Squealing and Blinking: An Analog Artificial Neural Network as ArtPhil Stearns has constructed a 45 "neuron" network of electronic parts which respond

http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2008/01/are_analog_artificial_neural_n.php
"Phil Stearns has constructed a 45 "neuron" network of electronic parts which responds to lights and tones with a (rather cute) squealing sound. A picture of the strange device:"

Simply birolliant - the incredible 10ft 'photographs' drawn with a ballpoint pen

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=511688&in_page_id=1770&ito=newsnow
"They may look like pin-sharp photographs - but these amazing pictures are actually drawings created with the humble ballpoint pen.
The stunning pictures, measuring up to 10ft high, were drawn by a rising star of the art world, Juan Francisco Casas.

Casas, 31, can use up to four 14p ballpoint pens for a canvas and his works are already a sell-out at exhibitions.

Formerly a traditional painter, Juan began the drawings three years ago based on photographs of nights out with his friends."

Think Simple Now: 8 Keys to Instant Charisma

http://thinksimplenow.com/relationships/8-keys-to-instant-charisma/
"There is a simple fact of human nature that states we all want to be liked. Don’t be afraid to admit it. If we think about it, underlying many of our actions, we are really seeking ways to validate ourselves and to fulfill this desire of being liked.

Have you ever met someone and instantly took a liking towards them? You can’t explain why, but you feel a fondness and you want to do things to help them. I’m not talking about sexual attraction, but a genuine and innocent feeling of fondness towards another person."

Apple Launches How-To Site For New Mac Users

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206101197
"For Windows users thinking of taking the plunge, the site offers video on how to move data from a Windows PC to a Mac."
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/macosx/

Vandelay Website Design: 21 Factors to Consider Before a Redesign

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/design/redesign-process/
"Redesigning a website can be a very involved process, and it is important to properly plan and consider the necessary factors that will make or break the redesign. Here is a quick look at 21 factors that you should be contemplated.

1. What is the goal of the redesign?

What do you hope to accomplish? It’s always important to have a clear understanding of your reasons and motivations as they should impact the decisions that you make along the way. Without knowing these goals the project will lack direction and you will likely wind up with a website that still doesn’t meet your needs."

Marble of Doom

http://marbleofdoom.com/
"It goes by many names: The Spinning Beachball of Death. The Marble of Doom. The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse.

Ok, maybe not that last one. But the OS X spinning wait cursor is well-known and well-dreaded by Mac users around the world.

But our time of dread is over. The days of living in fear have come to an end. No longer must we cower in uncertainty, wondering if our next mouse-click will bring our machine to a grinding, unproductive halt - powerless as that life-draining, technicolor cursor mocks us with its cheerful spinning. Today is the day we strike back.

Ok, maybe not "strike back" exactly. Today is the day we "vent our frustrations in a semi-humorous manner"."

Macenstein: Apple.com: A life remembered

http://macenstein.com/default/archives/1089
"Inspired by our last post about the history of Apple.com (and more importantly, the first comment on it) we decided to take a more thorough trip down memory lane. Behold Apple.com “A life in Pictures”."

Ars Technica: U2 manager calls Safe Harbor a "Thieves' Charter"

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080129-u2-manager-calls-safe-harbor-a-thieves-charter.html
"Paul McGuinness, U2 manager, took the stage at the Midem music industry conference in Cannes yesterday to back the IFPI party line: it's time to take the fight over file-swapping to the ISPs. McGuinness railed against those companies that have "built multibillion-dollar industries on the back of our content without paying for it."

McGuinness wants to stop going after individual file-swappers and go right to the industry that makes file-swapping possible: ISPs. He hopes to shift the "moral pressure" to Internet providers and "shame them into wanting to help us." He also thinks that most technology gurus are countercultural hippies, Deadheads, and Abbie Hoffman disciples (Steal This Book is mentioned as particularly pernicious influence). How else to explain the fact the tech companies don't want to help the music business more?"

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO: 11 Power Tips for Gmail

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/9-power-tips-for-gmail/
"Wow, I can’t believe how many people commented on my late-Friday night post about desired features for Gmail. If you want to suggest something for Gmail, that thread is the better place to do it. But looking through the comments, I saw a few requests that can already be done today. Considering that real Gmail users didn’t know about these options, I’m going to call them power tips."

Popular Mechanics: MythBusters: 7 Tech Headaches—and How to Fix Them

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4243994.html?page=3
"In the tech world this phenomenon is known as “software bloat” or “feature bloat.” It's a well-documented problem and a frequent complaint about Windows OSs—Vista in particular. In addition to being buggy, the extra features tend to bog down your system by demanding more processing power and memory. Computer-makers: Don't load up operating systems with features and then make us sweat to figure out how to get rid of the fat.

Most features can be set up as options. Why not start with a computer loaded with basic stuff that works 100 percent of the time? Then, give us the option of adding the bells and whistles. There's another solution available to consumers: Switch to a Linux-based OS such as Ubuntu. Since most Linux OSs are free, there's no business reason to bloat up the system with feature frills.

And high-tech companies—stop messing with us on your treadmill of upgrades while making the old stuff obsolete. It may be that any software company that didn't routinely upgrade its product would go out of business. But what if the rest of the world worked this way? Oh, I lost a sock. I need to get a whole new wardrobe because the replacement sock is version 2.0.1, and the stores now only sell version 2.0.3."

QBN: For A Better Tomorrow

http://www.qbn.com/
"

Nintendo: Iwata Asks: Super Smash Brothers Brawl

http://us.wii.com/iwata_asks/ssbb/vol1_page1.jsp
"Hello, Everyone. My name is Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo Co., Ltd. Beginning today, I would like to deliver an interview that explains the vision and the development process behind the creation of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. But before we begin, I would like to offer an apology.
With the completion of the game falling behind schedule, we were unable to keep our promised release date, despite our greatest efforts in attempting to release this game on time. I would like to extend my most sincere apology to all of our customers that are anticipating the title’s release, and also to our retailers.
I have asked Mr. Nagata from "Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun" (a webpage hosted by famed copywriter Shigesato Itoi), who is a fan of Smash Bros. himself, to take on the role as the editor for this Iwata Asks interview. The last time he helped us was with the Iwata Asks series before the Wii launch, but I feel like I have asked the perfect candidate to convey the appeal of Smash Bros.
I hope you enjoy this interview."

Last.FM: Free the Musichttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

http://blog.last.fm/2008/01/23/free-the-music
"A few days ago we sent out some cryptic invitations to a press conference in New York that Felix and Martin are presiding over. We’ve had fun in the office reading the rumors and speculation, but it’s time to spill the beans:

As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website."

youthedesigner: 16 sensational poster designs

http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/01/22/16-sensational-poster-designs/
"Below are 16 of my favorite posters designs for various bands. I tried to show a wide variety of poster design styles in this collection and I hope you find them as inspirational as I do. I am sure every band felt very lucky to have such great poster designs created for them."

Lifehacker's Exclusive Line of Productivity Software

http://lifehacker.com/347269/lifehackers-exclusive-line-of-productivity-software
"Not only do the editors here at Lifehacker feed your head with a feast of posts every day, every once in a while we put our programming chops to good use and build custom software for our readers. If you've missed any of the Lifehacker Code line of applications, scripts, and plug-ins, here's your chance to get caught up.

All of the Lifehacker Code projects listed below are free to download, and they're licensed under the GNU Public License with source available, so we invite you to use, modify, and enhance to your heart's content."

TechCrunch: Why the Digg Story Sells

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/21/9-reasons-why-the-digg-story-sells/
"This guest post was written by Muhammad Saleem, a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.

Most of us know the Digg story. All it took was a scrappy-looking kid with an idea, and lo and behold, online news discovery and aggregation were changed forever. Digg wasn’t the first social bookmarking (now social news) site, nor was it the first to popularize the concept. It was, however, the first site with a story that touched people, and helped the site outgrow all its competition and become an industry (and even mainstream media) darling."

Ars Technica: EA revamps Battlefield with free, ad-supported online title

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080121-ea-revamps-battlefield-with-free-ad-supported-online-title.html
"PC gaming is a business where it is becoming increasingly hard to make a dollar. The rise of consoles, the threat of piracy, and the ever-increasing cost of development all lead to an environment that doesn't welcome innovation or, for that matter, profit. EA is beginning a new approach with the upcoming Battlefield Heroes, a cartoonish and lighthearted take on its popular Battlefield series of war games. The catch? The game will be released for free and will support itself through in-game advertising and microtransactions.

"[Ads] wouldn't work inside the fictional world. Instead, adverts will appear on the website and the 'front-end' of the game," Ben Cousins, the senior producer at DICE, told BBC News."

Battlefield Heroes

http://battlefield-heroes.com/home.asp

• Battlefield Heroes™ is a brand new Play 4 Free™ game from the people that brought you the multi-million selling Battlefield 1942™ and Battlefield 2™
• It's a fun cartoon-style shooter which caters to players of all skill levels – easy to pick up and play, but with deep character development
• It will be released for the PC as a free download in Summer 2008

Ars Technica: "Mac mindset" claim is more marketing than science

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080120-mac-mindset-claim-is-more-marketing-than-science.html
"It's no secret that Apple products have a whiff of elitism about them. Their computers have been favored by a minority that emphasize unquantifiable features like design and workflow, and they cost more than many others on the market (this is, however, becoming less true over the years). Their users are often enthusiastic about the product, sometimes to the point of pathology. But do those users represent an extreme, or is there really a quantifiable Macintosh frame of mind shared by its users? A story that is making the rounds suggests that there is.

The "Mac mindset" reports seem compelling because they apparently match so well with expectations. Mac users think they're "exceptional" and "extraordinary." They have exacting standards, value precisions, and rarely forgive mistakes (as John Dvorak has undoubtedly learned). Imperfections bother them, and people expect them to avoid mistakes. Oddly, they're also not very modest. Think different indeed."

"I am a Host at The Olive Garden"

http://www.gregnog.com/hostatog.htm
"For about a year, I worked as a host in an Olive Garden restarurant. During that time, I made the following strips. Each strip is completely true, except for people's names, which have been changed so that they don't get mad at me. This comic is not endorsed in any way by The Olive Garden or its parent company, Darden Restaurants. In fact, they don't even know it exists.

Here's a fun fact about Darden Restaurants: Not only do they own The Olive Garden and the comparatively less successful restaurant chains "Smokey Bones" and "Bahama Breeze," but also the seafood behemoth known as "The Red Lobster." Benefits of working for Darden Restaurants include the Darden Dimes program, in which one contributes ten cents from each paycheck, which goes into an emergency fund that is used to assist one's fellow-employees in their times of need."