Loading up the new NBN connection...

So far, my account of getting connected to the National Broadband Network has had almost 2000 views and is the third most viewed article on my blog. Soon it will pass the Russian meteorite post, but a long way to go until it catches the walrus on a Russian submarine, with almost 7000 views.

But (shameless plugs done) what can this NBN thing deliver?

I was watching ABC iView, streaming a show I missed, and decided to see if it could handle a bunch of YouTube clips running at the same time.
 
Four high definition YouTube clips and ABC iView all live streaming at once. Not the hint of a buffer.

Not that I'd multitask like this, but I could be watching a streaming show, while editing a video and keeping an eye on emails and social media. Toss in some software or podcasts downloading in the background and other users in the household, and that's a realistic scenario. Now possible with NBN.

But Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull reckon you don't need the NBN. Vote for Tony and wireless for everyone.

A 3D printout model of your unborn baby? Is this just a little bit creepy?

Source: DiginfoTV

I really don't know if this is something that will catch on, or something that parents-to-be will find a bit creepy...

Japanese company Fasotec is offering a $1250 service that takes scan images, recreates them into a 3D computer model, then prints it as a resin model of the foetus inside the womb. The high-quality 3D printer does both the opaque foetus and the clear womb in the one print run.

People are still getting comfortable with 2D ultrasound printouts, and feeling rather odd about those 3D ultrasound pictures. How will they feel about a solid model??

Oh, and the miniature version as a pendant? Don't get me started...

Cyberbully pot-kettle, Greens launches, telescopes, more. The week that was.

Alan Jones learns what it's like on the receiving end; the ACT Greens campaign powers towards 20 October; the first stage of the Square Kilometre Array is turned on; a Nobel laureate yanks the rug out from under Newspoll; iPad Mini confirmed; and much more.

The week that was - my readings and posts.

"Mohawk Guy" nukes his Apple advertising potential with chuckles on iPhone5 parody

One lousy extra row of icons was all Apple could come up with (apart from the worst mapping/navigation app in smartphone-dom)? It's much less a phone than a portable computer, so a bit more screen real estate is paramount. But one teeny weeny row??

[Insert mutters about wouldn't have happened under Steve Jobs here...]

This is a wry chuckle sort of parody video. But it's all the more notable for the cameo by the NASA JPL engineer made internationally famous during the Mars Curiosity landing as "Mohawk Guy".

He is of course Bobak Ferdowski, aka @tweetsoutloud. And he was part of the EDL Team - Entry, Descent and Landing - that got Curiosity safely onto the surface of Mars.

He probably could have had a lucrative sideline income in doing ads for companies like Apple. No more. But maybe he's set himself up sweetly for gigs with Google and/or Samsung? Either way, the world isn't going to let him lose that haircut any time soon...

Enjoy:

Tell me you can watch this without a tear in your eye - 3D printing gives a girl her arms

This is a beautiful story of a little girl named Emma with a rare congenital disorder that leaves her unable to lift her own arms.

But a customised exoskeleton - fabricated on a 3D printer and sprung with simple rubber bands - has changed that.

Science - changing lives.



Via io9.com

Interview with Dr Brian Boyle on the Square Kilometre Array project

In a first for this blog, an exclusive face-to-face audio interview with Doctor Brian Boyle - Project Director of the Australia and New Zealand bid for the Square Kilometre Array.

I met Brian when he gave a presentation on the SKA bid to those of us fortunate enough to be at the Mars Curiosity Rover Launch Tweetup at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Centre. So it's something I've followed very closely since, including following Brian via Twitter (@BrianBoyleSKA).

In the interview, we cover the bid and outcome, what it means for Australia and indeed world science, the technology and supporting infrastructure, science in the media, inspiring new students into astronomy, and even some joking around maybe a sequel to The Dish - Dishes...

The interview was conducted in a (kind of noisy sorry) cafe in Canberra on 29 May 2012. Apologies for a couple of bits that could stand being cropped out due to lack of editing software. The interview is in two parts over 35 minutes:

Very cool synchronised robots - want!

Robotics are coming ahead in leaps and bounds.

This clip is interesting for the near-perfect synchronisation of the robots. But it is more so for the way the single unit responds to being taken out of the line-up and then put back - it "knows" how to get back on track.

I say "wow" and "where do I buy one?"



Via Dvice.com

Draw Something - another app hit. And a lost opportunity for Pictionary!

Do you play Draw Something?

If you don't, you are probably wondering what is this new phenomenon (one day I'll learn how to spell that word...) is? Another Pinterest-like passing fad?

But no - it's just a little game. That you share with friends or strangers. It's such a simple little game that works beautifully for adults and kids. You finger paint something on your phone, your friend guesses it, then swap. Couple of minutes, then you're done.

It's providing a fun constant link between me and my two children, who also use it on their iPod Touches. I can't draw to save myself, but I can get my message across OK enough to keep the games going.

"I made this cake all by myself. Just look at my cake!" Life without Facebook...you will laugh

Some things change life altogether. Social media is like that.

But what would our lives be like now if Facebook was just shut down?

Enjoy...

More great quadcopter magic - this time playing music

There are some amazing feats being performed by people programming quadcopters to either do set tasks or even work autonomously.

This one is very clever - the James Bond theme music played by quadcopters.



The producers University of Pennsylvania explain:

Flying robot quadrotors perform the James Bond Theme by playing various instruments including the keyboard, drums and maracas, a cymbal, and the debut of an adapted guitar built from a couch frame. The quadrotors play this "couch guitar" by flying over guitar strings stretched across a couch frame; plucking the strings with a stiff wire attached to the base of the quadrotor. A special microphone attached to the frame records the notes made by the "couch guitar".
These flying quadrotors are completely autonomous, meaning humans are not controlling them; rather they are controlled by a computer programed with instructions to play the instruments.

Spotted by @JohnGriffiths

Space teaching to soggy rabbits - The Beach House Weekly Wrap

What I've been reading, writing, watching and viewing for the week to 11/2/12.

Wireless is freaky technology...

LOL!

From science teaching to space toilets and lots in between - what I've been reading this last week

The Beach House weekly news summary, with some of what I've been reading and writing about over the week to 21 January. Recap, enjoy, grimace wryly, as appropriate.

Awesome 'digital rug' - 30 second video *totally* worth viewing!

You'll be knocked out by this one:



The possibilities are endless...

And we used to think the stairs that played piano notes was clever?

via @ChasLicc

Google doodle goes geology - beautifully!

Google is commemorating Denmark's Nicholas Steno - widely acknowledged as the father of geology - 11 January being his birthdate 374 years ago.

It's a beautiful rendition of sedimentary laying, with fossils to boot.

Good one Google! Sneaking in science learning when people least expect it...

Fotoshop...by Adobé - funny spoof of airbrushing

Tracey Spicer is now diving into the debate about Deborah Hutton's supposed baring all photo shoot, and how Hutton has admitted the magazine in question 'shopped her rough bits.

So it's timely to post this amusing short clip spoofing cosmetics ads to make a very good point about the women's fashion magazine industry, and its affect on body image.



Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.


Maybe she’s born with it? Maybe she's 'shopped!

What I've been reading and writing over the last fortnight- The Beach House Weekly Wrap

Via Paper.li, the usual summary of what I've been reading and writing over the last week.

And...it seems I forgot to post this last week, so here's the missed issue.

Have Google+ but hate the horrible URL? Here's a solution

One of the silliest things about Google+ is that they are refusing to introduce custom URLs for organisation pages.

Google support techs call these "vanity URLs" like they are something bad.

The official line from Google's Toby is:

Our team will not be securing vanity URLs for pages. Instead, verification badges are the tool we're using to prove legitimacy. Verification badges are designed to help our users find what they're looking for by ensuring that people, brands and businesses that are subject to broad-based impersonation are protected. Since this is primarily a security mechanism, there’s no way to apply for a verification badge. If we think you or your page might benefit from a badge, we’ll reach out directly to verify you.

It seems they just don't get it. Businesses and organisations need to be able to quote an easy URL for their pages - not something that looks like this: https://plus.google.com/u/0/116684218922961448134

Fortunately, necessity is the mother of invention and a third party has leapt into the Google-sized void, with a bit.ly-style solution, tailored nicely just for Google+.

Swarm of autonomous robots build a tower - Skynet anyone?

Watch this collection of robotic quadrocopters carry on with their business of building a tower of blocks. And perhaps pause and wonder about where this is heading...

I'm wondering whether they were trained in Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics?


Flight Assembled Architecture/Architectures volantes from FRAC Centre on Vimeo.

Via io9.com - link back to the previous article for an explanation.

Some of what I've been reading and writing over the past week - The Beach House Weekly Wrap

Amazing what you get through in a single week. This auto-generated summary always intrigues me.

It can also be funny seeing what categories the Paper.Li thingo puts articles under - Exhibit1: a gay rights article under "Leisure"!

Enjoy The Beach House Weekly Wrap as at 24 December 2012.