mail2web.com Blog

A recent article in IEEE Spectrum magazine provided a review of one of those retro-styled vacuum-tube-based analog amplifiers for the iPod. Some audiophiles claim that tubes provide a warmer, richer listening experience as compared to that provided by digital devices. I’ve often wondered about the validity of that claim, and so it’s good to see someone address that question. The article had a look at the N&S Valveworks amp shown below.

The author seemed to like the Valveworks product saying that it provides “superior audio reproduction” .. kind words indeed. Regrettably, no numbers were provided to buttress that claim/impression.

In a blatant truism and with a soupcon of elitism, the reviewer goes on to add that compressed audio formats such as MP3’s are not a true hi-fi medium, and do not compare favorably to the SACD versions of the same piece of music.

Mixed Marriage – IEEE Spectrum, June 2005

Posted in General ~ 1 Comment

infoSync World has just published it’s list of the 10 best gadgets of 2005. At the top of the heap is the Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console. The reviewers especially liked the high-performance graphics, the extensive online gaming capabilities, the 16-bit sound and the comprehensive networking features of the Xbox. The complete list of gadgets is presented below:

Posted in mail2web.com ~ No Comments

Nissan will introduce an Xbox-themed concept car at the North American International Auto Show on January 9th 2006. As might be expected, the car will have an integrated Microsoft Xbox 360 game console. And apparently the console is so integrated that some driving games, such as Project Gotham Racing 3, can actually be operated via the car’s steering wheel & pedals … cool!

Nissan to Debut Xbox Car – Red Herring, December 28, 2005

Posted in Automotive ~ No Comments

Today’s New York Times has a new article about quantum mechanics, and the infamous Schrodinger’s Cat, and how the cat is both dead and alive at the same time and all that…

The author does a good job of explaining an obtuse topic & concludes by saying that at a quantum level, the available evidence suggests that the universe is truly random, and therefore basically unpredictable. (Einstein must be spinning).

Despite the author’s manifold skills, I still don’t understand any of that stuff … I’m convinced that there are some hidden variables out there somewhere.

The piece has some nice cat pix tho …
… and I’m assuming that no cats were harmed in the publishing of this article.

Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein’s Strangest Theory – NYT, December 27, 2005

Posted in -gadget ~ 2 Comments

Auto Spies has snagged some pix of the new LCD dashboard on the 2007 Mercedes S-Class.

The 8-inch multi-function display can show a photorealistic speedo (above), the Night View Assist camera (below), the rear view monitor and other information.

Other (albeit off-topic) niceties include the sound system with 14 speakers, and seats with 4 massage settings.

The dashboard that obsoletes all others? – Auto Spies, 12/23/2005

Happy birthday William!

Posted in Automotive ~ No Comments

PC World has just published their list of the top fifty gadgets of the past 50 years. In their view, the greatest gadget in 5 decades is the Sony Walkman TPS-L2 cassette player dating back to 1979. The top ten gadgets are listed below:

1. Sony Walkman TPS-L2

2. Apple iPod
3. ReplayTV RTV2001 and TiVo HDR110
4. PalmPilot 1000
5. Sony CDP-101
6. Motorola StarTAC
7. Atari Video Computer System
8. Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera
9. M-Systems DiskOnKey
10. Regency TR-1

PCW’s most recent greatest gadget is the 2004 Motorola Razr V3, which appears at number 12 … guess they didn’t like anything from 2005.

The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years – PC World, December 24, 2005

Posted in mail2web.com ~ No Comments

Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. One hundred years later, the UN has declared “The World Year of Physics 2005” in order to honor the work of Albert Einstein.

As part of this centenary, some researchers at MIT have re-tested the most celebrated prediction of Special Relativity, namely that E = mc2 . Those researchers have confirmed the famous equation to an accuracy of 0.0000004, which is 55 times better than previous tests.

Their work has just been published in the journal Nature.

World Year of Physics: A direct test of E=mc2 – Nature, 22 December 2005

Posted in mail2web.com ~ No Comments

Samsung has just announced its SyncMaster CX717B and CX917B LCD monitors. These new models deliver a remarkably good pixel response time of just 2 milliseconds.

Should be good for video and gaming apps. No word yet on the new monitor’s color depth, gamut, brightness or contrast ratio.

By comparison, most LCD monitors only have a pixel response time of 10-20 ms.

Samsung releases LCD monitors with 2m response time – MobileKorea, 22 December 2005

Posted in TVs & Monitors ~ No Comments

Here’s some new competition for the Sony PlayStation Portable, from a relatively unknown Korean manufacturer named Blufin.

The LX430 is based on Microsoft Windows CE 5.0, has a 4.3″ (16:9) 1600×1200 screen and a 30GB hard disk plus an SD/MMC Slot. The device is sized at 131×76x22 mm and weighs 200g w/o the battery. The 2800mAh battery supports about 4 hours of video or 10 hours of sound. TV-Out: NTSC/PAL and HDTV.

Not bad, but Sony’s likely unconcerned.

Win CE pmp Blufin – CDPKorea, 2005-12-22

Posted in mail2web.com ~ No Comments

2005 was a bad year for natural disasters. An estimated 112,000 people died, and economic loss is expected to exceed $225 billion. Only about $80 billion of that loss was covered by insurance.

Hurricane Katrina, shown above, was responsible for $135 billion of losses. The majority of deaths, 87,000, was associated with the Pakistan earthquake of October 8 2005. That earthquake was caused by the continuing northward movement of the Indian tectonic plate and its subduction under the Eurasian plate. A result of that movement is that some mountains in the Karakoram range, such as K2 shown below, are rising by 4-5 cm per year.

Hmm, might be time to revive Project Stormfury, or invest in earthquake prediction and prevention .

$80B in Disaster Losses in 2005 – Associated Press, Dec 20 2005

Posted in mail2web.com ~ No Comments