January 25th, 2008
By GadgetManiac
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviews the new Apple MacBook Air, which (.again.) is officially described as the World’s Thinnest Notebook. Walt describes the MacBook Air as pleasing and surprising, likes the screen & full-size keyboard but deducts points for: no removable battery, no optical drive, no Ethernet jack etc. Generally he says that the MBA makes for a competent computer for non-power-users.
..most reviewers seem to regard laptops as office equipment not unlike photocopiers & fax machines and seem taken aback when the latest offering is less than industrial-strength, but from another perspective the MBA is an internet appliance with some additional features and a good OS, a degeeked computer not-unsuitable for bimmers, a deflated notebook with the air squeezed out — “with extraneous details and features eliminated“.
Apple’s MacBook Air Is Beautiful and Thin, But Omits Features - WSJ, January 24, 2008
Posted in Computers ~ No Comments
January 24th, 2008
By GadgetManiac
Camera makers are out in force for the PMA 08 International Convention to be held January 31 – February 2 2008 in Las Vegas. Many are showing their new camera models ahead of the show, such as the Fujifilm FinePix S100FS.
Fujifilm touts the S100FS as their “most advanced consumer digital camera ” and points to the 14.3x non-optical zoom lens, 11.1 million pixel CCD sensor, film simulation (allows the photog to adjust mid-tone contrast, hue & saturation), AUTO 100% 200% & 400% dynamic range and a maximum sensitivity of ISO 10000 as appealing to prosumers. The push towards more, better, faster continues…
Specs are here.
Fujifilm S100FS: new flagship - Digital Photography Review, 24 January 2008
Posted in Cameras ~ 1 Comment
January 24th, 2008
By GadgetManiac
The duo of Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic (space tourism promoter) and Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites (Ansari X Prize winner) introduced a pair of carbon composite sub-orbital spacecraft yesterday. The plastic planes were shown at a press conference January 23 2008 at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.
Starting in about 2010, astronaut-wannabes will travel to Spaceport America in NM. After some training and a small fee, they will board SpaceShipTwo to be carried aloft by the larger White Knight Two. SpaceShipTwo will reach an altutude of about 100 Km and passengers will experience about 6 minutes of weightlessness.
At a ticket price of only $200,000, a trip on SpaceShipTwo is a lot cheaper than the $30,000,000 charged by Space Adventures, but the later includes a trip to the International Space Station and some meals.
Sir Richard also used the unveiling to chat up other business opportunities, such as orbital travel, space hotels, space tourism ships going around the moon, as well as populating other planets…with that last item sounding a bit space-cadetish.
Virgin Galactic Heralds ‘The Year of The Spaceship’ With The Unveiling of The Designs of SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two – Virgin Galactic press release, January 23 2008
Posted in General ~ 2 Comments
January 23rd, 2008
By GadgetManiac
The Planetary Society is hosting a meeting Feb. 12-13 2008 at Stanford University to review the current Vision for Space Exploration. As it stands, the VSE calls for retiring the Space Shuttle, completing the ISS, establishing a permanent moon base, and exploring Mars.
An article in Aviation Week & Space Technology suggests that various space experts and planetary managers (!) including Robert Farquhar may use the venue to propose an “Alternate Vision” to the current roadmap to space. This AVSE would de-emphasize near-earth objectives in favor of efforts further afield, such as landings on Mars and the asteroids.
For what little it’s worth, we here at G-M support going directly to Mars, and offer up NASA’s own words as to why we explore: “…to blaze new trails, map new lands, and answer profound questions about ourselves and our universe”. The Moon? …been there, done that.
…but then again…those who view war as art and are empathetic to aphorisms such as “You should occupy the raised and sunny spots” likely regard the moon to be a good standoff launch platform, and would vote accordingly.
However the real answer to the question “to the Moon, or Mars, or both?” likely lies in something as prosaic as the latest “The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2018” courtesy of the Congressional Budget Office, which suggests that the answer might well be ‘neither‘.
NASA May Abandon Moon Under Revised Exploration Vision – Aviation Week & Space Technology, Jan 20 2008
Posted in General ~ 2 Comments
January 23rd, 2008
By GadgetManiac
What your car dashboard will come to resemble … the F-35 Lightning II fighter has a nearly-switchless cockpit thx to the primary 8×20 multifunction touch-screen LCD display with Helmet Mounted Display and off-axis virtual HUD. …no word on if it’s also multi-touch.
The New Front Office – Code One Magazine, 2Q06
Posted in General ~ No Comments
January 22nd, 2008
By GadgetManiac
Good news from Budapest, Hungary where researchers at Eötvös University have taught a computer to play the popular video game Ms Pac-Man, and quire well.
The authors developed a number of algorithms that try to learn how best to beat Pac-Man, one of which, called CE-fixedRB, outplayed the average human (but not the best human). Not surprisingly, CE-fixedRB came to the realization that it’s best to avoid ghosts (but only if they’re close-by) otherwise to continue eating dots, esp blue ones.
Their conclusion: they like the Cross-Entropy Method for simulation and optimization.
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research – Vol 30, 12/07 – via newscientist
Posted in General ~ No Comments
January 22nd, 2008
By GadgetManiac
haha – both a wry commentary on urbanism, consumerism & environmentalism, as well as being an ad for Vespa scooters.
Vespa Ad – theCoolHunter.com, 22 Jan 2008
Posted in General ~ No Comments
January 21st, 2008
By GadgetManiac
Google CEO Eric Schmidt was an invited speaker at a lecture series honoring NASA’s 50th anniversary held in at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC Jan 17 2008. Dr. Schmidt spoke for 40 minutes about the benefits of technology, innovation and space exploration.
Schmidt used the opportunity to urge NASA to involve the public, build open/collaborative systems, try Linux/Apache/MySQL, be the vessel and not the contents, shift-and-iterate, buy a copy of Wikinomics for each employee, use the collective expertise of the Internet’s 1.3B users, emulate eBay and copy Craigslist, tap into the wisdom of crowds, think NASCAR not NASA, use social-networking … in other words become a wiki.
…should work swell for an organization whose stated mission is to “pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research” and for design of things like Antiproton-Catalyzed MicroFusion Propulsion Systems. (lol).
Posted in General ~ No Comments
January 21st, 2008
By GadgetManiac
Toshiba’s new Portege G450 phone looks just like the UTStarcom HSM 180 that was seen at CES 2008 ie a minimalistic traffic light, or perhaps 1 inspired by 1 of Picasso’s Imaginary Portraits.
The G450 supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900MHz & 3.6Mbps HSDPA/UMTS 2100MHz , and acts as a USB modem for internet connectivity. A mere 98×36x16 mm and 556 grams with a 96×39 OLED screen up top. Plays MP3/ AAC format music via headset. 199 Euros.
no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
Toshiba presenta i nuovi Portégé G710, G910 e G450 – PocketPC Italia, 17/01/2008
Posted in General, Phones ~ No Comments
January 21st, 2008
By GadgetManiac
Paper usage is down as the unpapering of the world accelerates. Map makers like Metro Graphic Arts are going out of business, blaming the increased use of GPS devices and Internet-based maps. The number one online map service continues to be Mapquest at just over 50%, but Google Maps is catching up. Device-wise, Garmin is tops with a 25% world market share.
Paper maps crumpling in face of electronic onslaught – SF Chronicle, Oct 12 2007
Posted in General ~ No Comments
