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No matter how well R&D goes for these vehicles, I don't see how we can successfully convert people to electric cars without some sort of infrastructure in place. Sure, you can charge your car at home for the daily commute, but what about road trips?

Alright, semi off topic here, but the best explanation i've ever read for the 3GB Ram ceiling is here....


Well worth a read.

The RIGHT URL:

http://www.dansdata.com/fkeyboard.htm

slashes. sheesh.

From Acer

And they SOLD these, man. Yeah!


Acer! Harrr....!

I have a comparatively ancient (6 years I think I've had them) set of 2.1 TDK speakers with NXT panels. They have to do it that way, the subwoofer (I use this term only because they do, 3 inch drivers don't really count) makes up for the lack of bass response in the speakers. Overall they're adequate, not terribly loud but clear enough sound, at least in any case the satellites don't take up much desk space, and the sub/amp provides a decent heated footrest. (See http://dansdata.com/s150.htm for pictures)

Save me!

Caution though. Your question will seem more and more silly as you read on.

Moreover, most CRT-based HDTV units have an aperture grille that only has 800-900 dots per scanline.

I look forward to seeing a source for that...

http://www.dansdata.com/gz029.htm

The Sony "Super Fine Pitch" tubes have about 1400 slits per scanline in their aperture grilles, which they claim is "65% more" than most tubes. That leaves most tubes with 900 or less resolvable triads per line.

Bear in mind that CRT computer displays typically have a dot pitch of 0.35mm or less, whereas television CRTs (including HD) need to be brighter, and have a dot pitch between 0.7mm and 1mm

http://archive2.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=752049

I haven't opened any drive more recent than a 200MB (i.e. >10 yrs old), but all I needed to do that was a torx driver. I've never encountered one built to resist intentional opening (unless you count those stickers!) The platters are a non-magnetic material (aluminum in my experience, though I hear glass is used, too) coated with a thin layer of ferromagnetic material. I'm pretty sure that a few minutes with an orbital sander on this layer would make it "effectively unrecoverable" by even the best data recovery house. It's hard to say what the pattern of magnetic orientations might have been once they're scattered in a completely random pile of dust. You give me 30 minutes, I'll make sure your data can't be read. And, I can get some windchimes and rare earth magnets at the same time! Bonus!

I'm no expert, but Dan of Dan's Data has mentioned some of the internet issues in Australia.

Do to the ways the ISPs charge, it's often cheaper to host your sites in the USA than to have the servers in Australia.

See Wikipedia's entry on memory effect, also Dan's Quick Guide to Memory Effect. In short, "memory effect" is now used to refer to any reduction in a cell's capacity, for example due to aging or normal use. I doubt you can find any capacitors that don't also have reduced capacitance years later.

I believe that has been debunked as an urban legend. Read more here: http://www.dansdata.com/gz011.htm

True, and it's up to the organization holding an event as to whether they recognize the pass. For example, I might hold an event and specifically ban Andy Rooney because I didn't like one of his pieces 7.3982 years ago, disallow the NYT because I think that they're a 'rag', yet invite Dan of Dan's Data because I think he's brilliant.

It gets a little more complicated with government agencies - especially those that deal with crime, but I think their general policies are 'Large Local organizations first'. If there's room left, then let smaller local agencies and big national ones in on the press conference.

A 32bit OS can only address 4GB of RAM. If you have 1GB of video memory, that eats up 1GB of the 4GB limit, so yes, 2 1GB cards would halve the total amount of ram available to the system. That is with any cards, weather it's one card or 2 in Crossfire or SLI.

A good article on it is here: http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

If the keyboard isn't a seller for you, odds are you've never spent much time with an IBM "Model M" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M/ keyboard. People can get quite attached to them http://www.dansdata.com/ibmkeyboard.htm/.

Decent for self-defense, too.

I would actually like a small amount of rumble on my mouse

Welcome to 2001, where Logitech is about to release its new line of iFeel mice based on Immersion's TouchSense technology.

As it turns out, rumble in a mouse wasn't all that great. Sure, it was a neat little trick initially, but ultimately there was no support for it but for a very few games. Logitech killed the iFeel line of mice relatively quickly.

That said, I do agree with you that the Wii's pointer feedback is helpful. Part of that is because the Wiimote simply doesn't have the accuracy of a mouse. I'm not sure how useful it would really be on a mouse, though I still hope somebody will eventually re-visit the concept (preferably with an open standard that anybody can use, and with great drivers and support in major libraries like DirectX). I'm not going to hold my breath on that one.

4 gig RAM

http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

Your blurb about completely depleting the battery and giving it a full charge was only an advantage for Nickel-cadmium batteries in some situations. Often times, even with nicads, completely depleting the battery "pack" can be detrimental because of cell reversal in some of the individual batteries that make up the pack. That memory effect is not an issue for other types of rechargeable batteries.

Well, the only site down under is Dan's Data, and he's HARDCORE!
http://www.dansdata.com/index.html

Rather than suffer through more than 100 pages (WTF?) of advertisements and bad testing, I'd like to refer all of you to this simple page:

The Dan's Data CPU Cooler Snap Judgement Guide

It's about five years old, but the thermodynamic problem of removing waste heat from an object is about the same as it has ever been.

At home, I have a good espresso machine, and I use that. Starbucks sold this machine years ago; it was so good they now put their own name on it and they still sell it. Mine says "Estro Vapore" on it, but the new ones say "Starbucks Barista". Highly rated on coffeegeek.com.

Note that other models of espresso machine have come and go, but this one has been selling for at least a decade now.

http://coffeegeek.com/reviews/consumer/starbucks_b arista

At work, I use the AeroPress. It was invented by the same guy who invented the Aerobie flying disc toy. The Aerobie web site has various flying toys... and one coffee maker. US$30 suggested retail, quick and easy to use and clean up.

http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress.htm

Here is the review that convinced me to buy one.

http://www.dansdata.com/aeropress.htm

I bought mine from a mail-order company on Whidbey Island (in Washington state) called Locals Only Coffee. They offer a deal where you can get an extra pack of filters for only $2 when you buy the press.

http://www.localsonlycoffee.com/Aerobie-AeroPress- TM-p/aer01.htm

REI also sells this now.

http://www.rei.com/product/745004

The coffee beans I use are from Caffe Appassionato. I use their house brand, "Appassionato Blend", ground fine. Even though I live in the area and could theoretically get the beans from a local grocery store, we just order the beans direct from the company by mail.

When you get the beans mail order, they come in a sealed foil pack, and I believe they replace the air inside the foil pack with nitrogen to keep the beans fresher.

I have an espresso grinder with a "doser"; so at home, I can grind just enough beans each day that I am always brewing from fresh-ground beans.

For coffee at work, I grind every few days and keep the ground coffee in a tightly sealed jar.

steveha

This seems to be another vapour ware project, whose main aim is to extract government money.

This not a vapour ware, government understand technology, Indian government - twice more!
This a photo of top notch laptop:

$10 Laptop Top Quality, Future Reality

Scientists say, just $10, just attach to monitor, take anywhere. We're smart, not paying $100.
Peace!

This article:

http://dansdata.com/gz060.htm

points to this thing(Thecus N5200):

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6181&pa ge=2

but only you can decide if it is cheap and quiet. It does do usb of some kind, something it calls client mode, but I'm not sure that means it shows up as a disk.

I think rather than meaning *you*, he meant more this:

http://www.dansdata.com/gz068.htm

This design looks like it might be compatible with a tip-driven propellor. I don't think a traditional helicopter could work with one.

Hah! What you don't know about marketing shows. I'm not trying to win any awards, and my customers aren't influenced by flash and dazzle. Yep, I've tried Amazon, and Ebay, and I even had a fancy web redesign done once on a bet. The designer lost- sales actually dropped, and I reverted back to the old one. I've also abandoned Amazon and Ebay- too expensive for too little returned. Cost efficiency is important too you know.

First rule of small business- know your market! Your market IS your business. Great service is what my customers value! Robert T. Kiyosaki said, in his mega best seller Rich Dad, Poor Dad, "I'm not a best writing author, I'm a best SELLING author!" In response to a pulitzer prize winner who was criticizing his work.

Case in point- I used to supply ThinkGeek with the Shot-Blade toy (I'm the exclusive dealer in the US) However, I sold FAR more of them on http://www.backyardartillery.com/ than ThinkGeek ever did, in the same time frame. It's a really cool toy too! review- http://www.dansdata.com/shotblade.htm

Design is mostly an ego trip for the designers. Results are what counts, and I doubt many of my customers are designers!

Now, go have some fun! - http://www.rlt.com/

Most drives will fail when the PSU delivers unstable output (ref: http://www.dansdata.com/ though some drives are less sensitive to power fluctuation.

It's pretty difficult to determine which drives are ok, since the manufacturers update these things every month.

I would like to hear to *CLUNK* sounds of failing drives at google though ;-)

No mention of these yet, so thought I'd let everyone know. The DiscSavers cases are great for fragile DVDs. It keeps them safe, and gives you easy access to them. Try dropping one of those on the ground and you'll see it doesn't result in scratches and broken cases. Highly suggested for anyone planning on storing any burned DVDs for any length of time.

If I need to buy a digital SLR camera now, I'd buy Canon. Their sensors have extremely low noise.

Check this out: http://www.dansdata.com/images/20d/0237_1024.jpg
From: http://www.dansdata.com/20d_stre.htm

"This is a 30 second exposure, shot by moonlight at 2:37 in the morning"

I don't see any other non-Canon cameras in the same price range matching that. My eyes definitely are crap in comparison ;).

Nowadays I see no reason to buy Sony for anything. Most of the stuff they make is subpar in quality compared to stuff other vendors make. The Dell etc battery fiasco is just a symptom of the main problem - they are just making crap, slapping a Sony sticker on and charging high prices.

The good old days of the famous Sony Trinitron monitors, etc are long gone.

That said, I don't think you should spend too much time trying to talk people out of buying a Sony. Just recommend against it with reasons etc. Any more and you might just be annoying a potential customer.

If I need to buy a digital SLR camera now, I'd buy Canon. Their sensors have extremely low noise.

Check this out: http://www.dansdata.com/images/20d/0237_1024.jpg
From: http://www.dansdata.com/20d_stre.htm

"This is a 30 second exposure, shot by moonlight at 2:37 in the morning"

I don't see any other non-Canon cameras in the same price range matching that. My eyes definitely are crap in comparison ;).

Nowadays I see no reason to buy Sony for anything. Most of the stuff they make is subpar in quality compared to stuff other vendors make. The Dell etc battery fiasco is just a symptom of the main problem - they are just making crap, slapping a Sony sticker on and charging high prices.

The good old days of the famous Sony Trinitron monitors, etc are long gone.

That said, I don't think you should spend too much time trying to talk people out of buying a Sony. Just recommend against it with reasons etc. Any more and you might just be annoying a potential customer.

It's not like this thing is the most expensive laser they offer. Sure, the whole Blu-ray laser pointer thing is mostly a marketing gag, although I have no idea how it measures up to other blue laser pointers available. But this is a legitimate company selling legitimate* products and judging from the image they created of themselves I'd say that this is exactly the kind of thing they would do.

My guess (note the second s) is probably not much better than yours, but I am confident that they bought a Blu-ray player for the express purpose of playing with the diode and decided to make a product out of it. Now I agree that they might hold off on buying more players until the orders start coming in, but I doubt that this is vapour. I mean it's not like it is all that complicated a concept.

* I assume that this is true, because I a reputable source reviewed a Wicked Lasers laser.

It's not like this thing is the most expensive laser they offer. Sure, the whole Blu-ray laser pointer thing is mostly a marketing gag, although I have no idea how it measures up to other blue laser pointers available. But this is a legitimate company selling legitimate* products and judging from the image they created of themselves I'd say that this is exactly the kind of thing they would do.

My guess (note the second s) is probably not much better than yours, but I am confident that they bought a Blu-ray player for the express purpose of playing with the diode and decided to make a product out of it. Now I agree that they might hold off on buying more players until the orders start coming in, but I doubt that this is vapour. I mean it's not like it is all that complicated a concept.

* I assume that this is true, because I a reputable source reviewed a Wicked Lasers laser.

So what's that all about? Why don't Watts = Volts * Amps? Are they as efficient as we've been told?

The reason most portable players have bad sound quality is that they desperately need a headphone amp.

Enter the Chu Moy
http://www.dansdata.com/cmoy.htm

DIY or Cheap from E-Bay

It will make headphones sound better.

Death to all Windows-key-including keyboards!

Seriously, I love my old-school, IBM Model M, battle-ship tough, obnoxiously loud, buckling spring clicky keyboard. No Windows key, a proper layout, and very nice tactile feedback.

It doesn't sound like you got one, but there are apparently plenty of fakes on the market:

http://www.dansdata.com/danletters172.htm#light

and more towards the bottom of:

http://www.dansdata.com/danletters173.htm

It doesn't sound like you got one, but there are apparently plenty of fakes on the market:

http://www.dansdata.com/danletters172.htm#light

and more towards the bottom of:

http://www.dansdata.com/danletters173.htm

I highly recommend giving Dans "Enough already with the megapixels" article a read. He explains the situation more clearly than I ever could.

That being said, ye olde Dan, of dansdata.com has a good (great?) article on the memory effect.

And an unfortunate title as well, but alas.

But even if you were paying 50 cents per kilowatt-hour, a hundred left-on PCs each wasting a hundred watts would still only cost you five bucks an hour. Big deal.

>A magnetic power cable. Did Apple's IQ drop like 5 points or something. Who puts a magnet near a computer?

Excert from http://www.dansdata.com/gz009.htm:

...The field has to be really strong, because it has to exceed the coercivity of the magnetic coating on the storage device. Hard drive platters have a coercivity of a few thousand Oersteds, which means a field of the same number of Gauss is needed to demagnetise them. The ferrite magnet on a computer's PC speaker, assuming it's not shielded, will have a surface field strength of only about a thousand Gauss, so it won't endanger hard drive data even if the drive's right next to it. Even 10,000 Gauss rare earth magnets can't wipe a hard drive if they're not sitting on top of it.

So just fiddling with magnets as you read Slashdot will not wipe your hard drive.

Try explaining inverse cube laws and Oersteds and Gauss to the average Microsoft Outlook user, though.

So in order to avoid mopping up drool from confused consumers, all of us Amazingly Knowledgeable, Windswept and Interesting Science and Technology Gods have fabricated a more easily explained conventional wisdom, which says: "Don't put a magnet near your computer, or, roughly speaking, your liver will catch fire."

His words, not mine...

>Why you think Windows is in any way more productive when it does not ship with a real shell is a mystery.

I'm sorry, but I have to question this. Why is it that an operating system has to have a real shell to be productive? As far as I can see, the only thing a real shell (as opposed to a add-on shell such as cmd.exe on win2000/XP) gives you is the knowledge that you're using a text-based OS with a graphical shell on top, rather than one built to be graphical (not that I'm saying Windows is a perfect example of the latter). It's not like you can't run text-based commands from a GUI; Windows, for example, has Winkey+R. I can only see one thing that would be better done with a text-based user interface rather than a graphical one, and that's automation of a sequence of repetitive tasks since you can copy and paste a long string of commands; however, you can do that via scripting anyway. And I speak as someone who's just spent half a day editing xorg.conf from the command line to try and get Xinemara give me some use out of my second monitor; something that windows consistantly sets up automatically with a single tick of a checkbox. Can you even imagine trying to get something like this: http://www.dansdata.com/images/io060/monitors_f.gi f working in Linux without spending a *very* long time trying to coach xorg.conf to give you exactly what you want (especially considering the frankly awful kludge xinemara uses if you're monitors are set to different resolutions)?

Erm... I seem to have deviated quite some way from the original point, but I needed to rant anyway...

http://dansdata.com/quickshot005.htm

Holds 50% more discs for 25% less price.

I had the DC-101, it was awesome. The 300 is supposed to be superior in every way.

Many of them have trouble with the Model M keyboard though.

No affiliation with the site, but I bought one for my stable of Model M keyboards and this PS/2->USB adapter works wonderfully.
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm/fa/items. main/parentcat/11298/subcatid/0/id/124184

(www.clickkeyboards.com bought the rights to make the keyboards from Lexmark, so if you want a new one made to original specs...)

Here's what dansdata had to say:
Why, you use a PS/2-to-USB adapter, of course. They're commonly available. Easy as pie.

Or... not.

Model Ms aren't quite within the, um, popularly agreed envelope of the PS/2 specification. Most modern PS/2-ported motherboards will work with most old keyboards, but some 'boards need modifications. And some modern computers (coughDellcough) have out-of-spec USB ports that're well known to misbehave with all kinds of peripherals. And some PS/2-to-USB adapters combine the worst qualities of the most half-assed implementations of each interface.

Fortunately, Clicky Keyboards have sorted through several converters to find a couple that actually work with Model Ms. One keyboard-only, one keyboard-plus-mouse; $US15 and $US20 respectively.

(There are various other adapters on that page, including a $US8 metal-cased AT-to-PS/2 converter that not only looks better than the usual plastic ones, but ought to work better too, because it's shorter and should thus subject the little PS/2 socket to less leverage stress.)

http://www.dansdata.com/clickykeyboards.htm

Dan's Data had a great idea that solved the range problem for electric cars. http://www.dansdata.com/modularcar.htm

Basicly, make an electric car with a 50-100 mile range, something the size of a civic or a prius, then have a hookup on the back where you can attach a small diesel generator on wheels. Just like the small trailers you see for moving, but this would generate the power needed to 'hybridize' the vehicle, but you don't need to have it hooked up the vast majority of running around town you do. Also, one generator could serve a whole group of vehicles, or maybe even make them rentable for trips.

Because it's just a pair of connect-it-yourself speakers connected to a fucking ipod.

I would probably agree with you if it was an article like this one, and the whole thing wasn't called "iPod Hi-Fi mini", but as it is, it's just stupid.

Library supply houses have a variety of improved
CD cases. Demco (http://www.demco.com) used to
sell polycarbonate ones (i.e., bulletproof glass)
which were fantastic, though expensive,
but don't seem to carry them any more. They do
have a selection of polypropylene ones that are
still better than the usual polystyrene (enter
"cd cases" in their search engine). This
site has links to a few other vendors:

      http://www.dansdata.com/discsavers.htm

Most people just dont give a damn about conmputer security.

This is the same old story over again, it shouldnt suprise you, why? Here's some links to get you started

Slightly outdated, but still enjoyable to read:

http://www.dansdata.com/homepc.htm