matt, Author at Peak Geek - Page 70 of 114

Shipping in 2013 for $399 are these heads-up display glasses from GlassUp, which project a 320×240 pixel monochromatic image onto the right lens, enough for basic text and graphics. It basically acts as a remote display for your smartphone (via a wireless bluetooth connection). It’s a different sort of use than the Google Glasses, which had a corner mounted display and built in camera. Battery life is a bit of an uncertainty, as these will be more suited to occasional, not constant use. Pop up notices when you get an SMS message, for example.

(via Slashgear)

China has a well-earned reputation for careless disregard for the safety of their food supply (follow this link for the ‘top 10 food scandals‘, for example). Now with horsemeat concerns in the European food supply, and most recently Ikea meatballs, Ikea wanted to reassure the Chinese that the meatballs served in China are actually made in China, and are not tied to the horsemeat scandal in Europe. Well, it kinda backfired, as it seems even the Chinese are losing faith in their food supply…and would rather have potentially horsemeat-laden meatballs from Europe than domestically produced meatballs. As one person was quoted as saying, “I don’t really care about horse meat. The key point is that if it’s produced in China, it probably has rat meat.” Hard to argue with that, based on recent history.

Could be worse though…when testing for horse DNA in meat pies produced in Iceland, they found the meat pies actually contained no meat. Lol.

Then another food surprise in China…in an effort to maximize profits, some vendors are selling walnuts filled with concrete.

Joy of joys…I finally have my own 3D Printer! I’ll be writing much more about it soon, but in the meantime, if you’re interested in this stuff, check out this article at MAKE, it’s their self-labeled ‘Ultimate 3D Printer Buyer’s Guide‘. The options are many, though in the end, I opted for a lower end consumer oriented machine, as I don’t see the others filling my occasional need for professional quality prototypes. The machine I bought is the Cube printer from 3D Systems. The price was a bit high compared to the more DIY type options, but I opted for that as it’s more likely (I felt) to be a true plug and play, hands off sort of machine. I’ll be using it for quick, rough protos, though I expect I’ll still depend on vendors for higher quality prototypes at times. A perfect combo, really. Stay tuned for more on the Cube…I’ve been using it for only a couple days now and am learning a lot!

Very nicely made video with some simple charts illustrating the distribution of wealth in the US. It’s pretty shocking…and worth a quick watch. It’s important to know the facts about the world around you, to help you make educated decisions. The gist of this video is that the majority of people surveyed do NOT know the truth about this issue (chances are, you don’t either…even I was surprised).

(via Fast Company)

The BBC reports that globally, around 100 million sharks are being killed each year. This is a mind-boggling number and anyone who thinks we can deplete the numbers of an apex predator at that rate without consequences is a fool. I’m scared of what the future brings to our society when we are so blatantly altering the ecosystem that future generations will depend upon, without being able to really understand what these changes will actually mean. It’s stupid and selfish.

Author: matt

GlassUP HUD

Food safety in China

3D Printing Options

Wealth Distribution in the US

Unsustainable shark fishing