Umbrella in Bottle

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Umbrella in Bottle

Little Stinker

Wow, that's a little stinker of a gun. 

Looks like someone carved the small-stock wood themselves and attached the barrel, hammer, and trigger. 

Now, that's a concealed weapon opportunity. 

Leaving the royal red pillow out of it.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Little Stinker

The Tavor

Love my new keychain with the Tavor.

It's the latest Assault Rifle by Israel Weapon Industries.

The short stock makes this very versatile yet it packs a hell lot of fire power.

Good reminder for me of "Never again!" ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal, and thank you to my son-in-law for the thoughtful gift)

The Tavor

Rescue Yourself

This is an awesome potential lifesaving solution for getting out of a burning multi-story building. 

In an emergency...

Put on and fasten the SkySaver Rescue Device..

Attach it securely to a pre-installed anchor.

Now for this next part, you need some guts...exit and lower safely via an automatic mechanical breaking system for a controlled descent (hope this works). 

Carries up to 300 lbs from as high as 260 feet (and apparently a story is approx. 10 feet although this varies). 

I am not endorsing any vendor or product or giving advice on how to survive in an emergency like this, but I really like the thinking behind this product:

Self-Help

Portable 

Compact

Life-saving

Great idea! ;-)

Rescue Yourself

Display It Everywhere

We are getting closer to the day when mobile computing will truly be just a computer interaction anywhere--on any surface or even on no surface.

In this video we see the OmniTouch, developed by Microsoft in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University, display your computer interface on everyday objects--yourself, a table, wall, and so on.

This takes the Kinect gaming technology to a whole new level in that the OmniTouch doesn't just detect and sense your motions and gestures, but it meshes it with the way people typically interact with computers.

Using a wearable pico projector and a depth camera, the OmniTouch creates a human-computer interface with full QWERTY keyboard and touch pan, zoom, scroll capabilities.

It's amazing to see the person demonstrating the interaction with the computer practically in thin air--oh boy, Minority Report here we come. ;-)

Of course, to become a viable consumer solution, the shoulder-mounted contraption has got to go really small--no bigger than a quarter maybe, and able to be mounted, with processors and connectivity, unobtrusively in clothing, furniture, or right into building construction in your home or office.

At that point, and it hurts to say it given how much I love my iPhone, computers will no longer be device-driven, but rather the application takes center stage.

And the ability to project and click anywhere, anytime helps us reach a new level of mobility and convenience that almost boggles the senses.

Display It Everywhere