LightLane travels with bicycle

A close brush with a distracted driver is enough to intimidate the most avid bikers from riding at night. The problem isn’t just about visibility, as safety lights are effective at capturing the attention of a driver. However, these lights are typically constrained to the bike frame, which highlights only a fraction of the bike’s envelope.

Bike lanes have proven to be an effective method of protecting cyclists on congested roads. One key is that the lane establishes a well defined boundary beyond the envelope of the bicycle, providing a greater margin of safety between the car and the cyclist. Yet, only a small fraction of streets have dedicated bike lanes, and with an installation cost of $5,000 to $50,000 per mile, we shouldn’t expect to find them everywhere anytime soon.

Instead of adapting cycling to established bike lanes, the bike lane should adapt to the cyclists. This is the idea behind the LightLane. The system projects a crisply defined virtual bike lane onto pavement, using a laser, providing the driver with a familiar boundary to avoid. With a wider margin of safety, bikers will regain their confidence to ride at night, making the bike a more viable commuting alternative.

In-Stream Ads Come to Pandora Internet Radio

Faced with increasing broadcast fees and limited success with visual ads, Pandora, the streaming radio service that grew out of the Music Genome project, has begun including in-stream advertisements as a way to raise revenue.

Pandora previously experimented with in-stream ads, but scrapped the idea due to negative feedback. Now, however, it would appear that Pandora is feeling the pinch (the company also recently laid off staff) enough to give the ads another try, despite the initial negative reaction.

The new ads, which Pandora acknowledged last night via its Twitter account, began running yesterday when users reported hearing an short, 15-second ad for the Fox TV show Lie To Me. The initial ad showed up after listening to about 10 songs. For many the ad ran again about 20 songs later and then went away.

President Obama Wears Bullet-Resistant Suit at Inaugural

Barack Obama had more than the Presidential 'beast' limo taking care of his safety yesterday.

According to some reports, he wore a suit made by a clothier specializing in bullet-resistant clothing during the inauguration ceremonies.

While no one from the U.S. Secret Service have yet to mention any details about the garment's structure, some are speculating it may have come from the line by Colombian designer Miguel Caballero. As we noted last year, Caballero is well known for his super tough but flexible and business appropriate clothing, such as the $7,500 polo shirt that can stop a shot from a 9-mm revolver.

Due to some of the unfortunately rising levels of dangerous conflicts in Colombia and other parts of Latin America, the need for this type of clothing has also led to a spike in sales.

According to Caballero, many of his garments offer more than three levels of ballistic protection and they are about seven times more flexible than the Kevlar vests that are usually worn. Designers that use Kevlar tie together dense strands of the material (500 to 1,500 filaments per strand of yarn, according to Slate), which is then weaved into the clothing.

With close to 2 million people on hand to watch the president-elect take the Oath of Office, the level of security was understandably tight and every precaution was taken to ensure safety for all.

Earlier this month, we noted that President Obama will be using the safest Presidential limo ever built, the so-called Cadillac One (or simply, "The Beast"), whose toughness rivals a tank and seals off like a bank vault in the event of a potential attack.

Vice Squad

Clearly whoever came up with “the South will rise again” didn’t have tumescence in mind.

Stuff White People Like - #40 Apple Products

It is surprising that it took all the way to #40 to call out Apple products. Initially, we were planning for an entire week on Apple products, but that would just be over kill.

Plain and simple, white people don’t just like Apple, they love and need Apple to operate.

On the surface, you would ask yourself, how is that white people love a multi-billion dollar company with manufacturing plants in China, mass production, and that contributes to global pollution through the manufacture of consumer electronic devices?

Simple answer: Apple products tell the world you are creative and unique. They are an exclusive product line only used by every white college student, designer, writer, English teacher, and hipster on the planet.

You see, a long time ago Apple’s were super popular among layout artists and graphic designers. Then Apple released Final Cut Pro and became the standard for film editors. As a result, lots of creative industries used Apple computers instead of PCs. Eventually, people started making the connection, and all of a sudden all white people need to have a Mac.

When you ask white people about Mac’s they will say “oh, it’s so much better than Windows,” “it’s just easier to use,” “they are so cutting edge,” and so forth. What’s amazing is that white people NEED to meet people who use Windows to justify themselves spending an extra $500 for a pretty looking machine.

It is also important that white people are reminded of their creativity, and remember you need a Mac to creatively check email, creatively check websites, and creatively watch DVDs on planes.

White people also need iPods, iPhones, Apple TV, AirPort Express stations, and anything else that Apple will produce. Because you need to express your uniqueness by purchasing everything that a publicly traded company produces.

Apple products also come with stickers. Some people put them on their computer, some people put them on windows, but to take it to the pinnacle of whiteness, you need to put the Apple sticker in the rear window of your Prius, Jetta, BMW, Subaru 4WD Station Wagon or Audi. You then need to drive to a local coffee shop (Starbucks will do in a pinch) and set up your apple for the world to see. Thankfully, the Apple logo on the back will light up! So even in a dark place, people can see how unique and creative you (and the five other people doing the exact same thing) truly are!

Knowledge of Apple products can be useful in a number of social situations. If you see a white person with a Mac, an easy way to approach them is to say “Is that a Powerbook? What OS do you have?” They will happily start talking to you, after the requisite five minutes, you can invite them to an 80s night.

Fail of the Day

SXSW officially announces 2009 line-up

The bands showcasing at this years SXSW festival have been revealed. Click here to find out which of your favorite bands are playing (Triple Cobra) and hopefully you can make it to Austin in March!

For the Brave, the Moment Is Now

While the Titans of Wall Street now tremble at the thought of buying an apartment in this faltering real estate market, an emerging group of buyers is brave enough to look the Cyclops of uncertainty in the eye and begin shopping and even sign purchase contracts.

Many of these buyers have never received a fat bonus check, so they don’t miss it now. They did not suffer huge stock market losses, because they didn’t have huge stock market investments. They aren’t mourning the loss of value in their existing co-ops or condos, because they have never owned one.

They have jobs and good credit ratings, and they are looking to buy.

And now, brokers say, these mostly first-time homeowners are taking advantage of reduced apartment prices and interest rates that have fallen to the lowest levels in a generation. They’re making deals — sometimes far below asking price — on apartments marketed for under $1 million, and especially under $500,000.

Pitchfork Reviews Bon Iver's New EP

Blood Bank EP earns a 7.7.

If you ask me, there's one great track out of the four. Mr. Vernon may have been listening to a bit too much Kanye, because it would seem he's discovered AutoTune. God help us.

IMPOSSIBLE's on a mission to revive Polaroid film

Things have been pretty bleak for Polaroid fans ever since the company filed for Chapter 11. Once the producer of an iconic American gadget, the company has been reduced to a corporate shell, its good name taunting us from the face plates of a myriad of consumer electronics -- including instant digital cameras that are not nearly as cool as their forebears.

That's why it does our heart good to hear about the crazy, Fitzcarraldo-esque plans of an outfit called IMPOSSIBLE. The company has already purchased all the essential gear and signed a lease on one of the buildings at the old Polaroid plant in the Netherlands, where they'll be hard at work developing new versions of the venerable Instant Integral film that can be produced using modern manufacturing methods. The company hopes to be in the swing of things by sometime in 2010.

Mad Men creator signs new deal to stay with the show

After months of negotiations, the show's creator on Friday closed a two-year seven-figure overall deal with producer Lionsgate TV to continue on the acclaimed AMC drama.

The pact -- Lionsgate TV's biggest to date on the drama side -- includes Weiner's services as executive producer/showrunner on "Mad Men" as well as development of new projects for Lionsgate TV and a potential feature for Lionsgate.

Yay!

So it begins...

To celebrate today's inauguration, some clever fellow here in San Francisco changed all the Bush St. signs to read "OBAMA". Normally this street sign would say "END BUSH," but instead today reads "BEGIN OBAMA". That's nice!

Vice Squad

I guess he got so tired of everyone being like, "Hey Yan, what's your favorite food again?" that he just went ahead and printed up a t-shirt so from now on he can just point and make a face that means, "Here's your answer, dick."

Stuff White People Like - #36 Breakfast Places

When Loverboy wrote the song “Everybody’s working for the weekend,” they meant that you work all week so that you can earn a break and go to some sweet bars or concerts and rock out as hard as possible because you have 2 days for the hangover to fix itself. Well, white people work for the weekend, except their only goal is to eat breakfast on Saturday or Sunday at one of their favorite “breakfast places.”

These places are restaurants that specialize in breakfast food and are usually only open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and if you arrive at any time after 9:30, prepare to wait for up to an hour with white people who cannot wait to get vegan pancakes, eggs benedict, waffles, or deluxe french toast.

To a white person, there is no better way to spend a saturday morning than to get up late, around 9:30 and pile into your Audi or Volvo and drive to one of these little places and eat breakfast with friends. Often times these breakfasts last for an hour or more (hence the long lines and wait times).

Some white people take it to the next level and bring their dogs, newspaper or even a laptop.

If you plan on dealing with white people, it would serve you well to know some local breakfast places. This will also come in handy if you pick someone up at 80s night. In white person law, if you meet someone at 80s night and then go out for breakfast the next morning, then you are automatically in a relationship. There are no exceptions.

Fail of the Day