Ball Input Device
2010-01 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Engadget reports about Puyocon, a tennis ball shaped input device from Tsukuba University, which measures pressure, speed, and rotation. Similar concepts: Blobo from ball-it and iOrb from TU Vienna.

Breath Input Device
2010-01 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Engadget reports of the Sensawaft, a novel input device: It looks like a headset and you can blow on the microphone, which measures direction and speed. Currently used to control mouse cursor. Prototype status, will cost around 100 EUR.

Height Maps from the Space Shuttle / SRTM
2010-01 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Slashdot links to a Integrity Logic article on freely available height maps of the earth, taken from the space shuttle via radar (SRTM). NASA provides data and an overview. Taken in 2000, but calibrated until today.

Glassfish 3 (Java EE 6) Released
2009-12 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Adam Bien reports that Glassfish v3, the Java EE 6 reference implementation, has been released. Eclipse 3.5 support is also provided. Supporting evidence: 8 reasons to use Java EE 6.

Multipressuretouch: Stantum Slate
2009-12 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Engadget and JKK Mobile point to a Netbooked article on the Stantum Slate display: It not only measures where your 10 fingers are, but also how hard you are pressing. Painting with a brush works too. Currently in prototype status.

JDistUnit: Java Distributed Unit Testing
2009-11 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
After 2 months of development, I have just released JDistUnit version 0.1.0 under GPL. JDistUnit is an extension to JUnit, allowing multiple hosts to participate in distributed unit testing. This is particularly useful if you want to load/stress test a web server, with requests coming from multiple machines.

Lego Matrix
2009-11 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of "The Matrix" movie, Boing boing points to the Lego Matrix people, who have build the "Trinity, help!" scene in motion captured Lego.

Mandelbrot in 3D: Mandelbulb
2009-11 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Classic mandelbrot is one of the best 2D fractals in existence. Finding a 3D equivalent, the mandelbulb, is an ongoing quest. Slashdot points to a Skytopia article which shows some truly beautiful variants on that quest.

SMOS satellite by ESA
2009-11 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Inhabitat, Slashdot, Engadget, Daily Mail and IT Pro report of the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) satellite launched by ESA. Main instrument: MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis), a tree-arm sensor which produces moisture maps of land and salinity maps of seas. Main insight: Thermal and wheather movement on earth.

Giant Ribbon on Heliosphere
2009-10 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Slashdot and io9 link to a NASA article: As the IBEX satellite (video) has found out, the heliosphere (where solar wind from our sun and galactic cosmic rays from the milky way meet) is not smooth, instead featuring a giant high-energy ribbon roughly in our direction of travel within the milky way. Probably caused by magnetic field mixing between our sun and other stars.

ChemBot: Shape shifting Robot
2009-10 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
IEEE Spectrum, Engadget, Slashdot and CNet report of the iRobot ChemBot robot prototype: Essentially a ball made of several pieces of foam which can lose or gain air. Fill one piece, and the ball will roll in one direction; suck the air out, it will roll into the other direction. DARPA funded research project.

Microsoft Mouse Research 2009
2009-10 :: article :: Kai Ruhl
Engadget has a report of current mouse prototypes at Microsoft Research: All with multitouch capabilities, some with additional cameras, two-finger-hold, and other gimmicks. Video included.