Boys' Tech Notes

Spanish boatmen

2007-06-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

"The Spanish boatmen will take you out to fish for them for a dollar a day... It is a back-sickening, sinew straining, man-sized job... but if you land a big tuna after a six-hour fight, fight him man against fish when your muscles are nauseated with the unceasing strain, and finally bring him up alongside the boat, green-blue and silver in the lazy ocean, you will be purified..."

- Ernest Hemingway.

I am at the beach, fishing today and suddenly Hemingway's words came up to my mind.

A Camera with Powerful Zoom

2007-06-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Recently, I'd been thinking to get a digital camera with a powerful zoom, because I am too lazy to get close to the object I'm taking. I went to the nearest Target yesterday, but I found only cameras with 5x and 8x at most. Recently I heard that Olympus SP-550 UZ is equipped with 18x optical zoom. I'm not too sure about the exact price though, but according to the net, it is estimated around $490.

Coffee Table Computer?

2007-06-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

Looks like a coffee-table, but it is a PC with new toch-screen technology called Milan, which was developed by Microsoft. T-Mobile, Harrah's Entertainment, Starwood Hotels and Resorts bought this new tech coffee table PCs. This Milan PCs will cost anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000.

(Photo: From Las Vegas)

All-in-one communications--Mr.Ressler/Microsoft

2007-06-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Mr. Jeff Ressler of Microsoft showed me the new unified communications system. He called his cell phone and he ordered his Email to be organized, then gave another order, such as Email be translated from Japanese to English, French, etc (or vise versa). Unifed communications means that E mail, calendaring, IM, voice-telephony, audio and video and Web conferencing, namefly all communications to be unifed and ready for use easily. So far the unifed system is developed only for business.....

Do the Right for Father's Day

2007-06-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

What is the perfect gift for dad?--this is very difficult question. Maybe a GPS gadgets or so. But he already have it! So anyhoo, I just visited Fry's, Bestbuy, Circuit City, but didn't buy anything, because I couldn't come up with the right one for him. What should I do????? Only 3.5 days left. Yeah, just give him nice massage and hung out with him. Finally got an idea, Yes! Buy a movie ticket of Ocean's Thirteen.

Digital TV

2007-06-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

By no later than February 17, 2009, all U.S. television broadcasts will be digitalized, by order of the FCC. Do you know that?
Cable and/or Satellite subscribers are, of course, not affected. Those who rarely watch TV are also ok.

flickr

2007-06-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

Getting tired of taking photos all the time for blogs. So, I checked out flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/ regarding XBOX 360, Saints Row, Hero3 etc. The things I don't know well about the flickr's copy right. So, I used my boring XBOX 360 photo. Will find out tonight by attending flickr meeting...

Making cars and earn money

2007-06-11T23:32:00.000-07:00

Summer break is approaching. I know my parents are dreadful. Well, I am a nice boy, and don't want them to spend money on summer camps. So I came up with a wonderful idea. Using this comming free time, I want to make a car, but don't know how to start. "Why don't you go to Fremont or web search the NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing:45500 Fremont BoulevardFremont, CA 94538 ) site and get a part-time job," my sister said. I can't take her words seriously of course, but I can go to the factory and attend the tour to see how their robots make Corolla, Tacoma, Dodge Dakota. You can check details at http://www.nummi.com/tours.php.

Price tag of Tesla Roadster

2007-06-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

In La Jolla, I was lucky to be able to sit and ride on the seat of Tesla Roadster, even though I am not a celebrity like Ms. Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger or Mr. George Clooney. The price of Tesla Roadster will be up from $92,000 to $96,000 effective in June 15, 2007 , then will goes up to $100,000. I heard that other electric car, Spyder, is less expensive, but its speed is slower. I should check this out.

$100 PC

2007-06-09T00:25:00.000-07:00

A $100 laptop for every kids! I saw and touched the One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit 's association's PC today. This idea for the PC was started by faculty members at the MIT Media Lab.

世界の子供たちの１人にパソコン１台というコンセプトの100ドルパソコン。マサチューセッツ工科大学メディアラボが始めたものだ。

Robots

2007-06-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

Wrote about Robts several years ago when I encounterd them at the Santa Clara Convention Center. So here it goes;

“Everything is so high-tech,” said 10-year-old Kingston. His father, Stanley Xu, a manager at HP, was impressed by the exhibits. “Robots can do what people can not,” he said.
“Robotics could be bigger than the car industry [in the future],” said Han Wung Yi, an engineer with Daewoo Electronics. A visitor from Vietnam said that robotics would be implemented everywhere and in anything. “Currently robotics is a small industry, compared to computer and chip industries, but if venture capitalists determine to put their money there, robotics will grow huge,” said Nilesh Parate, general manager of PCBFabExpress.
The Robotic Industries Association said that the robotics industry posted strong numbers in the last year, with North American orders up 28 percent in units and 15 percent in dollars.
The 5-foot-tall robot HRP-2, made by Kawada Industries of Japan, was developed for the Humanoid Robotics Project that was sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. It is designed for “outside and human/robot cooperative” task experiments. It was the first time overseas for the humanlike robot.
Despite its popularity, HRP-2 is still not for sale. “Only for R and D,” said Yoshida Komatsubara, president of Kawada Industries in New York. The development of the robot began in 1999 in collaboration with Tokyo University.
Onsite there were plenty of high-school robot club members. “We can make better robots than the exhibitors. We built our robot in just six weeks,” said a Woodside high school student.
“What we are watching now is very similar to the computer industry decades ago,” said Sam Tachibana. In 2007, 4.1 million robots will be in use, according to UNESCO forecasts. The robotics fever at the convention center, affecting children and adults alike, may just be the beginning.　ロボット産業は車産業より大きくなるか。トヨタなど日本企業は民生分野で優勢だが。

PS3 in Europe

2007-06-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Wrote an article about PS3 in Europe, because I was in Berlin on the first day Sony sold PS3 in March 23, 2007. Berlin is Sony's European headquarter. After that I have continued to watch the sales of PS3. In United Kingdom, the PS3 broke the sales record. I don't know the reason why Sony did good job in Europe. Is it because Sony gave away 100 HD LCD TV or current CEO's ego (he is a Welsh guy)? Anyway, good for Sony! Even though, the machine itself is very advanced, still the number of Microsoft's XBOX games is larger. Will keep watching.

PS3の欧州での販売状況に関し、記事を上梓したことがある。PS発売日の3月23日にベルリンに居たからだ。ソニーは欧州での販売目標は一応、クリアした模様だが、今もPS3の売れ行きに目を離せないでいる。