Big Displays

Apple released a big 30" screen the other day, and ViewSonic have topped them with a 22" screen, but with 4× the pixel density — making it ideal for editing photos (pretty much at the same resolution as prints!

You Car's Crashed: Just reboot...

Wired News: Teched-Out Cars Bug Drivers talks about some slightly worrying glitches as cars become more computerised.

3D Desktops

Some interesting 3D X window managers: Metisse and Project Looking Glass. The possibilities are intriguing.

War is Heavy Metal

Hack on Tuesday night was a special on "Music in war", which used audio interviews with soldiers and civilians by George Gittoes in Iraq. There will be a related documentary, "The Soundtrack to War", shown on ABC TV in September.

It's a pretty amazing look at what part music plays in daily life for the soldiers, and comforting to know that a $4.3 million tank has an audio input so you can plug your discman in!

Reminds me of a Spearhead lyric (Crime To Be Broke In America):

They say they blame it on a song
when someone kills a cop
what music did they listen to
when they bombed Iraq?

Mona Lisa's Smile

New Scientist is reporting on what looks like a plausible theory on why the Mona Lisa's smile has caused people such confusion over the ages...

Metric conversions going wrong again...

There's an incredible amount of variation in people's ideas of how many inches there are in a meter. Pretty scary really...

New Projector Screen Technology

This diagram doesn't really explain how the new projector screen developed by Sony will work, but it seems like a good idea none the less. Except for the cost, US$1,700...

Sparrow Electric Car

Boy is it ugly! Nice try though, I like that it's classed as a motorcycle though, no doubt makes it very cheap to run.

Thirsty?

An interesting question and resulting answers from New Scientist's The Last Word: If you're lost in the desert should you save your water or drink it? To be honest, I didn't think there was a choice, and would have probably saved it, good thing I read this in time.

Aqua Alta

The NASA Earth Observatory has a nice photo of Venice. Something that didn't occur to me: Obviously it's a big hassle for people during high tides when the city often floods, but it's also problematic for boats which can't fit under the bridges over the canals. Boats being made useless by too much water... Who would have thought?