Gears and Gadgets
The British Army tested a
new tank last week that's straight out of a James Bond film (specifically, Die Another Day): it goes invisible.
The tank uses the same technology that Bond's Aston Martin V12 Vanquish utilizes. It has cameras set up on it, and takes the images they capture of its surroundings and projects them onto the tank, effectively camouflaging it. People who were at the tests said that they were amazed at how good it was. The British military is also working on a jacket that will do the same thing. The tank should be operational by 2012, according to their plan.
Something else that was developed recently, but this time by a guy in Florida, is a
bracelet that shoots pepper spray, inspired by Spider-man.
You wear the bracelet around your wrist, obviously, and there is a button that rests in your palm for easy access, which means that if you get attacked, you can easily trigger the spray to shoot in the direction of your attacker. The man who invented it said he thought it up after one of friends was attacked. The bracelet, along with replacement cartridges of pepper spray, will be available latter this year for around $30.
Labels: Current Events, Technology, Things of Interest
Digital Revolt
Today was an interesting day in the world of Web 2.0. It seems the encryption key for HD-DVDs was discovered, and posted online. The key would allow someone to crack the copy protection on an HD-DVD. A user posted it to
Digg, where it garnered more than 15,000 hits. Digg then received a cease and desist notice from the "owners of the intellectual property," as described by Jay Adelson on the
Digg blog, so they took down the story and supposedly kicked off the user who posted it. The result: a full-scale online rebellion.
Digg users flooded the site with stories and topics either with the code in the title or body, or just abusing Digg for their actions. Earlier, at least the first four pages were completely filled with items about the code. As I was looking at the site myself, I got a notice that Digg was down for a little while, so I only saw the first page, but it was full of topics on the code. It was amazing the ways they worked the code into their topic. Some of my favorites were topics that supposedly offered coupon codes for sites like GoDaddy or that said they got a strange error code on their computer (I bet you can guess what the code in each topic was). There were some that put the code in links in their topic, like to their "MySpace page," or just linked to graphics with the code in it. There was also one with "the truth behind 9/11."
The rebellion apparently has spread to sites like
Yahoo! and
Wikipedia as well. Wikipedia has locked all the entries on HD-DVD, HD, and other related subjects, and has deleted any reference made to the code or the events of tonight, as well as the code itself when it has appeared in any other entries (for example, there was apparently something about an "HD Mooninite" in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force entry, but it was deleted before I saw it).
Digg's founder, Kevin Rose, posted a
statement on Digg's blog later saying that while they took down the posting to keep Digg from getting shut down or service interrupted, it was obvious that Digg's users would rather Digg fight and possibly fail than cower in front of a bigger company. So Digg will no longer delete posts containing or about the code, which makes me wonder what the service interruption is about. The title of his post: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 (which is the code, if you don't know). I think I like Kevin.
I feel that this is far from over, but I think Internet users have won a victory tonight, at least in part. And Digg has probably gotten a ton of hits (and as such, advertising dollars) off of this, which means that, at least in the short run, they've won a bit as well.
Ok, Digg is back up after about 20 minutes. The first 5 pages are all about the code, with some stories scattered through the next couple pages too.
The HD-DVD Key as a hexadecimal avatar for one of the users on Digg.Labels: Current Events, Humor, Technology, Things of Interest
Firefox
After listening to all the hype for a year or two, I've decided to give FireFox the old college try ("doesn't that involve a lot of alcohol?"). I was planning on discussing in this post how I plan on doing this, and what my testing will entail, all that jazz, but right now I have one question: IS THERE ANY WAY TO FREAKING CHANGE THE WAY FAVORITES/BOOKMARKS ARE SET UP?
There are a couple features I have enjoyed in the 5 minutes I've been using it, such as it underlining "alchohol" in red when I spelled it like that accidentally, but that is one thing that will completely kill my experience. If I can't find a way to get folders set up and do something other than a drop-down menu for my favorites, I'm am definitely going back to Internet Explorer 7.0, which I enjoy very much. So now is your time, all you John Edwards of FireFox: if you want to win another convert, help me out here.
Another feature I just discovered is missing, at least from my basic version right now (I haven't installed add-ons yet), is a way to open a new tab without going through the menu or hitting ctrl-t. I know that seems really simple, but I've gotten used to just reaching up with my mouse and hitting the button to open a new tab in IE, especially when I'm going to have to use the mouse to put the cursor in the Google search box anyway like I was when I was trying to remember who preached "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" for my previous reference. One thing I did like was the suggestions that dropped down in the Google search box. I only had to type "sinners i" before "sinners in the hands of an angry God" was the first suggestion.
So give me something here. FireFox users (and I know at least one of my 4 or so readers is one), tell me what I should do. Tell what you like about it, and some cool add-ons to grab (I've seen some good ones, and that's one of the things that would be a big factor if I do end up switching). I'll use it on and off for a bit, but unless something can be done about my favorites, this trial is dead before it's started. I use them way too much to surf around to just give them up, and I really like the way they're set up in IE.
-edit-
After I wrote this post, I messed around with options and found the option to show the tab bar all the time, which makes it slightly easier to open a new tab with the mouse, but still not the way I want it. I have to right-click and select "New Tab," instead of just clicking a new button, like I want. That probably won't be a deciding factor in my decision, especially since I discovered that, but it will color my view of the entire browser.
-30-
Labels: Technology
eBay Auction: EVERY NES game ever made
A guy from South Carolina has put up for sale
quite a package. Not only are you buying all 670 NES game ever made, all in good condition, you're getting the following:
the NES Nintendo System Console (in the box), 4 Controllers, 2 Turbo controllers, NES Advantage Controller (Joystick and Button console in box), Zapper Gun, Power Pad, Power Glove, ROB the Robot (with accessories), 4 Player wired controller (with Turbo) allows up to 4 players, 4 Player Wireless Satellite and Reciever, Grey Joystick controller, Game Genie and the Code Book, RF Switch and AC Power Cord.
There's a picture of all the games stacked up on the auction page (which is quite a sight), and the guy has a 100% feedback rating, so it looks like the sale is legit. But get this: the bid is up to
$220,936. That's right, someone's going to pay almost a quarter of a million dollars for a bunch of video games. That seems a bit much for me, but hey, whatever floats their boat.
Labels: Current Events, Technology, Things of Interest
Profit losses at Sony
Due to slow sales on the PS3, Sony's profits have dropped in the third quarter. I have to ask: what did they think would happen?
There are several reasons for this, which I had talked about with friends when the PS3 originally came out and that are mentioned in
the article. For one, there's the price. It's double the price of the Wii, and still more expensive than the best Xbox 360. And even at that high price, they priced it under the cost of production to try to sell more. They wouldn't have had such a huge cost of production if they hadn't tried to jump start Blu-Ray discs. It took almost a decade to fully switch from VHS to DVD; why would they think that it would only take a couple years to convert to Blu-Ray, especially when HD DVDs are competing against it? On top of the high cost for the console itself, the games are ridiculously expensive as well, even for a next-generation console, once again due to their choice to go with Blu-Ray. Bad idea, Sony.
I'm sure the UMD fiasco of the PSP had something to do with it as well. The only thing the article says about PSP is that its sales have dropped as well, but several months ago many stores such as Target and Wal-Mart began drastically cutting back on, if not eliminating, their stock of UMD movies. The UMD had several things wrong with it that limited sales. Since its storage capacity was so much smaller, most of the bonus features found on DVDs had to be taken out, and to keep Sony DVD sales up, they didn't put in a TV-playback feature, so you had to always watch on the PSP. The only way to watch on a television was to buy a third-party converter, which to install required you to remove the faceplate, among other things. All those issues combined with affordable portable DVD players with TV output combined to destroy any possibility of profitable sales of UMD movies.
In the end, Sony's made some bad choices with their games systems. We'll see what happens as the novelty of the next-gen consoles wear off and they settle in for the long haul.
Maybe Sony can redeem the PS3 with some excellent games, but when facing competition like Halo 3 coming this spring and all the original games coming for the Wii that will draw all the casual gamers, it will be a tough sale.
Labels: Current Events, Technology, Things of Interest
Science brings confections to a new level
A scientist from North Carolina recently
developed caffeinated donuts. That's right: now you can get even more caffeine with your breakfast on top of your cup of coffee!
Each donut has about as much caffeine as two cups of coffee, but without the bitter taste. The inventor, Doctor Robert Bohannon, has approached several major donut companies about carrying them, including Krispy Kreme, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks. I can't wait.
Labels: Current Events, Technology, Things of Interest
"Old fear: designer babies. New fear: deformer babies"
With genetic engineering and embryo screening and all that, people can have (or will be able to have soon) "perfect" babies ("designer" babies, free of virtually all defects and genetically based diseases, etc.), but now some clinics, just a few, have started
designing for defects. Parents that have some condition, like being deaf or a dwarf, are trying to make their babies like that so that they'll be like them. I think that's just sick, at least with things like deafness. Maybe some people don't consider being a dwarf a defect, and I can see how they feel (but I still don't think they should make babies be that way, but anyways...), but there's no way anyone can say being deaf isn't going to make life way harder for the child, as well as depriving them of a lot of good things in life like just plainly hearing people's voices and hearing music, etc.
Not that people with those conditions can't live a virtually "normal" life (whatever that is) and be completely happy, and I guess a small part is the parents' choice, but I think much more is a basic human right to not be forced into a "defect." I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that humans have a right to be healthy, if something like deafness just happens, but I do think it's wrong to intentionally cripple a child to make them like their parents. Things like hair or eye color, even height or something like having an extra finger on each hand or something, I can see designing; I don't know if I would, I doubt it, but those things are mainly superficial and won't really affect the child's life. But things like whether they can HEAR or not...that's a big difference.
Some people say they can see how someone who is deaf or a dwarf could say, "I want a child like me," but you would think that would be outweighed by a desire to make life as easy and pleasant as possible for their child. As I said before, there is nothing wrong with having a "defect" (if you want to call it that) like being deaf or a dwarf, but it is definitely going to make life more difficult for the child. I don't think this is going to become a huge problem anytime soon, if ever, but I think it's something people are going to have to face at one point or another.
Labels: Technology
Holy crap I want one.
Labels: Technology, Things of Interest
NASA and Google's partnership
They have signed a Space Act Agreement, and now Google and NASA will be working together on a variety of technical problems in the future. Their first project will be Google getting NASA's most useful and interesting data out there to the general public.
Real-time weather visualization and forecasting, high-resolution3- D maps of the moon and Mars, real-time tracking of the InternationalSpace Station and the space shuttle will be explored in the future. "This agreement between NASA and Google will soon allow every Americanto experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through thecanyons of Mars," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin.They're also going to incorporate NASA data sets into Google Earth, as well as numerous other technical innovations.
NASA and Google also are finalizing details for additional collaborations that include joint research, products, facilities, educationand missions.
Article
Labels: Current Events, Technology, Things of Interest
The Robots Are Coming
It seems like everyone's about to be able to have their own personal robots soon. Scientists at Stanford are trying to create a robot to do tasks around the house, such as load and unload the dishwasher or cleaning up around the house. They're tryingt o develop a rudimentary form of A.I. for the original designs, but also trying to go further with it. "The ultimate aim for artificial intelligence is to build a robot that can create and execute plans to achieve a goal."
"'Within a decade we hope to develop the technology that will make it useful to put a robot in every home and office.'"
They've got some big names backing them: "Funding for the project has come from the National Science Foundation, DARPA and industrial technology companies Intel, Honda, Ricoh and Google."
Should be...interesting.
ArticleLabels: Technology, Things of Interest
