I’ve been playing around with Google’s “search by image” option and have to say that I’m just totally amazed by it. I’m not talking about the basic search within images where you enter text and find related images. I’m talking specifically about how you can upload an image into the search box and then genius Google finds where else that picture is on the web as well as many other visually similar images.

While I’m impressed with how quickly it finds the image everywhere it is located online (a nice tool for seeing if anyone’s using your copyrighted images, by the way), I’m especially awed and in love with the tool that shows you visually similar images. It’s just so strikingly beautiful!

For example, I was doing some research into crochet sculpture artist Anna Krystyna Casey so I uploaded this photo of her one of her crochet art pieces:

And the image search produced (in part):

Then I decided to input my own artwork from the other day:

And it came up with:

Then I wondered what would happen if I chose a photo of a person instead of just colors. So I picked a photo of myself:

And it thought I looked like, among others, these three:

It’s just a fun tool to play with!

Tags: google image search, search by image, web

A laptop stand is one of the best laptop accessories for people who use their laptops on a frequent basis. The following ten tips will help you out with this purchase:

1. Choose whether you want a lap-based stand or a stand-up stand. Will you be sitting or standing when using this stand? A lap-based stand can also sit on a desk. A stand-up stand may be adjustable so that you can sit at it as well. Think about what will work best for you.
2. Find a stand with adjustable height. If you’re getting a stand that you can use while standing up then it should be adjustable to your height. This will also allow you to shrink the stand for easier storage when not in use.
3. Find a lightweight stand. If you’ll be using a stand that sits on your lap then make sure that it isn’t too heavy for regular use.
4. Look for other ergonomic features. You’ll be more comfortable and healthier if you do. A wrist rest is one of the most important ergonomic features.
5. Get a stand with wheels. This makes it so much simpler to move it around the house. You’ll be glad you added them.
6. Make sure that the stand has enough surface area. If you’ll be adding an extra keyboard, mouse or other laptop accessories then make sure there’s enough room for them on the stand.
7. Look for a style that suits you. There are so many different stands out there that you don’t have to sacrifice style when you buy one. Get one that’s cute!
8. Set a budget. Laptop stands range in price from below $25 to several hundred dollars. Set a budget to narrow down your options.
9. Get a bulk package with other laptop accessories. Sometimes this allows you to get a reduced price on everything that you need. For example, you might get a laptop sleeve, an extra laptop battery and your laptop stand at the same time.
10. Add an ipod dock. The newest laptop stands are coming with built-in ipod docks. Nice perk!

Tags: laptop sleeve, laptop stand

I’m adoring this new high-tech vending machine technology that’s been launched by a company called Unilever. It uses advanced facial recognition technology to offer free ice cream to happy people (or at least people who are willing to fake a big smile in order to get their ice cream). It’s quirky and unusual and different and I love the idea.

The vending machine is designed to recognize smiles on the faces of people in front of them. It also recognizes age and gender but all that the consumer really cares about is that the machine can see how happy they are at the prospect of getting free ice cream. If your smile is big enough, the machine gives you the ice cream that you’re seeking.

What’s so smart about this? It caters to several different things that are appealing to consumers including advanced new technology, free stuff and happiness. Studies have shown that smiling even when you aren’t happy can increase happiness. One would assume that getting free ice cream also increases happiness. A company that can so easily increase consumer happiness is clearly doing a great job of selling itself.

Unilever’s marketing slogan for this product is “Share Happy”. It taps into the power of social media advertising by allowing you to share your winning smile via the company’s Facebook page. Although social media marketing is relatively new, it’s already becoming a must for businesses so companies like this one that do something creative to start setting their Facebook advertising apart from others immediately are definitely on the cusp of innovation.

The video here in the post shows the Share Happy ice cream machine in action. However, the commercial for the machine is actually way cooler and can be seen here.

via Springwise

Tags: high tech vending machine, unilever ice cream machine

We've come a long way from mood rings!

I read an interesting article earlier this month about so-called Smart Clothing. This is clothing that would be able to determine what your mood is and then improve your mood by responding to you. It’s still in prototype form and is debuting in museums while it’s being worked on but the basic idea is this:

• Moods are programmed into your clothing based on responses to what’s happening in your body. For example, an increased heart rate may be one sign that you are getting anxious.
• The clothing is pre-programmed to respond to these moods. Responses may include a text message, image or video that displays on a sleeve or an audio recording of the voice of a loved one.
• Your clothing is set to read your mood throughout the day and to respond with the pre-programmed responses. For example, if your clothing believes that you are feeling anxious, it may provide an audio tone that you’ve recorded of a calming affirmation.

Smart clothing original article

Tags: depression cure, interactive clothing

I am one of those people who tend to use my laptop all day long. I do have a desktop computer and I use it frequently. However, I still use my laptop more than my desktop. I use it to work from different rooms in the house, different locations throughout the city and different cities when I get the opportunity. Although I love that I can just pick up my laptop and go, I’ve found that it helps to have certain laptop accessories to make it easier to use my laptop as a primary computer.

The top 5 laptop accessories for people who use their laptops daily are:

1. Extra battery or long-life battery. It is crucial to have enough battery life for your laptop to work all day long whether you’re at home or on the go.

2. Longer power cord. One of my favorite bonus perks about my Mac notebook as compared to previous laptops (among many other more substantial reasons) is that it came with both a normal power cord and an extension power cord. So convenient when working in places where outlets aren’t necessarily right next to you.

3. Laptop sleeve. I don’t always put my laptop in its own bag when I take it with me. However, I do want to keep it safe from harm if it’s thrown into other backpacks. A laptop sleeve does that.

4. Laptop stands. There are two types of laptop stands that are important. First, there is the small stand that sits on your lap that serves the purpose of propping up the laptop and allowing it to cool from underneath while you work. Second is the stand that allows you to place the laptop up high for working on it while you stand up. Standing desks have a lot of health benefits so this is really great if you use your laptop every day.

5. Wireless mouse. There are some activities for which is makes a lot more sense to use a handheld mouse. A wireless mouse is the best option, in my opinion.

What laptop accessories do you think are must-haves for people who use their computers all day long?

Tags: laptop accessories, laptop sleeve

Nanotechnology is starting to really become an interesting part of medicine today. A recent report indicates that nanobot robots can actually be used to locate cancerous tumors in the body. They are inserted into the body and then essentially ride the bloodstream to the location of the cancer. Not only that, but they actually have the potential to disrupt the tumor’s growth.

The study, completed at the California Institute of Technology, found that small polymer robots could be covered with a protein called transferrin and then inserted into the body to find melanoma tumor cells. The robots could get inside of the tumor cells and use a process called RNA interference to disrupt the growth of the tumors. The next step would be to create nanobots that could actually get in there and shrink the tumors to get rid of the cancer entirely (rather than just stopping it from growing).

This technology is still a ways off in terms of being a reality for the average cancer patient. Additional testing needs to be completed and technology may need to be improved in the future. However, this is a great step for nanotechnology in medicine.

The use of nanotechnology in medicine fascinates me. I think it’s because this is one of those things that I can comprehend at an intellectual level but it just blows my mind to try to understand exactly how it really works. Sure, I can read the scientific explanations of how the technology works but then when I try to think about how someone can build a super-tiny machine and actually make it do things like this … Wow!

Tags: medicine, nano robot, nanobot, nanotechnology

Check out that tiled OLED light wall. When it’s not in use, it’s a mirror. It’s cutting-edge green technology but I’m just in love with it because it’s a super-cool, fun, smart thing that would be neat to have in your home. Of course, it costs close to $7000 so I don’t think I’ll be getting it. Ah well.

Read more about it at Inhabitat.

Tags: luxury, oled mirror

Can you name someone who has been a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize? Probably (most of us can at least name one, right?). How about a non-human entity that has won the Nobel Peace Prize? That one might not be quite as easy for most of us to conjure up. That’s because there’s only been a few cases in history in which a Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a non-human entity. And it just might happen again in the near future.

Way back in 1965, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to UNICEF. This well-known group advocates for children’s rights and has done a lot to save the children over the years. If any non-human group deserved the award, surely it was this one.

Twenty years later, another group was given the prize. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War were recognized for the crucial role that they played in maintaining world peace. Preventing nuclear war is surely worthy of such a prize, right?

Almost another twenty years passed and another non-human entity was awarded the prize although it had to be split with a human winner this time. The entity was the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which split the prize with Al Gore. Both were recognized for their work to prevent global warming.

Will it be another 20 years before a non-human gets the prize? Not necessarily. The Internet has been nominated for the award this year. Do you think it should win? Does it play as big of a role as these other non-human beings in establishing world peace? Arguably, the Internet has globalized the world and made us all more culturally aware of one another. Should it get the peace prize for that achievement?

Source

Tags: internet nobel, nobel peace prize, nobel winners, winners of nobel peace prize

Over the years, we’ve heard so many people complain that the Internet is bad for our children. People aren’t reading enough books anymore, they say. Kids are writing in txt. And I’ve always pretty much thought it was hog wash.

Now there’s some science to back up my feelings. A recent article from LiveScience starts off:

“Widespread Internet use will actually improve the reading and writing skills of the world’s population, most experts agreed in a new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.”

The article goes on to discuss a survey that indicates, among other things, that a lot of people believe that the Internet is actually making people more literate than ever before. And you know what? I buy it.

Has book reading declined over the years? I’m not sure. I think that a case could be made either way. But what I do think is true is that there are more people, especially young people, who are reading a variety of different material on a daily basis thanks to the accessibility of information on the Internet.

We have access to more information than ever before. Kids who would never have watched the news before have a general idea of what’s going on in the world because of updates on various sites including their favorite social networking sites. Kids who never would have written long letters to their friends are constantly articulating things to them online and via text messaging.

Yes, undoubtedly there are some drawbacks (as there would be with anything). Text and IM may hinder spelling abilities. At the same time, you have to admit that the fact that your computer tells you when you’ve spelled something wrong makes it a lot easier to see your errors and learn how to fix them. So, pros and cons, maybe, but I’m in the camp of people who thinks that the more people who are reading – whether they’re reading books or reading Twitter status updates – the better.

What do you think about this issue?

Tags: internet, readers, reading, smart, Technology, web 2.0

Weburbanist recently had a terrific article about the history of car/planes. These are vehicles that can both drive and fly. The article caught my attention because it wasn’t all that long ago that I wrote about the Terrafugia Transition which was being dubbed the world’s first flying car. What I learned from the Weburbanist article is that this is not the first car of its kind at all!

Some of the other stuff I learned from the article:

• The first working prototype of this type of vehicle was made way back in 1917. That’s almost one hundred years ago! It didn’t actually fly but it did get off the ground. Amazing!
• These types of vehicles were commissioned during the Great Depression because it was believed that they could be built for less than normal airplanes. Hm.
• One of the leading designs of the the twentieth century ended up scaring people off because it crashed during testing and killed the pilot.
• One guy, Paul Moller, has been working on his driveable plane design for over four decades.
• The Terrafugia Transition looks a lot like a design called The Aerocar which is arguably the most successful design to date.
• The biggest problem with these car designs to date is that they’re too heavy on the air and too slow on the ground. If that issue can be remedied then these vehicles may just take off.

Tags: airplane car, car plane, driveable plane, flying car, roadable plane