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biscuitfever11 writes "Just two months ago it seemed that Bletchley Park, the home of Station X, Britain's secret code-breaking base during the War, was doomed as the codebreakers' huts rotted and the site fell into disrepair. But today Britain's Lottery Fund is set to step in with a grant to rescue the ailing heritage site. (There was an earlier story on ZDNet.)"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hello folks! It looks like 3D CG community became more active lately. So we’re fasten our eyes on best of the best awesome 3D digital landscapes created by amateur and professional 3D artists. Let’s go!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Ready to have your gray matter softly stroked? Perhaps you should take a trip to BMW's recently opened museum in Munich, where a kinetic sculpture comprising 714 metallic balls suspended in air will soothe your weary mind. It's one of those things that's better seen than described, but if you can imagine a wave of undulating orbs that appear to weightlessly float, you'll start to get the idea. Can't afford the flight? Check out the video -- which features some serious easy listening jams -- after the break and see the installation in action.

[Via BMWCCA]

Continue reading The BMW Museum's kinetic sculpture takes your brain to another dimension

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آمستردام شهر بزرگی نيست. از اين طرفش تا آن طرفش را گز کني، چندان وقتت را نمی​گيرد. شايد ديدنی​تر از خود شهر، توريست​هايش باشند.

سيستم حمل و نقل عمومی شهر خيلی کارت را راحت می​کند، اما بايد ياد بگيری که چی به چی است.

دوچرخه که داشته باشی، خیالت راحت است، اما تا وقتی آداب دوچرخه​سواری را بیاموزی، بهتر است دقت کنی که اوضاع چگونه است. خیلی از دوچرخه​های اینجا ترمزشان پدالی است و دسته ترمز روی دسته دوچرخه نیست. پس اگر عادت نداری، بپا نزنی به بچه مردم.

تا دلت بخواهد بوی دود می​آید. دیروز چند جا دیدم جوانان عزیز زیر آفتاب نشسته​اند و حال می​کنند...

رستوران عرب و ترک در اینجا فراوان است. جماعتی که فقط گوشت حلال می​خورند، اینجا مشکلی نخواهند داشت.

هوا امسال بدک نیست و خنک​تر از دوسال پیش است، دو سال پیش چند روزی که اینجا بودم واقعا رفت روی اعصابم.

دیدن پیراهن تیم ملی هلند در مغازه​هایی که اجناس یادگاری شهر را می​فروشند، اندکی دلگیرم کرد! هلند! تو چه کار داشتی به خوش آمدن من؟ چرا باختی به این روس​های نابکار؟

اینجا هوا واقعا دیر تاریک می​شود. خیلی دیر.

آدم قد بلند اینجا زیاد پیدا می​شود.

هنوز فرصت نکرده​ام بروم به مرکز مهم شهر، خیابان چراغ قرمز سر بزنم. بدبختی اینجاست که نمی​توانی عکس بیاندازی. شاید برای تمرین طراحی با خودم کاغذ و قلم ببرم.

بعضی چیزها اینجا ارزان​تر از کانادا است، از جمله یک نوع آب​میوه و آداپتور لپ​تاپ!

Simon Wright writes "As a website that is featured heavily in many Google Australia search results, Whirlpool (Australia's largest technology forum) has been particularly affected by AVG's LinkScanner. We've seen a traffic increase as much as 12 hits per second from these bots. So we've actively and loudly campaigned against this move by AVG, encouraging all users of AVG 8.0 to uninstall the product. The discussion starts here. And AVG's backing down is posted here." From that URL:"'As promised, I am letting you know that the latest update for AVG Free edition has addressed and rectified the issue that [Whirlpool] have brought to our attention. This update has now been released to users and has also been built into the latest installation package for AVG Free.' — Peter Cameron, Managing Director, AVG Australia."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

اين دوست عزيز ما، مرتضي، يکی از بی​ادعاترين بر و بچه​های قديمی تورنتو است. خودش و همسر نازنينش در اين چند سال بارها و بارها اميد از دست رفته مرا بازگردانده​اند. آن روی که می​آمدم به اين طرف دنيا، مری با وجود فاصله زياد از فردوگاه، دلش نيامد تنهايم بگذارد.

"مري"جان، جاي هر دوی شما اينجا خالی است.

Filed under: Gaming

According to the reader who sent this our way, this candy dispenser looks "exactly" like a Wiimote, except it fires candy out of the spot where the IR transmitter should be. Apparently the instructions suggest that you "Do not aim at face," so... it's kind of like the real thing.

[Thanks, Timothy]

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Filed under: Gaming

According to the reader who sent this our way, this candy dispenser looks "exactly" like a Wiimote, except it fires candy out of the spot where the IR transmitter should be. Apparently the instructions suggest that you "Do not aim at face," so... it's kind of like the real thing.

[Thanks, Timothy]

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Voicemail is dead. Please tell everyone so they’ll stop using it. When I first started out in the real world in the mid-nineties voicemail was an important productivity tool. But now an increasing number of people are just plain avoiding voicemail. It takes much longer to listen to a message than read it.

It's all out there: free cell-phone headsets, help getting refunds from big-name retailers, and, of course, cell phones making popcorn.

Using polymorph plastic, some curtain rods, electric screwdrivers, motors, and a whole lot of mad-scientist creativity, an Xrobots hobbyist created this organic-looking robot base. By using wooden sockets and curtain rings as hip joints, the designer is clearly going for a human-like creature of doom here. Knee joints are kept moving with four moto

The nonprofit agency (ICANN) in charge of the Internet's addresses recently lost track of its own.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Israeli researchers have developed an electronic ear to coach vibrato technique. Until now, the quality of a vibrato — the pulsating change of pitch in a singer's voice — could only be judged by voice experts. Now, a Tel Aviv University research team 'has successfully managed to train a computer to rate vibrato quality, and has created an application based on biofeedback to help singers improve their technique.' Interestingly, this research could be used for other applications, such as improving automated help centers, where computers could be trained 'to recognize a range of different emotions, such as anger and nervousness.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

تولدت مبارک!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds

This won't come as a massive surprise to most, but author Nick Hornby isn't so into e-books. After walking into a British Borders book store to find the £399 ($790) Iliad for sale next to some £4 paperbacks, he poo-poo'd the platform in a guest column on the Penguin Blog. So here we have a book author blogging on a book publisher's site about the downfalls of a technology that could supplant his industry. To be fair, he does make some salient points about the unlikelihood that e-books will replace print in the same way iPods have undermined CD sales. He points out that people, on average, only buy seven books a year compared to the number of CDs they used to buy. In addition, book readers just like books and tend to be suspicious of new technology. Finally, he goes back to the iPod: the popularity of portable entertainment devices, what with their TV shows, games, movies, and other fancy schmancy doohickeys will continue to make the notion of reading a book -- even in electronic format -- not so tempting.

[Via Shiny Shiny]

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The movie "Wall-E," a futuristic tale of a trash-compacting robot, has become a money-making machine at the box office. Here are some key components of robotics:

Filed under: Features, TUAW Business, Weekend Review

Welcome to the latest installment of TUAW's best of the week, where we gather up our favorite posts for your easy clicking enjoyment. Next week will undoubtedly be a big week for Apple fans as the iPhone 3G will be released in the US and other countries on July 11th.

Me.com email addresses online?
Most .Mac users received a big surprise this week as their username@me.com addresses suddenly started forwarding to their username@mac.com address. We can safely bet that MobileMe will be released in the very near future. Here's to hoping it's a little more stable than .Mac.

Apple Notebook Shipments Skyrocket 61%
We can only guess that this is due to recent Mac sightings in movies.

Happy Birthday, iPhone
Join us in singing a round of "Happy Birthday." Oh wait, that's copyrighted?Oh well, I guess we can sing it TUAW style ... "Happy Happy Birthday, it's all the same to you, Happy Happy Birthday, get over it there's a new one coming soon."

10.5.4 is in Software Update Now!
Early this week, the much awaited 10.5.4 update became available for download. Oddly enough, it did not boast any new "visible features." It also didn't boast any mention of MobileMe.

AT&T posts iPhone 3G information
Join Christina as she tries to go insane with all of the iPhone information that Apple/AT&T gave us this week.

.Mac Bookmark webaccess going away July 6th
Be sure to backup by July 6th, or the bookmarks get it!

Mac market share nears 8%; Safari tops 6.3%
Are we finally on the map? Oh well, at least we still have the iPhone launch to look forward to.

iTunes: Free Tuesday
Get some free tunes.

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soldeed writes "Over at the Virgin Galactic press site, there are new pictures of both White Knight Two and SpaceShip 2 during construction for media use. After seeing them, I can't help but wonder; Gee, what's in the box?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.