CrunchyTech: The Latest from Boing Boing

Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Latest from Boing Boing

3D viewer + The Elements for iPad = stereoscopic scienceporn
Behold! OSX on iPad! With Flash!
iPad teardown
Mobile payment system Square launches in US on iPad
SCO schooled by jury
Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Gyroscopes in space
Giant iPad queue here in Pittsburgh

3D viewer + The Elements for iPad = stereoscopic scienceporn

Posted: 03 Apr 2010 11:46 PM PDT

Just got my Loreo Pixi 3D viewer with which to view those element detail shots in Theodore Gray's The Elements for iPad in 3D. Verdict: takes a little getting used to, for my eyes anyway, but after a minute of perceptual adjustment it quickly turned into HOLYCRAPTHISISSOAWESOME. You know what America (heck, the world, but especially America) needs to combat anti-science sentiment, and the dumbing down of our kids? Elegant presentations of science. Interactive digital reference book/game/search/apps like this, that make learning tantalizing. Imagine if you'd first been exposed to the periodic table of elements like this as a kid! I say this with excitement for the iPad and content soon to be developed for that platform, but also with excitement for the new class of competing devices that sill surely follow.

Read my earlier review of The Elements here ($13.99 for iPad, Touchpress), and you can buy the glasses here ($4.95 + S/H).

Behold! OSX on iPad! With Flash!

Posted: 03 Apr 2010 01:35 PM PDT

Not really! It's actually Desktop Connect, a $12 app that lets you patch into other computers using VNC or RDP, two desktop-sharing protocols. It's neat to be able to lounge in bed and mess with a computer from afar--the iPad's sweet spot (or sour spot, for the detractors) between cellphone and laptop makes it great for turn-based games. Hip, urban server administrators will also be delighted.

Setup is easy, and a row of icons makes keyboard entry, including function keys,
straightforward. But there are some caveats: the touchscreen magic dissolves to frustration with desktop operating systems, even when you set the remote resolution to be the same as the iPad's. It's much easier to use the precise mousing mode.

iTunes link [via Gizmodo's John Hermann, who pulled the trick with a more Macolyte-horrifying choice of OS]

iPad teardown

Posted: 03 Apr 2010 12:04 PM PDT

From iFixit: View image gallery, and here are earlier images from the FCC. (via @awillett)

Mobile payment system Square launches in US on iPad

Posted: 03 Apr 2010 10:21 AM PDT

Mobile payment system Square launches today. Founder Jack Dorsey tweets: "Five months ago we announced @Square. Today we're opening to the US, starting with the iPad. Cash, cards, & items."

SCO schooled by jury

Posted: 03 Apr 2010 08:34 AM PDT

Jurors have determined that SCO doesn't own the copyright to Unix. [Wired]

Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Gyroscopes in space

Posted: 03 Apr 2010 07:55 AM PDT

When we last met NASA science officer Don Pettit, he was demonstrating the behavior of water bubbles in microgravity. Today, Pettit shows us how astronauts can use CD players to MacGyver a gyroscopically stabilized platform for holding flashlights and other tools.

It's awesome, and it's part of a series of Saturday morning science videos that Pettit did for NASA in 2003. You can watch more of them online, and read his text-based Space Chronicles newsletter from around the same time period. Good luck getting anything accomplished today.

For more on gyroscopes:

How Stuff Works: "Gyroscopes can be very perplexing objects because they move in peculiar ways and even seem to defy gravity."
Kenyon College: The history of gyroscopes, with examples dating to the 1850s
Georgia State University's Hyperphysics site: Gyroscopes explained, in a more visual way