Welcome back to Here's What's Awesome, where we hang awesome links by the chimney with care. They're right next to the stockings - it gets pretty busy up there.

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged an inflatable mattress across my head
Some days you just can't drag yourself out of bed. So why not build a mattress that does the dragging for you?

While this is excellent as is, I should point out that had Jeff the inventor added some kind of automatic "post to Twitter" feature he probably could've raised 47 trillion dollars in venture capital funding. [LikeCool]

Bone Conduction n Harmony
You may already know that hearing uses more than just our ears - there's a process called bone conduction going on, where our bones vibrate in response to sound. It helps us place where sounds are coming from, and it also makes our own voice sound more sonorous to us (hence the "I hate hearing my own voice on tape" conundrum). Science has used bone conduction as a workaround for some kinds of hearing loss, but often via difficult means, like drilling into the skull. A company in California recently came to a wise conclusion - teeth are bones, too! - and they've developed a headset that lets the teeth do the bone conduction. It's still subject to FDA approval, but if all goes well it could help millions hear better, all as they clutch their undrilled heads in gratitude. [NewScientist]

Too bad Picasso never had a "streptococci period"
Bacteria art has been making its way around the blogs this week - since they're bacteria, you can't say they've been moving virally (ha) but you can say they've been employed to make some pretty interesting images, everything from a tree landscape that would feel at home on a Bob Ross canvas to a representation of Super Mario. Do you suppose bacteria consider this performance art? [TrendHunter]

Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments. We'll make room on the chimney for you. And we'll return in January with truckloads of new awesome links. Happy holidays!

Good evening, and welcome to our clinic for what we hope will be a revolutionary procedure. Tonight, I and my team of specialists will attempt to surgically reattach three awesome links at once. This procedure, known as the "Here's What's Awesome" transplant, has rarely been done successfully on this continent. We aim to change all that, and in doing so, bring all the procedure's benefits to the general public at a substantially reduced cost. We will begin just as soon as we dim the lights. We ask only that you turn your cellphones off and that you put all Junior Mints away at this time. Thank you. And here we go:

"To do then and now now is very 'thentro'"
One of the coolest (and lowest-tech) ideas in the photo community right now is Looking Into the Past - you take a photo from days gone by and take a modern-day shot of the photo's location, with the photo lined up in its original spot. It's a neat then-and-now commentary and, since it has its own group on Flickr, it's something almost anyone can be part of. [via Nag On The Lake]

Bang bang, you're art
While we're on the subject of art, there's been a lot of talk on the blogs this week about Paul Hazleton's dust art, very ornate sculptures made from dust bunnies. Less prominent, but just as interesting, is the new "Deweaponizing the Gun" series by Alabama artist Walt Creel. Walt fires guns into giant sheets of aluminum to make cool sketch-like representations. Normally, when I hear a sentence start with the phrase "When I decided I wanted to make art using a gun" I run for it, but not this time. [via Neatorama]

If I can harvest cow methane there, I can harvest cow methane anywhere...
The cows are coming to NYC! The city is concerned that new natural gas operations will affect its drinking water supply, so dairy cows may provide some of the city's methane for biogas projects. The plan aims to mitigate some of the environmental damage done by drilling, offer a new revenue stream to small-scale dairy farmers and get a bit of cow methane out of the atmosphere. The one downside? The cows can't decide whether they want to take the East Side apartment they saw on Thursday or whether to look for something in Brooklyn. [via CleanTechnica]

The procedure was a complete success! Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments.

(Photo by iagoarchangel via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Welcome to our post-Thanksgiving Here's What's Awesome potluck! No cooking required - all you do is share an awesome link of your own to go with our choice cuts. Let's wrap up the holiday weekend in a big way. Ready?

I want to find an awesome link every morning
It's not too early to start thinking of new year's resolutions, and HabitForge is ready to help. It works on the premise that you can change most behaviors with 21 days of commitment. HabitForge sends you e-mails each morning to ask if you stayed on track the previous day. If the answer is yes, you continue on; if it's no, you start over until you get to 21 days. There's also an optional social component, so that friends and family can cheer you on as you reach your goals. Unless, for some reason, your goal is to be more secretive. [via MakeUseOf.com]

All signs point to ABSOLUTELY NOT
I like that there's a company called Cookie Misfortune, and that they sell negative fortune cookies, saying things like "I hate you" when you break them open. While this won't do wonders for your self-esteem, is it really any worse than being the one person in your dinner party who gets "lucky" numbers instead of sage advice? [NerdApproved]

"Who wants a cheap rhinoceros"?!?
If Google is your search engine, you may have occasionally encountered a search suggestion that was a wee bit off the mark. Autocompleteme.com finds the strangest, most inexplicable suggestions Google has to offer - in one item they typed in "it's weird" and one of the suggestions was "it's weird that chairs even exist when you're not sitting on them"! A lot of these are a bit randy and not at all safe for work, but if that's not a deal-breaker you'll have a lot of fun here. [via Neatorama]

Remember, this is an awesome links potluck, and we've shared our awesome links. Now it's your turn!

(Photo by found_drama via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Lately a lot of folks have taken to Facebook, Twitter and the like and written about the things for which they're thankful this year. Seeing as how much of Here's What's Awesome is about tracking these trends, I feel obliged to join in. So: I'm thankful for all the awesome links out there, just waiting to show up in this column. (Nothing self-serving about this moment of gratitude, eh?)

They're coming to get your Google Map, Barbara
The latest fad in game development is using real physical locations as the game setting, with data straight out of Google Maps. To highlight his upcoming game, a fella named Jay Weston built the Zombie Outbreak Simulator. It's hypnotic - watch a few zombies grow into a giant, thousands-strong horde, with valiant police trying to stop their ever-growing brainlust on the streets of Washington DC. I like that I can personalize the "infection rate" and "number of zombies," but what I really want is to choose the map, and have the zombies show up in our neighborhood! [Google Maps Mania]

The great warmth of a fireplace... in a can!
The name says it all, right? Fireplace in a Can is one of several ideas for a potentially greener, cleaner portable heat source. This one uses gel; there's also a portable hearth by Electrolux that becomes transparent as it heats up. And there's always the DIY method of building a fire. (Note, though, that if you try all of these, you're either really cold or you're a pyro.) [Random Good Stuff]

Next year: learn to shake like a bowl full of homemade jelly
A greener holiday season could be yours with the new Santa Sack, a reusable cloth bag that takes over for wrapping paper. The bag can be personalized, and you can choose one sack or a combo of bags in multiple sizes, if you want to cut out excess wrapping paper but hang onto the fun of opening presents one by one.
[EcoChildsPlay]

Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments. Of course, you can always leave a present if you like, too.

Photo by joelf via Flickr/Creative Commons

Welcome to Here's What's Awesome, answer the secret word and you'll get an extra fourteen cents. It's a common word, something you find around the internet.

20,000 Robotic Submersibles Under the Sea
Did you know the government is funding the construction of an underwater robot armada? No, I am not a crackpot - and no, we don't need to alert an elite force of b-movie actors to stop them. Yes, these bots are subsidiaries to a larger "mothership", but they're tracking ocean currents, which could help track weather events, gauge environmental damage and even "swarm to disaster sites such as oil spills and airplane crashes." Still in the prototype stage, but stay tuned. [InventorSpot]

And if you leave it on all weekend... run
Want to teach kids to turn the lights off? A new "lightswitch ghost" attaches to the switch and changes facial expression and color as more energy is used - green and happy if the light's been on a little while, red and decidedly unhappy if it's been on for hours. [Inhabitat]

I believe Oli Lemieux can fly
And now, purely for fun, a video that's been making the rounds: a very acrobatic practice session with Cirque du Soleil's Oli Lemieux. The (unrelated?) music has some language not suitable for younger viewers, so just turn the sound down and consider that this guy has about the coolest job in the world:

[Neatorama]

Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments. Hey, comment is our secret word!

Photo by ittybittiesforyou via Flickr/Creative Commons

Now making its way down the aisle, from Parts Unknown, the undisputed heavyweight champion of awesome links... Here's What's Awesome!

Now let's forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream
Here's an obvious statement for you: chemotherapy can be a heaping helping of not fun for many patients. Among the side effects is an uncomfortable thing called chemotherapy-induced diarrhea. A team in New Zealand may have found a yummy way around the problem - a special brand of prescription ice cream designed to counteract chemotherapy's effect on the digestive tract. And it tastes like strawberries! [InventorSpot]

If you can't solve it, at least make art from it
Actually, John Quigley can solve Rubik's Cubes, and that's just the beginning of what he can do. John takes dozens of cubes, configures them into specific color combos, and then makes giant Rubik's Cube murals from them. His work includes photorealistic portraits, video game characters, and a still life of a Rubik's Cube. [via Technabob]

All the world's a game of Test Drive
The one big concern about the growing popularity of hybrid cars is that they're too quiet. That's a problem, you say? Well, for visually impaired pedestrians, quieter cars are a safety hazard, since it makes judging the closeness of a car by its engine noise more difficult. There's been talk of requiring hybrids to make more noise for safety's sake; maybe you think that's a good idea and maybe not, but if it has to be, giving hybrids simulated sports car engines is a pretty good solution. Researchers at Lotus are designing a system that not only pipes out engine noise, but lets you choose the sound - so if you want to cruise the neighborhood sounding like an Imperial TIE Fighter, you can do it. (Just remember, it's a short-range fighter, so don't get too far from home.) [Gas2]

Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments. Preferably about a Rubik's cube made out of ice cream that makes Star Wars noises.

Photo by nathangibbs via Flickr/Creative Commons

I think Here's What's Awesome needs a catchphrase - something as catchy as Gomer Pyle's "Sha-zam!" but as down to earth as Daniel Schorr's "This is Daniel Schorr." Let's think on this as we explore another week of awesome links:

And next, three people and a piccolo
Two Brazilian musicians prove that a) you don't need two guitars to play a guitar duet, and b) you don't need to "beatbox" or sing about robots to become an internet musical sensation!

[via Neatorama]

I have to go - my planet needs me
Assertive types may not find Escape My Date to be their cup of tea, but passive-aggressives will love it. If you're out on a date or other social engagement and need to call an audible, you send a quick note via Twitter to Escape My Date, which then alerts your friends to call you. The only missing piece is the excuse you give your soon-to-be-ex-date - but I've got that covered: "I'm so sorry, but I forgot to set the Tivo for tonight's episode of Cheaters." It might work... [Programmable Web]

We're gonna need a bigger bar of soap
Among their many powers, sharks have textured skin that's designed to repel bacterial parasites. So a Florida company is taking this pandemic-ish occasion to see if a surface with microscopic bumps on it can repel germs for those of us who aren't sharks. Early tests are promising, meaning... more tests are coming. But there's optimism that the final version will be ready just when you think it's safe to go back in the water. [Gizmodo]

Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments. What? You forgot to set your Tivo? Oh gosh, well, maybe I'll call you next week.

Support for Here's What's Awesome comes from the Here's What's Awesome Foundation, helping awesome links help you, since 2008. On the web at... well, right here.

So what song is it y'all want to type in and have a computer sing?
I hope you didn't have big plans to start Monday morning, because you're probably going to spend it on Let Them Sing It For You. This groovy site takes word snippets from pop music and plays them back based on the phrase you type in. Type in "I love you" and you'll hear Chris Isaak, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC belt it out for you. We're rolling out a spinoff site, Let Virginia Prescott Sing That For You, but our site will only work with words used in the musical "Grease." [via TrendHunter]

...as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and made a movie
Remember those crowdsourced zombie films that everybody was talking about a few months back, where willing hands filmed a scene or two and added them to the whole? Looks like there's a new project in the works - and the Force is with them:

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

At this rate, the auteur that is crowdsourcing will go through an existential crisis in a year or two, and then produce a crowdsourced version of Fellini's 8 1/2. [via Gizmodo]

RT Mustachioed villain calls hero poltroon, "base coward"
Tweets of Old shines the 140-character lens on the past, pulling choice quotes from old-timey newspapers for your tweety enjoyment. Twitter is just that much more interesting with posts like "Mrs.Stallings, from behind a bower of potted ferns, served delicious punch and sandwiches." I say, I like the cut of their jib. [via Mental Floss]

Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments. Bonus points if you SING!

It happened to Twitter, it happened to Pets.com, and now it's happened to us. Like so many sites that have grown almost overnight into internet institutions, Here's What's Awesome is facing a backlash - from jealous types, mostly, but we are nothing if not accommodating. So this week, I'll take you behind the scenes at our weekly compendium of awesome links. You'll get to see the template we use to build each week's column. And you'll see that the links we choose here are as awesome as they come. Because when it comes to awesome links, we have nothing to hide.

Template part 1: Intro! Share a funny story, anecdote or cultural reference that introduces the premise of the "Here's What's Awesome" brand. Be open, honest and FUN! Use a little irony to show you "get it" just like the audience.

Post the first awesome link with a brief but thoughtful explanation. Add a photo to give a visual cue for a more aesthetically pleasing display, and to provide a richer multimedia experience for readers.

No, it's not a band led by Jack and Meg Ice
Nature often makes the best art - right, leaf peepers? - and so places where nature's mostly left alone can really put on a show. That's what's happening in parts of Antarctica, where gorgeous photos of massive ice stripes are making the rounds. Just to reiterate, these aren't Photoshopped remixes - the stripes are caused by nature, which makes them that much cooler. (No pun intended.) [Inhabitat]

Now add two more awesome links and descriptions. Provide as wide a variety as possible, so there's something for everyone.

Cuts like a knife, or at least a scalpel
Scalpels are part of plenty of diagnostic procedures; now there's a scalpel that helps do the diagnosis itself. These electroscalpels analyze the byproduct of their, um, electroscalpeling to give real-time information on what's a tumor and what isn't. This gives the surgeon more accurate data than the pre-operative info normally used today. Human testing is set to begin soon. [Popular Science]

Game NOT Over
Everything is customizable these days, from my avatar to my eyeballs - so why is it that I can't find a video game that doesn't frustrate me and my limited hand-eye coordination after 30 seconds of play? Soon I might find one - researchers in Denmark want to start building adaptive games - that is, games that get easier if you're having trouble or challenge you more when you're doing well. Which means there's a chance I might actually be able to finish Super Mario Brothers after all these years. [NewScientist]

Let the reader know it's "your turn" to share links. This invites readers to become active participants in the "Here's What's Awesome" process. Come "full circle" by tying this last comment to the introduction.

Now that you know how it's all done, it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments.

Don't forget to provide credit for any Creative Commons photos. In the e-conomy, links are currency.

(Photo courtesy Rita Willaert via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Sometimes people ask me how it feels to write Here's What's Awesome, to share hundreds of awesome links with the world. And I tell them it makes me happy - as happy as a little piglet in a warm bath:

I can has borrow cup of sugar?
Online bartering is really coming into its own these days. You've heard about house swaps, and now there's NeighborGoods, a way for homeowners to share their stuff with the neighbors in pursuit of everybody having less stuff. So if you need that proverbial cup of sugar - or, more likely, a power tool for a project - you have a way to borrow it from someone nearby. (And if you don't send it back quickly, ReturnMyPants will send you a reminder e-mail!) [ReadWriteWeb]

Me and Your Nose, Remembering
If there's a word that's on the tip of your tongue, or an idea you had but you can't seem to bring it back up to the surface, maybe your nose can help. A German research team says the molecule interleukin-6 can help develop memories overnight when taken as a nasal spray. The researchers appear to be taking pains to qualify that they haven't proven it to be a memory-enhancer in other circumstances outside of nasal intake or nighttime memories, but if you'd like more vivid recollections of The Jay Leno Show, start spraying! [BoingBoing]

Nissan drives with the fishes
Whoever invents a way to end traffic jams is in line for a Nobel Peace Prize, given how much road rage will disappear overnight. Nissan says it's taken one step in that direction, by building robot cars that avoid each other the way fish do. It's not a perfect analogy, obviously - cars can't just go in any old direction, and fish don't have powertrain warranties - but the idea of building cars to essentially use the road in tandem instead of as individual entities might have legs - er, fins. The researchers also note that when cars aren't idling in traffic, they're wasting less gas, and reducing their carbon output. [AutoblogGreen]

Now it's your turn: share an awesome link in the comments. And then we'll all take five in a hot tub like piglets do!