Disqus - Latest Comments for Yocto

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » The Moon In HD - Courtesy Of The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Yocto — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:39:58 -0000

HDTV my ass. You can comfortably scale these images down to 768 and blow them back up to 1920 without hardly losing ANY image information. (the only thing you lose is some oversharpening that shouldn't be there in the first place)

Great feat of getting a probe to the moon, all well and good, but that's basically an extrapolated webcam up there.

Like down here on Earth. There may be a few examples that tap the true potential of this technology, but then the whole rest of this "HD revolution" is degraded into overhyped buzz and marketing-driven propaganda.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Cre8txt - Text Input For The ‘New’ Generation

Yocto — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:09:51 -0000

Good grief, have you listened to the video introduction?

"Coming soon a range of BRIGHTLY COLORED snap-on covers for you to personalize your cre8txt keyboard" - (even if I knew how to use triple bold blink tags in this forum, it wouldn't do justice to the emphasis of the narrator.)

The whole presentation of this thing seems so ...unreal. It must be a hoax. Yes, I'm quite sure it's an elaborate hoax. Humanity can't be going THAT FRIGGING BONKERS.

...can it?

please, someone confirm it's a hoax. please.

pleasepleasepleasepleaaase...

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » God Ability LED Wristbands: The 80s Go Digital

Yocto — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:17:36 -0000

Remember the police officers' caps from "Back To The Future 2"? How you thought "Wow, scrolling LED messages on something as mundane as a cap. It must be the future!"

And those LEDs were green, at a time when the only affordable scrollers were available in red. Now these are BLUE! The future has zipped right past us!

(Where's my flying car?)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Bi-Plugs Lets You Charge USB Gadgets Almost Anywhere

Yocto — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:52:06 -0000

If the engineering of this product received the same diligence as the translation of the website, I think I'll pass. Besides, people's opinions from countries whose "safety standards" still allow uninsulated pins may differ, but to me it looks just dangerously cheap.

Re: Napkin Notebooks For Your Next Inspiration

Yocto — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:02:14 -0000

Sanitary tissues appeared in 1907 when a delivery of creped paper turned out to be too thick to be usable as toilet paper. So instead, Arthur Scott, head of the Scott Paper company, cut it up into larger sheets and invented the disposable paper towel. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/pa...

The first real "paper napkins" appeared only much later in the 1930s. http://www.scottbrand.com/us/history/ - Around the same time when "splinter-free" toilet paper became available. (Yay for splinter-free toilet paper!)

Thus, indirectly, napkins owe their invention to crappy toilet paper. ...uh, can I rephrase that?

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Philippe Starck’s TeddyBearBand

Yocto — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:06:07 -0000

Cripes! Separately they're rather cute, actually. But as a whole, something's... not right with this. Something's so very ...not right.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Philippe Starck’s TeddyBearBand

Yocto — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:16:19 -0000

And as if that's not enough, I had to follow the shop link to find these cute ceramic sculptures. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5090893

Can't decide which ones creep me out more, the sliced-open baby skull planters, the upside-down head bowls, or the tile faces. What's that horror movie again, with the faces pushing through a rubber sheet? Exactly, like that.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Philippe Starck’s TeddyBearBand

Yocto — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:50:59 -0000

On the other hand, never underestimate the imagination and abstraction capability of a child's mind. Probably most kids would happily accept it like that. But imagine them growing up to become bioengineers...

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » OptiWind Mouse Keeps Your Hand Nice And Cool

Yocto — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:53:59 -0000

Heh, your stereotypical secretary would only use it as a fingernail dryer. I also imagine it'll be quite chilly. If they gave it a heating element it could double as a hair blower. Or as a cubicle heater. Or with a little more power you could have a toy helicopter. Create enough suction and use your mouse upside down on the ceiling. A mouse that inflates balloons for the next office party. Oh, the possibilities of things to put into a mouse. What will they think up next?

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Emoticon Transforming Stamp

Yocto — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:01:22 -0000

"Silicon" is the brittle semiconductive chemical element. The rubbery stuff is "silicone" with an E.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Emoticon Transforming Stamp

Yocto — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:16:59 -0000

Already corrected, yay. Worth mentioning, the error didn't originate on this site but was carried over from the original product description!

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Zigview S2 Motion Sensing Digital Viewfinder For DSLRs

Yocto — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:00:03 -0000

Well, I never. There are photo-graphic apparatuses for capturing permanent images, wherewith to operate them one doth not use a display screen, but gazes through an optickal contraption called "view finder"!

How shall I ever GET USED to handling technologickal oddities such as that!

...Man, you're trying very hard to give us 30-plus folks a mid-life crisis here, aren't you?

Re: Santiago Chopper Skull Helmet

Yocto — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:54:01 -0000

Now picture it in a Hello Kitty design.

THAT would demand respect.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » ChiliPad Mattress Is Cool Stuff, Hot Stuff

Yocto — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:52:38 -0000

To Evan Ackerman:

When you use temperatures, could you watch your writing style? Temperatures on the Fahrenheit scale are expressed with the unit symbol written "°F". In addition, while it's not a universally followed style (particularly in the U.S. and Britain), the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures requires a space between the number and the unit. So does the international standard ISO 31, and even the style guide of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Thus, it should be: (ideally, coded with a non-breaking space " ")

"You can control the temperature between 68 °F and 118 °F plus or minus 1 degree with a wireless remote. (20 °C to 48 °C)"

Also note my conversion here. The Fahrenheit scale is pretty uncommon outside the United States. It certainly isn't your responsibility as an author reporting about items that didn't give Celsius temperatures in the first place, though I suppose this site gets its fair share of non-U.S. readers. If you could take the extra time to include converted temperatures in your posts, we won't have to calculate them individually. The formula is °C = (°F - 32) / 1.8 . A little service that would make your site appeal to an even wider audience. Thanks!

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » ChiliPad Mattress Is Cool Stuff, Hot Stuff

Yocto — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:58:21 -0000

Oh, I didn't expect that to work. It's the HTML entity "nbsp" for the non-breaking space, of course.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » ChiliPad Mattress Is Cool Stuff, Hot Stuff

Yocto — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:24:12 -0000

Oleg: Yeah, it's less a correction, more a constructive criticism. If that's the worst one can say, I'm quite pleased. :) Hopefully the fact that my very screen name was chosen after a unit prefix should help to put this particular obsessiveness of mine into perspective. (I consider myself more of a geeky type than a nerd though.)

Evan: Exactly what I mean. Fahrenheit temperatures are just as un-intuitive to me as km/h are to you. As a writer for an international audience you should try to please both sides. Unless your advertising and affiliate programs are specifically aimed at an U.S.-centric market, then of course it would only make sense to do it the other way around. (As a non-scientific writer, if you KNOW which temperature scale will be implied by your readers, you also could simply leave out the clumsy Fahrenheit symbol and just say "between 68 and 118 degrees".) In any case, taking the time to type out a degree symbol should be part of any author's proofreading process, just like getting the grammar right and checking for typos.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Video: Popular Mechanics Test Drives Aptera Prototype

Yocto — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 08:05:49 -0000

Named after a person, the unit symbol "V" is always capitalized: "110 V outlet". You can also write out the uncapitalized unit name in full and describe the outlet type with a hyphenated compound adjective: "110-volt outlet". [/drive-by smartass mode off] Happy holidays. :D

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Remote Control Battle Beetles

Yocto — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:53:13 -0000

I'm waiting for a bombardier beetle version.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Water Powered Calculator Blows My Mind

Yocto — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:59:59 -0000

Water-powered cars... Believe me, you don't want to go there. There are enough backyard tinkerers and/or scammers baiting for investors. If their pseudoscientific delusions were only half-way consistent with basic physical reality, you'd already drive one. And power your house with it, too.

Gizmos like these aren't "water-powered". There's a battery in there. A common galvanic cell consisting of two types of metals. But this cell is incomplete, you have to fill it up yourself with an electrolyte (namely, water). Compared to the power consumption of a calculator and to the batteries that are usually used it's quite bulky, though eventually, the materials of this cell are used up, and the electrochemical reaction will cease. No matter how much water you refill, because that's not the power source.

The selling point isn't that it's is a scientific miracle (it's 200-year-old technology), or that it's something that makes more sense than a cheap, simple, lightweight solar cell that runs without the extra work of filling it up. What is sold here is simply some instant sense of achievement for the easily astonished. (no offense :) )

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Water Powered Calculator Blows My Mind

Yocto — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 06:05:18 -0000

Ooh ooh ooh, I got it. Get yourself a second calculator with a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell (whose waste product is pure water). Link these two together.

A calculator-powered calculator! :D

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Oxygenating Water Can

Yocto — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:49:58 -0000

Dubious, isn't it... Safe to say that any perceived improvements will be based on individual self-deception. (And generally, one shouldn't trust any single study that gets so much self-hype from a manufacturer and that coincides with the release of a consumer product. Incidentally, the +58% bell pepper yields that are circulated on the sales pages are 1.) an "up to" value, and 2.) aren't even from the university study but "preliminary research" conducted by some nearby organic vegetable farm.)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Extra Wide Rear View Mirror Eliminates Blind Spots

Yocto — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:20:29 -0000

Amazing. (No, not this product in particular - I mean the fact that these things haven't become a mandatory safety feature yet.)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » [CES 2008] Biggest TV Bragging Rights Go To Panasonic (Holy Cow)

Yocto — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:50:59 -0000

Those ain't cows, those are pandas. :)

For the record (and for the rest of us geeks): According to the blueprints/technical manuals, the view screen of the original Enterprise is 6 by 3.5 feet (1.8 by 1.1 metres), diagonal 83 inches; that of the 1701-D is 4.8 by 2.5 metres (15.7 by 8.2 feet), diagonal 213 inches.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Brisk Brew Travel Coffee Maker

Yocto — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:22:47 -0000

Don't worry, an electrically simple device like a coffee maker should work just fine with the common DC maples.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Tetrical Advances The Game Of Tetris

Yocto — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:08:53 -0000

Isometric graphics already is a step backwards, actually. Not impressed, to be frank. These Flash coding exercises have no chance getting me hooked like the good old BlockOut Amiga version back in the days...

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Tetrical Advances The Game Of Tetris

Yocto — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 05:55:37 -0000

(Wait, isometric is with left/right axes. I think I meant that other projection.)

Re: FDA Gives Cloned Beef And Dairy The OK

Yocto — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:08:40 -0000

No, I would not eat cloned beef...

...I'm vegan. (Yes, I'm fine with vegetative reproduction ("plant cloning"), so long as there remains diversity in the available species.)

Soylent Green is safe, too. So what? The real problem is a political one. We're giving more and more control over what we eat into the hands of just a few bio-hightech megacorporations whose only true obligation is finding new ways to more efficiently redistribute YOUR money to THEIR shareholders.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Save Money By Sharpening Your Old Razor Blades With Save A Blade

Yocto — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:47:21 -0000

I can see this going down the printer-ink road. Next, manufacturers are going to add little magnetically-activated locks into the cartridges that retract and destroy the blades after a certain number of uses. And patented chips in the handle that can only be reset by a military-grade encrypted handshake protocol. (A safety feature, to prevent cuts from unauthorized usage, not to keep us buying new overpriced blades, of course.)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » 10 Old Computer Ads - Is There Anything More Depressing?

Yocto — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:43:02 -0000

MEGAbytes! Sheesh. Pampered whippersnappers.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » MPAA Screws Up College Piracy Estimates By Up To 41%

Yocto — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:19:33 -0000

Your title is totally misleading, as it suggests a factor of 0.41.

Percentages are relative proportions. You can't just take the difference (44% - 3% = 41%) of these numbers. The value decreased by a factor of 1 - (3 / 44) = 0.9318... that is 93.2 percent. Or, there's 6.8% left of their original claims. In other words, these gentlemen exaggerated by a whopping factor of 44 / 3 = 14.66...

Thus (let's be generous :) and round down), the correct title should be "MPAA Screws Up College Piracy Estimates By Up To 1466%".

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Navy Test Fires 10 Megajoule Railgun (Holy Cow)

Yocto — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:15:20 -0000

The shockwave distortion and the air ionization looks way cool.

But the projectile goes right through, still at super-sonic speed, and quite unscathed. This can be neither efficient nor desired. Those megajoules are useless if they don't end up in the target. (What DID stop the projectile then?)

May we assume the 'real' impact didn't look as impressive as this nicely glowing fireball? (Have they hidden explosives in the target again, like when someone needed to round up funding for that super-laser weapon?) I have trouble understanding how this can happen without vaporizing the projectile unless the target itself was weak and combustible. What do you demonstrate by punching a pinhole through plywood, instead of, say, vaporizing armor plate?

"Sometime between 2020 and 2025". Yeah, right. And moon cities. The current state of the art appears to be that they're happy to announce the rails don't blow apart and the bore even survives multiple shots.

1% real research (I do admit, this part IS impressive), and 99% trying to wow the brass.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Navy Test Fires 10 Megajoule Railgun (Holy Cow)

Yocto — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:53:44 -0000

Hey alnoga, read again. I said I AM impressed. Just not by the other 99% of fluffed up military talk around it.

Yeah, exactly. That's the purpose of military press releases. To show some flashy pictures and to get the voter's approval for the budget. Who cares about realistic presentations that accurately demonstrate what this project is promising to achieve.

By the way, their own briefing documents talk about "bore design" and predicted "bore life" (apparently assuming the simplified definition here that a bore is what guides the projectile).

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Navy Test Fires 10 Megajoule Railgun (Holy Cow)

Yocto — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 07:07:23 -0000

Interesting. They have a railgun, and they shoot it through a sand-filled tin can! Honestly, there must be 1000 better ways to demonstrate a railgun than to create incandescent sand.

Considering that 10 MJ is equivalent to 2.4 kg of conventional TNT, there should have been nothing left of that target. This one certainly sets a milestone in railgun engineering, but tactically speaking... Expect a LOT of money (that you could spend otherwise) going into it until we might receive a return in form of a practicable and reliable weapon system.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Navy Test Fires 10 Megajoule Railgun (Holy Cow)

Yocto — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 07:29:26 -0000

to 2nd Anonymous: I don't know, either way, it's a highly specialized technology, and I just don't find it very promising (and so far, it's just that, a promise for future technology) in actual combat, when compared to already existing (and already paid for) weapon systems.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Porsche Design Takes A Stab At The Swiss Army Knife

Yocto — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:40:28 -0000

That's not a knife. THAT's a knife. http://www.wengerna.com/browse/product.jsp?prod...

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Scan-It X-Ray Machine Playset - Seriously?

Yocto — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:44:52 -0000

Complete with a colorful Homeland Security threat level indicator. So patriotic, isn't it lovely. "USA Tested Toy" = "Made in China", by the way.

And after we've found the bomb, let's play detain and interrogate!

Children simply should not get their minds raped like this.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Bye Bye Standby Remote Power Cutoff

Yocto — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:16:23 -0000

@Anon: Yes. Also in trying to reduce your environmental footprint by manufacturing additional hardware.

In my case, the would-be savings are vastly exaggerated, anyhow. And those who are even less aware of their energy consumption will never buy this in the first place.

So, while this product is a nice means for exploiting the remaining in-between market of people who want to buy themselves a clean conscience, in the greater scheme, it won't solve anything.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » FDA Approved: Lose 80% Of Your Body Weight Instantly

Yocto — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:21:01 -0000

Shoot. Why stop at 80%, when at 120% you could run upside down...

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » From the road

Yocto — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:28:34 -0000

There's even a hint of blue in this beautiful winter day sky. I scoff at your mollycoddled ectothermic wimpiness. :)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Kiddo Kidkeeper Proximity Alarm

Yocto — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:14:56 -0000

Perhaps the other way around. When the kid's coming at you, get a few seconds of warning time. :)

Re: Handheld Disinfecting UV Scanner

Yocto — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:41:49 -0000

Cite?

Without any information, you must assume that this is just another magic sham product to exploit the lucrative market of gullible germophobes.

Wavelength? Surface dose? Who's the manufacturer that makes these efficacy promises? (and who would be held responsible for damages from prolonged exposure?) I'm inclined to believe that if this really worked as advertised it would give you retina damage and eye cancer.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Solar Mole & Gopher Chaser

Yocto — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:25:08 -0000

7000 square feet is a radius of 14.4 metres, not all that incredible, as far as the usual claims for these so-called "pest control" devices go.

The FTC has sent warning letters for false and deceptive advertising to dozens of manufacturers. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/05/fyi0128.shtm The result: the market switched away from calling it "ultrasonic", now using "subsonic" or "interval sonics". Either way, the efficacy claims are not supported by scientific evidence, on the contrary.

Bottom line is, these devices just don't work.

The market for hawking flimflam products to uninformed customers is big enough already, no need for providing additional credulous publicity for these. I wish you'd focus more on the nerdy gizmos instead. You know, on products whose function is undisputed, or on toys where it's OBVIOUS when you're spending your money on something silly and useless.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Wake Up Like A Super Spy With A DangerBomb Clock

Yocto — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:48:23 -0000

They missed the opportunity to give it a bright red LED display that shows a countdown when the snooze timer is active. Aw, once again, cost effectiveness triumphs over coolness.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » WashUP Concept Stacks A Washing Machine On Your Toilet

Yocto — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:12:22 -0000

Just remember to put the lid down before you load the machine. You know those socks, they use ANY opportunity for getting lost... I imagine sitting there during the spin cycle could be an interesting experience though. :)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Tornado Maker Teaches Kids About Mother Nature’s Mean Streak

Yocto — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:03:50 -0000

Nonono, don't blame "Mother Nature", she's a loving, life-giving, nurturing woman. Whenever there's an event of wanton destruction and vengeful devastation, that's an "act of God".

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » CrashBonsai Disrupts Your Tranquil Tree

Yocto — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:13:08 -0000

Strangely appealing, in a weird and twisted way.

You just have to stop and gawk.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Panamatic Mount Makes Taking Panoramic Shots A Bit Easier

Yocto — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:26:51 -0000

Forget about indoor images.

The rotation point has to be below the nodal point of the lens, which for the vast majority of cameras is not aligned with the mounting screw. An offset of a few millimetres can already mean that closer objects cannot be aligned.

Even if you only intend to photograph wide open spaces, you'll get difficulties because the images won't exactly add up to 360 degrees, which makes the pano want to buckle.

This product is of limited use, unprofessional, and overpriced.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » My Pee Pee Bottle Is Just Wrong

Yocto — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:09:28 -0000

NEWS FLASH

Airline passengers should expect substantial delays today as the local airport was evacuated following a bomb threat.

Two bottles of unknown contents were found by a watchful flight attendant. Special forces raided the plane after the pilot made an unscheduled emergency landing. Two terrorism suspects were detained. Possibly the fluids were meant to create a liquid explosive when combined. It is unclear if there are any connections to Al Quaida.

Homeland Security officials are still puzzled how it was possible to smuggle two filled bottles onto the plane. Surveillance records show that the suspected extremist suicide bombers carried two containers when they boarded, one pink and one blue, but they were empty. "It's still a mystery," according to a TSA spokesman.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Live Lobster Claw Game - Come On, Lobstey!

Yocto — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:28:58 -0000

Perverts.

Re: Eye Candy: Chilean Volcanic Thunderstorm

Yocto — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:02:42 -0000

Heh, there's electricity, and there's blinking lights. It's still a gadget, just a very big one.

Way cool. A volcano eruption AND lightning bolts. Excuse me now, watching such displays of raw energy always gives me the urge of rubbing my hands together and laughing like a maniac.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Philips’ Window Shopper Gaze Tracking System

Yocto — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:07:18 -0000

Purchase decisions, buying patterns, all the privacy details that go along with it, face recognition databases http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-566181/... OUR EVERY MOVEMENT http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/te... ... And now where you're looking at.

Great. What other unconscious body functions haven't been commercially exploited yet? I always considered eye contact to be a rather intimate gesture.

I assume these systems are perfectly able to gather their data without having to display a user interface, without needing to give you any feedback that you as a passerby are under "marketing surveillance".

So, no more expectation of privacy even when you're looking at inanimate objects. Constant fear that someone is trying to manipulate me into giving them even MORE money. (Well, SOMEONE is going to have to pay for these systems. Guess who that'll be...) Wrap our eyeballs in tinfoil, or what?

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Denon Offers Up $500 Premium Ethernet Cable

Yocto — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:59:16 -0000

"was designed for the audio enthusiast" - I think this says it all.

NO cable is immune from bit errors. They're easily caught by the error correction, and even in the cheapest cable they're only one in a billion or so to begin with. Or is the "Denon Link feature" such a crappy protocol, with no error correction whatsoever, that you can only PRAY that no frame gets dropped?

To transmit perfect digital audio you need nothing more than unshielded bell wire. Especially at these laughable data rates and cable lengths. If you need a better cable, you're doing it wrong.

Any company that advertises like this has lost all credibility.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » The Fastest Clock In The World Tells Time To A Millionth Of A Second

Yocto — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:27:00 -0000

Chronos The Bear's christmas present!

You know, the Johnny Bravo character. "I am Chronos, master of all time!"

The episode where Johnny was substituting for Santa. How did that go again, "and for Chronos a clock so precise that even he won't be whining", or something like that.

Anyone remember it too?

And why do *I* remember this?

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Miracle Berry Tablets Mess With Your Tastebuds

Yocto — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:57:24 -0000

>> Bear in mind that I’m skeptical of any serious product with the words “miracle” “magical” or “incredible” in their names.

GOOD thing! More disturbing is, giveaway phrases such as these are only the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of manipulative advertising - and thus the most lucrative - always tries to stay juuust below the waterline of customer attention. It's amazing how quickly the markets can adapt to more subtle forms of deception once there is a need for it.

In this case however it's perfectly legit to use the word "miracle" in the product description since it's indeed part of the proper common name of the fruit. (Incidentally, speaking of funny protein names that end in "-ulin", there's also "draculin", found in the saliva of vampire bats.)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » USB Webkey May Replace Flash Drives As Corporate Swag

Yocto — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:23:17 -0000

Could this be from the same manufacturer as this "ecobutton"? http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/01/30/ecobutton-pro... I mean, once you register the design patents for USB buttons, you may as well try and get the most out of them. People must find at least ONE of these ideas useful...

USB drives as a transport medium for promotional material, sure. But letting an external device control your machine at the push of a button? Removable devices are becoming a fast growing attack vector for spy- and malware, especially in the business area, because everybody's so careless about autorun. Any business where a device like this is expected to work has a seriously flawed computer security plan.

So I don't understand why any self-respecting advertiser would distribute USB devices that rely on autorun features.

Unless you WANT to single out people with low-grade security. Because this usually also means they'll be gullible enough, er, I mean, valuable enough as a new customer. Hum.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Civilan Ospreys Now For Sale

Yocto — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:53:23 -0000

You mean, all I can do with it is fly?

Hmmm. $20 million bucks... and it only transports matter... I'll give you 25 cents for it.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Fish Tank Friday: The Galapagos Islands

Yocto — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:16:15 -0000

The colors! That sure is a vacation worthy of most people's envy.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Robot Doctors, Now In Canada

Yocto — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:11:21 -0000

Max Headroom on wheels?

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » We’ve Seen Wine In A Box, But In A Can?

Yocto — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:12:37 -0000

A pull-tab? Blasphemy! Whatever happened to the nice traditional screw-caps? :) Heh, at least it isn't one of those self-heating cans...

Meh, wine. Can't stand that stuff either. Beer too, if you can believe it. On the other hand, I really enjoy (non-alcoholic) sweet-fermented rice milk that some people compared to the taste of cardboard, so I think I better be quiet.

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » I Pity The Fool That Doesn’t Buy This A-Team R/C Car!

Yocto — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:50:02 -0000

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/04/01/from-the-road...

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Fish Tank Friday: Lame USB Fishhub (Again)

Yocto — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:00:35 -0000

Whoaaa... I think I finally wrapped my head around it. (Should I be worried about this?) If I'm not mistaken, the translation should be:

We watched fishes. They like to be in some places better than in others. We modelled a fishtank whose walls got pushed in where the fishes don't want to hang around anyhow. Look at the pretty shapes.

Re: The Dark Knight Bat-Logo Projector Key Ring

Yocto — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:49:19 -0000

You mean, instead of today's Christian Bale, this keyring could accidentally make 1967's Yvonne Craig show up? If so, shut up, you fools! :)

Re: OhGizmo! » Archive » Nailed USB Flash Drive Lets Your PC Get Hammered

Yocto — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:40:29 -0000

There's 2GB for €29.50 now. That's just a 3x markup for a novelty design product. Dunno, sounds fair. Or do you think they're trying to SCREW us?

(hey, you started it)

Re: Fair Share Plate Puts An End To Dessert-Time Quarrels

Yocto — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:43:23 -0000

I note the total lack of a nonius or vernier scale. (The plate is marked in degrees, not millimeters by the way.) They call that fair? A 360th of the cake! What kind of precision is that?

Besides, the cake's a little thinner on my side. How very convenient for you. What's the formula to compensate for that? And has it been approved by the international committee of cake ethics?

Now don't give me your "let's just weigh the pieces" idea again. Can't you see it's a marble cake? You'll have all the good chocolate parts again, and all I get is dry and crumbly bits. No way.

I demand we do an MRI scan to calculate the spatial integral of the distribution of cocoa solids. What, you don't have an MRI scanner? Okay, go and make arrangements to rent one. Meanwhile I will watch the cake.