Archive for May 22nd, 2008

Readers: I Have A Birthday Coming Up And There’s A Jet Bike For Sale On eBay (Hint)

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Cool Stuff, Interesting News

jetbike-1.jpg I've been emailing my Congressman forever requesting he make jet engines required safety equipment on all vehicles, but does he listen to the pleas of common citizens? Noooo. So now I have to buy a blackmarket rocket bike from a potential scam artist on eBay in order to procure a safe damn bike. And here it is. Built by "the world's top pulsejet engine designer and builder" Robert Maddox, the engine puts out 50-60 pounds of thrust and is capable of speeding the bike up to approximately 75 MPH. Sounds good right? Well it's not bad, but even such a paltry engines come with warnings.
JET ENGINES ARE DANGEROUS!! BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK THIS ENGINES RUNS AT 140 DECIBELS AND GLOWS RED-COOL!!
Glows red-cool. I like that, I'm gonna start using it. Anyway, you readers get together and buy this for me for my birthday. Because if you don't, well, it'll be the third year in a row I didn't get anything. Well, that's not entirely true -- last year the dog left me a little present on the bed. Whee, shit on the bed, happy birthday to me! The sad part is that I actually appreciated the gesture. A couple more pictures (including a pretty sweet looking jet-kart) and a video of the bike in action, after the jump. And, just for the hell of it, I added a funny video of a kid on a firework powered skateboard (watch the whole video).

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Yamaha Branded Deux Ex Machina Motorcycle Exoskeleton: A Segway On Steroids [Super Segway]

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Technology

AC_Deus_5.jpgArt Center Pasadena student Jake Loniak has taken everything that is cool about exoskeletons and motorcycles and crammed it into this Yamaha-branded Deux Ex Machina concept motorcycle. The vehicle is powered by ultra-capacitors and doped nano-phoshpate batteries (similar to the ones currently used in hybrid cars) and it is controlled using 36 pneumatic muscles with 2 linear actuators set along a spine consisting of seven artificial vertebrae. Even the helmet is pneumatically attached.

AC_Deus_vertebrae_4.jpg
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If constructed, the designer believes that it could achieve a top speed of 75 mph (0-60mph in 3 seconds) with a recharge time of 15 minutes and cycle time of 1 hour. We may never know if that is true, but I say throw some sort of storage compartment on this thing and let's find out. [Art Center Pasadena via Hell For Leather]


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Yamaha Branded Deus Ex Machina Motorcycle Exoskeleton: A Segway On Steroids [Super Segway]

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Technology

Art Center Pasadena student Jake Loniak has taken everything that is cool about exoskeletons and motorcycles and crammed it into this Yamaha-branded Deus Ex Machina concept motorcycle. The vehicle is powered by ultra-capacitors and doped nano-phoshpate batteries (similar to the ones currently used in hybrid cars) and it is controlled using 36 pneumatic muscles with 2 linear actuators set along a spine consisting of seven artificial vertebrae. Even the helmet is pneumatically attached.



If constructed, the designer believes that it could achieve a top speed of 75 mph (0-60mph in 3 seconds) with a recharge time of 15 minutes and cycle time of 1 hour. We may never know if that is true, but I say throw some sort of storage compartment on this thing and let's find out. [Art Center Pasadena via Hell For Leather]


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BCBS Of Florida Only Sends Reader 12% Of What They Owe Him [Executive Email Carpet Bombs]

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Consumer Interest

The good news is that Ander has gotten checks from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. The bad news is that they're $6265 off the mark of what he should be getting. He has worked with BCBS and the Florida Insurance Commissioner, but neither has been able to successfully make BCBS' check-sending system match the reality of their financial obligations to Ander...

I’m a long time reader, but I’ve never posted anything. I need help, I’m at the end of my wits. Here’s the down-low:

December 10th, 2007 I had a bi-lateral arthroplasty on my jaw for TMJ. This was medically necessary as proven by an MRI and approved beforehand by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of FL. The grand total came to $7125, and since the doctor was a non-participating provider I had to pay in full up front and the doctor’s office would file with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of FL for me to get reimbursed.

A couple weeks later I called up the automated claims line to check the status and it said it was denied, and the human rep I was transferred to said it was for lack of information on the claim. Come to find out, the doctor’s office had submitted it with the office provider number, not the doctor’s number which BC/BS required. It was immediately refilled with the correct number. I called to check on it a couple weeks later to find it was denied AGAIN for the same reason. The info was faxed over again and this time I spoke to Felicia and got a confirmation number that they did actually get the info. Two weeks later it’s the same deal. They never got the info.

Now I’m getting a little frustrated. I called the Insurance Commissioner on 2-19-08 and was working with Debbie. She spoke to the insurance lady at the doctor’s office and we sent Debbie all the information we had: the original claim, the EOBs, everything. Debby sent BC/BS a nice letter stating they had 30 days to remedy the claim. About a month later I got a check in the mail and a letter from Debby saying the claim was resolved! Too bad it was $430 for a claim that was less than half of what it should be. I called back Debby and told her NO, it was NOT resolved. She said there was nothing else she could do and I should speak with my local insurance rep at my work who could file a grievance and appeal.

I decided to call up customer service one more time on 5-5-08. This time I spoke with Stephanie who was very helpful. I told her the whole deal and explained that the claim should be filed with the $7125 amount, not $3100 for a claim that I or the doctor’s office still don’t know what is for. She then did reprocess the claim with the correct amount and correct provider number and furnished me with a reference number. Thursday, 5-15-08, I got another $430 check for the aforementioned mysterious claim.

Today, 5-20-08, I called a lawyer to set up a consultation. I’d really rather just get my claim paid than have to go through all this legal nonsense. Please Consumerist, do you or the venerable hive-mind have any tips, or can find me some addresses I can drop a formidable EECB on? Thanks for any help.

We'll help you get that EECB started. It looks like the email address format is lastname.firsname@bcbsfl.com, or sometimes just lastname@bcbsfl.com.

Here are some company executives:

Robert I. Lufrano Chairman and CEO
R. Chris Doerr EVP, Chief Administrative Officer, and CFO
Fred Ryder SVP, Corporate Development and Strategy
George W. Foyo [President, Operations, South Florida]
Tony Jenkins [President, Market]
Daryl Veach [Chief Actuary & Vice President]
Jeannette W. Ekh [Chief Information Officer]

How did we figure this out?

1. We googled Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.
2. The website is bcbsfl.com
3. We googled *@bcbsfl.com
4. Glancing through several pages of results we saw an email address or two that gave us the company format.
5. BCBSFL's Google Finance page had some of their high level execs.
6. Googling "Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Florida" gave us some more execs.
7. Now just combine and you'll have yourself a functional executive email carpet bomb.

(Photo: Getty)


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NVIDIA gobbles up ray tracing software maker RayScale

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Technology

Filed under: , ,

Details are pretty slim on this one at the moment, but PC Perspective is reporting that NVIDIA has snapped up the Utah-based start-up RayScale, a maker of ray tracing software. As PC Perspective points out, the move is made particularly interesting in light of some recent comments made by NVIDIA CTO David Kirk, who mused about the merging of ray tracing and rasterization into a "hybrid renderer" of sorts, but didn't offer any firm details on the company's plans at the time. No word on a price tag for the acquisition just yet, or any other details for that matter, but it seems like things should be getting a bit more official in the next few days.
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Pentax Optio W60 Extreme Weather Cam Good for Dips, Not Dives [Digital Cameras]

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Technology

The Optio W60 is the most waterproof Pentax cam yet. A step up from the W30, it's a 10MP point-and-shoot that will survive at depths up to 13 feet for two hours, good enough for the pool, beach and most non-competitive snorkeling. It also handles freezing temps (14°F) and is certified dustproof against dirt, sand and dust. The Optio features 5x optical zoom, 28mm wide-angle shooting, and HD video recording. It comes in silver and blue and will be out in July for $330. Maybe this summer I'll test it against the Olympus 1030SW and others in a Bathtub Battlemodo. Additional picture after the jump. [Pentax]


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Will Mankind Ever Wear Video Glasses? [Question Of The Day]

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Technology

Video glasses. They should have taken over by now. The technology is good enough and cheap enough for the entire tech-buying world to be watching movies on simulated 40-inch screens (rather than squinting at their phone's pitiful 2.4-inch display, pretending we can really see the movie). But we're not. For well over a decade, Man has outright refused to sport a pair of video glasses, as if He feels a revulsion for oversized electronic eyewear from deep within His DNA. But could times change?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.


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HomeCamera Turns Your Webcam into a Surveillance Camera [Featured Windows Download]

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Uncategorized


Windows only: Web site and software HomeCamera turns your desktop webcam into a web-enabled surveillance camera. Just sign up and download their desktop software to get started. In just a few minutes, you can check an image or video from your webcam in real-time from any browser. Even better, you can set up motion-detecting alerts that will email you with a shot or short clip of what triggered the alert. The Windows-only HomeCamera is completely free during their beta and will remain free with limitations once they leave beta.


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Twittering from the command line

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Uncategorized

Filed under:


Twitter users often have trouble explaining just exactly what the service is for. The site specifically asks "What are you doing right now?" A simple interface and multiple ways to update means people have started hooking it to different real world objects... objects that aren't reporting what they had for lunch. After the break, we'll cover a couple devices that have interfaced Twitter to the real world and how you can update from your command line.




Justin Wickett was looking for a way to control his room lights via his cellphone. By using Bob Paauwe's iLink INSTEON software and Twitter, he was able to control basic functions. Now he can SMS text like "bedroom lights off" and the software does his bidding. Of course, in the time it takes to send and process this request you could just as easily walk over and shut of the lights. We're sure he's planning more features than just that.


Adafruit Industries is selling an interesting device called the Botanicalls Twitter kit. It will post directly to Twitter when your plant is in need of water. Using a moisture sensor and built in Ethernet port it just requires some basic soldering to get started.


Pictured above is Ninja Networks' Shoutwall from Defcon (photo: pinguino). It receives and displays direct SMS messages and Twitter updates. It also does reverse number lookups on Dodgeball to get user icons. An Ericsson T39m with a data cable is used because it provides an easy SMS interface. Take it to a party and your service provider is sure to wonder how you managed to receive 4000 inbound txt messages in one weekend.

curl --basic --user "$user:$pass" --data-ascii \
"status=testing123" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json

If you want to strap twitter to your own project, it's probably best to learn how to update from the command line. Dave Thomas with Linux Journal posted how to do it using cURL. It's definitely an easy way to get your feet wet with the Twitter API.
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This Is What I’m Spending Less On [Ask The Consumerists]

Posted by Ry on May 22 2008 | Consumer Interest

I decided recently that I'm spending too much money and decided to cut back on some discretionary items. Here are a few things I reduced, or changes I've made in my spending habits:

Monthly Reductions
—-—-—-
Took off text message packet from cellphone (I only had added it for a now defunct text/cellphone pic heavy project). Savings: $10/month
Cut piano lessons from weekly to bi-weekly.
Savings: $100/month
Reduced Netflix plan from four-at-a-time to two-at-a-time.
Savings: $13/month
Eating out less, cooking more.
Savings: ~$100/month

One-offs
—-—
Fought harder for Commerce Bank fees than I might have normally.
Savings: $45
Had to replace broken cellphone. Opted for cheap model on eBay instead of getting the same semi-nice one.
Savings: $140
Going to hit up WaMu for their one per year courtesy fee waiver.
Savings: $35

TOTAL
—--
One-time savings total: $215
Monthly savings: $223
Yearly savings: $2,891

Going to hold a tag sale this Sunday as well. Have you adjusted your spending habits lately? What are you doing to save more or spend less money?

(Photo: Getty)


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