] NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Wireless Flash) -- Here's a crumb of an
] idea that turned into a success: A computer designed to
] look like a toaster.
]
] Adam Bertram, a network administrator from Nashville,
] Tennessee, has caught the computer world's attention by
] turning a four-slice toaster into a working desktop
] computer.

From this story, I got to http://www.mini-itx.com/ and fell in love with the "Falcon-ITX", a computer made with a mini-ITX board inside a model of the Millenium Falcon.

I'm glad I'm not the only one out there who thinks of these things.

NCBuy: Weird and Offbeat News Stories

] Juszkiewicz is about to take the guitar on its biggest
] technology leap since George Beauchamp and Adolph
] Rickenbacker first added an electric pickup in 1931. In
] early 2004, Gibson will introduce the first digital
] guitar.
]
] "His notion is to obsolete all guitars," says Craig
] Devin, who worked on the technology before leaving Gibson
] to start Devin Design & Development. "And the only way he
] can do that is through a technology play."
]
] "What he's going for is pretty incredible," says Neal
] Schon, guitarist for Journey, who has test-played some of
] Gibson's prototypes.
]
] Electric guitars %u2014 like most instruments %u2014 are
] analog. The sounds come from vibrations and modulating
] electrical fields, not data and computer chips. It's hard
] to fault an instrument that has given us a range from
] John Lee Hooker's beehive licks to the sounds of Keith
] Richards, Kurt Cobain and Carlos Santana. But an electric
] guitar has some hang-ups. Like, its tone can be affected
] by the length of the cord from the guitar to the amp.
] Plus, as versatile as an electric guitar is, it's not
] always versatile enough.
]
] The guts of Gibson's digital guitar would be the few
] high-tech chips inside. The cord you plug in would be an
] ethernet cable, which would run to a digital amp, or into
] a laptop that becomes the mixing board.
]
] The sound, once set, would never alter by even a shade.
] "I tried it with 200 feet of cable, and there was no
] change in tone," Schon says ecstatically. This is a big
] deal to musicians who want to roam a large stage, which
] Schon will do this summer as Journey tours with REO
] Speedwagon and Styx %u2014 concerts sure to be packed
] with more middle-aged moms per square foot than a
] suburban bunco card-game tournament.
]
] Performers' sound checks would no longer be necessary,
] Devin notes. The artist could set up preferences for how
] the guitar should sound, then a laptop computer could
] listen to the way the guitar reverberates in that room
] and automatically make adjustments so it sounds exactly
] right. The system could adjust the sound as the number of
] people in the audience changes, thus changing the room's
] acoustics.
]
] A digital guitar could assign a different effect to each
] of the six strings, so maybe the two bass strings could
] have a crunchy fuzz tone while the four higher strings
] mimic a mellow jazz guitar. Today's electric guitars
] can't do anything like that. And no one's even started to
] talk about what it would mean if you could plug a guitar
] straight into the Internet. Could you sell guitar licks
] on eBay?
]
] Under it all, Gibson promises to preserve and even
] improve on the basic guitar that's been a part of rock
] 'n' roll

OK… not sure how I feel about this yet. Sure, it sounds like a cool idea, but there is a lot of charm in analog electrics “unpredictability” of what the sound is going to be like. And the notion of making sound checks obsolete? Complete BS – what about the vocalists and drums? Both are analog “instruments” that need to be miked and checked. And most guitarists still prefer to mic their amps rather than running direct to the board, and I don’t see that ever changing.

Oh… and tube distortion vs. digital? ‘Nuff said.

The techno and electronic musicians will love this. And it might open up some new abilities for all guitarists as an extension of the instrument. But this will NEVER replace analog electrics. “…to obsolete all guitars”? Oh, he must mean just the way electronic drum pads were supposed to replace real “skins”.

Laughing Boy

Gibson dares to make electric guitars digital

] First Computer
]
] The abacus is invented in ancient Babylon, becoming the
] first primitive computing device. Eventually, people grow
] tired of sliding a bunch of stupid beads back and forth
] on a stick and resume beating each other senseless with
] sharp rocks and laughing at flatulent animals.

Right about 1990 this just turns absolutely hysterical. Invention of the cam whores.

TechTV | 'Unscrewed' Unofficial History of the Internet

This model (requires Java) lends some great insight into what causes traffic jams in various road scenarios...

This is really pretty fascinating, at least to me.

Microsimulation of road traffic

cyantist wrote:
] ] Homeland Security Chokers made of Plexiglas and Sterling
] ] Silver - Now, you can finally express your own Personal
] ] Level of Security...
]
] Buy it now!!!

Only $250.00??? What a bargian!

LB

RE: Amazon.com -zShops: Homeland Security Choker Set (For US Customers)

] A joint Australian- New Zealand research voyage carrying
] leading Australian, New Zealand and other international
] scientists to explore deep sea habitats and biodiversity
] in the Tasman Sea is expected to uncover new marine
] species and habitats. The NORFANZ research voyage will
] explore deep sea habitats around seamounts and abyssal
] plains around Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands through to
] northern New Zealand .

Be sure to check out the "Creature Feature" part of this. There are five pages of interesting pictures and descriptions of what they found.

NORFANZ Overview

] A motorist drove home about a mile with the legless body
] of a pedestrian in his front windshield before calling
] authorities to report that he had struck the man with his
] car, officials said.
]
] Deputies first learned of the accident, which happened
] about midnight Friday, from bar patrons who called to
] report finding two legs near the parking lot, according
] to sheriff's reports.

I don't think I could actually drive one mile down the road with a torso sitting beside me. No matter what this guy said I would have jumped out of the car screaming that second, most likely.

ABCNEWS.com : Driver Hits Man, Body Stuck in Windshield

] Melinda Dishman's 13-year-old daughter rarely talks about
] the hidden cameras that reportedly took pictures of her
] changing clothes in a school locker room.
]
] ''She's embarrassed. Her big concern is who has looked at
] them. She just knows it's not right,'' said Dishman,
] adding that her daughter is now acutely aware of her
] surroundings and wonders who might be watching. ''She
] doesn't take her privacy for granted.''

While I was in TN earlier this morning one of the technology coordinators told me about this story. The really disturbing part of this is that it was a middle school.

Parents demand limits for school cameras - Wednesday, 07/09/03

] The attempted robbery suspect was already subdued when
] Metro police arrived on the scene; he also was naked and
] bound with duct tape.

] The suspect, Gregory Leon Bell, 38, of Ward Street was
] arrested and charged with five counts of attempted
] aggravated robbery. He was being held in Metro Jail last
] night in lieu of $250,000 bail.

How much did he expect to get from the dollar store? But the bigger question here is why did they strip him?

Police find robbery suspect naked and bound with duct tape - Thursday, 07/10/03

] British scientists are lobbying to build the world's most
] powerful microscope, an instrument so advanced that it
] can see individual atoms moving.
]
] The European Spallation Source (ESS) -- a type of
] instrument known as a matterscope -- would allow them to
] look at the growth of protein molecules in living human
] tissue or at the stresses deep within the wheel of a
] train or the wing of an aircraft.
]
] "This is on par with the Hubble telescope, but it's for
] looking at inner space," said Professor Bob Cywinski of
] Leeds University, which is backing the one billion pound
] (US $1.6 billion) project.
]
] A disused World War Two airfield in North Yorkshire has
] been earmarked for the matterscope's kilometer-long
] concrete tunnel and neutron research laboratories.
]
] "To look at it, you'd just see a mound of grass growing
] over the top and sheep wandering around," said Cywinski.

Big science! w00t!

Kilometer-long microscope in the works