Geekery

iPhone Application – Spinning Vinyl (Virtual DJ)

Posted on 04. May, 2009 by Jake.

Here’s a cool little app for your iPhone. Spinning Vinyl plays a track in your music folder and ‘spins’ it backwards or forwards, depending on your scratchin’ technique.

Spinning vinyl ipod app from Theodore Watson on Vimeo.

If you want to flaunt your DJ skills for real, but without resorting to anything so old school as an actual record

Virtual DJ and Virtual Vinyl give you the feel and functionality direct to mp3.

If you’re a DJ who’s used to the feel of vinyl, or a newcomer who can appreciate the intuitive tactile sense of spinning records, these are the toys for you.

Similarly, if you play a piano or similar instrument and want to expand into digital music sound, a Midi controller has the look and feel of a keyboard but is actually an elaborate USB production tool. Beginners, just hook it up to Garage Band and you’re halfway to your first single.

I like the Korg K49 and its siblings for home use. The portable M-AUDIO Oxygen 8 v2 is perfect for the DJ who want to add an edge to his set.

On the other hand, if there’s you are convinced there’s no substitute for the real thing, you can’t do better than the Goldmund Reference II, perhaps the most precise record player in the world. Unfortunately, on 25 are made each year. Fortunately, you won’t care, because they cost $300,000 each.

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Air Mouse Review – iPhone App

Posted on 24. Apr, 2009 by Jake.

This is a really cool iPhone app

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Nature’s Nano Marvel

Posted on 26. Feb, 2009 by Jake.

We’re so used to seeing insects walking on walls that we don’t even stop to wonder how they do it. Ask someone to guess how a gecko hangs onto the ceiling and they’ll probably say something like ‘they have sticky feet’ or ‘they’re too light for gravity’.

The truth is much weirder.
 
Geckos have millions of little hairs on each toe. Each of these splits into even tinier points – each 200 billionths of a metre wide! This creates a kind molecular bond through a kind of force called a van der Waals interaction. The gecko, it turns out, is one of nature’s nanotechnology pioneers.
 
 The force is massively powerful, allowing the lizard to holds its bodyweight with a single finger
 
Rock climbing enthusiasts will be glad to hear that scientists are working on nano sticky boots for human use.
 
One last thought: If the force is so strong, how does the gecko unstick itself? All it takes is a slight shift in the angle and the force diminishes.
 
 
The intorduction discussed the evolutionary function of sub-atomic physical interactions in terms of reptilian adaptation to the natural environment with special reference to van der Waals forces.

This deals with something more profound: breakfast.
 
I snack throughout the day. Something about being at my desk makes me hungry. My colleagues used to joke that my lunch break was my break from having lunch. Maybe it’s just another way of procrastinating; after all, I’ve made three cups of tea just writing this paragraph.
 
So I was thrilled to discover Korean inventor Kim Been’s portable nano-technology toaster knife. It reaches the gadget ideal of being totally silly and totally brilliant. And it makes toast!
 
The Portable Toaster Knife looks life an oversized butter knife, but contains nano-tech sized tubes of carbon that spread heat across your virgin slice of white bread. If someone out there could explain how exactly this works I would be grateful, but in the meantime I’m just happy that the great power of nanotechnology is being harnessed for something as important as toasted bread.
A nice whimsical touch: when the toast is ready butterflies and flowers appear on the blade. It’s pretty as well as clever.
 
When my USB kettle arrives, I might never leave the office.

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