Tom's Tech Blog

2008-04-11T01:06:00.000-07:00

DF Splash - Home Theater quality video over the Internet

The demo is here, the demo is here! Pop your popcorn and pull up a desk chair.

Digital Fountain's DF Splash streaming video CDN (VCDN? VDN?) makes a real TV quality experience possible over the Internet using DF's forward error correction technology.

The demo is stunning, particularly on a wide screen monitor with a good set of speakers. At the moment, the demo is only available on Windows XP using a client software download, with a minimum of 1.5Mbs broadband connection (check the minimum requirements on their web site).

DF Splash is running on Amazon Web Services infrastructure and delivers a flawless video transmission to my computer more than 4,000 miles away from US shores. The video quality of P2P video services (at least the ones that I have seen) pales in comparison to the full motion, TV quality picture from DF Splash.

DF Splash is in beta and is offering free 90 day trials of streaming video to content owners. The demo has only been up for a few days, so there is only a smattering of posts about people's experience with the demo, so give the demo a spin and let me know what you think. Thanks.

http://www.dfsplash.com/demo.html

2007-10-09T05:37:00.001-07:00

Clocks: Lightning Alarm Clock Gets You Out of Bed at Lightning Speed - Gizmodo
Another loony alarm clock to try to get you out of bed that much more reliably... though you wouldn't want to smack the thing as a result of an instinctive hit the snooze bar maneuver.

The Looting of Patagonia Has Begun, Say Chile Dam Opponents - Worldpress.org

2007-08-17T04:40:00.000-07:00

The Looting of Patagonia Has Begun, Say Chile Dam Opponents - Worldpress.org

The latest article from The Santiago Times about the rush of hydro projects targeting rivers in Chilean Patagonia. The Aysen Project, if it goes ahead will pave the way for further devastation of Patagonian wilderness.

2007-07-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

Follow up to the Elevator Technology post below

Funny thing is that my wife now works in a high tech building in Prague with this same system. Reportedly it is only the second such elevator system in the world.

In addition to the usability bug mentioned in Joel's blog (the receptionists in her building don't tell visitors about the system!), she has some other experiences:

1. The computer system crashed a few days ago, resulting in complete chaos. There are 9 elevators in this "smart" elevator bank, so in order to get on one without the instructions from the central computer, you had to position yourself in the middle in a race-starting crouch position, listen keenly for the chime and make a run for it-- literally. Then, you had to wait until the elevator happened to open its doors on a floor near yours (and depending on your patience, walk up or down the stairs a couple of floors). Getting out of the building required waiting for an elevator too because the exit from the stairs is locked. Mind you that there are floor buttons in the elevators, they are just not functional. Wouldn't you think that if there was a fault in the central computer, that the logical approach would be to default to the buttons in the elevator instead of sending elevators on a random pattern?

2. The elevators are programmed to be efficient, so at rush hour, the elevator waits until it is optimally full before departing for it's optimized route. Sometimes this process can take minutes, so the clever (and impatient) elevator riders have taken to kicking past the door sensors 5 or 6 times until the elevator "thinks" it's full.

3. Scooting into a closing elevator the other day, my wife thought, "well, these elevators are so high tech, they must have sensitive door sensors." So, as the doors are beginning to close, she steps in-- only to be crushed like a nut by the doors-- the bone bruise on her arm still hurts 4 days later.

Maybe there is a reason that there are only two of these systems installed in the world...

2007-06-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

New elevator technology
This item ran on the Joel on Software homepage on Monday, April 30, 2007
I had a chance to visit 7 World Trade Center today, the newest office high rise to open in New York.

Instead of having up and down buttons outside the elevators, there's a numeric keypad, where you key in the floor number you're going to. Then an LED display tells you which elevator to wait for. Once you get in the elevator, you don't have to press any buttons (and there are none to press).

This is more efficient than the old system, in which two people who were going to the same floor might have taken separate elevators, adding an unnecessary trip. Presumably, during the early morning rush, it is able to clump people going to nearby floors into the same elevator, thus getting more people to their destinations faster by intelligently optimizing elevator schedules on-the-fly, instead of letting any arbitrary person force any arbitrary elevator to take them to any arbitrary floor.

Can you guess the usability bug?

People who aren't used to the new system come into the lobby and see an elevator with an open door. They jump into it, and then get stuck going to some random floor because they can't key in their destination once they're inside. (end)

The Patagonia Times - Patagonia News - DAM OPPONENTS ASK GOVT TO REPSECT 1992 WATER TREATY

2007-05-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

The Patagonia Times - DAM OPPONENTS ASK GOVT TO RESPECT 1992 WATER TREATY

Interesting article on the Patagonia dam controversy. Sounds like the treaty of 1992 should be involved in the process:

“In the case of shared waterways,” the 1992 treaty reads, “the use of water resources in the territory of one (of the two countries), must not in any way harm their shared water resources, a common waterway or the environment…The actions and projects involving the use of the shared water resources must be carried out in a coordinated or joint manner via general use plans.”

There is no doubt that the dams would harm the environment. I am not sure what "general use plans" involve, but unfortunately I would guess that Argentina would not be opposed to the Aysen dam project since they could potentially benefit from the proximity to the energy. I would guess that Endesa has studied the 1992 treaty carefully and would expect to gain Argentine support by diverting a small fraction of the generated energy to Argentina.

2007-05-10T01:07:00.001-07:00

Check out this podcast with an interview with Karen LaMonte talking about her artwork. Her exhibition "Absense Adorned" at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma was spectacular. Karen's life sized cast glass dresses sculptures are both monumental and intimate, treading delicate lines between interior and exterior, presence and absence, naked and clothed, confident and vulnerable. Photographs do not do justice to Karen's work (no matter how expertly photographed), so do try to see her work in person to get the full effect.

The podcast was produced by the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington where Karen's cast glass sculptures were exhibited. ( http://www.museumofglass.org/exhibitions/absence-adorned/ ). Karen LaMonte's website can be found at www.karenlamonte.com

2007-05-02T03:31:00.000-07:00

Flying Alarm Clock

From HotGuyGadgets.com on Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Are you one of those guys who oversleep because you keep hitting the snooze button over and over? I might have found the perfect alarm clock for you. The reason I say might is from personal experience. There is a certain person I live with that believes the Flying Alarm Clock is a torture device. This alarm will harass you until you get up. If you have a temper like hers, you might want to skip this, or perhaps buy a second one to have on hand after you smash the first one. They cost forty bucks a pop, but if you are on shaky ground at work or school because of tardiness, it very well could be worth it.

When the alarm is triggered it launches a rotor up to 9 foot into the air that flies around the room as the alarm sounds. The alarm clock will sound every seven minutes until the piece is placed back on the alarm base. You will have to get up, hunt for the piece and put the piece back on the alarm. Trust me, once you do this, you will be awake.

The Flying Alarm Clock has an easy to read LCD, and a six-button control panel for ease of programming. It features a lifetime warranty, but is not covered if your enraged girlfriend throws it out the second story window, then runs over it with her Toyota Camry. She really is not a morning person!

Slashdot | New Jersey Turnpike As a Power Source?

2007-05-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

From Slashdot: New Jersey Turnpike As a Power Source?
'New Jersey, home of the eponymous Jersey barrier, is considering wind turbines powered by the breeze generated from traffic on the Jersey Turnpike. The wind turbines won't be built on the side of the highway. They will be built inside — what else? — the Jersey barriers. By replacing sections of solid concrete with Darius turbines, they might be able to harvest enough energy to power a light-rail line.'

2007-05-02T01:55:00.000-07:00

Fring update (see review below)

While I still stand by the enthusiasm of my initial Fring VoIP application review, I need to update my review since Fring seems to have been too much for my phone. I think they still have some memory management issues (hey, it is a beta). The timing may be a coincidence, but after uninstalling Fring, my E70 simply stopped working and required a firmware upgrade and a total fresh start. Though I was keen on the Fring functionality, I can't afford to risk normal functioning of my phone for now, so I have not reinstalled it. Bottom line: make sure you have a full backup before testing new applications.

What I'd really like is an efficient Skype client on my E70. I guess I'll keep waiting...

2007-04-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

An early (and small) victory in the fight to save Patagonia

The Endesa project will inevitably commission another impact study, so please consider supporting the efforts to oppose this environmental disaster in the making. Here is a link to the Biogems page (NRDC) and a little summary of the latest news from their website. Thanks for your time. Now, we return to our regularly scheduled gadget programming...

http://www.savebiogems.org/patagonia/

"Far to the south, Chilean environmental officials have rejected a deeply flawed study of the impacts of a proposed hydroelectric dam in one of Patagonia's most pristine areas. The officials announced their decision less than a week after receiving more than 10,000 protest messages from BioGems Defenders. In March, NRDC BioGems advocates joined Ecosistemas -- one of our main partner groups there -- and the internationally renowned Chilean rock musician Beto Cuevas on an expedition to the region. They met with environmental leaders and local community activists and visited Chile's biggest river, the Baker, which has been targeted for two dams by the country's largest utility. "

http://www.savebiogems.org/newsletter/

From the Santiago Times:
http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=13361&topic_id=15

NRDC MEETS DAM OPPONENTS IN SOUTHERN CHILE

(March 30, 2007) Representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an influential U.S.-based environmental group that is opposing plans to build large hydroelectric dams on several Region XI rivers, spent this week on a fact-finding mission in southern Chile.

On Tuesday the NRDC team – headed by International Programs Director Jacob Scherr – met in Coyhaique with a wide range of local dam opponents, among them leaders of the Citizen Coalition for Aysén Life Reserve (CCARV), representatives from the National Organization of Young Tehuelches and Aysén Bishop Luis Infanti.

During the meeting, Scherr, a senior environmental attorney, reiterated his organization’s support for the mounting anti-dam campaign, pointing out that Region XI – an area also known as Aysén – is recognized on a global level as one of the planet’s great natural resources. Scherr also insisted that before making decisions about whether to approve the proposed dam projects, Chilean authorities should take into account both local input and alternative energy sources.

Joining the NRDC delegation on the week-long foray was veteran ecologist Juan Pablo Orrego, head of the Santiago-based environmental organization Ecosistemas, and Beto Cuevas, front man for the Grammy-winning pop-rock group La Ley. Earlier this month the two collaborated in an NRDC-sponsored information tour in California, where Cuevas currently makes his home (ST, March 2, March 20).

It’s important, Cuevas explained, for people in Chile to realize that the plans to construct dams in Aysén are still very much pending. “The companies, with their strong lobby, give off the impression that it’s already decided. Almost everyone, therefore, considers it a done deal,” he said. “My goal is to take advantage of my celebrity as a musician to inform the people otherwise.”

The pristine Aysén region of northern Patagonia, in many ways Chile’s “last frontier,” boasts some of the only remaining virgin wilderness left on the planet. Home to numerous unique plant and animal species – huemules (South Andean deer), Araucaria (Monkey Puzzle trees) and Alerce (a South American cousin of the Redwood), to name a few – Aysén also has some of Chile’s biggest rivers.

Which is why the country’s largest utility company, Endesa, has by its own admission been eyeing the region for the past 40 years. Those powerful, glacier-fed waterways, the company calculates, represent a windfall of potential electricity.

Now, with the country’s supply of natural gas (used for electricity production) threatened by ongoing availability problems in neighboring Argentina, and with domestic electricity consumption growing at an alarming 6.8 percent-year, the time is finally right, according to Endesa, to begin tapping Aysén’s vast water resources.

In collaboration with Colbún, another of Chile’s major energy companies, Endesa is working on its so-called Aysén Project. By far the biggest hydroelectric venture in the country’s history, the Aysén Project is a US$ 4 billion plan to build two dams on each of the region’s two largest rivers: the Baker and the Pascua. Together the dams are expected to produce an estimated 2,400 MW, equivalent to about 30 percent of the energy currently available in central Chile.

A Swiss mining company called Xstrata has also presented plans for an Aysén dam. Earlier this year Xstrata – formerly Falconbridge – submitted an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for a US$600 million, 600 MW hydroelectric dam it plans to construct on the Cuervo River (ST, Jan. 5). Just last week, however, the regional office of Chile’s National Environmental Commission (CONAMA) announced that as it stands, the company’s EIS is insufficient. In order to proceed with the plan, the Xstrata must now go back to the drawing board, conduct more research, and resubmit its EIS – a process that according to the CCARV, could take as long as a year (ST, March 22).

“This is a zone with huge hydroelectric potential that has been studied for more than 40 years, going back to the time when Endesa Chile was state-owned,” HidroAysén, a joint entity formed by Endesa-Colbún, explained in written statement.

“Its development is closely linked to Chile’s medium and long-term energy needs. We’re using a renewable and competitive resource that’s clean and available domestically. (Also) the Baker and Pascua Rivers basin is much more stable than two located in the central part of the county, which allows for energy production that is not as subject to the arbitrary nature of seasons and the climate.”

Opponents, nevertheless, argue that the dams would be environmentally devastating. Not only would they involve widespread flooding, but they also call for building a 2,000-kilometer transmission line – the world’s longest – that would literally cut through acres upon acres of both protected and unprotected wilderness area (ST March 14).

“There are a ton of alternatives,” CCARV activist Peter Hartmann recently told the Santiago Times. “One option is smaller scale hydroelectric alternatives, in which there are a lot of megawatts available. (Those potential megawatts) also happen to be located much closer to where they’re needed. There are a lot of megawatts available in wind energy, which could also be generated closer to where the energy’s needed.

“Why don’t the mines that are earning billions of dollars with the high price of copper invest some of that money and generate their own solar energy, up there in the north, instead of waiting for Endesa to come here and then transport the electricity 2,000 kilometers? That’s just crazy. It’s the most unsustainable thing imaginable” (ST, Feb. 28).

By Benjamin Witte (benwitte@santiagotimes.cl)

2007-04-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

Engineers create 'optical cloaking' design for invisibility

This is pretty wild- the idea is to bend light around an object such that the observer sees the projected image of the backgound instead of the object being cloaked. The invisibility cape is coming! Ok, so it still only works on one wavelength of light (namely red today), but they are working on a version which will work on all visible wavelengths. They say it is theoretically possible and that the size of the cloaking could be arbitrarily large - the size of a person or aircraft for example. How cool would it be to be able to cloak skyscrapers or power lines? Now, if they could only just work on getting the Star Trek transporter to work...

2007-03-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Patagonia Under Siege from NRDC: OnEarth Magazine, Fall 2006

Chile is moving ahead with a devastating and short-sighted hydro power project that will scar one of the last truly wild landscapes on earth. OK, they are not planning on submerging 1,200 villages, but the destruction of the natural habitat of Chilean Patagonia will be permanent and constitute a real loss for the planet. The glaciers, lakes, and wild rivers are a real natural treasure, despite showing the scars of the the misguided "colonization" policies of the early 20th century that led to the wholesale burning and destruction of primeval forests. Please consider supporting efforts to prevent this looming devastation. Thanks.

Here is a link to the Patagonia (company) Environmental Activisim page

2007-03-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Patagonia dam project looming

Wednesday's decision by CONAMA was just the latest twist in an ongoing battle surrounding not just the Cuervo River plan, but also the much larger Aysén Project.

By far the biggest hydroelectric venture in the country's history, the US$ 4 billion Aysén Project is a joint endeavor being developed by two of Chile's principal utility companies: Endesa and Colbún. The two companies, now working under the name HidroAyén, plan to build two dams on each of the region's two largest rivers: the Baker and the Pascua. Together these dams are expected to produce an estimated 2,400 MW, equivalent to about 30 percent of the energy currently available in central Chile.

Opponents of the Xstrata and HidroAysén projects - among them local activists and environmentalists, the influential U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and even famous rock star Beto Cuevas (ST, March 20) - insist the dams would be environmentally devastating for the pristine region.

The Aysén Project, for example, not only calls for flooding approximately 93 square kilometers of wilderness, but will also require the construction of a 2,000-kilometer transmission line - the world's longest - that would literally cut through acres upon acres of both protected and unprotected wilderness area (ST, March 13).

"Beyond what's being said about the Cuervo River project," the CCARV stated, "what's clear is that having dams, reservoirs and a high-tension power line crossing all of Patagonia, is and will always be bad business for Aysén and the country as a whole."

http://www.mineweb.net/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page31?oid=18626&sn=Detail
This story was originally published with the permission of The Santiago Times - www.santiagotimes.cl

Coldwell Banker's Second Life - Mar. 23, 2007

2007-03-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

Coldwell Banker's Second Life - Mar. 23, 2007

Embassies, now real estate companies. Will be interesting to see what the housing bubble looks like in 3D. . . sub-prime second life mortgages, anyone? Thanks to David Kirkpatrick at Fortune for picking this up.

2007-02-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

Fring - my quick review of VoIP via cellphone handsets

OK, so I have been reading about Fring for a while. Every time I search for "Skype Symbian" to find out if there is any new information about when and if Skypebay will release a Symbian Series 60v3 version to allow me to take advantage of my unlimited data plan (in the Czech Republic) and wifi hotspots (when roaming), I get stories about Fring. So finally, I took the plunge, schlepped over to their website, signed up, downloaded and installed the fring-ware from the SMS link they sent me, put in my Skype settings, and voila! Now I'm using Skype from my mobile phone (Nokie E70) over free 3G connection. The default setting seems to be "keep data connection open all the time" which I imagine would drain a battery pretty fast, but you can turn off the "always on" feature.

Like Skype, Fring has their own echocall test feature so you can test that the call is working. My first test call was a toughie: Fring-3G-Skype-dialup_user_in_Armenia_with_thinkpad_speakerphone ... the end to end voice quality was pretty lousy as you might expect, however it did work; the conversation was halting and garbled, but possible. Next up, Skype across town to a broadband user with a headset- call quality was very good. I could hear perfectly, though the recipient of the call on the other end said that my voice sounded "metalic," i.e. tinny. Overall, a very satisfactory test experience via my free 3G connection.

Next I switched to my home WiFi network, setup the WEP key (thank goodness for the thumb keyboard on the E70), and tried a test call to the echocall number-- call quality was significantly lower than via 3G, but nonetheless understandable. Until Skype comes out with a native Symbian client, this is the way to go for free calls from your Symbian phone. Please let me know what you think.

2007-02-14T00:32:00.000-08:00

Is AT&T U-verse Doomed? (via VOIP & Gadgets Blog)

Interesting blog post from Tom Keating about the architectural issues that ATT's U-verse is facing, both with its physical architecture (needing neighborhood DSLAM boxes, which require permissions from the municipalities) and with its network architecture (based on proprietary MSFT set top boxes as opposed to any open standards). Those are substantial issues, but if they can be solved, U-verse sounds much more likely to generate profits than the Verizon FTTH trillion dollar extravaganza (I guess trillion is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture).

2007-02-12T01:07:00.000-08:00

Massive Off-Shore Wind Turbines Safe for Birds (via MIT Technology Review)

A new Danish infrared-activated camera system appears to have provided the first effective measurement of risk to birds from massive "wind farms." The data looks impressive with only one small bird impact measured in 100 days of observation (the concern was that the wind farm lies in the migration path of some large birds. Apparently, the birds either avoided the whole farm altogether or flew down the 500m wide corridors in between the rows of turbines. One would think that birds would be highly sensitive to wind currents and that birds would instinctively avoid the wind farms (as strange or unknown wind patterns).

2007-01-29T03:03:00.000-08:00

Sweden the First Country to set up an Embassy in Second Life (via Notes from Sweden)

Looks like Sweden is looking to broaden their tax base! Does IKEA already have a store in Second Life? I admit it's a stretch to call this technology news, but you have to admit it is a tasty tidbit.

2006-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Shameless Plug: Check out TripConnect, a Travel Social Networking Site started by a friend of mine (affiliate link)

TripConnect is fun to use and it's easy to post reviews of places you've been. The groups feature enables groups (like family travelers) to exchange tips and recommendations as well as to seek advice from the community. I like the idea, and with more and more content becoming available from a growing user base, the site will keep getting better.

Here's their pitch: TripConnect allows you to get travel advice from a network of friends and others who share your tastes and interests. The truth is, most people don't know the majority of places to which even close friends have traveled, and indeed, someone in your larger network of acquaintances and friends of friends has probably been to almost any place you can think of. TripConnect allows you to tap into all the travel knowledge that exists in your network, to get the best advice from the best source: friends, family and people who share your tastes and interests. Why Join TripConnect? By joining TripConnect you can take the work out of finding just the right place to go and just the right place to stay. Why be dependent on advice from strangers? Join TripConnect and you can get the one recommendation you need from someone you trust.

Enter a Chance to Win a $500 Travel Voucher for registration. (affiliate link)

2006-11-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

Rebtel Rocks! Creative, cost effective, and easy international mobile-mobile calls (affiliate link)

OK, so a month ago I get a call from a friend who is living in Japan for 6 months. He was calling me in the Czech Republic via Rebtel and despite being halfway around the world (which amounts to a heapload of latency for our voice packets traversing the Internet), the voice quality was great. I then proceed to the Rebtel website, sign up with a $10 balance and start setting up numbers for people to call. Now I talk to my brother in Patagonia, Chile using Rebtel in addition to my parents in Virginia and my colleague in New York. All mobile-to-mobile for a few cents a minute. I'm diggin' it (and so is Rebtel since I've spent $7.65 in a month). I also am a huge fan of their $1 a week subscription fee (which they only charge you if you use the service in that week)- clever way to get $50 a year out of people without them thinking that they are getting gouged.

When I first read about this company on TechCrunch, it just seemed too complicated with all the mentions of call backs, etc. However, in reality it is not that bad since you save the custom numbers for the people you want to call in your phone contacts anyway. Given the viral nature of this service, look for it to snowball once it achieves some critical mass beyond the early adopter crowd. Funded to the tune of $20mm by Index and Benchmark, they should have the staying power to make it. Their business proposition is compelling, and I suspect they are looking creatively at the question of how to take on roaming charges... That is another *huge* opportunity that should be addressable by number pairing (but they'll have to come up with a better solution than my having to have -rebtel-FR -rebtel-UK -rebtel-DE entries for everyone in my phonebook...).

Please note that the headline link of this post contains my Rebtel affiliate ID as does the ad on the right. I encourage you to check it out...

2006-11-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

Geesee Launches Cross Site Chat - via TechCrunch

This is potentially interesting application, so let's try it out right here, right now. Scroll down to the bottom of this page, Jump in and join a chat about gadgets. Seems like a nifty service. The ad targeting does not seem to be working right, though. It keeps showing ads for Plastic Extrusion.

(UPDATE: the page contextual ad targeting is now working much better than the regular Google ads at the top of the page. Too bad about that since Geesee makes the money on clicks...)

2006-11-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

YouTube Sued By UTube » via InsideGoogle

Siliness from the owners of the UTube.com domain. Watch out YewTube, you're next!

2006-10-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

New Illinois robot seeks and destroys pesky weeds - Engadget

Ok, here is another robot story for you. I like the idea and know a couple of people who need this thing desperately if it is effective in challenging terrain.

2006-09-07T02:51:00.000-07:00

TV Anywhere to push the borders of U.S. television - via CED

Here is an interesting announcement from a Denver based startup that is going after the American-culture-craving-expat community. They will be competing with SlingBox which is an affordable hardware+broadband solution, but requires that you have a physical location, cable/satellite TV, and a broadband connection available. Sony just upgraded and reduced the price of their "TV anywhere" device which is competing directly with the SlingBox. TiVo announced an internet-feeding capability, but so far I have not seen any additional details on that.

The whole space-shifting space is going to get more and more competitive and, ultimately, commoditized. I imaging the licensing hurdles for TV Anywhere will be tough to get over, but I do hope they are successful especially for out of market (or even out of country) sports programming delivery.

Good luck to these guys.