BUGGING THE ENEMY
The chief legacies of Robert Baden-Powell are his
service in the Second Boer War, his founding of
the Scout Movement, and his flair for personal
myth-making. Because of the last, claims in his
book My Adventures as a Spy have to be swallowed
with a pinch of salt. But it hardly matters when
you’ve got the guy claiming to have invented
‘cryptographic entomology’, or spying with bugs.
Apparently Baden-Powell found a way to harness
the fact that Britain was “as a nation considered by
the others to be abnormally stupid”, and used that
assumption to smuggle maps of military fortresses
out of foreign territory. By feigning the aspect
of a guileless butterfly enthusiast, Baden-Powell
discovered he could hide the contours of enemy
bases in sketches of butterflies and moths, with
spots on their wings denoting the position of the
guns. Then, as now, nobody suspects the guy with
the net and goofy hat. KDNEWTONIAN FLUID
The Newton is a non-electric espresso
machine designed by a couple of enterprising
Kiwis. You put ground coffee in the bottom,
pour hot water in the top, pull the lever
down as if you’re operating some sort of drill
press – and out comes velvety espresso. It’s a
cheaper, energy-efficient alternative to your
industrial-strength espresso machines. It’s
also portable, and noise-free. All of which
might explain how the initial crowdsourcing
campaign achieved 100 per cent of its
funding within 23 minutes, and why your
op-shop has that big pile of coffee machines
out the front. newtonespresso.co.nz MOART-IFICIAL IN TELLIGENCE
This robot arm essentially mirrors your hand’s movements on your tablet, desktop
or phone, and creates cool pen drawings on paper. It’s all very clever and cute, but
begs the question: why not just draw something on a piece of paper? To which the
answer is: it’s all very clever and cute. line-us.com MO
ON THE SCENT
We’re all assigned various immutable qualities in the
lottery of birth. You mightn’t be able to change your
personality or your face (and nor should you have to),
though you can address your scent. Undesirable odours
are a byproduct of being alive, but Baxter of California’s
Citrus and Herbal Musk can mask most of them for
you. It combines something called witch hazel with
other obscure-sounding ingredients such as comfrey
and yarrow. Dab liberally to wick away the smells of a
life well lived. baxterofcalifornia.com BM