LED's to date have been pretty good, we use them everywhere, laptops, flashlights, washer and dryer, you name it. they're the tiny little glowing lights that last for years and consume very little electricity.

but they've never been very bright. oh sure, a flashlight with a few white LEDs can light up the branch in front of you while camping, but it's no light bulb right?

Until now that is. geeks, start your finger tapping for the release of the next Ostar!

I came across this via devicepedia (link) and I'm pretty sure it's one step in changing ALOT of things in our lives, so bear with me here.

Imagine the power goes off, but instead of yelling at little Timmy to go find the candles, you simply take the battery out of your cellphone, plug it into the wall, and all the lights in your living room come back on.

Crazy and impossible you say? (or possibly shut up Adam, that's not exciting...).

Here's a quote "a 50 Watt A 60-watt light bulb emits 730 lm, while a 50-watt halogen lamp has an output of approximately 900 lm"

The Ostar emits 1000lm, and we all know led's aren't exactly power hungry and while the Ostar does draw more current than a normal led, it's still a huge step, the idea of powering up all the light in your house with nothing more than a laptop battery that you charge once per month perhaps is amazing.

From an eco standpoint these are great for power savings when retrofitted to ac, but also on a waste side. think about it, how much waste do you suppose are in those special power saving tree hugger bulbs a lot of people use these days? ya sure, they use less power and last longer, but the material WASTE of one of those things (the thicker glass, plastic, etc parts) is worse than just using 20 bulbs. seriously, take a look at the material used in both next time you go to buy one. even the packaging, your standard bulb is usually in cardboard, and those eco (we say it's eco and you're dumb enough to listen) things are in plastic + cardboard.

the Ostar though genuinely makes me happy, it uses little electricity, and it's tiny, thus almost no waste. it's a win win and I can't wait to retrofit my apartment in about a year when they're released.

Today's a big day.

I had no idea... none... mostly because I honestly never looked. My research and learning of new things has dropped lately as it's been coding/sculpting/coding/sleep/repeat.

PHP has a plug-in that can run on a server to do serial output to the ports, I knew there had to be one but I stumbled across it while reading something else, and it was far easier than I ever thought.

why is this cool? now I can combine all that funky php/mysql site coding I do, with all that funky electronics/killer robots that I do.

This also opens the gateway for some more interesting art. it's like some wondrous missing link that pulls everything I do fully together. I can't wrap my head totally around how cool this will be but I have a feeling I'm going to use it for some big projects.

Who'd of guessed anyone at MIT would post something about me one day. A small mention on their site is still a mention. Here's the link MIT Tech in Review. My nerdy little heart was happy.

you can also check out Art Daily news for more reading if so inclined.

(Click here to read online)

Genpets apparently made it onto some venezuelan newscast so I've been overloaded with emails in regards to people wanting to purchase them or condemn me. nothing new, just a lot in another language.

Greetings from Canada.

"I don't know if I can ever find truth, but I'm sure it won't come from following you"
-Bad Religion.

Yes I now have a sidekick.
Introducing Loki, the ferret!

Crystal named him after the god of misceif, which is fitting as he likes nothing better than to climb to the top shelf of my closet and knock things off as he chirps "dook! dook! dook!" (ferret laughing)
I got him at 6 weeks, and he's now 12 weeks old, and atleast doubled if not tripled in size. He's litter trained but hell on 4 legs, hence why Crystal named him Loki.

At first I wasn't sure how he'd get along with my roommates cat or if she'd hurt him. Silly me, He's a ferret, at half her size he chases her.

He's pretty cute and I've really missed not having a pet, so it feels good to have a little fuzzball running around while I program or sculpt (assuming I'm at home and not out at the studio).

For anyone in Canada considering a ferret I'll warn you, it's alot more expensive than in the States. (I had no idea at all because the info I read was US) I got Loki instead of a new laptop as I figured I need to get away from the computer a bit more (and I really don't need a duo core to program php/mysql in notepad anyways... that would just be silly, yes notepad) in the end I could have bought 4 laptops though. I'd read about US pricing, but Canadian vet bills add up, and baby ferrets need 4 visits when they're young for distemper and rabies, and if they got something stuck in their intestines it's $2000-3000 for surgery (I was quoated $250 for the US vets...)
Don't misunderstand though, he's worth every penny I've spent so far. He's quite a funny little guy and wants nothing more than to play play play! and unlike kittens he won't outgrow this stage, he'll just get more snuggly. he's not all that snuggly right now, but he does follow me everywhere I go.

And NO, ferrets don't stink. There's a slight musky smell which I actually don't mind at all. Also they've been domesticated for a few thousand years and have lost most natural instinct so they make good companions. Ferrets were acctually kept as houshold pets before cats became common.

You can see more images of Loki in the updated photo album.

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If you're thinking of getting a ferret check a shelter or other adoption service. an example for ontario is http://www.ferretsforlife.com/

many people feel odd about a 'used' animal, well, with ferrets they NEVER outgrow their kitten playful stage. that's what a ferret is their entire life! it's botha blessing and a curse. By adopting a ferret you'll not only help an animal in need but the cost will be reduced from atleast $600 to perhaps $150. Next little guy I get will most likely come from such a shelter.

While updating the genpets.com site I decided I wanted to add a forum, of course, not a real one as I don't have enough free time to police it. So I needed to create and code something that would look real, which means it would have to update all by itself.

The first trick to that was date control, if all the dates are set for this week, that's not going to do me much good a year from now is it?

I started out writing some longer if statments but then as I read more about the date commands in PHP I realized it could subtract the dates (or add) all on it's own, without having to be told HOW. (IE september 3rd minus 5 days, we'd have to tell the system to update the month to august)

Here's a little snippet of code I used, it works great, so feel free to cut and paste.

// this simple code controls how the dates work on the page. it subtracts days to make it appear the site is always being updated.
//it is also 'smart' so if it subtracts say 5 days from october 2, it will make it september... cool eh?

$date = date('m/d/Y', strtotime("-0 days"));
$date3 = date('m/d/Y', strtotime("-3 days"));

$date10 = date('m/d/Y', strtotime("-10 days"));

$date1 = date('m/d/Y', strtotime("-1 days"));

you don't have to subtract days either, you could subtract a month or year, or whatever suits your fancy, yes it will compensate for leap year etc...

THE LIVING DEAD DOLL ART SHOW: RESURRECTING DESIGNER TOYS
Halloween, there couldn’t be a more appropriate night to debut the first-ever Living Dead Dolls Art Show. The internationally anticipated show premieres October 31, 2006 at New York's famous designer toy gallery "The Showroom NYC". Previously, all Living Dead Dolls have been designed by Ed Long, Damien Glonek and Michael "Mez" Markowitz; this upcoming art show invites over 100 artists to design, interpret and explore their own dark vision of the Living Dead Dolls.

Invited artists have been selected from numerous fields and disciplines, the list is a veritable Who's Who of notoriety and talent; Ed, Damien & Mez creating one-of-a-kind originals, other contributing artists include: Michael Dougherty, artist and screen writer on Superman Returns and X Men 2; comic book legend Simon Bisley; gothic artist and musician Voltaire; toy development power house Inu Art Studios; Oblongs TV show creator and artist Angus Oblong; famous Japanese designer Hiddy; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle writer, creator and artist Kevin Eastman and many more. (edit: by many more they mean nameless folks like myself)

The one-of-a-kind morbid masterpieces will be on display and for sale at the gallery from 11/1/06 to 11/14/06. A special, invitation only, VIP opening-night gala will be held on October 31st, Halloween night.

About Living Dead Dolls: Brought forth from the twisted minds and tortured souls of Ed Long, Damien Glonek and Michael "Mez” Markowitz, the Living Dead Dolls brand has grown to be a creepy collectable of worldwide fame. With over 60 unique characters, 6 different doll lines, apparel, games, stationary, glassware, trading cards and more, Living Dead Dolls has infested the hearts and minds of many building a large international fan following. For more information go to www.livingdeaddolls.com.

About the Gallery: The Showroom NYC is the premiere designer toy gallery; hosting internationally covered events for today’s hot new designs working in toy-related mediums. Located at 117 Second Avenue, for further information visit http://www.theshowroomnyc.com.

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04. Adam Brandejs @ PPCA for Nuit Blanche - Sept 30 (NB)
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Adam Brandejs "Genpets"

Friday September 30, 2006

7pm - 7am

as part of Nuit Blanche

Paul Petro Contemporary Art is pleased to present "Genpets" by
Toronto-based artist Adam Brandejs. This installation will appear
in the front windows at 980 Queen St West for the weekend. The
reception for this work will be held at our Multiples + Small Works
location at 962 Queen St West.

"Genpets are the perfect bio-engineered buddy for the 21 century!
A series of pre-packaged bio-engineered pets perfectly suited to the
ever-increasingly busy lifestyle of the modern consumer."

You can learn more about these 'bio-engineered buddies' by visiting
Adam's web site: http://www.genpets.com

Adam Brandejs is a recent graduate of the Ontario College of Art and
Design. Using hybrid media he explores and questions current social
issues. Since it's creation during his tenure at OCAD "Genpets" has
been exhiibited on several occasions including this year's Art Basel.

--
Paul Petro Contemporary Art
980 Queen St. W.
Toronto, Ontario
M6J 1H1

tel: 416-979-7874
fax: 416-979-3390
info@paulpetro.com
gallery hours: wed-sat 11-5pm

http://www.paulpetro.com