A GenX Liberal Geek's Take on Science and Finance in the News: 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Samsung Bringing 19-inch Transparent AMOLED to CES | Maximum PC

Samsung Bringing 19-inch Transparent AMOLED to CES | Maximum PC this is truly cool

Monday, December 27, 2010

Study shows drifting fish larvae allow marine reserves to rebuild fisheries

Study shows drifting fish larvae allow marine reserves to rebuild fisheries i call this good news

In Kenya, Huts Far Off the Grid Harness the Sun - NYTimes.com

now this is what i am talking about. Africa might just finally pull itself up out of the dumps!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Placebos work -- even without deception

this is fantastic news!

Nissan Leaf rates you against other drivers, creates a high score list for hypermilers -- Engadget

game theory is a great idea. this is very smart, and i think wil ahve a huge impact on making these cars be as good a possible as the users will learn how to drive them the most efficiently.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Word Lens augmented reality app instantly translates whatever you point it at -- Engadget

AWESOME!!!

Topologist Predicts New Form of Matter - Technology Review

i may have to read this a few more times to understand it; it's all pretty deep physics, but i think this is really interesting.

We Are the Words - Technology Review

This is just cool; i love data mining, and this is a great idea. expect more of this as we delve further into this digital world.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

New Advice for Nuclear Strike - Don’t Flee, Get Inside - NYTimes.com

Apparently duck and cover wasn't such a bad idea!

Gore admits the obvious: US corn ethanol was not a good policy | Watts Up With That?

DUH!

City lights make air pollution worse

this is really quite interesting

Preliminary results for the CERN CLOUD cosmic ray experiment | Watts Up With That?

alternative global warming theory being tested...

Cyclone Power Technologies Successfully Powers-Up Small-Scale Waste Heat Recovery Pilot | Business Wire

(NOTE: I own stock in this company.) But I have to admit, this is pretty cool; hence why I bought this stock. Just to be clear, I am not advocating buying or not buying this stock, do as you wish, and do NOT take any advice from me!

Now as to my excitement, they finally have their first customer for their waste heat engine. I am all for using whatever you need to use to do what you want to do, but I want people to do it an efficient way. This is what I get excited about. Taking what used to be waste, and doing something useful with it. Cool stuff!

Android App Inventor lets you be the developer (video) -- Engadget

make your own android apps ... the easy way. you can bet i will be trying this out!

LG Optimus 2X: first dual-core smartphone launches with Android, 4-inch display, 1080p video recording -- Engadget

My next new phone? not sure, but certainly one of the new phones with a dual core proc will be.

Home solar costs falling with industry scale | Green Tech - CNET News

i'd call this good news, but notice that the installation costs are the biggest since the panels themselves are costing less than $1 USD.

Is the Periodic Table of Elements Wrong? - FoxNews.com

this is kind of cool, wierd, and logical.

Mark Tapscott: Oh the horror! Fox bureau chief told reporters to be 'skeptical' | Washington Examiner

what's wrong with this? aren't reporters supposed to be skeptical about everything? isn't that the point?

German doctors declare cure in HIV patient | Reuters

followup on this amazing and wonderful story.

A Cheaper Way to Clean Water - Technology Review

we might have the solution to clean water; a cheap way to clean water to make it drinkable.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Berlin Patient - New York Times

Proof the folks fighting AIDS are on teh right track!

Visualized: Facebook's global reach -- Engadget

i love this visualizatoin of the data. it really makes the impact easier to see, and all the more impressive.

Kinect hack lets you reenact Big piano scene (video) -- Engadget

this just seems fun to me

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Using Twitter to Track Dropped Calls - Technology Review

best use of twitter ever

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Researchers find a stable way to store the sun's heat (w/ Video)

This is really interesting. Storing heat in a chemical bond. IF, and it's a big IF, they can find a cheaper chemical that can do it, they'll have something very useful.

The age of “civilization in peril” | Watts Up With That?

Now this is a great article. i totally agree.

Africa's tech explosion promises economic growth

Now this is great news. Perhaps the internet, and these data cables, will finally start to enable Africa to pull itself up to the level of the rest of the world. Won't that be a wonderful thing! Lord knows well intended giving of lots of money from the West for the last generation or two hasn't done much.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Technology Review: 70 mpg, without a Hybrid

good news all around, i'd say

Technology Review: A $1.50 Lens-Free Microscope

Real hope in teh battle against malaria; a cheap, easy way to diagnose it. one that is cheap enough to be used where the cases are the most common!

Logitech Revue with Google TV torn down, netbook specs found within -- Engadget

huh, while i love the technology, i am not excited by the 2+ year old hardware for that price. no, i think i'll wait on one of these for a while; although i will have "a" google tv device, certainly it won't be this one.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

The stupefying pace of glacier melt in the 1940s | Watts Up With That?

Yeah, I just have to post this up. The science on climate change is not decided.

More than that, the climate has never been constant. It's always changing. The question that should be asked is whether or not humans are the cause. Since the climate has always changed, isn't likely that the current climate change is caused by nature. Now, we, humans, may be changing things, but again, of course we are. You can't pave over, farm, and otherwise use as much land as we have without changing things. The urban heat island effect is proof of that.

So, again, the real question, is if we are messing things up. Well, lots of plant studies have proven that all plants we use do better in a high carbon environment. So, that's not a problem.

What about hot versus cold? Read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. That was during the Little Ice Age. Cold sucks. Crops fail. People die. Warm is better.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Gulf corals in oil spill zone appear healthy

Good news... they say they will continue to monitor it; also good news.

Virgin spaceship to pass new milestone - Yahoo! News

Another step on the way to the future! Silly I know, but honestly private sub-orbital flights are awesome! This really will be the start of a better future.

And, of course, just like NASA, naming their first ship Enterprise, I love it all the more like the good Trekkie that I am.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Merck Shingles Vaccine Effective in Adults in 50s - FoxNews.com

this is interesting, and must might be great news. it seems it has a 70% effective rate.

Technology Review: Cheap Diesel-Powered Fuel Cells

In general, I am excited about this. More efficient fuel cells, electrical energy generation in general is a good thing. Since these things work on diesel, then bio diesel can be used for them in the future if it ever becomes viable.

GE Unveils Hybrid Halogen-CFL Light Bulbs for 2011! | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Interesting idea, but realistically, I'm not excited about it. I'm more into the LEDs; I bought the one that Home Depot started selling a few months ago; the 40w equivalent, and it works well as a reading light. this hybrid CFL would be good in a few places.

Netflix 'now primarily a streaming company,' could offer DVD-less plan this year -- Engadget

The article mentions that Netfilx is planning on offering a streaming only plan, and eventually possibly charging extra fro DVDs just as they do for Blue-Ray disks. I have some mixed feelings about this. i like having the disks, because i use them on my pc at work. At the moment, I still watch most of my movies at home; where I have a high speed connection, but at work I can't use the bandwidth. I think a lot of folks fall into that category. Mind you if the streaming only plan was cheaper, as theoretically it should be, then I wouldn't mind at all. My current costs are fine.

I am also excited about the 1080P streaming that can work with the PS3. Hopefully, that will expand. I am not an owner of a PS3 or any blue-ray device. Sadly, I bought an HD-DVD. Oops. Still, I'm coming around to it. The idea of the Google Box sounds great to me, and I want one of those to go with my HDTV. I'm thinking of one of them with a Blue-Ray player would be great, and I'm hoping either the PS3 will get a google tv option. Either that, or I'll buy a box. Sony's $400 option sounds pretty good, but we'll see.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Old Military Planes to Tree Bomb Deforested Areas | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

This is pretty cool. The C-130 is a wonderful plane which I've had the opportunity to ride on one occasion. Retasking it to plant trees is a great idea that could help out in a lot of places in the world. they could have a huge impact n teh Sahel!

The image on the link is one of defensive flare's being dropped; not trees!

End of the Earth Postponed - Yahoo! News

looks like the link to the Modern Calendar to the Mayan Calendar is off by 50 to 100 years in either direction, meaning that the world already ended a few decades ago, or will end in a few decades.

This whole idea was so stupid it was painful to think about. I'm hoping, although doubting, we can put it to rest. I mean geologically speaking, the world will end at some point. At the very latest, the Sun will become a red giant. At that point it will expand so much that the Earth will be inside the star, and will be destroyed. That event will happen in about 4-6 billion years, unless Humanity or our progeny comes up with some way to prevent it. Between now and then, lots of things could happen that could destroy the world let alone humanity. Shoemaker-Levy-9 hitting the Earth instead of Jupiter certainly would have!

So, sure we're goners, but likely not for a long time.

EEStor Ultracapacitors: Battery Revolution begins with Electric Cars?: Yet Another EEStor Patent Allowance: Method of preparing ceramic powders using chelate precursors

Could this be what stands between EEStor and a reveal? Is EEStor real? Is it vaporware? The fact that they keep getting a steady stream of patents makes me think the answer is "yes" to all the questions except for my "vaporware" question. I certainly hope it's real.

Time will tell.

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: How to Surf a Supersonic Shock Wave

Pretty cool if you ask me. Pratical uses? Well, as they say in the article, for determining the paths of meteorites as they breakup in the atmosphere. Beyond that, I'm sure the Air Force is curious. This would help explain the dynamics of launching a missile from a supersonic aircraft; something that is done regularly. It would also help explain how MIRVs would work on multi-warhead ICBMs. All of those things work, but new science can offer better control, and more possibilities.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Shooting for the Sun - Magazine - The Atlantic

I really hope this guy has the next big thing in power.

Technology Review: A Long-lasting Universal Flu Vaccine

This article is just about a promising early vaccine that has a lot of potential to give long term protection against the most common varieties of the flu. It offers mild protection against one major class (H1N1 - Swine Flu), moderate protection against another class (H5 - Avian Flu), and absolute protection against the most common type (H3). Sadly, it's only proven in mice. They are moving on to testing it in better human analog animals now. This has the potential, though, to be a big help; providing immunization for decades. Even if it only is effective for the H3 variety, it's still going to be a big help.

Monday, October 18, 2010

In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Green Energy - Series - NYTimes.com

I don't like the tone of the article. Climate change is real; anyone who's heard of the last Ice Age, knows it's real. The question is if Humanity is causing anything. Me, I'm not buying the idea, but I won't go into that argument now.

But, my real point is that the idea of efficiency is a good idea. I use a 40-watt equivalent LED bulb as a reading light, and lots of CFLs. Not buying power from from overseas is also a good idea; keep the money here. Not wasting power is also a good idea. That's the main thrust of the article, even if much of it is condescending to those of us who have my opinion on GW/Climate Change

Friday, July 30, 2010

Technology Review: Helping Joints Regrow Themselves

for those of us with joint issues, this is good news!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Technology Review: Blogs: Information Processing: BP oil spill Fermi estimates

interesting math on the spill

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Seven People Have Been Entrusted With The Keys To The Internet

pretty wierd...

Man hit by six meteorites is being 'targeted by aliens' | Metro.co.uk

this is funny!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

FOXNews.com - GM's Air Conditioners to Promote Global Cooling

Headline is stupidly off, but it's a good article. Basically, Honeywell made a new refrigerant that breaks down in 11 days and is way more efficient. They say the current R-134a that replaced R-12 in the 90s back when we were worried about the ozone layer, takes about 13 years to break down. They also said something that doesn't entirely make sense to me. Something about reducing the amount of refrigerant by more than 99%. I think it means that this gas expands a lot more than the old R-134a, and that is what they mean.

Sundrop Fuels Looks To Combine Sun Wood Chips For Gas - Business News - Portfolio.com

this sounds promising!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

What the Financial Services Reform Law Means for You

A nice primer from a Credit Union

Monday, July 19, 2010

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo completes first flight with crew on board -- Engadget

I can not wait to see this start taking passengers up. While I am no where close to having the money for a ride myself, perhaps one day I will!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Technology Review: Nanopillars that Trap More Light

promising....

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Is Generic Financial Advice Helpful or Hurtful? � My Money Blog

i say it is

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Both parties mull raising retirement age - Washington Times

its about time!

Technology Review: GE to Make Thin-Film Solar Panels

And let's not forget the Big Boys... (Same tech as my last post, although this article is from 4 months ago...

Technology Review: Solar Cell Maker Gets a $400-Million Boost

This is great... the #1 company, First Solar says they can do $0.81 per watt, and these guys say they can beat it. This is government money well spent.

Monday, July 12, 2010

SoloPower rolls out flexible rooftop solar panels | Green Tech - CNET News

Cool stuff, i hope to see more of this!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

First rig sails away over deep-water drilling ban | Business | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

This truly sucks. Oil sucks; it's dirty, messy, and dangerous. The problem is we need it, and lots of it. The easiest places to get it seem to be in the waters around this country. As long as were waiting for great batteries and solar/wind to get good enough so that we can stop using oil. Until then, we need as much oil as we can get, as cheaply as we can get it.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

S.F. considers banning sale of pets except fish

They have got to be joking!