A New Way To Resolution

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog up on Digital Landing! Read about the new way to motivate those whose resolutions are to lose weight.

It’s almost 2009 and that means it’s new year’s resolutions time. Every year lots of people swear they’ll exercise more, at least now we have new tools to achieve that. (Even is you’re afraid of the video games and against “fake” exercise whether or not it works). That no longer means technology can’t help you.

Sega (yes it is a toy company) will soon be sending help for those less motivated outdoors types. The FiTrainer is a set of headphones with a built in motivational speaker (that’s the idea anyway). It comes with three exercise modes and looks exactly like a pair of headphones. The best part is that, at the very least, you won’t look like more of an idiot speed walking down the street.

Are you too old to hear it?

Chris McGinn posted a new blog up on Digital Landing! Read about the ringtone that teens can hear and older folks cannot.

Do you know what Teen Buzz is? If you don’t, you are probably an old geezer like me. It’s a high-pitched frequency ring tone used by teens to receive messages when they don’t want to alert their parents or teachers.

Dubbed The Mosquito because it is similar to the buzz of the insect, the frequency (approximately 17.4 kHz at 85dB) was used by shop keepers in the UK and elsewhere to keep teenagers out of their stores. Now the teens have turned the tables, to use it for their own power.

As we age, our hearing sensitivity to certain frequencies diminishes. There are sounds you can hear at 20 that you simply can’t hear at 40. I downloaded the ringtone and was actually able to hear it (I’m 32) but I think it would be very hard to hear in a busy classroom. My husband (who is only 33) wasn’t able to hear it, but he works with power tools all the time so his hearing is shoddy anyway.

Float On

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog up on Digital Landing! Read about NASA's missing rubber ducks, and how you can thicken your wallet.

NASA is asking for the public’s help in their newest experiment. They are looking for rubber ducks.

That’s right, NASA is searching for rubber ducks, specifically 90 that escaped from them this year. In an attempt to measure the effects of global warming and glacier movement. NASA put 90 ducks in a hole in the ice up in Greenland to see how fast the ice would melt. Now, three months later, the ducks are gone.

Supposedly $100 awaits anyone who finds and returns one of the ducks but I think if I found one I might be inclined to keep it.

Interstellar Marketplace

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog up on Digital Landing. Read about the latest news updates in the space realm.

Space, space, space, space. Problems abound and development continues, there is never a lack of news. Even in this economic climate you can always count on interest in the last frontier whether or not anyone can actually pay for it.

In recent news Virgin Galactic’s spaceport has gotten the green light to begin construction in New Mexico. The concept art is pretty fantastic, better than any airport I’ve seen.

In other news NASA is considering selling its shuttles (Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor) when they are decommissioned. For a mere 42 million dollars part of space history can be yours. I’d love one, it’s be a heck of a club house. I doubt I can afford it.

Deck the Halls

Jessie Atkin posted a blog up on Digital Landing! Read about how you can make a gingerbread house, one you can't eat.

It’s almost Christmas and the holiday season is in full swing. Gingerbread houses are a winter holiday tradition. But just as toy fads and fashion change, so too has the art of gingerbread architecture changed.

This year it’s not just about gum drops and snow covered roofs, but motherboards and Star Wars. In this new age of gingerbread anything’s possible, even a gingerbread man with LED eyes. From star destroyers, to laptops, to mansions with working lights, gingerbread isn’t just a kids activity anymore.

Track Santa with your cell phone

Chris McGinn posted a blog up on Digital Landing! Read about how you can track Santa, on your cell.

If you aren’t going to be in front of your computer tonight, but still want to keep tabs on the big guy in the red suit, you can track Santa with your cell phone thanks to NORAD

For more than 50 years, NORAD has been the go-to source for mapping Santa’s journey across the earth on Christmas Eve. In the distant past, volunteers actually answered phone calls from children to help them locate Santa. Now you can go online and follow his path in 3D.

You can also use Google Maps for Mobile on supported phones (iPhone, T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Nokia phone with Google Maps) to search for “norad santa” to see Santa’s location.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Wii-itis

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing. Read about the injuries people are getting because of the Nintendo Wii gaming system.

Achey knees, sore wrists and tennis elbow. No, it’s not the lunch conversation at grandma’s house–it’s what doctors are calling “wii-itis.”

Doctors in Britain say that 10 people a week are hospitalized with injuries caused by playing Nintendo Wii games. That’s just crazy.

I presume that often these injuries are the result of people who aren’t used to being physically active over-doing it. The article also says that sudden movements in games where participants play tennis or run are also to blame.

One malady dubbed “Wii-knee” is blamed on the bending of the knee in the Wii-Fit game. I wonder if this is just a case of poor design or poor athletic conditioning. Treatment for the condition includes months of shots and therapy.

I applaud Nintendo for getting people off the couch to play but perhaps there should be some additional warning about not overdoing it. I wouldn’t want to explain that one to my insurance company.

Play safe!