Category: Technology

Orb

Have an XP box with all sorts of photos and video on it? Ever want to view said files from someplace other than your home? Don’t want to lug a cart full of hard drives full of all your files and dread the idea of having to always sync your data up with the portable? Give Orb a try.
Orb is an application that will allow you to stream media from your home (or office) system to pretty much anything from pretty much anywhere. The front end is a web app so you don’t have to worry about having the right CPU build if your using a PDA or cell phone. I’m going to give it a try and see how it works. I have a few TV shows that I have saved via my PVR in a not quite DVD quality (2.6GB/hr). I want to see how well I can stream one of these from a Starsucks. 🙂

Orb Networks
PVR, Starbucks, TV

The Brains That Saved Apollo 13

People tend to forget that sometimes the true heros are the guys with the pocket protectors and slide rules.

A group of engineers was honored Tuesday for concocting a plan using plastic bags, cardboard and duct tape to save Apollo 13’s astronauts after their spacecraft was crippled by an explosion 35 years ago.

Apollo 13 Engineers Feted on Anniversary

Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor


I added some photos of a Farnsworth Fusor demo that I attended a number of years ago to my gallery pages.
What is a ‘Fusor’ you ask? Wikipedia says it best:

The Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor, or simply fusor, is an apparatus designed by Philo T. Farnsworth to create nuclear fusion. Unlike most controlled fusion systems, which slowly heat a magnetically confined plasma, the fusor injects “high temperature” ions directly into a reaction chamber, thereby avoiding a considerable amount of complexity.

It was fascinating to see this in action, even if it wasn’t producing neutrons. That was probably for the best, I doubt the glass would have stopped them very well. I was pretty close and I doubt my camera would have provided much shielding either.
Farnsworth Gallery

fusion, neutrons, atomic, farnsworth

Bionic suit offers wearers super-strength

HAL 3

Simply amazing… All these need are a tiny powersupply that has like a 50KW/1Kg power ratio and your off to the races! Army of power enhanced troops marching into combat in what would amount to a personal tank that can walk up (re-enforced no doubt) stairs and still be humanoid. Starship Troopers meets every power suited anime show.

…The most fully developed prototype, HAL 3, is a motor-driven metal “exoskeleton” that you strap onto your legs to power-assist leg movements. A backpack holds a computer with a wireless network connection, and the batteries are on a belt.
Two control systems interact to help the wearer stand, walk and climb stairs. A “bio-cybernic” system uses bioelectric sensors attached to the skin on the legs to monitor signals transmitted from the brain to the muscles.

Bionic suit offers wearers super-strength

(Thank you special agent Greg, there will be somthing extra in this weeks disbursement for this)

cybernetics, robots, exoskeleton, tetsuo,