Shaun Tan is one of my favorite authors/illustrator. His beautiful book The Lost Thing has been animated and I must say that it looks wonderful.

Have a look at the trailer:

Here is a very cool look at a new augmented reality magazine. Using an iPhone and an app from Junaio you can add features to magazine photos like 3D, video, animation and pop out text.

via: Beyond the Beyond

Nuclear weapons and fuel are the greatest threats to our planet and all life on it. Here is a pointed reminder of the stupidity of the human race. In this piece Isao Hashimoto tracks nuclear tests over time showing the where, who and when of each event.

One of my favorite books of the year is out today in paperback. Small Miracles by Edward M. Lerner is a story of nano-technology gone awry.

A company is successful in  developing nano-bots able to isolate injuries and infections in the human body and then fix the problems. An early test is contaminated and then the nano-bots spread both inside the company and out.

Lerner is very convincing in his description of this near future technology. The events seem highly plausible and like most good science fiction there is an effortless discussion of the ethics of this new technology versus the high stakes risks.

Cool new toy and utilities

Apple Magic Trackpad

I love the multi-touch track pad on my Wife's MacBook. It turns mouse like actions upside down, sideways and inside out.  I love it so much that I bought her the Apple Magic Mouse. It is like the track pad but only in mouse form. Now you can take it one step further and get the Magic Trackpad to replace your mouse. No lasers, no balls and no buttons. Just a slab of beautiful aluminum.

Also new from Apple is their new battery charger. Batter Charger from Apple? Trust me, just read up on it and buy one for you and your Dad.

Microsoft Street Slide

No one likes to give Microsoft props anymore. It's a geek hipster tradition that whatever Microsoft puts out is uncool. That said, the demo for Street Slide has my saliva running. We will see if this comes to fruition or not but for now it just looks awesome.

Community Calendar with Google Apps and WordPress

The Walker Art Center has this blog and on it they do the strangest of things. They give away their secrets. They actually tell you how they build their beautiful websites. The blog is called New Media Initiatives. I would recommend you go to this site but I think you should just read all of their blogs. You really need to get a well rounded experience. In this post they go into great detail explaining how they mash-up Google Apps with WordPress to make their community oriented  Open Field site. While it is on your mind, go to the Walker and enjoy the activities of Open Field.

Today's Google Voice-mail transcription:

There are some good events going on over the next week

Tomorrow (Sat July, 10th) is Twin Cities Zinefest.
open 10 to 5pm. I will be going at 10am.

After Zinefest, (July 10)I will be watching the 3rd place World Cup game most likely at home (1:30pm). I could also be lured away by the offer of a pint or 3!

Sunday (July 11) is the World Cup final! I will be watching it at some swanky bar (1:30pm).

Thursday July 15th, 7pm at the Walker Art Center is
How to Disappear in America
This is a talk Evan Ratliff of Wired Magazine. He is a guy who tried to completely disappear without giving up technology. He challenged people to try to find him within 30 days. He was found on day 20. This is tied to the Walker's Talent Show exhibit. If you haven't seen it you should. It ends on August 15th.

Also the Walker Open Field is a very cool idea. The website is a great example of tying together open source tools.

enjoy.
Mountain Singers - Booth

• Facebook Privacy Scanner
  This handy Facebook scanner will look at your privacy settings and tell you how open or locked down your account is. They don't have the ability to look at any of your actual personal data so it is safe to use.
  (tags: facebook, security, privacy)
• This weeks comics
  My list has Scalped, DV8, American Vampire, and the Walking Dead
  (tags: comics, comicbooks)
• Rethinking the Text Book
  I have a 10 year old and am always interested in new techniques in teaching. I am really anti-worksheet and pro-project learning. This speaker at TED really seems to be on to something
  (tags: education, textbooks)
• Hack Factory Five Minutes of Fame!
  Looking for something inspiring. Go watch Twin Cities DIY community share their latest creations. Thursday May 20th. See link for details.
  (tags: TC Maker, Make, DIY, Ignite, Minneapolis, Hack Factory)
• Warrn Ellis's method of posting his links
  This is a test to see if I can post my favorite reads for each day as a WordPress entry.
  (tags: blogging, blog, Warren Ellis)