telecommuting
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Man builds machine to push phone buttons from half a world away (video)
If your ambition was to travel the world, and your job to push the buttons of three cellphones located in South Korea, you might go insane. That seems to be what happened to Mok Young Bak, at least, when he invented the crazy contraption depicted in the video above. Called the Caduceus, it's a telepresence machine that does just one thing -- it controls every single button on each of those three phones with a series of servo motors and actuator cables, and moves a pendulum-like webcam so he can clearly see each screen from wherever he happens to be. That way, he can enjoy tourism while leaving his livelihood within reach, at least so long as concerned neighbors don't assume the terrible din is, say, a killer robot assembly line, and insist that police investigate.
Are morning commuters using iPhones to listen to NPR?
Although your car has a fully-capable AM radio, and you're an NPR listener, do you find yourself jacking your iPhone into your car stereo and listening to NPR through its app instead? New data released from NPR seems to indicate that's what a lot of people are opting to do. According to its data, NPR has noticed a rather significant spike in its iPhone app usage during typical morning commuter time. What makes that data so interesting -- at least to NPR -- is that, presumably, these people are in their cars. They're with radios capable of receiving AM FM signals and, therefore, NPR's programming over the airwaves. So why use the app? I say the data isn't so cut and dry. The sample they are seeing is only 8,000 people, which really isn't all that many when you consider there are many more people listening to NPR on a daily basis, overall. There's also this thing called telecommuting, so I wouldn't assume all of these people are in radio-equipped automobiles. There are also thousands of people who walk to work everyday and thousands more who simply don't work at all. If you're using the NPR app and have access to an AM FM radio, why are you using the app instead of the radio? Let us know in the comments. [via MacDailyNews]
Ernst & Young, Microsoft to use Home to hold virtual meetings
PlayStation Home will be host to a few virtual meetings operated by Ernst & Young to reduce carbon emissions. The hope is that a suitable online world will help eliminating the daily need to commute and meet in real-world offices. The project is being led by Dr. Nipan Maniar and Manish Malik from Portsmouth University and includes other participants, like Microsoft and Merill Lynch."Audio and video-conferencing solutions have emerged but the use of virtual worlds may offer the next evolution in overcoming the tyranny of distance - a more realistic and learning-enhanced environment," Andrew Mawson, managing director of Advanced Workplace Associates said.As bloggers, we certainly know the benefits of telecommuting. Who knows? Maybe in the future all of us will be able to work from home and log in to the office using our PlayStations.[Thanks, DirtyOFries!]
Microsoft's desktop-equipped mass transit bus is a boss' dream
Those 45 to 90 minutes you spend stuck in traffic each day, inhaling noxious fumes and watching your paycheck dwindle in the form of consumed gasoline, are about to get a lot more nightmarish should you choose to ride this. Though the origin of these images are unknown, we're assuming they were snapped somewhere in Asia (or the ninth circle of Hades); essentially, this here public transportation option enables riders to login via a connected PC and get to work before work technically begins. Of course, we've all ideas most riders just fire up Quake III and get a little LAN action going, but seriously, what kind of torturous mind thought this up? Ever heard of telecommuting?Update: Seems these buses are all about bringing technology to rural areas that might not otherwise have access. Killer!
