Showing posts with label slashdot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slashdot. Show all posts

Friday, June 27, 2008

Slashdot: Mars Soil Able to Sustain Life



Morning All,

Interesting post over on slashdot about Martian soil and its newly discovered ability to sustain vegetable life. Apparently you could grow some pretty hardy asparagus on Big Red. We say "hardy" because said asparagus would have to put up with temperatures ranging from +81º to -225º(!)

Oooh, wired has a post too!

Here are both:

Slashdot

Wired

This is great news! We're heading there someday, and this data shows that the planet can support us when we get there.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Where Do You Get Your News?



Afternoon All!

Jackson here.

Whenever I meet people these days, if we have the chance to have a real, honest to goodness conversation, I'm bound to ask: "Where do you get your news?"

I don't have a television. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't ever like to ever own one again. (I'd prefer a nice HD projector.)

That said, I no longer get my info from TV, and what a difference it seems to make in terms of my daily outlook. I was over at SuperForester Andrew's apartment recently to watch Saturday Night Live and was completely transfixed by the television. The opinions and information in every moment are such an incredible peek into the zeitgeist (spirit of the times,) that I wonder if perhaps I should get back into TV, or risk being left behind.

Nah... The truth box is all the TV I need.

So now I get my info from the internet, and I am free to check facts, balance multiple viewpoints, and cross-reference news items in a way that I feel portrays events in a much more objective light.

So here is where I get my "news":

Google.com/news - the broad strokes.

cnn.com - the Amero-centric broad strokes and assorted zaniness.

treehugger.com - Pink news ("green" is over.)

inhabitat.com - Pink architecture and design news

slashdot.org - Nerdcore wonderland

boingboing.net - Sexy nerdcore wonderland

swissmiss.typepad.com - wry design and kid-centric product news

wikipedia.org - reference (taken with a grain of salt, but taken liberally)

imdb.com - all things Hollywood.

aicn.com - all things nerd Hollywood fanboy-style.

vbs.tv - the hipster version of 60 Minutes.

It is through these 11 sites that I get my daily dose of news, information, and opinions.
I love these sites dearly, and champion them relentlessly.

So, tell me: Where do you get your news?

Comment at the bottom, or email: superforestnyc@gmail.com

(Note: Dirrrr. I forgot nytimes.com!)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The New Hotness: Free!

Ooooooh! You know what's so hot right now?

Free.

It seems that there is money to be made in giving things away for free. We're not sure how exactly, something to do with page clicks or banner ads or something, but the point is that the cost of good and services, especially online services is dwindling, and in many cases, that dwindling means that things are completely free.

Gmail: Free
Youtube: Free
Wikipedia: Free
CNN.com: Free
Slashdot: Free
Fandango: Free
Skype: Free

And now we've got two more runners in the "give it away, give it away, give it away now" race.

Photoshop and South Park.

Unlikely bedfellows, we know.

Check it:

(image via ars technica)
Ars Technica - "Photoshop now free"

And:

(from killerstartups.com)

Seriously, go to South Park Studios and watch every episode from every season, streaming instantly, when and where you want it.

Free! All for free!

What's next?

Free cars? Free houses? Free clothes?

Where will it all end?

We're excited to find out!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Apple Logo Makes You Think Different!


(Ha! Made you think different!)

Hello All!

Just last night, Team SuperForest was discussing the Apple logo and how strong and active it is as a piece of iconography.

Then, this morning, this pops up on Slashdot:
"TimeZone writes "Apparently, even subliminal exposure to the Apple logo can make you 'think different.' Researchers at Duke University subjected participants to subliminal images of the iconic Apple and IBM logos (during what subjects thought was a visual acuity test), and those who were shown the Apple logo generated more creative ideas after the test than did those who were shown the IBM logo."

Cripes! That's interesting news.

In the offices where Team SF works, we are positively saturated with the Apple logo. It's everywhere. Here, I'll go take pictures...



Look at how many! At first I was taking pictures of each one, (with my iPhone) then I just counted. When I hit twenty, I stopped counting.

If even the most subliminal of glimpses is supposed to boost unconventional, creative thinking, then what about this carpet bombing?

We're thinking so different it hurts!

From the paper released today on physorg.com:

“Each of us is exposed to thousands of brand images every day, most of which are not related to paid advertising,” said Gavan Fitzsimons. “We assume that incidental brand exposures do not affect us, but our work demonstrates that even fleeting glimpses of logos can affect us quite dramatically.”

To assess the effects of brands on behavior, the researchers selected two competing brands, both well respected by consumers, with distinct and well-defined brand personalities. “Apple has worked for many years to develop a brand character associated with nonconformity, innovation and creativity,” said Chartrand, “and IBM is viewed by consumers as traditional, smart and responsible.”

The team conducted an experiment in which 341 university students completed what they believed was a visual acuity task, during which either the Apple or IBM logo was flashed so quickly that they were unaware they had been exposed to the brand logo. The participants then completed a task designed to evaluate how creative they were, listing all of the uses for a brick that they could imagine beyond building a wall.

People who were exposed to the Apple logo generated significantly more unusual uses for the brick compared with those who were primed with the IBM logo, the researchers said. In addition, the unusual uses the Apple-primed participants generated were rated as more creative by independent judges."


I've got a confession to make: I don't work for Apple, but I happily would. I've had Apple computers in my life since I was three, and I was born in '78. Luckily, my father has always been an enthusiastic and early adopter of Apple and all Apple-related tech. So the Apple logo is as much a part of my upbringing as Reading Rainbow, OP shorts, and the D.A.R.E. program.

For people being born right now, Apple will be even greater than a nostalgic touchstone, it will be ubiquity personified.

I'm an unabashed Apple fanatic.
I want my car to be Apple. My clothes to be Apple. My house to be Apple.

If my car, house, and clothes are as well designed, inviting and tactile as my iPhone, or my laptop, then that's what I want.

Surround yourself with the stimuli of creativity, and creative you will be.

Here's the original article from physorg.com

If this post interests you, check out this one from last November: Apple Me (From Birth)



Have an excellent Wednesday,

Team SF

Monday, March 17, 2008

Brian Neltner and His Ultraluminous LEDs



Brian Neltner, you've got the goods.

Who is Brian Neltner?

Well, according to his site:
"Brian Neltner is a third year graduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. His research involves using viruses to biotemplate catalysts suitable for converting ethanol into hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide." Sweet.

He's a blackbelt in Karate, electronic music composer, teaches at MIT on the side. A good guy.

He did something the other day that SuperForest is really down with, namely, he shared.

According to Gibbs-Duhem on Slashdot: "He's designed custom LED light fixtures which are seven times brighter than the closest similar commercial models, and include colors which can't be reproduced by a normal RGB cluster."

So Brian designed a very bright, super energy efficient light, that looked better than anything commercially available, could reproduce colors much more faithfully, and was essentially seven times better than every other LED lamp, and what did he do?...

He put the whole thing online.










Schematics, plans, parts list. He put everything up for anyone who wanted it. Free of charge. All here on his site: Ultraluminous LEDs

A generous gift, selflessly made.

Bravo, Sir!

As we said before, Brian Neltner, you've got the goods.

You get the SuperForest Good Person award!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Bugs Make Nano!


From Slashdot:

""Engineers at the University of California, Riverside have found semiconducting nanotubes produced by living bacteria — a discovery that could help in the creation of a new generation of nanoelectronic devices. This is the first time nanotubes have been shown to be produced by biological rather than chemical means. In a process that is not yet fully understood, the bacterium secretes polysacarides that seem to produce the template for the arsenic-sulfide nanotubes. These nanotubes behave as metals with electrical and photoconductive properties useful in nanoelectronics."

This is like finding a cow that pooped iPhones.

Go Science!