Author Archives: dnw

Alarm backup power from phone lines?

I came across this site called 5min.com. It’s a how-to style video sharing site with heaps of neat tricks and tips. This video below got me thinking about emergency backup sources for such things as alarms etc. Watch it to the end. http://www.5min.com/Embeded/12198/ How to Get Free Electricity Watch more DIY videos on 5min.comhttp://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Get-Free-Electricity-12198 NearContinueContinue reading “Alarm backup power from phone lines?”

Dave the Lifekludger for Rudd’s 1000 at Australia 2020 Summit

UPDATE: Mark Pesce writes an excellent article on how and why the Summit needs to be and extended conversation: Laurel talks here about Kevin Rudd’s call for an Australia 2020 Summit to gather ideas from 1000 Australians on 10 issues: • Future directions for the economy, including education, skills, training, science and innovation •Continue readingContinue reading “Dave the Lifekludger for Rudd’s 1000 at Australia 2020 Summit”

Latest Extraordinary Everyday Lives Podcast up #41

EELS41 Thu 7 Feb 2008 – Ajay Ranipeta – Laurel driving Get the show here – The Extraordinary Everyday Lives Show #041 – 1:15:18; 25.9Mb Extraordinary Everyday Lives show #41 – Thursday 7th Feb 2008 In this first show for 2008 Laurel Papworth is handed the reigns to drive the show and brings a guestContinueContinue reading “Latest Extraordinary Everyday Lives Podcast up #41”

Dave for Rudd’s 1000 at Australia 2020 Summit

Laurel talks here about Kevin Rudd’s call for an Australia 2020 Summit to gather ideas from 1000 Australians on 10 issues: • Future directions for the economy, including education, skills, training, science and innovation • Economic infrastructure, the digital economy and the future of Australia’s cities • Population, sustainability, climate change, water • RuralContinue readingContinue reading “Dave for Rudd’s 1000 at Australia 2020 Summit”

Second Life, the ABC and Virtual Social interactions

UPDATE: The Producer of the show sent me the audio and I’ve snipped out music and commercials. You can listen here. Just like Laurel, I was asked on the ABC Radio Tuesday night to talk about Second Life (SL). Evidently the show was about online relationships, not just SL, but I didn’t know this beforehand,ContinueContinue reading “Second Life, the ABC and Virtual Social interactions”

Turn phone into walking radar to detect physical spaces

The “Walking Radar” project connects up a Basic Stamp and IR sensor to your cell phone in order to detect objects in the environment and influence games on the device or trigger SMS messages to be sent. [Make] It occurred to me this gadget if hooked up to the vibration part of your phone couldContinueContinue reading “Turn phone into walking radar to detect physical spaces”

Linux Conference Australia and Second Life

I got an email about the Linux Conference being held in Melbourne later this month. There will be events also happening simultaneously in Second Life. The irc channel for the conference will be relayed in Second Life for participants to be able to take part via irc in world. See links with SLURL below. Here’sContinueContinue reading “Linux Conference Australia and Second Life”

Modeling Second Life virtual objects in the Physical – Paper Prototyping

I recently came across this site called Export To World which offers a method of taking virtual objects created in Second Life and creating a physical paper model of it in First Life. In effect making physical objects from virtual ones. Novel concept you say, but so what? Well, think of the situation where aContinueContinue reading “Modeling Second Life virtual objects in the Physical – Paper Prototyping”

AlarMe – Alert watch with style

AlarMe is a very unique watch that has the ability to alert those who cannot hear an audible alarm by vibration. Multidirectional microphones that can register a drastic change in ambient sound level, or pick up specially asigned frequencies alert the user. The LED lights and face alert the user as to what the alarmContinueContinue reading “AlarMe – Alert watch with style”

Pointui – touch for when you don’t have fingers – acting agnostic

Recently I was made aware of a program called Pointui while scanning Frank Arrigo’s blog (hi Frank). I thought it sounded interesting if for no other reason than the screenshot looked to provide bigger buttons. So I visited the Pointui site. Pointui is a interface layer for Windows Mobile based devices. It adds larger iconsContinueContinue reading “Pointui – touch for when you don’t have fingers – acting agnostic”

Hardware remix, economies of scale and corporate incompetence.

My friend JP has written an excellent post We’re not talking games any more. More and more, we will see enterprises spend real money on usability, on visualisation tools, on ways to support people who would otherwise be disenfranchised. Incidentally, thanks to a tweet from LifeKludger, I went and took a look at this. Pointui.ContinueContinue reading “Hardware remix, economies of scale and corporate incompetence.”

5 Dangerous Things Kids should do

Dangerous Things Kids should do     photo by Leo Reynolds 1. play with fire 2. own a pocket knife 3. throw a spear 4. de-construct appliances 5. break the DMCA (digital millennium copyright act) [5.5 drive a car] Confused? Then watch this video from TED. You may just be able to impart some realContinueContinue reading “5 Dangerous Things Kids should do”

Immersive podcast recording in SL – next Extraordinary Everyday Lives show

UPDATE: Mike has written a good post about this podcast session over on his blog. A few days ago Nick Hodge wrote an interesting post titled “Thinking Ahead of the Game” about Immersive Conversations. I like it because it quickly condenses and summarises the online interaction ‘state-of-play’. It also uncannily traces the spaces I’ve foundContinueContinue reading “Immersive podcast recording in SL – next Extraordinary Everyday Lives show”

XBox 360 Controller for Mac OSX

Came across this neat little project that could be an alternate input device. Not sure if it could double as mouse and gaes controller, or just games.  “…a USB driver which allows you to use wired XBox 360 Controllers via USB, and wireless XBox 360 Controllers via the Microsoft Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, on yourContinueContinue reading “XBox 360 Controller for Mac OSX”

Thoughts from the road – change, steps and the signal.

Took a quick trip bush. Getting into the van, this line came to me: Into the cockpit of our future Fly the memories of our past That’s not quoting anyone, it’s my original thought. There’s a poem in there somewhere. Maybe the rest will appear sometime. Or maybe it’s just stimulus. Sitting in the backContinueContinue reading “Thoughts from the road – change, steps and the signal.”

Unforseen custom uses for Wii as input device

There exists assistive technology devices that use tracking of a reflective dot by infrared to control a computer. They cost in vacinity on USD $4-500. Now take a look at this video and think about the unforseen possibilities of general purpose ‘stuff’. And what happens with mass market uptake and the effect it has onContinueContinue reading “Unforseen custom uses for Wii as input device”