With scientists now saying there's a 99 percent chance "the big one" will finally hit California sometime during the next 30 years, seismologists are scrambling to come up with new ways to detect and analyze quakes as soon as they happen.

One team of researchers is now hoping to employ the distributed computing approach to detection and create a giant, low-cost tremor-sensing network that takes advantage of the motion sensors that may already be in your laptop.

See: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/04/your-laptop-may.html  

What could be better?! This little lego robot is pretty cool. I'm sure the algorithim used is actually fairly simple but it's still fun to watch!

Lego Solver

I was going to just post the video, but this blog points out some of the great tidbits.

http://gizmodo.com/368651/new-video-of-bigdog-quadruped-robot-is-so-stunning-its-spooky

Check out the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology located in the Ray and Maria Stata Center, designed by Pritzker-winning architect Frank Gehry. As well as the robots….

http://www.news.com/2300-11394_3-6183172-1.html

More and more lately I feel that the consumer has lost power with certain products and services.  One area in particular is the cell phone industry.

This particular rant is directed at the cell phone industry (or shall I say cartel).  Every single carrier is structured to offer a 2 year contract with strikingly similar “calling plans,” and equally difficult to decipher terms.  When you are treated unfairly and charged some ridiculous amount of money they simply rely on their contract to enforce their predatory sales techniques even if they contradict their marketing efforts.

I have personally experienced this with a “National Calling Plan” that was only “national” if 50% of the minutes occurred within your home region.  I received a $1,000 bill that month for roaming charges that were not a part of my “National Calling Plan.”  That incident pretty much made the entire industry my new enemy.

How many parents have had horror stories of kids ringing up several hundred dollar bills for over using text messaging!  If you understand the technology at all you have to understand that any charges for text messages are almost entirely profit for the cartel as it barely costs anything to allow text messages across their networks.  They put together these plans knowing that you will trip up so they can over charge you.

The cell phone cartel does give you a “choice” regarding the contract.  They do not require you to sign a contract.  Instead you can pay full price for the phone and you can leave their service whenever you want.  The catch is of course that you cannot use the phone you just bought with another carrier!  Unless you unlock the phone which if you have ever tried to do can be an awfully painful process.  Even if you manage to unlock the phone it might not be compatible with the network of your next carrier!

It just amazes me that these carriers have gotten away with essentially price fixing the market and limiting consumer choice.

Contracts are by definition “An agreement between two parties” so why doesn’t the consumer get a choice in the matter?  Perhaps I’ll write my own contract and bring it to the carriers.  If they want my business they should agree to my terms for a change!

Seriously about all you can do is complain to the CTIA “The Wireless Industry Association”, your cell phone provider or write your congressional representatives who by the way are in the cartel’s back pocket.

Gotta hand it Steve Jobs.  He has done a fantastic "job" turning around Apple in the past decade.  This article provides a great summarization of how his vision has brought Apple from the brink of obscurity to its current status as a technology powerhouse.  

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2007/tc20070627_285624.htm?campaign_id=yhoo

Anyone on this site pick up an iPhone today?  I'd love to hear someone's first impressions of their latest hit…

ComputerWorld comes up with an analysis.

Thought some of the people on this page would appreciate this. Pretty amazing technology…made me say "Wow!" out loud.

[youtube]s-DqZ8jAmv0[/youtube]

http://hubpages.com/hub/_86_Mac_Plus_Vs_07_AMD_DualCore_You_Wont_Believe_Who_Wins

So, at the bottom, they conclude that the Mac Plus beats the AMD in 8 out of 9 tests.  I think thats great, and completely true for an author, but what about other software?  Will it run any video app?  What if you had to have a different computer on your desk for each application, or if no piece of hardware could be generalized, and everything had its own embeded system? A seperate device for Word, another for Excel, a third for Warcraft, not to mention one for Interwebs?  That would be a great way to make money as a hardware manufacturer…… If only I had been born a couple of decades earlier.  

Joost Is getting alot of press these days. Im giving it a test run(while its still beta). Its invite only right now, so if anyone wants in let me know, and I will send you an invite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost
Joost beta reviewed - TV just got a little smarter
Joost Raises $45 Million in Funding

Contain toxic levels of mercury…  So now what?  I was just thinking about converting several lights in my house to CFL to "do my part" and now I read this.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda

Ever Wonder how your computer manages to move the pointer around when you use your mouse or trackpad? This explanation , don't worry if you can't read Japanese, will make it perfectly clear!

10 Reasons Why “Tech Speak” Is The Best Language To Learn. - Tilted Forum Project

To all my techy brethren.

More evidence, on the molecular level, that dinosaurs are not extinct but live among us brightening our day with song.

Dinosaur research backs link to birds