Pocketburgers.com: Mar 2, 2011

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Drilling Thousands of Screws for Unusual 3D Mural Portraits

With the help of thousands of screws, Andrew Myres, a 31-year-old artist from Orange County, California, manages to mind-blowing portraits. According to Etsicommunication, the idea struck Andrew while working in a church a few years back: “I was doing bronze reliefs depicting the life of Saint Catherine and thought how cool would it be to create something entirely out of screws. I’d always wanted to work with screws, I got the idea and that was it. Six months later I completed my first piece.” The portraits are made by drilling screws into wood and some of them are are 1.2m (4ft). Even though the artist managed to sell five works for for £5,500, he says what he does is not measurable in material rewards: “Household screws are cheap if you need to hang a few pictures but when you need to buy tens of thousands of them the price soon adds up. This kind of art is unique enough that I have to keep going with it, but it costs so much to create each piece it’s not as financially rewarding as you may think. They are more a labour of love.”

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Thom Yorke Kills Justin Bieber

Thom Yorke battles the Biebs.

Have we reached a saturation point for these mash-ups yet?

Laughing Baby Loves Ripping Paper!

Baby Micah could not contain his laughter when his dad ripped up a job rejection letter he received in the mail. The 8-month-old found it so funny, that his dad kept ripping up paper to make his son crack up. He recorded this video and posted the clip as “Baby Laughing Hysterically at Ripping Paper” on his youtube page, and it’s quickly become an instant classic. Watch this hysterical laughter for yourself!...

Apple officially introduces iPad 2: Dual-Core A5 chip, 33% thinner, same prices

By Rachel King

Andrew J. Nusca
From: http://www.zdnet.com/

Summary

After months of waiting and speculation, Apple has officially unveiled the iPad 2 at a special press event in San Francisco today.

After months of waiting and speculation, Apple has officially unveiled the iPad 2 at a special press event in San Francisco today.

[Image Gallery: Apple's iPad 2 Event]

This story will be developing, but here’s what has been announced about the much-awaited tablet so far:

iOS 4.3
All new A5 chip with dual-core processors
2x faster CPU
9x faster graphics
Same power consumption rate as A4 chip
Dual cameras: Shoots 720p at up to 30fps on the rear and VGA stills on front-facing camera
33% thinner body at 8.8mm
Weighs 1.3 pounds
Built-in gyroscope
Same 10-hour battery life
New apps optimized for iPad: iMovie, GarageBand, FaceTime, Photo Booth

And unlike the iPhone 4, CEO Steve Jobs promises that this device will ship in both black and white from day one, with both AT&T and Verizon as 3G carrier options.

While all of these are definite improvements, I’m sure many consumers (myself included) were hoping for a cost drop. However, most of the price tags will remain the same:

16GB Wi-Fi: $499
32GB Wi-Fi: $599
64GB Wi-Fi: $699
16GB Wi-Fi + 3G: $629
32GB Wi-Fi + 3G: $729
64GB Wi-Fi + 3G: $829

Best of all, the iPad 2 is set to launch on March 11, with 26 countries receiving the tablet by March 25. Maybe 2011 really will turn out to be the “year of the iPad 2.” We’re only two days in, but this is definitely going to be the “month of the iPad 2″ at the very least.

Jobs also debuted a few nifty accessories, including an HDMI 1080p output dongle for $39 and a bizarre-looking screen cover that can convert to prop up the iPad. That will be available in a rainbow assortment of colors in polyurethane and leather for $39 and $69 respectively.

This is all very exciting, so check back in a bit to see an evaluation and whether or not I will be buying one myself.

Trent Reznor Is Now A Pretty Oscar-Winning Hate Machine

Posted by Joshua_Kopstein

From http://motherboard.tv/

This year, for the first time in at least a decade, I cared about the Oscars. I didn’t expect that I would, but sure enough, there I was: sat down with two friends over a bowl of homemade nachos, suffering through an ostentatious red carpet display to see who’d get their mitts on a few of those little gold men. Why? Because this year, only one film had gotten me hooked through its soundtrack alone. And it was going up against Hans Zimmer.

At first The Social Network had seemed like the dumbest idea in movie history: The tale of a petulant nerd who finds himself an overnight billionaire after building a website that forever shapes the online world into a crutch for his own social anxieties. Of course as we all know, the website, and the nerd who runs it, actually exist (although the nerd is perhaps more awkward than ruthless), and they’ve captured a decent chunk of the planet’s population. The addition of Aaron Sorkin on screenplay and David Fincher directing got me curious. But it wasn’t until it was announced that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails would be scoring the film that it had my full attention.

Maybe it was my inner angst-ridden 15 year-old self that allowed the smug grin to crawl over my face when Trent and Atticus walked up to grab the gold. Or maybe it was that many of us had never expected a soundtrack like this one to be recognized by the Academy. I realized at that moment how rare a score like The Social Network’s is, and how its prestigious recognition could represent a sea change in the appeal of experimental electronic music.

But I didn’t get ahead of myself. If anything, Reznor and Ross’ score is a shared victory for those already interested in the things like swarmatrons and stylophones. Still, there’s definitely something notable about how those otherworldly, deep-mooded textures and largely improvised instrumentation have played such an important role in defining the tone of a major film. Even if it’s a film about the world’s most awkward billionaire.

Trent, who is usually not too keen on award ceremonies, said the experience was “humbling and flattering beyond words.” The duo’s next project is a film adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which we’re looking forward to because let’s be honest: these guys could make a Twilight movie sound good if they wanted.

New battery can recharge itself using sunlight

By Tuan C. Nguyen
From http://www.smartplanet.com/

A team of scientists are hoping to give those old school re-chargeable batteries a solar-powered makeover.
Mention solar technology to people and for many it still brings to mind big clunky panels housed at sprawling industrial facilities. But recent advances in solar cells has already allowed the technology to be miniaturized and integrated into a variety of everyday household products. Last year, the Japanese company Sanyo was honored with an IF Design award at the CeBIT technology conference for a developing a dual solar-powered light and USB charger. Now comes a battery prototype that can be recharged simply by being left out in the sun.
The researchers are calling their concept the Light Catcher, which is basically a photoelectronic battery comprised of tiny anti-reflective solar cells that soak up energy from the sun. A transparent encasing protects the battery while allowing sunlight to shine through. The batteries come in AA and AAA sizes and can be inserted into most portable electronics, anything from remote controls to toys. There’s also the option to power electronics using a 3.5mm jack.

The innovators behind the “Light Catcher” concept are Yung-Hsaing Chang, Ming-Shien Lin and Chang-Ting Lu. The team developed the batteries as an entry into this year’s iF Design awards, given out each year by the Hanover-based firm iF International Forum Design.

While miniaturized solar technology is still a ways from meeting the rigorous energy demands of many portable electronics like laptops and Smartphones, such advances are still quite promising. The amount of energy that can be tapped from sunlight is enormous considering that the current technology converts only a small percentage into use-able electricity.
Photo: Yanko Design

Smoke Boba Fett's Glass Pipe Helmet and Mentally Disintegrate

From: http://www.obviouswinner.com/

Whoa... Wait. WHOA! The mouth piece is apparently inside the helmet as you can actually wear it and smoke yourself into a galaxy far far away. Made by Kevin Murray who has now become a hero to all the Star Wars geek stoners of the cosmos, which is pretty much everyone this side of the milk way.

I know. You are thinking that this might be the coolest thing ever. So make sure you [ FAN THIS ] and get daily awesomeness right in your feed!!!

[ source ]

Fire at Redington and Humphrey Street, Swampscott 3/1/2011

This is what I dealt with last night. Got zero sleep, due to the fact that my house/corner became a mobile command center, for other town’s 15+ fire trucks.

Stupid people all night long were trying to get down to see the “Fire” and obviously police made them turn around; you would think that people would pay attention to the detour. Even 10 hours later, there are still people parking in front of my driveway, trying to walk down to see the fire.