Here’s a weapon that almost gives me hoplophobia. (just kidding)
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Mag Fed 20mm Rifle
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007Energy Independence
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006I read a story last week sometime about some guys over in Ireland claming to have invented a free energy source saying, “Mobile phones will never need recharging, cars will never have to be refueled.” All of this sounds cool but I am curious how they are breaking the laws of physics. Just think of how this would change the world if it were to be true.
This also got me thinking of what we could do today to help usher in a new era of energy independence. First, lets take a step back and ask why we desire energy independence.
If you were to ask me it would be to decrease our dependence on foreign oil and not give colluding nations that support terrorists regimes our hard earned dollars. Others will probably hold environmental friendliness higher than my beliefs and I am sure there are other reasons for energy independence that I haven’t thought of.
One fundamental flaw in all of this less oil usage thinking is that petroleum products are a universal good. There is a specific word for it that I saw in a Dilbert cartoon but I have no idea what it is right now. Anyway, something like 47% of every barrel of oil goes to making gasoline. There is that other 53% that we would be forced to consume even if we had some fantastic free energy device. The percentage might go down a little, but all of those plastics, oils, and other synthetics out there are necessities nowadays. A true environmentalist would be pushing for not only decreased gas usage but also buying glass containers and using paper bags, as sand and trees are renewable.
All of that aside, what can we do now to be energy independent? I looked up solar panels and personal wind turbines and those technologies just aren’t feasible for my needs. Sure if all I wanted to do was read books all day and sit in the dark at night I might get by but I work with the Internet a great deal and have multiple computers. Then there is the cost of implementing these devices. The most efficient windmill was $2500 and the cheaper ones seemed like toys. I am sketchy with solar panels as well as the weather here would tear them up in short order. Then there is storage of energy and hooking it up to the current system. Who knows what that costs. Being a college student I just don’t have the thousands of dollars required to implement those devices. Even then, to meet my needs, I would still have to pay the electric company.
After brushing that aside I thought about what we could do as a local community. The Texas panhandle is blessed with a vast amount of untapped wind energy. After browsing general electric’s web-site they provide 3 types of electricity producing windmills, two for land use and one for use at sea level. The bigger one for land use produces 2.5Mw of electricity. If we desired to fill the same needs as the proposed nuclear power-plant being discussed it would take 1080 windmills. Now I am not sure if we really need that many and I don’t know how much the implementation or upkeep of that many windmills would cost but it definitely would calm people’s fears about radiation and water usage. Also, I don’t think it would take and entire decade to put up as many windmills as we would need, either.
I also recently read about an upcoming initiative from wal-mart to sell compact fluorescent bulbs to all of its customers. I found another article on Slashdot that talked about the same thing and it said of the light bulbs, “if every one of 110 million American households bought just one [CFL], took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.”
Sounds good to me.
Global Signatures for Outlook 2003
Friday, August 4th, 2006Before I continue, this blog is primarily about politics. However, with this new setup and all I have also felt the need to diversify.
Where I work there are about 80 computers that I and 2 others maintain. From time to time we are tasked to install software on each machine, by hand. This drives me crazy because with group policy we can distribute software to every computer on the network without having to physically visit each machine. I have tested this on my home domain and it works great.
Recently we were tasked wtih installing a disclaimer type signature on every computer across the company. I started doing some research and discovered that all of the programs in office 2003 can be manipulated with group policy. I installed the necessary components but the setting to manipulate signatures weren’t available. After some more searching I discovered that Exchange does not have the ability to insert a custom footer on every e-mail. This is crazy.
The next thing I looked for was some software to do this. The software exists but it is expensive. I asked some of my peers what a good solution might be and after having the same sentiments about exhange not being able to have global signatures they reminded me of vbs scripts. Some quick searching turned up a few scripts and I found a good one written by Peter Aarts.
The script works only with outlook 2003 and if you are at least a little bit familiar with coding and what not it should be easy to edit for your needs. It works with Active Directory and draws information from almost any data that is inserted in a user’s profile. The signature is created wtih html and you can make practically any form of a personalized signature automatically. What you would do with this script is have it run when the user logs in. There are numerous ways to do that.
Unlimited Gasoline
Thursday, May 4th, 2006I heard on the radio today about a company making a still to create pure ethanol from farm grown crops for use in motor vehicles. The radio program said that the cost for a gallon of ethanol using this method was about $0.75 a gallon, seventy five cents.
This is extremely attractive to me, but I know that it is not as simple as throwing some corn into a barrel, waiting a few hours, and gassing my car up whenever I need to. No, the startup cost for a simple operation, even for personal use, would be enormous. The stills must be a few thousand dollars, combined with the diligence of growing enough crops to feed that thing, and keeping the fuel flowing, you are looking at a full time operation to keep your vehicle gassed up with your own stuff all the time.
The benefits of producing this fuel are extremely attractive however. The cost, combined with not having to go to the pump, and a lot of other stuff. For example, if and individual could start their own operation and if that operation didn’t take 24/7 dedication, then I think it would be attractive to a lot of people, especially as the price of gasoline increases. This stuff is basic economics. If there is a suitable substitute at a lower price people will buy a lot of it. Gasoline vendors will be forced to compete. The possibilities are limitless and I am going to seriously consider it.
Mobile Communication and Computing
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005I recently purchased a Motorola Razr (V3) from my local Cingular shop. I have a 2 year agreement there but my contract isn’t up yet so I had to pay for the phone outright. I am serious about my phone and the Razr, in my opinion is one of the best multi function flip phones out today. According to c-net.com, the Razr is the top flip phone available. In case you don’t want to take their word there are 425 user reviews. Combined with good looks and size the phone has many features, such as a USB port (you can charge the phone with your computer), camera that is capable of making videos with some modifications, Bluetooth, mp3 ring tones, voice records, and much more.
Probably the best thing about this phone is the customizability. When the phone boots, shuts down, and the phone is open there are silly Cingular images. With the help of motomodders.com I was able to hook this phone up to my computer to get it to charge, customize the start up, shut down, and outside graphics, create custom ring tones or choose from the large amount of tones they have for free, and a lot more stuff I haven’t tried.
On howardformus.com, an incredibly large cell phone community, I found a thread that detailed how to use a phone with a Cingular provider as a modem. The phone is connected o the computer via Bluetooth, USB, IrDA, what have you and the phone is recognized as a modem. Either via a custom Cingular utility or manipulating the modem’s hardware strings the computer can use the phone’s internet connection to connect to the internet. I am using Cingular as my provider and I am not sure of the specific steps to get this to work for other providers, but I know there are ways for this stuff to work with T-Mobile and Sprint providers. There is a downside to this method however and certain requirements must be met. First, you must pay for the $20/mo media works or media net service. Second, you must make sure pay per usage is turned off from your features list. Last, there is a possibility of having a large bill for using this feature. Tethering is not allowed with media works; however the only stipulation is that you can’t be charged, just removed and banned from using media works. Posters on howardforums.com insist that anyone who was charged a large amount of money for tethering had PPU on their features list. Be wary if you decide to take advantage of this.
So I can hook my laptop up to my phone, practically anywhere I have a signal and battery power, and check my e-mail, but I want something more. Having to lug a laptop around isn’t really that mobile, especially since my laptop has an energy hog P4 processor, it isn’t equipped with Bluetooth, and the battery doesn’t last long. I want ultra portability, be able to surf the internet, get my e-mail, and do a lot of other stuff as well. I have two choices and more options from there. I could go with a smart phone or a pocket pc.
General (loose) requirements for an ultra portable device:
Bluetooth
Qwerty keyboard
Touch screen
Not flipable
Has a stylus
IrDA
Wifi
Windows Mobile 5.0
Expandable slots (SD min, CF(?) if available)
Above is the stuff I want in a smart phone. Processor speed really isn’t that important. Below is what I am considering.
Smart phone
There are lots of options in this area, but due to my pickiness there aren’t very many. Motorola is going to debut a smart phone in 2006 called the Q, other codenames are the Razerberry and Franklin. This is an awesome phone and has lots of features, including a 1.3 mega pixel camera. If I had this I could get rid of my Razr. Be sure and check out the pictures in the link. This will be the thinnest smart phone available. However, the phone is not equipped with wifi or a touch screen. A wifi SD card might be available; just wait and see. Also, the Q doesn’t come out until 2006, will probably cost $600 without a contract renewal (not available to me until November of 2006), and will be riddled with bugs because that is just how things are. If I were to get the Q my best bet would be to wait until November when hopefully they have worked the kinks out on this thing (and if not I will know what they are and may have had a chance to demo one) and I can get it at a discount rate. I really don’t like the prospect of having problems with a new phone so I doubt I will cough up $600+ to deal with a crappy piece of junk.
Another option is the Treo 650. I could live with the Palm OS (not really) because where I work as a Goodlink server. Goodlink really kicks ass. It makes the Treo 600 or 650 (and soon to be other smart phones) work just like black berries do. However, there are too many downsides to this phone. For one, in order to get Goodlink working I would have to get my firm to purchase a license ($300); something I don’t think they would do for one of the lowest people on the food chain here. For two, the phones aren’t that reliable. I have to install Goodlink on them after every time they need a firmware upgrade and even then the install doesn’t take and I have to reload Goodlink. For three, Cingular doesn’t provide insurance on these phones. I went through 3 Ngages in less than a year. Not happening with a Treo 650.
There are lots of other smart phones available but I just don’t like them. They are either flip phones, too bulky, don’t run windows mobile, or aren’t covered by my provider. Seems to me the best option is….
Pocket PCs
I am still discovering many different options as far as these babies go. The biggest reason I am lured towards these are that I get to keep my Razr (big plus) and they have massive computing power for such a small device. For example, the newest pocket PCs run at 624 mhz , 64mb RAM, and a 16mb graphics processor. My firm still runs mini tower computers slower than that. Not only that but a lot of them meet all of my requirements above with the exception that some don’t have full Qwerty keyboards. (easily solved with a Bluetooth keyboard). Right now I am looking at the Dell Axim line. The x50v is the flagship and the X30 is the only other viable option. I am lured to the slower model x30 because of the price and I can purchase a tiny keyboard that snaps to it. However, the x30 is very clunky looking, has a goofy stylus, and is severely lacking compared to the x50v.
With windows mobile I can use MS Exchange Server 2003 and direct push everything, just like Goodlink, but without a NOC. Even if I can’t direct push for some reason I could active sync over Bluetooth and I am fairly sure I could active sync over the internet, I need to do more research in that area. I can listen to radio stations that are streamed from anywhere just about, play games, watch ripped movies if I wanted to, surf the web with a fully functional browser, the whole 9 yards. There is software available to emulate Ti-8x calculators which will come in handy for school. Multiple programs exist to emulate a TV remote control. I could tether the device to my phone and use it just like I would a smart phone. I can do just about everything my laptop can just with a smaller screen. Of course, I would need the more powerful word processor and other office apps, but I can compose drafts and other basic items for review later. The best part is, I have only begun to scratch the surface on what these things can do.
It might be a while before I purchase an Axim, after I go to Vegas for sure, but I will get one. If I happen to not like it these things can pull 300+ on ebay easy. For my wife I am going to get the Ipod/Cell phone combo. She wants an mp3 player for when she is exercising.