Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

How to enable the start menu in Windows 8

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

This requires the use of regedit. Pretty straightforward though.

Originally posted at Urbin Technology.

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Interesting reading on Miltech

Saturday, October 15th, 2011

BEATING DECLINE: Miltech and the Survival of the U.S.

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Bill Whittle: The Free Frontier

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Bill Whittle on what the American Space Program should be like.

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Biofuel from Coffee grounds

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Amazing stuff coffee. In addtion to it’s other amazing properties, including being good for the roses, the grounds can be used to produce biofuel.

The estimates are the coffee ground biodiesel industry could generate as much as $8,000,000 in profits annually using waste from Starbucks stores here in the United States  alone.  Ok, probably less given falling crude oil prices, but I’m still a big fan of any domestic fuel souces.

To add to the overall awesomeness of coffee, at the end of the biodiesel extraction and conversion process, the leftover grounds can be turned into fuel pellets for wood stoves and boilers.

Not only does coffee keep you moving, it can keep your car moving and heats your home!

Originally posted at Urbin Technology

Update: Crude prices have reversed the downward trend that was in place when this article was first posted (December 2008).  They are now pushing $100 a barrel and don’t show any signs of slowing down.  Starbucks brand biofuel made right here in the USA is starting to look like a good business opportunity.

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Monday Book Pick: Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth by Les Johnson, Gregory L. Matloff and C. Bangs.

A bit of hard science for you geeks and Greenies (real greenies, not watermelons), describing on how to use resources of the solar system for terrestrial benefit. Yup, going to space is good for Mother Gaia. Move your hard industry and power production to Earth orbit and mine the resources of the Solar System.

Monday Book Pick Archive

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Latest iPad rumors

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

Get your hot iPad2 rumors here.

Some of the highlights:

  • Thinner
  • Slightly smaller
  • better speakers
  • Camera

Originally posted at Urbin Technology

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Random IT Quote of the day

Monday, December 13th, 2010

“Managing sysadmins is like leading a neighborhood gang of neurotic pumas on jet-powered hoverbikes with nasty smack habits and opposable thumbs.”

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Just a bad phone UI design

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

I had to pick up another mobile phone number, so I went looking for a basic phone to get to put it on. I called my cell provider, AT&T, and was pointed to the LG CF360. The physical design is good. It feels solid, the sliding is smooth and locks/unlocks easily. It’s got Bluetooth support and has a micro-SD slot.

The UI is an utter piece of crap, and that is an insult to crap, which can be put to good use as fertilizer.

It’s a fornicating phone, being able to access my call log would actually be useful, so what ever brain dead software “coder” working in what ever sweatshop he/she/it deserves to stay in decided to leave that functionality out.

If I ever get my Razr back from one of my kids, I’m moving the SIM card over to the Razr.

Originally posted at Urbin Technology.

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iPad apps

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

I have been looking at iPad apps for usability issues for the past few weeks. Here is a quick list of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good: IMDB, Scifi Wire, Adobe Touch

The bad: The buggy WordPress app

The Ugly: AP News

About the iPad itself, very slick, very cool/fun to use. On the down side, no SD slot, no USB, and Apple’s “walled garden.”

Originally posted at Urbin Technology

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HP buys Palm

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

HP has been on a buying spree.  They bought 3Com, and now they have just purchased a former 3Com company, Palm Corp. for $1.2 billion.

The article I linked talks about what HP could do with Palm’s webOS for mobile devices, including using it in netbooks and tablet devices.

What it doesn’t talk about is Palm’s patent portfolio, which could be worth the price of the sale alone.

Originally posted at Urbin Technology

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