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May 29, 2008

Interesting reads #1: Telectroscope, Dell, Miracle Fruit, Firefox 3

All over the lot:

AP

There you are: The Telectroscope, London's window on New York at the Telegraph:

It looks like something from the Victorian era, and its name sounds like a device from 1950s science fiction. The Telectroscope is an extraordinary new device that allows people in London to see across the Atlantic.

Here's the official site this bit of conceptual art, an optical hookup.

PFSK

From PFSK, A Look Through The Telectroscope:

The Telectroscope is a charming piece of artwork by Paul St. George. The installation that could have been part of a fantastic Jules Verne or H.G. Wells novel visually connects the cities of London and New York. Simulating a massive tunnel, people on both sides of the Atlantic gather in front of the device to wave at each other. St. George even developed a fun little story explaining how the tunnel had originally been conceived of by his great grandfather...

In London, you'll find it on the south side of the Thames river near Tower Bridge. The American end of the Telectroscope is in Brooklyn, at Fulton Ferry Landing near Brooklyn Bridge, below. You can visit and wave 24 hours a day until June 15.

It has a blog. Here are more of Paul St. George's works.

AP

Bad, dude: Judge to Dell: Dude, you're defrauding your customers!. Ars Technicareports that the New York State Supreme Court has ruled,

"Dell has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct, including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates."

Fake out your tastebuds:

A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue. NYT. Queens foodies eat berries that put their taste buds into an altered state.

Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!”

They were among 40 or so people who were tasting under the influence of a small red berry called miracle fruit at a rooftop party in Long Island City, Queens, last Friday night. The berry rewires the way the palate perceives sour flavors for an hour or so, rendering lemons as sweet as candy.

The host was Franz Aliquo, 32, a lawyer who styles himself Supreme Commander (Supreme for short) when he’s presiding over what he calls “flavor tripping parties.” Mr. Aliquo greeted new arrivals and took their $15 entrance fees. In return, he handed each one a single berry from his jacket pocket.

As sensation-seeking goes, it seems a bit underwhelming to me.

But if this is the workaround you've been waiting for, you can grow your own: The plant, "Synsepalum dulcificum "Miracle Fruit" AS SEEN ON MARTHA LIVE" is $29.95 from Logee's Greenhouses in Danielson, Conn., or for $34.95 from Top Tropicals in Punta Gorda, Fla. These prices may not be for plants of the same size.

Self-inflating hype: Sure, I'm waiting for Firefox 3 to get out of beta. But no, I'm not going to "pledge" to download a browser. The Mozilla marketers have jumped the shark.

The Firefox community is always up to some cool, collaborative way to declare their passion for Firefox. What better way to do this than band together to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours?!

It’s a whole lot easier and safer than donning a beard of bees or underwater jump roping. All you have to do is download Firefox 3 when it goes live on Download Day — some time in June. In the meantime check out Download Day Headquarters and pledge to download Firefox 3. We’ll let you know when Firefox 3 goes out the door, kicking off our 24-hour attempt...

With your help the Firefox community can go down in history!

"We downloaded a browser, we downloaded!" Move over, Churchill.

I'll publish Interesting reads #2 Friday afternoon. It was too much together.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 9:42 PM | Permalink