November 11, 2008

Nuclear a-go-go

Mini Nuclear Plant is safe [engadget.com]: This is awesome! So let's do the math.
10,000 homes
10 years
12 months/year
75 USD/month (average although in my case it's usually 100)

Total: 90 million USD
Cost: 25 million USD
Profit: 65 million USD

Of course this doesn't take into account infrastructure maintenance, delivery fees, etc. But even if all of that totaled 30 million USD there would still be a profit of 35 million USD after 10 years. Maybe not the best, but it's relatively clean power, right? If co-ops could be setup this sort of thing has the potential to put a hurt on many large power providers. Interesting.

Posted by Guy at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 14, 2008

Update: next.yahoo.com

It looks like next.yahoo.com [yahoo.com] has been updated and redirects you to next.yahoo.net. It looks like some sort of design group either working with or for Yahoo. Here's what the site says it is:

* * Tasty bits of hacker goodness * * A steady stream of small delights * * Ideas, experiments and the people behind them

Posted by Guy at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 15, 2007

Bubble 2.0?

Bubble 2.0 Coming Soon [pcmag.com]: I call BS on some of those "bubble contributions", search is mundane, come on. Also, IMHO companies aren't making the same sorts of promises, IPO-ing without any product or service and are (on the whole) more business savvy than the nuttiness that accompanied the dot-com bubble. I'm not saying it's not the beginning of a bubble or not, just that it doesn't matter much. Despite the failures of the dot-com bubble there were some world changing successes (Amazon, eBay, etc) too.

Posted by Guy at 06:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 11, 2007

Top o' the Mornin to You

Cocaine contaminates Irish euros [bbc.co.uk]: Who said the Irish don't know how to party? I'm thinking about taking a trip out there to visit with my sister for St. Patrick's Day and now I know it'll feel just like home in CT ;-)

Posted by Guy at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 29, 2006

Google dot cn

Google in China has gotten a lot of press lately. It seems that everyone is up in arms about them censoring the results they display to their users. However, I heard that they do say when something has been censored so it's not like they're changing the truth or presenting a false reality, right? I think that Google's algorithms and site designs have helped much more than they've hurt and just the capability that they provide has changed the way business is done.

So now I hear that the US government might step in and slap Google on the wrist for it's foreign practices. This makes as much sense as Sweden slapping Volvo's hand for cowing to the US' emission laws on their US products. Hmm, that doesn't make sense...Oh right, the US government.

Posted by Guy at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 07, 2006

H-1B

Gee, ya think? <sarcasm>I guess I just didn't realize it was such a big problem</sarcasm>

EETimes for the story [eetimes.com].

Posted by Guy at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 05, 2006

Hyper-warpa-what?

I first noticed this article [scotsman.com] over on Slashdot today [slashdot.org], which describes a controversial propulsion system, the mythical "hyperspace" engine. I definitely agree with the scientist running the program that if this hypothetical engine is truly possible it will require a rewrite of lots of physics, expecially since part of it's theory of operation depends on another dimension where the speed of light is greater than in our own. Wait a minute, I think I just read another, er, article [amazon.com], yeah article, on this. Okay, surprise me, but when the aliens show up to assimilate us I'l be hiding in my nuclear bunker [timesonline.co.uk].

Posted by Guy at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 17, 2005

Alternative (?) Energy

I first read this article [jalopnik.com] on Jalopnik about a "Power-Generating Ramp" that was actually pulled from a BBC article [bbc.co.uk]. Great idea for "free" energy, but is it really free? Now I didn't read any claims about it being free, but I don't know if the average motorist will realize the implications of these devices littering the road systems.

The whole concept of these devices is that motorists won't mind a loss of efficiency (aka a lower mpg rating) for helping to generate some energy to power signs, lights, etc. Brilliant when there are only a couple of devices, but with enough devices people will definitely start to notice this loss of efficiency. A couple of small pricks won't kill someone, but enough small pricks and you can bleed out.

Posted by Guy at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 15, 2005

The Playboy Philanthropist

Yesterday I was browsing the latest Apache news feed and came across an announcement for Geronimo 1.0. So I went to the Geronimo site and the announcement was bogus, but I checked out the mirrors anyway. And, getting to the whole point of this post, I saw playboy.com as a mirror host! Truly this couldn't be THE Playboy. It sure as hell was! It turns out they host a whole slew of open source projects, quite speedily I might add. I think it's great when a company gives back to the community, I mean I've always been a fan of Playboy, but now I have a karmic reason to support them. The best part? The bunny icon when downloading my apache stuff.

Posted by Guy at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Anonymity...Yeah Right

I caught this article [slashdot.org] this morning about the next great threat to our computing anonymously and had a weird acid flashback. The gist of the article was quite familiar from a couple of years ago when Intel started putting in processor serial numbers. It was such a hot topic back then, everyone was up in arms screaming about their personal liberties and what if someone else was using their computer?

Well, the only two things that came out of that whole debacle was (1) Intel saying they would allow users to disable the serial number and (2) the serial number could only be used to identify a particular computer, not user. Hmm, I wonder what's going to happen this go around? My guess is that the same arguments will be made for and against a computer id and not much will change.

Besides, why do you think no matter what measures you implement you can be anonymous on the internet anyways?

Posted by Guy at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 07, 2005

Misconceptions?

So there's this article [cio.com] on CIO.com that says the whole thought that there's a lack of IT jobs is a total misconception. Okay, there might be more IT jobs that there have been in the past, but I think that the IT sector as a whole has become more granular than ever. For example, back in 2000 I was offered a job as a glorified IT manager for Citibank. Of course my degree was in Computer Engineering, but that didn't make a difference because they just wanted a "technical" person. Now that same position wouldn't even be considered to an engineer but would go to someone who has a degree in Information Technology or a related field. I think one of the biggest reasons for this granularity in the job market is smarter management and smarter human resources. Now when a manager asks for an applications developer they'll get someone who can develop in a language like C++, Java or C#, not a Perl Monger [pm.org] or VB Junkie.

Posted by Guy at 07:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 28, 2005

Quotes for the Sake of Quotes

A very thought provocative article [computerweekly.com] appeared in my inbox today. Now, it's unfortunate that the article I'm about to pick on has to do with women in IT, but I just thought of this when reading it. My opinions have nothing to do with the topic of the article, just some of the content. In particular, the last quote of the article.

Margaret Moran MP, a member of the Parliamentary backbench committee for women and the information technology group, said, “We need to grow the number of women in IT, otherwise the UK's leading position in the IT world will be severely threatened.�

Um, okay, how exactly does having a lack of one gender in a specific field threaten a country's position in that field? That's like saying a shortage of straight (i.e. not homosexual) designers in the fashion industry will threaten Paris' position in that industry. It sounds kind of ludacris when put like that, huh?

Sometimes I think that people (ahem, people with an agenda or ignorant people) make quotes just to hear themselves talk. It's quite unfortunate that the female sector of the UK's IT industry is being represented by this quote-spouting woman.

Update: Oh, sorry, she's a politician. I get it now.

Posted by Guy at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 10, 2005

Gen X/Y Workers

My weekly ACM [acm.org] career newsletter pointed me at a very interesting article [usatoday.com] on Generation Y workers. I had always considered myself right at the very end of Generation X (born in 1979), but this article tells me that I'm right at the beginning of Generation Y. Stop the insanity! I hate being pigeon-holed! Either I'm a grunger turned yuppie or I'm some sort of hyper-nerd. Personally I like to think I'm both, thank you very much.

Posted by Guy at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 15, 2005

DivX 6.0 Goodnes/Crap

DivX 6.0 [divx.com] was released earlier today (or at least it hit the news earlier today) to much fanfare. New features include:

• XSUB™ subtitles let you author movies with multiple language subtitle sets
• Interactive video menus offer unprecedented convenience and control so you can quickly navigate between various scenes or bonus features, and select from audio track and subtitle options
• Chapter points provide flexibility, allowing you to jump straight to the scene you want to watch from anywhere within the video
• Alternate audio tracks enable audio tracks in multiple language versions or separate audio tracks for specific speaker configurations
• XTAG™ video tags contain descriptive information like title, author and the video specifications used in the file’s creation to streamline organization
• The .divx file extension clearly identifies content in the DivX format so you’ll never again be left wondering whether that .avi file will really play in your DivX® Certified device

Okay, so now we have another container file format that acts like a DVD (menus, subtitles, etc.). What does this gain us that other containers, such as Matroska [matroska.org] doesn't? To be honest, the answer is meta-tagging. That's it. But wait! If you check out the Tom's Hardware Guide article [tomshardware.com] then some comments from some VP (Kurt Scherf) should jump out.

... they've got their own DRM to protect the content.

So now we've gone from a technically advanced codec to something that is DRM-ified. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not a big fan of DRM solutions, there's just too much that could go wrong with legally purchased content. It's like the saying about tough gun legislation, "Tougher gun laws just make it harder for the honest people to get guns." I'm not necessarily a proponent of gun ownership (currently I'm neutral on the subject), but it illustrates my point. Further down the article continues in more DRM propganda.

To accomplish this, Scherf explained, DivX 6 has to prove itself as an efficient and portable format for file sharing, but also more robust in digital rights management, so that "file sharing" and "DivX" mentioned in the same sentence doesn't automatically create negative connotations--as it has in the past.

I don't know anyone who associates DivX with file sharing. I think that it's quite possible there are some uninformed managers and VPs, or, more probabilistic, is that these individuals are influenced by some large software corporations FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) machine. Names are being witheld. <wink, wink>

Posted by Guy at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 06, 2005

Apple on x86: It's Official

According to Steve Jobs, it's official, MacOS X will run on the x86 architecture [slashdot.org]. The fact that it runs on x86 is no surprise since the core of the operating system is based on a Unix variantand don't forget the rumors over the years that Apple had a lab running MacOS on x86 hardware. Finally, the "open source" version of MacOS X, Darwin has almost always (?) run on x86 hardware.

One of the major problems with this announcement is that MacOS X for Intel won't be available for consumers until next year. However, I can hear the torrent trackers salivating right now...

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft counters.

Posted by Guy at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple on x86

So, are the rumors true? I don't know yet. A shift from the PowerPC processor to something like a Pentium 4 would be a boon to Apple in the long run, but probably not the immediate future. I asked someone at work if they thought Apple was going to switch processors again (let's not forget the switch from 680x0 to PowerPC) and he replied "They can't do that, the Mac is sacred". And to a certain degree I think most MacHeads do believe this. They fool themselves into believing that the MacOS is so more stable than a commodity (x86) PC because of the processor difference. That and Intel is so closely related to Microsoft that when you think of one, you almost immediately think of the other. Are we going to start correlating Apple and Intel the same way?

Getting back to my argument, the MacOS isn't so stable because of the processor, but because every hardware platform is known before they even need to write things like drivers. How does this help? Well, when you know what the hardware is going to be you can test out every little thing that may go wrong, you can plan for any possible hardware failures in any combination, etc. The developers don't have a whole lot of unknowns to deal with. Whereas any x86 platform can have something like 30 different manufacturers of a motherboard, each with their own quirks, enhancements and interpretation of specifications. This means that an Apple developer needs to test a driver on maybe 10 different platforms, but an x86 developer needs to test a driver on 20 platforms minimum, more if they want to support the other 20% of the community.

Either way, some big names [washingtonpost.com] are throwing their weight behind the rumor [nytimes.com]. I guess we'll find out later today or this week what exactly is going on. Stay tuned.

Posted by Guy at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)