Thursday 30 June 2011
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Monday 27 June 2011
Apple iOS 5 review with screenshots
[draft]
Alerts screenshots look like a big improvement.
http://www.raajmenon.com/2011/06/apples-ios-5-a-rundown-of-the-new-features/#more-101
Fast fast fast — User experience with the NBN
[draft]
So, what's an NBN? NBN stands for National Broadband Network. It's the work-in-progress high speed broadband network in Australia. At the moment, only a few locations have the new service. Review at:
http://www.raajmenon.com/2011/06/the-nbn-is-here-an-in-depth-review/
NFC for Blackberry & iOS?
[draft]
MasterCard is about to release a virtual payments app for Android, Blackberry & iOS. At stud moment, there is no Blackberry or iOS device with NFC (Near Field Communication). Food for thought.
Sunday 26 June 2011
Saturday 25 June 2011
Friday 24 June 2011
This "super sand" makes even toxic water safe to drink
[draft]
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/06/this-super-sand-makes-even-toxic-water-safe-to-drink/
One small point — the article refers to "graphite oxide". Last hhg2t heard, graphite is a form of the element carbon. Carbon has two oxides: carbon dioxide & carbon monoxide, both of which are gasses & unlikely to form a coating on sand particles.
Store your grenade in a sewing machine for safekeeping
In a similar vein, a few years ago, a friend of hhg2t moved into a house & discovered live bullets in the fire place!
Thursday 23 June 2011
Climate science – "beyond reasonable doubt"
Professor Chubb, Australia's Chief Scientist on climate science & why name-calling isn't a legitimate technique of debate:
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Monday 20 June 2011
What else can you do to reduce global warming?
One of the tipping points with global warming is that as ice sheets melt, they are no longer available to reflect Sunlight back into space. Depending on location, they are replaced by darker sea or land which absorbs more sunlight.
A simple solution: paint your roof white. How will this help? Not very much actually, if you're the only one. But if enough of us do it ... work it out for yourself.
US President Obama's climate guru thinks so too:
Sync your desktop & phone with a single photo
A soon to be released app will allow you to open Google Maps on your phone at the same map you have just opened on your desktop screen.
Hybrid cars give flywheels a spin
One of the ways that hybrid cars improve economy over other vehicles is by regenerative braking. I.e when a hybrid slows down, it stores it's kinetic energy (energy it has because it is moving). In Toyota, General Motors & Honda hybrids, the energy is stored as electricity in batteries.
This New Scientist article is about the possibility of storing energy from regenerative braking in a flywheel. Proposed advantages are weight & cost:
One problem with electrical regenerative braking is that the amount of energy that can be recovered is limited by how fast the battery can accept charge. Hopefully, a flywheel based regenerative braking system would overcome this limitation.
Sunday 19 June 2011
Batteries for electric vehicles – the news is all good (almost)
Electric vehicle (EV) batteries will be lighter, store more energy & cost less. By 2015, they will be 30% lighter & 70% cheaper for the same capacity. Further improvements are predicted by the United States Department of Energy in coming years.
The bad news? We have to wait!
More at:
Saturday 18 June 2011
The long & the short of Roger
"Professor Roger Short of Melbourne is one of our most celebrated biologists. He has tried lemon juice to kill HIV, studied elephants to learn whether they were once aquatic, done research with prostitutes, successfully treated jetlag and been to school with John le Carre. This Science Show special looks at his extraordinary life."
Podcast & transcript at:
Friday 17 June 2011
New liquid flow batteries for EV's could halve the cost of current batteries & make refueling faster
A major problem with electric vehicles is relatively lengthy recharge times. "Liquid flow" batteries hold the promise of eliminating this problem by allowing replacement of the discharged components of a battery in about the time it takes to fill a fuel tank in a petrochemical fueled car.
A further promise is reduced cost.
Thursday 16 June 2011
Technology, the brain & going camping with neuroscientists
"Living in a data deluge. It's not just the old folk who complain that our 24 hour digital world is making it harder to concentrate – just ask the young. And Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist Matt Richtel takes a camping trip with some seriously brainy people, sans technology."
Transcript should be available tomorrow, but you can get the podcast today at:
Facebook Goss sites
"The world of social media is designed to connect people. But in country areas around Australia there are numerous examples of sites being used to humiliate and vilify young teenagers."
More at:
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Monday 13 June 2011
Electric vehicle is responsible for less emissions the further it is driven
How is this possible?
As the grid from which an electric vehicle is charged is cleaned up, so the vehicle is responsible for less emissions. More at:
PayPal to move into point of sale
PayPal President Scott Thompson, interviewed in Sydney by the ABC's Alan Kohler had this to say:
"There are three options that we're working on for the consumer to engage us at point of sale. Certainly a mobile phone is one of those options and there will be two other options that we offer consumers that'll be unique.
"They're not going to ride the existing rails that the credit cards do. There'll be a new - whole new experience, a whole new infrastructure, whole new message format, and we think it's one that's dramatically better than what's there today for the merchant and for the consumer.
Transcript & video at:
Sunday 12 June 2011
Google Music Beta … the promise & the peril
Tired of iTunes? What about Google Music? Proceed with caution:
Saturday 11 June 2011
Friday 10 June 2011
Android Market web store now checks which apps are compatible with your devices
Google is attempting to minimize the effect of Android fragmentation by checking app compatability with your device.
Thursday 9 June 2011
Ants, swarms & navigation
"What can the behaviour of ants, bees and rats teach us about the way humans navigate, organise and think? And what are the parallels between swarm intelligence and the 'wisdom of crowds'?"
Podcast at:
Transcript available later.
Wednesday 8 June 2011
Miracle On 34th Street
New York intersection. Traffic. The miracle? No humans were harmed in the making of this movie!
How those damn dirty apes took over the Earth
"Planet Of The Apes" prequel coming:
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Apple unveils iCloud music & storage service
After months of speculation, Apple's iCloud has finally been unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Details at:
"Sony's security problems could take years to fix"
Multiple hack attacks have succeeded in part because of Sony's lax security. This may take years to fix.
Monday 6 June 2011
Sunday 5 June 2011
NuForce NE-700M Earphone Review
"The NuForce 700M earphones come surprisingly close in sound to earphones costing a lot more. Not only is the build quality close to the more expensive earphone choices, in many ways, it is as good. If you are on a budget — and who isn't today — then you don't have to compromise much to get decent audio at a more than decent price. The 700-Ms are a true bargain."
Sound good? More at:
Why does an electric car generate less carbon dioxide than a petrol powered one?
It is often claimed that an electric vehicle (EV) generates as much carbon dioxode (CO2) & other pollutants as an internal combustion engine (ICE), because coal is burned to generate the electricity.
Is this true?
Is this true?
Short answer: No.
How to enable Emoji on iPad for free
Access to the Emoji character set on the iPad is inconvenient at best. But an easy, free solution is at hand:
1. Search the App Store for "Emoji Free!"
2. Download/install.
3. Execute.
4. Follow the instructions.
5. Easy.
Saturday 4 June 2011
Friday 3 June 2011
Thursday 2 June 2011
Worms from hell might mean worms from Mars
Discovery of nematode worms 1.6 km below the Earth's surface may mean that remnants of life on Mars may survive in similar conditions.
Wednesday 1 June 2011
Now that Samsung is making LED lightbulbs, maybe they'll be cheaper
Warning: STICKER SHOCK!
Something the article below ignores is the greatly extended life of LEDs: 20,000 hours for the light output to halve is typical. When your 100 Watt equivalent LED globe has done 20,000 hours (that's the equivalent of over 2.25 years continuous operation), you can move it to somewhere that requires a bit less light.
Carbon Tax – a way forward or economic ruin?
"... six European countries, including Germany and the UK, have effectively implemented a carbon tax over the last 20 years".
So how's it worked out? Podcast & transcript at:
WHO Study – mobile phones "possibly carcinogenic to humans"
Another study, this time from the prestigious World Health Organisation (WHO), suggesting that mobile (cell) phones pose a cancer risk.
Perhaps the most interesting point (at the end of the podcast) is that 3G phones result in less absorbed radiation than GSM.
More at:
http://hhg2t-long.blogspot.com/2011/06/brain.html
More at:
http://hhg2t-long.blogspot.com/2011/06/brain.html
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