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Post 1011
Space: CNN.com — Rubbery fuel to power private spacecraft — Jun 16, 2004: “For SpaceShipOne, reaching space takes three things: a pilot, a spacecraft, and enough to propellant to rocket away from...
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Post 1043
Tech: Topix.net Weblog: The Secret Source of Google’s Power: How GMail works: “No, the story is about seemingly incremental features that are actually massively expensive for others to match, and the...
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Post 1056
USA: Navy League: “When the U.S. Navy�s first integrated power system (IPS)/electric drive warship arrives in 2011 as the DD(X), the service will mark a technological breakthrough that not only signals...
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Post 1069
Comics: Comic Book Resources: Hello, I am Spider-Man, er, Pavitr, uh, Peter. May I have your service tag? “Though we will remain true to the underlining mythos of Spider-Man, which is epitomized in the...
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Post 1070
USA: The New York Times > Washington > Author of ’02 Memo on Torture: ‘Gentle’ Soul for a Harsh Topic: “he Bush administration is distancing itself from a memorandum prepared two years ago by a...
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Post 1090
World: Yahoo! News — Nuclear Industry Still Haunted by Chernobyl — U.N.: “The nuclear industry is still struggling to overcome the damage done to its reputation by Chernobyl, even though nuclear power...
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Post 1101
USA: CNN.com — Soldier’s mom invites media coverage of casket — Jun 29, 2004: Yes, the military doesn’t have authority over civilians, at least in the US. It’s a different story in iraq. Don’t let the...
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Post 1185
Tech: Yahoo! News — High-Tech Vehicles to Drive Automotive Chip Demand: “The Prius is powered partly by an electric motor that complements its gasoline engine. Semiconductors control the electric...
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Post 1217
Tech: Ars Technica: The Pentium: An Architectural History of the World’s Most Famous Desktop Processor, Part I — Page 1 — (7/2004): “The original Pentium is an extremely modest design by today’s...
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Post 1232
Movies: CNN.com — Brando’s last role: Elderly woman — Jul 15, 2004: “The actor’s last role was a voice performance for the animated comedy ‘Big Bug Man,’ about a candy factory worker (Brendan Fraser)...
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Post 1234
Tech: Yahoo! News — Museum Considers Excrement Power: This will take the piss out of their visitors. “Britain’s Science Museum says it is considering a radical way of paying its hefty energy bills —...
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Post 1255
Sports: Yahoo! News — Armstrong Clears Path to Sixth Tour Title: “Clearing the path to a record sixth straight Tour de France crown, Lance Armstrong overpowered his rivals Saturday to cement his place...
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Post 1297
Tech: Yahoo! News — Train Like an Olympic Athlete with Hi-Tech Gadgets: Too cool for words running gadgets. Bluetooth. MP3, Mileage. Pulse. Now if it fits into sunglasses and uses solar power, we’re...
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Post 1320
Tech: IBM and Sun thin-client computing again. Thanks to Windows’ massive security holes, thin-clients have a better chance of corproate adoption now. Universities and schools can also save money by...
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Google has found me
Blog: I’m told that a few people are reading this blog. Friends, students, and random people who find these entries amusing are more than welcome here. I write for myself, to vent, to record articles...
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Ugliest Bluetooth headset ever
http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/15/chronotechs-bluevoice-combines-wristwatch-headset/ Bluetooth Watches is offering a combination headset wristwatch that is the ugliest electronic device I’ve seen this...
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Dell recalls 4M laptop computer batteries
This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=46 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060814/ap_on_hi_te/dell_battery_recall “The [Consumer Product Safety Commission]....
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Flying without a carry on bag?
These two USA Today articles discuss the problems frequent travelers have experienced since the TSA and FAA placed additional restrictions on carry on items in commercial aircraft. Some fliers seem...
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Cell phones without buttons
This Business Week article includes a nice slideshow of some prototypes and new products. The next iPod is rumored to have a full-panel display and a virtual click-wheel. There’s not much reason for a...
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More battery recalls rock Sony
From Business WeekThe worldwide recall of Sony lithim-ion laptop copmuter batteris now involves 7 million batteries and 6 computer manufacturers, including Apple, Dell and Lenovo. The Lenovo recall...
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16 hours later…
This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=189 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061016/ap_on_re_us/hawaii_earthquake Why am I not surprised that the...
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Why was the entire island blacked out?
This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=190 http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/16/ln/FP610160350.html/?print=on When two of Oahu’s 13...
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Oahu cell phone network was overloaded after the quake
This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=194 The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran a good report about how the island’s cellular phone networks were quickly...
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Governor considers emergency radio station, airport power
This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=194 http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/17/news/story02.html Governor Linda Lingle is considering adding emergency...
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Preventing an Oahu blackout is hard work
This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=204 http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/NEWS01/610190341 In this morning’s...
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The virtuous cycle
This article appeared in my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=206 http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060208_760555.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5 Peter...
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HawTel claims that system problems are consultants’ fault
According to the Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaiian Telcom CEO Mike Ruley spoke during an investors’ conference call yesterday. He discussed the ongoing issues that have plagued the telephone company’s...
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Yesterday’s tsunami
From the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin: We did have a tsunami yesterday. City officials asked people to stay out of the water at the beach parks, but the siren system was not...
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WiFi phones offer free calls at a price
Today’s New York Times features an article on WiFi telephones. These are mobile devices that can place telephone calls over an 802.11b connection by using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). While...
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Aboard the Superferry
Last Saturday we took a tour of the Superferry, and I took a few pictures for this blog. The Alakai arrived in Honolulu in early July and remains docked at Pier 19 while the Coast Guard does its final...
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Ultra-low cost PCs for schools
Vendors have been selling inexpensive personal computers for years. Dell has offered models that are more-or-less disposable – the case is sealed, and the repair costs may exceed the computer’s actual...
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Power trip
Courtesy of BoingBoing, here’s a photo of at least five different electrical outlets that are available at each seat in a European conference room. It’s not just the power outlets that are different....
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Microsoft acquistion of Yahoo faces roadblocks
Early Sunday, I saw this on a BoingBoing article: Google legal counsel David Drummond has released a statement that criticizes the proposed merger as anticompetitive. Here’s a New York Times article...
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Summer droughts could idle nuclear power plants
From the Associated Press: electric companies in the southeast USA are growing concerned over possible summer droughts. Nuclear power plants require tremendous amounts of water for cooling. Reservoirs,...
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Building the perfect laptop
From Business Week comes a longish article about Lenovo’s ultralight X300 ThinkPad laptop. There’s a picture on the top of the web version of the article that shows a disassembled version of the...
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Laptop hazards
Yesterday I discussed how laptop computers are designed. One important point I should mention is that laptops are not designed for user serviceability. The screws are small, the parts are tightly...
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Using waste heat to cool a computer
Computers generate a great deal of waste heat. Active cooling is the most popular method of venting heat, by using powered fans that move air through the computer. However, because a powered fan gets...
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Control those cables and power adapters
From Lifehacker: an excellent list of 10 ways to gather, tie and otherwise control computer cables. Some of these tips can be used right away. Other tips require a bit of work. This video from the...
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Solar-powered Bluetooth headset
From ChipChick and Engadget comes information on a solar-powered Bluetooth headset. Bluetooth headsets need a battery to power the radio, but it’s usually a low-wattage affair. The Iqua Sun 603 uses a...
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Magneto boy
As we close out a week of hardware-related posts on this blog, here’s an article from ScienCentral about a 12-year old boy who calls himself “Magneto Man”. Joseph Falciatano III of Richland, NY claims...
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Intel’s 80-core processor
Thirteen months ago, Intel showed off a prototype CPU with EIGHTY cores on the same piece of silicon. It uses about as much electricity as a traditional desktop CPU. This news.com article has some...
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Cellular base station uses wind and solar power
Cnet has a report on a cellular base station that can switch among wind, solar and diesel generators. This Gizmodo article has a few more details about E-site. It’s an interesting concept that would be...
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Google makes more investments in alternative energy
Google has invested US$10 million in BrightSource as part of the Internet firms’s RE>C initiative. According to news.com and ValleyWag, BrightSource builds solar thermal facilities and sells the...
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MacBook, MacBookPro USB ports are not created equal
USB ports are handy, but only when they are fully powered. On some models of the MacBook Pro, it’s the left USB port that is the primary port. If you’ve got an iPod, a headset, a USB-powered hard drive...
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Fire takes down The Planet
One of the country’s largest web hosting companies, The Planet, is still down after a fire knocked out their main data center’s transformer. To their credit, Planet managers have been providing regular...
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The impossible solar iPhone
As we approach the 9 June 2008 launch announcement for iPhone 2.0, it’s a good opportunity to discuss the iPhone’s power requirements. I’ve never heard anyone ask if an iPhone can be solar powered, but...
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Andy Grove wants more electric cars
Andrew Grove, a co-founder of Intel and the man who coined one of my favorite concepts, the strategic inflection point (SIP), is rallying corporate and government support for electric cars in the US....
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Can the Honolulu Marathon solve their timing problems?
Runners from the mainland, Japan and other countries are arriving on Oahu for the 2008 Honolulu Marathon, which starts this Sunday, 14 December with the usual fireworks. (See the end of this billso.com...
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Viacom vs Time Warner Cable — the power struggle continues
Approximately 13 million Time Warner Cable subscribers may won’t lose their access to Viacom’s cable channels at 12:01 am New Year’s Day 2009. Updated 1-Jan-2009: Someone blinked! Viacom channels are...
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The Aloha09 Project and hashtags
Some social media folks here in Hawaii have been promoting a special hashtag — #aloha09 — to mark the best of Hawaii in 2009. There’s a tracking page to follow these messages at aloha09.808talk.com and...
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