I’m a fan of SF literature, so I can affirm that there are many stories where a (human) brain is directly coupled to a machine. I’m sure there were some people around, even 50 years ago, who believed that such a coupling was possible. To me, it was fiction, until proven otherwise. During the last [...]
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Science Plus Fiction Equals Reality
Posted in Science, Technology on 19/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Android Tablet For Education
Posted in Android, Internet, Technology on 10/05/2012 |
It’s a coincidence surely, but while I was tinkering with my EeePc in order to get Android running on it, a Belgian (non-profit?) organisation called Tabbled is starting to sell Android 4 tablets priced at less than 100€! If you find that hard to believe and if you’re in the neighbourhood, then by all means [...]
Robots That Fly And Cooperate
Posted in Science, Technology on 07/03/2012 |
The small and autonomous flying robots – quadrotors – of the University of Pennsylvania have already scored hits on Youtube. During a recent TED2012 talk, professor Vijay Kumar neatly summarizes the state of the art achieved by his robots and his students (of course). To top off his presentation he shows 9 quadrotors playing a [...]
Solar Power, Here And Elsewhere
Posted in Personal, Society, Technology on 01/03/2012 |
As usual at the beginning of a new month I point out our solar production numbers. It’s the most productive month of February of the last three years, in terms of electricity produced on our roof ;-) But solar power can be found all around the world; you just need a way to harness that [...]
Is It A Phone, Or Is It A Computer?
Posted in Android, Linux, Mobile Computing, Technology, Ubuntu on 23/02/2012 |
If you’re still doubting that “smartphones” are real computers, just check out this article: “Ubuntu for Android: Canonical brings Ubuntu desktop to docked smartphones“. OK, you currently need a top-end smartphone with a dual-core ARM CPU and HDMI output, but in this market today’s top-end machine is tomorrows standard. To further prove the point: TextWarrior [...]
Some Thirty Years Ago
Posted in Linux, Society, Software, Technology on 12/01/2012 | 3 Comments »
Some thirty years ago, somewhere in 1982, I bought my first computer: a Sinclair ZX81. It’s hard to explain to my children, but the thrill I felt when starting up this little black box was fantastic – that probably explains why I’m still playing and experimenting with computer soft- and hardware today. I don’t know [...]
The Sun In 2011
Posted in Personal, Technology on 01/01/2012 |
I have taken the time to update the numbers on our solar energy production. Our solar panels were installed late in 2009, so I have waited until today to add an overview table per year. My conclusion: the sun didn’t do so well in 2011, at least not in our neighbourhood. Let’s hope 2012 will [...]
Solar Energy Production Update
Posted in Personal, Technology on 01/12/2011 |
I have updated the Solar Energy Production numbers. It’s quite interesting to see that our gut feeling of a dry autumn is being confirmed by higher output from our solar panels during the last three months when comapring them to last year.
Extended WLAN At Home
Posted in Apple & Macintosh, Technology on 24/11/2011 |
I have just finished installing a second (and second-hand) Airport Extreme WiFi router. This allows us to extend the WLAN in our house, to accomodate wireless clients in places the original router signal couldn’t reach. And it will also allow my wife to rearrange the furniture in our living room without limitations on where to [...]
Solar Panel Production Update
Posted in Personal, Technology on 03/11/2011 |
Just a quick notice: the latest production numbers of our solar panels have been published ;-)
Fantastic News For Science Lovers
Posted in Science, Society, Technology on 01/11/2011 |
On October 26th, 2011, the Royal Society announced “that its world-famous historical journal archive – which includes thefirst ever peer-reviewed scientific journal – has been made permanently free to access online“. What that means is that you will be able to read the orginal publication of papers by Charles Darwin, Bejamin Franklin, James Maxwell, and many others. Just [...]
RIP Dennis Ritchie
Posted in Linux, Software Development, Technology on 13/10/2011 |
The news is fresh from today, apparently: Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie died October 8, 2011, at the age of 70. Ritchie is best known as the inventor of the C programming language and as one of the creators of the Multics and Unix operating systems. His name isn’t as well-known as that of Steve Jobs, but [...]
Strong Worded Law
Posted in Internet, Patents, IP, Privacy and More, Technology on 11/10/2011 |
As usual, Richard Stallman isn’t shy to use strong words. Specifically: Stallman’s Law: Under corporatocracy, every advance in technology is an opportunity for corporations to reduce, in practice, the rights of human beings. I think this wording is a bit too broad. To get it right, I’m guessing you have to add in more than [...]
Today Was A Real Summer Day
Posted in Personal, Technology on 02/10/2011 |
Yes, the last week has been great, in terms of weather: we’ve had some very fine summer days. At last, many here in Belgium will say! That sunny week also upped the numbers of our solar electricity production.
Memory Zap
Posted in Mobile Computing, Technology on 07/09/2011 |
I have been using memory sticks and memory cards for many years now, starting somewhere in 2002 with CompactFlash cards for my first digital camera, the Nikon Coolpix 885. Last week, the micro SD RAM card in my Android smartphone refused all further service. Was it the Bluetooth File Transfer application that I tried? Was [...]
