Too Late To Be First

Make getting off the grid, REALISTICALLY competitive with the grid

Solar City has done it. This is precisely the model required to rapidly ignite uptake of solar power. Theoretically, solar has always been a no-brainer; realistically, it's simply been too far out of reach to make a deep impact in the consumer residential mass market. The problem has always been the high initial startup cost, followed by prohibitive monthly costs for workin' folk.

However, if we workin' folk can make a reasonable one time investment, then immediately replace our utility bill with one that is equal or just a bit lower, NOW as everyday consumers, we can make that choice.

For global warming's sake, let's all hope that this New Financing For Solar catches on, quickly.

Wifi-enable any SD Camera

DEET'DUH'DEEEE!!! ON ME!!!!

How in the world did I miss this for nearly FOUR YEARS??? Oh well, it just validates my career choice of becoming expert at being Too Late To Be First, right? That said, there are some recent new developments that will make the Eye-Fi even faster and easier to use.

Mate an iPod with a Beanie Baby

And you get a Chumby, apparently. Who knew?

Oh, and yes, the little critter speaks Wifi (even WPA2/AES-PSK) right from the cradle. While there is some very cool interactivity in this widget, it's too bad this virtual chumby doesn't let you change channels like the real thing. What you're seeing here is indeed one of my actual channels, (very minimal, suitable for grandma's coffee table ... hey, good name for the channel ... "coffee table" ... thanks for the idea).

A Chumby TV channel:

Create a 24/7/365 Realtime, Real Life Librarian

Amy is a genius. It could work something like this.

And yeah, YOU, my friend are ... TOO LATE ... again ... as always.

Use CPU heat to cool itself

Using Stirling Engine Theory. Now why didn't YOU think of that?

Best Inventions of 2007

TIME magazine's Best Inventions Of The Year seem like a reasonable reference point. Of course, for the purposes of this blog, we call it the "So What List." As in, "so what? what are YOU going to invent in 2008 that's better, faster, cheaper, cooler, more useful? C'mon ... show us all how STUPID and SLOW we are because we're old and retarded and ONLY built cell phones and the internet.

Our generation gave you the FREEBIES of ubiquitous cell phones and the internet, we built those upon the FREEBIES of television and radio waves, which were built upon the FREEBIES of telephony and telegraphy, which was built upon the FREEBIES increasingly free scientific inquiry, which is built upon the FREEBIE of the relentless pursuit of knowledge and self-improvement.

So your opportunity to spite us all is 100% FREE. You don't need money, don't need fame, don't need no credit card to ride on this train.

So what are YOU doing to make things better, gurl and boi geniuses? Your assignment, as I've repeated here from time to time, is to BEAT CELL PHONES AND THE INTERNET. Before the telegraph, nobody could imagine sending signals over a wire. Before the telephone, nobody believed that voice could travel on that same wire. The same has been true of each successive generation of invention. So don't give me any whining about how "you can't possibly know" what to do next ... unless you're more STUPID AND LAME than the RETARDED OLD PEOPLE, of course.

Everyone else in the history of the earth has done it, so what's your bitchy little excuse?

C'mon, hotshots ... show me how stupid, old, boring, and retarded we are for only building these lame cellular intertubeweb thingies designed by Al Gore's brain soaked in a vat of Rock Star energy drink ... c'mon and show us what you have that TOPS CELL PHONES AND THE INTERNET.

Hello-ooo ... deet-duh-dee!!! ... we're WAAAAITING geniuses .... c'mon ... we're all so OLD and LAME and have nothing to contribute ... and you're so young and brilliant and superior based upon your VAST experience and education, right? This should be a slam dunk for you and you get the enjoyment of rubbing our faces in it!

Actually become a Fly on the Wall

Hi, Mems!

A microsystem-controlled insect (HI-MEMS, Hybrid Insect Micro-Electrico-Mechanical Systems) has a circuit board protruding from the top of its midsection. Probes are inserted into the dorsoventral and dorsolongitudinal flight muscles.A driving voltage of 5 volts causes the muscles (two pairs) to move for flight and maneuvering.

Get Online Annotation RIGHT

Far from the first attempt, Diigo calls this Social Annotation: Seamless Integration of Social Bookmarking, Web Highlighter, Sticky-Note & Clipping. Whatever it is, it's the first I've seen of this magnitude in functionality.