The GigaPan System is a completely integrated solution for creating multi-gigapixel images. With three components

• GigaPan Imager A robotic camera mount for capturing gigapixel images available for $279
• GigaPan Stitcher Automatically combines thousands of photos into a single panorama.
• GigaPan.org View, share, explore and discover using the amazing GigaPan Viewer.

the GigaPan System provides a complete, low-cost and powerful solution for creating incredibly high-resolution photos.  Sample impages can be found at www.gigapan.org

Gigapan Systems Online – Gigapan Systems Homepage

 The XBox 360 is my favorite console because it allows me to:

• Play games (Duh!)
• Connect to my computer to play music and show pictures
• Connect to Netflix and watch movies on demand

Unfortunately Microsoft decided to charge $90 for it’s Wi-Fi Dongle.  Ridiculous!  Gizmodo has a article about some much cheaper options.  Their choice is to get the original Xbox dongle and it works.

How To: Add Wi-Fi To Your Xbox 360 Smartly and Cheaply

Oh yeah, we have found that a wired connection works significantly faster and is more reliable but sometimes it is way too difficult to string wires through the room and walls.

Cool Tools is Kevin Kelly’s blog on tools that really work–a tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material or website that is tried and true.  The reviews on the website are written by users who have actually used the tool.   It is one of my favorite websites to get to at least once a week. 

Mr. Kelly helped co-found Wired magazine and remains the Senior Maverick. 

Cool Tools

Google and the Prado Museum present the 14 El Prado masterpieces in a stunning 14-billion pixel resolution  The images have a resolution between hundred and thousand times greater than a normal digital camera allowing you to appreciate the subtlest details of the master’s work.  As you can see in the video below Madpixel doesn’t use a special camera, rather a machine-controlled camera and stitches the final results together.

See it here (requires Google Earth) via Madpixel

If you want high-resolution images of the Earth, Unearthed Outdoors has made available the 250m True Marble image set for a free download with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. It’s a map of the Earth made up of 32 tiles, where each tile is a 21,000 pixel square, available in png and tif formats. There’s also a series of smaller files that may be more useful — in case you don’t need a map of the Earth that ends up being 84,000 pixels tall and 168,000 pixels across.

Free High Res Images of Earth – Boing Boing

Login passwords, email passwords, phone numbers are all cluttering up my memory. The last thing I need is a hard to remember combination (turn how many turns left?) when I go to open the shed or the gym lock. Wordlock is a combination lock that uses easy to remember words instead of numbers.  Wordlock®, Inc. was founded by Todd and Rahn Basche.   The product was conceived by Todd Basche because no one in his family could remember the many numerical combinations on padlocks around his house.  Wordlock was one of the top 100 new inventions in the Invent Now America competition hosted by the Patent and Trademark Office and QVC.

Wordlock comes in various configurations:

• 5-Dial Padlock
• 4-Wheel Luggage Lock
• 4 dial Cable Bike Lock

Setting the combination is easy simply pick a 4 or 5 letter combination of letters that you can remember with the lock open and rotate a dial so that the word SET is on top and aligned with the combination you set.  Voila your new combination is set. 

I love keychain tools—but frankly only most keychains it becomes a pain to add and remove tools or even carry them since they poke out at just the wrong angle to poke a hole in your pocket.  CountyComm sells a cheap little keychain ring that is just perfect.  CountyComm’s Cable Key Rings are made from stainless aviation cable with brass screws and barrels.  They are lightweight, strong, secure easy to open and reclose and big enough to allow your keys and tools to lay flat.  

A&P Mechanics Cable Key Ring

Dell said today it will sell one of its mini-notebook computers for $99 — after a $350 mail-in rebate and the purchase of a two-year wireless broadband contract with AT&T Corp. The offer on the Inspiron Mini 9 runs through the end of the month.

Austin American-Statesman | Plugged In

The BlackRapid strap features a large pad, attaches to your camera or lens’ tripod mount, and is slung diagonally across your body for maximum comfort. The camera hangs upside down by your hip or in the small of your back.   When you’re ready to shoot, just pull the camera to your eye, it glides up the strap into the shooting position quickly.  Click. Put it back.

I was skeptical about the BlackRapid camera strap but decided to try it.  It works.  I used it on a Canon S10IS (yeah they recommend using it with SLR’s with telephoto lenses but I was photographing the Fiesta Bowl (Go Longhorns!) and they don’t really allow big cameras and telephoto lenses).  In a crowded arena it let me easily and comfortably carry the camera and get it into shooting position quickly.  The model I bought even had a pocket intended for a cell phone (I used it for extra batteries).  I

http://www.blackrapid.com/

I beg, I plead but my friends and relatives do not backup.  I usually hear about it when I get that call…you know the one…umm….my hard drive just died…can you help me get the data back or even worse–”My laptop just got stolen, what do I do”.  

Clickfree™  allows Backup without installing or configuring software, just plug it in and you’re done. Clickfree™ will automatically find, organize and backup all your data onto the portable backup drive. Backup up multiple computers, just plug it in to each computer and it will automatically back it up. Each computer will be clearly separated within the Clickfree™ application.  It even works with Windows Vista®, Windows® XP, Windows® 2000 and now Mac OS X 10.5 or later

So for god sake’s backup your stuff….and then put it in a safe place.   

Clickfree™ — Save your data. Backup today.