They use the more PC term, “De-Orbit”, which means letting the incredibly expensive International Space Station drop out of orbit and burn. Any large leftover chunks are supposed to fall into the Pacific Ocean.
The station has cost $100 billion to put into orbit, build and maintain, so far. No plans to replace it with something useful that I’m aware of.
Hopefully it will provide a decent lightshow on the way down.
Filed under: Space | Tagged: 2016, ISS, NASA | Leave a Comment »
Wired has an article on 100 Essential Skills for Geeks.
I wasn’t surprised to see I have many of them. Here are some of my favorites.
Properly secure a wireless router.
Crack the WEP key on a wireless router.
Leech Wifi from your neighbor.
Screw with Wifi leeches.
Knowing how to screw with people stealing bandwidth from your website is good too. Not only did I have a commercial site leech bandwidth from me, they were using one my 3D images for their logo. So I replaced that file with a jpg of two Rhinos having sex.
Work from home or a coffee shop as effectively as you do at the office.
Wire your own home with Ethernet cable.
I had the house wired with Coax Ethernet, before I switched to CAT5.
Install a Linux distribution. (Hint: Ubuntu 9.04 is easier than installing Windows)
Just did an Ubuntu install yesterday, before I saw this article, and it was easier than installing Windows
Successfully disassemble and reassemble a laptop.
A valuable IT skill, along with knowing how to bypass OS login passwords.
Create a website using vi (or Notepad)
Be able to explain why it’s important that Han shot first.
Know why it is just wrong for Luke and Leia to kiss.
Stop talking Star Wars long enough to get laid
That last one is important.
Sleep with a Cricket bat next to your bed.
I have a Cricket bat, but it’s not my the bed. The Jo staff is much nastier.
An interesting list, I fail on being able to name all the Dwarves in The Hobbit, but I’m much more a hard SciFi fan than a fantasy fan.
Filed under: Geek Skills | Tagged: Geek, humor, Wired | Leave a Comment »
It’s not the one the Russians are building. Given the Russian’s record of failure with nuclear reactor’s and generally poor environmental record, any buyer’s are doing so at their own risk.
The world’s first floating nuclear power plant was built in the early 1960s by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It was the MH-1A Sturgis, a converted WWII Liberty ship. The BBC falsely reported that the Russians were building the first floating nuclear power plant back in 2006, and other news agencies are still repeating their mistake.
Filed under: Nuclear Power, alternate energy | Tagged: Corps of Engineers., Nuclear Power, US Army | Leave a Comment »
Firmware version 3.1 has just entered BETA.
Here are some of the highlights.
Bluetooth support for Voice Control. So finally, my iPhone “smartphone” will be able to do wihat my old Motorola Razr did from day one. Tap the button on a Bluetooth headset and initiate a call simply by speaking.
MMS may or may not be supported. Depends on AT&T approval.
Small improvements to the video editing.
There are a few other minor features, but I’m expecting there will be a number of bug fixes in the release that won’t make the public annoucements, including anti-jail break features.
Filed under: Apple, Smart Phone, iPhone | Tagged: Apple, iPhone, smartphone | Leave a Comment »
I broke down and got a new iPhone. My old one was a 1st gen, I gained a lot of new features. Faster processor, more memory, GPS, and a much better camera. In addition to better stills, the 3GS will take videos as well.
The better camera and videos are really the big feature over the 3G. The older version supports many of the software features. The real bang for the buck comes from upgrading from the first gen model.
What will be interesting is see how the multiple phones running the Android OS will stack up as well as the applications that will be written for it.
Update: Ok, the single most useful feature of the 3GS over the first gen iPhone, not needing a bloody adapter to use a standard set of head phones!
Filed under: Apple, Gadget, Smart Phone | Tagged: iPhone | Leave a Comment »
I came to the conclusion a while ago that you don’t buy ebooks from Amazon, you are only leasing them.
First off, the highly restrictive Amazon DRM not only limits access to the ebook to their proprietary Kindle device, it restricts it to your specific device. Once you are done with the ebook, you can loan it to friend or sell it at used book store. If you want your friend to read the book, you have to give them your Kindle, because that is the only place that ebook will be displayed.
Second, Amazon doesn’t pay it’s associates a fee for any Kindle books “sold” through them. Why not? They pay the associates for just about everything else sold through their sites. Could it be that Kindle owners really are not “buying” the ebooks, but are just paying for a very restrictive lease in order to access the ebook?
Next, Megan McArdle just discovered a catch in the Amazon ebook fine print.
…there is always a limit to the number of times you can download a given book. Sometimes, he said, it’s five or six times but at other times it may only be once or twice. And, here’s the kicker folks, once you reach the cap you need to repurchase the book if you want to download it again.
I know people who buy paper books in both hardcover and paperback, but that is a different scenario. You have two separate versions of the book in different formats. One for the shelf and one to carry around and load to friends. Amazon wants its customers to buy the exact same content, in the exact same format, multiple times, because their business model assumes that their paying customer are thieves.
That is not a consumer friendly business model.
Filed under: Etext Reader | Tagged: Amazon, ebook, etext, Etext Reader, Kindle | 1 Comment »
Let’s review what is announced/rumored for this summer.
Palm’s Pre is due out in two days. Will it be enought to save Palm? Hell, Sprint could use the boost too.
Two days after that, the new iPhone firmware is release, and probably new iPhone hardware as well.
Later this month, Nokia’s N97 is due out
After that, Google will release another rev of Android and multiple Android phones will be hitting th streets.
Filed under: Android, Apple, Gadget, Smart Phone, cell phone tech, iPhone | Tagged: Android, Apple, cell phone, iPhone, Palm, Smart Phone | 1 Comment »
