The Concorde yacht concept combines two different environments on its large 117m long and 13.5m high structure, the luxurious airplane Concorde and a villa with swimming pool, terrace and wide front yard. The front part contains a big salon with two spacious side wind deck where people can communicate with great natural landscapes. The long curved tail connects the cafeteria and the rear roof park, a great place to enjoy the time in swimming pool or stroll on big grass yards. This luxury yacht features 6 VIP rooms, equipped with beautiful sea-sight terrace which is connected to the roof park. The rear part of the yacht is the most attractive spot for fun and excitement with a huge half-round beach where people can take a sunbath, play volleyball and swim.
Designer : Hyun-Seok Kim
Food Inc. didn’t win Best Documentary this year, but its message is clear: farming in America is not what it used to be. Thankfully, the passion for farming for a living, and doing it right, still motivates some, like the Nolan family. A feature documentary called From Grass to Cheese is underway to show the world their commitment to start a dairy farm, and more.
The Nolan family’s Laurel Valley Creamery got it’s start in 2005 when they purchased farmland belonging to Nick’s grandparents in an attempt to carry on their family farming tradition. Their goal now is to create a successful cheese business and also help people renew their relationship with food production. Nick and Celeste firmly believe that by turning grass into cheese there are rewards far greater than just filling stomachs.
The documentarians are hoping to raise money to finish the film and have it screened for next year’s awards. As the Thomas Jefferson quote rightly states: “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens.” Aside from Farmville, interest in farming in the United States seems to be going the way of the drive-in movie. This kind of project brings hope for future farmers.
Applied ecology: Grass and the X factor
Nature 464, 172 (2010). doi:10.1038/464172b
Author: Tim Lincoln
This moss carpet made by Nguyen La Chanh Carpet is a miniature lawn that thrives in humid conditions. It looks like your own natural little green paradise. The base of this vegetable carpet is made of a decay-free foam plastazote. Each cell includes a piece of moss: ball moss, island moss and forest moss. This bath mat look at getting the grass to your feet. I think it is the perfect green addition to the bathroom.
Bath mats at mydeco
Google announced last week that they had aquired the web-based photo-editing app Picnik. Picnik started in 2005 and was one of first online photo-editing sites.
It’s a very busy site, with almost 40 million visitors each month. On the company blog, a clearly very excited staff member (and why wouldn’t they be?) said:
What does this mean for you Picnikers? Nothing is changing right away, but Picnik now has more potential than ever before. The team that built Picnik from the grass up will continue making advanced and powerful photo-editing easier, more intuitive and more fun, so stay tuned to hear about all the cool new stuff we’re working on.
Piknik lets users edit their photos online then post them to social networking sites such as Flickr, Facebook and Picassa. Users can avail of a basic service which is free, or the premium service which costs $24.95 per year. Google already owns Picassa so it looks like it’s positioning itself to be chief of the online photo world. Picnik’s competitors include Photoshop.com and Aviary who just recently made all of their online graphics apps available for free.
On Google’s blog, Brian Axe, Product Management Director said
We’re not announcing any significant changes to Picnik today, though we’ll be working hard on integration and new features. As well, we’d like to continue supporting all existing Picnik partners so that users will continue to be able to add their photos from other photo sharing sites, make edits in the cloud and then save and share to all relevant networks.
So no changes to speak of yet, but it will be interesting to see what comes down the line. Picnik was bought for an undisclosed sum.
Are you a Picnik user? Any thoughts on Google’s new acquisition?
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The Turquoise Theme is a simple free WordPress Theme 980px wide with 3 Sidebars and an Option Page to populate the Footer. One Sidebar is on the right side optimized for Adsense 250px Ads. Two Sidebars are on top of the postings and below the Posting. Good for 468px Ads.
Smell the fresh cut grass and feel the butterflies flutter past your face… It’s summer year round with this eye-catching fixed width two-column design.
Two column, brown theme. Choose background colors, sidebar placement, and an optional adsense ready sidebar.
Share your music and videos, connect with fans, and let everyone know about your upcoming gigs with one of these music WordPress themes. Whether you’re a musician, DJ, or producer, one thing’s for sure — these widget-ready and Gravatar-enabled themes rock.
This Friday marks the beginning of SXSW and with the lead up to the event there is significant buzz surrounding the two leading location based services: Gowalla and Foursquare. While many are questioning the value in sharing their location, most SXSW attendees used Twitter as a way to let people know where they were at past events. Instantly hundreds or thousands of people would descend on parties as they learned from popular users where the hot spot was. Will Gowalla and Foursquare reignite the flashmob revival at this year’s SXSW?
While Twitter is great to let people know what your listening to and occasionally where you’re located, location based services are great because everything focuses around where you are at. Yes, I love filtering through the latest content, but when I’m at an event or out to socialize there’s only thing I’m really concerned about: where people are at. That way I can meet people face to face. While social media enthusiasts love to be part of the conversation, humans, especially extroverts, have a strong desire for face-to-to face interaction.
While you can post numerous updates on Twitter as part of a “conversation”, location based services are far less noisy. That’s because updates are limited to when people change location. I could be following hundreds of people and only receive a few updates over a 24 hour period, making it much more manageable to keep up to date.
At large events it’s very easy to become overwhelmed with everything going on simultaneously. SXSW is one place where becoming overwhelmed is normal. Often times you’ll see attendees spending more time browsing their phone while at an event than actually interacting with other people who are around them. It’s not because they don’t want to network but because there could be something better going on right down the road.
After a few times at SXSW you tend to give up on always trying to find the “most happening” spot. In 2008, Gary Vaynerchuk drove people to a hotel lobby party rather than dealing with the lines at parties and Twitter was a key tool that was responsible for flash mobs like Gary’s.
Gary Vaynerchuk is a unique case however. Not all people want to let people know where they’re at, which is why Gowalla, one of the leading location based services, errs on the side of privacy. Rather than publicly broadcasting your location, Gowalla leaves the user to make their whereabouts public via Facebook and Twitter. This means an event promoted on Gowalla is completely through word of mouth.
Once the event is on Twitter however, everybody knows about the event, not just “friends”. While each location-based service tends to have a different position on privacy, it’s clear that an event promoted on Twitter will result in a massive number of attendees in a short period of time. While location-based services have not been thoroughly tested at an event like SXSW (the “Foursquare phenomenon” only began to spread at last year’s events), this year appears to be shaping up to be a big one for Foursquare and Gowalla.
For now we’ll have to wait and see if the two services take off at this year’s event. After using Gowalla for a few days I finally “got it” and realized the value of location-based services. I have a feeling that other attendees will finally begin to indulge in the LBS phenomenon at this year’s SXSW. Do you use any location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla? Do you think these services will take of at this year’s SXSW? Are you willing to share your location with others?
Carnegie apparently said, "Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory."
Is there a typical large corporation working today that still believes this?
Most organizations now have it backwards. The factory, the infrastructure, the systems, the patents, the process, the manual... that's king. In fact, shareholders demand it.
It turns out that success is coming from the atypical organizations, the ones that can get back to embracing irreplaceable people, the linchpins, the ones that make a difference. Anything else can be replicated cheaper by someone else.
Sharing: Losing Andrew Carnegie http://bit.ly/aoHXQN
- Rob DianaLosing Andrew Carnegie
- Chris BroganLosing Andrew Carnegie
- Ted LouieLosing Andrew Carnegie http://goo.gl/KAm8
- Ryan SingerLosing Andrew Carnegie
- Ryan Singer
Paul Jaye beautifully sheds some grass from his 1938 Alta after losing control in the historic Madgwick corner at the 2009 Goodwood Revival. [Photo Credit: markcann1 via fuckyeahcarburetors]
Filed under: Fun, Photo, Windows
Windows 7 Spring theme adds fresh, seasonal eye candy to your desktop originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Fun, Photo, Windows
Windows 7 Spring theme adds fresh, seasonal eye candy to your desktop originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Google has acquired Picnik, the Seattle-based photo-editing app that lives in the cloud. I always sort of thought of Picnik as Photoshop Elements that I could access from anywhere.
I’m a bit surprised by this news, as I feel like I’ve seen Picnik everywhere in the last year, including BlogHer and CES. In fact, one of those recyclable shopping bags with a big Picnik logo is sitting right next to me.
My first thought when I heard Picnik was acquired by Google was, “What about Yahoo?” Picnik is integrated into Yahoo’s Flickr photo-sharing app, where it offers online photo editing inside the Flickr wrapper. I use it all the time, actually. So this is interesting cross-contamination between Google and Yahoo. Obviously Google is hoping to really ramp up Picasa, and as Picasa shares so seamlessly with the other Google tools, this makes sense. If everyone I know (and several years worth of photos) wasn’t already on Flickr, I’d probably move to Picasa.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Picnik blog post on the matter sounds more happy than sad.
What does this mean for Picnik? It means we can think BIG. Google processes petabytes of data every day, and with their worldwide infrastructure and world-class team, it is truly the best home we could have found. Under the Google roof we’ll reach more people than ever before, impacting more lives and making more photos more awesome.
What does this mean for you Picnikers? Nothing is changing right away, but Picnik now has more potential than ever before. The team that built Picnik from the grass up will continue making advanced and powerful photo-editing easier, more intuitive and more fun, so stay tuned to hear about all the cool new stuff we’re working on.
The Official Google blog also reiterates that nothing is changing. In particular, they address the Yahoo/Flickr question without mentioning it by name, saying that they’ll support “all existing Picnik partners.”
We’re not announcing any significant changes to Picnik today, though we’ll be working hard on integration and new features. As well, we’d like to continue supporting all existing Picnik partners so that users will continue to be able to add their photos from other photo sharing sites, make edits in the cloud and then save and share to all relevant networks.
__
Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
3G.co.uk has a cool embed from YouTube, of an Orange UK rep giving the Samsung Solid Extreme B2100 a bit of a roughing up. Now I say ‘bit’ of a roughing up, because I don’t really think they went that hard on the device! Basically on the video you can see the Samsung device going in to some puddles, being thrown on grass repeatedly, and then finally being dropped in a glass of water.
Is that proper roughing up? I’m not sure – the kind of tests I would have in mind would involve pliers, hammers, and circular saws 
Anyway, the video is embedded below also, so you can take a look – and if you have any better ideas for tests, please leave us a comment – we’ll see if we can procure a Samsung device and do a ‘Round 2′ of testing!
[Via: 3G.co.uk]
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A recent survey by the Conference Board finds that only 45 percent of employed Americans are satisfied with their jobs. Most of those plan to look for something new once the current unpleasantness is done -- presumably because everything will be red roses and caramel mochaccinos in the new workplace.
Bad idea. Whenever someone changes jobs in order to run from a situation, as opposed to going TO an opportunity, it's pretty much inevitable that the issues will follow, nipping at their heels. Within six months, that person will be hating the new employer just as much.
It's important for workers to stop thinking the grass is greener in the next pasture. The answer is not to polish up the résumé and leap into another workplace, but to help build a more positive workplace so you can love the one you're with.
Employee engagement is about more than good feelings. A landmark 2006 study by the Gallup Management Journal estimated that a typical organization loses $3,400 in productivity for every $10,000 of payroll due to disengaged employees. So while bottom-line troubles are often said to fuel disengagement, it's really the other way around.
I can honestly say that I've loved every job I've ever had. Notice I didn't say I loved every job equally, or that I loved every job completely. That's just not gonna happen. But I can honestly say that I have loved them all.
It's not that I've been especially lucky. I simply realized early on that loving your job is a DECISION. There were some jobs that better fit with my skills and values, but regardless of where I was, I always found things to celebrate and be joyful about.
It's like a marriage. Anyone who has been married more than a day knows that there are delightful, wonderful things about your spouse -- as well as a few areas for improvement. (Look in the mirror and realize that your spouse can say the same.) So where do you put your focus? When we focus on the positives, the delightfuls and the wonderfuls, our marriage works much, much better.
If on the other hand we focus on all of those things that aren't so hot, we'll start accumulating baggage, bit by bit, until the marriage is crushed under the weight of it. Happens all the time.
The same is true for the marriage of employee and employer. No employer ever hires the perfect human being -- but how would you like it if your employer chose to focus relentlessly on your imperfections? Likewise, an employee marinating in grievances about the employer will make him or herself miserable -- a misery that spreads quickly to everyone around, taking engagement AND productivity down with it.
So do you want to focus on the problems of your current position, or the positives? The choice is yours, but the happiness or misery that results from that choice will be shared by everyone around you. Recognize that your own job satisfaction is a decision -- then decide well.
The video above shows off the fancy-pants landing system in the new F-35 Lighting II. Notice the massive hatch just behind the cockpit that helps slow the aircraft down for shorter runways. Of course if that doesn’t work, there’s always the vertical-landing mode on some models where it really could land in your front yard assuming you don’t mind your grass getting burned to hell from the hot gases and whatnot.
Here in Texas, we are more brown than green. I say that because all the grass is usually pretty dead. It’s hot here. But here in Austin, saving the environment is a pretty big deal, as well. But our efforts — mighty as they may be — are nothing in comparison with the tree-hugging liberalism of Hollywood. Or so you might think. In the new documentary Greenlit, director Miranda Bailey explores the world of “green” or eco-friendly filmmaking and how it works (or doesn’t work) in the real world. It focuses on the production of a film called The River Why, starring Friday Night Lights’ Zach Gilford, a production that set out to be green. Oh, the nature of intent…
For your viewing pleasure, I’ve assembled the film’s official synopsis and festival trailer. There is more information to be had over at the film’s official website, Greenlit.org. Check it out. It looks like a lot of fun.
Synopsis:
Movie people are legendarily liberal and left leaning, particularly when it comes to the environment. Greenlit puts their commitment to the test as filmmaker Miranda Bailey (executive producer of The Squid and the Whale) follows the production of The River Why, starring Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights) as it attempts to keep an environmentally friendly set thanks to the supervision of a “green” consultant. What starts off with great enthusiasm quickly devolves in this insightful and hilarious film.
Trailer:
Mark Upfield - www.MUphotographic.com
In short, bracketing is taking the same photo more than once using different settings for different exposures. Why would you do this? Say you’re photographing a mountain landscape. The grass would require one setting to be properly exposed, the mountains would require another and the sky yet another. But you can only choose one setting for one photo. Shoot! Now what? Try bracketing!
If you know about exposure, you’ll know the different ways to adjust your camera settings to manipulate your exposure. One is to change the aperture, another is the shutter speed and the third is ISO.
What I’ve just suggested poses a problem. How are you going to take three different photos exactly the same if you’re moving your camera to change your settings? A tripod? Yea, but what if it’s your kids on the beach and you want to bracket to get your kids, the sand, the sea and the sky all exposed properly? Your DSLR has the answer!
Automatic Exposure Bracketing is a function most DSLRs have to take three photos with only one click of the shutter, each in different exposures. The result will be one photo a bit too bright, one just right (depending on which part you’re looking to expose properly) and one a bit darker.
You will have to consult your camera’s manual (or just Google it exe: “AEB Canon 7D”) to discover how to access this function.
So now you have three of the same photo. What do you do with it? Well, you may just discover that one of them was just right even though it wasn’t the settings you would have normally used and you’re thankful that you used AEB to help you out. Another way is to do something like in this tutorial for PS where the author shows you how to combine more than one photo to use the best bits from each one to create a perfectly exposed shot. Btw – for us PSE users, a little tweaking of the method will be required since we don’t have layer masks but that’s really not a problem here.
Another method for using bracketed images is called ‘exposure fusing‘ . It’s really unfortunate that this is such a new technique that there isn’t yet a very easy way of doing it but keep your eye out because I think it’s going to be big news very soon.
A very popular method for blending bracketed photos is called HDR and it’s all the rage. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and it’s purpose is to take an image where there are extreme lights and extreme darks and properly blend the two together to create an image with a…well…high dynamic range! But HDR doesn’t come without a bit of controversy. There’s a bigger battle over whether HDR is good or bad than the argument over Canon vs. Nikon. Why the controversy? Well, mostly (and simply) because many people who practise HDR overdo it to create images which are quickly identifiable as HDR images and many photographers judge that this is a cheap trick.
Sure, lots of HDR is ‘overdone’ and bizarre, but if that’s the photographer’s vision and goal, then it doesn’t matter. I feel very strongly that photography can only be liked or disliked but cannot be judged in the ways people try to judge it.
The most popular way to combine three or more bracketed images in the HDR style is a cheap program called Photomatix and this tutorial will show you more about how to do it.
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
Bracketing – What Is It and What to do with the Images?
"In short, bracketing is taking the same photo more than once using different settings for different exposures. Why would you do this? Say you’re photographing a mountain landscape. The grass would require one setting to be properly exposed, the mountains would require another and the sky yet another. But you can only choose one setting for one photo. Shoot! Now what? Try bracketing!"
- Kol Tregaskes
Small flat-dwellers are accustomed to having one object perform two functions (my coffee table also stores bed linen, for example), but I've never seen a lamp become a garden.
While you can't grow a crop of tomatoes in Marko Vuckovi's Grass Lamp, the grass will flourish under the lamp's light and remind you the grass is always green—in a country house. [Yanko Design]
The grass lamp is an innovative concept that has been designed to enhance the décor of a home interior with natural elements, aiming to bring warmth and uniqueness in the user’s homes. The concept incorporates a part of nature right inside the house designed to be placed on the wall to represent a modern and eco-friendly aesthetic of the home interior. Aside from helping the grass to be grown on the lamp, it discretely lightens the room which lets the user to directly connect with the nature. Thin and light PVC plastic has been used to make the lamp with reserved inside space for the soil, and also features water container and areas to be lightened with great functionality.
Designer : Marko Vuckovic
Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Videos
Continue reading Video: Icelandic Hillclimbing at its finest
Video: Icelandic Hillclimbing at its finest originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Those scientist types have been very active of late, between making ethanol fuel from orange peel and now tree-derived sugar being used to make plastic.
The latter project is being worked on at the Imperial College of London, and unlike plastic made from corn it's looking like these tree and grass-derived molecules actually biodegrade faster and are better for the environment.
In the next five years we should be seeing plastic made from sugar on the market—whether it's the work of this particular project or someone else, it'll still benefit everyone. You'd be right in having doubts over how much more expensive it would be to produce, but at least it'd use less energy, and hopefully over time become cheaper the more it's adopted. [Telegraph]
