Encyclopedia of Life: Cataloguing Earth’s Ecosystem

EOL

The Encyclopedia of life (EOL) is a new project that went online just a few days ago. Its goal is to create a free online database for every one of Earth’s 1.8 million known species. The site currently features 30,000 entries, but as time passes, the rest of our planet living organisms should appear.

On its first day online (February 26), the encyclopedia’s site logged over 11.5 million hits over 5 and a half hours, counting two hours of downtime due to excessive demand. If you thought being dugg could be a webserver’s worst nightmare, think again!

For now, all accepted entries in the Encyclopedia’s database will come from scientists, but in a few months, the site will start accepting submissions from the public, just like Wikipedia. Needless to say, I’m sure that strong moderation measures will be implemented to ensure data integrity.

Just like Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia of Life exists because of private donations. Initial funding was provided by the John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation ($10 million) and by the Alfred Sloan Foundation ($2.5 million).



Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope is Amazing

In the following video, science educator Roy Gould and Microsoft’s Curtis Wong give an astonishing sneak preview of Microsoft’s new WorldWide Telescope — a technology that combines feeds from satellites and telescopes all over the world and the heavens, and weaves them together holistically to build a comprehensive view of our universe.


Save the environment, type on a bamboo keyboard

By Mark O’Neill

Are you an environmentally-friendly geek? Then how about discarding your plastic keyboard and having a bamboo one instead?

Judging from a quick Google search, it seems that the concept of the bamboo keyboard came first from Japan, and now, it is gradually making it way across the rest of the world for a very reasonable $60, mouse included.

Just don’t show it to your panda neighbours when they come round to visit.



A Revolution in Nanoelectronics: Nokia Morph Concept

The Nokia Morph is a flexible, two-piece concept device that can adapt its shape according to the task its user wants it to accomplish. Thanks to nanotechnology, Morph can sense its environment, harvest solar energy, and also clean itself automatically.

Featured in The Museum of Modern Art “Design and The Elastic Mind” exhibition, the Morph concept device is a bridge between highly advanced technologies and their potential benefits to end-users. This device concept showcases some revolutionary leaps being explored by Nokia Research Center (NRC) in collaboration with the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre (United Kingdom) – nanoscale technologies that will potentially create a world of radically different devices that open up an entirely new spectrum of possibilities.

The ultimate 2D physics puzzle game: Crayon Physics Deluxe

Crayon Physics Deluxe is a 2D physics puzzle game that allows you to draw objects and then unleash them upon a 2d world to accomplish certain objectives. Check it out in the following video:

Looks fun, doesn’t it?

Introducing the Suntory Mermaid II: A wave-powered ship

Suntory Mermaid II

It’s no secret that boats have been used by man since the dawn of time. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that wind can easily be harnessed for locomotion. It does take a genius, however, to create a vessel powered by waves.

In the next few weeks, a well known Japanese adventurer named Kenichi Horie will set sail on his wave-powered boat for a 7000 kilometer journey starting in Hawaii and ending in the Kii Channel in Japan. The 3 ton catamaran is fabricated out of super-thin recycled aluminum and can cruise at up to 5 knots. His trip is estimated to last about 3 months.

The Suntory Mermaid II propulsion system works by harnessing the power of waves via two fins in the front of the boat. Said fins act similarly to a Dolphin’s tail, moving up and down according to the waves, thus propelling the ship. If this little project still isn’t green enough for your taste, all onboard electronics are powered via solar panels.

[Via PopSci]


Back up files to email with just one right-click

By Mark O’Neill

These days, with 6GB+ Gmail accounts and unlimited Yahoo accounts, email addresses are being used for more than just email.   Many people email themselves backups of many things including important documents, music, photos, video files and much more.  This way, they are not screwed if the original copy is destroyed or goes missing.  Plus their files are accessible from any internet-enabled PC.

But it can be a drag.  First you have to open a new email window, then you have to click on the attachment link, find the attachment then fill out the email address… there must be an easier, faster way to email yourself a backup of something right?   Well there is – the rather unoriginally named BackupToEmail.

This nifty little program installs an option in your Windows Explorer right-click menu which enables you to right-click on a file, choose the backup option and have it immediately sent to your designated email account.   It also installs a link in your right-click “send to” options which zips and sends the file to you.

When you first set it up, you need to tweak the program to suit yourself :

The beauty of this is that it is not locked into one email service – whether you use Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or a really obscure service, it still works.  It also supports multiple email addresses.Now just right-click on your desired file in Windows Explorer, choose “Backup to email” and it immediately starts sending via a SSL SMTP server :

The file arrives in your email extremely fast, and so far, I’ve seen nothing to give me cause for concern.  It does what it claims to do. If you like, you can also alter the registry settings if you don’t like “Backup to email” in your right-click menu.  You can easily change it to “Gmail This!” or “Yahoo It!” if you’d prefer to give your menu that personal touch. Using this program, you can email backups to yourself in a matter of seconds – and you’ll wonder how you managed to survive without it up to now.

Nine Must-Listen Podcasts For Geeks

By Patrick Biz
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Geeks hate listening to commercial radio on their way to work. Hollywood gossip and local news are not the types of content computer-savvy people are raving about. What if, come Monday morning, you’re in the mood for tech news? Then on Tuesday’s commute, you want home theater reviews, and Wednesday, you want the latest pop news from Steve Jobs? Good luck finding all this on your AM/FM portable tuner.

Well thanks to podcasts, now you can listen to what you want, whenever you want. Podcasting is one of the best things to come out of the Internet . It is an audio or video file syndicated via the Internet that plays on portable media players, such as an iPod. Like radio and television shows, you can find podcasts on any subject you can think of. But for geeks looking for distinctively geeky content, here’s a list of what I consider to be the best technology and computer podcasts.

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