New Drug Could Eliminate Sleep

Wired has an article about a new drug, orexin A, that may be able to eliminate the need for sleep.

The monkeys were deprived of sleep for 30 to 36 hours and then given either orexin A or a saline placebo before taking standard cognitive tests. The monkeys given orexin A in a nasal spray scored about the same as alert monkeys, while the saline-control group was severely impaired.

via slashdot

Collapsable Home Office

Here is an interesting item of furniture. It is a home office that folds away into a nice looking little rolling cart.

Flash: Flying Polar Bears

An amusing little flash game that features a leaping polar bear and falling ice cubes.

Funny Business at the Domain Registrar

There have always been rumours that if you search for a good domain name on one of the online name checker sites, someone will register it before you do. Now the DailyDomainer reports seeing numerous domains registered within 30 seconds of being checked. The problem is made worse by domain tasters who manage to register their domains for free for 30 days.

via slashdot

18th Century Messaging

Low-tech magazine has an article about an 18th century French communications system that could send a message from Amsterdam to Venice in 1 hour. The system consisted of a towers fitted with semaphore signals. The operator in each tower watches the previous tower through a telescope and copies its signal. The operator also looks at the tower before the previous one to confirm the signal is correct.

I've only started looking at the Low-tech Magazine site but it looks interesting so far.

via slashdot

A Ten Hour Work Week

The New York Times has an article about the Canadian website PlentyOfFish.com. The site is a dating website that owner Markus Frind developed on his own as a programming exercise. Frind is the only person who works on the site, and he only puts in about ten hours a week, but the site makes about ten million dollars a year.

Money Shots

Some interesting photos on Flickr using US money and real landmarks.

via Dark Roasted Blend

DVD: Next

I didn't really notice this movie when it first came out. It is the one where Nicholas Cage plays a character who can see two minutes into the future. Naturally the government want him to help them catch terrorists but he just wants to be left alone.

I really liked the movie. There were a few problems with the plot - like "who were the bad guys and what were they trying to accomplish" but on the whole things moved fairly well. The main emphasis was on Cage's character's power and how he uses it.

Well worth watching.

The end of Direct Current in Manhattan

The New York Times has an article about the ending of direct current (DC) electrical service in Manhattan. The service was originally started 125 years ago by Thomas Edison when he was trying to establish DC as the standard for distributing electricity.

Tracking Shoppers

TechCrunch has an article about a new application that allows store managers to track where customers walk in their stores. The system uses radio receivers that listen for the pings the customers' cell phones send out periodically.

I'm not sure if there are privacy implications here or not. The system can tell people apart but can't identify them. Plus I suppose people could just turn off their phones if they are worried about this sort of thing.

Origami: Make a Drinking Cup

Wikihow has a page on how to make a drinking cup from a sheet of paper. This may have been more useful over the holiday season but could still come in handy. I'm not sure how long a given cup will last but I was amused at the warning not to use the cup for hot beverages.

This Cellphone Feels Empty

The New Scientist has an article about an application for cellphones that uses a phone's accelerometer (a relatively new feature) and vibrator to make the phone feel like it is partly full of liquid when you shake it. The phone can be made to feel more and more empty as the batter gets closer to flat.

via slashdot

Roads that Play Music

The Guardian has an article about some roads in Japan that play music as you drive along them. They use a series of rough strips across the roadway to play a song if you are driving at the correct speed.

Swarming

The New York Times has an article about swarming and how swarms can sometimes exhibit intelligent behavior.

By studying army ants — as well as birds, fish, locusts and other swarming animals — Dr. Couzin and his colleagues are starting to discover simple rules that allow swarms to work so well. Those rules allow thousands of relatively simple animals to form a collective brain able to make decisions and move like a single organism.

Panarama by the last men on the moon

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a panoramic photo taken by the astronauts of Apollo 17 - the last men on the moon.

An Awesome Looking Bookstore

Coolhunter has a post (with photos) about a gorgeous looking bookstore in the Netherlands. The store is in an 800 year old church in Maastricht and won the Lensvelt de Architect Interior Prize 2007.

Thing we don't have a word for in English

The Mirror (not that I read the Mirror) has an article about words in other languages that can't be translated easily into English.

A few that I liked:

• Spesenritter - German: a person who shows off by paying the bill on the firm's money, literally "an expense knight".
• Pelinti - Buli, Ghana: to move very hot food around inside one's mouth.
• Tartle - Scottish: to hesitate when you are introducing someone whose name you can't quite remember.
• Prozvonit - Czech and Slovak: to call someone's mobile from your own to leave your number in their memory without them picking it up.

via Dark Roasted Blend

Demo video of exoskeleton

Danger Room has an article with a YouTube video of an experimental powered exoskeleton. They don't mention how much practice the operator has but some of the things he does with it are quite impressive.

PeaceCorps is seeking older recuits

The New York Times has an article about how the American Peace Corps is actively recruiting older members. Traditionally seen as a post-graduation job, today more and more members are post-retirement.

Space Station over Greece

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a great picture of the International Space Station with the Ionian Sea in the background.