CG Star Wars Versus Star Trek

Most entertaining.

CG Star Wars Versus Star Trek Battle In San Francisco
http://geekologie.com/2013/05/cg-star-wars-vs-star-trek-battle-in-san.php

Helios Bars - Transform any bike into a smart bike

This is monstrously cool. If you cycle, check these out.

Helios adds a variety of smart features to your bike that improve the overall biking experience.

Helios Bars: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kennygibbs/helios-bars-transform-any-bike-into-a-smart-bike

CSS Tube Map

Brilliant.

http://www.csstubemap.co.uk/index.html

LightSkin seat post with LED rear light

Very cool:

> Built-in Bicycle Tail Light - LightSkin
> LightSKIN integrated LED lenses and buttons into one assembly, so that it can be easily embedded in the seatpost. This unique technique, which was employed to firmly fix the LED circuit inside the seatpost, enables a simple design, as well as ensures the maximum performance for the strength and function of the seatpost.


http://epic-bike.com/products/708399-27-2mm-lightskin-seat-post-with-led-rear-light-black-white-silver

Rapid ROI for iPads in Healthcare

This is only one datapoint but it's interesting, nonetheless:

At a health conference last year – the CIO of a teaching hospital shared a provocative statistic that his organization had uncovered in their ROI analysis of a large iPad purchase. At the time, the hospital was debating the merits of such a large financial commitment – so they tasked the CIO to do a crude ROI analysis to justify the sizable expense. Was the ROI 6 months – or maybe a year? The (unscientific) results were jaw dropping. Using some crude calculations around workflow and time-motion analysis the CIO calculated the ROI for an iPad in their hospital would be 9 days.

Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/2013/05/19/credit-suisse-says-wearable-tech-the-next-big-thing/

Tory activists attack David Cameron on gay marriage

Really? Is this the best excuse they can think of?

David Cameron's support for gay marriage has made winning the general election "virtually impossible", Conservative activists have said.

Maybe if they found innovative new ways to boost the economy voters would be more inclined to reelect. Blaming perceived electoral problems on a piece of sensible equality legislation seems pretty stupid and indicative of all that is wrong with the Conservative party.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22585093

Glass just got the upgrade for lifelogging everything

I can't decide if Lifelogging is the best thing since sliced bread or a society-ending invasion of privacy. 

High­lights is one of the few dozen new fea­tures Google+ gained as of I/O this past week, sift­ing through your auto-uploads and flag­ging up the best of them.

I'm generally fairly relaxed about accidentally appearing in other people's photos but I do have some concerns about the combination of Glass, large quantities of high-res public photos and face recognition software (which seems to be one of Google's intended features).

Why? If Google publishes, or even retains, photos with random but identified subjects (i.e. you or me) just because we happen to be walking through (or living in) a city with a large population of tourists (and thus cameras or, in the future, Glasses) it becomes possible to construct a partial timeline of our movements. Not a problem, you might think, if you aren't doing anything evil, but clearly a system open to abuse, misuse and mistaken identity or interpretation of motive.

And this will get worse if Glass or its competitors succeed (and one of them is bound to, sooner or later). Your location and identity are no longer secret, assuming you've trusted Google with any of you information.

Time will tell.

Slashgear: http://www.slashgear.com/google-and-glass-just-got-the-upgrade-for-lifelogging-everything-18282633/

Invest £1bn a year to boost cycling levels tenfold, urges report

I may only be a recent convert to commuting by bicycle but this sounds like a good idea:

Britain should aim to increase cycling use more than tenfold in the next few decades by investing £1bn-plus a year to make its roads more cyclist-friendly, a cross-party report by MPs and peers recommends.

The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/24/invest-cycling-tenfold-report?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Tunnel Could Replace Hammersmith Flyover

This is a brilliant idea. Aren't we looking for long-term capital projects that enrich the city and offer opportunities for economic growth?

The tem­po­rary clo­sure of the Ham­mer­smith Fly­over late in 2011 left major traf­fic prob­lems through­out west Lon­don and the lin­ger­ing sen­sa­tion that Some­thing Must Be Done. One of the pro­pos­als dis­cussed, a tun­nel, has now been backed by Lord Rogers, who has endorsed the Ham­mer­smith 'Fly­un­der' plan drawn up by local archi­tects. You can see fur­ther sketch­es of the pro­pos­al here (PDF).

Lets do it.

Londonist: https://londonist.com/2013/05/tunnel-could-replace-hammersmith-flyover.php

Discover the tube’s secret shortcuts in this exposé of Underground untruths

Most amusing.

Ever felt like you're being manip­u­lat­ed? As if the pow­ers that be are using you to fur­ther their sin­is­ter agen­da? Well, on the Under­ground, it turns out you some­times are – although admit­ted­ly, the agen­da is usu­al­ly 'map leg­i­bil­i­ty' or'crowd flow control.'

Timeout: http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2013/05/16/discover-the-tubes-secret-shortcuts-in-this-expose-of-underground-untruths/

Mobile malware exploding, but only for Android

One more reason for sticking with iOS:

According to malware researchers at F-Secure Labs, the number of active mobile threat families and variants initially spiked in the winter quarter, with Android's share jumping from 49 out of 74 known threats to 96 out of 100, with the balance being related to Nokia's essentially mothballed Symbian platform.

Apple Insider: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/14/mobile-malware-exploding-but-only-for-android?utm_source=loopinsight.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed

Lego Casino Royale on Devour.com

Very cool: http://devour.com/video/lego-casino-royale/

Two thirds of cyclist injuries following collisions with motor vehicle due to driver

Maybe this will encourage Westminster to improve their road layouts:

The City of Westminster has revealed that more than two thirds of collisions between motor vehicles and cyclists within its boundaries in the past year that resulted in injury to the rider were due to some factor associated with the driver, compared to one in five cases where the cause was attributed to the rider.

Source: 

http://road.cc/content/news/83104-two-thirds-cyclist-injuries-following-collisions-motor-vehicle-due-driver-says

Vaccine Halts Heroin Addiction In Rats

Interesting news:

The vaccine generates antibodies that bind heroin and its metabolites in the bloodstream, preventing them from making their way to the brain.

Pop Sci: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/vaccine-halts-heroin-addiction-rats

Would you apply for a one-way trip to Mars?

This has to be a stitch-up:

Almost 80,000 people have applied to take part in a one-way mission to Mars, each of them completing a rigorous application that stresses the need for a "Can Do!" attitude, asks individuals about their sense of humour and requires the submission of an application fee that can be as much as $75.

Apart from the fact that they'll never raise the $6bn estimated cost of the project from the methods advertised so far, who in their right mind would want to be chosen for a one way trip to an inhospitable planet based on a TV popularity contest? At the very least it would be highly negligent of anyone organising such an expedition to decide on the voyagers by public ballot. What if they end up populating Mars (briefly, probably) with popular, good-looking, photogenic, socially skilled estate agents?

To put this into perspective, the Apollo program put 12 men on the moon (distance from the Earth about 390,000km) over three years at a total cost of $25bn (or $109bn in 2010 dollars) after ten years of research and development. Mars One has a similar timescale but must cover a distance of at least 170,000,000km and also deliver supplies capable of sustaining their teams for many years. $6bn, or even $60bn, just isn't enough. 

Colonising Mars will take a lot of planning, serious quantities of equipment and a truly vast sum of money. This project feels like a publicity stunt.

Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/08/mars-one-applications-mission

iOS 7 Wishes

I wrote a short list of things last year that I would like to see in iOS 6. This is a much, much better wish list for iOS 7:

There's a lot of talk about WWDC and a "flat" design style coming to iOS, but I'm more concerned about iOS' functionality than its looks. While I am certainly intrigued by the possibility of a major visual refresh, I think changing a few textures doesn't ultimately do any good if the process isn't accompanied by an equal focus on improving and revamping the iOS user experience.

Mac Stories: http://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-7-wishes/

Long Live Southbank: Skaters Muster To Save Their Undercroft

If you've walked along the Southbank at Waterloo you'll have seen the Undercroft:

Walk­ing along the South Bank just under­neath Hunger­ford Bridge, the Under­croft can be heard before it's seen: the tinny rum­ble of plas­tic wheels on an uneven con­crete floor, mul­ti­plied man­i­fold, the crack­les and snaps of failed jumps and bro­ken bones

I don't skate and I like the idea of redeveloping the Southbank but I think a way should be found to preserve the Undercroft in its current form and location. 

Londonist: http://londonist.com/2013/05/long-live-southbank-skaters-muster-to-save-their-undercroft.php

Kickstarter crowd gives glowing plant the green light

Does this sentence strike you as odd?

The researchers have already designed the DNA sequences using software from a company called Genome Compiler, which allows people to easily design genetic sequences.

I suspect that "easily design genetic sequences" glosses over a whole host of difficulties and a vast amount of background knowledge that must be acquired before the software can be used. At least, I hope that's the case - I'd be a bit uneasy about gangs of teenage hackers engineering (and then producing) novel plants and animals just by messing around with a piece of software...

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22433866

iPad 5 release date, news and rumours

If you really must keep up with the rumours about the next iPad, here is a comprehensive round-up of current and recent stories.

Updated: iPad 5 release date, news and rumors
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/ipad-5-release-date-news-and-rumors-1107009?attr=all&src=rss

99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points

Great stuff if you have to talk to climate change deniers.

99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points — With Links To The Full Climate Science
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/07/1972581/99-one-liners-rebutting-denier-talking-points-with-links-to-the-full-climate-science/