Recently seen at a Blockbuster Video near you.  I hear the alternative spray painting option was “I <3 Netflix.”

(courtesy of Liz!)

Bookmark to:

• Besserwisser - (beh•sur•vi•sur) From German, meaning “knowing better,” a person who thinks he or she has greater general knowledge than others; often correcting grammatical mistakes or errors in trivial facts.

• Indigo Children - The New Age belief that certain children (usually born after the late 1970’s) represent a more advanced state of evolution. These children are reported to have greater psychic and mental abilities and are reported to have indigo colored auras.

• Nutraceuticals - (nu•tra•su•ti•culs) Foods and beverages that claim to enhance appearance, revive mental acuity, and increase resistance to disease.

• Nomophobia - (no•mo•fo•bi•uh) The fear of being out of mobile phone contact or mobile phone signal range.

Bookmark to:

Earlier this month, Iran tested four three missiles to publicly demonstrate its military capabilities mediocre Photoshop skillz.

(images from New York Times Blog)

“Death to Infidels” Bonus Round:

(courtesy of Gorilla Sushi. Thanks Jason!)

(via New York Times Blog, via Zimbio, via Gorilla Sushi)

Bookmark to:

When I lived in Europe, television was filled with ads for ringtones and phone wallpapers. The majority of the ringtones were all lame/vulgar noises and the wallpapers were as campy as it gets.

Thus, I was inspired to create the World’s Most Awesome-est Ringtones and the World’s Most Awesome-est Phone Wallpapers.

Download and enjoy.

click on image for phone-sized downloadable version

 

 World's Awesome-est Ringtone: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 World's Awesome-est [Pulse] Ringtone: Play Now | Play in Popup

World’s Most Awesome-est Ringtone (mp3 download)
World’s Most Awesome-est [Pulse] Ringtone (mp3 download)

Bookmark to:

As we reported back on May 16th, Oscar Pistorius won the right to compete for a place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Despite posting a personal best in his most recent meet (46.25 seconds for the 400-meter race), Oscar missed the Olympic qualifying standard for a spot on the South African Olympic team (45.55 seconds).

It is an unfortunate turn of events for Oscar, who has had to fight the Olympic Commission as well as other athletes for his shot at the Olympics, and while he will not have a chance to compete individually, there is still a chance that he will be selected for the six-man roster for the 1,600 meter relay.

Oscar has also said that he plans to compete for the South African team in individual events for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Good luck Oscar!

Bookmark to:

New Media: helping me to complain to more people with less effort.

By: KommonKraft / CinnamonPants

(via Cindi)

Bookmark to:

This morning as I rode the bus to work, I passed by 2 separate AT&T stores where hundreds of people were lined up, presumably waiting for hours for the brand new 3G iPhone. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely want an iPhone, but what’s so special about getting it first and waiting in line for hours today, when you can just walk into a store tomorrow and get the exact same iPhone with no wait?

Maybe I’m on my own here for thinking this is ridiculous, but taking this concept to the extreme was Jonny Gladwell, a New Zealander who camped out for 3 days (keep in mind it’s winter now in NZ) to get the first 3G iPhone in the world. Check out iPhone Jonny’s blog for some notes on the wait and for some humorous video clips of how he passed the time, including the following ridiculousness:

Bookmark to:

“Just look at this obviously innovative design . . . I am so thrilled just thinking about how I get to touch this.”

- Yuki Kurita, 23, Japanese iPhone G3 purchaser

(via Angie)

Bookmark to:

Buy the t-shirt for $20 here. A tad pricey, but damn cool:

(Good lookin out, Ben!)

Bookmark to:

We brought you The Rock-afire Explosion last August, and they’re back, this time doing their rendition of Usher’s “Love in This Club.” Make sure you stick around for rapper T.I.’s appearance as a puppet controlled by a puppet! This, like the Nadal-Federer Wimbledon final yesterday, is what we here at Blogadilla call an Instant Classic.

(via SteveB, via PennyArcade, via BoingBoing)

Bookmark to:

Fellow Californians: starting tomorrow, your cellphone conversations are going to be interrupted by driving.

As of July 1st, it will be a state law: your cellphone must be hands-free while driving. And if you’re under 18, no phone for you.

Further information: L.A. Times.

(photos from Fishki and Andrea Harner)

Bookmark to:

The bierbauch (which in German literally means “beer belly”) is essentially a camelbak for your stomach, making beer consumption easier than ever.  Also from the makers of the bierbauch comes the getraenke büstenhalter– a  wine bra, so women can partake in the drinking action.  Germans are equal opportunity drinkers!

Buy a bierbauch here for just $34.95.

(via Katya; via Reuters)

Bookmark to:

There’s something about Smart Cars that makes people want to test them, taunt them, rebuild them, or destroy them.

Smart Car vs. Ferrari • Monster Smart Car • Smart Car Doing a 360º E-Brake Turn • Smart Car with Lowrider Hydraulics • Smart Car E-Brake U-Turn • Smart Car Head-On Collision Test • Smart Car Wet Road Crash • Smart Car with 200+HP Hayabusa Engine • Smart Car Stunt Driving • Smart Car High Speed Impact Test • Smart Car 5-Point Turn in a Driveway

Bookmark to:

If anyone knows if this is true - if you can really do this or if this is a hoax - please let us know in the comments section below.
Nevermind. It’s a hoax, but it’s still awesome.

(via Garry)

Update 6/20/08: This is actually a brilliant marketing tactic by Cardo Systems (a French cellphone company) - they created and released these urban-legendy videos on YouTube.

Bookmark to:

This month’s issue of Wired magazine ran an article about MegaPhone - turning big-screen billboards into giant game screens, your cellphone becomes a game controller, and all you have to do is call the phone number posted on the screen and you’re playing video games on the side of a building.

Recently, Palo Alto based product engineering firm MindTribe has placed a 65″ plasma screen in a front window with the same idea in mind. You dial the phone number on the screen and you are now playing a version of Tetris while standing in the middle of the sidewalk (and it’s free). Bonus: if you get a high score, your snapshot goes up on their website.

Bookmark to:

There is at least one major downside to designer Erik De Nijs’s pants:
“Are you grabbing yourself, or just typing, or both?!?”

Bookmark to:

Proof that cellphones are evil and that exorcisms can be performed by your microwave.

(via Neatorama)

Bookmark to:

Coming soon to a phone near you: Scanbuy’s Scanlife software, which allows users to create and interact with 2 dimensional barcodes, which serve to link the physical world with the virtual world (and no, I don’t mean Second Life).

All you have to do to interact with a 2D barcode (like the one below) is install Scanbuy’s software (free) and then take a picture of any 2d barcode with your phone. Because the square barcode is made up of a lot of smaller squares that are either black or white and nothing in between, the crossword-like barcode is essentially a graphical depiction of the binary numeral system, and can contain as much or more information than a hyperlink (like http://www.blogadilla.com). Not to mention that they can exist and be interacted with in the physical world.

2-D barcodes are already widely deployed and used in Asia and in parts of Europe, but have yet to hit the US market because our mobile landscape has been comprised of 4 companies that together hold a monopoly on what we can and can’t do with our phones. But times are a changing with the advent of the iPhone, which I’m told, with the new firmware set to release in June, will be compatible with Scanbuy’s software. If your phone is already compatible, try it out! Otherwise, be on the lookout.

PS: HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY BLOGADILLA!! (you’re growing up so fast!)

Bookmark to:

South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius has won the right to compete for a place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  The AP reports that the “Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the 21-year-old South African is eligible to race against able-bodied athletes, overturning a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations.”

As part of the overruling of the ban, Oscar Pistorius asked to have independent testing done at MIT.  This story is special to me because I was living in Cambridge when random (able-bodied) people were bouncing down the street wearing the now-infamous cheetah blades. I can only assume that those people were either involved in conducting the tests or out for joyrides on blades of their own.  While this story is certainly a departure from what I typically contribute to Blogadilla, the ruling marks an important day for both disabled people and able bodied people as well.  Check out the story on ESPN.

Bookmark to:

Charles Babbage designed computers in the mid-1800’s - though operating with gears, many were effectively digital. He designed (yet never successfully completed building) the “Difference Engine no. 2″ - designed to do complex polynomial equations (necessary at the time for navigation reference tables, etc.).

In 2002, the “Babbage Engine no. 2″ was finally built (London Science Museum), and in March 2008 a second one was built, and as of today the second one is on display at the Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) for the next year. Went to the opening event today.

Bonus Round: Babbage Groupies

(photo courtesy of Dana Chrisler)

This is an actual Ada Lovelace tattoo (a mathematician and colleague of Charles Babbage) - perhaps the only one of its kind in existence. Its owner was at the exhibit opening today.

Bookmark to: