I enjoyed my friend Bill Gurstelle's TEDx talk about "The Art of Living Dangerously," an idea he explores in his recent book, Absinthe and Flamethrowers.
An individual's risk taking propensity and skills has profound influence on an individual's happiness. William Gurstelle presents the concept of living dangerously yet artfully via "The Golden Third," the risk taking style employed by the third of humanity that statistics show is the most successful. William is the Ballistics and Pyrotechnics Editor for Popular Mechanics. In addition he is a bestselling author, registered engineer, and professional speaker. Having sold nearly half a million books he is one of the world's most widely read authors on science and technology, including best sellers Backyard Ballistics and Absinthe and Flamethrowers.TEDxTC - William Gurstelle - The Art of Living Dangerously
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Are you a busy professional attending an event at the Toronto International Centre? Be prepared to travel in time to an idyllic era when physically leaving the office made you unreachable by your colleagues and peers. Or, if you want to live in the modern era, be prepared to pay the whopping $99/day for "ultra-lite wireless" service at the TIC (if you want to actually use the network in any meaningful way, you'll have to sign up for "extreme wireless" at $150/day). 
Those who knew him testify that Michael Hart was an extraordinary individual – idiosyncratic, original, humane, determined and generous to a fault. He never made much money, repaired his own car, had scant faith in medicine and built most of his own electronic gear from stuff he picked up in garage sales. On Saturday mornings over breakfast in the local diner, he would work out the optimum route to cover the maximum number of garage sales that day; it was his version of the travelling salesman problem in mathematics. 
posted Sep 23rd 2011 10:51AM 
What's this mystery e-reader? It's the Kobo Vox, and it just made its debut on the FCC's site. Is it a reworked version of the relatively recently released Touch Edition? Is it a brand new reader from the company? The device is listed as being an "eReader Tablet," so perhaps it's something more akin to Barnes & Noble's Nook Color or the Kindle tablet reportedly in the works from Amazon. And will Kobo's recent appearance at f8 play into the equation? It's hard to say, but there are a few things worth noting here. First, if the above rough image is to be believed, the device is touchscreen, as with the company's current product. The design, however, looks a lot more like the latest version of the Nook than the new Kobo. A side shot reveals what appears to be a microUSB slot (no shocker there) and a headphone jack, something missing on both the latest Kobo and Nook (though both the latest Kindle and the Nook Color rock one), while a "multimedia headset" was used in the testing. Also listed among the testing materials is a microSD card, so there seems a pretty good chance that this thing has expandable memory -- again, not a surprise, nor is the fact that the reader is listed as being WiFi-enabled.
Avi sez, "Anya Kamenetz has made her 'Edupunks' Guide to a DIY Credential' available as a free PDF. The guide is 'a comprehensive guide to learning online and charting a personalized path to an affordable credential (or no credential) using the latest innovative tools and organizations.' Take charge of your educational path and save yourself a bunch of money and debt in the process!" 
By Mat Smith 
This record is almost ridiculous in its high velocity soul attack; dare I say proto-soul-punk? Since their debut (hit) release "Tell Him", the mixed gender Exciters released a string of superb singles that were some of the finest pop-soul of the 60's. Interestingly enough, this record was reissued by RCA in 1972, making me wonder why. Was it getting play in the New York club scene, for instance, that necessitated a reissue? Perhaps an A&R person felt that it had hit potential and deserved another shot? The record certainly caught on with the northern soul crowd, but it's unlikely that was the reason for a second issue (with different catalog number and all). Whatever the story, this is a brain melting record that I could easily play every night in my living room and every DJ set for the rest of my life and never tire of. from 1969... Blowing Up My Mind!
It's hardly a natural disaster, but the landscape of Manhattan is about to change once again with the arrival of cellular signal to a handful of the borough's subway platforms. Both AT&T and T-Mobile are taking part in the pilot program, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority expects the service to begin rolling on Tuesday at several stations along the 14th Street corridor, including A, C, E, F, L and M, along with stops 1, 2 and 3. The 23rd Street line will also see part of the action, as coverage is expected for the C and E stations. Of course, straphangers are unlikely to receive signal once on-board the trains, as the tunnels themselves aren't included in this rollout. Currently, the MTA expects all 277 underground platforms to be equipped for mobile chatter by 2016. Transit Wireless, the company responsible for the expansion, is said to be in talks with Sprint and Verizon for a similar introduction, although its customers must be content to listen in on the conversations other commuters for the time being. 
The Sack Boris campaign, which seeks the ouster of London Mayor Boris Johnson, has a nice line of brightly coloured Oyster-card sleeves that can be yours for a mere £3 donation. The mayor has increased bus-fares by 44% since he took office in 2008, and he is up for re-election in 2012. 
Cloaklet is a service that provides end-to-end private IM, email and file-transfer. The system uses three physically and logically separate systems, each of which has limited knowledge of what the other is doing, theoretically creating a system where there is zero knowledge -- that is, where the service operator can't say who is talking to whom, what they're saying, which files they're storing, and so on. 
As the person drives, he can poop into the bowl, and that poop will be turned into fuel for the car. It's actually part of a campaign that Toto is running in an effort to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50% in the next 6 years. The motorcycle will be making its way from Kyushu to Tokyo over the next month (departing in six days). Very exciting! I'm not sure who's driving but I'm sure that, in addition to having a drivers license, they had to check his stool to make sure its healthy and fuel-worthy. 
Gaylord Stinchcomb's B3ta illustration celebrating Google's 13th birthday is everything I love about B3ta in one little bitmap. 
What do you get when you put together afrobeat legend Fela Kuti and rap pioneers De La Soul? You get Fela Soul; a musical tapestry created by Gummy Soul artist Amerigo Gazaway. More than just a clever title, Fela Soul is an 8-track, 33 minute journey into the world of afrobeat rhythms, funky horn riffs, and classic hip-hop gems. Using dozens of hand-picked samples from the Nigerian instrumentalist and political figure Fela Kuti, and 8 carefully-chosen acapellas from the Native Tongue rap trio De La Soul, Amerigo seamlessly intertwines the two into something completely new and original. 
Comcast has been talking about adding live TV streaming to its Xfinity TV tablet apps for a while, but now this screenshot of a product page from MacRumors indicates it could be launching very soon. It requires an AnyPlay box -- a Comcast brand name for the Motorola Televation cable TV-to-IPTV box shown off in June and previously a portable DVR concept from Panasonic -- that will allow viewing over the local network on compatible devices, including iPads, Android tablets and the like. There's also been recent rumors of Microsoft seeking a tie-in to bring live streams from Comcast to its Xbox 360, which could be eventually be enabled by a device and service like this. According to the page, it includes access to "most" channels, and can register up to ten tablets, but only allows for viewing on one at a time. Time Warner and Cablevision have already rolled out live TV streaming on their tablet apps, we'll see if this in-home Slingbox-approach can avoid their licensing issues. 
Welcome to Growing Up Geek, an ongoing feature where we take a look back at our youth and tell stories of growing up to be the nerds that we are. Today, we have our very own Contributing Mobile Editor, Zachary Lutz. 
Perhaps it requires a special breed to proudly wear the label of "geek." No, I'm not talking about circus performers that bite heads off chickens (check the original meaning of the word), but about people like you and me, the folks who pursue their interests to a fantastic degree. It doesn't matter whether your passion is knitting, fishing or kayaking; if you're a curious individual who's always thirsting to learn more, there's a good chance we'll get along. For me, my pigeonhole just so happens to be computers -- and, more recently, mobile technology. Sure, you could blame it on way too many hours in front of the screen, but as a certain self-empowered pop star might say, I'd like to think I was born this way. 
Let's fast forward in time a bit to '96, with the purchase of our first PC, a 133MHz Pentium from Packard Bell that ran Windows 95. Like many computers of that era, it featured a customized UI, here known as Navigator, which provided a house metaphor for completing tasks, accessing applications and so on. These interfaces were presumably intended to save novices from the horrors of the Start Menu, which was obviously meant for pros only. Fortunately, there was an Exit sign that brought the user to the proper Windows desktop. I relate this experience to the current landscape of Android phones and tablets, where custom UIs are largely the norm, except now, there's no Exit sign -- no way to access a proper home screen. Perhaps I find the current situation so frustrating because looking back, had I not been able to exit Navigator, I wouldn't have learned much at all.
I'll admit it, I was under Steve Jobs' mind-control abilities at the time. Apple was the company that built tools for people who'd change the world. I was convinced that once I owned a Mac, my entire computing experience -- and hence, my entire life as I knew it -- would change for the better. There was nothing I wanted more than a Bondi Blue iMac for Christmas. So, I created a teal-and-white paper chain to represent the countdown, and would tear off a link each day. When December 25th, 1998 finally came, I was overjoyed for sure, yet humbled by how much I still had to learn. (I'd originally thought the CD-ROM drive was broken, because the eject button wouldn't work. Turns out, as you know, discs are ejected by dragging them to the trash.) Still, I loved Apple so much, I was convinced I should join the company.
Let me confess to you, I've never written professionally before. After finally deciding that I had little interest in pursuing a legal career, I began formulating my next step, where I'd combine my two primary passions: writing and tech. I figured I'd start my own site, and while I didn't have the means or access to a litany of mobile phones, nothing was going to stop me from going into retail outlets and crafting reviews of the experience. Maybe, just maybe, Engadget would one day take notice. As fate goes, that never came to be. Instead, I learned my favorite tech site was hiring for the first time in years, and knew I'd forever regret not taking the chance. The review I submitted was of my aging BlackBerry Tour, which was perfect for having a little fun. Then, Tim called. Then Darren. Then Tim, again. Before I knew it, I was reading my own stories on this incredible site. Sure, I look back and wince at some of the early articles, but I will be forever thankful to this team of talented writers and experts for showing me the ropes and bringing me up to speed. Just like the technology world, life moves pretty fast sometimes, and if there's anything I've learned, you've got to be ready for when that moment comes. No matter what your interest or passion, I firmly believe these moments happen in all our lives. Just be ready, and when the time comes for you, don't be afraid to let your inner geek shine.
Who's looking sleek in angled corners? Why, it's the Motorola Xoom 2 -- at least it might be, according to Droid-Life and the folks that leaked it the above image. The outfit's informant tells them that the pictured device is flaunting micro-USB and HDMI ports, a SIM card slot and a few large, flush buttons on its back. Is it the real deal? Well, we can't say it looks much like Verizon's door-destroying tablet, or even the shy slate that we spied on Motorola Mobility's leaked website redesign -- but we wouldn't put too much stock into ambiguous renders and inconclusive advertisements anyway. There's one more image after the break for those of you that are into rear-facing cameras and "confidential" engravings. 