Offbeat

Chatbots Prove Robots Want intro to Philosophy, Not War

News & Features

Chatbots Prove Robots Want intro to Philosophy, Not War

Engadget caught this bizarre and amazing video from some Cornell researchers, who pitted a Chatbot in a conversation with itself. Apparently, all Chatbot wants is to study philosophy! Don’t believe me? Watch the video below, and then check out my commentary showing how the Chatbot(s) just want to talk Plato. Let’s see…the Chatbot(s) start with social contract theory. They exchange pleasantries and indicate an attempt to set rules of engagement so no one gets stabbed in their sleep (do Chatbot(s) sleep?). Then they move on to personal identity theory; what are they? What is a robot? If one Chatbot is…

Keep Other Kid's Hands off Your Kid's Food with Lunch Bugs

News & Features

Keep Other Kid’s Hands off Your Kid’s Food with Lunch Bugs

Now that the kids are back in school, it’s time to think about practical matters such as how to make sure your son’s lunch doesn’t end up in some other kid’s mouth. Here’s an idea: Lunch Bugs sandwich bags. Lunch Bugs Sandwich Bags have a skittery surprise. Need some security when it comes to your sandwich? Our Lunch Bugs Sandwich Bags have a pre-printed bug on the sandwich bag. So the pest that goes to steal your sandwich will see a pest of another kind already calling dibs. There are 24 Lunch Bugs sandwich bags in a pack, and if…

Hurricane Irene: Be Prepared, Fake Candles Edition

Gear Bits

Hurricane Irene: Be Prepared, Fake Candles Edition

Like everyone on the east coast we’ve been doing our part to get ready for Irene’s arrival. We moved the deck furniture into the garage, made extra ice so things in the fridge won’t go bad if (when?) the power goes out, we’ve charged our devices and some external chargers and we’ve stored up some water. The latter wasn’t so easy because every store we went to was out so we just filled up pitchers. Batteries and candles were out too, but Elana did bring something useful home. Here’s a quick look but first, a brief musical interlude from one…

The KAMMOK Kometh

News & Features

The KAMMOK Kometh

  Over the past year I have helped fund a number of Kickstarter projects. I backed the Vere Sandal Company, with an iPad stand, and with a watchband for the iPod nano. If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors,ranging from indie film and music to journalism and food-related projects. One of a new set of fundraising platforms dubbed “crowdfunding”, Kickstarter facilitates gathering monetary resources from the general public, a model which circumvents many traditional avenues of investment. Project owners choose a deadline and a target…

Israel's Iron Dome Missile Defense System Active for the First Time

News & Features

Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Defense System Active for the First Time

It’s not the Star Wars Missile Defense System but it is real, it is here now, and it works. Yes, Israel’s new Iron Dome missile defense system was used in the field for the first time and … it worked. Over the past few days the Israeli cities of Beersheba, Ashkelon and Ashdod have seen a barrage of rockets sent over from Gaza (this started right after the attacks on tourist buses on the Egyptian border). While many of the rockets that were aimed toward civilian populations actually landed in fields when fired, enough of them hit their mark and…

Plant Buddies Let You Keep Your Plant With You AND Save an Endangered Species

Gear Bits, News & Features

Plant Buddies Let You Keep Your Plant With You AND Save an Endangered Species

    The Plant Buddies caught my eye when Ali over on ChipChick posted on them last night. The Plant Buddies are selection of endangered cacti that you can carry with you, nurture for a time and then release back into the “wild” to help them repopulate and become less endangered. Each “kit” includes a starter plant (Stone Rose – Genus “Anacampseros”, Golden Marble – Genus “Opuntia Monachantha”, Eve’s Needle – Genus “Astrocylindropuntia Subulata”), soil, a plastic dome housing, and a keychain attachment. You can carry your little friend with you and, so long as you water it every 30 days,…

John Hodgman on Bookstores

News & Features

John Hodgman on Bookstores

There are almost no words to describe the hysterical segment of “The Daily Show” where John Hodgman explains his view of bookstores to Jon Stewart. It’s a must watch. As much as Hodgman is aiming for humor, he hits a few serious points as well. Now, humorous or not, he actually noted a few things that are ridiculous, yet true: 1) Borders actually piloted a program of downloading music at in-store kiosks. They worked out about as well as you’d expect. 2) We actually did host a night where authors wrote, but it was a poetry seminar. 3) Yes, bookstore…

Slix - You Get What You Pay for Even with Underwear

Gear Bits

Slix – You Get What You Pay for Even with Underwear

  I just spent more than I ever imagined to get a week’s worth of Slix socks, undershirts and briefs and I’m glad I did. They are, by far, the most comfortable undergarments I have ever worn and are worth every penny. Let me back up a bit and explain. Last January I was getting ready for my SCOTTEVEST No Baggage Challenge for Charity to benefit the Haiti Plunge. I knew I needed things that would be super comfortable, wash easily and dry fast since I was only bringing one change of clothing for the entire week. I hunted around…

Yet Another Reason Why It Seems Android Users Love to Relive Their Windows Suffering

Editorials, News & Features

Yet Another Reason Why It Seems Android Users Love to Relive Their Windows Suffering

I have been an Android user since 2009, and have no intent on switching. But let’s be honest – in many ways the OS mirrors DOS and Windows. For example, on my original Droid, the split between the internal storage and SD card was absurd – I would have 14GB of memory on my SD card, but get ‘low memory’ warnings trying to install a 2MB app because nothing would let itself be installed in ‘HIMEM.SYS’. Another Windows-like behavior? The Add/Remove Control Panel – or, the ‘Manage Applications’ system item. This is the place you go to move apps to…

Proof Psychedelia Is Alive and Well: Llamas with Hats

News & Features

Proof Psychedelia Is Alive and Well: Llamas with Hats

If you have kids in the tween to teen years, you likely experience the ‘world according to YouTube’. It has been shown before that YouTube is a leader in how kids see and interpret the world – they listen to music on YouTube, watch movies through clips, get comedy and trends there, and experience new content before it hits anywhere else. Anyway, one of big things that kids love on YouTube are micro-episodes – shorts that are a couple of minutes long and generally a bit off-kilter in terms of content. A couple of classic and well-known examples are Charlie…

In a Sea of Generic Chains, One Local Pizza Shop Inspires a 1400 Mile Trek!

News & Features

In a Sea of Generic Chains, One Local Pizza Shop Inspires a 1400 Mile Trek!

It is always interesting to see a ‘local flavor’ story, a positive human interest story with no downside. These stories remind us that there is good in the world, that in spite of recession and war and political strife and violence and natural disasters, there remains the possibility for the small and simpler pleasures often though to be the purview of forgotten times. And when one of those stories touches close to home, all the better. Such is the case in a story being featured on CNN, Good Morning America and other places – the story of a man who…

Living under a Rock? Nope, under a Bubble

Gear Bits

Living under a Rock? Nope, under a Bubble

At times I’ve been told I live under a rock. Maybe I do sometimes but its nice and quiet there. 🙂 And it sure beats living in a bubble doesn’t it? Well maybe not. Check out this bubble hut, the Crystalbubble. Its shape …was voluntarily designed with the goal to offer a dreamy space without disturbing the nature and the environment. The hut and its walls were reduced at their minimum. Cristalbubble hut is both suited to spend an unusual night in the nature and taking advantage of a multifunction life space all year long, even at the bottom of…

Yum Log: Avion Tequila the Tastiest Product Placement Ever

Yum Log

Yum Log: Avion Tequila the Tastiest Product Placement Ever

In what has to be one of the best pieces of product placement, Avion Tequila had a key role in the last season of HBO’s Entourage and has made a few cameo appearances during this year’s final season of the hit show. Thing is, according to CNBC they didn’t pay a penny for it. Tequila sales overall have been on the rise in recent years and Avion has joined with the likes of Patron and Cabo Wabo as a tequila you’ll want to order this way: You: “I’ll have a margarita. Hold the salt. Hold the lime. Hold the Triple Sec.”…

Meme Meets Classic: THIS is Why We Can't Have Nice Things (Like Movies)!

News & Features

Meme Meets Classic: THIS is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Like Movies)!

Internet memes have been around since the ‘Dancing Baby’ and before, and tend to follow a typical cycle – they get started, get a hold with the tech-oriented folks of a certain community, then often grab a larger following. Occasionally they become fully mainstream, but that is fairly rare. One such curiosity is ‘Nyan Cat’, which got started in April of this year, and has only spread since then. Here is a bit about it from Know Your Meme: About Nyan Cat, also known as Pop Tart Cat, is an 8-bit animation depicting a cat with the body of a…

Nightly Quiz….

Editorials

Nightly Quiz….

So we are having dinner tonight and Elana, my NPR and talk radio-junkie wife, gives us one of the tidbits she learned while listening to NPR today. The question- “How many different languages are in use in the world at this moment.” I made my guess and my father-in-law thought I was way too high. (“You’re nuts.” were his exact works.) Well I wasn’t that far off. So I ask you… How many languages (not dialects but LANGUAGES) are in use today world wide? Don’t be lame and cheat by Googling it. JUST GUESS…

Yum Log: So Tasty We Had to Share: Trader Joe's Smoked Sea Salt

Yum Log

Yum Log: So Tasty We Had to Share: Trader Joe’s Smoked Sea Salt

There’s more to life than gadgets and gear — hard to believe I know — but true!! For example there are things like… food and drink. And with so many great flavors and food experiences out there, we just had to start bringing you some of our favorites. That’s where the Yum Log comes in. The Yum Log is all about the food and drink experiences you just want to have. And the first Yum Log entry is… Trader Joe’s Naturally Smoked Sea Salt Elana brought this home the other day and it is just YUM. It is smokey and…

Star Trek Theme Park Coming Soon!

News & Features

Star Trek Theme Park Coming Soon!

My first vacation with Sarah we went to Las Vegas for a long weekend. Sarah was excited about the shows and the gambling, but all I cared about was going to the STAR TREK EXPERIENCE! My inner Trekkie was very excited, and it’s a credit to Sarah that she stuck with me after watching the extreme geek-out when I saw a guy in a Borg outfit. Sadly, the Star Trek Experience is no longer in Las Vegas, but don’t worry, the King of Jordan has us all covered. From MSNBC: It turns out that King Abdullah II of Jordan is a huge…

Secrets of "The Real World" Cast Contracts

News & Features

Secrets of “The Real World” Cast Contracts

When I was in high school, I remember watching MTV’s “The Real World”, and wondering how long MTV had the cast under contract. Since they all seemed to appear with regularity on various MTV reality shows, I assumed it was because it was a requirement, and not because they truly loved being on MTV. As it turns out, the Village Voice managed to get an actual “Real World” contract, and the terms are, to say the least, eyebrow-raising. A few choice excerpts [note that the BOLD is from the Village Voice, and the italics are my interpretation]:  Producers are under…

RunBike, the Duckbilled Platypus of Workout Equipment

News & Features

RunBike, the Duckbilled Platypus of Workout Equipment

When I saw the RunBike on Runner’s World this morning, it took a good two minutes before I stopped laughing/choking on my coffee. I was speechless, but once I recovered from my initial “WHY!?!” response, some more serious questions came to mind. 1) How on earth do you run uphill while strapped into that thing? 2) How long is a RunBike, and how do you get into it? Do you drop in from the top? Limbo in? 3) Is it street-legal? And do you follow biking laws, where you act like a vehicle and obey traffic laws, or do you…

When Humor Meets Harsh Reality

News & Features

When Humor Meets Harsh Reality

I am a huge fan of the web comic XKCD, as writer Randall Munroe makes witty and insightful comments in just a few frames. But there is a reality in play here: for quite some time (since last fall) there have been cancer-related comics sprinkled in with everything else. About a month ago Munroe talked about it in his blog: Last fall I posted about a family illness, but didn’t give a lot of details. In October my fiancée was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. It’s rare for young women to get breast cancer, and she’s otherwise healthy and…