Sean Carton's Radio Weblog

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Spray On Nanocomputers

The Edinburgh News reports that scientists at Edinburgh University have been given a 1.3 million pound grant to develop technology that uses sand-sized semicondutor specks for medical monitoring purposes. Apparently these mini-chips can be sprayed on a patient's chest in order to monitor their medical condition and relay the information back to a central hospital computer. Professor DK Arvid, head of the research project, thinks that spray-on computers could have applications beyond medical monitoring: "At the moment if you want to interface you have to use a key board or a mouse, which is very unwieldy. With this you could take a pen and spray it and it becomes an interface in its own right."

7:03:02 AM

Game Business FAQ

If you've been hunting for information about the business of gaming, check out this FAQ from game designer Phil Steinmeyer's blog. Sure, all of this information can be found other places, but it's nice to have it aggregated into one easy-to-browse document, especially if you're ever called on to make the business case for gaming in your work. I know that this is going in my bookmarks!

6:58:21 AM

Train Your Kids to Be Ordanance Disposal Experts!

I dunno...this game from Radica really bothers me for some reason. Total Meltdown combines flashing lights, a ticking timer, and a "taunting voice" to provide kiddies with a realistic, edge of the seat bomb-disposal experience. As the fake "bomb" ticks and flashes they get to twirl dials, move wires, and solve puzzles in order to get the top of the unit open before it blows up (or "melts down"). Hours of fun! If you want to see it in action, check out the TV commercial in QT format.

6:55:46 AM

Order Your Pizza via EverQuest

And now something for the truly lazy hardcore gamers: Pizza Hut now allows you to order pizza while playing EverQuest II simply by typing /pizza while in the game. And while it is a pretty funny (and astoundingly geeky) gimmick, it's a great example of the ongoing merger between gaming and advertising. Heck, even if hardly anyone uses the new feature, the publicity that PizzaHut's gotten by being on the bleeding edge of advergaming is worth it alone. Now if they'd add a /beer command and possibly even a /depends command, MMORPG players would never even have to leave their seats!

6:51:34 AM

Homemade Computer-Controlled Coffee Roaster Made From A Popcorn Popper

Ahh! Nothing like a bit of ingenuity combined with a dollop of technical skill and far too much free time! This article provides a brief overview of how one geek turned his garden-variety hot-air popcorn popper into a digitally-controlled coffee roaster. Kinda neat, but it looks far beyond my technical abilities.

6:47:30 AM

Roll Your Own Senseo Pods

My favorite director of our Industrial Design program at Philadelphia University swears by his Senseo coffee machine (even though he hides the pods in his office). I'll admit that it makes pretty darn good coffee, though at about a buck a cup, it can get pretty expensive. This article on ePinions could help though. It relates in excruciating detail how to make your own Senseo pods from coffee, tea filters, a common household iron, a steady hand, and a bit of patience. Thanks boingboing!

6:45:01 AM

Barbie Cell Phone

If the Hello Kitty cellphone wasn't enough to get the 9 year olds in your life begging, then this new Barbie Cellphone from Hasbro ought to do it. Reportedly it's going to be a pre-paid phone with a linked-in Web site where you (as a parent) can post a list of chores your little darlin' has to do in order for you to pony up the cash to recharge it. While the wisdom of outfitting pre-teens with cellphones is debatable, I do think that the Web tie-in is an excellent idea for closed-loop marketing. Via Endagadget.

6:39:28 AM