Via http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/04/contact-1-a-200000-piece-lego-masterwork-by-mike-doyle

Image from: http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/524-how-big-is-the-international-space-station.html

Sometimes a good design just works.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could be in two places at once? You would probably need your own double to make that happen. And that is exactly the thinking behind the Double, a device designed to empower you beyond your physical presence.

The Double is a virtual presence (telepresence) device that could be described as a Segway with an iPad. You control it via tablet (iPad, no doubt), and it allows you to virtually roam halls, carry on conversations, and do everything you might need to do otherwise in person. The device even allows you to adjust your viewing angle and/or height, giving you the chance to have those important face to virtual face conversations.

The beauty is that much of the required communications hardware is found within the iPad, making it easier to produce and get onto the market. In fact, the first run of the $2000 device is sold out, but they are taking orders now for 2013 delivery. Check out the video below for an example of Double in action, and you just might come to the same conclusion I have – I need my own Double.

The upcoming fall season, and hopefully the milder temperatures that come with it, find me in a reflective mood this morning. As often in these moods, I look back at times past and feel lucky that situations led to lessons learned. Which leads me to my thoughts today – next time, I’ll just use a towing service, maybe one like San Jose Tow Truck Service.

Back in my younger days, I was lucky enough to have a 69 Corvette. It was a gift from my father, and the car was amazing to a nerd like me. From the swoopy design to the T-Tops and pop out rear windows (a great design feature), the car was everything a young man could want in a sports car.

Now, this was in the late 70s, and the car wasn’t exactly new. But it was in great shape, and it got noticed as I drove it in our small town. The ego was inflated to historic proportions, and I went from nerd to cool in record time, if only within the confines of the space between my own ears.

But the first night out in the vehicle, I had a discovery that brought me back to earth. I don’t know if you are familiar with Corvettes of that vintage, but they have these wonderful headlights that pop up when you turn them on, putting the light at an optimal road angle and tuck away when not needed.

At least this is what they did when functioning. But when I turned on the lights that evening, nothing happened. Well, that is not exactly true, I could see a glow coming from underneath the front of the car. Upon inspection, I found that the lights were working, but remained tucked into their resting position beneath the hood. Okay, no problem, I am a resourceful nerd, so I pried them up. But as soon as I would get one headlight up, it would pop back down again.

I tinkered with it longer, and discovered that the headlights operated through a vacuum assist from the engine. Without a vacuum being applied, the spring loaded assembly would retract the headlights. I tried in vain to find a hose or some other means of tapping the engine for a vacuum source, but none was to be found. So, I found a twig and used it to wedge one headlight in the up position, hoping that it would be enough to make it home.

Back in the car, I headed back out and got underway. The propped up headlight worked fine, and I could see the road clearly. But then, as luck would have it, a bump in the road caused the twig to dislodge, sending the headlight popping downward and leaving me, who was driving too fast in an effort to get home quicker, suddenly in the dark.

Now, let me tell you something about back home in Eastern Kentucky. The roads there are built up, down, and around the ever present hills of Appalachia. The curves were so prevalent that we actually used the phrase “straight stretch” to identify portions of the road that were not a curve. So, as you would imagine, when the lights went out I was thrown into a little guessing game. The object of the game – which way does the road go now? I hit the breaks, but it was only extreme familiarity with the road that saved me from a rather high embankment. Even then, I was literally inches from going over the edge.

Now, it was a gentle slope and not a plummeting drop off as you would imagine the movie version might be, but it still scared me. After catching my breath, I got out of the vehicle and propped up BOTH headlights, one for a backup just in case. I drove from that point at a much slower rate, and I watched oncoming curves with an eagle eye, committing them to memory just in case. I think my understanding of defensive driving was born on that night.

In the end, it only took a new light switch (with built in vacuum switch, I may add) to make the headlights work as they should. But the next time I find myself in that situation, I think i will opt for a towing service to connect the dots from a to b. I love adventure, but there is a fine line between it and foolishness. Or so I have come to understand.

The preceding was a sponsored post for D & M Towing and Transport, however, all the points and views are my own. The events are true, and I am at least slightly wiser from the experience.

Everyone likes a bargain, and one place that I have been lucky to find quite a few is on the Apple App Store. In fact, you can often find higher priced apps for a fraction of  its normal price, or even free, when they are first introduced or to celebrate a new version. And this is where AppZapp can help.

AppZapp, the App Bargain Guide for the Apple App Store for iPhone & iPad, finds all of the current deals for you and lets you go directly to the bargains. AppZapp works through one of three different options, a free iPhone App, an iPhone Pro version, and an iPad Pro version. The good news is that, if you check it out now, the iPad Pro version is currently free.

AppZapp has been well received, and as I check this morning it has a 5 star current version, with 4.5 stars overall. In other words, the users seem to really like it. AppZapp is a small startup from Switzerland, and from the looks of things they are off on the right foot, so to speak. On top of the bargain hunting apps, they also have a growing community built right into the app to share all of those great deal discoveries. Couple that with the app’s capability for custom alerts and you might discover all kinds of economical and interesting apps to really empower your smart device.