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| March 31, 2006 (FoodNFunFriday) |
We played A LOT yesterday... mostly because we got another four of those Cubes. Some readers pointed out that CubeWorld reminded them of the TileToy cube we had reported on last November.
CubeWorld appears to be a simplier implementation of many of the ideas of TileToy...it is also quite a bit cheaper. We wanted to see what was inside CubeWorld, so we took one apart. Go check out what it looks like here.
Everything in CubeWorld worked just fine even when all its guts are hanging out... so we are hopeful that we will eventually figure out how to hack it. You can be sure we'll post the steps when that day comes. For those following along on our hydroponic AeroGarden experiment, this is the end of Week 1.
We are happy to report that the lettuce crop is growing vigorously. The domes will be lifted tomorrow. We can't wait to see what happens in Week 2! We also had a chance to take a closer look a the new Dremel Stylus.
Hopefully we'll have some time to play with it this weekend... especially if the weather turns rainy tomorrow. There is zero chance of playing with the Stylus today since it is 72º out and we are offically signing off for the day! OK...EVERYBODY outside, NOW!
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| March 30, 2006 (TechToysThursday) |
A new crop of Tech Toys just came in to the RainyDayMagazine office today. All work grinded to a halt as folks gathered around the UPS guy (btw...we call him "Santa Bob") to see what was hot at ToyFair 2006... it was not like we didn't already HAVE enough diversions in our office. In the collection was a cool looking thumb wrestling toy for boys called Thumb Warrior and a digital recorder/player named B-Bop geared toward girls. There was also a package called Cube World.
The instant hit with the bunch at the office turned out to be that package from Radica containing a couple of cubes. For those who were caught up in the Tamagotchi craze, you may want to be a little careful with these cubes.
Each Radica Cube World package contains two different cubes. There are currently four different cubes available. Each Cube contains a stick character with a distinct "personality". The interesting thing about these stick figures is when you put two or more cubes together they will "interact".
Another interesting thing about the residents of Cube World is, unlike the Tamagotchi pets, they do not require any care and feeding. They won't starve to death and die if you forget about them for a while. We have more of these Cube on the way to the RainyDayMagazine office. We are going to build a little Cube World. We should have videos in a few days. Another cool TechToy was something we got a while ago, but never got around to writing up until now. It is the SpyVision goggles from Wild Planet.
The goggles have hidden LEDs built into the side of the frame. When retracted they light up the lens. If extended, the lights are powerful enough to illuminate up to 25ft ahead. These googles are pretty wild and a lot of fun :-) Get a closer look at them here. BTW...it is 11AM and 60º outside, so we are going to stop working for the day and go out and play :-)
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| March 29, 2006 (WowUsWednesday) |
Our friend Toby is in Brazil at the moment. He will not be blogging live about the solar eclipse... we think he is just there drinking beer. However, if you want to see the eclipse, click on the images below to go to two of the hundreds of sites on the web which will be tracking the eclipse's progress.
Today is Day 5 for our AeroGarden. We are happy to report that ALL seven of the pods have something growing in them! Many of the pods have multiple sprouts. Some have poked out beyond their paper cover.
Things are growing in our own RainyDayGarden as well. The signs of Spring are everywhere. Finches that nested in the front entry way have been spotted checking out their nest from last year. The Tiger lillies, tulips, and irises are coming up out of the ground.
There is also a rumor that we may see a brief period of 70º temperature this week! We are still keeping the snow tires on the Boxster until the end of April because that last snow storm WILL come :-)
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| March 28, 2006 (TrickyTuesday) |
When we watch a car commercial today, we expect most of the precision driving to be the work of the digital special effects department.
This was not always the case. In the days before FX (like in the 1980s), real drivers with skills were used to pull of amazing trick driving stunts seen in commercials like the one from Isuzu. What is NOT tricky is getting things to grow in the AeroGarden. The RainyDayGarden folks planted it over the weekend. By the second day, a sprout had already poked its way out of one of the pods.
This morning five of the seven pods have sprouted. Some of the sprouts even have leaves! You can follow the updates all this week in our Featured Review section (upper right on this page). BTW, no need to send us any more emails on "what is our favorite ipod case". Dudley W (entry #26) just sent in the winning answer and yes...it is the iKeyChain. There is still another chance to win something. What is the question? You just have to read carefully.
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| March 27, 2006 (MakingOurCaseMonday) |
Need to take three laptops with you when you travel? We sometimes do. That's when we reach for our Slappa Fliptop Pro bag. Need a rugged laptop case that is a breed apart? Then the Slappa HardBody Pro may just be what you are looking for.
We took a close look at both cases and found them to be like all other Slappa cases... innovative in design, constructed with high quality materials, and really comfortable to use. We, of course, could not talk about cases without mentioning one for the iPod nano :-) Most of our readers know we have a pretty good collection of them. If you think you know what our favorite is, drop us an email :-) This new iPod nano case is from C6 MFG. The case is made of carbon fiber. The stuff is EXTREMELY light, strong, and stiff. It is also really cool looking :-)
The case came with a clear shield for the front of the iPod and a hex key for disassembling/assembling the case. We'll have a complete run down on this case by TechThursday.
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| March 26, 2006 (WeekendEdition) |
Hydroponic gardening has been around for a long time. Techniques and systems for growing plants in soil-less environments have been successfully created by amateur and professionals alike. While the concepts and equipment necessary for a hydroponic garden is pretty simple to set up, it is often quite industrial looking and definitely not something one would want in the kitchen. AeroGrow has created a system that is both simple and attractive. The AeorGarden was quick to assemble, easy to plant, and looks great anywhere in the house.
We will track the progress of the growth of the garden from planting (March 25th) to harvest. We'll post the updates and photos every Saturday. BTW...the first reader to send us email correctly identifying the makers of the 3 cylindrical "things" in the photo will get a little something in the mail :-)
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| March 24, 2006 (FoodFriday) |
Is coffee...food? Most folks here at RainyDayMagazine think so. That must be the reason why we keep getting new coffee machines for the RainyDayKitchen! Our lastest is the Keurig B-50
A few of us have already tried the B-50 and have found it quick, easy to use, and makes really good coffee. We got a lot of different pods in the sample pack. We'll HAVE to try them ALL before we can give you our opinions on this unit :-) Another "machine" the folks in the RainyDayKitchen are testing is the Aerobie AeroPress. The AeroPress is totally mechanical and takes a bit more work. However, for some coffee purist, it may be just what they have been looking for!
We plan to drink a LOT of coffee this weekend and will have a full review of the Keurig B-50
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| March 23, 2006 (TVtoCellPhoneThursday) |
We reviewed the Neuros MPEG-4 recorder in January. Since then, we have been finding ALL kinds for fun ways to use this amazingly versatile digital recording device.
The one problem we constantly come up against with the NeurosCAM is finding a convenient way to view the MPEG-4 videos when we are not in the office. We came up with a partial solution, but had to go all the way to Australia to get the missing piece needed to get it to work! The missing piece was a SD to CF adapter from Mittoni.
The partial solution is to record on a Sandisk miniSD card and view the video on our Motorola MPX 220 SmartPhone. In order to do that we need a miniSD card, a miniSD to SD adapter, and a SD to CF adapter! The recorded video then has to be converted from MPEG-4 to .3gp format before it can be played on the cell phone. Wheww :-)
It all works, but this approach obviously will not work for the NeuroCAM out in the field. Our next goal is to find a way to view the MPEG-4 videos captured by the NeurosCAM without having to do a format conversion. It would mean finding a MPEG-4 viewer for the SmartPhone. The first reader to point us to an app which works will get something from us in the mail :-)
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| March 22, 2006 (WowUsWednesday) |
What if computer chips can be made transparent? What would we get? Would we see "Heads Up" displays everywhere, more efficient solar panels, cheap "smart glass"? That future is now one step closer because of the work by folks at Oregan State University.
HP has already licensed the rights to this technology from Oregon State. The reason for the excitement is the process does not require exotic or expensive materials. In fact, it may be so cheap that it may over take silicon. The base material is zine oxide...the same stuff in sun block! OSU thinks this future is only about five years out. A little bit closer to "now" is the possibility of replacing the mechanical hard drive in a laptop with a solid state version made out of FLASH memory. We at RainyDayMagazine have been thinking about this for a while... we even have it up on our white board :-)
Samsung was showing a laptop with a 32GB solid-state drive at CeBIT 2006 in Germany. It starts up faster, uses less power, but at $30/GB...it's a bit expensive to for the mass market.
Samsung expects the price to follow Moore's Law ...which means it will be given away for free in cereal boxes in a few years :-) Other players are lining up to aggressively compete in this new market. Micron announced a partnership with Intel in NAND memory. In March, they also announced plans to acquire LEXAR, a FLASH memory company with a large IP in FLASH controllers. It's starting to get exciting!
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| March 22, 2006 (TechTuesday) |
Many of you have been asking for an update on the MediaCenter Project... so here it is :-) We'll have a complete write-up once it is fully operational.
After we got FrontRow working on the Mac mini, by following the instructions here, we went about adding local storage, networked backup, and DVD burning gear to the system. There are still some backup issues we need to be work out, but we have been really impressed with Seagate's MIRRA
We also installed and mounted the Keyspan
We had an extra Hubbell bracket, so we used it to mount the 300GB drive next to the CPU. This gave us some more space on the bottom shelf...hmmm, what should we add? The two remaining pieces to this project are surround speakers and the video display. For the speakers, we are looking at a few different possibilities. Send us your suggestion if you have a favorite. We had considered JBL's escXcite system, but found out that they have been discontinued. Logitech's Z-5450 For the video display, we have the JVC 60" projection TV in house. However, we are not entirely pleased with the quality of the video from the Mac mini to the TV. We may look at some LCD projection systems to see if we get a better output... in which case, we may add a retractable screen as well :-) We'll let you know what we come up with in a few weeks!
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| March 20, 2006 (MakeItWorkMonday) |
By now most folks interested in getting Windows XP to work on their Intel Mac have heard the hack has been accomplished, that "Yes" it is possible to do such a thing, and the $13,854 prize claimed.
Some are now pushing for Apple to support Windows running on a Mac. Our question to those folks would be... why would Apple want to actively support such a thing? We don't see Apple making it impossible to boot the Windows OS on an IntelMac, but why would they want to get tangled in all those support calls on why something has gone wrong with XP running on their Macs? That's just crazy talk:-) It's nice to see that Windows XP can run on a Intel based piece of Mac hardware, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Apple to officially support such a thing. For our readers who want to make things with their hands, we have a few products that may appeal to you.
One of our readers asked us to check out ArmourEtch. A few of our staff are currently testing their arts&craft skills with this product. We'll have a full report by next Monday! Some folks here have more confidence in their manual dexterity. We have asked them to take the Dremel and show us what kind of glass work can be done with it. We will give them until the end of April to show us what can be done with a steady hand and 35,000 rpm.
For the guys working on the upcoming RainyDayRenovation section, we got them some SERIOUS tools from RotoZip.
RotoZip Spiral Saw is an extremely versatile portable cutting system used by professional builders. We'll let you know first hand the benefits of these tools for the weekend renovators....soon! We just got them in today :-)
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| March 19, 2006 (WeekendEdition) |
The Vernal or Spring Equinox is just a few days away. We took a quick hike in the Blue Hills today to see if we could detect any signs of Spring.
We did a quick five mile hike around Fowl Meadow and are happy to report that even though the air temperature was 36º, things are starting to feel more Spring than Winter and the birds are definitely chirpin'. Of course, we are hoping for one more large snow storm before it is all over. If you want to get away for the weekend but don't want to have to do too much planning ahead of time, go to Mohegan Sun. There is SO much to do there besides gambling that you and your significant other will be thoroughly entertained for the weekend!
We know YOU are ready to go, but if your significant other still needs more convincing, point them to Carolyn's write-up of her trip to Mohegan Sun. Also, to answer one of our reader's (Eric) question... Yes, it is possible to "spam your own blog" :-)
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| March 18, 2006 (WeekendEdition) |
OK...stop sending us email on your laptop guesses :-) Email entry number 2037 was the winner. Anthony Leotta from Australia, of all places, was the first to correctly name all three laptops... Apple G3, Sony Picturebook, and Sony PCG505-VE. Nicely done!!!
All three laptops were used in past reviews...so guessing was not really necessary, just a little deductive reasoning :-) Anyway, we are now looking around the office trying to decide what to send to Anthony. We'll be slipping these little "contests" into the articles more and more often...so read carefully and send your answers in quick! They will ALL be "First Correct Entry Wins" type of contests. The more difficult the task, the better the "prize" :-) The "answers" will ALWAYS be somewhere on the RainyDayMagazine site. The reason we don't name the prize ahead of time is to discourage folks from trying to "game" the contests...especially since if you don't know if it would be worth the effort!!! We just want to keep it FUN :-)
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| March 17, 2006 (FireItUpFriday) |
If you need to be totally "Off The Grid", you can always hook up the Xantrex XPower Powerpack 100 to a Brunton SolarRoll and power all your digital gear using the sun. It won't run your air conditioner, but it will power your laptop, PDA, cell phone, and other assorted electronics gear without requiring you to bring along a host of adapter plugs. However, you will have to bring all the specific AC adapter for all those devices :-)
So if you are looking for a portable AC outlet, this XPower Pocket Powerpack 100 should be at the top of your shopping list.
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| March 16, 2006 (TakeItWithYouThursday) |
Need to take three laptops with you when you travel? We sometimes do. That's when we reach for our Slappa Fliptop Pro bag. There will be a full review of the Fliptop in a few weeks.
To make things a little more fun for us... if you think you can identify all three laptops in the bag, drop us an email. We'll send the first person to correctly name all three a little something "fun" :-)
Speaking of something "fun", Slappa has just announced one awesome looking bag/backpack. This one is called the Spyder. We have not seen it in person yet, but when we have a chance to a take a look, we'll give you the usual detailed report. One bag we do have on hand and are REALLY blown away by is the Marsus
This Marsus pack is covered with napa leather, fitted with polished nickel buckles, and lined in satin! It also has enough pockets and compartments to keep everything in its proper place. THIS
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| March 15, 2006 (WowUsWednesday) |
We told you about the new AromaPill from Method last month. We now have four new scents to try around the RainyDayMagazine office.
At this very moment, gentle waves of Grapefruit & Pear are silently neutralizing any offending odor in the editor's office. Everybody is humming and all is well in our little piece of olfactory heaven :-) We can't wait to see what the Lavender & Lemongrass will do to productivity!
One bottle will keep your room fresh for about 6-8 weeks. Refills of your favorites are available. A few years ago we when to our first Paradise City Arts Festival out in Marlborough MA. We have heard really good things about the show, but wasn't really expected to be as blown away as we were!
Most of you know we love spending time at the MFA. The problem is the guards at the MFA REALLY frown upon us touching any of the objects in the museum :-) At the Paradise City Arts Festival, they not only encourage you to touch things... if you really like it, you can even BUY it!
Another great thing about the Festival is most of the artists are on hand to answer questions about their work.
The 2006 festival will have over 170 artists from all over the US. It is only about 30 minutes outside of Boston. If you have time this weekend, it is a great way to spend day. Look for us and say "Hi!"
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| March 14, 2006 (KitchenTechTuesday) |
Grill cheese sandwiches are a favorite choice for lunch in the RainyDayKitchen. We had been using the George Foreman Grill for making them. The GF grill
We got this grill from Cuisinart Another item we got for the temporary kitchen is a toaster oven. Not just any toaster oven, but one large enough to roast a 4 lb chicken.
No mechanical sliders or rotary knobs on this Cuisinart toaster oven
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| March 13, 2006 (MusicMonday) |
Have a ton of music on your iPod? Want to play it on your home stereo system? With Logitech's Wireless Music System, not only can you do both, but you can walk around the house while doing it.
If you are looking for a simple to use, well thought out, wireless way to play the music on your iPod using your home stereo system, we think the Logitech WMS should be on the top of your list. Go here to see why :-)
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| March 11, 2006 (WeekendEdition) |
Jay & Lisa were at the New England Home Show a few weekends ago checking out the latest for a new section of the magazine scheduled to launch in June. This new section will focus on home renovation and all of related things (tools, tech, tips, etc...)
We think the new RainyDayRenovation section will be a great place to learn more about the latest in technology for the home... whether it be keyless door locks, home media servers, or high efficiency home heating systems! If there are topics or gear you would like us to cover, just drop us a note here!
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| March 10, 2006 (HiFiFriday) |
When Sonic Impact introduced their $30 Class T Amp they created quite a stir amongst audiophiles. Many were astonished that a small inexpensive digital audio amplifier was able to hold its own when compared to units costing 10 to 20 times more! Sonic Impact has released a higher end version (Super T Amp) with a redesigned circuit board, aluminum casing, and heavier duty wire connections.
On first look, the changes definitely addressed the criticisms of the cosmetics of version 1.0. We'll be breaking this unit in over the next month to see if this upgrade is worthy of all of the excitement generated by version 1.0. A few months ago we reviewed the StarTech AirLink. This weekend we are going to test Logitech's Wireless Music System. Both devices use the same basic approach, but the Logitech system appears to be more versatile.
One possible advantage of the Logitech system over the AirLink is its transmitter has a built-in rechargeable battery, which allows the user to move around with iPod or MP3 player. We'll have a full report of the Logitech Wireless Music System by next week.
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| March 9, 2006 (TravelTechThursday) |
We needed a smaller camera bag for times when we wanted to carry just a digital camera and a little bit of gear.
We knew that Kata makes a great line of professional gear bags, and were when we found the S-312 Sling bag. This bag was everything we were looking for and more. We think we have found the perfect day bag for our digital camera gear! Not often, but sometimes when we travel on a plane, we actually try to get some work done. Once in a while we would catch the person next to us "shoulder surfing." It isn't they are trying to steal some top-secret company info...more likely they are bored having to sit next to us for three hours listening to us type!
3M has developed a "privacy screen" that can be attached to a laptop to thwart such behavior. We got two different sizes and will be testing them out to see if they work as advertised. Another thing we can't get enough of when we hit the road is extra power for our gear. We have tried a lot of different external power solutions. However, most of them require us to carry special plugs and adapters.
We have found a unit which will power any device with an AC cord. The Xantrex PowerPack 110 has a built in AC outlet and will directly power most electronic equipment for a few hours. The unit is rechargeable and comes with its own carrying case. We will take this one on the road with us to see if their approach makes it any easier to power all the stuff we haul with us when we venture out :-)
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| March 8, 2006 (WowUsWednesday) |
The movie Minority Report gave us a vision of the future of computer user interface. A user would gesture to the screen, the specific gestures would be interpreted, and actions would result.
That vision is one step closer with the work from researchers at NYU. Jefferson Han has been working on a MultiTouch graphical interaction surface which tracks multiple fingers and would react appropriately based on context, position, and movement.
To get a full appreciation of the MultiTouch UI, check out the video. The potential for this work is really quite astounding. Take special note of the image sorting and resizing segment of the clip! If you can't wait until MultiTouch makes it out of the lab into the marketplace, you can always get yourself a huge touchscreen like the SmartBoard.
The SmartBoard will turn a flat screen into a touchscreen so you can use your finger to control the mouse, click, select, draw, etc... It is not as sophisticated as the MultiTouch, but it is here today.
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| March 7, 2006 (TravelTuesday) |
We've been going to South Beach for the past six years. The tradition started when we all decided to go there to celebrate one of the RDM's senior writer's birthday one year. Some of us loved it so much that we kept going back. We ventured a little bit further north (about a mile) from the main beach this year for our hotel accommodations. We stayed at the newly renovated Indian Creek Hotel.
It is a small hotel, but it has a wonderful lobby, courtyard, and pool. The courtyard and pool area is surrounded by tall palm trees, creating an intimate setting and blocking out the traffic noise.
The weather this year was PERFECT. It was 75º when we landed and stayed that way the entire weekend. Go read the trip report here. Spring Break is just starting. There is still time to find some last minute deals!
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| March 6, 2006 (MakeItYourselfMonday) |
Want to make your own supercar? Just follow the steps outlined by these West Philly High School kids and build you own biodiesel (50 mpg) supercar (0-60 in 4 sec) out of a Honda chassis!
The guys in the RainyDayGarage are all excited about it, but somehow I don't think they are going to get the OK to do the same thing to the Boxster. We have been documenting the renovation of a house in Somerville MA for the past six months. In June, RainyDayMagazine will launch a new section called RainyDayRenovation. This new section will have great reviews of new home technologies (ex: high efficiency central heating, ceiling fans, air tubs), tips on managing renovation projects, and "how-to" articles (ex: tesselation pattern stained glass windows).
We'll have reviews on the tools used for the projects (ex: diamond dust coated glass saw and grinder) as well as the plans and steps of how to do it yourselves.
There will also be articles on smaller DIY projects done with products like the Armour Etch glass etching kit. Armour Products have a full line that will let you add details and touches to may personal items. All of that will be coming soon, but since we all just got back after a few fabulous days in the South Beach sun... it will have to wait until folks have readjusted to the 30º New England weather!
A few dedicated RainyDayMagazine contributors decided they would stay another week and venture up to Ft. Lauderdale to scout out some possible destinations for next year. We'll let you know what they find... when or if they ever come back to the office:-)
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| March 2, 2006 (TrafficThursday) |
Ahh...what if there was a law that if followed, would bring things to a crawl, totally piss everyone off, and endanger those who followed it and those who did not? There is such a law and it is the 55 Speed Limit. We all know about it. Most of us don't obey it most of the time. A group decided to find out what would happen if they actually drove at 55! Ah...the questions from the minds of those not debilitated by years of cynicism :-)
They managed to obey the law, point out its absurdity, made some people laugh, pissed a lot of people off, and stimulated a lot of passionate discussions on a few car forums. If you have not seen this, we encourage you to check it out. Credit for this RainyDayTip goes to Steve on HHI of PPBB!
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| March 1, 2006 (WowUsWednesday) |
We usually highlight amazing products or websites on WowUsWednesdays. However, Apple's announcements yesterday was so amazingly mediocre that we thought we had to point it out.
First was a set of $350 external speakers for the iPod...the iPod Hi-Fi
Another item was a leather case for the iPod nano. We were one of the first to report on the scratching issue and the InvisibleShield solution. Now Apple is offering a leather case to protect it. Yes... everybody and their grandmother make cases for the iPod nano, the difference is the Apple case costs $99! WHAT??? You would do much better with an InvisibleShield or an iKeyChain! Grant you, we are all huge Apple fan here ...some of us even changed our graduate school direction from biology to computer engineering after seeing the 128K Mac back in 1984. We are sure Apple can and will continue to "WOW" us in the future, just not yesterday.
Oh yeah... there was also a new Mac mini Lucky for us there ARE readers who continues to send us amazing tips for "WowUsWednesday" :-) A big hand goes to Mark who sent us this bit on a "Flying Carpet" designed by Seyed Alavi for the Sacramento Internation Airport.
The design is an ariel view of the Sacramento River woven into a carpet which connects the terminal and the parking garage. Wow!!!
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Single Cup Coffee System.
....... 2005 .......
....... 2004 .......
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