Find out how developed the little green men with six arms and three eyes currently growing inside of your colon are by checking out radiation levels for your cellphone on CNET.
It seems like the crap build-quality, terrible reception and poor voice-quality are not the only reasons I don’t own a Motorola. This study shows that 7 out of the 10 cellphone models with the highest radiation levels in the US are made by Motorola… go figure!
This has caused much amusement in the office over the last couple of days.
For anyone that believes post-modern cultural theory is not full of air most of the time, go and take a look at this page and hit refresh in your browser a couple of times before reading the page footer.
Inspired by the sad ingenious ‘Sokal Affair’…
Today was the official launch of the new building known as the African Media Matrix (AMM), which houses the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa where I am privileged to be housed. This new ZAR24 million building is not only an impressive repository of memorable media moments and African art, it is also one of the most technologically advanced in Africa and probably the Southern Hemisphere.
If you are ever in this neck of the woods I strongly encourage you to visit us as I have seen even the most hardened critics of journalism and art humbled this past week by what is stored within the AMM’s hallways.
On a related note, I’ve just finished giving Danny Jordaan (SA FIFA 2010 honcho) and his family a personal tour of the building and the man was deeply impressed. If Danny was impressed you will be too!
The next couple of months will see us at the New Media Lab working on a handful of projects related to the AMM as well as playing around with the latest technology and plasma screens.
Stay tuned for the coolness!
The Guardian: Doctors from London University have revealed details of what they believe is the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person. Consultants from the addiction centre at St George’s Medical School, London, have published a case report of a British man estimated to have taken around 40,000 pills of MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, over nine years. The heaviest previous lifetime intake on record is 2,000 pills.
Ok, I don’t usually blog about this sort of thing, but this is honestly one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard in my life.
How’s it possible that this guy can take up to 25 ecstasy tablets a day and still function properly let alone conduct a normal social life? Did he not sleep in 9 years? Did he not have a job and if so did his boss not mind him chomping on the boardroom table during morning meetings? So many questions left unanswered!
Apparently even though he stopped taking pills over 7 years ago, he still suffers from “severe physical and mental health side-effects, including extreme memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations and depression”, as well as “painful muscle rigidity around his neck and jaw which often prevents him from opening his mouth.”.
Man this guy must be a walking advertisement for “Just Don’t Do It!”.
iRex Technologies, a spin-off of consumer electronic giant Philips, have announced that they will be releasing their first generation electronic reader known as the iLiad later this month.
The blurb on the website describes the product like this:
Digital written content can now be read as easily and conveniently as the printed word on paper. The iRex Technologies E-reader provides true reading comfort, flexibility and versatility. It can be read outdoors, in sunshine or shadow. As well as reading you can also write comments, mark or underline sections, for a true two-way paper experience. And all of this at the lowest power consumption.
The iLiad weighs only 390 grams and measures 215 x 155 mm with an estimated battery life of 20 hours. It supports various document formats and transfer solutions such as WiFi, LAN, USB and SD/MMC cards. This is one of the best features in my opinion. What’s more it also has a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 at 160 dpi which should give a near-paper like reading experience.
In fact the only downside to the device appears to be that it only has a black & white display (to keep costs down and maximise battery life) and will only be sold as a business solution to companies (initially).
One of the iLiad’s first customers is the Belgian newspaper De Tijd, as reported in E-Media Tidbits. The newspaper plans on running an experiment with 200 of its readers’ in April, when the iLiad is officially released, whereby a digital edition designed especially for the device is made available. The experiment is due to last 3 months.
This could be a pivotal moment in how news is distributed and consumed. Sure, you can read digital editions of certain newspapers on your laptop and PDA and many people have done so for many years, but never on a device that is specifically designed to replace paper and can accompany you from the loo at the airport to a deckchair on paradise beach. The battery life should also ensure that you are kept company, even on the longest trans-Atlantic trip, before reaching for that pesky power-cord.
Add the possibility of audio, video and a colour screen and you now have a device that could revolutionise how content is delivered in the future, both online and offline.
Definitely something that media organisations and content producers should watch very carefully.
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