Technology and Science

Toshiba SCiB Battery Breakthrough

December 12, 2007

Rich writes about a battery breakthrough from Toshiba called SCiB. Toshiba Corp.'s Super Charge ion Battery, or SCiB, can recharge to 90 percent of its full capacity in less than five minutes and has a life cycle of more than 10 years, Toshiba spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida said. Toshiba, said the new rechargeable lithium-ion battery will eventually be used in hybrid and electric cars.

Rich is practically giddy with this news since he is almost as much a gadget freak as I am. He's constantly carrying miscellaneous chargers, extra batteries, etc.

Posted in Apple, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Technology and Science, Wireless

Lowering Screen Resolution = You're Getting Old

December 6, 2007

According to a recent study done by TPK Research, Inc., as computer users get older their near vision and ability to focus begins to decline, forcing computer users to change from their favorite higher screen resolutions to lower screen resolutions. The lower screen resolutions result in larger text and graphics that are easier to read and less strain on aging eyes.

Although I am far-sighted (not near sighted), lately even my near vision has gotten weaker. I recently downgraded my 21" flat screen monitor from 1600x1200 down to 1280x1024. Although I can see the text better at this resolution, I much prefer the 1600x1200 resolution because I typically have anywhere from 10-20 Firefox tabs open, 10-20 Avant Browser (uses Internet Explorer engine) tabs, Adobe Photoshop, Skype, various other IM/VoIP applications, and other apps open.

Posted in Technology and Science

Lap-"topless" meetings - Good or Bad?

December 3, 2007

Somehow I never thought I'd used the words "lap" and "topless" in an article title due to the images they convey. In any event, many businesses allow their employees to take their laptops and Blackberries into corporate meetings. There are pluses and minuses to allowing laptops and other communications devices in to meetings. The plus side is that the employee can multi-task.

Posted in Technology and Science

Exoskeleton Arrives, Terminators not Far Behind

November 26, 2007

An experimental robotic exoskeleton from Sarcos turns ordinary soldiers into super-soldiers. Wouldn't we all just love to do 200lb pull downs, bench press 500lbs with utter ease, and flip heavy car batteries with our own personal exoskeleton hook? Who doesn't love half-man half-machine stories with superhuman strength? Bionic Man, DC Comic hero Cyborg, etc. etc. Well, be prepared to be blown away by this video.

The helmet bears a striking resemblance to Master Chief's helmet in Halo, Halo2, and Halo3. Once again science fiction bears reality. Of course, let's just hope the Covenant, the Flood, the Skynet nor the nearly indestructible Terminator T-101 and T-1000 come to pass.

Posted in Technology and Science

Koenigsegg CCXR Super Car is Green!

November 26, 2007

When I think of biofuel cars, I think slow, imperfect, compromising performance for greenness. Not to mention the lovely smell of french fries and other fried food smells emanating from the exhaust pipe. Cause: your mostly purified cooking oil used as the fuel. I certainly don't think of a "green" car that sports 1018HP and 780/lb/ft of torque at 6100 rpm that puts the Bugatti Veyron to shame.

Posted in Technology and Science

ADSL to reach 100Mbps speed!

November 5, 2007

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, a 29-year old Australian wiz kid, Dr.Papandriopoulos, has found a way to squeeze more broadband juice out of your phone line, which will improve DSL speeds. Apparently, the technology eliminates a lot of the cross-talk interference and is easier to deploy than competing solutions. I'm amazed that our simple single-pair copper phone lines can carry 100Mbps of data across far distances from the CO (central office) to the home. I remember the days (1970s) when I was lucky to get 300 baud speed connecting to a local BBS (Bulletin Board System).

Posted in Technology and Science

Google Phone Mania

October 31, 2007

There is so much hype and hysteria surrounding the Google Phone that I can't keep up with all the various rumors and speculative articles. There's so much to read and so little time. Fortunately, I have a "proxy" to filter through the noise. Rich has a deep interest in the Google Phone so he's been reading up on all the various articles and making brief summaries of what the experts say the Google Phone will and won't be.

Posted in Google, Mobile Phones, News, TMCnet, Technology and Science, Wireless

Commodore legend Chuck Peddle, Skype, New Jersey, Sri Lanka, WiFi, VoIP...

October 10, 2007

What do Commodore legend Chuck Peddle, New Jersey, Sri Lanka, WiFi, voice & video over IP via Skype have to do with each other? Well, friend and fellow reporter Evan Koblentz has a cool article about Chuck Peddle using Skype to save the day for a speaking engagement he was going to miss in New Jersey since he was stuck in Sri Lanka on business.

With no Internet access in the event's auditorium, they leveraged WiFi and a connection to a neighbor's cable modem to enable Internet access. Evan points out that they had permission from the neighbor, but he just might want to check the cable provider's Terms of Service (ToS) on sharing Internet access with an adjoining building.

In any event, they held an hour videoconference using Skype which was beamed over the Internet from Sri Lanka to New Jersey to a cable modem to a WiFi router and finally projected to a 8 foot screen. They recorded the videoconference, which is hosted on Youtube, and which has some pretty cool computer history, including discussion of a 6 foot x 4 foot hard drive, Boolean logic, AND / OR gates, birth of microprocessors, and more.

Posted in Skype, TMCnet, Technology and Science, VoIP

Dataprobe iBootBar Review

September 20, 2007

Ratings Score Installation Documentation Features Usability Performance Overall You Mr. Administrator think you know it all. You think you've got all the bases covered and you scoff at disaster recovery.

Well... Pop quiz, hotshot.

Posted in Computer Hardware, TMCnet, Technology and Science, VoIP

Technorati RSS Feeds Problem

September 14, 2007

I use Technorati's RSS feeds to keep my eye on interesting topics. Unfortunately, it appears Technorati's RSS feeds aren't working. For instance, this link should show the keyword VoIP:
http://feeds.technorati.com/search/voip

Bummer.

Posted in Technology and Science

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