GeekNUZ

Foamy Masterpieces

Look closely at the froth on this cup of latte and you'll see something amazing.  The baristas at Flavours of Lakhoum cafe in Melbourne, Australia can apparently conjour up these foamy masterpieces in less than a minute.  Amazing.  Here's the address of the cafe if you're in the neighborhood.  Story via Cool Hunting.

Flavours of Lakhoum
175 Swan Street
Richmond VIC 3121
Melbourne, Australia

New iRiver W10 Looks KINDA Like iPhone

Check out iRiver's W10 portable digital player which was just debuted at CES 2007.  I haven't seen this shot of it but it's a bit reminiscent of Apple's iPhone from this angle - down to the virtual numeric keypad - but not as much as Meizu's upcoming M8 is.  That is just pure outright...flattery. 

Water Rug Makes A Splash In Your Living Room

I love this "water rug" by artist/designer Mark Beam.  It's really beautiful and fun.  Seen at MoCo Loco.  Official site: MarkBeam.com.  Also at MoCo Loco is this interesting tably by Victor Vetterlein.  Designed to be an art piece for your entry way, it has a sphere where you can throw in your keys, coins, etc.  A orange glow illuminates the storage sphere as well as projecting a beam up to the ceiling.  Nice.

Review: Jive Talk For iPhone Gets Your IM On

I've been using Jive Talk mobile messenger for iPhone now for almost two weeks so it's time for a review.  First of all the good stuff: It's got a nice looking user interface which displays all your accounts, active conversations, and buddies who are signed on.  It even denotes the IM service your buddies are on by way of small icons, ie for AIM, Gmail, MSN, Yahoo.  Initiating a chat session is simple - just touch the name of buddy you wish to chat with and a blank conversation window is started for you.  Multiple conversations require you to toggle back and forth between windows, but Jive Talk alerts you with a transparent message bubble when you receive an incoming IM, at which time you can opt to stay in your current window or go to the window with the newest message.  All conversations look like Apple iChat sessions complete with bubbles - just no sound effects, yet.  You can chat in vertical or landscape mode and the virtual keyboard adjusts itself accordingly.

The great thing about the program is that you are always signed on, until your phone goes into sleep mode, at which time you lose the EDGE connection.  When you come out of sleep mode and go back to your Jive Talk session, it will automatically establish a connection for you and sign on to the accounts you were previously using.  I've found that with even moderate usage, the program doesn't drain that much of your battery.  As well, if you are an AIM user, you can be simultaneously signed on via your home computer and iPhone.  I'm not sure about MSN.  I use MSN for OS X which kicks me off my home computer session whenever I'm on the iPhone.

Now for some areas that could use some improvement.  One thing that I find annoying is the constant shifting up and down of the conversation window when the virtual keyboard appears and disappears.  I'm wondering if it would be possible to use a transparent virtual keyboard so as to not obscure what you're trying to type?  Who knows, there may not be a good solution for this.  Also, when shifting into landscape mode, the keyboard takes up more than half the screen field!  This makes it difficult to see the entirety of the message you are typing.  Aside from that there are a few visual glitches that arise when the virtual keyboard is displayed/hidden which should be fixed eventually.

Overall this is a GREAT chat solution for the iPhone - even in it's alpha state.  The program feels complete in terms of its functionality and works very well.  It also looks very slick.  I commend the people at Jive Talk for making this effort, and it is definitely worthwhile for all iPhone users to check out!

Google To Dump Stale Cookies

Google recently announced that their cookies will now automatically delete after two years, unless the same website is visited again, in which case any associated cookies will be "renewed" for another two years.  From the BBC:

Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, said in a statement: "After listening to feedback from our users and from privacy advocates, we've concluded that it would be a good thing for privacy to significantly shorten the lifetime of our cookies."

Of note, you can still dump your cookies whenever you want by visiting the preferences menu in your browser.

Rugby Player Finds Tooth Stuck In Head

Ben Czislowski, an Australian rugby player, required stitches this past April after butting heads with another player, Matt Austin, during a game.  Little did Czislowski know that one of the few teeth lost by Austin was stitched up inside his head, which later lead to an eye infection as well as persistent shooting pains.  A doctor later discovered the source of his headaches - the embedded tooth.  There is precedence for tooth embedment, however.  In 2004 another player had an opponent's tooth removed from his head, and in 2002 another player's arm was found to be so badly infected that amputation was considered until an embedded tooth was found to be lodged inside.  Yuck.  Via BBC Sports.

iPhone v1.0 a la AppleHound

AppleHound has released their comprehensive list of iPhone v1.0 bugs found after more than 40 hours of tinkering with the iPhone.  You probably won't encounter some of these bugs during everyday use, since OS X on the iPhone is very stable.  From their website:

Some of the steps required to reproduce unexpected results are obscure and may not occur during normal usage...While we interpret the following items as bugs, it is possible that the results are in line with the Apple iPhone User Interface design specifications.

Read the entire list of "bugs" here via AppleHound.

iPod Wearing Jogger Struck By Lightning

A 37-year-old man in Vancouver, BC suffered second degree burns to his left leg, chest, and external ears when a nearby tree he was passing got struck by lightning, which was subsequently transferred to him.  From the New England Journal of Medicine:

Although people may be struck directly by lightning, it is more common for the lightning to jump to a person from a nearby object, such as a tree — a phenomenon known as a side flash. Opisthotonic muscle contraction may project the victim some distance, leading to further injury from blunt trauma. Because of the high resistance of skin, the lightning is often conducted over the outside of the body (an effect known as a flashover); however, sweat and metallic objects in contact with the skin can disrupt the flashover, leading to the internal flow of current. Although the use of a device such as an iPod may not increase the chances of being struck by lightning, in this case, the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient's head.

*By the way, an opisthotonic contraction is when your body is bowed forwards while your head and heels are bend backwards. Ouch.

Original article HERE. [Thanks to Andrew Schechtman]

Jackie Chan's XGT Energy Drink - Tea With A KICK!

Here's my weekly Asian food product seen at the local Asian market.  It's Jackie Chan's "XGT Energy," a green tea powder mix you pour into a bottle of water and BOOM it's a "healthy energy drink" infused with all the ginseng, taurine and B vitamins you need for a year.

One-fifth of World's Obese In China

Who knew?  Chinese officials are expressing great concerns over the growing number obese Chinese children - largely (no pun intended) due to inactivity.  In a 2006 report, the time period between 1985 and 2000 showed a 28-fold increase in childhood obesity in China.  Because of these concerns, the Ministry of Education has instituted a dance program beginning September 2007 which they hope will reduce the number of couch potatoes in the country.  Maybe they could use some of Jackie Chan's XGT Energy. Full story via BBC.