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To celebrate Timex’s 150th anniversary, Timex and Core77 ran a contest to design a concept watch. In the year 2154, one would be able to tell the time simply by looking at one’s thumb. While this design is a runner-up in the event, the idea is pretty fresh.

The disposable device is designed to be clipped to the wearer's thumbnail. Pressing the tip of the nail would activate a luminescent time display.

[via: CNET] [winners] [nail watch]

SQLite is a wonderful flatfile database system that’s just gaining exposure in the PHP-programming population. For moderately-sized databases, SQLite offers speed and performance gains over even MySQL. The native object-oriented interface is also very easy to use.

Because SQLite is a relatively new player in the PHP arena, there is currently a serious shortage of good administration tools targeting it. While MySQL has phpMyAdmin and a bunch of other tools, SQLite is left on the side.

phpLiterAdmin is a new opensource PHP-SQLite administration tool that shows great promise. Although its author currently has more experience with MySQL, he is a skilled PHP developer who is capable of undertaking substantial projects. This project’s on my watch-list.

A pair of Firefox themes appeared not long ago that look truly magnificent (in my opinion) on a KDE 4 desktop. The Oxygen theme blends well with KDE 4 icon-wise with its Oxygen artwork. The Kde4 + Firefox3 theme focuses on the colors and styles rather than the icons. I ended up going with the latter because of its holistic approach to desktop integration.

Have a look at these smooth themes, and stop complaining that Firefox is too GTK-like:
[Oxygen] [Kde4 + Firefox3]

I got a $10 OmniTech flexible keyboard at Staples yesterday. It’s a funny little device that can be rolled up and packed away, while still being fully functional. At first glance, it’s just a regular USB keyboard with a silicone coat instead of a hard plastic shell. Further inspection through the translucent silicone confirmed that the innards were, indeed, identical to those of a regular keyboard. It consists of two flexible circuit boards overlayed over each other. Each layer has a different pattern of traces, and each keypress occurs at a unique junction to connect the circuits.

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After having dug to a depth of 10 yards last year, New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, Michigan scientists dug to a depth of 20 yards, and shortly after, headlines in the Higgins Times newspaper read: “Michigan archaeologists have found traces of 200 year old copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers.”

One week later, “The Baxter Bulletin” in South Carolina reported the following: “After digging as deep as 30 yards in a corn field near Mtn. Home, Bubba Johnson, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, South Carolina had already gone wireless.”

found here, a variation of this.