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Your next colored bracelet can detect environmental pollution
Turns out your collection of neon-colored silicone bracelets have a use beyond showing support for a fallen-from-grace cyclist's non-profit after all. The material can actually trap pollutants you might be exposed to during the course of your day, according to a study by Oregon State University. Specifically, OSU was looking for how present fire retardant chemicals were in the households of 92 pre-school children. What'd the researchers find? That somehow, over the course of a week, these kids were exposed to polybrominated diphenyl ethers that aren't being produced domestically anymore.
Get a glimpse of RIFT's Storm Legion in new video and Dimensions livestream
If you've wanted to get a good look at Storm Legion, you're in luck! With only one month left until RIFT's upcoming expansion launch, Trion Worlds is indulging fan curiosity with both a new video and a livestream. The video, however, is not just some brief sneak peak! For over 32 minutes, players are treated to a tour of new areas, questing, combat, and even a housing demonstration. The expansion more than triples the size of the world, and devs have filled that huge expanse with 11 new zones, seven new dungeons, three new raids, a new sliver, a new chronicle, new conquest maps, a new capitol city, and more. If the video doesn't answer all of your questions about the new housing system (which resembles world-building more than housing), be sure to check out the special livestream preview of the Dimensions system on Friday, October 19th at 5:30 p.m. EDT on RIFT's Twitch channel. [Source: Trion press release] [Thanks to everyone for the tips!]
Last call! Joystiq needs your Movember donations
Perhaps you've heard, but the Joystiq crew is gathering donations for Movember, which uses the power of moustaches to raise awareness and money for men's health issues like prostate cancer. Throughout November, brave editors have been growing and sporting moustaches, much to the chagrin of their friends and loved ones. As you may have noticed, today is the last day of November, meaning we're shaving these puppies off at the stroke of midnight. But wait! There's still time to send in donations, which go toward men's health programs and make Joystiq look good in the industry-wide gaming challenge. We've already raised nearly $2,000! Can you push us over the edge? Would a bizarre YouTube video help sweeten the deal? Fine. Just look up! Once you're done 'staching out, head over to Joystiq's Movember page and donate. Don't just do it for men's health, do it for our wives and girlfriends, who have endured a month of moustache-driven hardship.
Welcome to Movember, our Mo Bros and Sistas
As the days grow colder, so does the hair on many of our staff's faces grow longer. Such is the case with a sedentary group like us. So when we found out about a chance to combine our proclivity for facial hair growth with raising money for charities like LIVESTRONG and the Prostate Cancer Foundation, we simply couldn't resist. And thus: Movember. Today, we shave clean our faces, and prepare for the coming weeks of moustache growth, care, and coiffe. We hope that over the next 30 days, you'll join Team Joystiq's Movember group -- the "Joystiq Mo Brigade" -- and assist in our month-long effort to raise both awareness and funds for some great organizations. As the weeks go on, we'll be giving regular updates via Twitter and Facebook, and of course highlighting participants who go the extra mile. Will you be that extra mile goer? We hope! But hey, maybe it's kilometers where you live? That's okay, you can totally join as well (and be the extra kilometer goer, obviously). Donations are all handled through an easy website, so you won't have to handle any processing yourselves! Also, you get to grow a totally sweet moustache, which we heartily encourage you to share with us. Ladies are of course welcome as well, though the moustache growing part is entirely up to your discretion. Supporting your "Mo Bros" in their month of facial hair shame is well beyond adequate participation. On a final note, we'd like to point out that Team Joystiq is competing in a cross-game industry challenge particular to Movember, which includes press, developers, publishers, and lots of other folks. If donating for donations' sake just isn't enough, know this: donating will also assist in our continued domination. Excelsior!
Precious, the 'bike with a brain,' rides itself across the country -- with a little help from friends (video)
We hear so much complaining on a day-to-day basis that frankly we're not sure how we feel about a bicycle that has been taught to bemoan the weight of its rider or, indeed, the sweatiness of their palms. That's what we have with Precious, a Specialized cruiser given an array of sensors and circuitry, able to tell things like distance covered, temperature, and, yes, the perspiration of the sorry sucker astride the thing. All of this is reported on the Precious Twitter feed in... creative English that we're pretty sure has been enhanced a bit by human hands. It's a creation of Breakfast, who earlier made the iPad dirigible, and as it goes coast-to-coast is working to raise money for Livestrong. Precious is currently in Berea, KY, 832 miles into its journey and has raised $2713 toward its goal. You may not have a chance to ride Precious, but you can at least help to boost that dollar figure at the source link.
Make your own iPhone 4 case from a souvenir bracelet
If your touch is like a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to the iPhone 4's wireless signal, you've got three choices: hold it differently, spend US $30 on a Bumper, or take a pair of scissors to a Livestrong bracelet. The iPhone Guru discovered that the bracelets fit perfectly around the body of the iPhone 4. After using a pair of scissors to cut holes for the dock connector, the silent mode toggle, and the headphone jack, the band was slipped onto the phone and ready to go. The iPhone Guru reports that reception is "much improved" with the band in place. At 10 for $10, they're much cheaper than Apple's Bumpers, and your purchase supports cancer research to boot. Of course, any instance of this type of rubber wristband will probably work. Alternatively, check out these decals on Etsy -- three 3-packs for $9! Live strong, iPhone 4. Live strong! Thanks to everyone who sent this in
iPhone 4 gets a $1 alternative to pricey Bumpers
If you ask us, Apple should be giving away free bumpers, lollipops, and anything else it can think of to keep its otherwise loyal followers from revolting. But the Great Bitten One isn't doing any one of those things, and most of us are stuck either having to pony up $30 for the official salvation from self-inflicted signal harm or looking out to the grey markets. Entering this morose situation with a bit of ingenuity is Oliver Nelson, who alerts us to the fact that rubber wristbands of the sort your favorite cyclist wears are apparently an almost perfect fit when stretched around the 4's antennae. He advises that a 1.125-inch long by 0.125-inch wide incision (into the unstretched band) is necessary to keep the 30-pin port and speakers open, but otherwise it seems like a pretty effortless and dirt cheap way to avoid all this drama.
Sony Dash given ability to stream TVs and movies from Netflix, new lease on life
We were filled with excitement the moment Sony took the wraps off of its Dash personal internet viewer back at CES, but after learning that this was less of a tablet and more a sophisticated widget machine for in-home use, our joviality was understandably squashed. Today, Sony has given the doubters a reason to perk back up and pay attention, as the April-bound device will ship with the ability to stream Watch Instantly content from Netflix. As if that wasn't enough, Demand Media will also be offering Dash-tailored portals to content from eHow, Golflink and Livestrong.com, and it'll have no issues streaming "online music videos, television, or film content on-demand" to the 7-inch touchpanel. Still not convinced that this thing is worth $199? It's just an external battery mod away from greatness, you know!
TUAW Fitness: An Apple a day update
About two weeks ago I pledged to lose weight using my iPhone, AppleTV and Mac. Well, I'm happy to report that I've lost a whopping 6 pounds since then using my iPhone 3GS. Below is a short list of the apps I used as well as a mini-review of each. LIVESTRONG This iPhone app has a great feature set for calorie, exercise and weight tracking, although it is not without its problems. Overall, it needs a little "spit and polish." The foods I logged often failed to save correctly when I initially entered them. Instead, I'd have to save them, then go back and edit them in order to adjust time of day, or servings eaten. It wasn't a huge deal, but calorie tracking should be quick and easy to encourage me to keep doing it. If every entry takes twice as long because of editing, well, I'm probably going to give up eventually. Which I did. In addition, the exercise trackers seem very skewed. LIVESTRONG tells me that a 2-hour bike ride burns about 1,600 calories, while Trailguru gives a much more conservative 750 for the same time and distance. When trying to lose weight, you should overestimate calorie input and underestimate calorie burning in my opinion. I learned pretty quickly to ignore however many calories it said I was burning.
