Prometheus 6 - Tech

Markets would not exist without government

Prometheus 6 — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:30:17 -0400

In order to meet President Bush’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, which calls for replacing fossil fuels in passenger vehicles by 2040, the country would have to produce 150 million tons of hydrogen annually. That means that, while New York is off to a good start, we’d need to build another 6.2 million equivalent plants.

The Water Cycle: New Hydropower Plant

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the ever-elusive hydrogen economy is a lack of critical infrastructure, but after an announcement last week by Governor George E. Pataki, the country may be $21 million closer to overcoming it. New York has earmarked the considerable chunk of change for a hydropower-to-hydrogen demonstration project—one of the world's largest of its kind. A pair of hydrogen-generation and fueling stations will absorb about a third of the cost. But because there's no point in producing hydrogen without a market, the state is pouring another $13.5 million into fuel-cell vehicles.

Apparently adults like ugly web pages too

Prometheus 6 — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 05:03:49 -0400

MySpace, Refuge of the Young, Ages a Bit
By ALEX MINDLIN

The proportion of visitors to MySpace.com who are 12 to 17 years old has shrunk by nearly half since last year, according to a report from comScore Media Metrix, an online traffic measurement firm.

In the same period, the site’s traffic more than doubled, comScore said, going from 21.8 million unique visitors in August 2005 to 55.8 million a year later.

People 25 to 34 years old, who now make up 16.7 percent of the site’s visitors, accounted for much of the increase.

Jack Flanagan, comScore’s executive vice president, said that MySpace’s blogs and videos were attracting links — and hence older users — from around the Internet.

It's so crazy it just might work!

Prometheus 6 — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:36:49 -0400

Donald Agarrat (a very good web designer, just in case you need one) had the crazy idea that there might be some Black and/or brown bloggers in New York City. Even crazier, he thought it might be interesting for a bunch of them to meet each other uptown next Sunday. He hit everyone on his email list 'o bloggers with the idea.

Yup. I'll be there. Time and place is mushy as I write. If, as the police would say, you fit the description...would like to attend...and don't know Donald, you can hit me and I'll add you to the cc list.

And if you want to be insulted really, really harshly, feel free to suggest there's something wrong with the idea.

Trying to save us from willful ignorance

Prometheus 6 — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:33:25 -0400

Poor Senator Macaca is catching it the neck from every direction!

The group is looking at the Senate race in Virginia between George Allen, the incumbent Republican, and James Webb, a Democrat; a stem cell ballot issue in Missouri; the question of intelligent design in Ohio; and Congressional races in Washington State, Mr. Brown said.

Scientists Form Group to Support Science-Friendly Candidates
By CORNELIA DEAN

Several prominent scientists said yesterday that they had formed an organization dedicated to electing politicians “who respect evidence and understand the importance of using scientific and engineering advice in making public policy.”

I'm glad that's all decided

Prometheus 6 — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:55:21 -0400

I think the Net Neutrality debate is over.

I'm sorry but that's just nasty

Prometheus 6 — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 12:55:21 -0400

Slime-riding strategy developed for intestinal robot
18:43 22 September 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Tom Simonite

A snail-inspired robot could ride gut mucus (Image: Dimitra Dodou)AdvertisementA robot that glides along a layer of mucus inside the human intestine could make medical examinations like colonoscopies less painful for patients, say Dutch scientists. They are working on a snail-inspired robot that should be far gentler on the gut's delicate lining.

Several research groups around the world are working on robots that can remotely explore the intestine but most of these use using tiny legs to pull themselves along (see Worm-inspired robot crawls through intestines).

Insane, if really, really cool

Prometheus 6 — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 05:54:00 -0400

These are, like, the computers that run Batman's utility belt.

Teeny Linux PCs proliferate

A small company has begun building its line of tiny, gumstick-sized single-board computers (SBCs) into miniscule packaged PCs that displace around 68 cc of volume and come with Linux pre-installed. Suggested apps for the teeny "Netstix" Linux PCs include webservers, printer servers, IP-telephony servers, security appliances.

Gumstix formed in Jan. of 2004, and shipped its first tiny SBC and case four months later. Since then, the six-person company has churned out 26 products, most either revisions to its tiny SBC design, or expansion cards for it.

I gotta try this thing

Prometheus 6 — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:07:54 -0400

I love Microsoft's OneNote, which is way easy to use. But this may be just as good, plus portable.

Douglas Engelbart's HyperScope 1.0 Launched

Brad Neuberg has announced the release of HyperScope 1.0, a Web app based on tech legend Douglas Engelbart's 1968 NLS/Augment (oNLine System). Engelbart and team have been working on Hyperscope since March this year, in a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Its aim is to rebuild portions of Douglas Engelbart's NLS system on the web, using current Web technologies such as AJAX and DHTML.

Serendipitous link of the day

Prometheus 6 — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 09:30:55 -0400

Like I said, anyone that remembers Mr. Peabody gets linked. Even if it's three years old, because it's totally relevant to the "net neutrality" debate.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman try to save future of telecom
We have discovered the lost 92nd episode of Peabody's Improbable History, in which Peabody and Sherman meddle with historical events to make sure they turn out right. In this one, our boys turn to telecom.
"Hello again. Peabody here. And this, of course, is my boy, Sherman."
"Hi! Where are we going today, Mr. Peabody?"
"I'm setting the Wayback Machine for 1993 — Nynex headquarters in Westchester County, N.Y."
read more

It's not that I dislike Google

Prometheus 6 — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 13:43:24 -0400

Death by Google Calendar: How I Identified you to rob you

I find it very interesting utterly stupid that people display their lives online. As a simple study, I did some digging on Google Calendar. Now, keep in mind that I am somewhat tech-savvy but I used no skills for this. Everything I found in this case was simply a result of a Google Search, an additional search on Travelocity and a 411 call. There was nothing to this at all.

*Note: This message happens to be specific to Google Calendar but it's implications hold true to any calendaring or MySpace-type site.

--Begin Bad Guy thought process--