Editor's Picks: What We Like
BackBy CertMag Editor — September 2009
Bytes of Breaking News
If you’re one of those people who can’t wait to watch current events unfold in the media, then maybe Breaking News Online will quench your thirst for knowledge.
The Web site, which was created two years ago by a then-17-year-old from the Netherlands, promises to give news junkies their daily dose of content before some of the leading media outlets. It all began when the teenager was the first to stumble on a crucial Osama bin Laden video and wanted a new platform on which he could share it with the public.
BNOnews.com also flexes its reporting muscles for its sizeable following on Twitter, and it even recently debuted an iPhone app.
So, those who are inclined to keep one eye on their work and another on various news feeds now have a fresh venue to get their fix.
Adding Flair in a Cube Farm
Workstations in cube farms are notoriously boring. To combat the monotony, those who are creatively inclined — think production designers and art directors — often display quirky figurines and posters that skirt, but do not cross, the lines of office respectability.
As the workplace has embraced a new millennial kind of flexibility, employers are increasingly tolerant of employees’ efforts to personalize the workspaces in which they spend a good portion their days, as long as modifications do not negatively impact their work.
Juicy Couture’s new Flexi Keyboard would qualify as an acceptable workplace innovation. In bubblegum pink, with the brand’s traditional Old English font on the keys, the USB keyboard has a rubber and silicone body, meaning it can be rolled up. Mac- and PC-friendly, the portable keyboard retails at Nordstrom for $45.
Sure, pink may not be everyone’s favorite color, but it sure would spice up a dull gray cubicle any day.
Fly Me to the Moon
Soon, the sky will no longer be the limit. Some aerospace companies, such as Virgin Galactic, are planning to offer suborbital flights to the everyday public within the next few years, according to a CNN.com article. These flights would take wannabe “space tourists” to regions more than 60 miles above the Earth, where space — and zero gravity — begins.
According to the article, flights would last about 2.5 hours and come with a price tag of roughly $200,000. Applicants would have to undergo training prior to the launch. So far, about 300 people have signed up to reserve the first flights on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, while a whopping 80,000 have expressed interest, according to the company’s commercial director.
The article went on to state that tourism isn’t the only intended use for such flights: “The craft could be modified to launch microsatellites, and Virgin hopes to sell flights to agencies for microgravity or atmospheric experiments.”
“To be able to have something like SpaceCraftTwo to put scientists in space at a relatively low cost, it’s transforming for science,” the commercial director said.
Talk about a road trip!
