Archive for the 'tech' Category

PBS Everyday Edisons Season 2: I’m on TV!

Thursday, June 19th, 2008
Everyday Edisons pbs show TV aaron tang

Hey all! I’ve got a little secret to spill that I’ve been keeping hush for almost a year! I’m in a TV show and it premieres on PBS today!!!!

The shows called “Everyday Edisons“:
Everybody has a great idea that could change the way we work, the way we live or the way we play. Everyday Edisons documents the development process of 14 inventions and the parallel stories of the people who invented them. Selected from thousands, the 14 Everyday Edisons learn how their extraordinary ideas are taken from a sketch on a napkin to a store shelf.”

Check out the EverydayEdisons.com page or the PBS page. Find out your local PBS air dates and times here. (I’m in the 2nd half of the season but will appear at the beginning I think)

It’s a thrill to be one of the dozen inventors hand picked from thousands to be on the show. This adventure continues a project I invented while at RISD back in 1999 which made the blogsphere rounds in 2004-5.

I’m not sure what to expect nor how the show ends (good or bad) but that’s all part of the fun. It might not be as entertaining as reality TV, but you’ll get to see my goofy serious self!! And no, it’s not like the “other” reality show I’ve been on… this one is much more professional. There is no competition, the US patent office sponsors the show, and they actually spend over a year developing each inventors idea!

I’ll post a few articles that have been published about the show and myself after the jump (fun pictures)! Please watch and let me know how it goes, cause I don’t receive the channels it’s being broadcast on (booo).

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400,000 Balls Dropped into Ivanhoe Resevoir

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

LA Silver Lake Ivanhoe lake black balls
Sweet goodness, this rocks! Tossing 400,000 plastic black Caviar like balls into a reservoir with 3 million to follow in an attempt to shade off the reservoirs exposed water from sunlight for the next 4-5 years.

The water needs to be shaded because when sunlight mixes with the bromide and chlorine in Ivanhoe’s water, the carcinogen bromate forms, said Pankaj Parekh, DWP’s director for water quality compliance. Bromide is naturally present in groundwater and chlorine is used to kill bacteria, he said, but sunlight is the final ingredient in the potentially harmful mix.”

Reminds me of the beautiful Sony Bravia Bouncing balls commercial. I want to by a pool of spheres now!

Tons of fun pics after the jump.
Source via LA TIMES with video, Curbed, and CBS and video.

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Weekend Links

Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Dreaming of Flying

Here are some semi super hero links…. I saw Iron Man finally which was awesome. Later on Indiana Jones, Incredible Hulk, Batman, Hancock, Kung Fu Panda, Get Smart, Love Guru, Hellboy II, and filming for Transformers 2 just started! What a Super Hero summer this is going to be!

- Japaneses Talking watch!($20)
- Finger Blasters or Finger Missiles! (Makes anyone a kid again)
- Explore the Universe through World Telescope!
- Skin Footwear!
- Crazy Fun Slip n Slide!(video)
- A poorly designed Batman squirt gun… haha


Ads in Times Square

Friday, June 6th, 2008



A tour of Times Square from Keyframe on Vimeo.

hmmm… I want to make use of that empty space! The owner should convert it into his mansion or something! I hate wasted prime space!

“The One Times Square building is empty. Why? Because the owner can afford it by selling ad space alone. It costs $300,000/month to advertise on that structure — one of things you’ll learn in this behind-the-LED-screens look at Times Square. ”

via boingboing

wikipedia about Building, yup, it’s empty!!!


Acrobat.com: Work. Together. Anywhere

Monday, June 2nd, 2008
acrobat.com webtop

Wow! Acrobat.com’s webtop page looks amazing, incorporating the sweet Buzzword (Word online), ConnectNow for sharing screens, PDF maker, file sharing, and file storage (5 gigs free). Every thing is going to the web! Whoohoooo! If only Photoshop Express (psd online) and Illustrator could be online now as well as any 3D program via Solidworks, catia, maya, 3d studio, blender, Rhino, Zform, Sketchup, etc..! Programs online rock! Did I say online yet!
via TechCrunch


2012: The Year The Internet Ends

Monday, June 2nd, 2008


Here’s a informational video about the always controversial Net Neutrality issue whom many of us learned about back in 2006 through Ask a Ninja here!

Pass it around, be in the know, and fight off this corrupt political crap… make information free to enable creativity and progression. Reminds me of Larry Lessig’s Great TED lecture on “Creativity being strangled the by law.”

via ipower.ning


Dean Kamen: Mind Controlling Prosthetic Arm

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Dean Kamen of DEKA gives an awesome update to his Luke Arm project during this years All Things Digital Conference! A MUST watch video! incredible!!!!!!

via gizmodo


Erik Nordenankar: Biggest Drawing in the World

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
Erik Nordenankar biggest drawing in the world dhl


Artist Erik Nordenankar has created the “Biggest Drawing in the World” according to his webpage.

In short, he had a grand vision to draw a huge self-portrait. He sent away a briefcase containing a GPS device around the world through DHL which plotted it’s journey in 55 days. The end result, a pretty sweet self-portrait. The GPS container became his pen and the world became his canvas.

However true or fictional this may be, it’s a pretty cool idea. He has a good documentation of it online, and a youtube videos here.

via hackaday


Tag Galaxy!

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

tag galaxy flickr
Yet another way to navigate Flickr Photos through Tag Galaxy! Type in a word  “tag”, surf the luminous galaxies, select another planet, then watch a matrix of tagged photos latch onto a planet to spin, flip, and zoom your fingers away. I’m not sure how practical this is, but none the less cool for a bit.


Shock Aero 3D

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
shock aero 3d application

I’ve been playing around with the free “Shock Aero 3D” application that mimics the pretty cool Vista Rolodex feature and somewhat offers the Mac Expose feature as well. I’ve custom mine to launch by pressing my middle mouse scroll button which also navigates the rolling effect. Pretty sweet if you love the Vista features but hate Vista… I’ve got it on XP running… it was buggy at first, but working fine now. Isn’t it great how innovative ideas on certain platforms can be added to almost any other platform. It’s not about who copied who, but more about embedding great ideas across the world.

via lifehacker