In December, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler showed off the technology at the heart of their recently announced hybrid-car partnership. The companies said that the transmission packaged with two electric motors would be in vehicles for sale in 2007, boosting their fuel economy by 25 percent. GMs announcement claimed it would advance the state of hybrid technology in the industry. But the system will, in the end, produce an SUV that averages about 20 miles per gallon instead of 16; the Toyota Prius hybrid averages 55.
Category Archives: General
Squashed Philosophers
Condensed Plato Aristotle Augustine Descartes Hume et al
Perfect for cash-rich but time-poor intellectuals!
Five years on
Five years ago today the NASDAQ peaked. Nice piece in Guardian Online looking back at the bubble.
What’s in Dave Barry’s bag?
Gizmodo asked Dave Barry what he carries in his bag. Here’s part of his reply:
The main thing I carry in my gadget bag is about 28 different power converters. I don’t know what they’re all for: Some of them date back to the early 1990s. But if I ever need to recharge a notebook computer that I no longer own, I am READY.
[…]
My phone is a Treo 600. It’s a bit too big, but I like that it syncs easily with my computers, and it has everything in it — contacts, calendars, email, and a really, really bad camera, which I call “The CrapCam.” I take pictures on it and post them to my blog, mainly because the quality of the photos enrages the blog readers and causes them to rant in an entertaining manner. I’m thinking of getting the Treo 650, which apparently has a better screen. But it also has a better camera, and I don’t know that I’m prepared to get rid of the CrapCam.
In accordance with federal law, I also have an iPod. It has 15G of memory, which is at least 14G more than I actually need, since I realize in my old age that I really only like something like nine songs. I have Bose noise-canceling headphones, which are wonderful on planes. The plane could make an emergency landing in the ocean, and those of us with Bose noise-canceling headphones wouldn’t notice until squid swam past our seats.
I’m sorry, Sir — spam’s off tonight
That’ll be $3,000 then. The New Zealand National Business Review is reporting that a restaurant has been fined three grand for failing to keep its website up to date. By advertising menus that were not available, it apparently breached NZ’s trading standards legislation.
Smart Water
Bruce Schneier has an amazing piece about something called ‘smart water’:
No, really. It’s liquid with a unique identifier that is linked to a particular owner.
Forensic Coding combined with microdot technology.
SmartWater has been designed to protect household property and motor vehicles. Each bottle of SmartWater solution contains a unique forensic code, which is assigned to a household or vehicle.
An additional feature of SmartWater Instant is the inclusion tiny micro-dot particles which enable Police to quickly identify the true owner of the property.
The idea is for me to paint this stuff on my valuables as proof of ownership. I think a better idea would be for me to paint it on your valuables, and then call the police.
DoJ buys WordPerfect
Good Morning, Silicon Valley is reporting that the US Department of Justice will pay more than $2 million each year to buy business software from Corel — described as “a leading Microsoft rival”.
The new purchase agreement makes the latest version of Corel’s WordPerfect Office software available to more than 50,000 lawyers and other Justice employees.
That includes the department’s antitrust division, which successfully sued Microsoft over illegal efforts to dominate the software industry but negotiated a settlement later to end the company’s court appeals.
The deal is worth up $13.2 million over five years. It also represents a high-profile sale for Corel among lawyers, where it traditionally has enjoyed a loyal following.
Hmmm… I had assumed that WordPerfect died years ago. Now I discover that U.S. courts require all electronic filings to be submitted as WordPerfect documents, and the Department of Justice has thousands of programmed shortcuts designed to work with WordPerfect. For the first time in my life, I feel sorry for lawyers.
Quentin: fame at last
Fame is a funny thing. Some years ago I was walking through the centre of Cambridge and ran into George Steiner. He was looking blissfully happy. “What’s up, George?” I asked. “I have finally made it”, he replied, beaming. “You’ve won the Nobel Prize for literature?”. “No, better than that”, he replied, “I’ve been invited to go on Desert island Disks!”
Now, George is good at hyperbole, but anyone who lives in England will appreciate why he was so chuffed. An invitation onto DID is indeed a sign that one has finally made it. But there is one other sign of universal acceptance — a reference on The Archers, the venerable BBC soap opera about life in a fictional rural village. When he was a student, my friend Quentin Stafford-Fraser co-invented the Webcam. To his delight (and mine), his original webcam was mentioned in The Archers. The only remaining accolade available to him is now a MacArthur Genius Award! I’m working on the citation now.
The er, service economy
From Wired…
England’s EBay for Sex
Britain’s AdultWork website is plugging into the growing niche industry of sex-work dilettantes, people who spend a few hours a week in front of a camera, or in bed with a client, to augment their income — or maybe even just because they like it.
Sony appoints Welshman as Supreme Being
The New York Times is reporting that Sony has appointed a Welsh-born former television news journalist called Howard Stringer (currently running Sony Corporation of America) to succeed Nobuyuki Idei, the current chairman and chief executive, who is retiring next year after Sony’s 60th anniversary. You can bet that this Stringer is no Welsh nationalist — he’s accepted a knighthood, no doubt for “services to industry”. Just like that other devout monarchist, ‘Sir’ Bill Gates.