Ulysse Sabbagh

But roads and highways alone don’t define the character of a place, and they aren’t always sufficient to help you get around. So Google Maps also integrates information such as walking paths, ferry lines, building outlines, park boundaries, university campuses and more—providing a richer, more comprehensive and more realistic experience for locals, visitors and armchair travelers alike.

Crashpad, a free service to find a roommate or an available room

Crashpad, a free service to find a roommate or an available room

www.gocrashpad.com

Cool idea, nice design. For now, it only works in the United States and specifically in the SF Bay Area, in NYC and in Boston. 

The world’s most and least corrupt countries, mapped. 

Common Physics Misconceptions (by minutephysics)

Another great video by Minute Physics. 

Common Physics Misconceptions (by minutephysics)

Another great video by Minute Physics. 

Rethinking the iPhone lockscreen

Rethinking the iPhone lockscreen

thetechblock.com/rethinkin…

Good ideas by Brent Caswell. The iPhone lockscreen desperately screams for an updated interface. Suggetions like these are welcome.  

Color photography of Paris in 1914.

Over the last decade, Google VP Vint Cerf teamed up with NASA to develop something called the Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN), an Internet that works in space. This month, they made the first successful test. 

Fast Company:

How does DTN differ from the Internet that enabled your computer to load this page? In simple terms, Cerf’s so-called Bundle Protocol tells machines to save incomplete data they’ve received, even if the transmission is disrupted by interference. DTN instructs recipient machines to save the bundles until they’re completely transmitted, no matter how long that takes. Then, the data packets are forwarded to the next recipient, in a system NASA calls “store-and-forward.” “[It’s] similar to a basketball player passing the ball down the court to other players nearer to the basket, who hold it as the team assembles to await the final pass to a player who has a clear shot at the goal,” explains Adrian Hooke, manager of NASA’s Space DTN project at NASA headquarters.

Over the last decade, Google VP Vint Cerf teamed up with NASA to develop something called the Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN), an Internet that works in space. This month, they made the first successful test. 

Fast Company:

How does DTN differ from the Internet that enabled your computer to load this page? In simple terms, Cerf’s so-called Bundle Protocol tells machines to save incomplete data they’ve received, even if the transmission is disrupted by interference. DTN instructs recipient machines to save the bundles until they’re completely transmitted, no matter how long that takes. Then, the data packets are forwarded to the next recipient, in a system NASA calls “store-and-forward.” “[It’s] similar to a basketball player passing the ball down the court to other players nearer to the basket, who hold it as the team assembles to await the final pass to a player who has a clear shot at the goal,” explains Adrian Hooke, manager of NASA’s Space DTN project at NASA headquarters.

Last fire-related post, promised.

This is called Matches a photo series that mixes matchsticks and fire, by Russian artist and photographer Stanislav Aristov. 

The WSJ met with Theresa Christy, a mathematician working for Otis, the elevator company. For some, elevators aren’t a big deal. For her, it’s life: 

As a mathematician steeped in the theories of vertical transportation at Otis Elevator Co., Ms. Christy, 55, has spent a quarter-century developing systems that make elevators run as perfectly as possible—which means getting most riders into a car in less than 20 seconds. “Traditionally, the wait time is the most important factor,” she says. “The thing people hate the most is waiting.”

And an interesting bit concerns how Japanese people ride elevators:

In Japan, riders immediately want to know which car will serve them—indicated by a light and the sound of a gong—even if the elevator won’t arrive for 30 seconds. That way, people can line up in front of the correct elevator.

Fascinating. 

The WSJ met with Theresa Christy, a mathematician working for Otis, the elevator company. For some, elevators aren’t a big deal. For her, it’s life: 

As a mathematician steeped in the theories of vertical transportation at Otis Elevator Co., Ms. Christy, 55, has spent a quarter-century developing systems that make elevators run as perfectly as possible—which means getting most riders into a car in less than 20 seconds. “Traditionally, the wait time is the most important factor,” she says. “The thing people hate the most is waiting.”

And an interesting bit concerns how Japanese people ride elevators:

In Japan, riders immediately want to know which car will serve them—indicated by a light and the sound of a gong—even if the elevator won’t arrive for 30 seconds. That way, people can line up in front of the correct elevator.

Fascinating. 

Swedish startup Memoto secured $550K via Kickstarter

Swedish startup Memoto secured $550K via Kickstarter

www.eu-startups.com/2012/12/s…

Cool news, report by EU-Startups (a nice blog covering startups in… the European Union). I talked about Memoto on Warston there, it’s basically a startup developing a camera to record your life.

Here’s a refreshing take on the war for the best restaurant recommendation app. It’s called Chefs Feed and it only shows recommendations of dishes and restaurant by a curated list of chefs:

There is no way for you or I to upload a dish photo or make a dish recommendation, and the Riveras like it that way. The only people who can recommend a dish are the 600 professional chefs that make up the Chefs Feed roster of curators. From the Riveras perspective, serious eaters want to know where Mario Batali (Babbo, Lupa) eats in New York and what Thomas Keller (French Laundry) eats in San Francisco — not the selections of some random dude with a smartphone and a few too many whiskey sours.