They tested this on Brainiac (a science show in the UK). They filled a caravan with petrol vapour and mobile phones, and then rang them.
Nothing happened but a symphony of ring tones. However, they repeated the experiment by connecting a wire to an earth inside the caravan, then making their tester jump around in a nylon suit some distance away. He was standing in a plastic bucket to preserve the charge.
Finally, he touched the other end of the wire leading to the caravan, a spark jumped, and the caravan exploded.
So it goes to show - far safer to talk on a mobile phone at a petrol station than to wear a tracksuit.;)
PS - How do you get back in your car while refueling? Don't you need to squeeze the handle of the pump in the US?
Why would UK customs be upset? More money for the UK piggy bank.
This is someone getting their just desserts, and in a damn funny way too. Just as good as sending the box, marking it "MUST BE CHECKED BY CUSTOMS" and sticking a polythene bag of flour in there.
We've already got these in the UK - some roads have cat's eyes with LEDs in them and they're great. It makes driving so much easier.
However, they do have the side effect of making drivers go "Ooh! Glowy cat's eyes!" and switch off their headlights to see them better... hence, they're statistically rather dangerous!
Actually, it wouldn't kill to just have it put in an earring - I mean, it would probably hurt less than getting it injected, and you could take it out at any time. All you need is one of those gun things they have in shops.
No, people would go out and buy Windows. Your average home user who's had a dodgy version of Windows installed on his computer by, umm, a friend, will bite the bullet and pay for it.
He or she won't want to go through the hassle of installing Linux. Assuming they know what it is and where to get it from. The pervading image of Linux is still the spotty kid sat in a dark room in front of a command prompt. I tried it six months ago and it wouldn't recognise:
My USB mouse, my NIC card, my WLAN card, my GFX card, my Audigy sound card, wouldn't use any of the power management options on my PC, wouldn't talk to my USB printer or scanner, threw a tantrum about DHCP when I finally got the LAN connection to work, and then thoughtfully deleted Windows, which was installed on another partition.
If a Linux build can be built that will actually talk to my hardware (all less than 2 years old) then I might give it another look. But why bother, when it takes three days to install? When all the applications start with "X"? When Granny, following the Windows instructions in a magazine, inadvertentanly activates the self-destruct at the Pentagon?
I'm sorry, until Linux installs and works as effortlessly as Windows, I'll try it again. I think Linux is great for things like web servers (mine runs Red Hat) but for home use, it just doesn't cut it.
So I'm slagging off Linux - go on, mod me down, I dare ya;). Linux may be developed by thousands of people... but so was the black death.
Nope, a Compaq TC1000 tablet PC. I do know what you mean with regard to Dells, though - we were going to use one instead of a minidisk player for a theatre piece, but the hum was unbearable, especially amplified. We couldn't even equalise it out, cause there was noise across nearly all the frequencies.
I'll pick up a two prong adaptor on Monday and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for your advice!
Is this similar to the noise heard when using an onboard sound card? On my laptop when plugged in to the mains, a distint hiss/buzz/rumble comes out the line-out jack. It changes when moving the mouse or accessing the hard disk, or when the CPU is under load.
It seems that this is a more reliable method for finding a key than using a microphone, but, of course, it does require physical access to the computer.
It's not actually that unreasonable, given the rate that computers evolve. Longhorn might not even be released for 4-5 years.
Five years ago, how many laptops had 512MB RAM? Or a 60GB hard drive?
Also, I remember the initial Windows XP specifications being ludicrosly excessive, but it ran fine on my 300MHz VAIO with 128MB RAM.
And, finally, 640K might have been enough for anyone. I used to own an Amstrad 1640 with that much RAM and a 10GB hard disk. If I just used it for word processing in TXT format, and playing Digger, the 10GB and 640K would have lasted a lifetime.
Nope, it's David. I took over when Mike got a "real" job working for the London Stock Exchange. I'm still waiting for his insider's tips, though!;)
Dan East is currently working on Varium, a 3D game engine for Pocket PC that will run "modules", allowing third parties to easily script new games for it. It'll ship with a World War 2 module, an Expedition module, and a "Battle for Planet Snoogie" module.
Likewise. I run the website PocketGamer.org, and should I kick the proverbial bucket, it would be rather difficult for people to pick up after me.
Hence there's a CD with encrypted files stored in my mum's desk drawer, along with the password in a separate envelope which she hangs on to.
If something happens to me (even if it doesn't kill me, but impairs me enough so I can't manage the site and seem to "vanish") she'll open the document on the CD which contains a list of people to email, the passwords to the entire site, the password to my laptop and a bit of text explaining what should be done and said to each person.
While it's not perfect, I think it'll do, as unpleasant things do sometimes happen to the best of people.
I think the problem with leaving your passwords with your will is that in the event you want to change them, you need to write a new will.
I think that it's pretty awful that someone is trying to sell off a beta email address. Almost by definition, any closed beta requires a degree of trust between the tester and the company, and these people have abused the trust that Google put in them.
I hope Google just delete the offending accounts.
All they need to do is get one person to look directly at the sun through a telescope for long enough and they can take the measurements directly from his eyeball.
Slashdot Mirror
They tested this on Brainiac (a science show in the UK). They filled a caravan with petrol vapour and mobile phones, and then rang them.
;)
Nothing happened but a symphony of ring tones. However, they repeated the experiment by connecting a wire to an earth inside the caravan, then making their tester jump around in a nylon suit some distance away. He was standing in a plastic bucket to preserve the charge.
Finally, he touched the other end of the wire leading to the caravan, a spark jumped, and the caravan exploded.
So it goes to show - far safer to talk on a mobile phone at a petrol station than to wear a tracksuit.
PS - How do you get back in your car while refueling? Don't you need to squeeze the handle of the pump in the US?
Psion 3c's are going for about $30 on ebay - nice keyboard, good screen, backlight and 35 hours use from a couple of AA batteries.
Who the hell cares if the code has been stolen? It just means that everyone's routers will crash every 3 hours, instead of only the Cisco ones...
Why would UK customs be upset? More money for the UK piggy bank.
This is someone getting their just desserts, and in a damn funny way too. Just as good as sending the box, marking it "MUST BE CHECKED BY CUSTOMS" and sticking a polythene bag of flour in there.
We've already got these in the UK - some roads have cat's eyes with LEDs in them and they're great. It makes driving so much easier.
However, they do have the side effect of making drivers go "Ooh! Glowy cat's eyes!" and switch off their headlights to see them better... hence, they're statistically rather dangerous!
Actually, I prefer to think of people who don't wear helmets as perfect examples of natural selection...
Darwin would be proud.
Nope, it'll be bluetooth. Which means it won't work, and people will be able to steal its address book entries... ;-)
"Ah'm sorry, Cap'n, for some reason the ship's wheel has paired itself with my mobile phone instead of the ship."
Actually, it wouldn't kill to just have it put in an earring - I mean, it would probably hurt less than getting it injected, and you could take it out at any time. All you need is one of those gun things they have in shops.
"Not only I can tell you your weight, I can compute your personality problems to eight decimal places..."
;)
Guess that applies here more than anywhere else.
*ducks*
No, people would go out and buy Windows. Your average home user who's had a dodgy version of Windows installed on his computer by, umm, a friend, will bite the bullet and pay for it.
;). Linux may be developed by thousands of people... but so was the black death.
He or she won't want to go through the hassle of installing Linux. Assuming they know what it is and where to get it from. The pervading image of Linux is still the spotty kid sat in a dark room in front of a command prompt. I tried it six months ago and it wouldn't recognise:
My USB mouse, my NIC card, my WLAN card, my GFX card, my Audigy sound card, wouldn't use any of the power management options on my PC, wouldn't talk to my USB printer or scanner, threw a tantrum about DHCP when I finally got the LAN connection to work, and then thoughtfully deleted Windows, which was installed on another partition.
If a Linux build can be built that will actually talk to my hardware (all less than 2 years old) then I might give it another look. But why bother, when it takes three days to install? When all the applications start with "X"? When Granny, following the Windows instructions in a magazine, inadvertentanly activates the self-destruct at the Pentagon?
I'm sorry, until Linux installs and works as effortlessly as Windows, I'll try it again. I think Linux is great for things like web servers (mine runs Red Hat) but for home use, it just doesn't cut it.
So I'm slagging off Linux - go on, mod me down, I dare ya
Nope, a Compaq TC1000 tablet PC. I do know what you mean with regard to Dells, though - we were going to use one instead of a minidisk player for a theatre piece, but the hum was unbearable, especially amplified. We couldn't even equalise it out, cause there was noise across nearly all the frequencies.
I'll pick up a two prong adaptor on Monday and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for your advice!
Is this similar to the noise heard when using an onboard sound card? On my laptop when plugged in to the mains, a distint hiss/buzz/rumble comes out the line-out jack. It changes when moving the mouse or accessing the hard disk, or when the CPU is under load.
It seems that this is a more reliable method for finding a key than using a microphone, but, of course, it does require physical access to the computer.
D'oh! That should have been 10MB, not 10GB. Shot myself in the foot there...
It's not actually that unreasonable, given the rate that computers evolve. Longhorn might not even be released for 4-5 years. Five years ago, how many laptops had 512MB RAM? Or a 60GB hard drive? Also, I remember the initial Windows XP specifications being ludicrosly excessive, but it ran fine on my 300MHz VAIO with 128MB RAM. And, finally, 640K might have been enough for anyone. I used to own an Amstrad 1640 with that much RAM and a 10GB hard disk. If I just used it for word processing in TXT format, and playing Digger, the 10GB and 640K would have lasted a lifetime.
Nope, it's David. I took over when Mike got a "real" job working for the London Stock Exchange. I'm still waiting for his insider's tips, though! ;)
Dan East is currently working on Varium, a 3D game engine for Pocket PC that will run "modules", allowing third parties to easily script new games for it. It'll ship with a World War 2 module, an Expedition module, and a "Battle for Planet Snoogie" module.
Screens: http://www.devastation3.com/varium/
Likewise. I run the website PocketGamer.org, and should I kick the proverbial bucket, it would be rather difficult for people to pick up after me. Hence there's a CD with encrypted files stored in my mum's desk drawer, along with the password in a separate envelope which she hangs on to. If something happens to me (even if it doesn't kill me, but impairs me enough so I can't manage the site and seem to "vanish") she'll open the document on the CD which contains a list of people to email, the passwords to the entire site, the password to my laptop and a bit of text explaining what should be done and said to each person. While it's not perfect, I think it'll do, as unpleasant things do sometimes happen to the best of people. I think the problem with leaving your passwords with your will is that in the event you want to change them, you need to write a new will.
I think that it's pretty awful that someone is trying to sell off a beta email address. Almost by definition, any closed beta requires a degree of trust between the tester and the company, and these people have abused the trust that Google put in them. I hope Google just delete the offending accounts.
All they need to do is get one person to look directly at the sun through a telescope for long enough and they can take the measurements directly from his eyeball.