David Caputo is a mover AND a shaker.

“Print is dead” is becoming more of a business strategy than a turn of phrase these days. It seems that whenever there is a hiccup, or in this case an epileptic fit, in the economy the publishing industry usually takes a fair bit of damage. It’s a very precarious business and new technology is not only shaking the tightrope, it’s also cutting away the safety net. Of course there are a lot of good reasons that people will continue buying books over their electronic counterparts. The most common one that I hear is that “I just like having the book.”, and I agree. There is something about owning the physical object that nourishes you a bit more than those bland bits and bytes. I love the smell, the design, the weight. However, I am also running out of room in my apartment for people and I find myself buying less books because of it.Enter e-ink. The main points that make e-ink so fantastic is that its actually ink. An e-ink screen is actually made up of little capsules that can represent black or white. By using positive and negative charges to activate the ink you can represent any black and white image. Color e-ink is available also but has it’s draw backs which I will address in a moment.The physical ink property allow these screens to have a fantastic contrast ratio while consuming very little power. The battery on the Kindle is said to last weeks. The draw back of color screens is that they consume more power and I believe that at this point in their development take up more space so that the devices lose their slim profiles.Personally I don’t see myself owning a kindle. I already lug around a bag full of gadgets for recording, reading and communicating. Usually I carry a small book on me or simply use the free Stanza app in my iPhone to read material from Project Gutenberg. Something like the Touch Book that I wrote about previously seems like a device that I could really get behind. This goes double now that Amazon has released the Kindle application for other devices. Still though, if I am shelling out the cash, I really want the paper.

What can I say, I am in love. When I was going to buy a netbook 2 months ago this is the idea that kept me from making a purchase. I have been dreaming of this gadget since I got my iPhone. Touch screen + Tablet Size + Long Battery Life = Perfect Device. This device from the company Always Inovating boasts 10 - 15 hours of battery life with an 8.9″ screen and the device is always on. The longer battery life can be attributed to the fact that there is a battery in the keyboard section and in the screen section. Huh?

I guess I didn’t mention that the screen detaches from the keyboard completely. It even has magnets on the back so that it can be affixed to the refrigerator. Just keep it away from those external hard drives and iPods. The device can supposedly run just about any mobile OS incuding Googles Android.

I would rather drop the change on this device than a Kindle and with a $299 price tag I think I just might. The release date for the Touch is scheduled for May or June of 2009. I am hoping to see a lot more of these devices coming out in the near future. It is a new form factor for an industry that previously was focused on the 3 inch screen size of mobile products and the larger 12 - 17 inch screen size of netbooks and laptops. I think the key players now, especially after the iPhone and G1 are going to be low power to give longer battery life and a bit more screen realestate for your fingers to dance over.  Fingers crossed.

When I think of American craft I think of quilts, strange wooden dolls to hide whisky in and a good sturdy broom. I do not, however, think of knives, at least not until now. The name Cut Brooklyn has been tossed around a lot lately and I was surprised to find out that it is the studio of Joel Buiekowirz who produces hand made kitchen knives.

So from my understanding of the current articles written about Joel, he gets a piece of steal and cuts the knife shape. He then sends out the knife for it’s heat treatment.

The heat treatment is the part that really determines the finished quality of the knife’s steal. When you are working with steel there is a balance that needs to be struck between how hard it is and how brittle it is. For knives this is very important because the blade edge is so delicate. You need it to be hard so that it can retain it’s edge but not be so hard that it cracks away. So what Joel does by hand is shape and sharpen the knife as well as apply and form the handle.I am wrestling with whether to put in an order for one. On any given day my Wusthoff performs admirably and a Global 7-Inch Santoku seems like a logical addition to my cutlery set. Is the added price of Mr. Buiekowirz knives worth it? The easiest thing to site, though the most difficult thing to justify monetarily, is the “buying local” hand made appeal of this object. Having that unique item that was made within a few miles of your apartment makes want to order one of these pretty little pieces. The balance is always an important factor as well though I have not had a chance to hold one in person so it’s hard to say. Right now the few hundred dollars I would save on a Global is making me feel like that is the better buy. If you have a few hundred extra to spend and you use your knife constantly then the Cut blade may be the way to go. I hear he offers life-time service for free on all of his blades as well.

I finally made it out to IgniteNYC, I had missed the previous two and was excited to get a taste of this popular NYC tech event. I have to say though that it was a bit of a let down and I was not the only one. After starting extremely late the evening opened with a game show called “Know your Meme: The Game Show! Pwn, Win, or Fail!”. There was a lot of inside jokes flying around that still got a few chuckles despite losing a most of the crowd. I had my own interpreter there to clue me on on the bashing of one of the contestants, Rex Sorgatz, by the opposing team made up of Michelle DeForest (Next New Networks), Bre Pettis (NYC Resistor), Caroline McCarthy (CNET), Irene Polnyi (Internetfamo.us), and Tim Shey (Next New Networks).Team Sorgatz(Bre Pettis, Caroline McCarthy etc.) ended up winning, or should have, it was all very confusing. With a convincing team performance of Souja Boy and Bre Pettis giving the crowd a mouthful as he reenacted Christian Bales rant they quickly established themselves as Experts in “All Things Internets”.

I did not end up staying for the talks because they were running very late but I did enjoy what I saw and I am looking forward to the next one.Here are some photos from the event that I took and some more from Brian Van Nieuwenhoven.

This is a recipe I mentioned a few posts back. The curry powder you use is going to make a big difference in how this dish comes out. There are plenty of recipes out there so you can make your own, you’ll have to play around and see what flavors work best for you.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs Chicken Breast
• 2/3 Cups of Peanut Oil
• 1 Large Onion
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 2-3 Cardamon Seeds or 1/2 tsp. Ground Cardamon
• 1 Tbsp Garlic, Minced
• 2 1/4 Cups of Water
• 1 Cup Yogurt
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
• 2 Tbsp Curry Powder (at least)
• Salt

Directions:

1. In a large sauce pan heat the peanut oil
2. Add all of the onion and cook for 5mins
3. Add the Cinnamon and Cardamon, cook until the onion is browned.
4. After the onion is browned add the garlic, yogurt and 1/4 cup of water and cook for 5 mins
5. Add Chicken and salt to taste and cook uncovered for 20mins
6. add remaining Cup of water
7. Cook for 10mins
8. Add heavy cream, bring to a boil and cook for 2 mins

You can adjust the ingredients to your liking but this is generally what I like to start with. Feel free to spice it up with some hot curry powder as well.

Chicken Curry @ Group Recipes  

 
I recently cobbled together a BEAM style walking robot using the unique staple circuit known as the “bicore” and a single servo. The bicore is a really neat little circuit that powers a whole slew of different bot designs in the BEAM Bestiary. Its funny because I have been tinkering with the Arduino to try and build some simple bots and have realized that it is way more power and a bit unnecessary for what I want to do. The BEAM system caught my eye when I was looking through an old issue of MAKE Magazine because they are simple, cheap and the designs tend to be very clever. They use very simple pieces in interesting ways so that the whole becomes much great than its parts. Though I do not have an advanced understanding of electronics I can understand most of the principles that make up the bicore. There are countless pages detailing different designs but the thing that always impresses me most about the majority of the designs is doing a lot with a little. By building on a simple design people are making really cool robots!I would highly recommend starting out a Solar Roller or Pummer if you are looking for a simple, low cost and fun way to get into Robotics! Click here for a Tutorial on how to make your own!