stories filed under: "awesome stuff"

Awesome Stuff: Rubber Band Guns

from the weapons-of-minor-destruction dept

Sat, Jan 4th 2014 9:00am — Mike Masnick

For the first awesome stuff post of the new year, we decided to go with something fun: rubber band guns. Not sure exactly why, but it just feels appropriate.

First up we've go the Palladium Gun, a rubber band gun kit that lets you create a basic rubber band gun that can hold 10 rubber bands. The project is only about 30% funded with two weeks to go, so it might not make it. There don't seem to be any updates or comments, so it's not clear how engaged the creator really is with the project. Still, a simple, straightforward rubber band gun for about $30.
Of course, one reason why the Palladium might not be getting that much attention is... because of the Rubber Band Machine Gun with unique Fast Charger -- or the RBMG, for short. Rubber band machine guns are not a particularly new concept. And, in fact, there was another one on Kickstarter just a few months ago. But the RBMG seems to have gone bigger and better than many of the previous designs -- and costing less than many comparable rubber band machine guns. The damn thing can shoot 672 rubber bands in a single go -- releasing all of them in about a minute. Oh, and the other useful bit is the "fast charger" device that he's offering with it, because without it, I imagine that spending the time to load up 672 rubber bands might not be that much fun. The project has shot way past its $5,000 goal and is currently over $70,000 with a little under two weeks to go. Since the guns are mostly being hand made by this one guy in the Ukraine, I would imagine there may be some concerns with his ability to actually build 600+ of these things and get them out in any reasonable time period. The other oddity is that he did a rookie Kickstarter mistake, and didn't include shipping fees in the tiers, telling basically everyone they have to pay $30 more than the tier actually requires for shipping. I'm sure many will pay it, but it may lead to problems for those who don't. Still, it's a pretty impressive project, at a good price (~$130 to $140 once you pay the shipping) compared to similar rubber band machine guns. That other one that was on Kickstarter a few months ago was a lot cheaper, but held many fewer rubber bands.

That's it for this week. Don't shoot your eye out.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, rubber band guns

18 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Bike Lights

Innovation

from the illuminate-your-ride dept

Sat, Dec 28th 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

Since this was a short week and we took a bit of a break for the holidays, there won't be any "favorites of the week" post today, so enjoy this as your Saturday post.

It's getting to be that time of year when people are making their New Years' resolutions -- and getting in shape is always a popular one. Biking is a great way to do that, but for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it gets dark early, so having a good light is always key. For our latest awesome stuff post, we'll highlight a few crowdfunding projects that may be interesting for your bike riding experience.

First up, we've got the Xlerad, which is described as a "smart bike light." It tracks when you're moving, automatically lighting up, and then automatically adjusting the lighting as needed. It also shuts off when you're done, so you don't even have to worry about powering it on and off. The light is a bit pricey, either $170 or $190 depending on if you get the early bird (as I type this, there's one left). At that price it seems a little difficult for some to support. The project is only at about $12,000 of it's $18,300 target, with just a few days left. There's a decent chance this project ends up unfunded.
For a different bike light idea, there's the Magnic Light iC -- a contactless bicycle dynamo. The concept is pretty awesome. You attach it around the bicycle wheel (without touching the wheel), and the moving wheel spins the magnets inside the generator, creating the energy to power the lights. So you never need to charge the thing, it's self-powered. This is the second version of the light, and the first one was also funded via Kickstarter. The single lights (either front or rear) run $70, with a package of two front lights and one rear light running $180. It seems like a better deal than the one above, and backers seem to think so as well. While this one hasn't yet reached its target, it's already raised about $25,000 easily on its way to the $40,000 target, with over a month to go.
The next one is a bit different. It's Zackees turn signal gloves. They're basic bike gloves... but with blinking turn signals built into the back of the glove, so you when you hold up your hand to signal a turn, drivers on the road don't just see the hand, but the "blinker." Pretty creative idea that could definitely help keep cyclists safer. This project has already shot past its target of $35,000 and is sitting near $50,000 with a week and a half to go. A pair of the gloves runs between $59 and $99, depending on the options and style.

That's all for this week's awesome stuff post. Ride safe.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, bike lights

9 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Computer Vision And Motion Capture Via Your Webcam

Innovation

from the the-all-seeing-eye dept

Sat, Dec 21st 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

Over the last few years, computer vision and motion capture technology has really advanced at an incredible rate. Things that seemed like science fiction not too long ago can be purchased for very little and in your home today. Things like the Kinect and now the Leap Motion controller are getting people to rethink even the way they interact with computers. And this space is really still in its earliest days. So for this week's awesome stuff post (in which we highlight interesting crowdfunding projects we come across) we'll highlight two new projects that deal with computer vision and motion capture -- both of which work with merely a webcam, rather than any fancy hardware.

First up is the FaceRig, which uses your everyday webcam to not only capture your facial expressions, but translate them into the faces of characters in an insanely realistic manner. Full disclosure: after seeing this video I plunked down some money. I have no idea what I'd use it for, but it's super cheap and it just looks awesome. It really wasn't that long ago that filmmakers who wanted to do motion capture work to create a computer generated character would have to do an astounding amount of work to match the characters to actors' actual facial expressions. And yet, here's a system that appears to be able to do it on the fly in a manner that looks incredibly good, at least from the demo they show. Not only does the product look kind of amazing, they're pricing it to be incredibly affordable. Getting a license via the crowdfunding is just $5. They're shooting for $120,000 which is pretty ambitious, especially for an IndieGogo project, but within just a few days they already shot past $50,000 and with a month and a half to go, it seems likely that they'll fly past their goal and end up with significantly more than that. Combination of amazing product plus cheap prices will do that.
Next up, we've got the VMX Project, which is more of a platform for developers to be able to add computer vision to anything. They're offering it as a service, so rather than having to install software, developers can just use their API and add in computer vision features via (what they claim) is a super simple user interface. The concept of making computer vision more widespread and usable by developers, without each developer having to reinvent the wheel, or hire experts in computer vision, seems like a super powerful idea in driving this area forward. These guys have a tougher job ahead of them. Even as the product looks cool, it's very much focused on developers, rather than the general consumer market, so there's a significantly smaller audience. These guys are targeting $100,000, which is a pretty big ask, all things considered, and the project hasn't received very much at all yet -- so it seems like a good chance it won't hit that goal.

That's it for this week. Go interact with something.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, computer vision, motion capture

9 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Lenses For Your Phone

Innovation

from the camera-advancement dept

Sat, Dec 14th 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

Remember back in the day when people thought that having a camera in your phone was a fad, and that no one would ever really use their camera as a phone because the quality sucked? You don't hear that much any more. In fact, it seems that so many people are using their phones as cameras that there's now a market specifically for special lenses for your smartphone. This week's awesome stuff post looks at three crowdfunding projects for smartphone lenses.

First up we've got an Anamorphic Adapter Lens for the iPhone. This is mainly designed for amateur or independent filmmakers, looking to create a look and feel that's more "filmlike" with a widescreen shot. The sample videos included in the pitch video below are pretty impressive. We've talked about people filming movies with their smartphones in the past, and a device like this makes it possible to make such a film seem even more professional. It appears that plenty of people think it's pretty cool. The project has about a week to go and is nearly double its original $30,000 goal.
Next up, we've got the [BRIC+] zoom lens. It's actually much more than just a zoom lens. It also is a protective phone case and an extended battery for the phone. The zoom lens can then snap on magnetically to the case. The lens is a 3.5X optical lens, which isn't huge, but will always give you a higher quality zoom than the purely digital zooms found on most cameras today -- and of course, you can combine the optical zoom with the phone's zoom to go even further. The project just launched a few days ago, so still has a ways to go to hit its $65,000 goal. However, it still has well over a month, so it has a decent chance of getting there.
Finally, we've got the iZZi Slim, an iPhone case that includes a series of rotating lenses, so you can quickly switch which lens you use on the fly. The iZZi includes a fisheye lens, a 2x telephoto lens, a wideangle lens and a macro lens for closeups (which is built into the wideangle lens -- you just snap off a piece to get to it). To be honest, the quality on these lenses don't look to be that great, but they still let you do more than the basic lens alone. With a few days left, this project has already surpassed its $25,000 goal by a little bit, so it appears that plenty of people are interested in having a collection of lenses like these.

That's it for this week. Go take some pictures.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, cameras, lenses, smartphones

16 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Smart Plugs

Innovation

from the plug-away dept

Sat, Dec 7th 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

For this week's awesome stuff post, highlighting various crowdfunding projects, we're going to look at three different smartplug projects, all of which connect to smartphones. I recognize that this concept isn't new, and you can find a few existing such products on the market already, but it's interesting to see three different smartplug offerings all hit Kickstarter at around the same time. Apparently something's in the air.

We'll kick it off with the Zuli Smartplug which is mainly focused on how it can be used for lighting. If you plug a light into a Zuli, you get your basic energy monitoring on your phone, as well as on/off controls and dimming from your phone. It also does some location-based things, like turning on as you enter a room. The devices run $40 to $45, depending on whether the earlybird pricing is still available -- though some of the location-based info requires you to have 3 Zulis so it can triangulate where you are. So far the project has raised about $50,000 of the $150,000 it's shooting for in just a few days, with four weeks to go. It seems likely that it will hit the goal and probably jump past it by a decent amount.
Next up is the Plugaway, which has a lot of similarities to the Zuli. It's also a smartplug that has a smartphone app to control electronics. It also monitors energy usage, lets you turn on and off lights and dim them as well. It includes some scheduling software as well, but doesn't seem to have the same location based stuff. One somewhat different feature with the Plugaway is that they're pushing the fact that their software and hardware is completely open, so others can take it and brand it as their own (they suggest interior designers, building developers or restaurant owners can customize the setup so it's "personalized"). I'm not sure how big that market is, but it's different. Perhaps more interesting is just the fact that they're hoping that developers build on it and share what they've done. So others can write apps and share them, and it can connect to outside services like the ever-popular IFTTT. These guys already hit their $50,000 Australian goal and have shot past it, and they also have about four weeks to go. The pricing on the Plugaway also seems a bit cheaper than the Zuli (especially when you take into account the slight difference between the US dollar and the Australian dollar). Also, while both have multipacks that cost a little over $100, the Plugaway comes with 5 plugs, while the Zuli only comes with 3.
Finally, we've got the Smart Power Strip, which is pretty similar (again) to the other two, but (as you already guessed) comes in the form of a powerstrip, rather than a single plug. Feature-wise, you'll see the same basic things. See your electronics from your smartphone and be able to turn them on or off (including from remote locations, via WiFi in the power strip). Monitor your electricity usage. These guys are also looking to add other smart devices, but those don't appear to be ready yet. The design is definitely a bit more clunky and less modern and sleek than the other two, but that may be personal preference. These guys have about 70% of the $100,000 target, with a bit over a week to go. It may be close to see if they actually get across the finish line. The power strips run between $99 and $119 depending on if you get into the early bird. Considering the number of outlets, this seems on par with the two above, but without the flexibility of being able to install in multiple rooms.

That's about it for this week. Go unplug something.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, innovation, smart plugs

6 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Stuff You Didn't Know You Need

Too Much Free Time

from the probably-because-you-don't dept

Sat, Nov 30th 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

We've been doing the Techdirt awesome stuff posts for a while now: highlighting between two and four crowdfunding projects each week that are demonstrating interesting, unique and (yes, sometimes) awesome new products that people are trying to get made. This week's list might be slightly less awesome. Given that it's Thanksgiving weekend, and there's a lot of unbridled consumerism going on, I figured I'd highlight a few projects that fall into "stuff you didn't know you need... probably because you don't" category. These are more projects that made me go: "huh? someone actually needs that?" Perhaps they do for some people, but these didn't seem to solve any particular need that I, or pretty much anyone I know, actually has.

I know that some people like to listen to music in the shower. Hell, it appears some people would like practically all of their electronics in their shower. A few years ago, I came across this shower for sale, which includes built in (among other things) an LCD TV, an MP3 player, a foot massager, a touch control panel and a variety of other things. Add in a waterproof keyboard and someone could make it their office as well as a shower. That seems like overkill. Frankly, any music in the shower seems like overkill, but someone's set up a Kickstarter project for the S.A.S.S. - Smartphone Acoustic Shower Speaker, which appears to be a plastic case for your mobile phone, so you can take it into the shower to play music while you rinse (and sing) away the dirt. If you really want to listen to music, though, is it that difficult to just leave your phone outside of where the water is? It looks like this project just launched recently, as there's still about a month and a half to go, but so far it still has a ways to go to reach its $7,000 target. Perhaps I'm not the only one who is left wondering why people need such a thing.
Then we've got the Loo Hook. I agree that sometimes it's nice to have a hook in a bathroom stall to hang up a backpack or jacket. But... I've also found that a very large percentage of the time when I need such a thing, there already is a hook there. Even when it's not, I've found that the latch usually does a perfectly fine job as a substitute. Thus, I'm scratching my head over how often you'd need such a random extra hook that you'd want to carry it around all the time with you. Oh, and then there's the bit I left out: it'll run you $45. I could maybe see this as a $5 gag gift. $45? Wow. This project has a long way to go to reach its $5,000 goal, and I'm doubtful it'll make it.
Finally, we've got the Sleep Easy, a sleep mask that wraps around the back of whatever car/airplane/etc. chair you're sitting in to not just cover your eyes, but also to keep your head upright. Of course, if you're going to wear this on a plane (which seems like the most reasonable place to use it), I imagine the person sitting behind you might not be so appreciative. In the FAQ they claim that they've tried to design it to not be a problem for the person behind you, but it definitely would depend pretty heavily on the plane in question. There are at least some people who seem interested in this project, but it's still only about a third of the way to its £5,000 goal with a week and a half to go. Chances are this one won't hit the threshold either.

I'm somewhat amazed at the kind of human creativity that comes up with these kinds of things. Even if I find them a bit wacky and (to me) unnecessary, there's something kind of cool about living in a world where someone finds a unique problem that they themselves have, and decide to solve it. This is actually where Kickstarter is pretty incredible as a market research platform. As we've noted in the past, not hitting your target shouldn't be seen as a "failure" on Kickstarter, as it can help someone avoid throwing a ton of money into manufacturing a product when there really isn't that much demand. Making tens of thousands of something only to later find out there's no demand would be a much bigger "failure."

Separately, we won't have a "Techdirt favorites of the week" post this week. Since it was a short week with the holiday, we figured we might as well skip the feature this week. We'll still be back tomorrow with the best comments of the week though.

Filed Under: awesome stuff

18 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Goofy Looking Scooters

Innovation

from the getting-around dept

Sat, Nov 23rd 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

Remember the hype around the Segway before it came out? Before people even knew what it was, people talked about how they were going to "re-architect cities around it." There were all sorts of rumors about what kind of magical device it might be... and then it came out and people saw it was a kind of googy looking scooter, with funky gyroscopes to keep it upright. It didn't quite change history the way some predicted. However, apparently "goofy looking scooters" is becoming something of a market niche, and here are a few such projects currently being crowdfunded.

First up, we've got the kubo from Lit Motors. You may recognize Lit Motors from the tremendous hype they've received over the past few years for a different vehicle, the C1 an astoundingly awesome looking half-motorcycle/half-electric vehicle that rides on two wheels but is nearly impossible to tip over. Apparently, while they're still working on bringing that to life, they've also been working on a "side project" to create a goofy looking scooter, whose main selling point is "it has a ton of cargo space." They describe it as "the pickup truck of scooters" and that's probably the best way to think of it. This one just launched a few days ago, but has already brought in about 10% of its $300,000 goal. The pricing of these scooters seems a bit steep, frankly, as it starts at $5k to get one. I may not be the target market, but even if I was a scooter rider, how often do I really need huge storage? Then again, I'm not a pickup truck driver either, so maybe I'm just not the right person for this.
Next up, we've got the Acton M Scooter, a goofy looking electric scooter whose main selling point is that you have the choice of sitting or standing when you ride it. I hadn't realized this was a big concern for scooter riders, but having choices can be a good thing. Part of the idea is that it's also fairly compact, so you can store it pretty easily. At a $999 starting price, it'll run you 1/5 the kubo above, though you're trading the storage space for that sit/stand option. This project is seeking $55,000 and they're just a bit short, with a week and a half to go. It looks like they're close enough that they'll probably reach the target, but it might be close.
Hey, remember, that not all scooters are powered by motors. That brings us to our final goofy looking scooter: the Bowboard, which takes your basic kickscooter and adds a... "bow" arch thing to it, to propel the scooter by pushing the bow down with your weight. It's... um... tough to describe without watching the video. As goofy as it looks to ride, I will admit it looks like quite a bit of fun too. These are starting at $299, which is certainly a bit more than your run of the mill Razor kick scooter, but obviously this is something more than that (and the pricing puts it on par with some basic electric powered scooters). Still, so far this project looks like it might have trouble hitting its goal. They need $150,000 and are only around 5% after over a week, with a little less than a month to go. Perhaps the project will get some shot of publicity, but otherwise it might be difficult to make up that gap.

That's all for this week. Next week, we promise that whatever we put in the awesome stuff will not include any description of something being "the pickup truck of x."

Filed Under: awesome stuff, scooters

4 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Sound And Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the hear-it dept

Sat, Nov 16th 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

Another week of awesome stuff crowdfunding projects. This week we've got two interesting projects that involve people hacking together cool, but very different, devices to let you do stuff with sound.

First up, we've got the Touch Board from Bare Conductive. It's very difficult to describe just how many cool things can be done with this, so I very strongly suggest watching the video below to get just a sense of what you can do (there are lots of examples in the video). But, in short, it's an Arduino-compatible sensor board that has a bunch of features that can easily be built into a variety of different projects. Among the features: touch sensing, distance sensing, mp3 player and it works with electric paint. Seriously, just watch the video and think about all the stuff you can do with this thing: This project blew past its goal of £15,000 pretty quickly and is hovering around £75,000 with a little under two weeks to go. It would appear that people have lots of ideas for cool things you can do with such a platform.
A few years ago we wrote about a great musician named Moldover, who came up with a creative way to get people to buy his album (and pay a lot more than album prices for it). He turned the CD jewel case into a fully functioning virtual theremin. I bought it and it's awesome (as is the album...). I actually used to bring it to conferences all the time when I was speaking about cool things that musicians were doing, but I got worried that an overeager TSA agent would take away the weird CD case with all the electronics in it (though, no one ever questioned it the times I did take it). Moldover's back and he's working on a new album and a new instrument. This time, the instrument is what he calls a "voice crusher," which basically does exactly what you'd expect something called a "voice crusher" to do -- and it fits into a cassette tape case. The video below also has the traumatic story of what inspired this latest album. With about two weeks to go, Moldover's already surpassed his $20,000 goal, but even he admits he really needs a bit more to make this all work to the level he wants. Moldover's a great musician, who's also working on really cool projects, and giving fans a real reason to buy. Check out the project and see what you think.

That's it for this week, go hack together something awesome.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, moldover, sound

Awesome Stuff Goes Dark: Dark Mail And Dark Wallet

Innovation

from the sometimes-it's-good-to-be-in-the-dark dept

Sat, Nov 9th 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

This week we've got two projects for our awesome stuff post that have to do with some of the topics we've been discussing lately: secure email and Bitcoin.

Last week, we were the first to report that Ladar Levison was planning to release Lavabit's code as open source (including dark mail capabilities Levison is working on with Silent Circle) and to put up a Kickstarter campaign. That campaign is now live. It's worth pointing out that respected security guru Moxie Marlinspike wrote an interesting criticism of Lavabit, but also that Levison provided a detailed response. It appears that many people are believers. In just a few days, the campaign managed to bring in over $75,000. That's still short of the $196,608 being sought, but it seems fairly likely that he'll get there. It's interesting to see that one person has already agreed to give $10,000.
Moving on from dark mail, we've got Dark Wallet, an interesting IndieGoGo project to create a simple and easy-to-use, but secure, Bitcoin wallet. The folks behind it are hoping to build a series of useful Bitcoin tools down the road. The IndieGogo campaign has raised a little over $30,000 towards its goal of $50,000, but as a flex funds campaign, the goal doesn't really matter. The money will go to the developers either way. Of course, they also have it set up so you can donate separately, using Bitcoin -- and have already brought in over 55 Bitcoins, which, depending on what exchange rate you use, means that's probably worth another $15,000 or so (though, that can change fairly rapidly in either direction).

That's it for this week, we'll be back next week with something a little lighter, I'm sure.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, bitcoin, dark mail, dark wallet, email
Companies: lavabit

5 Comments

Awesome Stuff: Sweet Dreams

Innovation

from the are-made-of-this dept

Sat, Nov 2nd 2013 9:00am — Mike Masnick

Arianna Huffington has been talking about the importance of "sleeping your way to the top" for years now, though in just doing a search to find some of her earlier speeches for that I see Huffington Post, just yesterday, ran another article on this. Of course, she means the importance of getting a good night's sleep (which is exactly what you thought, right?). For this week's awesome stuff, we've got three crowdfunding projects related to sleep and dreaming.

First up, we've got SHADOW, the Community of Dreamers. It's an interesting project, trying to build software and a community to help people "remember and record" your dreams -- and then share that data, such that it might become useful someday. Like many people, I will often wake up from an interesting/strange/amusing/amazing/frightening dream and think that it was so vivid that I'm bound to remember it, only to have it completely fade away within a short while. The goal here is to prompt people to record their dreams the moment they wake up (the app itself is an alarm clock that gradually wakes you up, like plenty of others on the market, but then prompts you to record your dream). And, then the information is "anonymized" (which sounds easy in theory, but isn't always in practice) and added to the database with some metadata (again, making me not so sure how anonymous it really is...). Still, an interesting project, though, I'm not convinced that there's any great global linkage to be gleaned from everyone's dreams, as the creators imply. It still might make an interesting research dataset though -- though, just wait until the NSA hacks into it. One oddity of this campaign is that they had different tiers based on which phone platform -- iPhone, Android or Windows -- you use, and the one that got the most supporters will be developed and released first. iPhone has this one beat, hands down, which might be a bit of a turnoff for supporters from other platforms. Still, the campaign shot well past its $50,000 goal and is over $80,000 now. It ends tonight, so there are just a few hours left until it closes.
Next up, we've got Luci, the lucid dreamer inducer. When I was a kid, I first read about lucid dreaming in Richard Feynman's collection of memoirish stories, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, in which he talks about his own experience figuring out how to realize he was in a dream and then controlling the experience. Of course, today people probably think of the movie Inception or something like that. After reading about Feynman's experience, I tried to copy what he did with no luck, and even checked a few books on "lucid dreaming" out of the library -- and still no luck. So I gave up and really stopped thinking about it altogether. But I know some people get really into it, and there are a few devices on the market that claim to be able to help, with this being another one. However, most of the other products are masks that detect REM and then flash some lights in your eyes, which you then need to realize means you're in a dream. These guys claim that Luci does more by using brainwaves, and a voice telling you you're in a dream. I have no idea how effective this actually is. The company shows its own tests, but they appear to lack basic scientific rigor (even at the most basic level). The project is already way overfunded -- already breaking $200,000 (Canadian) of the $40,000 target with a week and a half to go. That's fairly impressive for a $150 device that may not work. Apparently there are a lot of folks willing to take a chance on controlling their dreams. Somehow, that's not too surprising.
And, finally, we've got the other semi-obsession of many people I know when it comes to discussions about sleep: polyphasic sleep (sleeping in a bunch of shorter bursts, rather than getting a full night's sleep at once). There are a bunch of apps out there to help people who want to switch to a polyphasic sleep system, but SmartSleep is working on one that looks decent, with some cool features if you really want to try out polyphasic sleep. Unlike a lot of apps I've seen that are just alarm clock/nap timers, this one really seems focused on helping out with polyphasic sleep, including helping to automatically adjust your sleep schedule if you miss a nap and providing additional information on polyphasic sleep. This project appears to have just launched yesterday, so it doesn't have much support at all yet. They're seeking $35,000, which seems a bit steep -- especially as I'm not sure how big the polyphasic sleep community really is. Still, there's lots of time so maybe it'll get there.

That's it for this week. Sweet dreams.

Filed Under: awesome stuff, dreams, lucid dreaming, polyphasic sleep, sleep, sleeping

11 Comments

<< Newer Stories

Older Stories >>

Follow Techdirt

Essential Reading

The Techdirt Greenhouse

Read the latest posts:

read all »

Techdirt Deals

Report this ad | Hide Techdirt ads

Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Older Stuff

Wednesday
09:34	With Stephen Breyer's Retirement, The Supreme Court Has Lost A Justice Who Was Wary Of Overly Burdensome Copyright (13)
05:39	Congress Introduces New Agricultural 'Right to Repair' Bill With Massive Farmer Support (13)
Tuesday
20:57	YouTube Dusts Off Granular National Video Blocking To Assist YouTuber Feuding With Toei Animation (50)
17:55	That's A Wrap On The Public Domain Game Jam! Check Out All This Year's Great Entries (0)
15:33	Chicago Cops Love Them Some Facebook Sharing, According To Internal Facial Recognition Presentation (4)
13:30	Techdirt Podcast Episode 309: Remembering The SOPA Fight, With Rep. Zoe Lofgren (5)
12:15	Senators' 'Myths & Facts' About EARN IT Is Mostly Myths, Not Facts (16)
10:45	Senate's New EARN IT Bill Will Make Child Exploitation Problem Worse, Not Better, And Still Attacks Encryption (48)
10:40	Daily Deal: The Stellar Utility Software Bundle (1)
09:28	ID.me Finally Admits It Runs Selfies Against Preexisting Databases As IRS Reconsiders Its Partnership With The Company (15)
06:27	Suicide Hotline Collected, Monetized The Data Of Desperate People, Because Of Course It Did (32)
Monday
20:03	Massachusetts Court Says Breathaylzers Are A-OK Less Than Three Months After Declaring Them Hot Garbage (17)
15:30	Another 'Wordle' App Mixup Occurs, Only This Time Recipient Of Undue Rewards Builds Good Will (64)
13:47	Court Gets An Easy One Right: Section 230 Says Omegle Isn't To Blame For Bad People On Omegle (14)
12:15	In 2019, The FBI Took NSO Malware For A Spin Before Deciding It Might Cause Too Many Problems In Court (10)
10:56	Governor Inslee Wants To Jail Politicians Who Lie? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (36)
10:51	Daily Deal: PDF Converter Pro (1)
09:39	Legislators Looking To Ban Geofence/Reverse Warrants In The State Of New York (6)
06:16	Wireless Industry Now Claims 5G Will Miraculously Help Fix Climate Change (18)
Sunday
12:00	Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt (12)
Saturday
12:00	This Week In Techdirt History: January 23rd - 29th (3)
Friday
19:39	Succulent Arrangement TikToker Has 'JustSuccIt' Trademark Application Opposed By Nike (12)
17:07	It's Not Too Late To Submit Something To The Public Domain Game Jam! (1)
15:55	The Fed's Central Bank Digital Currency Report Falls Flat (13)
13:42	Australian Prime Minister, After Registering For A WeChat Account Using Unnamed Chinese Citizen, Finds His Account Sold To Someone Else (21)
12:15	Courts (Again) Shoot Down Telecom Lobby's Attempt To Kill State-Level Net Neutrality Rules (4)
10:41	Georgia Sees Florida & Texas Social Media Laws Go Down In 1st Amendment Flames And Decides... 'Hey, We Should Do That Too' (64)
10:38	Daily Deal: The Complete Video Production Super Bundle (0)
09:31	Because The Defense Department's Secure Communications Options Don't Work For Everyone, Soldiers Are Turning To Signal And WhatsApp (12)
06:34	Biden Praises Right To Repair, As John Deere Hit With Two Fresh Repair Lawsuits (14)

Awesome Stuff: Rubber Band Guns

from the weapons-of-minor-destruction dept

Awesome Stuff: Bike Lights

from the illuminate-your-ride dept

Awesome Stuff: Computer Vision And Motion Capture Via Your Webcam

from the the-all-seeing-eye dept

Awesome Stuff: Lenses For Your Phone

from the camera-advancement dept

Awesome Stuff: Smart Plugs

from the plug-away dept

Awesome Stuff: Stuff You Didn't Know You Need

from the probably-because-you-don't dept

Awesome Stuff: Goofy Looking Scooters

from the getting-around dept

Awesome Stuff: Sound And Technology

from the hear-it dept

Awesome Stuff Goes Dark: Dark Mail And Dark Wallet

from the sometimes-it's-good-to-be-in-the-dark dept

Awesome Stuff: Sweet Dreams

from the are-made-of-this dept

The Techdirt Greenhouse

Wednesday

Tuesday

Monday

Sunday

Saturday

Friday

More

Tools & Services

Company

Contact

More

from the weapons-of-minor-destruction dept

from the illuminate-your-ride dept

from the the-all-seeing-eye dept

from the camera-advancement dept

from the plug-away dept

from the probably-because-you-don't dept

from the getting-around dept

from the hear-it dept

from the sometimes-it's-good-to-be-in-the-dark dept

from the are-made-of-this dept

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

The Techdirt Greenhouse

Tools & Services

Company

Contact

More