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We use LiPo batteries for radio control planes, and many of us have experienced swelling, and eventually combustion, because of the abuse that we put the batteries through. We demand massive current output to drive high-wattage brushless motors, and then get frustrated and charge the batteries at higher-than recommended currents so we can get out flying again.

Then there's the whole cottage industry of R/C flyers buying 'bare cells' and soldering together frankenstein combinations of cells in series and parallel to get the perfect size/voltage/weight battery for the plane we are building.

So in other words it comes as no surprise to me that LiPos in consumer products are swelling (and exploding) as the capacities and loads are increased, and as manufacturing perhaps gets shoddier as supply demand increases.

As I mention here, the more power you need, the more energy you need to store in a battery, and the higher the likelihood of some sort of catastrophic failure.

I've got a few screenshots up here.

As a beta tester, I'm also happy to hack around at anything you're particularly interested in and post more shots.

As a long-time Oddpost user, I'm ecstatic that I finally have an option that is not IE-dependant. However I have some personal complaints about YMail, mainly being that they've taken the modifiers off the hotkeys (no ctrl-m for mail check etc.), and the icons and colors are a little cartoony for my tastes.

Apart from that, I love the interface more than Google's. I just like the drag-n-drop and context menus (e.g. right-click, delete mail). More intuitive for me than hotkeys I don't know, or tick-mail-then-perform-operation.

A couple of months ago, my wife and I were approached with an interesting offer by an affluent couple from California. After thinking carefully, we've decided to take them up on their offer. My fetish for gadgets is well puplicised through this blog, and I think this offer will help me finally get those gadgets I've been coveting for so long.

That's right, we're selling our son for $30k. There's nothing sinister about this, he's not going into child slavery or anything, Randy and Linda just really liked his demeanor, and they're keen on a Kiwi kid because they're usually so healthy. I hear $30 grand is a really good number these days.

So help me out: what would be a good swag of gadgets to get hold of for US$30,000? Here's my initial wish-list:

• A nice G4 Powerbook. I've always been a Windows guy, but only due to cost. I'm super-keen to try out a nice fast Mac.
• A Mac mini for home. Our house is pretty small, and a mini would make an ideal home media server thing.
• An Alienware PC gaming rig, or maybe a hand-built gaming machine.
• A PSP and/or Nintendo DS.
• One of those portable media players like the Mrobe or something.

A couple of months ago, my wife and I were approached with an interesting offer by an affluent couple from California. After thinking carefully, we've decided to take them up on their offer. My fetish for gadgets is well puplicised through this blog, and I think this offer will help me finally get those gadgets I've been coveting for so long.

That's right, we're selling our son for $30k. There's nothing sinister about this, he's not going into child slavery or anything, Randy and Linda just really liked his demeanor, and they're keen on a Kiwi kid because they're usually so healthy. I hear $30 grand is a really good number these days.

So help me out: what would be a good swag of gadgets to get hold of for US$30,000? Here's my initial wish-list:

• A nice G4 Powerbook. I've always been a Windows guy, but only due to cost. I'm super-keen to try out a nice fast Mac.
• A Mac mini for home. Our house is pretty small, and a mini would make an ideal home media server thing.
• An Alienware PC gaming rig, or maybe a hand-built gaming machine.
• A PSP and/or Nintendo DS.
• One of those portable media players like the Mrobe or something.

A couple of months ago, my wife and I were approached with an interesting offer by an affluent couple from California. After thinking carefully, we've decided to take them up on their offer. My fetish for gadgets is well puplicised through this blog, and I think this offer will help me finally get those gadgets I've been coveting for so long.

That's right, we're selling our son for $30k. There's nothing sinister about this, he's not going into child slavery or anything, Randy and Linda just really liked his demeanor, and they're keen on a Kiwi kid because they're usually so healthy. I hear $30 grand is a really good number these days.

So help me out: what would be a good swag of gadgets to get hold of for US$30,000? Here's my initial wish-list:

• A nice G4 Powerbook. I've always been a Windows guy, but only due to cost. I'm super-keen to try out a nice fast Mac.
• A Mac mini for home. Our house is pretty small, and a mini would make an ideal home media server thing.
• An Alienware PC gaming rig, or maybe a hand-built gaming machine.
• A PSP and/or Nintendo DS.
• One of those portable media players like the Mrobe or something.

A couple of months ago, my wife and I were approached with an interesting offer by an affluent couple from California. After thinking carefully, we've decided to take them up on their offer. My fetish for gadgets is well puplicised through this blog, and I think this offer will help me finally get those gadgets I've been coveting for so long.

That's right, we're selling our son for $30k. There's nothing sinister about this, he's not going into child slavery or anything, Randy and Linda just really liked his demeanor, and they're keen on a Kiwi kid because they're usually so healthy. I hear $30 grand is a really good number these days.

So help me out: what would be a good swag of gadgets to get hold of for US$30,000? Here's my initial wish-list:

• A nice G4 Powerbook. I've always been a Windows guy, but only due to cost. I'm super-keen to try out a nice fast Mac.
• A Mac mini for home. Our house is pretty small, and a mini would make an ideal home media server thing.
• An Alienware PC gaming rig, or maybe a hand-built gaming machine.
• A PSP and/or Nintendo DS.
• One of those portable media players like the Mrobe or something.

A couple of months ago, my wife and I were approached with an interesting offer by an affluent couple from California. After thinking carefully, we've decided to take them up on their offer. My fetish for gadgets is well puplicised through this blog, and I think this offer will help me finally get those gadgets I've been coveting for so long.

That's right, we're selling our son for $30k. There's nothing sinister about this, he's not going into child slavery or anything, Randy and Linda just really liked his demeanor, and they're keen on a Kiwi kid because they're usually so healthy. I hear $30 grand is a really good number these days.

So help me out: what would be a good swag of gadgets to get hold of for US$30,000? Here's my initial wish-list:

• A nice G4 Powerbook. I've always been a Windows guy, but only due to cost. I'm super-keen to try out a nice fast Mac.
• A Mac mini for home. Our house is pretty small, and a mini would make an ideal home media server thing.
• An Alienware PC gaming rig, or maybe a hand-built gaming machine.
• A PSP and/or Nintendo DS.
• One of those portable media players like the Mrobe or something.

As I've said over here, If this repeater stuff is in any way true, it really could be a killer app for handheld gaming.

The potential hinted at by these new revelations totally trancends your basic "sit around in a group and play wirelessly" functionality. If this (the repeater functionality) is in any way true, then it will make the touch-screen part of the DS look about as groundbreaking as MP3 support on a Sony player, and it makes the PSP's infra-red wireless gaming look like a silly kids' toy.

Seriously, wide-area gaming would be the killer app for handheld consoles. Imagine some sort of asynchronous MMPORG-style game whereby when a fellow player's DS is detected, some form of battle can take place. Some sort of modern take on the old style Campus 'Assassin' games.

Not to mention the facilitation of true munchkin-style ubiquitous networking.

As I've said over here, If this repeater stuff is in any way true, it really could be a killer app for handheld gaming.

The potential hinted at by these new revelations totally trancends your basic "sit around in a group and play wirelessly" functionality. If this (the repeater functionality) is in any way true, then it will make the touch-screen part of the DS look about as groundbreaking as MP3 support on a Sony player, and it makes the PSP's infra-red wireless gaming look like a silly kids' toy.

Seriously, wide-area gaming would be the killer app for handheld consoles. Imagine some sort of asynchronous MMPORG-style game whereby when a fellow player's DS is detected, some form of battle can take place. Some sort of modern take on the old style Campus 'Assassin' games.

Not to mention the facilitation of true munchkin-style ubiquitous networking.

This idea strikes me as an implementation or extension of "Munchkins" described in an ancient (1996) paper by Rohit Khare and Adam Rifkin.

The idea basically describes very small, low-power devices that can route messages between each other until they find the target device (or a valid route to the target device). I have to wonder whether new devices like the iPAQ with GSM, WiFi, and Bluetooth are trending towards this behaviour. It wouldn't take a heck of a lot to turn the iPAQ 6340 into a device that can intelligently route incoming packets over any of its connections.

I'd love to be able to pick up my cellphone, and connect to my PC via a network of industrial sensors built into traffic signals, bus stops or the nearest ATM.