sky

Not your average magic wand

One of my longtime goals is to make my own herb garden, but I seem to have the black thumb of death. No matter what kind of plant I try to grow, they always seem to end up crunchy, wilted, and pathetically small.

I do have one plant that is still living, a large potted plant in my living room that I'm watching for a friend on vacation. Watering it is a big pain, however, because I don't own a watering can, so I have to repeatedly fill up a glass and dribble it over the roots when … Read more

Cloud computing and shoot-'em-up bliss: iPhone apps of the week

Last month there was a fair amount of buzz about how iPhone apps don't have much of a shelf life. According to a recent article at TechCrunch, the average free iPhone app is used for less than 30 days before it sits inactive on the desktop or is deleted by the user.

I guess I fit in with the average iPhone user to a certain extent. I have deleted apps that I thought were pretty cool in the beginning, but no longer catch my interest. But it might be different for me because I review apps, so I need … Read more

Take old-fashioned wood smoking to your cook top

I'm of the opinion that all chefs, no matter how experienced, have a fear of at least one kitchen undertaking. Whether it's worrying about messing up our mom's recipe, conquering a long-standing fear of souffl?, or firing up a grill, all of us have a cooking method that sends us shrinking back behind our standby saut?s and pasta sauces.

My kitchen fear of barbecueing and smoking meat is one that is avoidable for most dishes that I love to cook, and therefore has been easily forgotten as something that I should tackle. But, if I ever … Read more

Spb to power mobile online services

Starting with mobile online games, Spb Software, a popular vendor for Windows mobile apps, is rolling out a set of premium online services for 3G networks. And Russian mobile users will be getting the first crack.

The package, called SkyTouch, is basically a customized Spb Mobile user interface that gives consumers access to local online services over cellular data connections, such as streaming music or TV. This is the first time that Spb Online is implemented by a mobile service provider, which in this case is SkyLink, Russia's largest CDMA mobile operator.

SkyTouch will be available preinstalled on SkyLink'… Read more

SkyFuel heats up solar thermal power race

Update on October 13, 2008 6:30 a.m. PT: Corrections to the SkyFuel's relationship to NREL and it's projected cost of delivered electricity.

Even with the teetering economy, solar companies are bullish that tapping free energy from the sun is a solid financial move.

SkyFue on Friday is hosting an event to unveil its solar power plant system: a parabolic trough made from reflective plastic. Colorado Gov. Bill Rittner will speak at the event, held at SkyFuel's research center in Arvada, Colo.

Parabolic troughs have been around for decades and are considered the incumbent technology in … Read more

Use the 'force' to control your cell phone

Cell phones may or may not mess with our brains, but now our brains can mess with them.

NeuroSky, a San Jose, Calif.-based company that focuses on developing brain-controlled interfaces, recently created a prototype of a system that reads brain waves and uses them to control mobile phone applications. Basically, the brain dictates the action of the device without the help of the middleman: the fingers.

This is how it works: software algorithms deduce from your brain waves what you intend to do and pass on the appropriate commands to the cell phone. During the demo of the prototype, … Read more

Flying high with SkyMall

What kind of Crave editor would I be if I didn't spend my entire flight (OK, it was only an hour long) scouring SkyMall for Crave-tastic gadgets? The catalog doesn't always feature the newest of the new, but it still provides great sky-high skimming for gadget hounds--or those who just want to keep their mind off the turbulence.

Just a handful that caught my eye this go-round:

· The $49.95 Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock is the anti-Clocky: 30 minutes before wake-up time, an ambient light glows softly, brightening over the next half hour while faint … Read more

Mini-mic mimics useful microwave

Have microwaves really become so large and unwieldy that we need to make specialized miniature models? SkyMall, which never seems to disappoint (at least on long flights), is offering up this teeny tiny mini mic, ostensibly for cubicle related emergencies.

Measuring up at a measly 10.5 inches tall by 12 inches wide by 10 inches deep, it's safe to say that the Iwavecube Personal Microwave is probably one of, if not the, smallest little block of microwave on the block. I don't have a bag of microwaveable popcorn at the ready, but I'm not convinced a … Read more

Pantech's love connection phone

Who needs sweet nothings uttered on the phone when you can send across your love through touch? Korean company Pantech is tapping into the gold mine of youths on hormonal overdrive with too much money to spend.

Its Touch-Screen Phone Love Canvas (IM-R300), the company's first touch-screen outing, not only lets one party draw little hearts and send them over to his or her significant other's Love Canvas, but they can also express their emotional status with various emoticons and vibrations by touching the panel.

The Sky-branded phone is being tested through SK Telecom, according to Telecoms Korea. (… Read more

Open-source films attack Hollywood

It's 2018 and the Nazis are about to return from space to an unsuspecting Earth.

Sound weird? It could happen. And it does in Iron Sky, a new movie whose preview will be available for download on the 5th of May.

The story is a follow-up from the guys who made the cult film Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. That $20,000 sci-fi parody of Star Trek has been downloaded 8 million times since it appeared on the Internet three years ago.

This is the story of Iron Sky:

In 1945, when World War II is almost over, SS … Read more