun Microsystems and IBM.

Because clearly, the trend these days is the continued segregation of Workstation and Personal-class processors. What, supercomputers with an x86 instruction set? That's crazy talk.

Hewlett-Packard, a co-designer of the processor, has embraced Itanium as the processor of choice for its high-end servers.

...as with their race to the bottom of the high-end server market.

Itanium was a neat design. RIP, Itanium.

PCWorld.com - Dell Drops Itanium Servers

AjaxAnywhere is designed to turn any set of existing JSP components into AJAX-aware components without complex JavaScript coding. In contrast to other solutions, AjaxAnywhere is not component-oriented. You will not find here yet another AutoComplete component. Simply separate your web page into multiple zones, and use AjaxAnywhere to refresh only those zones that needs to be updated.

AjaxAnywhere - Ajax Anywhere :: AJAX without JavaScript coding

A new open source project named Ajax Pages has been released. This beast takes JSP/ASP approaches and builds SinglePageApplications using JavaScript.

Ajax Pages is a scripting template engine that enables rapid development of Ajax Web-based Applications, just like GMail, Google Maps, A9 and Backpack, but without having to manipulate complicated Document Object Models to make things dynamic. Based on the experience of JSP, ASP and PHP, Ajax Pages brings easy scripting templates to the client-side. Anyone familiar with these tecnologies will feel at home with Ajax Pages.

Ajaxian: Ajax Pages Released: Think JavaScript Server Pages

Tucked away in a little corner of an ecommerce backwater, we see a desperate little plea.

proballas | I miss u CASi

As the chart nearby shows, Gasoline futures have fallen to the pre-Hurricane Katrina levels. Oil is back to early August levels. Yet many local stations are still charging post-Katrina prices. My local gas station (BP Amoco) still is charging $3.49 for Premium. Although the summer driving season is now over, the process by which prices at the pump come down is simply local comptetion.

Indirectly, part of the explanation for this is your fault

The Big Picture: Gas Returns to Pre-Katrina Levels

Shop at amazon.co.uk, amazon.com or amazon.ca with ShopEdge from your Smartphone today! Check Amazon prices, customer reviews offered at Amazon, before you buy at full price elsewhere.

Shop anywhere, anytime. Get ShopEdge now, it's free.

I've long wanted something like this. Yes, I have a full webbrowser on my phone, but amazon.com is not a lot of fun on a small screen with only basic stylesheet and javascript support.

But to be able to browse the reviews and prices at a bookstore? Fun.

EdgeQ - ShopEdge

I3: The Identity Indemnity Index

Each individual possesses numerous identifiers - such as credit cards, driving license - that make up their overall identity, and each of these identifiers has an implicit value if stolen or subverted (although in some cases this value is negligible and the identifier may be treated as 'consumable'). A change in the individual's circumstances or the nature of the relationship with the identity provider may change the value of the identifier. Multiple low-value identifiers may be used to prove the individual's eligibility for a higher-value identifier.

High West | The Identity Indemnity Index

Over the past couple years, I have been involved with and close to a number of both successful and unsuccessful startups. To me, the most exciting (and most perilous) times in a company’s life-cycle are the early first stages when it is just getting off the ground. The company’s founder(s) role is an essential one which carriers many risks for missteps. So I’ve compiled what I’ve learned to be the Seven Founding Sins – common mistakes which often divert entrepreneurs off the path towards success.

Genuine VC: Seven Founding Sins