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Monday, October 17, 2011

What the Hell Magnets? Why Are You So Amazing? [Video]

What the Hell Magnets? Why Are You So Amazing? You don't need to be a physicist, a PhD student, a geek, or even a member of the Insane Clown Posse to appreciate the awesome capabilities of superconductors and magnets as demonstrated in this video by Tel-Aviv University.

An unidentified member of the university's Superconductivity Group School of Physics and Astronomy shows off the quantum locking, or quantum trapping, effects of a magnet that's been super cooled with liquid nitrogen. Now we've probably all seen demonstrations of super cooled magnets floating above a track before, with promises of them facilitating high-speed trains zigzagging across the country. But this video goes one step further, showing how the position and angle of the magnet can be locked in a magnetic field while it's in motion. The moral of the story is that it makes for an impressive demo, and I better see hoverboards popping up in toy stores by Christmas. [Quantum Levitation via ASTC via Fazed]

Love the lede on this Gizmodo post.

Posted via email from Firesaw

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bag of Crap Woot-off

Wootrage
I was so close to getting my first BOC from Woot today (does not include the many attempts to get the page to load in between panels).

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Apple iPhone 4S Siri demo - YouTube

This is what I always wanted out of voice recognition. When I first used Voice Control on 3GS, I thought was amazing, but then after awhile felt it didn't do enough. Siri looks like a better take on the tech, and is a good base to build on. More natural speakers and the ability to call on Siri without explicitly summoning it would be a great place to start.

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Friday, October 7, 2011

I thought I was all cried out...

...then I see this: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert pay tribute to Steve Jobs (via tuaw.com)

It's strange, and somewhat embarrassing to be affected so by the passing of a stranger. An influential and remarkable individual, that's true, but a stranger nonetheless. I might just be vulnerable to the sentimentality of elegiacs such as these, but then again past reminiscences on the occasion of other note-worthy individuals' deaths never had the effect these and others like these have had on me.

I guess it just seems like a light has gone out, the world is a little bit darker, and we are a little poorer for his loss.

If someone like me who has a very peripheral connection to the man feels this saddened by Steve's departure, I can't imagine how much more profoundly his dear friends and family experience his passing. My thought go out to them at this difficult time.

Posted via email from Firesaw

The Fruits Of Christianism - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast

If you turn a political party into a church, as the GOP essentially now is, sectarianism will eventually emerge. In all its ugly, bigoted, negative manifestations.

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LA Times gets stupid

The only way you can characterize the iPhone 4S as a disappointment is if you believed all of the bullshit rumors that have been floating around the Internet for the past few months.

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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

AppSumo Giving Away 10 Dropbox Pro For Life

10 Lucky sumos will win 50GB Dropbox pro for life. Enter here.

Posted via email from Firesaw