The Nod ~ One Ring to Control Them All...

Andy Boxall at DigitalTrends spots the Nod, a ring which turns your finger into a high-tech magic wand...

"Essentially a clever, wearable universal controller, which will interact with many mobile devices running Android or iOS, Windows or Mac computers, the Nest thermostat, TV, and even connected lightbulbs. To make things work, use gestures."

Big Steel Box ~ How Ship'n Containers Are Made!

Anish at MarineInsight answers How Are Shipping Containers Made? by pointing out this great video by the folks at Big Steel Box...

African Tech Hubs ~ Mapping Creative Hotspots...

WhiteAfrican spotlights map of African Tech Hubs...

BIG MEN ~ Boynton's African Oil Dilemma Docu...

Thanks to CGDev's Todd Moss for spotting Rachel Boynton's new BIG MEN documentary which...

"Follows the Texas-based Kosmos Energy as it searches for oil off the West African coast and then, soon after their discovery, as they renegotiate with a new government in Accra. The film also delves into the entrenched corruption and violence in the Niger Delta, providing a stark backdrop to the growing worries about what might happen in Ghana. I was lucky enough to see the film recently and it has three big strengths:

1. Incredible access to key players, including inside Kosmos, the Government of Ghana, and the swamps of the Delta. 
2. The complexities of the issues facing countries and investors are thoughtfully handled with care and subtlety. 
3. The tension of a real-life thriller. "

Check out trailer...

Rojak Man ~ Melodic Malaysian Food Hawker;-)

Rojak Man food hawker from Gurney Drive, Penang, Malaysia!

Seaboard ~ ROLI's Continuous Musical Keyboard!

Check out ROLI's Seaboard...

"A radically new musical instrument that reimagines the piano keyboard as a soft, continuous surface. [...] The Seaboard’s polyphonic pitch bend, vibrato and per-note dynamic changes are all available at your fingertips, marrying the intuitiveness of a traditional instrument with the versatility of digital technology."

GEMSI ~ Hackerspaces & Ventures in MENA...

Just had nice chat with Bilal Ghalib one of the instigators of GEMSI -- the Global Entrepreneurship & Maker Space Initiative...

"We help hacker spaces take root in the Middle East and beyond. Together, we can create inclusive spaces to solve problems, start businesses, and strengthen our communities."

Smartlens ~ Google's Cameras on Contacts IP...

Patent Bolt spots Google's contact lens camera and electronics IP...

Evolution of Religion ~ Tree of Viral Irrationality...

Check out compelling infographic by Simon Davies -- Evolutionary Tree of Religion -- showing irrational ideas mutating like a bad virus...

Sensory Superpowers ~ Gershon D @ TEDxW...

MIT Media Lab PhD candidate Gershon Dublon from Responsive Environments group speaks at TEDxWarwick on Being There, ultimately exploring and engaging with sensory superpowers!

Transparent Bonnet ~ Jaguar's Forward Vision...

Very cool auto augmentation project by Jaguar to create a Transparent Bonnet...

Sexy Sustainability ~ Sandra Richter @ TEDxU...

MIT Media Lab colleague Sandra Richter on Sexy Sustainability and our urban future at TEDxUtrecht, my favorite Dutch city!-)

Bye Bye Barcelona ~ On Tourisms Downsides...

Feargus O'Sullivan at Atlantic Cities asks what's Ruining Barcelona?

"'Barcelona? It's a theme park.' Spain's second city is so effortlessly attractive that it's hard to believe anyone could fall out of love with it. A new documentary called Bye Bye Barcelona, however, shows some long-term residents wondering aloud how much longer they can stay where they are. The problem? Tourism, specifically a local industry that has become so dominant it risks stifling ordinary, everyday life in the city's heart."

Rush Hour Tips ~ Dutch Train Platform Display!

Dutch trainco's demonstrate cool Rush Hour Tips display...

"Where will the train stop? Where can I find an empty seat? Where can I board with my bike? NS and ProRail wanted to improve the transfer process at station platforms: more comfortable, faster and safer. The result of an extensive research and ideation process was a 180 meter long LED strip suspended above the platform showing travellers everything they need to prepare for the next incoming train. Most importantly: using red, orange and green color bands it indicates the occupancy of the different parts of the train. A 3 month pilot at Den Bosch train station proved to be very successful: customers gave NS a significantly higher valuation at the end of the trial period than before. Plans for a nation-wide rollout of the system are at an advanced stage."

Pyro Board ~ 2D Rubens' Tube Burner Array!

Steph at WebUrbanist spotlights Beats on Fire: Music Visualized with Movement of Flames, a 2D Rubens' Tube array with 2,500 holes which makes a pyromaniacal MIDI synthesizer!

Epic Dronescapes ~ Views From Up Above!

Epic Timelapses ~ People & Places Fast-Forward!

Citi Bike Rides ~ 48hrs, 75Krides, NYC Cycles!

Kottke spots Jeff Ferzoco and team's visualization of 48 hours of Citi Bike Rides in mid-September...

Battlefield Medicine ~ Accelerated Learnings...

Battlefield Medicine means treating those injured in or affected by combat. While the carnage of war and violence is horrific, an ironic good has come from it because normal civilian medicine has advanced by techniques first learned in treating war wounds, a topic I touched on a few weeks ago by looking at the WWII Guinea Pig Club. These documentaries survey this landscape...

Ant Architects ~ Cool Properties & Capabilities...

Ants are collective creators of remarkable homes and temporary structures. To explore this further, check out when a fire ant colony is filled with molten aluminum and the cast is dug up and cleansed... See more lovely example casts at Anthill Art! Fire ant groups also demonstrate remarkable hydrophobic properties... This means they can self-configure into massive rafts... Curiously enough, as a collective they also behave like a fluid... A different species creates a giant ant hill which is here filled with concrete and excavated... To get a better sense of how ants live and organize, here's the investigative BBC show, Planet Ant ~ Life Inside The Colony of Central American leafcutter ants... Maybe that whets your appetite for the BBC's Ant Attack! And NatGeo's City of Ants too...