People who wonder what 3-D printing is really good for should get a copy of Fabricated, a new book by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman.
The book opens with a day in the not-too distant future when "Deluxe food cartridges" print a celebratory dinner with fresh tuna steaks, couscous and a wildly-swirling chocolate cake that has a different picture on every slice. In the day's news: A mining disaster is averted when 3-D printers make replacement parts. A next-door neighbor lives in an eco-friendly "Foam Home," with weather-sensing walls and another neighbor died after purchasing "vanity body parts" from a guy who wasn't careful about cleanliness.
The book's first chapter is titled: "Everything is becoming Science Fiction." We may disagree with some of the predictions, but this is fun stuff; $28 from Wiley.com. For Star Trek fans, this is all old hat. That's a digitally printed old hat.
Kindle or iPad
We were at a launch party for Suffer No Fools, a new PBS documentary, when a guy asked us if he should get the latest Kindle or the new iPad Mini. This is a tough question -- and he was a tough-looking guy.
We praised the virtues of the Kindle Paperwhite. It has a soft light for reading at night, but you can also take it out into bright sunlight. It's a dedicated e-reader, so you're not tempted to check your mail instead of reading your books. It has a touch screen like an iPad and is 30 percent lighter than the iPad Mini. It's a lot cheaper, too: $119 instead of $249 for the iPad Mini or $199 for the new Kindle Voyage.
But despite the numbers, reality often works out differently. We love our iPad Mini. We have the older Kindle and the Kindle Fire, but we rarely use either now. The iPad Mini is so versatile: we like to switch from reading a book to reading our mail, and even though we could do this on the Kindle Fire, we don't; it doesn't feel natural. Our newspaper and magazine subscriptions are in living color, which is also true on the Kindle Fire, but not the Kindle Paperwhite. At night the iPad Mini can be switched to white text on a black background, which is easy on the eyes.
Ironically, a few years back, Joy bought a Kindle for her brother-in-law, convinced he would stop using his iPad 2 for reading books once he discovered the joy of the Kindle. We don't think he ever took it out of its box. This Kindle thing may not turn out to be a winner.
Desk Lights
OK, we're caving in -- a little bit -- to the desire from readers for gift suggestions:
Bob pointed Joy to desk lamps with flexible necks since they put the light where you need it. Now Joy is pleased as punch with the new LED Gooseneck Lamp, $50 from NewerTech.com.
There are cheaper gooseneck lamps out there, but this is so green. When you tap the base, it turns on. Tap it again and it changes to a low-level light that is always on. This makes it a night light. But, what about the power consumption if it's always on? Well, LEDs use very little energy and can be on for five years. We keep it on the dining room table, so if we get up for a midnight snack, we won't stumble in the dark.
Freebie Control for Holiday Lights
D-Link is giving away 10 total Wi-Fi Smart Plugs, (normally $40 to $50 each) as part of a contest to those enter by submitting a photo of their holiday lights to blog.dlink.com/holiday. Smart plugs make your holiday lights go on and off automatically. You can control them remotely and set limits, so they automatically turn off.
They also offer tips, such as, don't tell friends on Facebook that you're going away for the holidays. That's like posting a sign on your lawn. A sign you do want to post tells potential burglars you have a home alarm system, even if you don't. D-Link says that 60 percent of burglars skip homes with burglar alarm notices. (Whom did they interview?)
Finding Clip Art
The other day Joy was showing her friend Frieda how to add a picture to a Word document.
Frieda has a really old version of Microsoft Word, and Joy was astonished to discover that a search on the word "flowers" turned up nothing, a big contrast with the rich choices available in later versions of Word, which automatically search Office Online.
Now Microsoft is replacing the Office Online image collection with Bing's image trove. Searching at bing.com/images (or by going to bing.com and clicking "images") results in royalty-free art. To find Google's version of this, search on the words "Google advanced image search." Click on the first result and scroll down till you see the various options, such as "free to use and share," or "free to use and share, even commercially."
Internuts
• Facebook.com/thanks creates a slideshow from photos you've already uploaded to Facebook, and any you add. Click "share" to share it on Facebook.
• Apps.NPR.org/best-books-2014 displays dozens of colorful book jackets from the best books of 2014. Hover over a book for a mini review, then click for more details. This is a very pleasant way to browse new books. We selected Rebel Yell, about Stonewall Jackson, for our history club.
• JimmyR.com has links to lots of interesting things on the Web. It's all text, but organized in categories like "Science," and "What's Hot." We learned, for example, that students have fewer friends now than in the '70s, but are less lonely, more extroverted and individualistic.
• "BBC One Pufferfish." Google those words to see an amazing video of a puffer fish drawing elaborate designs in the sand to impress a female. Imagine: guys trying to impress girls.
• Smithsonianmag.com Click "Smart News" to find fun articles. We learned why toothpaste makes everything taste bitter, why we weigh more on Mondays and why the International Space Station is getting an espresso machine.
• PsychTests.com offers free psychological testing. They also do surveys. Recently they found that perfectionism is not a trait that bosses should look for in perspective employees.
SundayMonday Business on 12/15/2014