Biking directions added to Google Maps... here's my route from Adafruit to NYC Resistor!

Whenever I meet someone who finds out that I work on the directions team for Google Maps, the first question I'm asked is often "So when's Google Maps going to add biking directions?" We're big biking fans too, so we've been itching to give you a concrete answer. I don't want to keep the good news a secret any longer, so the answer is: right now!

Excellent way to get around, now even easier.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Bicycles | Digg this!Phillip Torrone

Shared by stevecrozz
Nice one, energizer...

WHAT? Un-freaking-believable! Energizer battery charger contains backdoor

The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) has warned that the software included in the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access. In an advisory, the US-CERT warned that he installer for the Energizer DUO software places the file UsbCharger.dll in the application’s directory and Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory. An attacker is able to remotely control a system, including the ability to list directories, send and receive files, and execute programs. The backdoor operates with the privileges of the logged-on user. This is the best reason to pick an open source battery charger, like the MintyBoost in the Maker Shed. The MintyBoost will not install software and not trojan your computer.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Electronics | Digg this! Nice one, energizer...

Natural Deselection is an instrument that competes plants against each other. The device empowers plants to control the fate of others using sensors and mechanised shears in a Darwinian race for survival. The sensors set above the plants detect the first to grow to a specified height, at which point it is saved, and the others fatally chopped.

[via pruned]

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Science | Digg this!John Baichtal

Unknown, via Reddit.

Banksy, via Flickr user goldenticket.

It's a simple idea: Find some bad art, whether original or a print, for a song at a thrift store, then modify it to make, if not "better art," then at least something that's more entertaining to look at. (Is it the same thing? Yeah, that sounds like a productive argument.)

Anyway. To quote a great sage, "there's a lot of guys doing it, but only one guy can be the best." That title probably goes to pseudonymous British graffiti artist Banksy. Most of the work presented below is his, but there are one or two gems from less-notables. I especially like the bland mountain landscape improved by the addition of an apocalyptic-scale katamari...

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!Sean Michael Ragan

We all work very hard, many of us spending countless hours staring at our computer screens. So I thought, why not have something pretty and inspirational to stare at? This is a new project we’re going to try out here on Design Milk — Designer Desktops. Starting this month, Design Milk will create a beautiful desktop wallpaper for you to download to your computer and iPhone, inspired by a thought-provoking quote from a renown designer. This is all in good fun, and best of all, they’re free!

This first month, we’re kicking things off with none other than Mr. Charles Eames.

Click on the size below to download:

1024×768

1280×1024

1680×1050

1900×1200

iPhone

This month’s design was created by our very own talented Eleanor Cleverly. Learn more about her here.

If you are interested in being involved in our Designer Desktop project, please email us at info@design-milk.com with more info about your design/art skillz.

©2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Architecture, Art, Home Furnishings, Interior Design, News & Events, Style & Fashion, Technology | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook
More Milk: Art Milk | Dog Milk

Shared by stevecrozz
What??? No paywall? No popups, peeldowns, or banner ads? FREEE??? they must be out of their minds.. right?

From the new archive search front page at PopSci.com:

We've partnered with Google to offer our entire 137-year archive for free browsing. Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. It's an amazing resource that beautifully encapsulates our ongoing fascination with the future, and science and technology's incredible potential to improve our lives. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

[via The Robot Group mailing list]

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Online | Digg this! What??? No paywall? No popups, peeldowns, or banner ads? FREEE??? they must be out of their minds.. right?

Shared by stevecrozz
I can honestly say that's the coolest Citroën I've ever seen, but that's not saying a lot.

Dans la lignée directe de la Revolte, voici ce nouveau concept-car présenté au Salon de Genève 2010. Baptisée “Survolt”, il s’agit d’une voiture électrique et pleine de style dotée d’un habitacle élégant et high-tech, issue du centre de design Citroën. Plus de visuels dans la suite.

Un travail et une direction artistique de Laurent Nivalle.

Previously on Fubiz

• Aurora Watch
• Piano Table
• Veasyble

I can honestly say that's the coolest Citroën I've ever seen, but that's not saying a lot.

Swype has just opened up a beta program for the Android platform. If you have a myTouch Fender Edition, you can go back to sleep now. But for the rest of us, head over to Swype Beta site and register to become a tester.

Details:

# The beta test is open to a limited number of people. (If you want it, hurry up.)
# English and Spanish for now.
# This version is limited, compared to what you get when Swype is built in to a phone.
# HVGA and WGVA resolutions only.
# Support is done via forums.
# And if you already have Swype , don’t download this one. It work work.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Meet GåågleBot. GåågleBot is a modified roomba that will not only vacuum your home, but collect data while it does it. While it is carrying out its normal duties as a floor cleaner, it will take pictures, collecting and analyzing all the data for later searches.  With built in OCR, you can actually search for things using text strings.

Aside from just carrying out its normal job, you can also remote control it via the web. You can even control theirs!

[via Boing Boing]

Ouch. From Catherine Rampell:

Jason Fox owns Purpose Restoration, a furniture design company that not only saves old pieces from going to the landfill, but makes them into one-of-a-kind modern treasures. He also creates custom pieces featuring his own artwork, which is inspired by graffiti and Japanese tattoo art.

An ugly TV stand is transformed into a kitchen cart — I wouldn’t have thought of that!

A client commission, this desk incorporates some of the client’s favorite sayings.

This piece was a boring, box-store dresser, but Jason created it into an urban graffiti-inspired painting.

©2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Home Furnishings | Permalink | 7 comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook
More Milk: Art Milk | Dog Milk

It’s journalism-awards season right now, and I’ve been having a lot of discussions of late about whether and how to give out awards for blogs. And one of the points I make repeatedly is that if you’re going to do that (and I’m not convinced that it’s a good or workable thing to do), then the quality of the comments has to be a key consideration in the judging.

I’m blessed with some wonderful commenters, who really know what they’re talking about. On the subject of getting quotes from investment banks, for instance, ruckandmaul writes this:

For a long tme I had to get “marks” for month end pricing on bonds. These were simply corp bonds for month end pricing. I would call to a couple of dealers and ask for a price on XYZ bonds, “89 by 89.50″. No, I’m not looking to sell just give a price for month end, I always called the shops where we were a big client, “oh, for pricing, 93 by 93.75.” Thanks, remember us the next time you make a trade! How the “marks” were done for CDS nonsense and other esoteric offerings, I can only shudder at the thought.

In a way, it’s astonishing that Simon Treacher even needed to falsify his marks by means of clumsy forgery: wouldn’t it have been easier to just find a complaisant desk on the sell-side somewhere?

On another post, RogerNegotiator finds an astonishing OCC letter, authorizing a bank’s request to adopt largest-to-smallest check posting, thereby maximizing overdraft revenue. (If you have $100 in your account, and put a $1 candy bar on your debit card, followed by a $15 t-shirt, both transactions will end up generating a $34 overdraft fee if a $90 check comes in later in the day: the bank will end up making over $100 in fees that day alone.)

The key section in the letter is the last one, entitled “The Bank’s Consideration of the Section 7.4002(b) Factors”. That section lays out four reasons to adopt the practice, and concludes that “the Bank’s process for deciding the order of check posting is consistent with the safety and soundness considerations set forth in section 7.4002(b) and that the Bank may therefore post checks in the order it desires”.

What are those four reasons for ripping off consumers so blatantly? The very first one is “projections showing that revenue is likely to increase as a result of adopting a high-to-low order of check posting”. That’s considered a reason to adopt the practice, in the eyes of the OCC.

As for the rest of the reasons, they’re mostly ridiculous on their face. I love this one, for instance:

The Bank concludes that it needs to adopt the high-to-low order of posting so that customers who frequently write checks against insufficient funds do not do business with the Bank primarily because the Bank’s fee for checks presented against insufficient funds is lower than its competitors’.

Essentially, the bank is saying that its competitors have high overdraft fees, and that it doesn’t want to compete against its competitors, so it needs high overdraft fees too.

And then there’s this beaut:

The Bank states its belief that a high-to-low order of posting is consistent with the majority of its customers’ preferences. The Bank surmises that the intended order, which will result in a customer’s largest bills being paid first, will have the consequence of the customer’s most important bills (such as mortgage payments) being paid first. The Bank thus concludes that a high-to-low order is aligned with the majority of its customers’ priorities and preferences.

This is accepted at face value by the OCC, instead of simply being laughed at. Of course, no one bothered to ask the customers, because they knew full well that customers would never say that they preferred this way of doing things. But so long as the bank simply says that customers prefer it, no problem.

Overall, what we’re seeing here is banks lying about the value of securities and about their customers’ preferences, and regulators doing nothing about it. And, of course, we’re also seeing how wonderfully rich the comments section of a blog can be.

Photographer Jason Hawkes, a frequent contributor to the Big Picture blog, returns today, sharing with us some of his latest images of American cities seen from above at night - New York City and Las Vegas, both cities that undergo significant transformations after the sun goes down. From Hawkes: "The images of New York were shot on Nikons latest camera, the D3S, using three gyro stabilizing mounts and flown using twin star helicopters. (Eurocopter AS355). We flew from heights of just over 500 ft up to 2,500-ft with no doors on, it was very very cold. The images of Las Vegas were shot for a separate project, using a range of helicopters from a Robinson 44 to Eurocopter AS355". Be sure to see Hawkes' earlier entries here (1, 2, 3), and check out his newly-released book "London at Night". A book of his New York at night photos is due for publication in the Autumn. Captions provided by the photographer. (20 photos total)
One Worldwide Plaza, Eighth Avenue. (© Jason Hawkes)


(author unknown)00599827873767271384039692939000324817460907782577804557187108099003620758658664133455194433369422790056354036532630764602215341675186327786126906215178628603721092508684384368730910096401600412366102013360105157632990891386487021955588354408018596364000516605107186271657063537500554045000130159986815574084555601091710071481719824796420281320173730777354860602435931724646136691000633172381704277960791827196971365963905298163116136599939156600559918716512600473177833492431815915944988127335398900069412432183832489271312368357434152852112388509884635141617037090971760019602720334132785269144590201990065250735232411098232463163003858221123125553913224632301768970591241172809097077146666456346241643222579871455165808828091955475745629142212196807743141231301933513734053095802285983078942434260161299643810351355691563048077665290368105926307517545061510034479279048966089291314891444860670458201867880815236897424172589457145228223580976078349719620763200393749728813013705136969832306285204150421408684098817902100065726678754344776013676433861728214741513996016419301388315460623376956713027081068172904651493260559712930614170125107331058298276799960173438674045078422051776649528823885191901865236952918852004135676486225071887951327780886176421544817857009770067640891000951712895430533510714079476534982417506373480437932055262127983613928300199790994332464474054016701879579878919955005162598265034404753230963888117076207897213244612908794037523172869048590073262180493560636876293830406952461822595653911111306706864961195811401987053048787092112422958538749009016111202947793977007491378313807615924110214544296559775862536041442170735679982631080373518797038716310894262289034624730140553459481514898111460684193794000660512422261890822351290087924964143189070211379638241453593114902663563140992114993098778720702340547120282313472085958181208039967460657920315123497565701478603660547153731090790898300394433768269950529090989421821712496320534819068584787346017551012438219254202

Equal Opportunity Fail

Aww .. but he just wants love.

Picture by: dunno source Submitted by: dunno source via Fail Uploader

(author unknown)05775476852759638868028248314885983400981040248949498673870915687942234892547420031542591554468809611726477063341605318514374728973567535589168571217411426992150125719887902551781811648805971880323922016363703162669044950907782577804557187105625395728084396180133455194433369422791032566127499344533812452804995312139638158760736307471335811707633203792300354112718033656060122470094297536763752963811652348026306942429313969186433309316031168181765920942551580328795937578610111109960244803948920089038546770744364828100550746319538247421010925086843843687309166787971819762255371622032730113172556703839677094052067787056231847531990302771475472198391886495405974199030467975388155814073103689363080243873186683547801301378362922825043920175528122211900388290309891679674586827617834319849645733381010083778894170977710168182698429437012212877487868590488481016056720157321825240552864252505650844010721407868408229918089408582102150858970517806753603699164318007376743845420196079941670449855524300683642252815012648513145471700549447293054537552225414839621823915158630852310717722001012160051895122492666388992699440246140795500411656006203990156972612629049116117414106957571507042134577488490417052597959777511996076322353491678341431396581681818208080218060300542990382941088054596768201900980762732887540914475201008602140929492306167214213557292130840694124321838324892701895563545796903224131854414916346386771470154546133827250116899622170585644106122909289238885536601710052294407711666503200851241871099577085185891684263415971520672081864953132808270047540933657720051212280914620899690627360313664868915817441777977417647765077707556213872790231569193037206206098516228144671989034370016496005370582706290732924420513102495802685138185250163439060959925343784202130638929507461633578307552169254416502612136470835749349529651711960875888037766010319760630432906407061033668997638630060594614138178066781707706946179542855344159527240050469429430732899828253111940103371212558146727554

Shared by stevecrozz
This story really brings the RyanAir experience to life

Patience Fail

Picture by: dunno source Submitted by: dunno source via Fail Uploader

This story really brings the RyanAir experience to life

Shared by stevecrozz
wow, really? Everybody loves a world's first. So we might as well mention that Microsoft just released its very first application written for Google's competitive Android smartphone platform: Microsoft Tag Reader. Tag, as you might recall, is Microsoft's pseudo QR code implementation that uses high capacity color "barcodes" to link back to content. Download the app from the Android Market, scan a Tag with any camera enabled Android phone, and the linked data will automatically load on your device, be it a web page, video, advertisement, coupon, etc. Of course, readers without tags are as useless as tags without a wide swath of people with devices to read them -- so really, Microsoft has no choice but develop its Tag apps (already available for WinMo, Symbian, Blackberry, and iPhone handsets) for as many platforms as possible. First!

Tag: Microsoft's first Android app is it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BBC  | Email this | Comments wow, really?

Bread chairs by Enoc Armengol: not for sitting, only for nomming (and admiring)! [via Core77]

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!Becky Stern

(author unknown)16347164443782651084062400482963027129251245280499531213963815085892999077000732163795514481522682210399299226185894171505017592041124279585055404500013015998680470230951291568468905453755222541483962046387174950378609070009366924685663835303936784920662607101163072322485722028751840171232794588146111192046246377452492001517055010009187050189334030281993788908950006921896776167156570136623527814881104703731326849485506076769573280891997115141487022580969740447611436725142317503900495321517637042080622069641196311811533194607767370997014859999505974534538182824733754057383140763374909815881849112584680272577777098034035966665568725290998306727639658948608515511857271913069110369076009763538401152687987233131415302676323847029242934083884035293685757441467681367715370652107676251681870121353021313210864956544500131252903150107768804440499409192210648114417629617101677480475972441515911583912833142084095559233042897252120019505640042824447305610073212416560858975992194005861782976313898250955609908442136496407923984747705409786078117613478106494930616574888671140735904331353433535950478089825814776299139770609833158016737885306353517847433519526164707955852580217950895699667736903132311343206068600230975147240220148103893990248216320450677519904851138740779481362041794871307525870430371875938453374204112061239878548867118065997379075172303301039233953551052360313481765716493108480113624634750496477321634606682268432208002241079541387940393121280808522813833720392581969310079379010535738766566685423132757638488143752501300651212367753246816922342489069964959026500251454256965641632049419551157490606865920656398949348021570599484233986120829569192782361770011756036699012407653152886227895674231871479420176659301208706731084033828445391132694806167693472231271612455856998469511477494088602297230180236055695585382760476468493964426864206651630609896559292124297930510681382110087019158450539206118401449782394634260167263435771480919631270520240257305852617775735066506534895

Forget typing out searches or searching by voice. Devices running Android 2.0 can now use Google Gesture Search to find contacts, music, and more. All you have to do is "draw" letters on the screen.

This is how Google says the whole thing works:

Say you want to call your friend Anne. Just open Gesture Search and draw letter "A", and Gesture Search returns a list of items that have words starting with "A". If your handwriting isn't all that neat, that's okay. If the "A" you draw looks a bit like an "H", as seen in the bottom left corner of the screenshot, "H" results will be brought up as well. If needed, you can also erase a query by crossing it horizontally: left to right erases the entire query, and right to left removes the last letter or space in the query. Now you can either scroll down the list to find Anne or write more letters to refine the search.

Google Gesture Search is now available on the Android Market. I'd try it, but as good as it sounds, I doubt it can handle my handwriting. [Google Mobile Blog]

(author unknown)