Posts by Dan Paul

Let's hope someone ELSE will make a 'Droid hardware compatible OS

Here is hoping that somebody like Cyanogen will modify Android to remove all the nasty Google phone home bits and blackhole all the uneeded App communications permissions leaving us with an "open" OS that works and does not suck up data or batteries and is safe and secure. I would GLADLY pay $100 for that privilige especially if it included the best part of Palm Pilot contact management software so I don't have to rely on the "Cloud" and sync contacts and emails direct from my PC and still be able to use standard Android apps.

ALL Current Cell Phone Service Providers, Hardware & Software Manufacturers are Greedy Pfucks.

This needs to change and the solution could be crowdsourced rather easily.

Logitech are way better than most on the market and shine in some categories

I have several Logitech products, two K750 wireless solar keyboards, an Anywhere Mouse MX "Darkfield mouse, and a K400 Wireless keyboard with touchpad.

All of them work well albeit the K750 keys take some getting used to, the K400 is perfect for my media PC and works well over 30 ft from the computer and nobody offers such a convenient keyboard/touchpad combo. The MX mouse is great as it works on ANY surface VERY well and battery life is not as bad as many have made out. I don't turn it off and use it every day at work and the batteries last 3 over months. I have never replaced batteries in the K400 since I bought it 6 months ago and yes it could have been better made but it only cost $24 at Walmart and it works fine for what I need it for.

I have never broken any Logitech product yet either. In my experience Microsoft products have invariably sucked, particularly their mice.

It seems so easy to complain about everything on ElReg. Let's see some commentards tell us what the like or recommend instead.

What about natural causes of Nitrogen Oxides? Plant Decay anyone?

During the sping and summer, air separation & liquifaction plants have a difficult time purifying out the excessive nitrogen oxides that naturally occur due to the decay of vegetation. That "Spring like " smell is often from the products of decomposition.

Same thing applies to CO2 and methane produced from biological activity in the ground, manure, other waste and water. (not all natural but most is)

If the truth could ever be told in this discussion, the non manmade sources of greenhouse gases are so numerous and voluminous as to boggle the mind and in almost every discussion or climate model are entirely discounted by those who continue to deny logic and reason and blame mankind.

I do not deny that we contribute pollutants but we are insignificant compared to nature.

No more computers in MY Car please! Time to buy 1960's circa Autos!

It's bad enough to have the manufacturers computer controls for powertrain & emissions, let alone another or replacement computer.

I will predict now that the manufacturer T's & C's will allow them to sell so called "anonymized data" to the State, Insurance Companies, Ad Agencies, for position, mileage, speed, acceleration, all of which will be used against you in violation of your 5th Amendment Rights against self incrimination to cost you more for everything automobile related. The car won't run without the computer and you will be prevented from modifying it legally. Don't you know it's a "privilige" to drive?

The alphabet soup agencies will be granted back door rights to enable them to communicate directly with the computer to open up eavesdropping, remote engine enable/disable, control of brakes, gas pedal and transmission, etc, etc, etc.

Soon, we will see the advent of "direct ticketing" like in "5th Element" where Bruce Willis character gets points on his liscense automatically, completely bypassing right to trial by jury or even by judge.

This is all in an effort to remove any remaining reason to have "drivers", including the enjoyment of driving.

FTC needs a clue - ALL Telcos are lying thieves and need a swift ball rearrangement

If Cyanogen can put out a mod for damn near every Android device on the market, the Telco's can update their phones software/firmware every month.

While we are at it FTC, make them take off all the damn bloatware and telco specific crap. THOSE are the only reasons why they don't push regular updates out to their phones (of any OS make) because they deliberately screw up the stock Android software.

There are NO VIABLE HARDWARE RELATED REASONS!

Fine them into oblivion by taking away spectrum everytime they screw up!

What about home built PC's?

Just curious but I don't buy desktop PC's any longer, I build my own from parts. Does anyone actually track that kind of scenario? Track OEM Windows activations perhaps??

I'll bet that has become a significant part of the market since it has become so easy to do, costs so much less and you get a MUCH better product than a PC manufacturer will provide.

This would be especially true during this recession.

Oh, Eadon, not everyone wants to struggle with a Linux distribution. I dislike Windows 8 but it will become a better product when the "Second Edition" is released.

Even now, the use of Classic Shell fixes almost all of the objectionable issues.

Does anyone recognize that you can CONDENSE water vapor????

I have a condensing high efficiency 93% gas furnace and there is no place to pipe the water except the laundry sink, where it is pumped to the sewer, thus I can see and track how much water it produces.

In the span of 4-5 days this winter, that furnace produces about 30 gallons of rather pure water.

BTW, this hydrogen reformer concept is not new, only the liquid metal version. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that the Germans used hydrogen reformer technology in the process to make artificial fuel oil from coal at Ploesti.

As others have pointed out, heat recovery through heat exchangers is another tool to reduce energy input in the manufacturing process. The heat released during condensation can be used to heat homes or other facilities.

The technology is not entirely useless as it points out other ways to convert methane into heat energy that lessen the impact of the resulting CO2.

It will NOT be efficient to use Hydrogen or this technology for any transportation fuel but could be used in electric generation where some economy of scale would be possible.

There are also catalytic methods of combustion that can break methane into it's components. More importantly. flare gas from refineries or landfills is often just burned without use of it's heat value and both reformer and catalytic technologies could safely and efficiently reduce emissions while providing useful work energy from waste gas or fluids.

It's not the Degree, it's how you apply it and what knowledge you gain by application

Way back in the 70's, I went to NCCC in Niagara County for two years, then found a GF, got married and started a family. Then I lost my job working at a General Motors plant and ended up going back to NCCC and finishing my Mechanical technology associates degree.

It took two more years to find gainful employment as a Sales Engineer for a Control Valve company and was the best move I ever made. The training I got in school only gave me the ability to find what I needed and build on it myself.

I believe THAT is what's lacking today, the ambition and willingness to learn new capabilities and teachers that want their students to understand how learn on theiir own. Currently, they don't teach that in school, they simply teach how to regurgitate what you have been ""taught". That is not learning.

Many people should not waste their time going to college as they are not suited for that type of environment and factory work woulld be the best investment for them.

Unfortunately, the education system is a moneymaking proposition, not charity.

Does Anyone Else Think This is the Mouse That Roared Redux???

What better way to help his country than to start a war, be trounced soundly and have all of the other combatants rebuild his country and his economy because we are to civil to do otherwise?

Peter Sellers is LHFAO as Art Imitates Life once again...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_That_Roared

RE: AC I have ALSO been doing this

I have a similar Home Theater PC setup and echo the sentiment that the TV should be dumb (and alot less expensive). My HTPC streams video from anywhere on the web just fine. Samsungs "Web Apps" limit my choices when only using the TV. I can browse any way or anywhere, not so through my TV. Yes, the PC cost as much as my 46" Samsung but I can do way more with it and there are no manufacturer based limitations.

My Time Warner Cable does do some traffic shaping of Youtube but little else.

A perfect opportunity for Stephen Fry and the BEEB (as long as you fund the Teleprompter)

Maybe you can all help keep Fry otherwise occupied by letting him read the scripts for the fundraising advertisments. That way, he'll be "contributing" his greatest gift... Gab.

Then perhaps they can put up a massive Van der Graf generator like at the Boston Museum of Science and use Fry as the target, get it all on video and use it as the main attraction.

It might even improve his hairstyle (or lack thereof).

Mark my words ...The End of Dell

Folks,

Please take note of my prediction, any takeover of Dell will result in a quick and fiery demise.

That goes double if Icahn is involved. (better get some third party warranties, post haste)

Great work, similar to the LEM but better with automatic control

The Lunar Excursion Module did a similar landing during the Apollo Moon missions. The first Lunar landing was a problem because the surface of the original landing site was full of boulders about the size of cars and the crew had to go to manual control and change direction to somewhere flatter.

The problem then was that the main engine was not at all designed for vectoring, they had to use the attitude jets (little cross shaped things all over the LEM) for directional control and modulate the main engine to allow a gentle descent or ascent. Thank god they had the sense to use a (somewhat) modulating engine or they would a different kind of history.

Landing the LEM in full manual with an untested engine was truly a scary feat of flying.

This Grasshopper is just like those old SF movie landings with a full rocket landing vertical (Destination Moon). Let's see them do it in a 25 mph breeze now. That will be the real test of the automated control system.

How about sending notifications in the other direction? (Makes more sense)

It makes a lot more sense to me that any emergency declaration/notification be sent to the public via text message, Twatter, & Farcebook than to use the "Emergency Broadcast System" on TV or Radio (A cold war throwback from the "duck and cover" days of my youth)

Unfortunately, this generation will continue to text away as the tsunami rolls them into human mush.

The fact still remains that TV and Radio over the air broadcasts are more likely to be operating in an big emergency than any overall phone or IT communication backbone.

Most TV & Radio broadcast transmitters are located at the antenna (usually out in the boonies) and have generator power available.

A few hundred watts will go a LONG way on radio. I assume the same for TV.

Cable, Internet or telephone relies on various fiber/copper backbones so there are a lot of potential points of failure.

Civilized Provider Agreements

We have the same thing happen in the Village of Lewiston, NY where Canadian cell tower signals often override our own.

A simple call to the Service Provider making them aware usually resolves the issue. In most cases for our area, Verizon frequently denies the roaming charges based on the home location of the subscriber. Canada is only 1/2 mile away and there is a 20 mile stretch of the Niagara River in contention where boaters all want to have the cell phones working.

Apparently if both sides do the same then it all evens out in the end. It seems that radio signals know no boundaries, go figure. Somehow I think that it would be too easy to just use the phone and cell tower ID to correctly bill the user. Once you go futher inland all bets are off.

Probably alot easier to deny that you have not been to France than to say you have not been to Canada.

RE: Obviously

Perhaps the better decision should be that all politicians and bureaucrats should be ground up and used for fertiliser. The people don't need protection from just laws, they need protection from the bastards that twist the law for their own personal gain.

The only laws regarding software and data should be "Caveat Emptor". Let the buyer beware.