| Hot Shots: Tech That Keeps You on the Move
Even in the dog days of summer there's always some new tech tool to help a small business run more efficiently. Here's a quick look at a few of the latest products that can help keep you rolling along. Fresh Batteries for Old Laptops
Unleash your laptop you know, the older model that hasn't been further than three feet from a wall socket since its battery went to lithium ion heaven back in 2003. Even a thorough search on eBay failed to find a replacement for it. FreshBattery.com wants to get you mobile again, and so it recently launched its Legacy Power line of batteries designed for more than 1,500 models of aging laptops including those from HP, Compaq, IBM/Lenovo, Apple, Toshiba, Sony and Dell. Most batteries start to lose their full charge capability at about two years.
Sony camera recalled
SONY will recall 350,000 Cyber-Shot digital cameras worldwide because the metal coating could peel off and scratch the user's hand. The affected model, the Cyber-Shot DSC-T5, was released in September 2005 and was no longer manufactured, the company said. "The coating did not have enough adhesive strength, so it may peel off and curl up, hurting a user's hand," Sony spokeswoman Ryoko Takagi said. "We've received more than 30 reports in Japan and several similar cases overseas that users had paper-cut-like scratches," including one person who complained a piece of coating got stuck under a fingernail," she said. Some 66,000 of the cameras covered by the recall are circulating in Japan and the rest overseas. Manufactured between August and October 2005, the cameras had serial numbers from 3010001 to 3081200, the company said.
Electric cars are nearly ready, but not so their batteries
Clever and attractive, the Chevrolet Volt, a design study for a new wrinkle in electric cars, dominated the headlines coming from the Detroit auto show in January. But the introduction was punctuated with an asterisk. The car that promised a fuel economy equivalent of 150 miles a gallon and a range of 640 miles using its onboard recharging system carried a major caveat: the lithium-ion batteries required to make it a reality are not yet available, and won't be until 2010 at the earliest, industry experts say. The Volt is not the only car waiting for lithium-ion batteries to be roadworthy. Reports last month in Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, a Japanese business newspaper, said the next generation of the Toyota Prius would be delayed by six months because the carmaker had decided that lithium-ion batteries were not quite ready.
Police report
Attempted murder, carjacking, criminal confinement and pointing a firearm charges have been filed against Josiah L. Boyd after authorities say he shot a woman four times on July 21. Boyd, 20, of 738 Kentucky St., faces 20 to 50 years if convicted of the charges filed last week in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point. Christina Glass told police she went to Boyd's home to pick up her cousin, Alisha Johnson, to go to a friend's house when Boyd opened fire on her with a small black handgun, wounding her in the head, chest, leg and hand. Man charged with murder of girlfriend A Gary man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of his 22-year-old girlfriend. A criminal arrest warrant was issued Monday for Dia K. Nelson, 33, of the 4400 block of West 24th Avenue, who is accused of shooting Shadonna Cheatham in the head on Thursday at the couple's residence.
16.8.2007: Meldung: VeraSun Energy Corp.: minority investment in SunEthanol
BROOKINGS, S.D., August 14, 2007 / VeraSun Energy Corporation, one of the nation's largest ethanol producers, today announced it has made a minority investment in SunEthanol, a Massachusetts- based company working to commercialize proprietary cellulosic ethanol production technology. SunEthanol currently has a patent-pending process that consolidates multiple steps into one efficient and naturally-occurring process utilizing a variety of agricultural feed stocks to produce ethanol. "SunEthanol has unique technology that if proven to be commercially feasible will be a positive step forward for cellulosic ethanol. " said Bill Honnef, VeraSun Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing. "While we believe corn-based ethanol production will continue to play a key role in our industry long into the future, ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks will complement corn- based ethanol in meeting the growing global demand for renewable fuels.
Store Employees Complain About Police Response
MADISON, Wis. -- Employees of The MacShop said police response to alarms has created an unsafe situation. VIDEO: Watch The Report The criticism comes a day after a burglar threw a rock through the glass front door of the business and swiped a laptop and several iPods. A city ordinance effective Jan. 1 said that police will only respond once the alarm has been verified in person. The change was put in place to cut down on time wasted by officers responding to false alarms. Police estimated that the amount of time used responding to these calls was the equivalent of two full-time positions. On early Tuesday morning, Patrick Gavinski, The MacShop store manager, received a call from his alarm company saying there was an alarm at the Odana Road store.
Gaming laptops are a complete joke
THERE IS A RAGING debate between me and the rest of the world over gaming laptops. Most people think they are the hottest thing since sliced bread, I think they are about as dumb as you can get. It begs the question, if all of your friends said enemas were cool, would you get one? The concept is a good one, in theory, but falls flat in reality. The promise is to have a portable machine that plays games as well as it does all the things you want a laptop for. All the machines to date fail on both accounts, with only a nod to portability. Let's look at the pros of the current crop of gaming laptops. They are, in no particular order: 1) More portable than a desktop
2) Fanbois think you are cool Now let's look at the down sides, again in no particular order: 1) Very expensive
2) Proprietary hardware that is unfixable if it breaks
3) Proprietary hardware that is unupgradable
4) Slow CPUs
5) Slow buses
6) Slow memory
7) Slow HDs
8) GPU makers lie about the capabilities of mobile GPUs (the 5000M is every bit as good as a 5000, really)
9) They are heavier than a normal laptop
10) They are as portable as a phone book
11) Battery life measured in hummingbird wingflaps
12) Screen responses measured in glacial movement units
13) Keyboards and mice that pale in response to a Logitech G5/G15
14) Lots of expensive crap bolted on you will never use Let's look at these in detail, shall we? The initial count says two wins for 14 losses, but the devil is in the details.
Pentadyne Flywheel & Toshiba UPS Ensure Continuous Power Quality in KDEN-TV's Multi-Million Dollar Digital Transmitter ...
Pentadyne Power Corporation (www.pentadyne.com) -- the world's leading commercial manufacturer of clean energy storage systems using advanced composite flywheel technology -- announced today that one of its flywheels is now part of the power protection system for KDEN-DT's digital television transmission facility near Denver. .
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