Centives

This is exactly as cool as it sounds. A pen that releases and instantly dries plastic, to allow 3D drawings in moments, the brainchild of Daniel Cowen:

• A couple of inventors got together to develop toys using 3D printing. One day the printer made a mistake, and the inventor grumbled ‘if only I could pick up the extruder and touch up my model’. An idea was born.
• The idea was put on kickstarter, and raised $2.34 million in pre-orders
• The pen is simple to use with no software involved. Plug it in and ‘sketch’ away
• Looking at the models that have been done, this isn’t going to be used as a replacement manufacturing technique for selling products. But what it might be is an easy way to demonstrate models or ideas at meetings, a really cool visual aid in presentations, or a way to fix breakages.
• Or, Daniel Cowen has been approached by a school for the blind wanting to use the pens to write in Braille.
• Reviewer Signe Brewster describes the pen as being ‘noisy, smelly and sometimes difficult to control. But it is simple and addicting to use’

The link here is to a video on Wired with Cowen talking about his invention, which is at the pre-order stage. Skip to (2:20) to see a demonstration of the pen. For the full article of Signe Brewster’s review over at Gigaom, click here

Source: Wired

A lot of hotels offer a ‘continental breakfast’. But what does this even mean? L.V. Anderson wrote:

• One of the meanings relates to the types of food being served. Traditional American breakfast cuisine includes heavy items such as pancakes, eggs, and meat. European visitors wanted lighter fare and thus were offered a ‘continental’ option.
• These days however you normally get things like fruit loops, bagels, and fruit at continental breakfasts – not particularly European food items.
• This is because continental has another meaning. Traditional American hotels expected their guests to eat all their meals at the hotel restaurant – the price of which was built into the room.
• People looking for a cheaper hotel experience and the freedom to eat where they wanted started the trend of a new “European” style where guests only paid for the room and no meals.
• A third hybrid style emerged called the continental breakfast. Here guests would eat breakfast at the hotel but would eat other meals elsewhere.
• These days ‘continental breakfast’ has taken on its own meaning. It usually denotes variety and some common items.

Read more about the sketch that shows the truth about continental breakfasts, the role that America’s agrarian roots played, and more over here.

Source: Slate

Your commute is going to make you fat, tired and alone writes Kim Bhasin:

• When one partner has a commute longer than 45 minutes couples are 40% more likely to get divorced.
• Higher vehicle mileage has a stronger correlation with higher levels of obesity than any other lifestyle factor.
• Every minute of a commute reduces the amount of sleep a person gets by 0.22 minutes.

Find out other ways that your commute will slowly sap your will to live over here.

Source: Business Insider

Elizabeth Olson wrote about the economics of hotels for athletes:

• The four major professional sport leagues spend ~$200 million a year on travel.
• About half of this – $100 million – is spent in hotels.
• The Marriott chain of hotels is estimated to command 40% of this market – more than anybody else.
• Hotels can also look forward to additional business from television crews and scouts eager to chat up the players.
• Hotels have to cater to special requests of course. Minibars must be locked lest players have a party the night before a game.
• One team requires a 9 p.m. snack of 150 degree bison steak with a crustless peanut butter and grape jelly wheat sandwich. The sandwich has to be pre-made, frozen, and then defrosted 30 minutes before being served.
• However the market is lucrative and hotels have set up dedicated teams that sell to sports teams.

We wonder if they’ve tried offering bubble bath concierges?

Read more about some of the odd requirements that hotels have to deal with, why the Superbowl is important to the industry, and more over here.

Source: The New York Times

Researchers are working to revolutionize orchestras through wearable computing devices such as Google Glass:

• In the future instead of looking at a sheet of music on a stand, members of an orchestra may wear augmented glasses that scroll the notes that they should be playing across the screen.
• The notes might even be animated or shaped differently to convey more information to the musician about how the note should be played.
• The conductor’s point of view could be live-streamed so that members of the group can see where the conductor is looking and which members are currently playing.
• There are still challenges such as the issue of video lag – which can throw off the timing of the entire orchestra.

Read more about how the technology would work, why some musicians could become seasick, and more over here.

Source: The Verge

Top Amazon reviewers get a lot of perks writes Lisa Chow:

• Amazon Vine is an invitation only program for Amazon’s top reviewers.
• Members of the program get a list of products at least once a month. They get to pick any two products and get them for free as long as they review the items within 30 days.
• The very top reviewers are often contacted by manufacturers directly and sent products.
• The items range from headphones that cost a few dollars to $1,000 spin bikes.
• There are some restrictions on the reviewers. They aren’t allowed to sell or give away the stuff to anybody else for one.

Find out who the top Amazon reviewer is, how he feels about the stuff he gets, and why experts think this means that Amazon reviews might be biased over here.

Source: NPR

The Economist wrote about the economics of being a modern-day pirate (unlike the one pictured above):

• The average (sea-faring) pirate makes between $30,000 and $75,000 a year in base salary.
• Special bonuses for those who are the first to board a ship, or for those who bring their own weapons or ladders can reach $10,000.
• There are also deductions. Qat – a narcotic plant that is commonly chewed – is provided on credit and is deducted from the final salary of a pirate. There are also deductions for bad behaviour which can reach $5,000.
• In fact the fines are so steep and the rules so often broken that many pirates end up in debt at the point of retirement.
• Those who do end up with cash spend it on machines that detect fake bank notes and, believe it or not, lawyers.
• Former pirates make their living by starting up consultancies that work with the victims of piracy, and by working as pirate negotiators.

Find out how much money is needed to invest in a pirate expedition, where it typically comes from, the interest rates that pirates have to deal with and much more over here.

Source: The Economist

Thanks to recent technological breakthroughs high-speed car chases may be a thing of the past writes Mike Riggs:

• StarChase allows cops to fire a specialized gun that launches miniature GPS modules that stick onto another vehicle.
• Instead of chasing a car that’s breaking the law, the office could just launch the projectile at the car, and then abandon the chase – and track their location.
• Suspects normally slow down once they realize they aren’t being tailed and since high-speed chases are dangerous for pedestrians and other vehicles the device ensures a safer end to encounters with rogue drivers.
• The system is pricey. The ‘gun’ costs $5,000 and the non-reusable GPS “bullets” cost $500 a pop.
• In one test only 25% of the projectiles successfully stuck onto another car meaning that preventing just one chase could cost several thousand dollars.
• However when compared to the costs of damages that high-speed chases normally result in, the system is still a bargain.

Read about the constitutional questions about the system, what the makers of the device have to say, what the FBI thinks, and where the system is being trialed over here.

Source: The Atlantic

In 2006 a team managed to drive from one end of the United States to the other in 31 hours and four minutes. A new team recently broke the record by making the run in under 29 hours. Doug DeMuro wrote about what it takes to drive across the United States in that kind of time:

• The car that was used for the most recent record-setting journey was modified to include additional gas tanks. This gave the team the ability to drive 800 miles (1,300 km) between gas stops.
• Additional equipment included GPS units that could track traffic and radar detectors to avoid the police as the team sped through America’s highways.
• A CB radio was used to pose as a trucker to convince other truckers to give way to the race car.
• Nutrition bars and energy drinks were a must.
• An additional passenger sat with the driver to spot police cars, calculate gas mileage and to ensure that everybody stayed awake.
• At times a ‘lead car’ was also used to drive several hours ahead at the speed limit to warn of any police or construction.
• Before embarking on the journey the team put their vehicle through a $9,000 “tune-up”.

Find out which car they used, the time they almost crashed, the close calls with the police, and much more over here.

Source: Jalopnik

Inflation is generally thought of as an evil phenomenon that eats away at the purchasing power of our earnings. Not so writes Steve Hargreaves:

• If the price of something goes up slower than the rate of inflation then its relative price has fallen. Since incomes generally rise along with inflation that means that the goods have become cheaper – even if people pay more for them.
• Thus the relative price of milk, television, and toys have actually fallen – even though we may be paying more for them in dollar terms.
• It’s also important to take into account advances in technology. The rise of the smartphone may make it seem like phones have gotten more expensive in recent years. However the flip-phones that used to cost hundreds of dollars in the 90s can now be bought online for pennies.
• Thus prices have fallen – even though we may pay more for the phones we purchase today.
• Falling prices aren’t just a result of China’s manufacturing boom. Better supply chain management and automation have led to a revolution similar to the one that agriculture went through last century which improved farm productivity.
• That’s not to say the price for everything has fallen. The price of services – from college tuition to medical care – has risen substantially. This is in part because it’s difficult to automate things like a college class or surgery.

The full article talks about other items that have become relatively cheaper and more expensive over time, those who believe that the prices of services will also fall, and more. Read it here.

Source: CNN Money