Screenshot: A Weblog

There are a lot of creepy uses for RFiD tags, but these robotic chairs that follow the tag in your library card to follow you around while you browse to provide anywhere seating is pretty cute [via Digg]. Watch the video for the example of using the same technology to easily put together group seating areas. There are tons of other neat applications for this - conference rooms or classrooms or really any large meeting space could benefit from easy chair (and table?) rearrangement. What about walking into an airport and having a tag in your boarding pass allow you to be followed around by personal seating? In any of these applications, scaling up would probably require the seating to be aware of each other to avoid bottlenecks or poor utilization of space. It feels similar to some of the swarm robotics problems you see in a different wrapper.

Posted by Amanda at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I like to try to go to the local farmers market in the summer when I can, and it makes it easy to identify and buy locally grown produce, but it also makes it easy to identify what is currently in season locally. This is much more of a mystery at the food store, which makes the "peak-season" map at Epicurious of what is in season by region each month a nice tool. Besides learning that right now I ought to be focusing on asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, peas, spinach, and summer squash, I can also look up recipes for those ingredients. This Cauliflower Caraway Potato Soup looks really easy and yummy! And I definitely think I want to try making these Summer Squash Bread and Butter Pickles. However, my biggest temptation is to try the really odd sounding Lettuce Soup, for which I have all of the ingredients right now....

Posted by Amanda at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am a pack rat when it comes to dead or outdated electronic gadgets. I have a box full of stuff in my storage closet that I figure one day I'll rip apart for parts - or more likely give to students to use for projects. I am not very discriminating, though. I just thrown everything in there and figure I'll sort out someday if it has anything useful in it or not. I think I have a few mice in there, though, so I'm thinking of working through this Hack-a-Day on how to scavenge a mouse for parts. As they suggest, having a couple of these could make a really nice base for a line-follower...

Posted by Amanda at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I do not remember where I first read about Skyrates, but I am totally obsessed with this game right now. It is essentially a steampunk version of Escape Velocity - you captain an airplane and fly from "island" to "island" trading goods and completing missions and shooting down pirates. You can upgrade your ship or buy entirely new ones. As you gain skill points, you can learn new flying maneuvers or open up access to more of the map. The good thing is, this that obsession does not turn into an excessive amount of playing time, because the game is played in real time. If the plane you are flying would take two hours for a trip you have planned out, it takes two hours of actual real-world time for that flight to be completed. You can queue up trading and flight legs and so on, but in the meantime all of the other game players have been flying from island to island completing their own tasks and missions, so you need to be a bit careful. The graphics are cute, with all of the characters being animals, but it is not so twee that you would hate the game if that is not your thing. I am tending to queue up missions three or four times a day and finding it a fun diversion between tackling other projects.

Posted by Amanda at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)