] The Ritz Camera chain today will introduce a one-time-use
] digital camera for about the same price as a typical
] "disposable" film camera in about 100 of its stores.
] Walgreens, which was testing the camera in Madison, is
] expanding the test to all 140 Wisconsin pharmacy outlets.
] And Walt Disney World will begin selling the camera at
] its hotels and theme parks in the fall.
]
] The 2-megapixel Dakota Digital, which offers the image
] quality of a $200-$250 digital camera, doesn't have an
] LCD screen to view images, and doesn't connect to a
] computer.
]
] But users can delete their last shot if they think they
] missed it, and they can get prints back within 15 minutes
] after taking the camera in for processing, because no
] film has to be developed. A CD of digital images is
] included, so users can manipulate the files on their
] computer and share them via e-mail and Web sites.

Hmmm... $11 digital camera that "cant be interfaced to a computer"? This is screaming "HACK ME!!!"

Laughing Boy

For $11, skittish photographers can dip into digital

] Telemarketers expanded their legal challenge to the
] government's do-not-call list, suing a second federal
] agency over the call-blocking service for consumers that
] the industry says will devastate business and cost as
] many as two million jobs.

Bullshit. If anything, the do not call list will HELP this industry by letting them target only those people that want to be called. Though I cant imagine that would be a large slice of the pie - "Please call me to pitch your wares - I LIKE being interrupted in the middle of dinner by random, faceless sales people!" Maybe they DO have reson to be concerned after all! :)

Telemarketers sue over do-not-call list

I was doing a little work on one of my computers here at the house tonight. I tried to explain to someone what the different RAID levels are and wasn't doing a very good job of it. That is when I remembered this site has a very good explaination of several different types of RAID. Well I hope this explains this RAID thing to some of you and acts as a good information point for the rest of you.

AC&NC | RAID.edu - RAID Levels

] Josh Pfluger and his scouting pals went into his Rockford
] garage and hammered out a shoe-scanning device now in
] daily use at O'Hare International Airport. His goal at
] the time was simply to polish off his Eagle Scout
] requirements.
]
] Looks like the project passed muster.
]
] Pfluger's homemade invention %u2014 a box with a metal
] detector that travelers step onto before they reach the
] security gate %u2014 are an optional, preliminary step to
] let passengers know whether their shoes will trigger
] alarms at the gate.
]
] That can speed up lines by tipping passengers off they
] may need to remove their shoes and send them through
] X-ray machines %u2014 and maybe even encourage people to
] leave footwear with metal eyelets behind on future trips.
]
] "It's obviously not a certified machine, but it does
] initially help in the screening process," said Monique
] Bond, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Aviation at
] O'Hare. "It's a unique idea ... giving the Boy Scouts an
] opportunity to demonstrate their merit."

Teenager's Eagle Scout project used to ease waits at O'Hare airport security

Except that a few things are very wrong. First, my gin and tonic is tinkling softly on the center console. Second, my copilot is an orange-and-white tabby. Third, a car alarm keeps going off nearby. Fourth, I don't have a pilot's license. Fifth, I'm not wearing pants.

An article raising the question that I've been wondering for quite some time - why bother taking flying lessons on a Cessna and asking how it differs from a 727 when you could just get the lastest copy of Flight Sim and see for yourself?

So far, The FBI doesn't seem concerned about the threat posed by flight-simulation games, but that may be because they've been focusing their attention elsewhere. The bureau's Civil Aviation Unit doesn't actively patrol the industry, relying instead on tips from concerned citizens. When I called the public relations office to ask them about the realism of my A320 simulation experience, an agent fielded the inquiry with a slightly patronizing tone until I directed her to a Web site featuring several screen shots of the virtual A320 flight deck.

There was a long pause. Then, with a nervous laugh, she said, "I've never seen this before."

Air Osama

Cafe Press now sells books. Fairly cheap too when you consider how much kinkos charges for this. You no longer need a book publisher as long as you can market yourself.

Publish books for Free

] A new handheld scanner may mean patients being screened
] for cancer will no longer have to cram into the narrow
] tunnel of an MRI or CT scanner for a grueling 40-minute
] exam -- the patient won't even need to undress.

Wired News: Taking a Quick Swipe at Cancer

] South Korea's largest mobile phone operator said Thursday
] that it will offer cell phone users a new noise service
] that it says will repel mosquitoes.
]
] SK Telecom said subscribers can pay 3,000 won (US$2.50)
] to download a sound wave that is inaudible to human ears
] but annoys mosquitoes within a range of three feet.
] Customers can then play the sound by hitting a few
] buttons on their mobile phones.
]
] The company claimed that the service worked during tests.
]
] The service, which begins Monday, has one drawback: it
] consumes as much battery power as normal cell phone
] rings.
]
] SK Telecom has 17 million subscribers and controls a
] little over 50% of the domestic market.

Sweet. Now if only they could come up with a repellant that worked on those OTHER pests, namely telemarketers.

Noise from phone can chase mosquitoes

] Juszkiewicz is about to take the guitar on its biggest
] technology leap since George Beauchamp and Adolph
] Rickenbacker first added an electric pickup in 1931. In
] early 2004, Gibson will introduce the first digital
] guitar.
]
] "His notion is to obsolete all guitars," says Craig
] Devin, who worked on the technology before leaving Gibson
] to start Devin Design & Development. "And the only way he
] can do that is through a technology play."
]
] "What he's going for is pretty incredible," says Neal
] Schon, guitarist for Journey, who has test-played some of
] Gibson's prototypes.
]
] Electric guitars %u2014 like most instruments %u2014 are
] analog. The sounds come from vibrations and modulating
] electrical fields, not data and computer chips. It's hard
] to fault an instrument that has given us a range from
] John Lee Hooker's beehive licks to the sounds of Keith
] Richards, Kurt Cobain and Carlos Santana. But an electric
] guitar has some hang-ups. Like, its tone can be affected
] by the length of the cord from the guitar to the amp.
] Plus, as versatile as an electric guitar is, it's not
] always versatile enough.
]
] The guts of Gibson's digital guitar would be the few
] high-tech chips inside. The cord you plug in would be an
] ethernet cable, which would run to a digital amp, or into
] a laptop that becomes the mixing board.
]
] The sound, once set, would never alter by even a shade.
] "I tried it with 200 feet of cable, and there was no
] change in tone," Schon says ecstatically. This is a big
] deal to musicians who want to roam a large stage, which
] Schon will do this summer as Journey tours with REO
] Speedwagon and Styx %u2014 concerts sure to be packed
] with more middle-aged moms per square foot than a
] suburban bunco card-game tournament.
]
] Performers' sound checks would no longer be necessary,
] Devin notes. The artist could set up preferences for how
] the guitar should sound, then a laptop computer could
] listen to the way the guitar reverberates in that room
] and automatically make adjustments so it sounds exactly
] right. The system could adjust the sound as the number of
] people in the audience changes, thus changing the room's
] acoustics.
]
] A digital guitar could assign a different effect to each
] of the six strings, so maybe the two bass strings could
] have a crunchy fuzz tone while the four higher strings
] mimic a mellow jazz guitar. Today's electric guitars
] can't do anything like that. And no one's even started to
] talk about what it would mean if you could plug a guitar
] straight into the Internet. Could you sell guitar licks
] on eBay?
]
] Under it all, Gibson promises to preserve and even
] improve on the basic guitar that's been a part of rock
] 'n' roll

OK… not sure how I feel about this yet. Sure, it sounds like a cool idea, but there is a lot of charm in analog electrics “unpredictability” of what the sound is going to be like. And the notion of making sound checks obsolete? Complete BS – what about the vocalists and drums? Both are analog “instruments” that need to be miked and checked. And most guitarists still prefer to mic their amps rather than running direct to the board, and I don’t see that ever changing.

Oh… and tube distortion vs. digital? ‘Nuff said.

The techno and electronic musicians will love this. And it might open up some new abilities for all guitarists as an extension of the instrument. But this will NEVER replace analog electrics. “…to obsolete all guitars”? Oh, he must mean just the way electronic drum pads were supposed to replace real “skins”.

Laughing Boy

Gibson dares to make electric guitars digital

This model (requires Java) lends some great insight into what causes traffic jams in various road scenarios...

This is really pretty fascinating, at least to me.

Microsimulation of road traffic