Thank Eric H for this one. The reactable is a a different kind of instrument. It is essentially a synthesizer, but instead of using a keyboard it has a tabletop surface that reacts to specific objects placed on it. You really have to see it in action to understand what I mean.

More info after the jump.

Eric sent me a link to coverage of Bjork at the Coachella Music Festival. Supposedly this was one of the first times they/she used the reactable for a public performance. (Supposedly they also used at for the SNL performance the week before, but I didn't see it in the video.) A site called Trend Hunter is crediting Bjork with introducing the instrument as well.

The reactable looks like an incredible instrument. It is simply used by placing object on the table that react and control each other based on their proximity and orientation. Think of it as patching various components on a rack and twisting knobs. All of this is determined by a video camera underneath the table, meaning the object themselves are passive. there are no electronics inside of them.

What is even more interesting to me, though, is how the relationship between objects is displayed. A projector also sits underneath the table and shows oscillating waves and patterns moving between the objects. Overall it looks like a very intuitive, fun instrument and I wish I could get my hands on it!

Emily thinks it's silly. She might be right, but a paper wallet is a fun conversation piece, and a perfect compliment to a duct tape wallet.

It's a little flimsy and my attempt needed tape on the edges (thus removing the hidden pockets), but it's thin and I'll always have something to write on!

Coin Heaven (never heard of them either) collected a few screen shots from old Mario beta tests originally found on Unseen 64. It's a great collection of pics that shows just how much changed before the games were released.

It would've been nifty if Magikoopa was a playable character in MarioKart 64.

Another link I discovered while at Digikitten.

If you're not familliar with it, AIGA is a professional association for design. Designers can exchange/share ideas, critique work, and discuss the direction of design and its education and practice.

The AIGA Design Archives (site requires Flash) offers a backlog of some of the best design in the past 10 years. For inspiration or interest, it's a fun site to browse.

The original headline was going to be "If I Could Turn Back Time," but I hate Cher.

Nate True has created a very interesting DIY project called The Time Fountain. The premise is simple: fluorescent dyed water through a pump with UV strobe lights. The result is a fountain that appears to have drops of water suspended in air. The really great part is that you can "interact" with the drops. You have to see the video to really understand what I'm talking about.

On Monday, August 7th, Steve Jobs announced the release of the Mac Pro, one of the latest Macs to be transitioned to the Intel chips. During this announcement, he also stated that the standard configuration of the Mac Pro (2x 2.66GHz Intel Xeon "Woodcrest") is $1,000 cheaper than a similarly specced out Dell. I've heard a few ramblings about that figure not being correct, so I decided to find out for myself.

Before I start, there's a little disclaimer: I've been an official "Mac Fanboy" for a long, long time. I grew up on an Apple IIe and I think our first Mac at home was the LCII with System 6. However, I've always been one to admit that Macs were a bit more expensive than a similarly equipped "PC." But now that Apple has made the transition to Intel chips, it's been much easier to compare.

First of all, I had to find a Dell that was comparable. To do that, I hit Dell's website. Once there, though, it was a bit tricky to figure out which workstation I should use for the comparison. This was made especially difficult because of the generic "Xeon" chip name. According to Wikipedia, the first Xeon chip was a Pentium II Xeon. They've been using that meme ever since. Eventually I settled down on the Precision 690. It also helped to look at this picture:

However, I wasn't satisfied with those specs. Afterall, the graphics cards are different. So here's what I finally settled on for the specs:

There you are. $1,054 cheaper. I didn't do any trickery. Here's what I did:

On Dell's site, I went to Desktops:Medium/large business, Precision, Precision 690, 750W w/ Windows XP Pro. Here, I had to do a little customizing. I had to choose both processors (the 5150 is presumably the same processor as the Mac Pro, since according to Apple, they use the 5100 series processor). I changed the RAM to 1GB @ 667MHz instead of 533MHz. The graphics card was the most difficult one. The only card the Dell and Mac Pro have in common is the Quatro FX 5500. Then I had to bump up the boot HD to a 250GB SATA from the 80GB SATA. Up the optical drive. And finally remove the monitor they try to include.

On the Mac Pro end, I just upped the graphics card to the Quatro FX 5500.

So everything's pretty much the same. What could be different? Mainly the motherboard. I have no idea what Dell and Apple put in their systems. Also, the optical drive could be different. I'm sure they are from different vendors, but I'm not so sure the Dell has the dual layer burner. Someone more familiar with Dell's might know better.

So there it is. A nearly direct price comparison between a Mac and a "PC." Are there other comparison's out there? Sure. But this is my comparison. There may be many like it, but this is mine.

For those interested, here are the PDFs of the Precision 690 and the Mac Pro (both after customizing in their respective stores).

Edit: Macworld recently did their own comparison However, when configuring the Dell, the kept the monitor and failed to give the computers the same graphics card.

So while looking for a decent description of The Horse and His Boy, I came across an interesting site called LibraryThing. I haven't delved too far into it, but it looks like Del.icio.us for books. You can arrange a "shelf" of books (as the call it), tag them with descriptors, see similar books, and find what others who read that book have also read.

It looks like the site launched in August 2005 and has since become the 100th largest library. Might be worth checking out.

So, it's official. As of February 21, I am the uncle of a third beautiful baby girl. Grace Annette was born just after 3:00pm on that Tuesday at 6lbs. 11oz. and 20.5 inches. Taking after my brother, she is very, very blonde. (And cute, though I think that comes from her mother more than the father 😉

And my brother and his wife also asked Emily and I to be the Godparents of Grace! Now we have two little Goddaughters to spoil! (Along with Sydney, of course.)

It seems Google has created a page specifically for the Superbowl XL commercials. I didn't watch the game at all, so it's nice to have them all in one place.

AOL has them, too. With voting, even. But I'm not a big fan of AOL.