Earning & Tech Articles

Razer's special edition Naga Maelstrom and Molten mice: too pretty to touch

2010-10-06T07:23:00.001-07:00

Still curious if there's a market for mice with a dozen or more buttons on the side? Wonder no more. Just over a year after Razer caused every MMO addict in existence to salivate uncontrollably with the Naga comes this: a new duo of special edition Naga creations. For all intents and purposes, the Naga Maelstrom and Naga Molten are identical to the original in terms of functionality, but there's a decent chance you'll want to lift your palm from the surface of these a lot more frequently. Both units are graced with special edition lids, and somehow still feature 17 "MMO-optimized" buttons while adding a touch of glow underneath. Both models are slated to ship worldwide next month, with pricing set for $79.99 / €79.99 (the same as the original, if you just have to know). Per usual, the full presser is after the break.

Future explorers could reach the Earthlike planet Zarmina in just 6.1 years

2010-10-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

Using our current technology, it would take 180,000 years to reach Zarmina. But our resident physicist Dave Goldberg has a more optimistic estimate - thanks to antimatter and time dilation, astronauts could get there in just a few years.
Dave calculates that, if we could build a stellar drive that gets its fuel from matter-antimatter explosions, then it would be possible to travel to Zarmina at 92% the speed of light. Since the planet is about 20 light-years away, that means the starship would get there in 22.4 years as far as mission control back on Earth is concerned, but thanks to such serious time dilation at such near-light speeds, it would only be 6.1 years for the astronauts on board. All this assumes the ship would accelerate (and then decelerate) at Earth gravity throughout its voyage to give the astronauts a little comfort.
All that sounds pretty amazingly manageable, but we're not out of the woods yet. To carry all the fuel necessary for such a journey, the ship's fuel stores would have to be at least 530 times as massive as everything else on board the ship. That isn't exactly impossible, but let's just say we're going to have to jump up a few levels on the Kardasev scale before we can seriously plan on heading to this second Earth.

The Updated Map of Online Communities

2010-10-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Map of Online Communities has always been one of my favorite xkcd images, so I'm happy to see that it's been updated. And I'm amazed to see just how our views of various communities have changed over time.

Remember that you can click on images for a closer look.
For reference, this is the original Map of Online Communities:

Can you believe only about three years have passed between the two slightly scientific images?

6 Incredible Custom-Painted Video Game Consoles

2010-10-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Limited and special edition video game consoles have a coolness factor that only lasts so long, but a custom-painted creation will always stay unique. Click here to see six

Geeky Family Successfully Launches Space Balloon, Records Video

2010-10-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Most kids dread science projects, this family loves them. In this clip, you'll see "video from a camera [that was] attached to a weather balloon, which rose into the upper stratosphere and recorded the blackness of space." Continue reading to watch.

Skype app arrives in Android Market, WiFi-only in the US

2010-10-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

Finally, at long last, after so much waiting, Skype has made its debut as a full-fledged Android app. There are no Verizon-related limitations anymore, but Android Police reports that calling through the app is only available via WiFi, you can't use your mobile's data connection -- not yet, anyway. Another note they make is that Skype is using quite a few processing cycles to do its job, so much so that it introduced crackling on a call carried out with the EVO. You'll need to have Android 2.1 installed to run this thing, but if you do, why aren't you downloading it already? Let us know how your own 'droid fares in the comments below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

P.S. -- Skype's press release and video after the break have confirmed that 3G Skype calls will be available to all outside the US. Wow. Also, Skype's acknowledged there are some incompatibilities with Samsung Galaxy S phones and is working to iron those out.

Strange Weapons of Sea Life

2010-10-05T06:34:00.001-07:00

The world's first Census of Marine Life was released today, a 10 year, 650 million dollar study of the ocean. In Citizens of the Sea, Nancy Knowlton discusses the shell-crushing force of the Mantis Shrimp and the ribbon worm.
Humans, being the top predator of the planet, now have little to fear from man-eaters in the ocean, the movie Jaws notwithstanding. But most marine animals are eaten (usually sooner rather than later) by an array of predators, some of whose tools of the trade make the razor-sharp teeth of the fangtooth seem positively boring.
Claws with hammers are the weapon of choice for mantis shrimps that eat hard-shelled prey, such as snails. The blow is delivered with extraordinary speed. The hammer can move more than 50 miles an hour, and the strike happens so quickly (it takes less than three-thousandth of a second) that even filming at 5,000 frames per second misses some of the action. They are, indeed, the fastest gun in the west-with a speed comparable to a .22-caliber bullet, no animal arm or leg is faster. To accomplish this feat, the mantis shrimp stores energy in elastic springs, much as a crossbow stores the energy of an archer, and like a crossbow, the strike is precisely timed by releasing a latch. The force initially delivered is thousands of times greater than the weight of the animal, and indeed is considerably greater than the force of gravity on an adult human body. Even water-vapor bubbles are formed, which amplify the damage. It is thus no surprise that big mantis shrimp can break through the glass wall of an aquarium.
On the slower but weirder side of the spectrum are the ribbon worms that prey on fiddler crabs as they walk about the sand to feed and mate. Unlike the sandworms of the sci-fi classic Dune, ribbon worms rely not on speed but on stealth. Lurking below the surface, the worm emerges when a crab passes overhead, turning its proboscis inside out and covering the crab with toxic slime. Once the victim is paralyzed, the worm finds a crack in the body by which to enter and crawls inside, digesting the crab from the inside within an hour. And these ribbon worms are small fry-some of their cousins reach 100 feet in length, which is as long as a blue whale.
Dr. Nancy Knowlton received her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, founded the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, and holds the John Dove Isaacs Chair in Natural Philosophy at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California at San Diego. Her research focuses on the ecology and evolution of coral reef organisms.
Reprinted with permission of the National Geographic Society from the book Citizens of the Sea: Wondrous Creatures from the Census of Marine Life by Nancy Knowlton. Copyright © 2010 National Geographic Society. Text copyright © 2010 Smithsonian Institution.

The Brain-Controlled RatCar, or the First Still From the Live Action Pinky and the Brain Movie

2010-10-05T06:32:00.002-07:00

Being our go-to creatures for all manner of scientific and technological tests, rats often get the craziest gear several generations before we humans do. So what's latest and greatest in rat tech? The RatCar, a brian-controlled, battery-powered rodent buggy.
The RatCar, developed by researchers at the University of Tokyo, is controlled by electrodes implanted directly into the rodent driver's motor cortex, unlike other devices that use non-invasive sensors. It's the first step toward a brain-machine interface that would allow disabled (human) individuals to control their wheelchairs entirely with their minds. So how do you teach a rat to drive with its brain?

The rats were trained on the car by towing it around an enclosed area with the motors disengaged. A vision system positioned above tracked the rats by following colored markers on their backs and the vehicle. It fed the positions into a "locomotion estimation model" program that correlated the motion of the animals with readings from the electrodes.
Next the rats were suspended more tightly to the car so their limbs touched the floor only slightly. The researchers then switched the system into "neuro-robotic mode," with the neural signals used to help drive the car. Six out of eight rats used in the study adapted well to the car.

The researchers admit that there is some uncertainty about how much of the driving the rats were actually doing, and they're designing new tests to refine the system. In the meantime, just be glad that this particular rat doesn't have world domination on the mind. Yet.

How To Count Millions of Fish In the Sea

2010-10-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

It was decided we don't know enough about the sea. So 2,700 scientists started the Census of Marine Life, cooperating with museums, labs and aquariums across 80 countries to learn more. 10 years later, today, they're done.

The census used every conceivable kind of technology to get the job done, from Satellites, to manned and unmanned subs, to divers with cameras, to gyroscopic and GPS sensors slapped onto the backs of creatures. They observed a "riot of life" everywhere from beaches to the skies above the seas to the deep ocean where undersea volcanos and vents hot enough to melt lead still hosted ecosystems. They found 6,000 new species of life, many that are astoundingly odd. And even found some kinds of life that were thought to be extinct. But what's most interesting to me is how they managed to track large bodies of fish, sometimes in large schools, sometimes individually, across thousands of miles.

Census scientists at some point tried to measure the sea bed using sonar, only to find readings varying wildly. They realized that they were looking at a school of millions of Atlantic herring. Forming schools as large as Manhattan.
The scientists also used acoustic tags and seabed sensors scattered between Alaska and California to track the migrations of 18 species more than 3,000 kilometers in the pacific, noting the exact passages of individual trout, some as small as bananas.
These encounters were logged into a large database called OBIS, or, Ocean Biogeographic Information System, which has about 30 million entries on species and where they exist.

The 3D Sound System With 62 Channels is the Death Star of Audio

2010-10-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

This isn't a Death Star model to go with your AT-AT. What's lurking behind it is a clue. Have you got it? It's a sound system, only with a twist—it has 62 channels for 3D sound.
It's from the Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), a research firm which is responsible for looking after Japan's frequencies and time standards, and also tests marine radar and maritime safety systems. Amongst doing all those important deeds, they've obviously found the time to jump upon the 3D wagon, with this sound system that is the first of its kind in the world today.
With 62 channels, the sound is meant to be a full replica of the original audio, so you genuinely feel that the singer is right there in the room with you. In 3D. It's being shown off at CEATEC this week, and while it's unlikely to go on sale (especially outside of Japan) it's fascinating to see what technology is capable of. Don't stop at 62 next time, NICT. [NICT via Akihabara News]

Buoyant Life Aid That Expands to 40x Its Size in Water Wins Dyson Award

2010-10-05T06:25:00.001-07:00

A buoyancy aid from Australia has won this year's James Dyson Award, which battled alongside 14 amazing finalists. Made from hydrophobic foam which expands in the water, the Longreach aid can be fired 150m out to sea to save lives.

The winner designer, 24-year-old Samuel Adeloju, has been awarded £10,000 ($15,900) for himself, and another £10,000 for his engineering faculty at the University he graduated from in New South Wales.
Flares attached to the buoyancy aid would help the waterlogged person attract attention, and as the aid expands in the water to 40x its size (in just 15 seconds!), it's compact enough to store in even the smallest cupboards aboard a boat. [James Dyson Award]
Buoyancy bazooka floats James Dyson Award's boat to win 2010 award
A buoyancy bazooka which could save thousands of lives in the UK has won this year's international James Dyson Award.
Longreach, chosen from a final shortlist of 15 by inventor James Dyson, shoots an emergency buoyancy aid up to 150 metres out to sea. It is made of hydrophobic foam which rapidly expands upon hitting the water to, equipped with flares for night-time illumination, Longreach allows the victim to remain buoyant for a longer period of time.
James Dyson said: "Longreach is a smart solution to a very real problem. A product's functionality couldn't be more important when it's used to save someone's life."
Each year around 100 people drown off the UK coast and more than 13,500 incidents occur due to swimmers been swept out by rip rides or currents.
Samuel Adeloju, 24, an industrial design graduate from Sydney, will receive a £10,000 cash prize. His engineering faculty at the University of New South Wales will also receive £10,000. Samuel will also have the chance to visit Dyson's research, design and development centre and learn more about its design process from Dyson engineers.
The inspiration for Longreach came from a military training session during Samuel's army reserve training, where weapons that propel grenades and flares were demonstrated.
Samuel said: "After learning about propulsion technology in grenade launchers, I had to find a chemical that would expand to forty times its size in just fifteen seconds upon hitting water. After four months of testing I found that hydrophobic foam worked and soon after the concept for Longreach was developed. Winning the James Dyson Award will give me the financial support to develop a prototype and carry on testing".
Samuel is already in talks with the Surf Life Saving Australia and Westpac Rescue – an aeromedical search and rescue service - to mass produce his invention.
The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. It's run by the James Dyson Foundation, James Dyson's charitable trust, in 18 countries. Last year's winner, the Automist, a device that detects fires and put them out by aerosolising the water from a kitchen tap, is now on the market.
Please click here to see more information on Longreach.
The runners up
2nd place – Sea Kettle
Kimberley Hoffman, 29, from the Academy of Art University in California, designed the ‘Seakettle'. It uses natural sunlight to desalinate water in the emergency life raft.
Kimberley took inspiration from the stories of people who suffer from dehydration while being stranded at sea. She thought that with water all around, there should be a way to turn it into safe drinking water.
James Dyson says: "It is a very logical configuration which optimises the production of drinking water in a way which is easy for people to use".
Please click here to see more information about the Sea Kettle.
3rd place – Reax
Graduates from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern in Switzerland, Lars Imhof, 26, and Marc Binder, 27, developed the Reax.
Cardiovascular disease is the most frequent cause of death with an incidence of nearly 50% of all victims. This fact motivated Lars and Marc to design Reax.
CPR is physically strenuous and requires the paramedics' full time attention. By the clever use of pneumatic muscle technology the ‘Reax' design is able to compress the entire chest at regular intervals, and therefore allows the paramedic to perform more tasks.

Giant Redwood Tree Gets Turned Into a Home

2010-10-05T06:21:00.001-07:00

You read that right, "Redwood Log Cabin is a 1900 year old redwood tree that once stood over 247 feet high and 14 feet in diameter; four log houses were built from the trunk of this redwood tree." Click here for more pictures.

Amazing Cardboard Cameras That Really Work

2010-10-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

Though not technologically advanced as the digital cameras of today, Kiel Johnson's amazing cardboard creations not only look fascinating, but actually work. They're made "strictly from cardboard, hot glue, and tape." Best of all, they can all be used as pinhole cameras, once modified. Video after the break. click here for more pictures.

Garmin updates GPS watch line with Forerunner 210 and 410, data-craving runners rejoice

2010-10-04T11:13:00.001-07:00

Runners love to tell you about their post-workout highs, but they rarely mention the mid-workout delirium that comes when muscles deprive your brain of blood, leading to doubts about how long you've been running, what your target heart rate should be, and indeed how to get home again. Garmin's updated Forerunner 410 (above) can help you out with all those things, and the larger touch bezel means oxygen-deprived cardio hounds can easily scroll through data describing things like pace and heart rate, even when it's raining -- or you're sweating excessively. Once back home and showered this $325 watch automatically syncs to a USB dongle via ANT+, uploading data to Garmin Connect, just like its predecessor the 405. Then there's the $300 210, pictured below, a follow-up to this spring's 110 and providing a more simple display of real-time distance and heart rate without a bunch of other confusing data. Both models will be on display at the upcoming Chicago and New York City marathons before pacing themselves into stores this fall.

Update: The 410 can indeed help you find your way back home thanks to a simple navigation mode that will direct you from one waypoint to the next. Great for finding new routes -- or new tactical insertions.

This Is Russia's Next Space Station for Tourists

2010-10-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Looks like the space tourism industry is heating up. RSC Energia—the designer and manufacturer of the Russian ISS modules—is creating a new space station for tourists, scientists, and evil genius wannabes. Construction could start as soon as 2012.

No price for the tickets yet, but the station will be prepared to accept spacecraft from any manufacturer. [Discovery]

Zoom Q3HD Handy Video Recorder Shoots 1080p and Has Stereo Mics to Match

2010-10-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

While pocket cams video quality has improved incrementally from "good enough" to really actually pretty damn good, audio quality has largely been ignored. The new Zoom Q3HD combines 1080p, 30fps video with stereo mics for the full pocket cam package.
Zoom is known for their audio recorders, and the Q3HD is a nicer-looking refresh of their Q3 pocket cam. It shoots 1080p video in 30fps or 720p in 30fps or 60fps, has an HDMI port, and runs on two AA batteries.
But what sets it apart are its built-in stereo condenser mics, capturing 24-bit/96kHz audio that can hold up even if you're at a concert hoisting the thing above a mosh pit. Audio meters let you check your levels while you're recording, and gain can be switched between high and low settings or left on auto. The Q3HD will be available this fall for $299. [Zoom]

The Only 9mm Bullet You Want Ripping Through Your Skull

2010-10-04T11:05:00.001-07:00

Munitio SITi bullet headphones are machined from a solid piece of high density copper to look like bullets.

The $160 bullet headphones have 9mm neodymium drivers. Instead of using gold—like its more expensive predecesor—these are coated in Titanium, silver- or golden-colored for a perfect gangster look. [Munitio]

What Is Going On With This Helicopter?

2010-10-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

Those are not flares or artificial lighting or a Photoshop job. And it's not a teleporting sequence from a sci-fi movie either. It's the Kopps-Etchells Effect. This is how it happens, according to Command Sergeant Major Jeff Mellinger:

Basically it is a result of static electricity created by friction as materials of dissimilar material strike against each other. In this case titanium/nickel blades moving through the air and dust. It occurs on the ground as well, but you don't usually see it as much unless the aircraft is landing or taking off. The most common time is when fuel is being pumped. When large tankers are being fueled they must be grounded to prevent static electricity from discharging and creating explosions.

Originally, this effect didn't have any name, but the always awesome Michael Yon—former US Army, now war photographer—found one: The Kopps-Etchells effect. He named it after American Corporal Benjamin Kopp and British Corporal Joseph Etchells, two soldiers killed in action in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan, where these pictures were taken.

Etchells last wish was to be cremated and launched over his childhood favorite park inside a firework. It seems like a fitting name for a beautiful effect in the middle of such an ugly war.

15,000 Pencils Used to Create Incredible Bookshelf

2010-10-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, interior designer Johannes Albert used approximately 15,000 pencils to create the incredible bookshelf you see above. Unfortunately, it was a one off project for the Mittledeutscher Velrag publishing company. Click here for more pictures.

Neurosurgeons use MRI-guided lasers to 'cook' brain tumors

2010-10-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

In the seemingly perpetual battle to rid this planet of cancer, a team of neurosurgeons from Washington University are using a new MRI-guided high-intensity laser probe to "cook" brain tumors that would otherwise be completely inoperable. According to Dr. Eric C. Leuthardt, this procedure "offers hope to certain patients who had few or no options before," with the laser baking the cancer cells deep within the brain while leaving the good tissue around it unmarred. The best part, however, is that this is already moving beyond the laboratory, with a pair of doctors at Barnes-Jewish Hospital using it successfully on a patient last month. Regrettably, just three hospitals at the moment are equipped with the Monteris AutoLITT device, but if we know anything about anything related to lasers, it'll be everywhere in no time flat.

Razer Mouse Bungee promises to let your corded mice roam freely

2010-10-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Mouse bungees may not be the most popular gaming accessories around, but we're sure there's at some dedicated gamers reading this that wouldn't think of using a corded mouse without one, and Razer is now hoping to increase that user base with a mouse bungee of its own. Developed in partnership with Mouse Bungee -- the company itself -- the contraption simply promises to keep your mouse's cord off your desk and not impede on your freedom of movement in any way thanks to suitably springy suspension mechanism and a sturdy, non-slip base. No word on pricing just yet, but you can look for it to be available sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. Full press release is after the break.

Seagate tosses 3TB hard drives into BlackArmor NAS, stores a digital boatload

2010-10-03T07:42:00.001-07:00

It wasn't that long ago that an entire network attached storage box held just 3TB, but now that Seagate's reached that capacity with a single five-platter drive, the NAS are getting larger in turn. Though you can't buy a 3TB Barracuda XT all by its lonesome, you can today order four of them direct from Seagate in a BlackArmor NAS 440 with RAID 5, for the presumably reasonable price of $1,899. If that's too rich for your local area network's blood, however, we hear there'll also be a 6TB NAS 220 unit with a pair of disks for a penny under $650. Let's just hope the giant fan on the back of this box keeps those suckers cool.

Super Talent's CKB USB key is more key, less USB

2010-10-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

Cute, right? Super Talent's latest USB key most certainly lives up to its name, with the metallic CKB being offered in a pair of hues (nickel and black) and in a handful of capacities (2/4/8/16/32GB). They'll only hum along at USB 2.0 speeds, but they're said to be water resistant and warrantied for life. Mum's the word on pricing, but c'mon, you know you're buying eight regardless -- one for each door of your digital mansion.

Should Entrepreneurs Bet It All On The Billion Dollar Exit, Or Cash Out Small?

2010-10-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

One of the most interesting discussions at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference was the debate between the “super angels” and VCs. No, I’m not referring to “AngelGate” or the question of which investor group squeezes entrepreneurs the most. Despite what they say, all investors are in the game for personal financial gain; it’s not about nurturing entrepreneurs or doing good for the world. The most interesting discussion—for entrepreneurs—was about whether a startup should raise lots of venture capital and go for the billion-dollar exit, or raise less money and be happy with a few million. This issue is much more important than it seems: it affects the way you grow your company, and the focus you place on products and customers. When you go for the billion-dollar exit, you have to start with a master plan for owning a significant slice of a multi-billion-dollar market. You need to develop grand products for grand markets. This is good—you need a vision and a long-term focus. The problems begin when you start raising capital and racing to grow at all costs. And that is where the real chasm between the “super angels” and VCs is developing.
At the TechCruch event, “super angel” Dave McClure argued that there was nothing wrong with the $50 million exit. “It’s not a bad thing to be building a small mousetrap”, he said. McClure told me, after the panel, that he believes that raising too much money can be harmful to a startup—it leads to bad habits and increases the chance of failure. In the race to build billion-dollar businesses, companies lose sight of their customers and crash more readily, after burning through large amounts of capital. By aiming for smaller markets, startups can have a greater customer focus and build better products. And they can differentiate themselves from competitors going after bigger markets.
McClure is right. When you raise small amounts of money, expectations are small, and you have to bootstrap your way to success. You have to focus on building products very fast, validating that your customers really need them; and on bringing in revenue. The $50,000 to $250,000 that you raise through angel capital doesn’t go very far. You are largely on your own.
When instead you have millions in the bank after raising venture capital, you have the luxury of building products that are more strategic. You don’t need to ask customers what they need; you can let your gut guide you. This is great if your instincts are correct—you might build a Twitter or FaceBook. But entrepreneurs are almost always wrong. They really don’t understand their customers; they learn by trial and error. And what happens in the venture industry is that when one big-name VC funds one particular type of company, every other VC jumps on the same boat; it becomes a mad race to gain market share. Witness what is happening in the location-based services market with Foursqare and Gowalla—with all the new competitors. And with all the Groupon clones. Only a handful of the hundreds of companies that are receiving funding will survive. Maybe one—and this is a big maybe—will become a sustainable billion-dollar business.
Then there is the issue of the exit. If you’re a founder and own 50% of your startup, a $30 million acquisition can be life-changing. With a $15 million payout, you go from poverty to riches. You’re set for life: you can afford to send the kids to the best schools, buy a multi-million dollar house on the hills, live a great lifestyle, and personally fund your next startup (or you can become a “super angel”). The difference to you between $15 million and $150 million (if you go for the billion-dollar exit) is small—the extra millions really won’t change your world that much more. But for VCs, these small exits don’t make sense: because of the big funds they manage and the limited numbers of companies VCs can involve themselves with, they need to make big investments to get big returns. A modest 2x return is of no interest to them. That is why they often block acquisition offers of less than $100 million. VCs see the acquisition offer as an endorsement of the company’s products and usually want to invest even more so they can go for the billion-dollar exit. This usually puts them at odds with the company founders. (There are shades of gray here: VCs can always buy part of the stock that founders own, but all else is the same. And VCs often force companies to replace company founders with “more seasoned management” as the companies grow.)
As well, the lower the price, the higher the number of potential acquirers. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of companies that can do a $50M deal and only a few that can spend $500M on an acquisition.
There are also alternatives to early exits, as I wrote about in this piece: Is Entrepreneurship Just About the Exit? Most entrepreneurs are happy to build a lifestyle business that pays the bills and lets them learn; grow; and “enjoy” the entrepreneurial journey. Angel investors may well endorse this strategy if they can see the steady, long-term returns.
So my advice to entrepreneurs is to always think big and dream of changing the world—but be pragmatic and live within your means. You are more likely to succeed—and possibly to build a billion dollar business—if you stay focused on your customers and grow at a sustainable pace. And if you’re lucky enough to get a life-changing acquisition offer like Mike Arrington just did, follow his example. Go for the billion dollars when you start your next company—by then you’ll have more experience and you won’t be risking the kids’ college education.

A Camera With A Wooden Knob

2010-10-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

A friend borrows a friend's SLR and somehow loses the control knob. He then delays the return a couple days, finally giving it back with a new, beautifully etched wooden control knob. That is a good friend.