Before iTunes, This is How Computers Could Play Music

from apartmenttherapy.com/unplugged:
We spotted this YouTube video from user bd594 embedded on Geekologie and instantly fell in love. You see, this guy has far too much time on his hands and has composed Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody using an orchestra of out-of-date technology. Come on inside to hear what an Atari 800XL on keyboards, Texas Instruments TI-99/4a on lead guitar and an HP ScanJet 3C on lead vocals sound like...

The nerd brilliant artist who created this masterpiece has this to say:

This is dedicated to all fans of Queen and hey let's not forget about Mike Myers and Dana Carvey of Wayne's World. No effects or sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?) Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar 8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass 3.5 inch Harddrive [sic] as the gong HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 seperate [sic] times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30. I keep hearing parts of the song are out of tune. Keep in mind the scanner and floppy drive are not musical instruments. These are mechanical devices whose motors tend to drift and can cause some notes to be out of tune.

my dog has OCD

(as if all dogs don't)

Ever since my sister brought her dog to stay with us while she and hubby travelled around the northeast in preparation for her starting Vet school (about 10 years ago?), and her dog ate the end of my dog's rawhide bone off (her dog's 10-20 lbs bigger than my 10 lb dog), my dog has protected this rawhide bone. She has to bring it to bed with her, and after dinner she has to have it on the couch with her during TV time.

WELL . . . yesterday my husband brought home new rawhide bones. Seems our dog had tried chewing on this petrified rawhide bone and didn't seem to like it. Either it tasted bad (but whenever has that stopped a dog from eating something?!) or she felt bad about chewing on what we've dubbed her "most prized possession". So he was thinking she might like a new bone to chew on.

She is so traumatized.

Now she has TWO bones to protect!! She won't even come out on the porch (which she loves) because she needs to protect these two bones. She actually went back to bed this morning so she could be with the two bones. So I brought the two bones out to the family room and put the new one with her on a chair. I'm thinking about phasing out the old one (but at this point even WE are used to it being around).

What to do, what to do . . .

Convert PowerPoint Presentations to Video at authorStream [Sharing]

from lifehacker.com

Want to share a presentation with friends, co-workers, or the web at large without worrying about who does or doesn't have PowerPoint installed? authorStream, a free presentation sharing site, offers the same kind of embed-anywhere utility as previously-posted SlideShare, but also provides options to download presentations as MP4 video files, putting slideshows with or without audio one step away from YouTube, iPods, DVDs, or whatever format comes in handy. To work as video, presentations must have either recorded narration or rehearsed timings added in PowerPoint, which the Digital Inspiration blog explains in detail at the via link below.
AuthorStream [via Digital Inspiration]

Hands on: Zoomii breathes life into Amazon's bookshelves

from arstechnica.com

Miss the comfy chairs and endless aisles of knowledge your local bookstore offers? Zoomii knows the feeling, and it brings the wandering back to shopping Amazon's shelves.

Read More..., zoomii.com

Fw: DO SPORTS DRINKS REALLY WORK ????

Fizy Finds and Plays MP3s on the Web Quickly

from livehacker.com

Free music search engine and player Fizy doesn't do playlists, offer downloads, or fancy looks. What it does have is more than 75 billion MP3s in its index (supposedly), and a really fast search function.

For those moments when you're just looking to dig up a certain song and play it for friends or your nagging memory, Fizy is just about perfect. If there's a video to be found on YouTube or other sites, you can pop it open to play alongside the song, or close it down without skipping a beat. It's small, simple, fast, and it covers a lot of MP3s floating around on the web. For a more robust interface to queue up and play the web's MP3s, try Adam's own Mixtape.me. Fizy is free to use, no sign-up required.fizy.com

National Anthem

wow.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Tom Cobble
Do not let your heart be troubled, There is hope for the future........ Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: Robin Blankenship

This was at a Texas Tech basketball game on February 9th. The National Anthem is sung by five young girls (ages 6-8). The two young ladies on the right are six years old. The two in the middle are seven and the one on the left is eight. LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD IT BEFORE!!! An entire arena remains completely silent throughout the song. You could hear a pin drop. Take a moment to listen to this. You will enjoy it...

The Designer Cardboard Office: Not Just a Concept Anymore

I like the idea of being able to write on my walls with no repercussions . . .

Offices that look like cubicles are terrible. I know, I've worked in plenty. They always feel very cramped and getting a window is not always a blessing. If there are no drapes or shutters, you get a lot of sun. I love how new offices are coming up with new ideas for their workspaces. The cardboard office isn't something new. We've already featured one in the past. However, this is one that's actually being used right now in Amsterdam, making it really interesting. Corrugated cardboard can be made fireproof and waterproof, so health and safety aren't an issue.

Nothing is a commercial creative agency from Amsterdam that was formed by Michael Jansen and Bas Korsten. They used the idea from the company name to come up with something to furnish their office. Taking nothing and turning it into something. This included creating walls, signage, beams, tables, shelving and a small set of stairs that are all made exclusively out of cardboard. The actual design was done by Joost van Bleiswijk and Alrik Koudenburg. The walls will also double as blank canvas. Visitors are encouraged to leave their mark on the surfaces. Illustrator Fiodor Sumkin was the first to liven up Nothing's brown color scheme with some nice penmanship. Once they get bored, the studio can replace individual sections of the workspace cheaply, basically for nothing at all. Makes a lot of sense. Even though you'd think that a cardboard office would look temporary and disposable, it actually looks quite homely. Maybe it's the brown, but I've also noticed some great additions to the whole design, like a conference room and a cafeteria, which are all made out of cardboard. [via core77, photos by Joachim Baan] MORE CARDBOARD The Incredible Cardboard Office

Create a Color Palette from a Single Image

[Design]

Colors Palette Generator turns a picture with a pleasing look into a palette of equally pleasing colors for your web site or design project.

Similar, although more sophisticated, than previously reviewed Colr, you can turn a selected image into a color scheme for your projects. You can upload any PNG, GIF or JPEG that is less than 1MB in size and Colors Palette Generator will extract colors from it. The application creates three basic palettes of the light, medium, and dark colors, as well as a grid of 49 shades from the image if you're not satisfied with the palettes it has created. Once you've got the look you like, you can export it as either a Photoshop swatches file or as a CSS stylesheet. Free to use, no sign-up required. Colors Palette Generator [via Download Squad]

Three Plants that Give You Better Indoor Air

from Lifehacker.com

Kamal Meattle used three just three indoor plant species to increase oxygen, filter air, and boost general health at a a New Delhi business park. You can use them, too, in any indoor environment.

Meattle's presentation at the TED 2009 conference details a large-scale success, using thousands of plants for hundreds of workers. In any living or working space, though, the three plants—Areca palm, Mother-in-law's Tongue, and a "Money Plant"—can be used to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, remove organic compounds, and generally filter and freshen the ambient air. A single person looks to need a minimum of 11 total plants, and certain climates with less sunlight could require a bit of hydroponic growing, but Meattle swears by the health, productivity, and atmosphere benefits. Check out the detailed slides from his TED talk:

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - TED 2009 Talk

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - TED 2009 via Hacks Blog