Physical Flex and Spooky Tech

Dave Meeker, Director of Emerging Technology at [Roundarch|http://roundarch.com] joins us to chat about connecting Flex to physical devices and other cool things that Roundarch is doing. We also chat about some fun holoweenish stuff.

[Roundarch|http://roundarch.com] designs and implements digital experiences for the world’s largest organizations. They deliver web sites, rich web applications, mobile apps, social media applications, digital marketing campaigns and more for clients such as Avis, A&E, Hershey’s and the US Air Force.

Adobe Pushes Flash and PDF for Open Government, Misses Irony

“The Obama administration has made transparency and public access to government information a high priority. Adobe is attempting to capitalize on initiatives to make government information more accessible while promoting its technologies, such as Flash and [PDF|Portable Document Format], as cornerstones for implementing open access. However, these technologies are actually an impediment to making information truly accessible.”

Death of the DSLR Camera - Gearlog

A Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera gives you lots of features, but like the film based SLR as technology improves will digital point and shoots replace some more of their 8% market saturation?

Bloody Hand and foot rest

These severed limbs could help comfort your non-severed ones

Bubble Fogger Machine

The title says it all. This looks neat though.

It Sharpens Your Pencil And Then Eats Your Soul

Check out this gruesome pencil sharpener designed by artist Matthew James Taylor. This guy knows his pencils. This design is revealed in a post on his site where he describes the art (first we heard of it being an art-form) of pencil sharpening.

Though, this “Living Dead Dolls” Sadie Pencil Sharpener seems to be his favorite tool of the trade (we happen to prefer the Wooden iPod Speaker Sharpener). Does it do a great sharpening job or does it just look cool as hell? Either way, the depth this guy goes on pencil sharpening is almost too nerdy to believe. And we love every second of it.

ThinkGeek :: Horror Halloween Handrest

At the end of every October, the gossamer border to the underworld tears, and the dead walk amongst the living. They wander, moaning and wailing, hoping to take their revenge upon those that still live. When they find a soul, glowing with the light of life, they lurch and shamble into action! They rend, rip and tear the flesh of the living! Eager to devour us, and bind us to the same horror they will endure for eternity.

ThinkGeek :: Bring Out Your Undead

None Shall Pass

You’re pretty safe with this one as long as the dude doesn’t argue that he’s not dead yet. And for the most part in this scenario, the only thing your dead guy is likely to say is “Braaaaains.” And with the Black Knight by your side, bellowing “None Shall PASS!” it’s all good. As long as you bring a mop and some duct tape to take care of the knight himself.

ThinkGeek :: The ThinkGeek EvilTron

This fiendishly small device features six creepy sound choices perfect for frightening your “friends” and co-workers. Simply choose your favorite sound (or use the random mode), place it in a dark hiding spot and watch the madness begin. Perfectly suitable for dorm, office and home use. Or try putting it in someone’s car – that gets them every time.

USB Severed Thumb Drive

A perennial Halloween classic: The USB “thumb” drive. This one costs $40 from Brando, and contains 8GB. That’s an upgrade from the severed thumb drives of years past, but I could’ve sworn last year’s model had some bloody gore oozing out of the port area.

Galaxy Zoo Results Show that the Universe Isn't 'Lopsided'

One of the questions the Galaxy Zoo site is trying to answer seems simple: are most of the spiral galaxies in our Universe spinning clockwise or counterclockwise? The Universe is observed to be isotropic on large scales, meaning that any direction you look, it appears the same. If this is true, the ways that galaxies spin should be the same, and we should see just as many clockwise galaxies as counterclockwise ones, in every direction.

Planet hunt delayed

Kepler, NASA’s mission to search for planets around other stars, will not be able to spot an Earth-sized planet until 2011, according to the mission’s team. The delays are caused by noisy amplifiers in the telescope’s electronics. The team is racing to fix the issue by changing the way data from the telescope is processed, but the delay could mean that ground-based observers now have the upper hand in the race to be the first to spot an Earth twin.

Podcast: Channel 101

Video podcast. Creative. Cool. Check it out.

Algorithm Judges Musical Hit Potential

“That’s the idea behind Music Intelligence Solutions’ Hit Song Science (HSS) technology located on uPlaya.com. The technology mathematically analyzes the underlying patterns in a track, including harmony, chord progression and lyrics.”