Instant Paper

InstaPaper website

InstaPaper website

I’m still thoroughly enjoying my Amazon Kindle and Apple iPhone 3G, and there is a great website/application that helps me capture online articles for them: Instapaper.

I installed their shortcut into Firefox and now, whenever I see a lengthy article I would like to peruse later, I click Instapaper’s Read Later shortcut up in my menu bar.  The article is saved and later I can visit the Instapaper website on my Kindle or use the Instapaper application on my iPhone to quickly access and read it.  There is an option to show the article in text-only mode, which is useful for the Kindle.

The Instapaper website also has a Give me something to read link where interesting articles are collected – I found several of interest.  But for me the richest mine for great articles has been the books article archive at Salon.com.  I once was a paid premium member of that service, but gave it up because the gems were too few for the cost, but lately the service has been free and accessible.  Another source of lengthy and interesting articles is The New Atlantis.

I still find the Kindle far preferable to the iPhone for this sort of thing, since it has a much bigger screen and the E ink technology is easier on the eyes.  One simply has to scroll too much and too often on the iPhone when reading a long article.

So, if you have a Kindle or an iPhone or just need an easy way to save online articles for later viewing with your computer’s browser, I highly recommend Instapaper.

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Hot Air

Hydrogen Hoax?

Hydrogen Hoax?

I enjoyed the article The Hydrogen Hoax by Robert Zubrin in The New Atlantis. He debunks the concept of hydrogen-powered cars.  But I am far less sanguine than he about ethanol fuels as an alternative.

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Human Slinky

I have to wonder how the human slinky
would do on stairs…

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Another Me

Another Me in the 1990s

Another Me in the 1990s

I used www.yearbookyourself.com to explore some alternate realities.  Thanks go to Josh Williams for the link.

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Mechanical Mule

Big Dog or Mechanical Mule?

Big Dog or Mechanical Mule?

This robot developed with US military funding is a bit disturbing to watch!  Use the link so you can watch the video and see how it hops, climbs, handles icy terrain, etc.  I just hope they can modify its engine whine into a nice bray.

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