Aurora borealis on your schedule
Discovery Channel has posted a cool (but brief) slideshow of aurora borealis images. Having seen the Northern Lights once (in Maine), I can attest to its shear awesomeness. Thanks nature!
(via Discovery)
50 years of space exploration in the bag
Happy (early) 50th birthday, NASA!
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration officially hits the half-century mark on Tuesday, July 29 - celebrating 50 years of shooting stuff into orbit (among other notable achievements)!
(via Wired)
iApps: Instapaper
Instapaper is a free iApp that allows users to view saved websites - “a tivo for the Internet” as one reviewer put it.
Besides the required (but understandable) account registration, Instapaper is a great tool. After signing up, a “read later” button is added to your browser; simply click whenever you want to save a page.
The ability to access web content offline is very useful, especially on the (sleek) iPod Touch. Hopefully someone will expand this idea to existing feed readers (I’m currently a fan of gReader) - hit a button and bam, a cache of all the latest posts from your favorite sites stored on your pod, ready to read after hoping on a plane or going out of service. Apple should take requests!
Gotham City, Illinois
The Chicago Tribune has posted a cool PDF map of Chicago illustrating its transformation into Gotham City for the recent smash-hit, The Dark Knight.
(via Chicago Tribune)
I think, therefore iFormat
Searching for a cheap (free) and easy (but not necessarily fast) way to create high quality compressed video for your iDevice? Look no further than freeware, HandBrake!
While there are a plethora of competing solutions floating around the interwebs, HandBrake has been the most reliable and worthwhile software that I’ve come across (thanks WE). Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that its open source and available on all systems (Win, Mac, & Linux).
HandBrake offers users a wide variety of compression options, including built-in presets for iPod Touch/iPhone format (among many others). Simply point to your source video file/folder, select your compression mode, and hit start…its that easy.
Fb goes cloud w/ Facebook Connect
Facebook CEO M.Z. announced Fb’s new platform today:
Facebook Connect is our version of Facebook for the rest of the Web.
In other words, Fb is going to open its network and wealth of data (w/user permission) to partnering sites across the interwebs.
With Internet access becoming ever more prevalent, Facebook is angling to take on fellow cloud computing competitors - Google, Yahoo!, Apple, and MS (among others) - in a race to become the premier web-wide platform.
(via Reuters)
iApps: Tap-a-Brick
Forget wasting money at the App Store, Tap-a-Brick is a fun, well-executed, and (most importantly) free web app alternative to paid Tetris games.
The night is darkest just before the dawn
Christopher Nolan is the best thing to happen to Batman since the 1989 original. Having successfully revived the ailing franchise (after it hit rock bottom - see Batman & Robin) with (2005’s) Batman Begins, expectations were extraordinarily high for Nolan’s latest attempt - The Dark Knight.
Fortunately for fans, The Dark Knight is fantastic! Heath Ledger delivers an absolutely stunning performance as the infamous Joker, while Christian Bale is right at home playing Gotham’s favorite crime-fighter. In the end, the acting, writing, direction, and cinematography all come together to form a more perfect Batman.
rating: 4.5 | 5
I <3 WordPress
A few friends recently asked me, “how would you recommend that I start a blog?” After 2.5 yrs of active use, I can proudly recommend WordPress.
Whether you are looking for a free service - WordPress.com - that’s incredibly easy to setup, or a self-hosted platform - WordPress.org - WordPress continues to grow in both reliability and usefulness.
Ferrari’s new California GT
Wow does this thing look b@d@$$! Ferrari’s first (automatic folding) hard-top convertible - California GT - will officially be unveiled in October @ the Paris Motor Show.
(via MotorAuthority)
