Do It Yourself - Star Wars?!!

Whoa!

LucasFilms has put out a press release stating that they (in cahoots with Eyespot.com) have created an exciting new web interface which will allow users to create their very own version of STAR WARS!

Check it out on starwars.com this coming Sunday, as the entire site will relaunch alongside this new tool!

=== excerpt from the press release ===

"Among the most compelling features of the newly redesigned StarWars.com is the incorporation of an online video-editing tool provided by Eyespot. It allows users to add their own video shots to more than 250 scenes and music taken from all six Star Wars films and create their own Star Wars movies to share with others."

Exciting!

Read more here

Sony's 0.01" flexible OLED Display [full-color] - Video Demo

Amazing! Here is a video demonstration of Sony's 0.01 inch thick, fully flexible, full color OLED display.

Woman Uses Segway To Push Baby Stroller

Well, here is something smart that I wish I would have thought of first...

While I am not sure why, there seems to be an unparalleled amount of coordination going on here - sadly, I will never fully understand the bond between a mother and daughter crossing the street on 6 wheels.

I always knew there was a real reason for the Segway scooter, but who would have thought that one would have to give birth in order to reap the full benefits?

source

"Flashy" Super Smash Bros - Flash Game Of The Day

Name of the Game: Super Smash Flash
Goal: Fight your way to the finish!

Too small for you? click here to play it in a larger window.

The Boy That See's With His Mouth - Amazing Video

All I have to say, is wow.

In this incredibly inspiring video, watch how a small boy overcame his disability of total blindness by teaching himself how to master the art of echolocation.

Truly amazing...

Buggin Out For Crazy Insect Photos

Interested in confronting your entomophobia (bug fears) head on?

How about just peeking at a few high res/contrast insect photos on a website?




If you've got an itch in the ol' thorax to get "buggy" with it, click here to view a whole gallery of incredible insect photos like these!
(you should also find a few good amphibian and reptile shots in there as well)

Trust me, it's much more safe than having them crawl all over your face!

The Crazy, Hypnotic, Dancing Beans!

A Photo Of Al Gore In His Office

As the title describes, here is a photo of Al Gore in his office.
Need I point out the amount of frivolously stacked wooden byproduct scattered about the room?

At this point I am now convinced that a workspace disorganized to this magnitude is nothing more than the truest sign of higher intelligence.

Moonbow - Its Like A Rainbow, Only At Night

Displayed here is the oddly fascinating, yet elusive "moonbow". Photographed at night by commercial photographer Brent Gilstrap on location at beautiful Yosemite Falls, California.

Chinese Foot Binding - Lotus Shoes & Vomit

Here is a series of photos that will most definitely make you want to toss your media lunch.

Now Presenting: The inappropriate art of Chinese foot binding

Patton Oswalt + Conan O'brien = Hilarious Video

This is probably one of the funnier segments that I have seen. Patton Oswalt appears as a guest on Conan O'Brien, elaborating on why older couples shouldn't use fertility drugs to become pregnant.

He-Man Movie - Warner Brothers, Joel Silver, Mattel & More!

<echo>MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE!!</echo>

In an article just posted by variety.com, the infamous Warner Brothers (in association with Mattel, Inc. and producer Joel Silver) are currently knee-deep in bringing 80's pop culture hero "He-Man" back from the cartoon grave, and into the movie screen.

Live-action, supposedly grand scale, and stuffed full of hype - "The franchise has been reimagined by the producer and the writers and pitched to Mattel as a classic good vs. evil battle, using the kind of visual effects strategy employed in "300." A warrior is touted as the last hope of a magical land called Eternia, which is being ravaged by technology and the evil Skeletor."

The lead role has yet to be cast, but sadly I can't guarantee that it wont be Dolph Lungdren

source

The Stanford Student Fakeout 2007

As described in The Stanford Daily, faux Stanford student Azia Kim lived, studied, and fraternized with other members of this prestigious college for 1 whole year.... with never having been an "actual" Stanford student.

Weirdly enough, none would have ever been the wiser had it not been for the gut suspicions of her supposed roommate, who emailed Housing with a few "questions" last Monday.

Her true motives for this fairly complex campus scheme have not yet been fully disclosed, but those who know her are speculating that it was due to a looming source of parental pressure.

For more, check out the full story here.

reCAPTCHA - Fighting Spam, Book By Book

A cool new CAPTCHA script (cleverly named "reCAPTCHA") takes all the ill-tasting monotony
out of posting an article, and replaces it with the heartwarming knowledge of bettering humanity.

Instead of merely typing a random character code, reCAPTCHA uses words from books which have been digitally scanned for archival purposes.

Why is this cool?

Because, it uses the user input to clarify formally "unreadable" text from the digital copy of the book (Words that the Optical Character Recognition software couldn't properly convert).

Example:

Check it out with this live demo:

United States Broadband Speeds Are Slow

According to a May, 17th report released by the Communication Workers of America, the United States weighs in at a meek 16th place in terms of average worldwide broadband speeds.

Here is a general (average) overview:

Japan - 61 megabits per second
South Korea - 45 megabits per second
Sweden - 18 megabits per second
France - 17 megabits per second
Canada - 7 megabits per second
United States - 1.9 megabits per second

The ironic part, is that Americans generally end up paying up to twice as much for these slower connections speeds than people in these other countries.

For more on this story: source

Star Wars - Then and Now

Ever care to know what happened to the cast of the original Star Wars trilogy?

ABC News has put together a fun little media presentation highlighting the individual histories of original trilogy cast members.

Check it out Here

*wookie gurrrgle

Mazda 3.141592 - The Pi-mobile

Here is a car which will surely have its lunch money taken by other cars.

Celebrity Makeover - Photoshop Edition

Have you ever tried to investigate the true reasoning behind your poor self-esteem, finding out after years of blaming your parents and siblings, that it was Photoshop all along?

If not, then I apologize in advance.

The following images, while potentially grisly, transmit a surprising truth from the land of fame and fortune - It's inhabitants can be just as unsightly as we are!

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The Ungodly Skull Of Pacman

This biologically (and proportionately) terrifying representation of Mr. Pacman's skull gives me a strong case of the 80's arcade willies.

Put together by artist Le Gentil Garçon (in collaboration with palaeontologist François Escuillié), this sculpture uses a conceptual omnivorous bone structure to illustrate Pacman's "real world" ghost chomping capabilities.

Somewhat like a sideshow attraction, I find it difficult to look away from its oddly shaped jowles, and socketless frontal lobes.

Sadly, I am now confused as to if I should run for my life, or simply begin feeding it a medley of over-sized fruit.

Google Buys FeedBurner

Google has burned another hole in its pocket, and this time it's almost literal.

How much was the damage? $100 million in cash
How much do I wish I was in on the deal? plenty.

Why this acquisition was necessary, I'm not quite sure - but many are speculating that it had something to do with the possibility of increased relevancy.

Explanation: Feedburner is a subscription service which requires a fee to participate. Spammers, which are tightwads by nature, preferred to stick with the freebie services, leaving the Feedburner databases primarily unscathed. Long story short, purchasing Feedburner would allow Google to better diagnose which blogs are legit and which ones aren't.

I don't really like that theory. It's just the word on the street.

I think Google just wanted to assimilate Feedburner's 425,000 +publishers/ subscribers into a larger project of some sorts.

Best of luck to all who can now afford a personal island!

The Solar Powered Lighter

Long overdue, the solar powered lighter finally arrives to usher us into a newer, "greener" version of the summertime BBQ.

Developed by Portugal based company, this ray-catching lighter represents the literal cutting edge in electronic culinary accessori.

Sadly, this technological utensil does lack the ability to directly create an open flame, however, it successfully compensates by developing a series of sharp sparks that are capable of igniting a multitude of gases and masses.

Impressed?

purchase yours today!

Midwest Fire - A Visual Aftermath

Here is a visual that puts the aftermath of a midwest fire into true perspective

World Population - Now With More "Urban"

According to a study conducted by North Carolina State University and the University of Georgia, today's date of "May 23" will be a doosie.

Why you ask? Well, because according to this research, May 23, 2010 is officially the first date in the history of the world in which the population of Earth will officially become more "urban than rural".

What does this mean, and how will it effect us?
My guess: nothing, and in no significant way.

Well, other than the "to-be-expected" weather channel docudramas that we will have to stomach for the next 3 years.

NCSU Press Release

The Deep: Extraordinary (aka Scary) Creatures of the Abyss

Ok, well.. Maybe not this little guy, but some of them are absolutely terrifying!

If your into this kind of thing, you can check out a very vivid (and by default awesome) collection of photograph's shot by Claire Nouvian, featured in her book entitled "The Deep: Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss".

Just click "Gallery" at the bottom right and try not to cry!

Kevin Ham: The master of (my, your, everyone's) domain

"Kevin Ham is the most powerful dot com mogul you've never heard of", say the folks over at Business 2.0 magazine.

Why? Well, it's probably due to the fact that his portfolio of 300,000+ domain names generate $70 million a year in revenue for his company, and he is just now speaking about it publicly.

In this CNN Money article profiling Mr. Ham, you can read how the man behind the curtain combined an entrepreneurial spirit, with seemingly questionable tactics, to create a digital cash cow that (portfolio wide) receives close to 30 million unique visitors a month!

20MB of Glory: Google Expands On Gmail Attachment File Size

Hooray! Google has doubled the max attachment file size in Gmail from a measly 10MB, to a gurthy 20 MB!

Why is this a big deal? less Gspace upload status spam of course!

Not using Gspace? Get it!

Not using Firefox? Are you Crazy!?

Now if they can only keep up the pace and grow this exponentially by 10MB per quarter, I could squeeze a full DVD's worth of data into a single email attachment by 2160!

The future is now!