Technabob » canada

Buyers Sold Clay Instead of iPads

Conner Flynn — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:00:43 +0000

How’d you like to plunk down $500 or more for a brand new iPad 2 to find out that you just bought yourself a box filled with clay? Apparently, at least ten customers were sold bogus boxes containing clay instead of iPads over the holidays from several Canadian electronic stores. The boxes appeared to be sealed iPad 2s, but they just contained slabs of clay instead of tablets.

The thought is the scammers purchased the iPads and replaced the tablets with a block of clay weighing the same as the iPad. Then they rewrapped the iPad in retail-grade cellophane and returned them to the store. Then the retailers returned the units to the shelves. Most stores log the customer’s ID on large returns, so they would have had to be clever about that to not get caught. Best Buy, Apple and Future Shop are investigating the situation. Hopefully this won’t happen to you. Maybe someday they’ll have to start x-raying high-priced items when they get returned to prevent this.

This wouldn’t be the first (or last) fake iPad scam – a while back, a woman was sold a wooden iPad for the low, low price of $180. However, that bait-and-switch didn’t happen at a legitimate retailer.

[via TechCrunch]

iPad Used as Passport to Cross US Border

Range — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:00:33 +0000

While the TSA and INS aren’t supposed to let you into the US without a real passport, that didn’t stop a Canadian man from using his iPad as a substitute for his passport, which he had forgotten at home. Border crossings require passports these days, but thanks to a bit of holiday spirit, he managed to get himself into the US.

I doubt that this will become a common practice, but Martin Reisch managed to get into the US using his iPad. He had a scan of his passport on his iPad, and he had forgotten his real one at home, which was two hours away. He was delivering some gifts for the kids of a friend. After a few minutes of deliberation, the border officer gave him permission to enter the US. He was also allowed to leave the US with the same iPad passport.

I guess if the barcode is scannable, then it could be possible that this might become more a more frequent occurrence, but without the security measures built into a physical passport, it would be pretty easy to doctor a digital image of one. It makes you wonder what might happen if passports someday become entirely digital. Just swipe your phone or tablet, and go through.

[via Ubergizmo]

Star Wars Identities: Darth Vader Does Rorschach

Range — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:00:07 +0000

There’s a new exhibition featuring some pretty interesting Star Wars stuff coming to Canada in 2012. It’s called Star Wars: Identities. You will apparently get to know the characters of the Star Wars saga “on a whole new level”. Whatever that may mean, the poster and teaser trailer they released sure are compelling.

At the show, you’ll find costumes, models, and artwork from the movies. The exhibition is supposed to provide a “complete” interactive immersion into the world of Star Wars. It will focus on the characters of Luke and Anakin Skywalker and explore three themes: the origins of the characters, the influences that shaped them, and the choices they made during their lives.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The exhibition starts at the Montreal Science Center on April 19th through September 16th, 2012. It will be at the TELUS World of Science in Edmonton starting on October 27th, 2012 through April 1st, 2013.

[via Trends Now]

New Airships to Hit Canada: A Bit of Fringe Up North

Range — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:45:05 +0000

I’ve always enjoyed airships. They’ve been featured prominently in Fringe, in the other universe. It’s a shame that there aren’t more around, but that might not be for long. Hybrid Air Vehicles will be making some futuristic giant blimps to supply remote communities in the Northern parts of Canada.

A fleet of these blimps will be made for Discovery Air Innovations. At a cost of $40 million each, they won’t be cheap. The blimps use a mix of non-flammable helium and air to fly, and their design makes for a soft landing pretty much anywhere. They’ll be able to haul up to 50 tons of cargo each, so it should get pretty useful since the remote parts of the Great White North they plan on using these for have few roads and limited access for vehicles.

These airships will have a maximum speed of 115mph, so they aren’t slow by any means. Assuming the deal closes between the two companies in 2012, the first airships should arrive in 2014.

[CBC via Ubergizmo]

Imhotep Blows into New Brunswick, Canada

Hazel Chua — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:00:49 +0000

I’ve spent a fair share of my afternoons lying down on the grass and just staring at the clouds as they move gently across the sky, prodded along by the occasional breeze.

My mom used to make me identify animals and objects that the clouds formed during some of our lazy afternoons together. I’m sure you’ve had your own cloud naming moments way back when, too.

Animal clouds, food clouds, and random geometrically shaped clouds are a pretty common sight, but have you ever seen a real, un-live Imhotep cloud?

Okay, so this isn’t exactly Imhotep, but doesn’t it sort of look like an Egyptian pharaoh to you? With the narrow nose, sharp cheekbones, and sculpted forehead?

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The whole pre and post Imhotep-forming was captured on film, luckily, and as of writing, has garnered over six hundred thousand views on YouTube.

[via TechEBlog]

The Truth is In This Intersection

Lambert Varias — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:11:06 +0000

I want to believe that aliens live along these roads:

Considering X-Files shot its first five seasons in Canada, I wouldn’t be surprised if there actually was a connection between the names of these roads and the classic show. Here’s some proof by way of Google Maps for the Scullys out there. Note that there’s a Unicorn Avenue just to the West a few blocks. Good grief Canada, what are you keeping from us?

[Reddit via The Daily What via Geekologie]

Combine Collective Mac Keyboard Tray Will Give You Wood

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:00:03 +0000

I am not a Mac user. I had a MacBook once but I used Windows on it and eventually tired of messing with Boot Camp and sold the thing. I have never felt the desire to own a Mac desktop, because I like to roll my own custom computers. Combine Collective has a cool keyboard tray that makes me wish my peripherals would fit in the thing.

The tray is hand made from a chunk of black walnut wood in Canada. The hosers use water-based glue, solid and jointed wood, and food safe oil finishes to build the tray. You can get the things in three different versions depending on how much stuff is on your desk.

The largest of the trays will fit a Mac wireless keyboard, media remote, and the Magic Trackpad. That one will set you back $79 (CDN – appx. $77 USD). The next size holds only the wireless keyboard and trackpad and costs $74 (appx. $72 USD). The smallest holds the keyboard only and sells for $69 (appx. $67 USD).

Arduino Weather Clock Tells the Temperature, Not the Time

Range — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:58:10 +0000

This kind of reminds me of the Weasley clock that was in Harry Potter, but there’s actually more to it than just the time. It can actually show you what the weather is like outside.

I love how this display is retro and analog. You’d never expect a clock like this to show you the weather. What’s even more surprising is the technology that’s behind the clock. There’s actually a computer that drives this analog display!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Sean Carney built this display using an old clock and removed the mechanism. He replaced it with a mechanism controlled by an Arduino chipset, which checks the weather on the Environment Canada website, since he’s in Winnipeg. The Arduino checks up on the website every 15 minutes and updates the hands of the clock accordingly.

Check out the full project worklog over at his Sean’s blog.

[via Make:]

Yay for Art!: Cloaca No 5 Machine Literally Produces Pieces of Crap

Lambert Varias — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:40:54 +0000

The fifth version of world-renowned artist Wim Delvoye’s sculpture is now on exhibit at the Université du Québec à Montréal’s gallery up until Valentine’s Day. Why should we care? Because his sculpture is actually a machine. A machine that “reproduces the human digestive system, from mastication to excretion”. In other words, all this machine does is eat & poop.

Delvoye has dubbed his work “Cloaca”, after the excretory orifice of birds, reptiles and amphibians. The machine-sculpture is made of steel, rubber and glass. A team of technicians is needed to set up Cloaca, after which Designboom says, it is then fed twice a day with cafeteria leftovers. But on its first day at the gallery four artists actually prepared a three-course meal for Cloaca.

I don’t know how long it takes for Cloaca to digest its “food”, but I do know, thanks to numerous, high-quality images, that machine poop looks exactly the same as man poop. If you don’t want to see crap, DO NOT SCROLL DOWN.

Of course you scrolled down. How’s that burger now you curious cat? As you can see the crap is vacuum packed. Why? Why not? As you can also see, the Cloaca’s logo looks really familiar. I guess it’s in keeping with the inspiration behind the artwork: human consumption and the merchandising of today’s consumer culture. Delvoye said, “I wanted to make something that is absurdly unnecessary… I don’t think this biologically correct machine belongs in a science museum. I don’t have that ego. I’m not helping sick people. I’m practically useless in society.” Funny guy.

Do you know any human Cloacas? You might want to take them to the exhibit – again it’s on display at Galerie de l’UQAM until February 14 – or show them more of Cloaca N˚5 at Wim Delvoye’s website.

[via Likecool]

Venturer Shd7000: HD DVD on the Cheap

Technabob — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 17:12:03 +0000

With all the recent buzz about how Blu-ray is leading HD DVD in the high definition “format war,” there’s a new wildcard that could shake things up.

While Sony certainly has a leg up on the race with millions of PlayStation 3 consoles out there, one big road block to broad adoption of either high definition disc format is the high cost of standalone players. Most standalone Blu-ray players cost between $500 and $900 and most HD DVD players cost between $400 and $700. With prices that high, it might be a long time before the “great unwashed” dive into either format.

Now, a company from Canada, Venturer, is working on an Chinese-manufactured HD DVD player which could reach the market for under $200. The bargain basement Venturer SHD7000 certainly won’t have the build quality of $500+ players, but the price could be enough to convince the masses that it’s time to upgrade from plain old DVD.

[via Engadget HD]

Is That a Banana in Your Stratosphere, or Are You Just Glad to See Me?

Technabob — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:53:41 +0000

A French-Canadian artist is working on a plan to launch a gigantic banana-shaped blimp into orbit above the state of Texas.

The project proposes a 300-meter, helium filled banana floated skywards, to hover over the Lone Star state. Artist Cesar Saez claims to have raised tens of thousands of dollars towards his goal of $1 million that will be needed to launch his work, entitled Geostationary Banana Over Texas.

Why, you may ask, would you spend taxpayer dollars to launch a giant fruit into space? According to the artist, “Texas is as symbolic as the banana… The banana has a lot of symbolism: phallic, humour, and political, too.” If that’s his only criteria, why not launch a giant penis into space?

[via TechDigest]