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Rob’s recent post over at Boing Boing drew my attention to computer scientist Ren Ng’s startup, Lytro, which is developing a digital camera technology that requires no moving parts to focus an image at any depth of field, even infinite. It’s called “light field” photography, and, besides eliminating failure-prone moving parts from cameras, it will let you refocus your pictures however you want, as many times as you want, any time after they’ve been captured. I don’t claim to completely understand the process, but here are what seem like the important facts:

1. Instead of one big lens, “light field” cameras have lots of little “micro-lenses”—one for each pixel.
2. Besides pixel color and intensity (which are recorded by conventional cameras) “light field” cameras also capture the direction of the incoming light for each pixel.
3. Knowing the vector path of the light that makes each pixel allows for a sort of “reverse ray-tracing” routine that can virtually refocus the image at the software level.

Fascinating stuff. There’s more info at The Economist, and at Lytro, including an interactive photo gallery that shows off the refocusing trick.

Make: Online

href="http://www.slipperybrick.com/2011/06/msi-14-inch-cx480-laptop-with-nvidia-geforce-gt-520m/msi-cx480/" rel="attachment wp-att-70052"> src="http://www.slipperybrick.com/index.php?feedimage=wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MSI-CX480.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-70052" />MSI has announced their new CX480 laptop which features an Intel 2nd generation Core i processor. You can get it with either a Core i5-2410 (2.30GHz) or Core i3-2310 (2.10GHz). It also packs in an nVidia GeForce GT520M discrete graphics card with 1GB of DDR3 display memory and supports DirectX 11 and automatic graphics switching to help your battery life.

It will also boot in half the time traditional laptops take. The hard drive is moved away from the edge and encased in a sort of air bag which should protect it if you drop the laptop. Nothing on price or availability yet.

href="http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/msi-launches-14-inch-cx480-laptop-with-nvidia-geforce-gt-520m-29-06-2011/">[GG]

SlipperyBrick.com

In this episode we discuss the basics of using Marine Radios. We also review the Icom IC-M36 VHF Marine Radio.

Intro :00
Billboard 1:13

Topic Discussion 1:28
We talk about marine radios. We learn how these radios are used in maritime activities, The FCC rules for using them and the types of marine radios available. For more information about the FCC licensing requirements for voluntary maritime vessels operating domestically read FCC WT Docket No. 96-82. For more information on marine radios read our blog posts A Radio For My Boat, Part 1, A Radio For My Boat, Part 2 and A Radio For My Boat, Part 3 on the Two Way Radio blog.

Commercial Break 13:37
buytwowayradios.com 1:00

Product Review 14:35
Today we will review the Icom IC-M36 VHF Marine Radio.

Questions and Answers 21:33
Questions from readers of our Two Way Radio Blog and members of the Two Way Radio Forum.

Wrap up and Close 26:55
Send in your comments and questions for Danny, Anthony and Rick to show@buytwowayradios.com. Feedback on this and other topics will be read by the hosts and included in future episodes of the show. Visit us at www.twowayradioshow.com!

© 2011 Cricket Ventures, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Here’s an excerpt from my new book, The Practical Pyromaniac. It’s a bit different than a lot of the other projects because it deals with making things NOT catch on fire. It’s a pretty simple chemistry project. By the way, it makes paper fire resistant, not fire proof.

How to Make Boronized Fireproof Paper

Screen capture from Futurama

“Boronized” paper has been treated with a combination of boron salts that inhibits burning. Important papers can be treated in this fashion to give them a greater likelihood of surviving a fire.

Materials

• 3 1/3 ounces boric acid powder. Although boric acid is used as roach killer, it is relatively safe to handle and is often available in hardware stores or online.
• 4 ounces borax
• ½ gallon hot water
• Large mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Shallow tray (large enough to soak the paper)
• Cotton paper (also known as rag paper, available at stationery stores)
• Long-handled lighter or fireplace matches

Directions
1. Mix the boric acid powder and borax in one-half gallon of hot water in the mixing bowl. Stir until the chemicals are completely dissolved.
2. Pour the solution into a shallow tray. Carefully place a sheet of rag paper in the tray, saturating it thoroughly. Remove the paper, allowing the excess solution to drain back into the tray. Hang the paper to dry.
3. When dry, test a small piece of the paper by holding a match to it. The paper will turn black but not ignite and burn.

The fire resisting properties of boron were first examined by the French scientist Joseph Gay-Lussac in the early 19th century. He found that fire does not occur if air can be prevented from reaching the surface of organic materials by chemically coating the material’s fibers. Silicates and borates are well suited to the task of rendering organic fibers flame resistant. The normally flammable material calcinates, that is, turns it to char or black powder, but does not actually go up in a flame.

Make: Online

The 64 Button Shield not only allows you to use up to 64 buttons with your next Arduino project, it also has a hidden “easter egg” that allows it to output MIDI. This video demonstrates MIDI functionality by using a 64 Button Shield, a Midivox, and an Arduino together for use as a physical interface for your favorite MIDI compatible music program. Want to build one? The Maker Shed has everything you need (except the arcade buttons.) Also, looking for a great deal? Today would be a great day to subscribe to the Deal of the Day or to start following us on Twitter!

Make: Online

By Demian Russian Are you ready to show some pride? Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) will be celebrating Super Pride Weekend 2011 with special programming on its 24/7 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) channel OutQ (Sirius and XM channel 108), including an all-star DJ tribute to the iconic Paradise Garage disco, a revealing interview with [...]

Satellite Radio Playground

I resent that.

It’s not stem cell research that religious groups oppose, it’s embryonic stem cells, because they have to kill a baby to do it. Technology is getting better, and we can do the same breakthroughs with adult stem cells, and without killing.

http://www.21stcenturysciencet…
Engadget – Latest Comments in ‘Stanford gurus enable two-way radio communications. Over.’

Former SONY Enemy #1 – Geohot Now Working at Facebook on iPad apps

George Hotz, the infamous iPhone hacker, and the victim of a recent Sony lawsuit, now works at Facebook. A member of the Chronic-Dev Team named Joshua Hill (P0sixninja) said this in a recent interview. Joshua challenged GeoHot to find a bootrom exploit for the iPad2, and this news quickly spread on Twitter. In the interview, Joshua said the George was mad at him because he doesn’t want that much attention, after being sued by Sony, and backed out of the challenge to work at his day job… at Facebook. Geohot has yet to say anything, after the Sony lawsuit, he blogged for a while then completely MIA. This does all add up because Facebook has confirmed they are working on an iPad app, when before they said they were not going to do one at all. We will keep you guys updated if Geohot says anything.

Gabe Rivera of Techmeme in a tweet found Geohot’s page at Facebook.com/Geohot, and the first post at the top of page says” is Facebook is really an amazing place to work…first hackathon over.”. He also found out that he started in May, and announced it to his Facebook friends on June 17, 2011…

Congrats to Facebook, George is extremely talented. We expect to see (more) amazing things from him for years to come.

See our previous article “Sony’s War on Makers, Hackers, and Innovators” where we talk about Geohot…

Sony should take a page from Microsoft’s playbook and develop a PlayStation SDK for innovators with Hotz. Microsoft saw all the amazing projects and hacks with the Xbox Kinect, and they embraced it. Here’s a Microsoft employee celebrating jailbreaking and encouraging Hotz to hack their product! Brandon Watson is Director for Windows Phone 7.

Sony should not be suing GeoHot, they should be making a job offer. GeoHot isn’t going away, he has a bright future ahead — just look at what he’s done already, and he’s only 21!

He was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition in Portland OR with his project “The Mapping Robot”. Recognition included interviews on the Today Show and Larry King. Hotz was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition, with his project “The Googler”. Continuing with robots, Hotz competed in his school’s highly successful Titanium Knights battlebots team. George also worked on his project, “Neuropilot,” in which he was able to read EEG signals off his head with hardware from the OpenEEG project.

Hotz competed in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a science competition for high school students, where his project, entitled “I want a Holodeck”, received awards and prizes in several categories. Hotz has received considerable attention in mainstream media, including interviews on the Today Show, Fox, CNN, NBC, CBS, G4, ABC CNBC, and articles in several magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Forbes, and BBC. The Forbes article said Hotz hopes to go into Neuroscience: “hacking the brain,” he called it. In March 2008, PC World magazine listed George as one of the top 10 Overachievers under 21.

He entered the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2007, quickly after gaining notoriety for hacking the iPhone, but withdrew from the school after 1 quarter. In December 2007, Hotz travelled to Sweden to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar and talk about his 3D imaging invention (called Project Holodeck) that netted him a ,000 Intel scholarship earlier that year.

During Sony’s lawsuit against George I emailed Sony and suggested they drop the case (they eventually did) and hire George to develop their SDKs, and consider jointing speaking at Maker Faire about how Sony is going to work with makers and innovators. No reply, but later Sony contacted other “hackers” to get them to work at Sony but the “hacker” turned them down because of how Sony went after George.

Make: Online

When you cooperate with payday loans online direct loan provider, you can get your software accepted inside of minutes and cash inside of several hours. In these instances when a particular person is straggling with a short-expression money absence, this sort of mortgage might be the finest remedy that is accessible and can help to near the gap.

Payday loans on-line direct loan providers have leveraged the benefits of on the web technologies followed by developments in the banking method to give around on the spot approval and extremely quick mortgage funding. In numerous instances it is feasible to make repayment arrangements in advance of the loan being funded, and this enables the loan company to deploy little sums of money with a high stage of safety of staying away from default. It final results in availability of this sort of accessibility when it is necessary.

The essential thought behind payday loans online immediate loan provider is that a borrower who wants to meet immediate dollars requirements ahead of his or her up coming paycheck fundamentally is capable to get an advance by borrowing the funds. The expression of loan will generally commence on the day the loan is created and complete when the up coming scheduled paycheck is to be acquired, so this remedy can be applied just in instances exactly where the want is instantaneous and it is very brief-expression. In order to guarantee that the lender is set below restricted threat, the borrower must frequently make repayment arrangements at the starting of the method. In the past this has meant that a submit-dated verify for the quantity of the complete mortgage repayment has been supplied by the borrower to the loan provider. While it is expected from the borrower to arrive back again to repay the loan, the lender has acquired the physical verify as an further security. If the borrower did not present up and pay the loan back again, the loan provider could just deposit the examine.

Modern day technological innovation has up to date this method and now digital transfers are employed as an alternative of physical checks. Banking details can be confirmed inside minutes with the use of on the web banking abilities. It permits immediate loan providers to make almost immediate approval selections. The advantage of operating with a immediate loan company is that a immediate loan provider controls the entire method from its starting to stop. Works with an intermediary has some benefits, but regularly it can slow down the method. As quickly as the banking and employment details of the possible borrower have been confirmed by the lender, the loan can be authorized. Funding can be finished inside of a couple of several hours. The considerably longer time for funding is regularly triggered by a purpose of the lender which might want a little volume of processing time to transfer the cash totally into the borrower’s account.

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A lot of people mistake the definition of medical aid with hospital cover. Despite the fact that your medical aid will generally cover your costs during a hospital say, hospital cover may not be used for basic (out of hospital) expenditures. Hospital cover can in essence be described as a type of insurance, while medical aid does not provide insurance coverage – when your medical aid runs out it’s exhausted!

When you are hospitalized the associated costs are usually astronomical. It could come as a surprise to you that not all hospital expenses will automatically be covered by your medical aid company! Many medical aids specify certain amounts up to which they will accept liability and most hospitals and other professionals charge up to 3 times this accepted rate.

 
In the example above, your hospital cover may be used to bridge the gap between what your medical aid is willing to pay and your actual hospital bill. Quite simply, once your medical aid runs out or you have reached your payment limit, you are in essence making use of an insurance policy to offer further cover (assistance).
A Clientele Life medical aid will be subjected to the same rules as any other medical aid. Put simply, your savings account on your medical aid can be used for doctors’ visits and medicine, hardly anything else. And your eye and dental account can be used for eye tests and teeth checkups only. Hospital cover however works on a completely different concept. Cover is provided for so long as you are in hospital, but the cover can be employed for whatever the client chooses!
There is no need to use the cover to bridge the gap between your medical aid (if you have one) and your hospital costs, or even for anything related to your stay in hospital! You may use the cover to provide for your family when you are in hospital and even to cover your day to day expenditures, such as rent payments, electricity, clothing accounts etc while you are unable to work and earn a living.

Even though Clientele life medical aid is not offered as such, Clientele offers a wide selection of other products and services from which to choose. These products and services include the following: Life cover, hospital cover, dread disease cover and even legal cover! They also offer loan and investment possibilities together with their extensive portfolio!

It’s important that each and every person have some form of cover in place. If you can’t afford a costly medical aid or a fully extensive insurance plan, you can still purchase a basic insurance policy in the form of life cover or hospital cover. The truth is that the unanticipated can happen at any time and it is critical to be ready.

Grab the telephone and make contact with your nearest Clientele Life medical aid representative without further delay, or browse the world wide web for additional info on their offerings.

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