Nokia E63 hands-on


While the N97 was free to fondle, the slightly less exciting E63 was decidedly bolted to a table, so we had to take what angles we could get. The phone is basically a cheap-o version of the E71: Nokia figured it had a good thing going on in that QWERTY candybar, and decided to spread the love at a lower price point, with a slightly thicker, plastic handset. The good news is that no matter what you do to cheapen the phone, the E63 comes from good stock, and is really a compelling form factor. The slight bump in thickness is negligible, and while the cheaper materials are easily distinguished from the luxury feel of the E71, the phone by no means feels cheap. Except for the keyboard. For some reason Nokia opted to remove the hardened, clickier E71 keys and replace them with a softer, rubberier keyboard with a considerable amount of distributed give to it -- that still leaves it as one of Nokia's best QWERTYs to date, but we greatly prefer the E71. The other compelling difference between the phone and its inspiration is the inclusion of a full 3.5mm headphone jack, instead of the mini jack found on the E71. Not bad at all, but we'd guess Nokia saved a lot more money in materials and manufacturing process than with the sorry removal of GPS and HSDPA.

Gallery: Nokia E63 hands-on

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Nokia E63 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iLuv’s iNT170 internet radio-alarm appears, no one’s too excited


Not to be left out, iLuv's also brought out another internet radio / alarm combo and it looks exactly like you'd think it would. Only cooler. The iNT170's packing access to 15,000 radio stations and podcasts through its built-in WiFi, aka INTERNET (see photo). It's got two 2.5 watt jAura sound speakers, a dual alarm clock, plus a 3.5mm line-in if you need to plug in your PMP. The clock self-updates via INTERNET, so you'll never be able to use that Daylight Saving Time excuse for being late to work again (we recommend the "flooded basement" or "sick cat" in its stead), and you'll have the option to wake to INTERNET or regular radio in addition to the old standby buzzer. It's available now for $199.

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iLuv's iNT170 internet radio-alarm appears, no one's too excited originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marijuana stash from 2700-year-ago

Seen here is a 2700-year-old stash of marijuana, found in a Gobi Desert grave near Turpan, China. Ethan Russo, a visiting professor at the Chinese Acadmy of Scineces, and his colleagues report the discovery in the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany (abstract). From Discovery News:

Marijuanarrererna The size of seeds mixed in with the leaves, along with their color and other characteristics, indicate the marijuana came from a cultivated strain. Before the burial, someone had carefully picked out all of the male plant parts, which are less psychoactive, so Russo and his team believe there is little doubt as to why the cannabis was grown.

What is in question, however, is how the marijuana was administered, since no pipes or other objects associated with smoking were found in the grave.

"Perhaps it was ingested orally," Russo said. "It might also have been fumigated, as the Scythian tribes to the north did subsequently."
Oldest Marijuana Stash Found (Thanks, Tara McGinley!)

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Circle of Moms: Connect and Shop with Moms Like You

Circle of Moms is a social network publicly debuting today for online moms looking to connect with other moms. With an already active community of 850,000+ members, Circle of Moms is your typical destination social network site, with features including photos and video, user-created groups, a LinkedIn-like Q&A section, virtual gifts, and of course user profiles where moms can input profiles of their kids to create a more dynamic site experience.

Just Another Mommy and Me Network?

In many ways, Circle of Moms simply recycles social network standby features. The 1,000 plus communities look and feel similar to Facebook groups, and they’re also reminiscent of similar highly-targeted communities already thriving on CafeMom.

The Stay at Home Moms community, however, is incredibly active for a group born just one month ago. This particular community boasts 41,188 members who are contributing questions, comments, and engaging online at a high frequency; there are currently 842 conversation threads in this community alone.

Cosmetically speaking, the overall look and feel of Circle of Moms is pretty underwhelming. The site is bland and is in desperate need of a face-lift, and the text ads certainly don’t add any pizazz to the sparse design. Appearances aside, however, Circle of Moms has a few mommy-specific gems worthy of mention.

Mommy Influencers: Community Evangelists and Brand Advocates

I spent a few minutes chatting with Ephraim Luft, CEO, to talk about Circle of Moms impressive growth since their initial launch in October of 2008. According to Luft, all 850,000 members are a direct result of 100% viral growth made possible through the Facebook application and core site invite features.

Luft went on to mention that he and his team have spent countless hours developing relationships with influencer moms who are members of the site. These moms have then gone out and spread the word to their communities, making the site impressively active and rewarding for all those moms who want to connect and solve the challenges of motherhood together. In addition to the respectable member base, Luft asserts that there are over 700,000 child profiles each with child-specific data, including date of birth, that help make each mother’s experience on the site completely unique to her own needs.

Luft and team have also conducted research on mom behaviors both onsite and off; they discovered that not only are moms more likely to trust the opinions of other moms, but they’re also motivated to have brand-specific conversations on products and services related to their children. These conversations, which are already happening (just glance at the search results for Gerber), create a ripe playground that allows for custom brand advertising opportunities with chatty moms. Circle of Moms will officially launch their first brand sponsorship next week, and Luft believes this will be the first of many mutually beneficial brand sponsorships to follow.

Niche Social Shopping at its Best

Circle of Moms also has enormous potential to outshine the tried-and-true hot mommy communities like CafeMom, with their incorporation of an extremely useful gift recommendation engine that brings social shopping to a powerful purchasing community—moms.

As a would-be mom, I dreamed up a baby named Jean Peck who painlessly came into my life in August 2008. When I navigated to the gifts section of the website, I found a few products recommended for my child, some with user-ratings, and all of which I could either ask my Circle of Moms communities about or immediately purchase from Amazon.com.

Just introduced last week, the gifts section offers moms the convenience of using their network to tackle the challenges associated with purchase decisions. Luft said that the section was introduced because he noticed that much of the conversations happening onsite were centered around product reviews. In the future, Circle of Moms plans to incorporate social shopping elements across the web property and allow for user wish-lists.

Real Moms, What Do You Think?

Not being an actual mom myself, it’s hard for me to review the actual content on the site. I’m certainly impressed by the activity level of the community members, and their willingness to embrace me and my questions. But, moms, does this site solve your motherhood-related challenges? Are you already using the site? What do you love or hate about it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:

Windows Live Launching Niche for Moms
Don’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearch
Mom Central Empowers Moms and Tests Products for Companies
MomJunction, Another “MySpace for Moms”, Raises $1.5 Million
CafeMom Gets $5M in Latest Round of Funding
MommyBuzz Launches MySpace for Moms
MothersClick is Live

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Relay tutorial - controlling big, mean, devices

Sparkfunrelaytut
Sparkfunrelaytut2

Sparkfun posted another handy tutorial, this one covers how to use a relay to switch wall power via one little ol' 5-volt microcontroller. A very helpful ability to add to your palette, which of course requires the obligatory "mains supply" caution statement - Don't Touch! I very much look forward to resetting my cable modem via AVR, how bout you? - Controlling Big, Mean, Devices

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in DIY Projects | Digg this!

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Sanyo R227 WiFi radio headed to the US


It was fun while it lasted, but it looks like Sanyo's R227 WiFi radio is no longer that rarest of rare things: a Canadian exclusive, as the company has now announced that it'll be available in the US in January. The radio itself, of course, remains the same, with it still packing both WiFi and an Ethernet jack for a wired connection, along with a backlit LCD display, support for AAC, AIFF, MP3, WAV and WMA files stored on a networked computer, a stereo headphone jack, an FM tuner, and a pair of 2W RMS speakers. The one thing that has changed slightly is the price, which now comes in at a slightly more affordable $169.99.

[Via Electronista]

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Sanyo R227 WiFi radio headed to the US originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unusual house addition in Boulder, Colorado

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I was in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado last week. While taking a walk in the neighborhood with my family, we saw this unusual house. The stone cottage used to be in the center of the lot. The owners moved it to the front of the property and built a connected addition that nearly fills the lot.

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Boing Boing Offworld’s Monster Mii for your Wii

Oimages Kzorx Do you have a Nintendo Wii? Comic artist James Kochalka teamed up with Boing Boing Offworld to create a free series of Mii Monsters to customize games like Wii Sports and Wii Play. I'd love to see a slew of Kochalka's weirdos on the sidelines of Wii Sports. Seen here is Kzorx. Learn how to adopt the Monsters over at Boing Boing Gadgets.
Introducing James Kochalka's Monster Mii

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Hygiene for the Worker: 1912 guide to being a sweet-smelling prole

Meg sez, "I just found a copy of one of my favorite used-book finds ever, 1912's Hygiene for the Worker, on the Internet Archive. It's wonderful in so many ways. The illustrations are simultaneously delightful and creepy, the language is charmingly outdated, and the lessons in the book attempt to create a race of scrubbed-clean, milk-drinking super employees who spend their vacations at home 'laying up a greater store of health and energy than the young people who come back tired and weary from having too good a time at the mountains and other regular summer resorts.'"

Hair. Most boys and girls, ordinarily, do not value or pay sufficient attention to the little things that go to make up a good appearance.

Take the hair, for instance. If you want to make a good impression, don't apply for a position with your scalp and hair so unclean as to be offensive.

It has now become the rule, in certain large offices, to draw the line against the girls and young women whose hair is fantastically arranged in the extreme of style. Elaborate head dressings suggest to the employer a certain vanity, self-consciousness, and frivolity that render a girl unable to put her mind seriously upon her work.

Clothing. Here also should be mentioned the impro- priety of wearing, during business, clothing that seems suitable only for evening or home use. The type of waist known as the lingerie is one that the business girl should not wear in the office. It is neither sensible nor dignified. Nor is it an economy, for on account of its sheerness it requires greater care and expense in laundering ; hence, it is seldom washed as frequently as it should be. There is nothing more distasteful to the average business man than unclean finery.

Boys and girls both are inclined to run to extremes of style in their dress, usually preferring garments that are of the most up-to-date cut and shape to those of more modest appear- ance, which are generally found to be made better and of more enduring materials. This is equally true of hats and shoes. An employer will probably notice whether you are wearing elaborately cut and high-heeled shoes, run down, unbrushed, and with broken laces, or whether your feet are shod in sensible, well-fitting shoes, kept clean and neat.

Hygiene for the worker ([c1912]) (Thanks, Meg!)

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Microscopic wheel will spin straight to your heart, literally

Microscopic wheel will spin straight to your heart, literally
Sure, you've got an iPod Nano in your pocket and a VIA Nano in your custom PC, but we're willing to bet you don't have any nanomachines in your arteries at the moment. Two scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Barcelona, Ramin Golestanian and Pietro Tierno, hope to change that by turning your bodily fluids into pathways for their tiny devices. The things are comprised of two beads, measuring 1 and 3 micrometers, attached to each other using strands of DNA. A magnetic field gets 'em spinning in the right direction and the increased surface area of the larger bead moves the contraption forward at a blistering 1 micrometer per second (shown in a short but sweet video below). Now, if the good doctors could just build 11 of these things and get them in a 4-3-3 formation we'd finally know where to place our money for next year's nanosoccer RoboCup Open.

[Via Scotsman.com]

Continue reading Microscopic wheel will spin straight to your heart, literally

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Microscopic wheel will spin straight to your heart, literally originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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