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Bloglines - Helicopter for One Can Be Folded Up, Carried By One Person [Flying]

Bloglines user ricricho  has sent this item to you, with the following personal message: This is classic Helicopter for One Can Be Folded Up, Carried By One Person [Flying] By adam frucci on Russia This wee helicopter is the Ka-56 "Wasp," a flying vehicle for one that can be folded down and carried by just one person. Designed and created in Soviet Russia in 1971, it doesn't seem to have really gotten beyond the prototype stage. I'm assuming that's because it's horribly dangerous, but it could be for any number of reasons. Guesses, dear commenters? Oh, and the first person to make a "In Soviet Russia, helicopter flies you!" joke gets banned as a Christmas present to me. [ English Russia ]

A new way to look at Magazines Online

We are finally under way with an invention I developed back in June of 2007... it's called zkimmer and can be found at zkimmer.com. The cool thing about zkimmer is that it takes a system we all know and use (google Maps) and applies it to pages of a magazine.. its so simple and easy to use and one of those obvious ideas that no ones thought of before.... Please have a look and tell me what you think.....

Returning to Blogger.. again

After following Scobles move to wordpress I just found the tools and flexibility of blogger insurmountable as an advantage.... unless I run my own server its not a real match... mobile posting, email posting, custom css, its really got big advantages.... so it looks like I'm on my way back....

Life Portal - A start page and personal server concept

Personal start pages are great... the growing number of widgets and integration with favourite web sites and services is really impressive... but. Still a large part of what we want to track and keep updated is on our own machines. And the nature of the browsers "sandbox" means that for our own good, the browser cannot access local files. An obvious exclusion is Google Desktop Search, which is basically an archive engine connected as a local web service. Then Google breaks the rules of the sandbox again in order for you to share your contents across machines (albeit in a crippled fashion). What if: Your google desktop searches could be accessed across your computers AND from another computer securely. What if security tested widgets could work on local files for you. For example you may have an excel spreadsheet that is tracking your weight and you don't want that data out there on someones web site! What if you could run local macros that could go to websites and s

Former OC Register Publisher joins zkimmer

Today Newspaper veteran Chris Anderson joined the zkimmer team as ambassador for the company to the newspaper and magazine publishing industry. Chris recently left Freedom (the publishers of the Orange County Register) where he served as the publisher of the Newspaper and worked in the industry for 25 years. He is a brilliant, affable and discerning man who I am honored to work along side.

People approach re Invisibinder

Myriads of people to approach re invisib , originally uploaded by ricricho . Browsing through the Journal section of Barnes & Noble its obvious... there are hundreds of people to approach regarding Invisibinder. It's tru they make their living by getting people to buy a new journal every few months, but won't people want to replace the look of their invisibinder just as frequently while retaining the ability to remove, add and delte pages and use filing areas etc...? Hopefully soon I will put this to the test.

People approach re Invisibinder

Myriads of people to approach re invisib , originally uploaded by ricricho . Browsing through the Journal section of Barnes & Noble its obvious... there are hundreds of people to approach regarding Invisibinder. It's tru they make their living by getting people to buy a new journal every few months, but won't people want to replace the look of their invisibinder just as frequently while retaining the ability to remove, add and delte pages and use filing areas etc...? Hopefully soon I will put this to the test.

My brain loves a distracted state

Have you ever found yourself out doing errands and that problem you have been pounding for the last few days starts to resolve before your minds eye? for all the advice to engineer an environment for quiet concentration it seems a lot of work is getting done at Starbucks... The other important issue to resolve seems to be the procrastination that sets in when you have to wait for the perfect environment... To have all your tools ready before you start work. Baloney! I have my Richard Branson notebook, a pen and my treo. Have kit will travel... over the next few days I'm going to try moving location and situation every working hour and see what happens....

Ric Richardson - technologist and inventor

Welcome to Ric Richardson.com. This site is also my blog so please just click the header above to see the latest blog entries. In the navigation bar to the left you can look at pages and articles by topic rather than by date. Here you can find: Help for inventors regarding inventing Peruse Ric's projects, inventions and patents. Find out more about the Uniloc vs Microsoft case Link to and watch the Australian Story episode online Look at interesting back stories regarding the show ....

zkimmer - high resolution digital publications

In June 2007, Ric was sitting with his brother, Raece who was lamenting over the sad state of the online magazine technology available to him as a publisher of a high end lifestyle magazine called Space Magazine . Upon investigation Ric found that the majority of the technology focused on animated page turning using flash and switching between low and hi res images of magazine pages. None of it worked! Either the zoom was too big or too small to be comfortably viewed and the page loading was ssssslllllooooowwwwww. In a typical inventors epiphany, Ric saw the publishing of online magazines as a pure high resolution graphic function and immediately saw that the most advanced and developed technology out there is being used for managing map images... ie Google Maps satellite imagery. Over the next weekend Ric commissioned a RentAcoder project to rip a map using Googles API but to use scans from a magazine instead of map data and zkimmer was born.

Trails around Lake Silverwood CA

This pdf can be printed out to show the maps immediately around Lake Silverwood... Im still looking for the Lake Arrowhead trail map which connects to this one... clipped from www.google.com [PDF] href="http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/650/files/biketrail_map.pdf"> Silverwood Lake Area File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - href="http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:K6Z-ilh_LiMJ:www.parks.ca.gov/pages/650/files/biketrail_map.pdf+lake+silverwood+trail+map&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us">View as HTML Silverwood Lake may offer spectacular. views of the lake or the high desert. ... detailed trail map such as the USFS San. Bernardino National Forest map , ... class=a>www.parks.ca.gov/pages/650/files/bike trail _ map .pdf - href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GFRG,GFRG:2007-10,GFRG:en&q=related:www.parks.ca.gov/pages/650/files/biketrail_map.pdf">Similar pages - href="#">Note this [ href="http://www.google.c

Hacking anti-copy/paste feature of Adobe PDFs

This simple procedure shows what happens when a DRM scheme is not approached wholeistically across a whole products design... any attempt to remain open and backawards compatible leaves you open to attack... clipped from kennywest.blogspot.com There is however a procedure that will enable you to circumvent the copy protection using free tools. The trick is to convert the PDF to a PS (PostScript) document first and then convert it back into a PDF. So, download Ghostview en Ghostscript from: href="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/">http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ . Next, open your PDF in Ghostview. Next, from the "File" menu, select "Convert" (a dialog will pop up) Press "Ok" Fill in the name of the "converted" file. Press "Save" Tada, you can now copy content from your newly created PDF ;)

Ebook publishing... if you dont want to charge anything

Sth Godin shows how to publish a formal ebook... this may come in handy a bit later when some serious subjects need to be fully explained. During this research I also ran across the Squidoo idea... of lenses, (ie articles) rather than blog entries... a subtle difference... kind of half way to a wiki page.... clipped from www.squidoo.com How to make an eBook in just a few steps I've had a lot of success with eBook publishing and I get asked a lot about the mechanics. Here's my version--your mileage may vary!

Costa Rica for dirt bike riding... sounds interesting

Got to check this place out... (costaricaunbound.com) clipped from www.yamaha-motor.com Yamaha joined forces with Costa Rica Unbound (costaricaunbound.com) to gain a unique look at what Costa Rica has to offer.  Journalists literally walked off the plane and onto the 2007 WRs and headed across the country to the Pacific Ocean.  The guides moved the editors across rivers, over mountains, down long stretches of beach, and through tight jungle trails en route to the Pacific.  Stopping at local food stands and past the waving hands of many of the locals, the journey was astounding and the views unmatched.  The first night concluded with a WR Technical Presentation and a ringing endorsement of the WR and the riding areas from 7x National Motocross Champion Ricky Johnson. 

Gives me nightmares

This is exactly the kind of situation that sends me over th ehandlebars... gauranteed... one day soon ill work out how to handle these situations a bit more elegantly! clipped from www.yamaha-motor.com

In memory of Geoff Eldridge

I have lots of good memories of Geoff and every time I look for his mention on the net.. more and more of the pages seem to vanish so Im going to try and keep a record of what I find here for anyone thats interested. Imn just collecting it as I find it so please dont think Im putting one story or quote above another... To see all the articles that mention Geoff Eldridge just click here: http://ricricho.blogspot.com/search/label/Geoff%20Eldridge

Geoffs old Caddy

I remember Geoff and Vicki having this thing... found it on the web... brings back memories... This pick and text is from a Caddy Club site.... This is Lorraine's favourite daily driver. Lorraine originally wanted to purchase the car a few years ago at auction, but when she realised a friend of hers' was seriously bidding for the car she pulled out. It was sold to Geoff Eldridge , founder of Australasian Dirt Bike magazine whose untimely death motor-bike racing in 1987 saddened many. Knowing of her previous interest in the car, Geoff's widow Michelle (Vicki excuse me) offered the car to Lorraine a couple of years later, and it has been her daily driver ever since.

More Eldridge Memories

. Culture www.adbmag.com/html/pages/culture/eldridge.html Published on: 7/10/2004   Last Visited: 7/10/2004 Geoff Eldridge had many friends, many of which were - and still are - as passionate about dirt bikes as the man whose adventurous spirit and enthusiasm drove him to found ADB magazine and inspire generations of enthusiasts. Here, some of Geoff's best mates recount a memory of the man, in a bid to paint a picture of a bloke whose life and tragic death left an indelible legacy on the Australasian dirt bike industry. The man responsible for the birth of ADB magazine was a character who, by all accounts, was larger than life. Geoff Eldridge had a zest for life and when he went about something, he did it with all his heart. He was adventurous, enterprising, ingenious and energetic. He was also stubborn, opinionated, outspoken and provocative. But, no matter which side of this enigmatic character you choose to focus on, he was always interesting and always passionate about what he

Remembering Geoff Eldridge

An article that remenisces about GE The First Ride by Ray Ryan Reproduced with permission by Australasian Dirt Bike magazine   Geoff Eldridge and I had a very competitive friendship by 1974... It was always that way and so it would remain. Geoff worked as an architect and wrote for REVS magazine - dirt bike tests and MX reports. I wrote for Two Wheels (also REVS) and other titles, working freelance as what amounted to their dirt tester, MX photographer and whatever else I could contribute. I had also promoted and operated some motocross schools, possibly Australia's first commercial schools, through my then business Soft Earth Motorsport Promotions. We held schools at Mt Kembla and Geoff was one of the volunteer instructors along with Len Williamson and a few other friends. Stephen Gall was one of our first pupils and broke the fork legs on his MX250A after he'd machined them way too thin! By 1975 Geoff and I were pissed off with the existing magazines with their lack of real d

About Geoffs Bikes and where they've gone

Note: Vicki sold me his Cessnock ISDE backup ktm 250 with all the steel parts... it breaks my heart to say I had to sell it in my divorce. My ex is now married to ex ADB ad guy Clubby who runs his own mag now... how the world turns... Also for some years I was the happy ridder of Geoffs KDX 250.. that was a great bike... Geoff really looked after me... he was a good bloke... http://db.extremesportsmusic.com/cgi.pan$eXSMNews~SportStory~MotoX~10114 Twelve classic dirt bikes which were the property of the estate of the late Geoff Eldridge, founder of 'Australasian Dirt Bike magazine, have been sold by private tender under instructions from Geoff's former partner. For the past four years these bikes were in the custodianship of VMX Magazine. Some were shown at VMX's Classic Dirt events in Kyneton, Victoria. All 12 bikes will remain in Australia and most will be recommissioned by their new owners to once again emerge as active classic racers. So where do they live now? Gone to n

Memories of Geoff

From the T595.net message baord. From: Rory McDonald Central Queensland, Australia http://www.t595.net/messageboard/thread.asp?thread=11580 Having spend many years in racing with Dunlop and Pirelli in Australia..and here is one for all the Poms...the cure to fogging visors..introduced to me by the late Geoff Eldridge was ...spray on cooking oil...we had a bad fogging problem on Bell helmets at a 6 Hour production race..Geoff used to ride enduros and while stoned one night..sprayed "spray on" cooking stuff on his goggles...dont ask!...and Viola!..no more fogging...simpy but effective...it is available at all good supermarkets..just wipe off the excess and your fog is GONE! Rory

The Irreverent Geoff Eldridge (1950 - 1993)

From an ADB page that has since vamished.. but preserved here in memory... Re ADBs 25th year... Geoff Eldridge had many friends, many of which were – and still are – as passionate about dirt bikes as the man whose adventurous spirit and enthusiasm drove him to found ADB magazine and inspire generations of enthusiasts. Here, some of Geoff’s best mates recount a memory of the man, in a bid to paint a picture of a bloke whose life and tragic death left an indelible legacy on the Australasian dirt bike industry. The man responsible for the birth of ADB magazine was a character who, by all accounts, was larger than life. Geoff Eldridge had a zest for life and when he went about something, he did it with all his heart. He was adventurous, enterprising, ingenious and energetic. He was also stubborn, opinionated, outspoken and provocative. But, no matter which side of this enigmatic character you choose to focus on, he was always interesting and always passionate about what he did. Fun, friend

Great Idea for Copy Control just doesnt go far enough

Voidstar is on the right track here... PKI is great and secure... the real problem is that the local private key may not be important enough to the user to ensure they dont abuse it by sharing it... my point is, if someone can share their private key in a PKI scheme then its no different to sharing serial numbers... but that got me thinking... what if? What if private keys were registered or linked to something important like your credit card number... the idea here is that if the cards reported stolen, then the users public key is no longer used for copy control via PKI... maybe an independent authentication service would work here... but also what happens when a user copies their key onto another machine and forgets to remove it after using their software.... its a bit of a conundrum but worth a brainstorming session at the Uniloc labs I bet... clipped from www.voidstar.com I'm not sure I should suggest this to anyone but I can't be the first to see this. There is a way for

Wikipedia... really good article on DRM

Yet again someone really has outdone themselves on an article regarding DRM on Wikipedia... the article includes summaries of many main DRM technologies and a failry complete listing of all the anti-DRM resources available on the net. Ill be researching these links soon to make sure we at Uniloc are addressing as many of the issues as we can with the release og Polite Copy Control in the near future... Wikipedia.. search term DRM Digital Rights Management (generally abbreviated to DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to any of several technologies used by publishers or copyright owners to control access to and usage of digital data or hardware, and to restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work or device. The term is often confused with copy protection and technical protection measures ; these two terms refer to technologies that control or restrict the use and access of digital content on electronic devices with such technologies installed, acting as component

DRM on mobile... still no clear leading technology available

Here's an idea for us to think about at Uniloc: Do the MP3 approach, make the technology open system, but the patent licensable! Wonder if that would work... show everyone how to do Mobile DRM but enforce the patent and the need to get a license... this one goes straight to the thinking room clipped from www.techsauna.com One of the biggest conclusion is that in the mobile DRM space it is too early to see any one DRM standard being adopted as the industry standard. There are still many proprietary DRM technologies being used and standards like OMA DRM have been gaining market share very slowly. ABI Research comments that this is no wonder since companies are trying to push their offerings to the market before competitors and are focusing their ability to monetize on the mobile media market. They give an example that iTunes & iPod combination with Apple's Fairplay DRM has 80% market share and is definately proprietary closed technology. They conclude that when there are ma

$1.5 billion case lost by Microsoft

Microsoft lost a case for $1.5 billion in damages for ignoring patent ownership in the case of MP3 (an almost free audio compression technology). Makes me wonder what the damages should be for a technology that is worth up to a quarter of all their sales? clipped from yro.slashdot.org "A U.S. federal jury found that Microsoft Corp. href="http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1540,2097780,00.asp">infringed audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay $1.52 billion in damages, Microsoft said Thursday. The news comes after reports that U.S. Supreme Court justices expressed doubts about whether Microsoft Corp. href="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2097387,00.asp">should be liable for infringing AT&T Inc. patents in Windows software sold overseas."

No fly list... are you on it?

This web page uses the same algorithm as the feds listing system... check for your name... or you on it? clipped from nofly.s3.com According to published reports in the Washington Post and elsewhere, the federal government is using an algorithmic software product known as Soundex to search databases for potential terrorists. Developed in 1918, Soundex removes vowels from names and applies numerical values to remaining consonants. Names are matched according to those resulting numerical values.

New Heads up display concept

New Heads up display concept , originally uploaded by ricricho . This is an artists impression of how the sunglass monitors would work. The image (in this case showing a google map) is projected onto the outside of the lense using an inverse polarization effect where only the wearer can see the image... note also that the alpha channel is adjustable so that the image can be set at different levels of transaprency... What do you think? I'd love to see your comments...

Sunglass monitor prototype Ive been working on

Sunglass monitor prototype , originally uploaded by ricricho . This image shows the initial design concept with the projector attached to an arm that sticks out a small distance from the frame. The arm retracts for storage and non use like an antenna of a cell phone. Tell me what you think.. the optics issues and miniaturization is being sorted out as we speak...

900 numbers for Skype? Cool

clipped from ricricho.wordpress.com The beta for a 900 numberish service on Skype really caught my eye… what a great idea… if you have expertise and can get people to pay for your time then this is an instant hit. What is Skype Prime? In short, it enables paid Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls. You can charge other people for calling you either a one-off fee or by the minute. Conversely, if you are the caller, you can call experts who charge for their services, and you can then pay the fee and access the expertise that the other call party provides.

Windows Activation yet even more Aggressive

clipped from ricricho.wordpress.com Just as the Uniloc people www.uniloc.com and I get a handle on how to do polite DRM Microsoft comes out with yet another damaging practise to turn even more people off the idea of enforced copy control. Microsoft WGA Phones Home Even When Told No Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday March 07, @11:51AM from the huge-shocker-here dept. Aviran writes “When you start WGA setup and get to the license agreement page but decided NOT to install the highly controversial WGA component and cancel the installation, the setup program will send information stored in your registry and the fact that you choose not to install WGA back to Microsoft’s servers.”

Another Bank falls to Ron Katz patent enforcement

clipped from ricricho.wordpress.com The nonexclusive license covers services offered by Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. and The Frost National Bank in the “Financial Services Call Processing” Field of Use including customer service delivered through automated systems and live agents. Other terms of the license were not disclosed. Ron Katz is probably the single biggest private patent licensor/ inventor in history. His strategy of going after infringers from the biggest first is really paying off for him. It remains to be seen if courts will require inventors to actually try to produce products based on their invention rather than just licensing patent rights.

Yet another call to dump DRM... the time is ripe for Polite Copy Control

http://www.informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197801668&pgno=1&queryText = clipped from ricricho.wordpress.com DRM is too clunky… too publisher centric and just plain unworkable… its more about squeezing dollars out of punters rather than the ethical imperative… to stop mass piracy… The debate over digital-rights management is coming to a head. On the one hand, efforts to implement technology to prevent the copying of consumer-oriented entertainment is increasingly viewed as ineffective. Indeed, no less an industry figure than Apple CEO Steve Jobs has called for the elimination of DRM . At the same time, content providers continue to search for a magic technical elixir that’ll protect their revenue streams against unauthorized copying.

Waterless Washing Machine working in Singapore

clipped from www.hiptechblog.com Two Industrial Design students from the National Univeristy of Singapore (NUS) are the first Asians to win the Design Lab Award at the international Electrolux Design Lab 2005 competition! Their product? A waterfall-inspired washing unit that require neither water nor detergents . Need I say more? Imagine the amount of water it can save!

Underground Cities…

clipped from ricricho.wordpress.com Underground Cities… A fascinating read…. vast city underground and all but forgotten in England…. clipped from www.amazon.com Since the end of the First World War Secret bases were created to hide ammounts of supplies, but it was at the begining of the Second World War that vast bases were built. This book is an complete study of all such sites from the central ammunition depot at Corsham which extended over 200 acres underground holding over 350,000 tons of ammunition even complete aircraft engine factories were built underground safe from bombing. Even the countries Art treasures were moved from London to Wales to central Art Repositories for safe keeping the entrances then concealed. The book even continues into the Cold War period this detailed study is a must for anyone interested in the war in Britain.   Add comment March 10th, 2007
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