Rock on. Build your own Macintosh. This may wind up being my interim solution until I can afford a real Mac.

[I wanna build my own mac!!! Then I can put Mac OSX on it. "/me licks Mac OSX." mmmmmmm....Unix:) - Nanochick]

MacOpz: Build Your Own G4

"High-density living in Hong Kong will never be the same if a new model home of the future takes hold, a home where technology and the environment go hand in hand. "

CNN.com - Technology takes hold in cyber dream home - August 28, 2002

"Stolen or lost laptops can now automatically encrypt all their data, thanks to new equipment that creates a wireless bond between the machine and its owner. When its "master" is out of range, it locks down, keeping the data from falling into the wrong hands."

This is neat.

New Scientist- Crypto lockdown secures lost laptop data

"
He's standing in a corner of his cluttered San Diego office, holding a gizmo that looks something like a retro-futuristic waffle iron with a portable CD player Velcroed to its back.Are you ready?he asks, then points his invention directly at the head of someone whos just entered the room 10 feet away.Now, can you hear it? Can you hear it? Isnt that unbelievable? What the person across the room hears is, well, unbelievable: all of a sudden, the sound of a waterfall has materialized in his head. And, it turns out, no one else in the room can hear it but him. Its as if the sound is coming out of thin air. As Keanu Reeves said in The Matrix: whoa."

This is pretty neat and shady at the same time. I mean, just think of the applications....good....and bad.

Hearing is Believing

It could be the biggest thing since sliced bread was wrapped in cellophane: biodegradable food packaging that's cheap enough to compete with conventional plastic. Once used, it can be thrown onto the compost heap or even eaten. This year, startup Plantic Technologies will roll out a cornstarch-based bioplastic that can be molded into everything from Twinkie wrappers to cracker trays.

Say Goodbye to Plastic

In Spring 2001, Virginia Tech professor Naren Ramakrishnan taught an entire course on the topic of recommender systems. Here you can browse the syllabus, review slides from the lectures, and review the reading list.

Course overview: CS 6604 concentrates on algorithms, methodologies, systems, and larger-scope issues (economic, commercial etc.) pertaining to reducing information overload. The unique aspect of this course will be how it integrates ideas from diverse areas: numerical analysis (strange but true), information systems, human-computer interaction, and algorithmics. Over the past three years, a large body of literature on recommender systems, filtering, and personalization technologies has been developed. Even though the field is driven by commercial trends and industrial developments, many of the ideas are nearing a stage of stabilization when their use is becoming common place (textbook material). CS 6604 will help illustrate the interplay between these different areas and demonstrate how ideas from diverse backgrounds can be combined in novel and sophisticated ways.

CS 6604: Recommender Systems (Spring 2001)

Hrm. Crypt Digest once called Time magazine "The Magazine for people who don't think." However, they managed to interview Ray Kurzweil. This article is biological metaphors in computing.

TIME.com: TIME Magazine -- High Tech Evolves

Ok...for the first time since the apple II, I actually want to play with a Mac. I think UNIX is awesome, but I am too lazy to start using it, so Mac OSX makes me happy.

Apple - Mac OS X

Bullet-proof wearable computer created
Werd!

New Scientist

Genetic algorithms are a generic way to find 'good' solutions to 'hard' problems. This is a fun introduction, especially the traveling salesman applet.

Introduction to genetic algorithms with Java applets