I’m suprised Apple haven’t done this. But Microsoft has announced Surface. A multi-touch coffee table computer. I’m not even going to try to describe all the coolness, but check out the link. Its firmly at the top of my Christmas present list. Assuming MS breaks with tradition and releases something on time!
Archive for May, 2007
Just seen this report on BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6699847.stm.
Now, I’m not a fan of these “real-life” documentaries. There are way too many of them and most are the most dire drivel ever to grace TV screens. Every time you flick to a channel there is something. There is a never ending stream of yet more make-over shows or programmes that film coppers on the beat. I caught part of “Street Wars” on Sky One last night. The police were doing a raid on a flat where they though drug dealing was going on. So they kick the door in and find the drugs.* So they arrest the culprit and drag him out of the flat where he actually starts shouting to his neighbours whats happened and that it’ll be on Sky! Crazy.
I digress. The BBC article is highlighting a show called “The Big Donor Show” by Endemol, the creators of the truly awful Big Brother series. Its basically a show where a terminally ill person decides which of three donors will receive a kidney, by talking to the “contestants” friends and family, questions, etc. The public can text in and offer their “advice”. This has got to be the most disgusting thing I have ever heard. I cannot believe that something as low as this can have a brand slapped on it and sold as entertainment!
Have we finally hit rock bottom? Have we finally scraped the bottom of the barrel so much its worn away? I think so.
* The real stupidity was the offender, who’d heard the police had raided his flat, actually went home to see what was going on!
29
May
Worth It?
I’ve been thinking about replacing the hard drive in my Freecom FSG-3 storage gateway so that I can do away with a couple of my external hard drives. Its got a S-ATA interface and I’d heard about 10k RPM drives. Did a quick search and the WD Raptor comes up. It comes with a see through top so you can see the hard drive heads working. It looks cool but is there really any point to it? And its only 150GB in size at the minute. So no to my requirements! Worth checking out though.
25
May
Not Exactly Airwolf
Seems like the US will stick guns on anything! The Register reported today about a truely robot helicopter that can be loaded with weapons. Check out the details here.
In contrast, Mersey police have just got “tooled up” with a microdrone. Its got a camera and…er… well, thats it really. It looks like something you get from the gadget shop to fly around the office! Now don’t confused with the picture here, this is something I got from a gadget site. Actually, it was from BigPockets for half price, as they were made promises about packaging that weren’t kept. Still, it works great, but I’m still learning to fly it without hitting Michelle in the head!
25
May
Gaming Controllers
I came across this article listing the 5 best controllers of all time, CNet. Nostalgia crept back as the first image I see is of the trusty Atari joystick of my youth. I got one of these with my first computer and I have to say, at the time, it was better than a lot of the after market ones. In my opinion of course! I went through loads of these. I say “I”, but I mean my brothers broke them enthusiastically playing Centipede or Daley Thompson’s Decathlon. I think I’ve got one working one somewhere safe.
Fave games at the time. Me, Zybex – Atari XE. Matt, I think it was Commando or something like that. Darren – Exile, C64. Classics!
If they’re reading this, you two owe me at least 1 joystick each!
24
May
On the Move
I got my new phone from work today. A little bigger than my pearl but its got all the apps I need for now. Thought i’d see how mobile blogging goes!
22
May
The Future…Now!
I’ve just been reading an article about how there are plans to run a superconducting power cable between Lower and Mid Manhattan. The idea is that it will provide a stable power grid capable of withstanding attacks. I remember seeing super-conducting in action when I was looking to go to University. And to see it actually being put into everyday, practical use is amazing.
Superconductivity, for those wondering, is where you cool a super-conducting material down to around -230 C. These materials are usually ceramics and at those temperatures the resistance falls allowing the material to carry more power. In traditional cables, there is a resistance which cause a drop in power. In the home, this is negligible, but power companies are only too aware of this problem. The distribution cables from the power station loses a significant amount of power in the journey from there to the sub-station, typically around 7.5%. Super conducting cables would pretty much eliminate this.
Other “future now” news I read was regarding CERN. New experiments are soon to go on-line which will generate 15 Petabytes of data a year. That’s an insane amount of data by today’s standards. We’re only just seeing 1 Terabyte drives are coming out for the home, and a Petabyte is a million times the size of that.
It’s weird seeing technology that was only dreamt of when I was a kid becoming reality. Or am I just getting old?
21
May
Here goes
So after years of stalled attempts to build my website I’d decided to admit I’m not a designer and to just embrace the web. Plus, due to the lack of techies (just me and Phil) at work, if I feel the need, I can geek out here to the masses!
Lets see if I can keep this up for at least 6 months.
See you there?
