FEPY

Google has launched a service providing free directory assistance calls, and the features offered will spur some serious competition in the 411 market. Goog-411 is accessible via a phone call to, unsurprisingly, 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411 or 1-877-466-4411). The system currently only handles Yellow Pages style business lookups, and it’s entirely automated. There are no operators standing by to assist, but the experimental voice prompts are working pretty well.

Besides being a free service that automatically makes the connection to the listing; the beauty of Goog-411 is the added features that the system offers. Call up and say “47591, Pizza” and the system will read off listings of pizza parlors in Vincennes, IN. Say “Detail” while hearing the listings and you’ll get the address of a specific parlor, but say “Text Message” and you’ll instantly receive a text message with the business name, address, and phone number! Read the Goog-411 FAQ to get all the commands from the cheat sheet.

Thanks to Google all the cellular providers will need to offer this great feature in the future to stay competitive. If you prefer your free 411 calls to be staffed by a live operator in case of problems there’s always the ad supported 1-800-FREE-411 (800-373-3411). I’ve been using their service for the last year, and it comes in very handy. There’s no excuse beyond profiteering for phone providers to charge us outrageous rates for directory assistance calls (anywhere from $1.00 to $3.00 each), but there are all kinds of new businesses rising up to provide free information access via phone call or SMS. Try out Zypsy, 411SMS, or GylleSMS.

Update: As a lark this morning I sent a message to the Zypsy mentioned above. “What’s the average rainfall in the Amazon Basin?” and I just received this reply via SMS:

Average rainfall across the whole Amazon basin is approximately 2300 mm (or ~7.5′) annually. In some areas the rainfall could be double this number. Information from (projectamazonas.com)

Those kids at Zypsy aren’t kidding when they say that they’ll do the searching for you. It may take a couple of hours for a reply, but I can’t argue with their execution. Good job, guys!

Origin: from Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women

Posted by Fepy on Apr 10, 2007, 7:00PM

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This amazing photo is of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Reunion Island as its lava drain into the Indian Ocean. Link | Article at Taipei Times

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Apr 11, 2007, 2:27AM

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This brings new meaning to the question, “Got a light?” Standing 4’11″, the Matchlight is perfect for small apartments, or anywhere space is limited. It’s electric, ‘natch and uses a small candle-type bulb. I don’t expect you could read by the illumination but it certainly makes a great conversation piece at your next cocktail party. Better watch out for those friends who after a few brewskies will try to light it up against the wall. Hey, they’re your friends.

Available at Firebox.

Origin: from Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women

Posted by Fepy on Apr 13, 2007, 5:48PM

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From Mainichi:

An electronics manufacturer in Ibaraki Prefecture has begun receiving orders for audio products set in local Kasama-style pottery.

The speakers are shaped like a pot and their sound is clearer than that of normal wood speakers.

The amplifier is priced at more than 800,000 yen [6,734 US dollars] and each speaker at more than 30,000 yen [252 US dollars].

Pretty cool, but I think I’ll wait for the price to go down before I get any…

Origin: from Japan Probe

Posted by Fepy on Apr 15, 2007, 9:45AM

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Robots can get away with things that humans cannot. In the Minami area of Osaka, for example, a humanoid robot dressed in a “sailor suit” high school uniform now works the street as a tout for an adult information center that navigates potential customers to local sex clubs. Humans in Osaka are prohibited by law from engaging in such nefarious activity.

Since 2005, Osaka law has banned sex club touts from soliciting business on the street. The law also applies to the staff of adult information centers, which guide customers to local establishments such as love hotels, fashion-health massage parlors, cabaret clubs and image clubs. There are 175 of these adult information centers in Osaka prefecture — more than in any other prefecture in Japan.

But despite the law change, touts have remained on the streets, albeit with slight changes in behavior. Instead of relying on their voice to solicit customers, the touts began to work the streets in silence, using gestures and holding up bright yellow “Ask me!” (Ore ni kike!) signs. Some businesses also made “Ask me!” jackets for their staff. In this way, solicitors have been able to skirt the law by letting potential customers do the approaching.

However, at the end of last month, Osaka law enforcement ordered all sex industry touts to stop carrying signs.

The response this time? Hire a robot to carry the sign. At least, that’s what one adult information center has done. The human-sized robo-tout, who used to direct traffic around construction sites, underwent a 500,000 yen ($4,000) upgrade for its new job, which is to attract the attention of passersby by periodically raising and lowering a banner that reads “Ask me!”

The droid’s employer foresees no run-ins with the law. “It’s a robot, so no problem,” says a spokesperson for the information center.

[Source: Asahi 1, Asahi 2]

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Origin: from Pink Tentacle

Posted by Fepy on Apr 16, 2007, 10:52AM

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Surprise! Models and actresses are skinnier than the general public. But how skinny and how do their body shapes change throughout history?

Diet Blog has the timeline:

The 1920s and 1960s both bucked the trend of the curvaceous woman. Ann Bolin, an anthropologist at Elon College suggests that "during periods of liberation, like the 1920s, when women had just gotten the vote, and the 1960s, when the Pill became available, the ideal shape for women deemphasized their reproductive characteristics–the nourishing breasts, the wide, childbearing hips."

Other measures of physical beauty show a very clear trend towards slimness.

* Waist measurements of winners of the Miss America pageant went from just under 26 inches (1920) to around 24 inches (1980s).

* During the period from 1979 to 1988, 69% of Playboy models and 60% of Miss America contestants weighed 15% or more below the expected weight for their age and height category.

Link - Thanks James!

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Apr 17, 2007, 7:03AM

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One of my favorite new blogs is Dave Kaplan’s Bad Guys Blog (named so because Dave, chief investigative correspondent at U.S. News & World Report, covers stories about terrorism and other baddies).

Dave just wrote an entry about the top Internet crimes of 2006. Not surprisingly, auction fraud is on top of the list:

Although the number of complaints last year–207,492–fell by 10 percent, the overall losses hit a record $198 million. By far the most reported crime: Internet auction fraud, garnering 45 percent of all complaints. Also big was nondelivery of merchandise or payment, which notched second at 19 percent. The biggest money losers: those omnipresent Nigerian scam letters, which fleeced victims on average of $5,100–followed by check fraud at $3,744 and investment fraud at $2,694.

Link

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Apr 17, 2007, 7:03AM

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For a long time, I couldn’t admit that I really don’t know how to use chopsticks properly (as if I should have been born knowing how to use them). It’s a real skill, and if you didn’t learn to use them before a certain tender age, it’s unlikely you’ll ever use them without awkwardness. When in doubt in an Asian restaurant, especially when dinner companions who don’t really know me are staring at me for clues as to how to eat something, I use my fingers, a la Sylvia Plath. Still, I love to buy all different kinds of wooden chopsticks just for their beauty, and I take them out when my parents come over, or, more often, to roast marshmallows for S’mores.

I’ve seen little kids learn to use chopsticks by having them rubber-banded together. Artist Laura Rittenhouse has taken this concept and created the Chork, a chopsticks/for combination. And I’m happy to report that this is not a mere concept product — you can actually order them from the artist for $17, in several kinds of hardwood.

Via bookofjoe.

More on hybrid utensils:
Move Over Spork, Here Comes the Knork

Origin: from Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women

Posted by Fepy on Apr 17, 2007, 10:37PM

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The press release for Ithaa Restaurant reads in part:

The Maldives | 15 April marks the day that the first ever all-glass
undersea restaurant in the world opens its doors for business at the
Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. Ithaa* will sit five meters below the
waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and
encased in clear acrylic offering diners 270-degrees of panoramic
underwater views.

Gorgeous! Via Deep Sea News

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Apr 18, 2007, 2:02AM

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Christopher Conte makes some awesome mechanical sculptures - check out his work here: Link - via Needcoffee

Origin: from Neatorama

Posted by Fepy on Apr 18, 2007, 8:18AM

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