Steve Sande and I have been collaborating on "Talking to Siri," an ebook that just recently hit the Kindle store. It's a how-to that will help you get the most done with your Siri intelligent assistant. We're sharing some of our favorite tips with TUAW readers.

Today, we're looking at Siri's Wolfram Alpha integration. You can force Siri to use Wolfram by prefixing your request with "Wolfram." For example, you might say, "Wolfram, what is the square root of 2?" or "Wolfram, graph x-squared plus three."

But there's a lot more that you can do with Wolfram than just math. Here are ten of our favorite Wolfram searches. These highlight the flexibility of this amazing information resource.

1. Roll a Random Number. Say "Wolfram, random integer." Wolfram returns a random value between 0 and 1000. "Wolfram, random number" provides a 0 to 1 floating point value.
2. Look up nature facts. Say, "Wolfram, what is the scientific name of a mountain lion?" It's Puma concolor. Rabbits are Leporidae, and Peacocks, Galliformes.
3. Check upcoming holidays. Say, "How many days until Thanksgiving?" This returns both the number of days as well as a helpful calendar so you can chart out the time until then.
4. Create a secure password. Say "Wolfram, password." Wolfram generates a difficult-to-crack 8-character password. Scroll down for alternates. If you need a longer password, you can append these together.
5. Convert text to Morse code. Say, "What is Morse code for horsefeathers?" You'll see the entire sequence laid out for your tapping pleasure.
6. Check your diet. Say, "How many calories in a small apple?" Wolfram will tell you that there are 75.
7. Ask out about time zones. Say, "Wolfram, what is the local time in Jakarta?"
8. Query about your chances. Say, "Wolfram, what is the probability of a full house?" For a random five-card hand, it's apparently 1 in 694.
9. Have fun with pop culture. Say, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" or "Wolfram, who shot the sheriff?"
10. Visualize colors. Okay, I've saved the best for last. If you work with colors, this can save you a lot of time. Say, "Wolfram pound sign E 9 7 4 5 1" (for Burnt Sienna / Tangerine) or "Wolfram pound sign 2 9 A B 8 7" (for Jungle Green). This will also convert the colors to RGB values and look up closely-matching brand colors from Benjamin Moore. Make sure to scroll down to catch all the helpful information.

10 cool things you can do with Wolfram Alpha and Siri originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The most popular topic of discussion at the moment is undoubtedly responsive layouts in web design. Without going discussing too much what you will already know, a responsive layout allows you to offer a specific and optimised screen size based on whatever device (mobile, tablet…) the visitor uses.

You would typically use Media Queries to resize the overall layout, but what about all of those individual elements and features that make your page unique? Navigation, forms, images, sliders, carousels… they all need to be optimised as well.

That is were this post comes in, by highlighting 25 jQuery plugins that will help you optimise and resize those trickier web elements.

Response.js

Response JS is a lightweight plugin that gives you the tools for producing performance-optimized, mobile-first responsive websites. It provides easy-to-use action hooks for dynamically swapping code blocks based on screen sizes and semantic methods for progressively serving media via HTML5 data attributes.
Response.jsMarkup Demo

Responsly

The Responsly plugin is a set of simple responsive widgets written using CSS3 transformations. It is best used with a responsive CSS framework like 1140px or 320plus and currently there are only a slideshow and accordion widget available, but with much more to come soon.
Responsly

Menu to a Dropdown for Small Screens

The Five Simple Steps website has a responsive design with a neat feature. When the browser window is narrow, the menu in the upper right converts from typical menu links into a dropdown menu. Using jQuery, this tutorial will show you how to recreate it.
Menu to a DropdownDemo

Responsive Menu

Not unlike the technique used above, this simple pluginconverts menus into a select element for mobile devices and low browser widths.
Responsive MenuDemo

Doubletake

Intended to be a proof of concept, Doubletake is a plugin that dynamically updates the src of your images based on the browser width. You start with a small, mobile-friendly image in your HTML. Doubletake will then use a defined set of breakpoints to update image SRCs when necessary.
DoubletakeDemo

FitText

FitText is a plugin for inflating web type. It makes font-sizes flexible. Use FitText on your fluid or responsive layout to achieve scalable headlines that fill the width of a parent element.
FitText

jFontSize

jFontSizeDemo

Elastislide

Elastislide is a responsive jQuery carousel that will adapt its size and its behavior in order to work on any screen size. Inserting the carousel’s structure into a container with a fluid width will also make the carousel fluid.
ElastislideDemo

Blueberry

Blueberry is an experimental open-source jQuery image slider plugin which has been written specifically to work with fluid/responsive web layouts.
Blueberry

wmuSlider

wmuSlider

PhotoSwipe

PhotoSwipe is an HTML/CSS/JavaScript-based image gallery specifically targeting mobile and touch devices. All modern mobile and touch devices, as well as the desktops and laptops, are supported. PhotoSwipe provides your visitors with a familiar and intuitive interface allowing them to interact with images on your mobile website.
PhotoSwipeDemo

FlexSlider

Flexslider is a lightweight, fully responsive jQuery slider plugin. It has simple, semantic markup, slide and fade animations, and is supported by all major browsers so you won’t have any compatibility issues. Flexslider is built for beginners and pros alike.
FlexSlider

Responsive jQuery Slideshow

Responsive jQuery SlideshowDemo

Seamless Responsive Photo Grid

Seamless Responsive Photo GridDemo

Responsive Image Gallery with Thumbnail Carousel

Using the Elastislide plugin (above), this tecnique will show you how to implement a responsive gallery that adapts to the view-port width. The gallery will has a view switch that allows you to view it with the thumbnail carousel or without. It also supports keyboard navigation.
Responsive Image Gallery with Thumbnail CarouselDemo

rlightbox – A jQuery UI mediabox

rlightbox is a jQuery UI mediabox that can display many types of content such as images, YouTube and Vimeo videos. It has many unique features like Panorama and Live Re-size and like other jQuery UI widgets, it is ThemeRoller ready.
rlightbox – A jQuery UI mediabox

AdaptiveMedia

AdaptiveMediaDemo

Dynamic Carousel

Dynamic Carousel is a carousel plugin built for responsive layouts.
Dynamic CarouselDemo

FitVids.JS

FitVids.JS is a lightweight, easy-to-use jQuery plugin for responsive width video embeds. It automates the Intrinsic Ratio Method by Thierry Koblentz to achieve fluid width videos in your responsive web design.
FitVids.JSResponsyGs

jQuery Masonry

Masonry is a dynamic grid layout plugin for jQuery. Whereas floating arranges elements horizontally then vertically, Masonry arranges elements vertically, positioning each element in the next open spot in the grid. The result minimizes vertical gaps between elements of varying height, just like a mason fitting stones in a wall.
jQuery Masonry

Isotope

Isotope is a jQuery plugin for intelligent, dynamic layouts that can’t be achieved with CSS alone. You can hide and reveal item elements easily with jQuery selectors and re-order item elements with sorting.
Isotope’s animation engine takes advantage of the best browser features when available — CSS transitions and transforms, GPU acceleration — but will also fall back to JavaScript animation for lesser browsers.
Isotope

The Heads-Up Grid

Built with HTML, CSS & JavaScript, The Heads-Up Grid is a responsive overlay grid for in-browser website development. It has been created to make it relatively easy to adapt to the needs of responsive web design. You can quickly and easily define as many different grids as you need by way of basic JavaScript conditional statements.
The Heads-Up Grid

Adaptive Images in HTML

OK, this is not a jQuery plugin, but still its worthy of a mention. Adaptive Images, intended to be used with responsive and fluid layout techniques, is a solution that will automatically create, cache, and deliver device-appropriate (it detects the resolution of the visitors screen) of your website’s content images. No need to change your mark-up, it manages its own image re-sizing, and will work on any CMS or even on flat HTML pages.
Adaptive Images in HTML

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British Cycling's Flickr is once again filled with the faces of track racing. Their coverage of the 2011 UEC European Track Cycling Championships are excellent!

Check out a slideshow of the event below.

Sweet!

Nos próximos posts dessa série vou tentar justificar porque comprei outra fixa baseado na mais pura ciência de bicicletas que existe. Se convencer pelo menos 1 de vocês, talvez eu consiga convencer minha namorada e ela não me expulse de casa por comprar a minha 4ª bicicleta!

Irei listar os componentes escolhidos, muitos ainda não chegaram, conforme as peças forem chegando eu posto aqui no site a progressão.

Vamos lá…começando por…

Frame: Affinity LoPro

Após montar minha primeira fixa, uma Leader 722TS fiquei na vontade de ter uma LoPro, a estética e o fato de ser uma bike mais arisca na hora de andar me atraíram bastante. Como já havia lidado com o pessoal da Affinity Cycles e seus quadros são super bem falados nos EUA então decidi investir. Minha escolha foi pela cor Champagne Money que é um verde meio acinzentado.

Exemplo de uma bicicleta lo pro da affinity.

Headset: Campagnolo Record Threaded

Na fixa anterior comprei um Tange-Seiki Technoglide que recomendo pra caramba, tem uma qualidade fenomenal (não chega a ser um Chris King) e tem um preço acessível. Para essa bike, pesquisando melhor, vi que conseguia comprar o top da Campagnolo pelo mesmo preço! Ainda é metade do preço que um do Chris King ou um Shimano Dura-Ace e tem uma qualidade que chega bem perto.

Mesa: 3TTT Evol 2002

Esse quadro vem com um garfo de 1″ threadless. Minha vontade é de ter uma bike com mesa do tipo Quill (aquelas com pegada mais antiga) até mesmo porque minha Leader já tem mesa threaded, então pedi para o Flávio da Tre3e para fazer as ranhuras necessárias no tubo do garfo pra aceitar mesas desse tipo. A mesa é NOS (New Old Stock, ou, componente antigo que nunca foi usado) e apesar do nome 2002 ela é de 1991. Curti que o angulo dela não é tão agressivo quanto uma mesa de pista tipo a Nitto Jaguar, alem disso essas entradas na parte de cima são um diferencial bacana.

Guidão: Nitto RB-002

Hoje uso o RB-021 que tem uma caída mais agressiva, é bacana mas se torna um pouco desconfortável usar o chifre em roles de mais de 30Km. Dizem que esse da Nitto com uma caída mais suave é melhor, vamos ver né…

Cubos: Campagnolo Record Pista

A opção de roda foi o oposto do que tenho hoje…na minha Leader tenho na roda traseira um cubo da Gran Compe com bordas altas e um aro da H+Son de 42mm, essa combinação tinha escolhido porque sou pesado e uso a bike todo dia nas ruas de SP, então precisava algo mais parrudo que aguentasse o tranco, o lado ruim é que a roda é bem pesada, dizem que rodas desse tipo são ruins em cadencia baixa e também para começar a andar mas ajudam quando ganha-se velocidade. O problema é que em horário de rush em SP a cadencia é normalmente baixa e subindo ladeiras é a mesma coisa…isso claro, se aplica a mim.

Nessa nova fixa fui no caminho contrário, decidi montar um par de rodas mais leve, com cubos Campagnolo Pista de borda baixa. Porque esses cubos? Primeiramente pq tenho um tesão por coisas da Campagnolo (tipo o tesão que o Christopher tem por componentes Phil Wood ) segundo que são cubos de excelente qualidade, top de linha.

Esses cubos usam rolamentos soltos, que dizem que são melhores em termos de performance mas são horríveis para a vida útil do cubo se não tiver cuidado de limpar e rearranjar os rolamentos de tempos em tempos. Eu como adoro ficar pesquisando sobre componentes e botar a mão na graxa (literalmente), decidi que não é tão ruim abrir e cuidar dos rolamentos a cada 2mil KM como o manual pede…

O legal disso tudo é que esse cubo tem um buraquinho no meio para injetar a graxa sem precisar desmontar tudo. Achei bacana esteticamente e é prático quando só é necessário colocar uma graxa nos rolamentos.

   Aros: H+Son TB-14

Os aros optei por um par de H+Son TB14, foi uma escolha meio que forçada e é uma história a parte que conto aqui…

Quando estava montando minha bike anterior, eu havia encomendado um par de aros H+Son SL42 que são de 42mm de perfil e é preparado para aceitar freios, algo raro para aros de perfil alto. A loja se embananou e enviou um par de H+Son Formation Face o qual não tem preparação para freio.

O que eu queria do lado esquerdo e o que mandaram do lado direito (a cor na verdade é branca, essa daí foi só para ilustrar)

Eles não tinham em estoque o que eu havia pedido originalmente e falaram para escolher outro no lugar. O que queria para esse novo build era um Mavic Open Pro, mas infelizmente também não tinham esse em estoque porem tinham um similar da H+Son chamado TB14 e foi esse mesmo que escolhi. Ah! Obviamente os caras falaram para eu ficar com o par que mandaram errado porque não iria valer a pena, uhu!

Pedivela: SRAM Omnium

O escolhido foi o da SRAM Omnium. Ahhh mas pera lá, porque não o da Campagnolo que é lindo e é sonho de consumo? Porque é o dobro do preço e seria melhor (para o meu uso) só de um ponto de vista estético

E porque não um RD2 da Sugino que é mais barato e é usado por 30984204238 bike messengers? Por causa do chainline…

A teoria é que o pinhão da sua roda tem de estar perfeitamente alinhado com os dentes do coroa do seu pedivela. Porque? Porque toda a transferencia de força que você tá fazendo irá para a roda, se houver uma variação, então uma porcentagem dessa força vai ser perdida. Isso tudo é teoria porque pra sentir isso daí na pele eu teria de nascer de novo e me batizarem de Eddy Merckx.

Voltando ao pedivela…o da Sugino com o movimento central recomendado cria um chainline de 45mm e os cubos de pista tem de 42mm, alêm disso esse Sugino é uma adaptação dos pedivelas de estrada com BCD130 e tem uma diferença na qualidade no que diz respeito a rigidez na pedalada. Dizem que pedivelas com BCD144 (de pista) e coroas de alumínio 7075-T6 são melhores. Por isso fui no pedivela de pista que tem o melhor custo x beneficio.

Selim:San Marco Concor

Na fixa anterior eu coloquei um San Marco Rolls e adoro! Confio na marca, mas queria um selim com design mais agressivo e esse é perfeito pra um build LoPro.

Pedal:MKS GR-9

Hoje uso o MKS Sylvan que é uma unanimidade em termos de pedal de pista que não seja clipless. Se eu soubesse o que sei hoje…esse pedal é horrível para solados moles (tênis por exemplo). O tênis que eu uso todo dia tem um rasgo na sola por causa desse pedal, não recomendo. Alias, não é nem só por causa da gaiola dele que não gosto, o tamanho da plataforma é muito pequeno pra quem tem pézão (meu caso).
Dito tudo isso, lá fui eu pesquisar o que seria uma alternativa bacana e achei o GR9. Pela foto acima dá pra ver que ele é mais largo e tem uma gaiola mais amigável para tênis. Darei o veredito quando ele chegar.

Bem, acho que é isso…agora é esperar as peças chegarem e botar a mão na massa. Com a greve dos correios isso só deve acontecer beeeem longe

Mário Valentim

A Fast Boy Cycle was featured the first week Cycle EXIF went live, and after all the ornate lugs, flash paint schemes and bold logos that we see here, each bike by Ezra Caldwell is like a breath of fresh air. His bikes purvey an understated subtlety that belie his skill, artistry and innovation.

Ezra, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for the readers of Cycle EXIF. You’ve had a helluva time over the last three years, undergoing treatment for cancer and simultaneously maintaining a high level of creative output. To start, can you tell us a little about your frame building? Where did you learn to put a frame together? I learned to build bikes over an 8 day period with Whit Moyer down in Austin, Texas. I learned to braze, and just enough about frame construction to go home, set up a shop, and start getting myself in trouble.

Your basement is currently being fitted out as a combination metal and wood shop. Your wooden fenders are quite well known, and we’ve seen a few custom crates and racks on some of your customer’s bikes. Have you had any formal woodwork training? I’m not sure I’d call it formal. My father (who was VERY informal… naked a lot of the time, in fact), was a woodworker, so I grew up around a wood shop. I think I started working on a table saw when I was about 8. I made a lot of cross bows when I was a kid. They worked! So there was this interest in engineering in there as well. Objects that DID stuff, not just furniture. I always liked moving parts. In my adult life, I spent a good chunk of time working as a cabinet maker. Kitchens mostly.

We’ve recently seen evidence of your culinary expertise on your blog: beautifully shot time-lapse video of home cooking incorporating gourmet ingredients. Is this an amateur pastime or have you worked as a chef in a past life? I worked for a few summers as a prep chef when I was a teenager. Later, I lived in the north of England for a year for grad school, and worked a couple nights a week as the chef at a Thai restaurant. That was a bit of a coup. But mostly I’ve just always cooked for myself and whoever happens to be living with me or just stopping by. I’m not too intrigued by the restaurant scene… It seems pretty high octane. I’m more interested in being a really good home cook.

There’s also mention of a previous career as a dancer. How did that come about, and how did that transform into frame building? Yeah. It’s true. I danced professionally for a few years, and then taught for almost ten. For a lot of that time I had a company and was making work. I went to art school (university of the arts in Philadelphia). I thought I was going to study industrial design. I was pretty disenchanted when I realized that the industrial designers weren’t that involved in the engineering side of making stuff (or really the MAKING side of making stuff). Mostly just how it looked. How it felt. So there was a lot of CAD work, and some molding of models out of plastic. Someone dared me to take a dance class one night. I did. It seemed like much more fun than the visual arts core classes I was taking, so I switched majors the next day (“you want to switch majors!?” “Yes, if that’s possible.” “have you ever danced before!!?” “Yeah… I took a class last night.”). I stopped to catch my breath almost 15 years later and realized that I sort of hated dance. When I finally ran away screaming, building bikes seemed like a safe harbor. Can’t remember how I connected THOSE dots.

Is Vermont your home state? Is that how your dog, Putney, got her name? The travelogue photography we’ve seen from there is spectacular. How long have you lived in New York? What’s the best thing about living in NYC? Yeah. Putney got her name from my home town. As a hick construction worker teen I said I’d never live in a city, but ended up in Philly for art school and then dance took me to New York. I can’t really imagine leaving now. I live in a great neighborhood in Harlem. The open mindedness and diversity of a big city is addicting. Great food shopping. Not having to own a car!!

Across your frame building, cooking, woodwork and photography, can you define a common denominator? Well. I’d love to get pregnant, but I don’t feel too hopeful. I guess I’m just trying to make up for it.

Let’s get back to the bikes. You seem to specialize in a niche of commuters, tourers and porteurs, with the occasional roadie and mixte thrown in for good measure. There’s a consistent binding theme of reliable, refined simplicity, understated paint schemes, cork grips and leather upholstery: How did this design ethos develop? I’d love to just shrug and say that it’s always been what I liked, but if I look back that’s clearly not the case. My first serious bike was a Cannondale 2.8. This aluminum ass hatchet that I loved. Maybe if you’d asked me back then whether or not I found it BEAUTIFUL, I would have said, “well… no. I guess not”, but I’m not sure! What makes something beautiful to people is pretty tangled up in how they use the thing.

I don’t ride bikes for exercise any more (takes most of my energy to get out of bed!), so what I find beautiful in a bike is different. Maybe I’m talking myself into a corner here. I’ve always been a bit of a minimalist. My favorite artists are those that practice restraint, not those that seem eager to let you know about their virtuosity. I remind myself constantly not to stand too close to the bike I’m building, but to stand far enough away that I can take it in as a whole. It’s easy to get seduced by the details.

What stage is the cancer treatment at? With the basement coming along swimmingly, what’s in the pipeline for Fast Boy Cycles? I’m currently in remission. I guess. I finished a six month round of chemotherapy in May. That followed a pretty brutal evisceration of a surgery that has left me shitting in a bag for the rest of my life. The latest development is that I’ve got some tumor markers that are spiking and we don’t know why. Nothing is turning up in petscans. Tumors have to be pretty sizable to show up in petscans, though, so we’re left guessing. Under these circumstances, it’s pretty hard to think long term about the business.. And yet, cancer could call my bluff and start just leaving me alone. I could live forever! So I can’t exactly ignore the longevity of the business either. It’s a weird spot. I’ve been making these nose bikes lately. All along I’ve liked the idea of specializing in cargo bikes. So I’m taking the time to develop my version of a cycle truck/postal/butcher’s bike type thing. A light and lithe, but capable rig for a town where people don’t have garages to roll big long-bikes into. I’m actually a little obsessed. It could get problematic. “Ezra, I’d really love a simple beautiful single speed rando bike with wood fenders..” “Um… how about a NOSE BIKE?!?”

Keep up to date with the latest happenings around the Fast Boy Cycles workshop via the website, blog and flickr. Photo of Ezra on the Assless Bike: evanistan.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

After a year of Zipcar availability in Baltimore, a survey finds that Zipcar membership means less driving, more public transportation, more exercise, and better quality of life for everyone.

Zipcar debuted in Baltimore a year ago. The company has since gathered feedback from the new Zipcar drivers there to determine exactly what happens once car sharing is introduced in a city. As it turns out, the effects are rather drastic, seriously curtailing both car ownership and car use, while pumping up how often people take public transportation.

After asking Charm City Zipcar users about their driving habits, they found that only 12% had taken more than five trips by car in the last month, down from 38% before joining Zipcar. But that doesn't mean people aren't going anywhere. Zipcar members are walking more (up 21%), biking more (up 14%), and using public transit more (up 11%).

Even more meaningfully, 72% of Zipcar members said being able to share cars makes it less likely that they purchase or lease a car in the future, and nearly a fifth of the Zipcar members had actually sold their vehicles since joining. Almost half of the members said that they avoided buying a car because of their Zipcar services.

These aren't just good stats for the recently public company to show that people love their service. It shows that car sharing--by Zipcar or others--can have a strong effect on a city's car ownership rates and public-transit use. That means less traffic, easier parking, and a generally more pleasant living experience for all citizens. As the benefits of taking cars off the roads start to become more clear, expect more and more municipalities to start working with car-sharing programs, or even launching their own.

[Hat tip: Clean Technica]

[Image: Flickr user 3n]

Morgan Clendaniel can be reached by email or on Twitter.

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Are Varvatos’ high-end Chuck Taylors simply not high-end enough for you? Feast your eyes and/or feet on these Converse John Varvatos Limited Edition Star Tech Sneakers ($600). Produced in small quanities and made by hand in Italy, the Star Tech features a soft black leather upper, interior leather laces, a matching black chevron stripe, and a rubber sole.

Read and see more entertaining articles here!

While many of us figuratively feel like we sleep with our iPhones, I’ve been literally doing just that for the past few months, testing a variety of sleep monitoring and maintenance tools. Here are some resulting recommendations for getting a better night’s sleep, thanks to some third-party hardware and software.

Zeo Personal Sleep Coach $199

With the Zeo, you wear a headband to bed each night that communicates wirelessly with an alarm clock base. The band determines your “optimal” wake period within a certain window of time. The data is stored on an SD card, which you must then upload manually to Zeo’s website after each night.

While it was nice to know the quality of my sleep and how often I woke, uploading the data each morning was cumbersome and I’d frequently forget to do it. The headband was very uncomfortable and would often slip off. After a few weeks, I had to return the unit since it was completely useless to me, but at least it came in handy for benchmarking other devices (yes, at one point I had no less than four devices attached to me during sleep).

Best use: Hard to find one, unfortunately.

BodyMedia Body Sync $249 plus $12.95 a month

This device is primarily a weight loss monitoring tool you wear 24 hours a day, seven days a week, taking it off only to recharge and shower. You wear this device near your tricep on your upper arm, and it’s about the size of a iPod nano. It monitors how much time you were in bed, but doesn’t take into account how restful that sleep was and doesn’t have an alarm function. Unlike other devices, you don’t have to set it. It’s always watching you and syncs via Bluetooth.

After wearing it during a work out, I was able to figure out the optimal time to exercise in the evening so that I’m not too “revved” up before bed. I’d monitor my metabolism in real-time and figure out how many hours it took for my body to go from calorie burning mode to relaxation mode. I also liked knowing how many calories I burned while sleeping.

This device isn’t cheap, and the monthly monitoring adds to the cost, but if you want to see how sleep (or lack thereof) impacts your weight loss goals, this is a great product.

Best Use: Sleep monitoring in conjunction with weight loss.

Lark $129/$189 w/ coaching

The Lark is a wristband you wear while sleeping. It comes with its own charging station that also serves as an iPhone stand, although you can also charge it using any mini USB cable.

The Lark monitors your sleep to analyze how many times you woke and how “restful” the sleep was. It gives you a rating such as fair, poor, OK and good. For an additional charge, you can pay for sleep coaching, which will use the results to suggest better sleep habits. The Lark is unique in that instead of initially waking you up with an alarm, it vibrates silently. This enables you to wake yourself without waking your sleep partner and the rest of the house. My spouse was quite pleased with this and so was the dog. If you don’t awake from the vibration, the iOS app will use a failsafe alarm sound to wake you “gently” with the sounds of birds tweeting.

During testing, I often found the vibration rather jarring, and sometimes more disturbing than the actual alarm. I felt like someone was shaking me awake as if there were some kind of emergency. Over time I got used to it and learned that vibration meant it was time to wake up, but still was caught off guard some mornings. Sleeping with the device on was no problem. It was quite comfortable and felt like I was wearing a watch.

The failsafe alarm sound wasn’t changeable and on occasion I didn’t always hear it. While the coaching was interesting, it was hardly worth the extra $60 in my opinion. The advice wasn’t personalized, but simply took aspects of my sleep and offered suggestions (even some contradictory ones).

The iOS app wants to be in the foreground at all times, which made it difficult to use music apps such as Ambiance. If another app presented a notification while sleeping, it was confusing to get the Lark app back to alarm mode. If you want to snooze the alarm, you can’t set a specific time but are given a menu of choices in five-minute intervals.

Best Uses: Waking up without disturbing the household, nominal sleep monitoring and suggestions.

Wakemate $59.99

Wakemate has had a long rocky road to market: constant delays, hardware defects in initial release and buggy iOS apps. Luckily, the device seems to have overcome its difficult beginning and is now stable and reliable.

The Wakemate is a small Bluetooth USB device wrapped in a fuzzy terry cloth band that you wear around your wrist to sleep. It doesn’t vibrate like the Lark, but simply records your sleep movements and then uploads them to your iOS device and the Internet when it’s time to wake up. The iPhone (or iPad) stays safe on your beside table.

Wakemate’s unique feature is that, similar to the Zeo, it claims to monitor your sleep patterns and wake you up at an optimal time in your sleep cycle. I didn’t experience any perceived benefits from this, but did notice that the Zeo and Wakemate woke me generally at the same time. Wakemate’s iOS app allows you to customize the ringer to a song or one of its selected melodies. The default alarm was quite pleasant and not the blaring klaxon of the typical alarm clock nor the too-gentle sound I experienced with the Lark. Since it wakes you at an “optimal” time, you can’t snooze the alarm. It forces you to get up plain and simple. Personally I liked that rigidity.

Sleep result numbers were nearly identical to that of the Zeo. The “sleep score” was within 10 percent, and I felt it accurately recorded my wake and sleep times. Even though I might be in bed more than I thought, I realized a lower sleep score meant a lack of quality in my sleep. The app gives you the ability to tag your sleep in order to analyze patterns such as what you ate or drank before bed or your stress levels. You can even post your results to Facebook and Twitter.

During my test period I was disappointed with all the device problems and the manufacturer was very slow to respond. Although there was a known defect in their product, they still required owners to pay the shipping back to manufacturer. One mistake can be safely ignored, but I did see a pattern of problems and sincerely hope they get their house in order because I really liked the product.

Of all the devices I used, this was the most economical. A one time investment of $60 covered the device and there were no subscription fees to continue using it. Of course, that could change and the device isn’t usable without the app.

Best Uses: Detailed analysis of sleep patterns.

What will I be sleeping with now on? The Wakemate now has a trusted position in my bedroom. The times I forgot to charge it, I truly missed the analysis. I do like the Lark for those times I have to wake up extra early and don’t want to disturb the house. Who says I have to sleep with just one?

Disclosure: Bodymate, Lark, and Wakemate provided samples and service for this review.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• A Global Mobile Handset Platform Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• The Future of Workplaces

The (incredibly lengthy) wait is over! The Hit List for iPhone 1.0 (US$9.99) is now available. The app features cloud sync with its desktop companion, The Hit List for Mac ($49.99), which can be enabled via an in-app purchase for $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year. Note that The Hit List for iPhone requires iOS 4.1 or later.

Meanwhile, MacHeist customers can receive 3 months of sync subscription by entering a license key here.

It's a much-anticipated app to say the least. We'll have a full review in coming days. For now, grab your copy and start getting things done...in the cloud!

The Hit List for iPhone 1.0 now available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ian Sutton builds frames with an unmistakable left field approach. He can perfectly blend art and function, resulting in machines that are simultaneously svelte, sublime and visually mind-bending.

Most Cycle EXIF readers will know you as the man behind Icarus Frames, can you tell us a little about your cycling history? I learned to ride young, about four years old. For a long time I rode just as a mode of transport but I became more interested when I went on a week-long mountain biking trip as part of the Boulder hippie middle school program I was in. In college I really started focusing a lot of time into working on bikes and riding just to ride. The first racing I did was in alleycats in Boulder, and I continued that when I moved to the East Coast. I enjoyed them, but later started to do more track racing than street. I raced up at the ghettodrome in New Hampshire for a couple seasons as well as a couple opening weekends at Kissena in Queens. I only raced at a casual level, but did well there because I was in the habit of racing around town faster than I needed to. In 2009 I went touring—started in Milwaukee, WI and rode to Steamboat Springs, CO before my time and money dried up and I came back to Boston to do Icarus full-time. Now I just ride everywhere nice ‘n’ easy.

Have you worked with any other material other than steel? What are the qualities of steel that makes it so appealing? Yes. I actually moved to Somerville from Boulder to work for Seven Cycles. Titanium was the primary material there, but I also worked on Ti/Carbon, full carbon and steel. I started with final machining and finishing where I learned what was important in alignment, how to bond up carbon, and attention to the smallest details. I eventually became a machinist where I cut, butted, coped, bent, and jigged up frames for the welders. I think titanium makes an extremely durable and low maintenance custom frame but when you buy titanium, its aerospace titanium. It’s not specifically engineered for bicycle frames, so a lot more work goes into making it suitable for bicycle use.

I like steel most of all because it gives the widest range of customization over any other material. The array of tubes to choose from dwarfs all the ti/alu/carbon options put together. Each tubing company provides a family of different performance levels. Within each level I can hand pick different diameters, wall thicknesses, butt lengths and shapes to match what my clients want from their frame. Steel doesn’t fatigue like aluminum and you don’t have to baby it like carbon. Aluminum and carbon make great race frames that will be replaced after a few seasons but a steel frame can last a lifetime. Going custom is a big step monetarily for a lot of people and the people who come to me want something that will last, feel good and look beautiful.

When creating a frame for a customer, how does your design ethos influence the final product? I suppose it goes into every aspect of the frame without me thinking about it. Obviously I have my own feelings about what angles, bottom bracket drops, chainstay lengths and fork dimensions make each bike ‘correct’ so my design choices start affecting the bike as soon as I draw it up on the drafting table.

You’re located in Somerville, Massachusetts. Have you cycled overseas? How does Somerville compare, and why do you call it home? Heh, I’ve never been overseas. I will be going to soon though! Later this summer I am headed to Japan for a couple weeks. I’ve had an apprentice for a while and he is bringing me to see his country and meet his family as a thank you for the training I have given him. I’m very excited to see Japan, talk to some NJS builders and visit the shop where Yamaguchi, who I learned from, got his start.

Where do you see the ‘fixed gear’ scene developing in the next few years? There are an unbelievable number of people on fixed gears. For some it’s a fad or just sensible transportation, but some percentage will stick with it and fixed gears will have been their gateway to all types of cycling.

What are your thoughts about the increasing interest in bicycle touring? Are townies, randos or porteurs the next fixie? I totally understand the interest in touring. The independence and functionality it provides speaks the the desire to be self-sufficient and have real, grand experiences. A lot of people are spending more time on the internet reading and looking at what other cools stuff that people are doing; touring is a way to disconnect and have a tangible experience where only the simplest things matter. Dang, now I want to go touring again.

What are your favorite bikes to work on? Do you prefer the simplicity of a track bike or the ornate complexity of a tourer? Just have to mix it up. Yes, all the braze-ons that go into a touring frame can drive me crazy but what comes out is totally worth it. I love working on track frames because I feel like there is more room to be creative and make subtle changes. I guess my favorites are the ones that make me think, “oh, now I need to make one of these for me.”

Are you optimistic about the bespoke bicycle scene? There are a lot of new builders out there and as long as everyone builds within their skill level and experience and are up front about what to expect and when to expect it, then the custom bicycle scene will continue to be something that people will want to be a part of. It stinks to hear about a talented frame builder going under, but its tough to be a good craftsman and businessman. I’m optimistic that there will always be a handful of active legendary customer builders, and the gaggle of folks hoping to one day be.

What are the advantages of a handmade bike compared to one bought off-the-shelf? The obvious one is fit. Even a properly fit stock bike has to hold up to a 250lb rider mashing through potholes just isn’t going to feel right to the 125lb rider that wants a little vertical compliance. When you get a fully custom built bike, that means every tube has been selected specifically for you. Not just the tube lengths and angles but the feel of the ride is tailored to you. After that are the details, each builder has their own style and details, owning one of their frames is like joining a club. I think there is value in knowing the individual who built your frame.

You can contact Ian through his website, and view more of his amazing builds on his flickr stream.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

See also:

1. Interview: Adam Eldridge
2. Interview: Andrew White

Lots of information about iOS 5 is still hidden under the developer NDA, but here's one tidbit that's sneaked out: Some web apps will be faster under the new operating system. So says one developer over on a coding message board; it confirms the rumor that full-screen web apps opened from the iPhone and iPod touch's homescreen will get to take advantage of the JavaScript Nitro engine.

In terms of what this means for users, there's not a lot of difference -- you'll still click the icon on your homescreen and the web app will launch like normal. But behind the scenes, if the web page you load uses Nitro, it'll work quicker than usual. Keep in mind that neither full-screen web apps nor browser views within apps have had access to this high-speed engine in iOS 4, so this is an improvement.

Web apps that run outside of Safari, however, using an iOS class called UIWebViews, still won't use this souped-up engine for JavaScript. As the hackers explain, that's at least partially due to security concerns in terms of what UIWebViews can and can't do.

But it's nice to know that some of the web apps you may use on your iPhone or iPad may see a speed boost with the new OS. When it comes to web pages, faster is almost always better.

Full-screen web apps should get a JavaScript boost in iOS 5 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On reversing his opposition to gay marriage in New York, Sen. Roy McDonald:

“You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing.

“You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing.

“I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.”

More like this, please.

New work by Daniel Danger.

(via OMG Posters)

More Daniel Danger on BLDG//WLF.

A ninth-generation shipwright, Sueshiro Sano has been making exquisite wooden products since he was in elementary school. But in 2008, drawing inspiration and technique from a lifetime of shipbuilding, the woodworker produced his first bike constructed entirely of mahogany, including frame, fork, seat, seat post, handlebars/stem combination and even rims.

Using mahogany lends flex and responsiveness in a way no metal frame can, which in turn gives riders an elevated sense of control and increases pacing possibilities. A number of Sano's prototypes have been raced professionally, excelling in both ideal and inclement weather. In the three years since starting the project, Sano has handcrafted 11 of these fully wooden bicycles, making improvements that shave the average weight of his full builds down from 11 kilograms to around eight.

Through this evolution, the original mahogany seat was eventually upgraded to include a slimmer profile and mahogany mounting rails. By replacing the original metal rails and joints with stronger and lighter mahogany, Sano reduced the total weight of the saddle and mounting rails from 230 grams to 160 grams.

This year Sano began experimenting with more influential design improvements, most notably the implementation of a fully-integrated seat post. The development combines the seat post and seat tube into one continuous piece running from the bottom bracket to the seat, eliminating seat height adjustability—but offering an unmatched 100% tailored fit. The advancement also makes the bike lightweight, aerodynamic and responsive. Superbly conceived and executed craftsmanship like this extends to handlebar size and seat proportions as well, further proof of Sano's superlative ability and skill.

Sano also makes unbelievably gorgeous boats and furniture, putting attention to detail and passion equally into each project. To keep tabs on the constant evolution of Sano's organic creations and his twelfth bicycle (now in the works) check out Sanomagic. If you dig what Sano is doing check out Renovo's take on the wooden bicycle.