March 25, 2009

Buying an External Hard Drive

Filed under: Main — Tags: , — admin @ 12:01 am

The first external hard drive I bought was a 60MB (yes, megabyte) drive for my Macintosh SE back in 1987. The drive wasn’t cheap, which is why external hard drives really weren’t that popular for a long time. Today, however, you’re really being silly if you don’t get your PC an external hard drive. Here are my thoughts on the topic.
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March 20, 2009

Ooo! It’s So Cute!

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

teeny laptop
I thought I thaw a laptop. I did! I did! I did thee a laptop!
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March 13, 2009

That Syncing Feeling

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Why can’t the computer industry figure out how to do a good sync program?
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October 6, 2008

The Tabulae Ceratera

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Picture this: It’s portable. You write on it using a stylus. It’s about information, but also communications. It also plays an important role in education. Nope, it’s not a Tablet PC. It’s a wax tablet, what the Romans called the tabulae ceratera, and it’s over 2000 years old.

Perhaps we haven’t come that far after all.
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August 4, 2008

The Lying Meter

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battery meter
The search for truth in the universe will not be making a stop at your laptop’s battery meter.
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July 9, 2008

Anyone Lose a Laptop?

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

There is an article making the rounds on the blogs. It reports that over 12,000 computer laptops are lost by air travelers in the United States. Not total over time. Not annually. Not every month. But every week. Dang!
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January 4, 2008

Dawn of the Fuel Cell Era

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

I’ve lamented in my Laptops for Dummies book that battery power is woefully pitiful and obsolete. Folks, we use flashlight batteries today that were designed in the 1930s. But that’s about to end.

We are at the dawn of the fuel cell era. Batteries are about to go buh-bye and we’re all going to be better off for it. Proof comes from a company called Millennium Cell. (I once owned stock in that company. Good company, bad stock move; I bought just before the dot-com bust.) But before showing you a taste of the future, a word on fuel cell technology.

A fuel cell works like a battery. It’s portable. It will eventually be lightweight and small. But unlike a battery, a fuel cell requires fuel for a charge. You fill up the fuel cell similar to filling a jug or gas tank. The fuel cell is then charged and produces electricity for a while. When the fuel cell gets low, you simply add more juice. Away you go!

Millennium Cell has just introduced a portable fuel cell generator called the Hydropack. I have no data on its weight, but it produces 400 watts of power and its fuel is plain water. It’s spendy: $400. But it’s a wonderful first step into a world without batteries, a world with fuel cells.

Star Trek Dept. Here is a link to a funky video. It’s the Turkish version of the first aired episode of Star Trek, “The Man Trap.” Now it takes about 3 minute for the credits to roll, but then you’ll see a set of Turkish actors playing the rolls and speaking dialog you know so well — except it’s in Turkish! And the sets are, well, gloriously campy!

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