Apr

27

2008

(2) Comments

A Skateboard With 14 Wheels

07:55PM by Jim Frost

I started skateboarding years and years ago and have watched the boards get bigger and bigger but, overall, the technology was pretty much the same.  Then I saw a Flowboard in a sporting goods store.

The Flowboard is unique to say the least: It has 14 wheels, 7 at each end.  The trucks are completely rigid.  Instead of pivoting against a spring or cushion as most skateboards do, the Flowboard puts a set of wheels along an rigid steel arc that is perhaps 60 degrees from perpendicular to the board.  This makes the each wheel have a slightly greater angle than the next as you move out from the center.  Instead of pushing against a spring to turn, then, you roll from one set of wheels to another.  The greater the tilt of the board, the greater the angle between the wheels and the sharper it turns.

Apr

10

2008

(1) Comments

Shopping For Kindle Books

11:14PM by Jim Frost

For most of the last week I have been talking about the e-book market and the design and day-to-day use of Amazon’s Kindle reader.  Today I’m going to wrap up my series on the Kindle by talking about the process of obtaining books for the thing, and touch on a few of its features outside of its main raison d’etre.

So, what is it like to get books for the thing?

Apr

9

2008

(0) Comments

Reading Books On The Kindle

11:13PM by Jim Frost

Over the last several days I’ve talked about the publishing environment that the Kindle was introduced into, about the technologies that make it possible, and its physical design.  Today we get to the thing most people really care about: Is it nice to read with, or does it suck?  And how hard is it to load up with books?

Apr

8

2008

(2) Comments

Hands-On With the Kindle

11:12PM by Jim Frost

Yesterday I spoke a little about the basic qualities that I thought can make a successful e-book reader, and why the Amazon Kindle does a much better job at it than anything else to date.  Today I want to talk about the actual design of the device and what it’s like to live with it day-to-day.

Apr

7

2008

(1) Comments

The Kindle: A Confluence of Technologies

11:10PM by Jim Frost

The Kindle is Amazon’s bid for the e-book market, and their first-ever consumer electronics device.  Yesterday I looked into the history of e-book readers to see what failed and why.  Today I am going to look at what Amazon did to overcome the challenges of providing a commercially successful e-book technology.

Apr

7

2008

(1) Comments

Fun With Robots

09:16PM by Jim Frost

Back on the “cool robot” theme, here’s someone that did not consult with their legal department before reprogramming the factory robot.

My first thought was, “What could possibly go wrong?” I think I would have put a little more space between my head and the floor and walls....

Apr

6

2008

(0) Comments

Burning Down the (Publishing) House: The E-book Wasteland

11:09PM by Jim Frost

Over the next few days I’m going to be doing an in-depth review of Amazon’s Kindle, a device that has alternatively been described as hopeless, the future of reading, and even (I kid you not) “sexy.” The truth is, of course, somewhere between the extremes.

Unlike almost everyone else who has written about the Kindle, I bought one in the first five minutes after they went on sale.  Given the poor showing of previous e-book readers, and the $400 price tag, I was very surprised when it sold out in a matter of hours.  I thought I was going to me one of the few fools to spend that kind of money on it, especially given the poor showing of the superficially similar Sony Readers.  Despite many reviewers questioning the whole point of buying an e-book reader, the Kindle has remained on back-order for months.  This implies that there was considerable pent-up demand waiting for the proper product.

Apr

4

2008

(2) Comments

Sweet Skype Headset

09:02PM by Jim Frost

I admit it, I sat out most of the Skype revolution.  With landline and cellphone what more did I need?  Until recently, that is, when I needed to have a meeting with someone using Skype and realized that my old Microsoft gaming headset really didn’t cut it.  Enter the Logitech ClearChat USB.

Apr

2

2008

(3) Comments

Freaky Cool Robot Dog

11:16PM by Jim Frost

If you’re like me you’ve been disappointed by the large gulf between the fictional capabilities robots in books and movies and the stilted, boring robots of the real world.  I want Robby The Robot, but I get an robotic vacuum cleaner.  But things they are a changin’.

Check out this video of Boston Dynamics “Big Dog”, a robotic pack-dog.  Once you get past the buzzy sound of the two-stroke engine used to power it, it’s freaky how much like an animal it is.  The robot’s balance, even on ice!, is incredible.  I want one!

I bet it has a hard time picking itself up if it falls down but it is clear that robotic technology is finally getting to the point where it can do really cool things.  It’s not all smoke-and-mirrors either, the development is being done a couple of towns over from where I live, and one of my friends has seen them out playing with it in a parking lot.  He tells me it’s every bit as cool as the video.

I welcome our robotic overlords!

Apr

2

2008

(2) Comments

Touch Me Baby (part III)

08:06PM by Jim Frost

In the last installment of my series on using an iPod Touch as a PDA I’m going to talk about most of the rest of its major applications:  Contacts, Photos, Music, Video, Safari, and Mail.  There were a few surprises, both positive and negative, that I discovered through use and experimentation.