Posts by Haku 1903 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Apr 2007
With so many people coming to depend on Google as it slowly seeps out of the digital world and right into the physical world (Android phones/tablets, Google Glass and whatever else they'll make next), will we eventually (centuries down the line) have a global vote to change our little blue marble's name to Planet Google or wil they just announce it one day...
I also have a Chronos eZ430 sitting on a shelf gathering dust, I did wear it as a normal watch for a while as it has a nice asthetic look to it but it kept randomly resetting and I never learned to program it properly too, kinda feel I shoulda persisted with it as I wanted to use its wireless features.
...I don't wear one anymore despite having a collection of over 40 game wrist watches (which includes Pac-Man, Tetris, Mario, Donkey Kong, Simpsons, Street Fighter II, Sonic The Hedgehog etc.) and various unusual gadget watches including a Casio one with a built-in IR temperature sensor and one shaped like a Sega Game Gear, because telling the time isn't such an important thing for me anymore plus I have a mobile phone with a clock on it ;)
"Exactly how are they going to swsitch off my washing machine?
In order to do that, THEY will need to fit smart sockets in every part of the home"
Three little words for you to investigate: power line communication.
It would facilitate the ability for a power company to turn off appliances without needing to rewire the entire house or install special sockets. In fact the meter in my house was upgraded and they gave me this little monitoring box which uses power line communication to allow the monitoring of power consumption ANYWHERE in the house where there's an ordinary mains socket.
Three words for you thesykes:
Double Fine Adventure
The kickstarter point'n'click adventure game from the people behind Monkey Island, Grim Fandango etc. that raised over $3 million a year ago now has a proper name and a trailer you can watch:
Or Garfield without Garfield.
No wait, that actually works - http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/
250m? Peanuts, I have some Texas Instruments RF transceivers that are solid at up to 1.7km and I managed to get talking to each other at 3.4km with the standard whip antenna, throw in some directional antennas and the signal becomes much stronger/reliable, change to an amplified RF transceiver and you're looking at 10s of kilometers.
Besides a decent UAV will have GPS capabilities so if it loses contact with the operator it goes into default 'fly-home' mode, or it goes on a pre-planned GPS navigated route meaning farmers would need some seriously powerful (and most likely illegal) GPS jamming equipment to electronically stop them.
Brigitte Nielsen & Julian Sands investigating a murder on the moon!
How could could you possibly omit this tv masterpiece?
Also, Saturn 3
Yeah, down to 16 meg?!?!? I've been stuck in 5 meg for years, which I've been ok with as the connection has been rock stable with no issues at all, but now BE sold their soul to the devil (Sky) it's time I took advantage of the new green fiber box on the street that's a stones throw from my front door...
Bit of a thought provoking one where Robin Williams plays a 'cutter', someone who takes people's recorded history (through memory implants that are implanted at birth) when they die and makes a video memorial for their loved ones from the dead person's perspective.
Worth checking out I'd say - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364343/
They have been, this was just one incedent a year ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZgk1cRqAfs
With a clip from the drone itself at the end of the video.
http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/
eg, this is what the article looks like in Swedish Chet or Hacker
If he actually does rise from the grave it would be absolute pandemonium, Apple would change its status from cult to religion, many current religious fanatics would start to wonder if they should switch over to Apple, current fanbois would be even more insufferable (as if that's even possible), and a lot of us would in unison say "Oh fuck..."
If it did then this graph would fully place the blame of decreasing number of pirates (the sea kind) on global warming:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/PiratesVsTemp_English.jpg
The idea of self-powered wireless switches means less mains wiring needed, and you can place the switch wherever you want in the room without having to wire it up to anything.
This is especially helpful for listed buildings where you often need planning permission for alterations.
Even the DIYers have already done this, using an off-the-shelf Microvision ShowWX pico projector which uses red, green & blue lasers to create the image by scanning line-by-line like a CRT. Though they put a strong filter on it so you don't get blinded by the lasers shining directly onto your retina:
http://hackaday.com/2012/04/09/projecting-video-directly-onto-the-retina/
Microsoft has been at it too - Skinput - look at this video from 2010 demonstrating a numeric keypad projected onto your hand where all the 'buttons' can be 'pressed':
It's not even one month's salary of Hugh Hefner:
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/hugh-hefner-net-worth/
Last October some MIT people released a 'game' called "A Slower Speed of Light" free PC/Macs (you'll need a powerful system for smooth framerate) which demonstrates what happens when you slow down the speed of light - basically everything goes a bit trippy.
Video of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu7jA8EHi_0
Getting asked why and having to give detailed answers that lead to more questions and even more detailed answers reminds me of the very first couple of minutes of the first episode of one of my favourite comedies of all time, Lucky Louie:
Will tablets follow the monitor and notebook trend and become closer to 'full screen' without the huge borders?
I hope not, I have a Nook Tablet and I really like the fact it has a nice grippable border around the screen because otherwise how would you hold it without touching the screen and accidentally triggering events?
I like my tablet because it's a fun toy for games, streaming video from shared PC folders and occasionally browsing the web - but it will never replace my main PC or my netbooks & laptop, especially as tablets are geared towards singletasking whilst PCs are good for multitasking.
I doubt the string of blue LEDs your neighbour has is anything to do with the workings of a security system - other than a visual warning - because PIR sensors rely only on heat and 'night vision' security cameras usually rely on IR light.
Much like this laser scanning security device someone developed which does absolutely nothing other than provide a 'light show' to warn potential burglars that there (probably) is a high tech security system in the premesis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnH95uzQPOo
Regarded by many as the first truly affordable mini laptop, they still have lots of life in them, especially as they're so cheap 2nd hand, even if they're not being made anymore and superseeded by 'ultrabooks' they still continue to chug along as useful devices.
My Eee count now resides at 6; my original 701 from the first batch that entered the UK which is still going strong along with another 701 which doesn't have a working touchpad but otherwise is fine, two 'dead' 900s that have failed onboard 4gb SSD's and missing screens (I broke 2 sceens by mistake so had to salvage), a fully working 900 (still very useful), and a 901 with a cracked screen I was given which has been upgraded to two SATA 2.5" drives with SATA connections (60mb/s read/write) to become a basic VNC controlled HTPC with a Microvison SHOWWX+ pico projector pointed at a 6 foot wide screen.
I do have a 7" Nook Tablet which is a nice toy for media consumption but is not always substitute for a 'proper' computer - even an Eee, I dislike the fact that current computing technology is moving away from multitasking to singletasking by having programs (apps :P) running in fullscreen.
Charming!
A "luddite!" or "get with the times, grandad" attitude such as that towards me is certainly not a persuasive argument for moving to another OS when the one I'm using now does all I need.
IMHO currently I do not believe I would gain anything by a switch to another OS (any other OS) other than frustration, indeed I believe I would needlessly waste time and money getting to grips with having to learn a new way of doing something I can already do with my current OS.
Do you also look down on people who use typewriters because they're 'living in the past' by not using a computer with printer, or people who use a pen and paper because they're not using a touchscreen tablet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTYet-qf1jo
I have absolutely no interest in upgrading to it, heck I can't stand vista and I'm not much in favour of win7. Sure I'm still using XP (and I'm not that fond of it) but I 'know' it and it has a plethora of software out there that runs on it and most problems can be solved either by figuring it out yourself or a few seconds with google.
What bothers me is that Microsoft and hardware manufacturers are forcing everyone onto new OS's wether they like it or not by bringing out new hardware and not producing drivers for old OSs.
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