Offbeat posts

Hydrophobic and oleophobic coating may sound like something boring that you’d find in a college chemistry textbook, but it also helps bring into existence the coolest product demonstration we’ve seen in a while. As long as you can get passed the annoying “90s modern” music, you’ll be amazed at the visuals of how this stuff interacts with liquids. The concept is simple: coat absorbent materials with Ultra-Ever Dry and start dipping it into wet places. That’s where the fun starts. The science behind it goes down to a molecular level and uses nanotechnology, which we won’t get into here. The video…

Intelligence, from a scientific perspective, is a broad, and deep comprehension—”catching on,” “making sense,” of things, or “figuring out” what to do. The average IQ falls between a range of 90 and 110. An important disclaimer, however, is that intelligence tests do not measure creativity, character, personality, or other important differences among individuals, nor are they intended to. The notion that our intelligence is influenced by our genes has shifted from “taboo” to common acceptance. There are three genes associated with academic achievement: Dat 1, Dat…

The Pez is strong with this one. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about true geeks over the years, it’s that they love Star Wars in any form. Our patience was tested to its fullest with the most recent trilogy, but we did not waver for very long. Disney and JJ Abrams give us hope, a new hope, so to speak, but until we go through another round of tests of our trust in the Star Wars universe, we have these flash drive Pez dispensers around to keep us busy. According to BitRebels: Another example are these super geeky Star Wars Pez Dispensers that are modded to include a flash drive inside. Etsy artist DHHdesign…

There are many ways to go about launching a new product, and there are many ways to fail before you even get off the ground.  It’s not a myth that most new businesses fail.  From funding troubles to challenges in connecting with the market, there are numerous dangers waiting for both entrepreneurs and product managers. However, there are some best practices for creating a successful product launch.  Here are five of them.   Know your market Large companies spend as much time studying the marketplace as they do in research and development on the product.  In the build-up to a product…

The year 2004 was the year that would change the way the world would communicate forever. We did not know then that a little startup, an idea born from the mind of its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, would become not only the leading social network but that it too would infiltrate the Internet’s existing eco-system and turn itself into the most successful startup to date. Not only would Facebook Inc. become successful amongst Internet users of all ages and demographics, but its net income would surpass the estimated value of all other startups that too are deemed successful. We are talking far…

Over the first few thousand years of our existence (up until 2003), humankind generated 5 billion GB of data. Today, we generate that amount every two days. Think that’s a big jump? Well hold on to your seats, because experts predict that by next year we’ll be generating that amount every 10 minutes! This infographic takes a look at our “digital footprint” – the amount and type of data we consume as a society, from viewing videos to surfing the web to specific device usage, including desktops vs. laptops, e-readers vs tables and Androids vs iPhones. A full 75% of the information in the digital…

Are they alien eggs, fungal growths, or wet air freshener balls? Those are the questions being asked about thousands of purple balls that were found in the desert in Arizona outside of Tucson. Geradine Vargas and her husband were out taking pictures when they spotted the out of place pool of balls. They shot images of them and sent them to a botanist friend who could not identify them. That’s when they contacted the local news channel to investigate. “We checked out the mysterious spheres for ourselves, and learned they were still there,” said Liz Kotalik from KGUN9. “They’re like gooey marbles…

Every month we cover the UFO activity for the previous month using some excellent footage that is compiled by AnonymousFO. December was an amazing month and January didn’t disappoint as a follow up. The last portion of the video is extremely interesting. Check out the previous 6 months as well as this month’s installment. UFO activity in December, 2012 UFO activity in November, 2012 UFO activity in October, 2012 UFO activity in September, 2012 UFO activity in August, 2012 UFO activity in July, 2012 Now, for January… * * * “Alien Abduction” image courtesy of Shutterstock….

Most people have heard of Iron Chef, the show that pits two master chefs and their teams against each other in a battle of culinary creativity. The get a secret ingredient at the beginning of the show and have one hour to serve up a sudden masterpiece to the judges. The Flickr version of this is Iron Builder which takes the rules of Iron Chef and spins them on their heads to fit in with LEGO creations. According to the Flickr page, here are the rules: The basic rules of the contest require that the two builder’s receive a batch of the ‘secret ingredient’ part. In this case, the Bionicle Tridax Pod Half. The…

The CES Best of Show award is a big deal, so this isn’t exactly a case of the Streisand Effect, but CBS certainly didn’t want to draw such a spotlight to one of their litigation opponents. The decision to censor CNET and disapprove their choice for the award has turned from a mild spectacle to a major blunder. Adding insult to injury, CES issued a press release today, awarding DISH’s Hopper with Sling the “Best of Show” award with co-winner Razer Edge. “The CNET editorial team identified the Hopper Sling as the most innovative product of the show, and we couldn’t agree more,” said Karen Chupka,…