off-topic

Nobody wants to buy Steve Wozniak's old house

After a several months-long lull, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's old house is back on the market.

The six bedroom, seven bathroom, Los Gatos, Calif., home, which Wozniak built in 1986 though sold off years ago, is back on sale for slightly lower $4.395 million. It's even having an open house this weekend, notes the house's real estate agent over at the San Francisco Chronicle, which spotted the listing on real estate site Redfin.

This is the latest sale attempt of the house, which last changed hands in 2009. Records show that the house originally sold back … Read more

Dutchman flies like a bird with homemade wings?

Editors' note, March 22 at 1:14 p.m. PT: It seems the skeptics may have been right on this one. Gizmodo is now reporting that the purported birdman confessed on Dutch TV that this was indeed a hoax. Our original story follows, with some earlier updates.

If Red Bull doesn't actually give you wings, maybe this guy can.

Dutch mechanical engineer Jarno Smeets recently posted a video of what he says was his first successful flight with his homemade bird wings. Smeet's efforts take cloud computing to a (literally) whole new level, as the wings purportedly rely on an Android-powered HTC Wildfire S smartphone to process arm acceleration and compute the motor output.

The phone is connected to a microcontroller that is, in turn, connected to a Nintendo Wii Remote to measure acceleration and other flight parameters. … Read more

Pancake machine churns 200 flapjacks per hour

Think your coffee maker is the bleeding edge of food tech? Think again. ChefStack is out with what appears to be the world's first fully automatic countertop pancake-making machine.

According to the manufacturer, the patented process cooks hot, fresh pancakes in a matter of seconds. From an all-natural batter, 97 percent fat-free pancakes emerge at a rate of up to 200 per hour.

While geared toward convenience stores and cafeterias, I like to think of this as the next step in the evolution of the opening sequence of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure where breakfast is served through an incredible … Read more

Injury time-out

I managed to fracture some bone in my hand and sprain my right thumb while performing a 360 backside-air at the Open Source Goat Rodeo.

Maybe next year, you can watch me tumble down the mountain.

Blog, Interrupted...no typing for a few days.

The weirdest anime series ever

A new animated series called "Cat Sh*t One". On TV in Japan. Crazy.

Who's got the best jet lag story?

I'm in London this week and suffering a truly horrendous case of jet lag. I'm not looking for sympathy, but few topics bring travelers together as much as the trials and travails of being on the road.

So, since I have some free time (I'm awake, and it's 5 a.m. here), I figured that I would torture my friends to see who has the best or worst jet lag story. Not a travel nightmare, but the aftermath of rapidly changing several time zones. Here are a few of my personal examples.

Maui/San Francisco/London … Read more

Off-topic: Japanese Zoo Training Drill With Fake Rhino (video)

You can never be too prepared for a rhino attack. Even if it's fake.

Off-topic: Peter Gunn video

Here's a fantastic 1966 video of the Remo Four playing the Peter Gunn (aka Spy Hunter) theme to take your mind off of all of the depressing news these days.

Off-topic: Bad economy foils Japan's Roppongi Hills

If you're not familiar with Roppongi Hills, it's a giant development in Tokyo with high-end shops and housing. It's known for having lots of ex-pat bankers from Lehman, Goldman Sachs as locals and a bar/mating scene unlike anywhere else on earth.

But all is not well says the Times Online. The down economy and failing banks are dragging down the image of the area, despite a $4 billion developer investment.

It is Thursday night and Roppongi romance - or at least, the calculated brand of romance that used to be the currency in this Tokyo bar … Read more