Apple's iPad is a lily pad in the tablet computer pond

Today marks another incredible birth date for Apple Inc.  After a litter of iKids over the last few decades another one joins the Mac Clan; the iPad...which shall remain in transportation limbo (electronic incubation) for another 60 days.
 
Although another lagging product from the free-spirited computer and communications technology collective; the iPad in Apple fashion awes the customer upon first glance with an inspirationally shiny screen.

However the machine is no more impressive than the Tablet PCs that have existed for years.

Perusing online one can find a comparable machine for a comparable price.  Or a beefier machine that's really a hybrid tablet/laptop.

Yet the iPad offers no removable hard-drive connection, what you buy is what you get, no information on Apple's site indicated it had more than that Apple 30-pin port.  No USB connection, nor Firewire. 

Former Apple employees disclosed that Apple has been working on such a device "for more than a decade," reported the NY Times.

However, the company executives could never conclusively decide upon why to market a device that was power inefficient and awkward to use compared to a keyboard and mouse, the former employees told the NY Times.

That power inefficiency however, came from Apples' use of PC microchips, stated the former employees speaking about prototypes.

Which is odd considering that Apple has made their own chips for just about every machine, despite the effort involved why didn't the prototypes get a house-heart from the start?

For certainly other Tablet PCs have been lulled by battery longevity, yet they retained the ability to have a stronger battery replace their stock; which Apple has not with the iPad.

But Apple claims to have achieved a 10 hour lifespan per charge for the iPad; while pursuing a mixture of surfing the web via Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music.  All due to their homemade 1 Gigaherz A4 processor, which apparently is a low-powered high-performance chip.

But a combination of the above mentioned processes is like mixing booze; the more the mixture, the faster you crash and burn.  Given Apples history with lithium batteries, 10 hours may be a stretch, but who knows!  They ship in 60 days, Steve Jobs just wanted customers to get their teeth wet with a marketing stint bent on salivation salvation.

More to come Mac-olites.

Pricing options for the iPad.
16 Gigs of memory - $499
32 Gigs of memory - $599
64 Gigs of memory - $699
Most expensive - $829 (3G models = price + $130)
Plus $15 or $30 data transfer per month for internet access.

HP recovery...Vista drudgery

In April the AC power adapter for my laptop broke.  The pin which connected the laptop to the adapter separated from the body of the adapter.  It was a sad spring day.

After having committed to a mission of purchasing a new desktop while maintaining some money for books, the adapter replacement fell down the list of financial priorities.

Which is one thing great about Christmas.  With my Christmas cash on my card after a trip to the bank, I went to Buy.com and bought a generic power adapter and cord.  It arrived yesterday, allowing me to do something I haven't in six months.  I turned on my HP dv6000 and that friendly Vista jingle filled my ears for the first time in over half a year on a warm winter day.

But after six months without my dear dv powering up, she slowed down sluggishly.  Luckily Hewlet- Packard, like other computer companies, has a factory partitioned space on the hard drive loaded with all materials necessary to complete a full reformat and reinstallation of your operating system.

How many clicks did it take to select and run the easily identified option which set the laptop back to it's "factory shipped condition"?  Five...

After a restart I hit the f11 key during start-up.  This loaded some files similar to slipping a Windows CD into the drive which led to the HP recovery window.

"Use this program to recover your computer to its original factory condition." - "Next" - Click 1

"Would you like to launch Microsoft System Restore?" - "No" - "Next" - Click 2 & 3

"Would you like to perform a system recovery?...System recovery is a procedure for restoring your computer to its original factory shipped condition." - "Yes" - "Next" - Click 4 & 5...the rest was patience training. 

The time it took to reformat and reinstall Vista and start-up into the operating system, 24 minutes...

Now Windows is loaded back up, the ol' dv is running well, but I have 70 Vista updates to install and configure.  The only bust to the reboot, three years after purchasing my laptop Vista has bloated like a well-fed balloon.

However, the ability to reformat my machine while fully reinstalling my operating system within a half hour feels great.  Although this operation has become common place for myself, as for other computer users, the advent of a recovery partition has streamlined the manual procedure.

Step 1
-Enter BIOS, select boot sequence 1 to cd-rom
-Save & Reboot

Step 2
-Open cd-rom quickly
-Put in Windows CD
-Closer cd-rom quicker

Step 3a
-If done fast enough mash keyboard when instructed to hit "any key to boot from cd."

Step 3b
-If not done fast enough, restart and consult 3a.

Step 4
-Patience training, windows has to load lots of files to reinstall the operating system.
-After windows files loaded follow on-screen instructions.

Step 5
-Select to reformat your hard drive
-Patience training, this will take 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending.

Step 6
-Wait for computer to automatically restart
-Patience training, wait for same windows files to load
-Follow on-screen instructions to install your operating system

Step 7
-Patience training, your Windows installation will take about 30 minutes.

Step 8
-Update.

See what I mean about five clicks?  Feels great having a streamlined partition.

Windows 7...Microsoft simplified

After a few days of playing with Windows 7 I must say Microsoft...bravo!  What the hell took you so long?

For those of you who many not remember, Windows XP was released in 2001, 8 years ago.

Considering the fact that at that time, the longest distance between two Microsoft operating systems was 3 years (95 -> 98), that is one hell of a stretch.

And we, the PC consumer, have languished in those 8 years.  After disappointing service packs that never seemed to solve the ills of XP and another Windows ME (crap), in the form of Vista; its about time Microsoft puckered up and gave us a nice kiss on the lips.

With that, here's your PC...simplified.

The taskbar's face lift is more than a lift, it's a complete overhaul.

The text that use to stretch taskbar icons into noticeable rectangles has been removed.  Now, like on newer MAC operating systems, the taskbar icons are strictly graphic.  This not only puts more icons in the taskbar, without requiring another row, it also reduced the clutter of text the taskbar could be if you had a lot of windows opened.

Since programs are now "pinned" onto the taskbar, much like MAC OS, all of your windows for 1 program are veiled behind the single taskbar icon.  Got AOL instant messenger open along with a few IM windows?  The AIM running-man is your icon, hover over the icon, and much like Alt-Tabbing a preview of each individual window expands below (or above, maybe to the side, depending on where you place the taskbar), simply click on the one you want.

The search feature is faster than ever, for those of us representing the "on-demand" generation, the search feature beings search after your second key stroke, that's fast.  No waiting for the operating system to collect what you told it to look for, it collects and looks while you tell it.

Libraries have given people the ability to consolidate a hard-drives worth of material into one place.  Have songs saved in your Windows Media File and iTunes?  Set those directory locations (file path) to your "Music" library, and all of your songs will appear in that single window.

With tons of new features, and a complete reappraisal of others, this new Microsoft operating system is everything PC users have been waiting for.

PS: Find yourself to a store with computers that have Windows 7 installed, and just gaze at the depth this operating system has, the images appear 3-D...seriously go look!

The Sheriff of Silicon Valley takes another outlaw down

The high noon sun hung aloft, stranded in the cloudless sky casting a blaze upon the two shadowless figures.  Time stood still for the Sheriff and the Outlaw, for just a short time had this hyper ram-headed outlaw escaped the clutches of the Sheriff.  Now, after a few weeks of frustrating chase the Sheriff had the Outlaw right where he wanted him.

The three who had ridden with the Outlaw since their gang started back in July split, fearful that reprieve wouldn't come, and they were right to, for this Sheriff took Outlaws down for the count not down to the court.

As the second-hand of the clocktower inched towards 12, the nerves of the Outlaw burst with electricity, he was jumpy, sometimes a blessing, but for this calm Sheriff that jolt didn't shock his focus.

Before the Outlaw could drop the hammer of his six-shooter he'd drawn from his holdster, the Sheriff reached outward from his side.

*Click* *Click*

Within the flash of a second the Sheriff had drawn and fired two well placed shots that left the Outlaw hangingly loosely in his saddle.  The two white-colored stur-ups that clamped the ram-headed Outlaw into the saddle no longer maintained their grasp and the Outlaw fell...right onto my carpet.

It took a few days, but I found him.  That damn culprit that had delayed my installation of Windows 7 for the last time!  As I suspected, my computer had 1 bad stick of RAM out of it's 4.

After installing Windows 7 on one good stick.  I shutdown and continued to place all of my RAM back in, stick by stick, checking my BIOS to ensure the motherboard registered each byte, upon placing the second stick back in what did I discover?

3368 bytes registered...RAM R/W test failed.

I had found him, my Outlaw renegade RAM.

Now he's resting in a jail cell called static-resistant plastic bag awaiting his trial at my computer manufacturer, a call placed Monday morning should have a new stick resting in my motherboard by Friday.

Standard Maintainence

To my great success, the culprit has been cornered in the crime of delaying my Windows 7 install.

As I type to you now, I do so on Windows Explorer through my newly installed Windows 7 Home Premium operating system.

After cleaning my RAM heads and blowing the dust out of their saddles, I reinstalled all 4 sticks and gave Windows 7 a shot.

Same old story, the installation hung at the "Starting Windows" screen of uncertainty.

So I yanked the back 3 out and started over...and then it happened.

Marvelous colors of blue, green, red, and yellow began to appear in the center of my screen, rotating like dancing lights bringing about a fancy artistry foreign to a Windows start-up screen, the dazzling colors manifested into the Windows logo before leading my through the install.

After a few weeks of frustrations, business, and laziness, I finally got Windows 7 installed without any problems, on one 2-gig stick of RAM.

Now something important to remember is this.

You must maintain a strict schedule of standard maintainence for your computing-machine to keep it in proper working order.

That means weekly or monthly tasks that need to be done like clockwork.

Familiarize yourself with your BIOS, every start-up you should make sure all your RAM is recognized by your motherboard (it will tells you how much loads each time you start up), so go in your BIOS, disable quick boot, turn off the logo screens, and check to make sure the parts in your computer are registering.

Use the Windows Tools within Accessories in the Windows Start-up Menu, Programs.

Run disk clean up once a week to purge your computer of unncessary temporary files that build up in bulk if forgotten.

Make sure to disk defragment your computer on a monthly basis, this tool helps consolidate files on your computer, install a lot of stuff, download a lot of stuff, do you constantly move large amounts of files around?  These all slow your computer down as bits are saved (like memories of past residencies) so your computer can remember the life and legacy of each file, shorten that legacy using the defragmentor.

A good dusting bi-monthly will ensure your fickle hardware keeps working will full functionality, don't forget to clean out the fans as well.

Stick to a strict code of standard maintainence and you will catch problems like I did, but much sooner.

Random-access memory loss

After a few days of trouble shooting what should have been a simple upgrade installation of Windows 7, I have come to the conclusion that the errors I've suffered thus far...are not the errors of Microsoft.

I have a hardware issue...not a software issue.

What's the difference?
Hardware are the pieces that comprise your computer, your RAM, your CPU, the power supply, video / audio cards, etc.
Software are programs those parts run and project onto your monitor.

Given their nature, these two different spheres of the computer world are helplessly attached at the hip, when one fails, the other usually follows in step (or is the cause of the first failure).
Hardware have programs themselves, called Device Drivers, that are the protocols allowing the parts to interact with the programs.  When the software has a conflict with the Device Driver, the program will crash, but this is not the problem I've had.

The problem I have experienced this time around, faulty hardware. (With the billions of lines of code and microscopic sizes of some computer parts its only inevitable for problems to arise from anywhere, you try keeping track of that much information without slippage!)

So the solution is this.

The BIOS is a manager of your computer parts and basic mechanical function that can be accessed during start-up, all that white text over black background, those are BIOS processes making sure your parts function properly before booting up into your operating system.
(Above is a picture of the BIOS manager menu)

In my case, I have 8-gigs of RAM, yet my BIOS is only registering a little over 6-gigs.  Since I have 4 2-gig sticks of RAM, one bad stick may be my culprit.

So the plan is to take them all out, clean their contact points, blow some compressed air into your saddles on the motherboard, plug them in and see if they all register again.  When your motherboard stops registering things plugged into it, they are usually just dusty not dead, time to clean.

If this doesn't solve my issue the next step is to remove them all once again.  Then insert each stick individually, one at a time and start up.  With only one stick in the computer, once I plug the bad one in (if there is a bad one) the computer won't start up and I'll know which one to have my computer company replace. (Though I can and have built my own in the past, I have a 3 year warranty for this machine and it feels great)

After I've nab my bad RAM stick, or cleaned them so they all register once again, anchors away for Windows 7!

Technical Difficulties

I discovered a few things about Windows 7 yesterday.

For one, when upgrading (rather than fully installing) the operating system, certain programs I have come accustomed to are no longer compatible, or at least the versions I have.

It all started after I inputted the CD into my drive.  Loaded up the menu, shifted through a few windows worth of stuff until the upgrade actually started.

Upon the first restart the installation required, my computer hung in utter desolation at the "Starting Windows" screen.

A call to Microsoft informed me of the compatibility issues I may be experiencing, which would lead to the install...stalling.

Now that I have the programs I needed to uninstall removed, and the drivers I needed to update completed, we'll see about this "several hours" upgrade process...more to come!

Windows 7 has thick glass.

Finally installing Windows 7 on the machine, chose the upgrade install over a full install that would require me to reformat (completely flush the hard-drive of data).

Here's something new I haven't seen in a Windows install before.
"This upgrade may take several hours..."

We'll see how fast my 8-gigabytes of RAM punches through this Windows install.

Next land-speed record on the horizon? Teams chase quadruple digits

We're at it again America, that great crusade to best our brethren from the British Isles.

But this time, we do so through speed, raw rocket-powered speed.

Richard Noble of guess where, has been developing a rocket with wheels that instead of traveling up into the atmosphere, shall travel parallel with the ground in an attempt to top the current land-speed record (which Noble set at 763 mph in 1997) by breaching 1,000 mph (1609 kph) with his latest machine, the Bloodhound Project built from the ground up.

On our side of the great pond, Ed Shadle and Team North American Eagle have taken a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (Cold War era fighter pictured above) and converted the interceptor into a drag racer.  So far the former fighter has propelled past 400 mph, a modest climb north to their goal of 800 mph.  The reason, data data data.

For a land vehicle to travel at 800 mph it must do one thing all supersonic jets do, break through the sound barrier.  Granted this doesn't seem to hard right?  But you have to take in the physics of a barrier breach before you break through it, to not could cost you your life.

At subsonic speeds, bodies in motion project sound waves in front of their direction of travel.  These waves force air molecules to move releasing the possibility of pressure building up from too much matter being forced into such small of space.  However, once bodies in motion reach the speed of sound, they catch up to these sound waves.  Once that occurs the pressure within that space builds to a breaking point.  And once the body breaks the speed of sound, the barrier of pressure that had built up erupts with a sonic boom.  This eruption is not simply noise, those waves are physical and tangible, thus under that amount of pressure they could also shake the vehicle apart.

Which is why Shadle and TNAE have taken their time to top the land-speed record by July 4, 2010.

Lots of tests need to be conducted and finalized before they attempt to break the sound barrier.  They must know the Starfighter can hold it's own on the ground, like it did in the air.

For Noble, he's thrown the Bloodhound (shown above) into the wind-tunnel to shake the dog to it's bones.  But the question on each designer's mind is, how will the supersonic interaction with the ground effect the vehicle's underside.  If that sonic boom erupts in a sphere, will the down force push the vehicle upward slightly?  Like a kid doing a bunny-hop jump on his bike?  No one knows, and there is only one way to properly find out, shoot for the moon.  But for Noble, he'll keep science as his six-shooter, although the wind tunnel is insufficient to test these effects explained above, he's gone to supercomputer computations of fluid dynamics to simulate the pressures his Bloodhound will have to endure.  So far, the computers have estimated at 1,000 mph, 12 tons of air pressure will squeeze in on every inch of the vehicle.

Tech Trix

Vegetables, aside from being tasty and health-abiding also have electrolyte properties.  What does this mean?  It's got more than juice you drink, it also has juice your electronics thirst for, electricity.

Some of you may remember making potato batteries in school, although we only used them to light a flashlight bulb, comprising certain vegetables and metals in larger quantities can generate enough "juice" to power some of our everyday devices...like your iPod.

How?  By the magic of physics.

Zinc and oxidation bring about a wonderful result when properly combined, electricity.  That means you can take zinc, stuff it into a vegetable (potato, apple, etc) and make some juice without a squeeze.  Wrap some copper into the mix and guess what, you have a completed electrical circuit, just apply some wiring to attach the circuit to a device and voila!...power.

Theodore Gray decided to use apples when putting vegetable power to the test.  He corded the apple into rods which he then sliced into disks.  He placed pennies (zinc...and copper!) between the slices making penny-apply power sandwiches.  After comprising 6 "batteries" with 20-25 cells (penny-apple sandwiches) Gray wired them to an iPod cable giving the device enough power, for 1 second of operation.

Although vegetables can't hold a candle against chemically manufactured batteries, in rough times or post-apocalyptic Earth, it may keep your iPod running, imagine if Hurley from Lost knew of this, he'd still be listening to his CD player on that beach.

Blue Line to Black Diamond

I just got back from seeing Kiss live at the Staples Center.  Luckily my mom entered a drawing at work and scored some free tickets, but the drive wouldn't be free...and neither would be the parking.

So instead of dealing with the traffic-gauntlet that is the OC to LA connection on one of the busiest traffic nights of the year, we parked her car at work and jumped on the Los Angeles County Metro Rail Blue Line.

That's right, public transportation...why you ask?

The parking at the Staples Center is a price I don't know because I've never parked there, but either way, its way more than $5.00, the cost of a day pass on the metro.  Add in a 15 minute car ride to my mom's work with free parking on location, and we still stayed well under the average price of personal vehicular travel to the Staples Center. (And considering the trip from the Willow Station in Long Beach to the Pico Station at the Staples Center took only 30 minutes we even beat traffic)

But what about the walk from the station to the Staples Center?  Would I be willing to drop $10 - $15 more for convenience of distance?  Luckily, the Blue Line's Pico Station is literally right across the street from the Staples Center's front doors.

Since it's opening in 1990, the LA Metro Blue Line has ferried 60,000 to 80,000 passengers from downtown Long Beach into the heart of LA on a daily (weekday) basis.  It's estimated yearly ridership is around 24 million.

For the 22 mile 22 station track, that's a lot of people moving cheaply, effectively, and less harzardous to the environment, fantastic contraption isn't it in the land of drivers? 

The light rail (or smaller than train) system utilizes high voltage electricity to create traction and friction that propels the tram down the track.  Seriously, I saw one of the power stations at the Pico Station.  And let me warm you, its deadly electric and illegal to enter, apparently unauthorized personal found within the premises are subject to California Penal Code 555.

So the next time you find yourself considering a trip to LA, consider the Metro.

Shell "Spars" with the Gulf of Mexico

Early next year Shell expects to flip the on-switch for the deepest oil well yet drilled.

The Perdido Spar, constructed in Finland by Technip, is a 555-foot 50,000 ton cylindrical oil-rig that Shell successfully secured to the sea floor earlier this year in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell is now in the process of drilling 22 wells into the sea floor that will grant the spar access to approximately 130,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas each day.  That seabed, known as the Perdido Foldbelt, is about the size of Houston.

A unique aspect of the Perdido is how it will get the oil 9,627 feet (depth of deepest well) up.

Above you can see a number of pumping stations littering the sea floor, but only 5 risers lifting oil from those stations up the rig.

Offshore oil rigs normally have 1 pipeline per well, a direct line from the oil's natural resting place into the rig for production and use.

However, shell intends to built 13 additional wells up to nine miles away.  With just 1 two-mile pipe weighing 500 tons the additional wells offered a nightmare for engineers.  Add on the 22 other wells within proximity to Perdidio and the task seemed too burdening.

So Shell dropped the short-cut and instead installed massive risers that will shoot the oil from the pumping stations top-side.

The Perdido rests 200 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas.

Total length of pipeline laid, 184 miles.

What is a Spar?

Technologies making this possible

Shell's safesty challenge

When you're an Xbox and you wanna go "Wii"

In 2006 Nintendo finally released the infamous "Wii" into the videogame mainstream.  For the idea behind the Wii was initially laid down by Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto in 2001.

That idea?  Completely innovate the console "controller" by completely renovating its mechanic.

No longer would people simply press buttons to manipulate their games on console, now they would have the power of manipulation not just in their hands' fingers...but in their movements.  No more calloused thumbs!

Since then the rather primitive motion-sensor-controlled Wii has dazzled people by forcing them into a new echelon of videogame interaction.  Coming close to body-movement-sensor-control but not quite there.

A police shooter I've found at a few movie theaters does just that, you stand square-shouldered feet facing forward on top of a platform with footprints, from there you use the plastic gun to shoot but move your body to find cover, seriously...after a few goes I decided to drop back and watch someone else play it...its quite hilarious due to the sluggish response of the game, grown people killing time by shooting computer-generated gangsters while performing what looks like a Richard Simmons workout in slow motion.

Thus spoke Microsoft!  Project Natal..."you are the controller."

This marvelous addition to the Xbox 360 is home to a color video camera to detect your movements from 48 body parts (joints, head, neck, shoulders, facial features, etc), an infrared emitter and sensor for depth perception (to visually gauge your distance from the Natal system), and a microphone (for detecting your voice commands and for hearing how far from the Natal system you are).

Toss a microprocessor into the device to compute all that data on the fly and bam!  The "Wii" becomes a "Bii" for innovation.

But the truly remarkable dynamic shift is it's detail.  It has the ability to read your facial features, subtle hand gestures, while recognizing your voice; this quite frankly may take the role-playing genre to the extent of realism.

Volvo...thinking for you

How many times have you found yourself in a moment of panic as you realize turning the dial on the radio took your focus away from the car in front of you bringing on eminent impact?

Scary isn't it?  The locked up feeling you get in your chest, the terror of the oncoming collision freezes you in place, you can't apply the breaks, hell...you can't even move, you're petrified by your damaging decision.

If you find yourself doing this commonly, noticing too late how close you are to the car in front, then buy a 2010 Volvo XC60, in cases like this it will break for you.

THAT"S RIGHT!  THE VEHICLE WILL BREAK FOR YOU!

So how does it do it?

The front-end of the XC60 has a laser sensor that constantly scans the area in front of you tracking any vehicles it contacts.

Get too close or approach too quickly and the vehicle will apply the breaks as needed.  That means if you let loose on the break at a stop the car will gently correct your move.  Coming screaming like a demon towards a red light and it will slam on the breaks.

Doctors' orders, out with the old and in with the new.

Once upon a time in France, a physician invented a device that allowed him to hear the sounds produced within a patient's chest without cutting it open!


In 1816 Dr. René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec developed the stethoscope.  Since then, no major optimizations have been devised for it, only better materials but no addition to it's general function.


In 1902 the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded.


You've probably heard of 3M, if you've spent much time in hospitals you've seen a lot of there stuff...then again if you've been to Staples or Office Depot you've seen a lot of there stuff as well.


That's because 3M simply makes shit...all kinds of it.  But the catch to their culture is innovation, quality rather than quantity.


Now, 193 years later, 3M has cast their benevolent wand of innovation over the device that doctor's use most to get close to your heart.

With aid from Zargis Medical Corp., 3M Littmann has developed the Electronic Stethoscope Model 3200.


This marvelous device not only digitally amplifies the sounds in your chest, it also sends the beat count to Cardioscan software developed by Zargis (via Bluetooth).


This eliminates the fine science MDs have been trained for, in order to properly identify murmurs or any other abnormalities giving doctors hard data to consult right on their computer.


This digital format allows doctors to analyze the sounds of your heart the way a sound engineer produces records.  Start/Stop Forward/Rewind Change of tempo.  All useful manipulations doctors can test to best diagnose the sounds being produced by their patients.

LED flashlights...beyond batteries.

The gang at 511tactical gear have raised the bar and thrust the flashlight standard beyond batteries...once...and for all!

The UC3.400 is an LED (light-emitting diode) flashlight with an estimated re-charge lifespan of 50,000 charge/discharge cycles. (511tactical estimates that at 1 charge per day, the UC3.400 will hold charge for 135 years)

How you ask? Considering just a few short years ago Apple could only get an LED iPod to recharge for a year and a half before it could no longer hold a charge.

Simple. 511tactical put a ultra-capacitor within the flashlight, instead of a lithium battery. This capacitor collects electrons from the layers of metal in the flashlight and stores them as energy.

Due to the ultra-capacitor, the UC3.400 has no batteries and requires no electricity to be produced via a chemical reaction.

511 Tactical's UC3.400

A Robotics Rodeo round-up in honor of the fallen

Remember remember the fifth of November, I doubt that day shall be forgot.

For those that remember, this fifth of November shall first think of those who were lost.

Last Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan shot 13 people dead, 12 of which were soldiers, wounding 29 others during a shootout at Fort Hood Texas.

In honor of those fallen last week and to American armed-service veterans everywhere, I bring you the marvel of Fort Hood's "Robotics Rodeo" that occurred during the tail end of the summer, for Veterans Day 2009.

This is the "Ripsaw" unmanned tank, developed by identical twins Mike and Geoff Howe, 34. (MCT)

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the Army's III Corps, stationed at Fort Hood, hosted the "Robotics Rodeo" demonstration and testing event from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, 2009.

The event gravitated industry professionals, developing robots of varying technological levels and roles to be played for the military, towards Army brass and regulars, with a unique opportunity to show the Army the possibilities of robotic warfare.

Sarnoff Corp. brought this small robot with a video camera to test at the rodeo. (MCT)

The Army said the event was not a competition but rather a "marketing research event."  The event offered the military a chance to see firsthand, what technologies are available, how these technologies can work in convergence on the battle field, and most importantly how they will benefit the Army.

Now that a few months have passed since the event.  Here's a look at what the Army has done with the Ripsaw.

For an idea on how this vehicle operates and tackles terrain, check out this video of the manned version.

 

The Seventh Window

Something marvelous occurred Sunday, and it wasn't just the spectacle that was this week in the NFL.

I woke up.  And that wasn't the marvelous part, just the beginning.

I traveled down the stairs, and luckily I wore PJ's that night (the marvelous part).

I headed towards the door and looked down at the floor.

What did I see to my surprise?

Yeah that's it people.   Microsoft Windows 7, home premium to be exact.

Although I haven't had the time yet to install, to which I post to you still from Vista; I did break the packaging and here's what I found out thus far.

Apparently this is my PC..."simplified."  Great, after 16 years of figuring these complex operating systems out, they've finally cared to simplify things.

*Here is a glimpse of the new CD layout, don't mind the blur, those are my serial numbers*

"Enjoy.  It's designed for you."  And for once!  They thought about us instead of them?  Precious

But despite the marketing rhetoric, Microsoft really smoked a joint on this one, but it doesn't appear to stink like a skunk.

Finally moving away from it's ever present aroma of an office cubicle, Windows has added some cool new features not yet experienced to any intergrated aspect of it's user-interface (the menu bars, minimize buttons, windows, taskbars, start buttons, etc).

Aero Background

It lets you select a number of photos to rotate as a slideshow for your desktop background.

Aero Shake

Simply grab the top of a certain window with a left-click, hold it and shake.  All other open windows will minimize.

Aero Peek

Get a glimpse of your desktop hidden behind your open windows by turning them all completely opaque.

Glass Color

The option allows you to tint the hue of your monitor to appear as your favorite shade of glass, for the ocular-ly inclined. (PS you see more greens in the dark, but during the day yellow dims the intensity of the monitor which strains your eyes, that and blue just looks cool, perhaps some white to see better in dark video games, who knows what you could do with it, do you?)

The taskbar got a face-lift.

• The program boxes are more boxed in shape, still a rectangle but much skinnier (previously the rectangle shape was longer, about 1 measure up 5 measures across), allowing for many more programs on a single-spaced taskbar.  
• A blended background indicates that program is "inactive" with the "active" program at the time being highlighted in orange.  
• You may also "pin" programs to the taskbar, much like the latest Mac interface, simply drag a program onto the taskbar for quick access.  Thus it would appear "quickbar" has become an obsolete Windows feature.  
  
• Thumbnail previews of programs have become even more integrated into the taskbar.
• Jump Lists options have been added to reduce desktop clutter. 
• Rather than having your favorite songs on your desktop for easy and quick access, you may set a list of "Frequent" songs within the Windows Media Player icon on the taskbar, or perhaps a website for Internet Explorer.
• Previous tasks can also be set.

The shortcuts got a boost as well

• Windows key + up arrow = Maximize window
• Windows key + down arrow = Minimize window
• Windows key + arrow left or right = Snap window to left or right of screen (allows you to easily compare to windows side-by-side)
• Windows key + Home = Max / Min all windows
• Windows key + Spacebar (held) = Aero Peek
• Windows key + # = Active program at given numbered slot on the taskbar (if Internet explorer is 1 and you hit WK + 1, IE shall open)

Either way you add up the new stuff, its a boiler of excitement and curiosity waiting to blow.  I can't wait to play with these new features.  

But for now!  Time for some sleep, some class, then some installation instructions.

Dark side of the moon

Around 7:30 a.m. this morning, NASA launched two pieces of equipment into a crater within a permanent shadow on the moon's southern surface.

The first, a rocket, was expected to hit the moon with enough force to kick up more than 250 metric tons of dust.

The second, a satellite packed with spectrometers, near-infrared cameras, a visible camera and a visible radiometer, followed the rocket collecting data on the debris it passed through.

NASA hopes the data collected today will show whether or not H20 still exists in or on the moon.

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)   cost the American taxpayers around $79 million.  But given the scientific implications of discovering water on the moon is well worth this space bargain.

Click here for the RSS feed on mission updates

Related Articles:
NASA's strike on moon worked, mission official says
NASA probes give moon a double smack

It's a Bird! It's a Plane!...NO!...It's a retired Swiss figher pilot with wings!

As Yves Rossy let go of a small airplane 6,600 feet up, a slew of reporters, photographers, and general spectators sat and stood in a cascade of relative silence.

You see, Rossy has no ordinary parachute controlling his "fall"

He also has a wing-shaped jet-pack strapped to his back ,with four turbines designed by a German company, JetCat, allowing Rossy the unique man-airborne ability to propel himself up.

Just over a year ago, Rossy propelled himself with a single device across the English channel.  Rossy jetted across the 22 mile burn in 9 minutes and 32 seconds.  At the time it was his longest flight.

For those of you that remember the 1990s film the Rocketeer, you can picture just what Rossy can do up there.

However, control and stability are not as simple as the movie may have portrayed.  As a man born for the skies, Rossy has flown aircraft for decades, as well as being an avid sky diver.  His natural instinct in the air is derived from his sky diving, as he controls his flight path with delicate and precise movement and coordination of his hands and feet.

Check out this video of the Swiss "Jet Man."

His wing is made out of fiberglass, which aside from low weight also allows for flexibility against fluctuation in air pressure.  This gives the wing a more feasible stability during flight, allowing Rossy to focus more on his physical movements.

The four turbines at full capacity push out 194 pounds of thrust, which is a calculation that relates 1 pound of matter being held up against the constant force of gravity.

Armed with 3.5 gallons of fuel, the 121 pound fully geared pack only gives Rossy a few minutes of gravitational rebellion

But with bigger jets, come bigger problems.

Each jet is sheathed in Kevlar in case of an explosion.

Rossy has also developed a cutaway harness made out of seatbelts.  This allows him to easily drop the wing (which has a parachute of its own) in case of a spin, which has happened to Rossy dozens of times.

His suit is flame-retardant, his boots have incredibly reinforced heels, and his helmet is equipped with an audible altimeter.

Although this wing has allowed Rossy lift, he plans to develop a larger delta shaped pack with larger thrusters, which would look something like this...