The 0011 Blog

You may have heard about an invention created by a 63-year-old named John Kanzius that claims to create an alternative fuel out of salt water. Through sheer serendipity, Kanzius, a former broadcast engineer, found out something incredible — under the right conditions, salt water can burn at high temperatures.

Image courtesy WPBF-TV Yes, you’re seeing water burn.

Kanzius’ journey toward surprise inspiration began with a leukemia diagnosis in 2003. Faced with the prospect of debilitating chemotherapy, he decided he would try to invent a better alternative for destroying cancerous cells. What he came up with is his radio frequency generator (RFG), a machine that generates radio waves and focuses them into a concentrated area. Kanzius used the RFG to heat small metallic particles inserted into tumors, destroying the tumors without harming normal cells.

But what does cancer treatment have to do with burning salt water?

During a demonstration of the RFG, an observer noticed that it was causing water in a nearby test tube to condense. If the RFG could make water condense, it could theoretically separate salt out of seawater. Perhaps, then, it could be used to desalinize water, an issue of global proportions. The old seaman’s adage “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink” applies inland as well: Some nations are drying up and their populations suffering from thirst, yet the world is 70 percent ocean water. An effective means of removing salt from salt water could save countless lives. So it’s no surprise that Kanzius trained his RFG on the goal of salt water desalinization.

During his first test, however, he noticed a surprising side effect. When he aimed the RFG at a test tube filled with seawater, it sparked. This is not a normal reaction by water.

Kanzius tried the test again, this time lighting a paper towel and touching it to the water while the water was in the path of the RFG. He got an even bigger surprise — the test tube ignited and stayed alight while the RFG was turned on.

News of the experiment was generally met with allegations of it being a hoax, but after Penn State University chemists got their hands on the RFG and tried their own experiments, they found it was indeed true. The RFG could ignite and burn salt water. The flame could reach temperatures as high as 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and burn as long as the RFG was on and aimed at it.

But how could salt water possibly ignite? Why don’t careless litterbugs who flick lit cigarette butts into the sea set the whole planet aflame? It all has to do with hydrogen. In its normal state, salt water has a stable composition of sodium chloride (the salt) and hydrogen and oxygen (the water). But the radio waves from Kanzius’ RFG disrupt that stability, degrading the bonds that hold the chemicals in salt water together. This releases the volatile hydrogen molecules, and the heat output from the RFG ignites them and burns them indefinitely.

So will our cars soon run on salt water instead of gasoline? Read the next page for some of the hurdles that would have to be overcome for salt water to fuel cars.

I will be buying this one!! Too bad my NES MAx will not work with the Wii.

I WANT THIS GAME!!!

I noticed this shit the other day.  I’m glad someone actually did  a video about it.

It’s a complete crock of shit. the 3g is as fucking slow (cpu/response wise) as the edge version. Fuck you apple.

New Scientist has an article about researchers at the University of Illinois who created an ‘artificial eyeball,’ which is essentially a new way of creating wide angle camera lenses without distorting the image, like the human retina.  With conventional lenses, you get that panoramic or fish-eye effect.  The article said the first uses will be in industrial and military surveillance, but it has potential for medical applications, allowing the blind to see.  Pretty cool!  There has already been progress allowing the deaf to hear, so we’re on our happy way to becoming cyborgs.

But, look at this comparison.  Coincidence?  I think not!

Via KurzweilAI

Firefox unveiled thie new concept browser, Aurora.  Once again, they show creativity and vision, something lacking by other large companies producing web browsers  *cough*-microsoft-*cough*

Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

And the first thing i did with it….

Specs here

I would get a USB extension cord so the microwaves will not be too close to your body!

The AT&T USBConnect 881 combines enhanced mobile broadband performance with a plug-and-play USB device. The AT&T USBConnect 881 is an easy-to-use device that plugs directly into the USB port in your notebook and keeps you connected to email and the Internet by working seamlessly across AT&T’s 3G BroadbandConnect and EDGE networks. Stay connected whether traveling across town, the U.S., or the world with the AT&T USBConnect 881.

Specifications

• Data Speeds:
  • UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850/1900/2100 MHz)
    • — Expected downlink speeds of 600 Kbps–1.4 Mbps*
    • — Expected uplink speeds of 500–800 Kbps*
  • GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
    • — Edge class 12—expected downlink speeds of 70–135 Kbps
• Operating System:
  • Plug-and-play capability—automatic installation of AT&T Communication Manager software in Microsoft® Windows Vista™, XP, and 2000 notebooks.
  • Supports Apple® Mac® OS X (version 10.4 or later) via FREE Mac client – please visit www.sierrawireless.com/support/att/mac for free download.
• Antenna: Built in antenna; Nano external antenna port
• Dimensions: 3.7 x 1.5 x 0.8 inches
• Weight: 1.25 ounces
• Frequency:
  • 850/1900/2100 MHz (HSPA)
  • 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (EDGE/GPRS)

Software & Connectivity

• USB 2.0 – USB device that plugs directly into USB port and works across notebooks with PC Card or ExpressCard slots
• Additional Connectivity support—NIC Driver (NDIS) / WHQL Certified

Issues:

• REQUIRES Syncing vs. typical PUSH like Ipods/etc.
• 10/100 NIC.  WTF!  No F*cking gigabit?!  Ghey!
• Cannot update while shows are playing.  WTF Tivos are like 40Mhz procs.   They can update, push content record AND play back at the Same f*cking time.
• NO Cables other the power one.
• Remote is tiny and really hard to use.  It’s cute, but is easily lost.
• Runs HOT HOT HOT!  This will burn you if you touch the metal on the components in the rear
• No Power off button
• No Support for other remotes

The good:

• Small - ok, i can build a Pico X pc to do this (and i might just do this);

I can’t think of anything else.

Verdict?

Check it out here

• Hot swap any size hard drive
• Automatic formatting and rebuilding
• Cool real-time utilities
• Utilization LEDs
• Much more….

Is this real?

ISP’s have resolved to restrict the Internet to a TV-like subscription model where users will be forced to pay to visit selected corporate websites by 2012, while others will be blocked, according to a leaked report. Despite some people dismissing the story as a hoax, the wider plan to kill the traditional Internet and replace it with a regulated and controlled Internet 2 is manifestly provable.

“Bell Canada and TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP’s all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These ‘other’ sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet,” warns a report that has spread like wildfire across the web over the last few days.

The article, which is accompanied by a You Tube clip, states that Time Magazine writer “Dylan Pattyn” has confirmed the information and is about to release a story - and that the move to effectively shut down the web could come as soon as 2010.

People have raised questions about the report’s accuracy because the claims are not backed by another source, only the “promise” that a Time Magazine report is set to confirm the rumor. Until such a report emerges many have reserved judgment or outright dismissed the story as a hoax.

What is documented, as the story underscores, is the fact that TELUS’ wireless web package allows only restricted pay-per-view access to a selection of corporate and news websites. This is the model that the post-2012 Internet would be based on.

People have noted that the authors of the video seem to be more concerned about getting people to subscribe to their You Tube account than fighting for net neutrality by prominently featuring an attractive woman who isn’t shy about showing her cleavage. The vast majority of the other You Tube videos hosted on the same account consist of bizarre avante-garde satire skits on behalf of the same people featured in the Internet freedom clip. This has prompted many to suspect that the Internet story is merely a stunt to draw attention to the group.

Whether the report is accurate or merely a crude hoax, there is a very real agenda to restrict, regulate and suffocate the free use of the Internet and we have been documenting its progression for years.

The first steps in a move to charge for every e mail sent have already been taken. Under the pretext of eliminating spam, Bill Gates and other industry chieftains have proposed Internet users buy credit stamps which denote how many e mails they will be able to send. This of course is the death knell for political newsletters and mailing lists.

The New York Times reported that “America Online and Yahoo, two of the world’s largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. The senders must promise to contact only people who have agreed to receive their messages, or risk being blocked entirely.”

The first wave will simply attempt to price people out of using the conventional Internet and force people over to Internet 2, a state regulated hub where permission will need to be obtained directly from an FCC or government bureau to set up a website.

The original Internet will then be turned into a mass surveillance database and marketing tool. The Nation magazine reported in 2006 that, “Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets–corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers–would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.”

Over the past few years, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the Internet and further lead it down a path of strict control has spewed forth from numerous establishment organs:

• Time magazine reported last year that researchers funded by the federal government want to shut down the internet and start over, citing the fact that at the moment there are loopholes in the system whereby users cannot be tracked and traced all the time. The projects echo moves we have previously reported on to clamp down on internet neutrality and even to designate a new form of the internet known as Internet 2.

• In a display of bi-partisanship, there have recently been calls for all out mandatory ISP snooping on all US citizens by both Democrats and Republicans alike.

• The White House’s own recently de-classified strategy for “winning the war on terror” targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to “diminish” their influence.

• The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet and propagandize for the war on terror.

• In a speech last October, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a “terror training camp,” through which “disaffected people living in the United States” are developing “radical ideologies and potentially violent skills.” His solution is “intelligence fusion centers,” staffed by Homeland Security personnel which will go into operation next year.

• The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress. Criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year could be the punishment for non-compliance.

• A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government.

• A landmark legal ruling in Sydney goes further than ever before in setting the trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy.

• The European Union, led by former Stalinist and potential future British Prime Minister John Reid, has also vowed to shut down “terrorists” who use the Internet to spread propaganda.

• The EU data retention bill, passed last year after much controversy and with implementation tabled for late 2007, obliges telephone operators and internet service providers to store information on who called who and who emailed who for at least six months. Under this law, investigators in any EU country, and most bizarrely even in the US, can access EU citizens’ data on phone calls, SMS messages, emails and instant messaging services.

• The EU also recently proposed legislation that would prevent users from uploading any form of video without a license.

• The US government is also funding research into social networking sites and how to gather and store personal data published on them, according to the New Scientist magazine. “At the same time, US lawmakers are attempting to force the social networking sites themselves to control the amount and kind of information that people, particularly children, can put on the sites.”

The development of a new form of internet with new regulations is also designed to create an online caste system whereby the old internet hubs would be allowed to break down and die, forcing people to use the new taxable, censored and regulated world wide web.

Make no mistake, the internet, one of the greatest outposts of free speech ever created is under constant attack by powerful people who cannot operate within a society where information flows freely and unhindered. Both American and European moves mimic stories we hear every week out of state controlled Communist China, where the internet is strictly regulated and virtually exists as its own entity away from the rest of the web.

The Internet is freedom’s best friend and the bane of control freaks. Its eradication is one of the short term goals of those that seek to centralize power and subjugate their populations under tyranny by eliminating the right to protest and educate others by the forum of the free world wide web.

This is nice. There’s a how-to on how to convert an xbox 360 into a laptop at Engadet. The Nintendo DS sucks now. Shoot, add 3G, and I won’t even want a new iPhone. The same gentleman, Benjamin Heckendorn, also recently posted about converting a PS3 into a laptop.

Sometimes I run across things and get a warm fuzzy knowing there are kindred spirits out there in the world. Google has put an easter egg in reader, activated by “The Code.” Go to google.com/reader and enter:

Via BB Gadgets

PS - The code also works on digg, to expand all comments. Sweet!

http://gizmodo.com/5012427/time-warner-monthly-data-caps-detailed

I have NO CLUE why external USB Drives are really cheap  relative to their internal counterparts.  It makes no sense!  I bought a  320 GB WD USB Drive to upgrade my Apple TV (More on that later…) and learned that the USB drive is SATA while the AppleTV is PATA.    Oye!  So, I booted into the OS X Install DVD and used the Disk Utility ‘restore’ my existing 110GB Internal HDD to the external 320 GB WD USB Drive.  I had about 80GB of meat, so it took about 45 minutes to complete.  Add about 30 minutes to crack open the laptop and swap the drives, and bam. 320GB of internal storage!  I paid $139 before taxes. not bad considering that there are places out there that sell for as low as 130 + shipping & taxes :).

The biggest drawback is that time machine sees this as a NEW drive, thus will back it up in it’s entirety :(.

Time to re-do my bootcamp partition

P.S. I ordered a WD 250GB Scorpio drive for the apple TV.  I’ll post more on that later

Ian and I were using this *free* utility to share his desktop to fix oracle. ;)   I just tested it from windows to mac, it works great.
http://www.teamviewer.com/download/Index.aspx

See CNN article here

If Nintendo has their way your living room could be the new big thing in exercise. 

With its new game “Wii Fit” hitting stores Monday, Nintendo is looking to bring exercise into the home, making people more aware of their bodies and starting to create a comfortable, fun environment to get healthy.

Personal trainer and fitness expert Robert Dothard said making exercise available and enjoyable in your home means reaching an audience of people who often feel embarrassed walking in to a traditional gym.

“I had a real difficult time training people in front of what I called ‘God and everybody’ — with the whole gym looking,” he said. “If someone is not in good shape you know and they are in the public gym and they’re not performing well it’s an uncomfortable feeling.”

“Wii Fit” which retails for $90, comes with the game and a “balance board” which is used to calculate your Body Mass Index, weight and measure shifts in your balance at the beginning of each session. Users then choose different workouts from the categories of strength training, aerobics, yoga and balance. Each area features different short workouts ranging from a minute to upwards of 10 minutes including push-ups and side planks, skiing, jogging and seeing how many times you can spin Hula Hoops. Watch CNN.com try out the “Wii Fit” »

During each game an area is displayed on the screen to show where your core balance should be. A little dot moves around indicating where your actual balance is and the game instructs you to try and do the exercises with the correct balance. iReport.com: 9-year-old goes nuts for Wii fit

It’s one of the functions that Dothard, who took the game for a test run, thinks is the most effective and important because it makes you aware of whether you reap the most benefits out of exercising.

While the exercises focus on many different areas and muscle groups, many of the games are short in length and there is no option to select a pre-set workout which strings together several of the games.

 ”Wii Fit” isn’t the first game to attack the market of exercise video games, though it may be the most heavily marketed. Sony and Nike teamed up in 2006 with the “Eye Toy: Kinetic” game which guides you through warm-up, stretching, cardio, conditioning, kickboxing and yoga-type routines. Other smaller companies have tried their hands at exercise games for both personal physical use and specific rehabilitative goals.

When the Wii first came out for Nintendo in 2006, it earned rave reviews from health care professionals for the possibilities of changing rehab activities by making them more fun. But at least one person within the rehab community is criticizing “Wii Fit” for its lack of individual tailoring.

Robert Prunetti, CEO of Performance Health Technologies, oversees his company’s rehabilitation products which are tailored for specific injuries by doctors. Prunetti said their products, which track specific measurements of body angles and movements, offer a much more accurate rehabilitation workout than a generic workout game.

Still the game, which has flourished in Japan and in Europe, has received mostly positive praise from those in the health community in the United States before it even hit the shelves.

Video games focusing on health have become such a novelty that researchers have begun serious studies about their impact.

Ben Sawyer is the co-founder of the Games for Health Project, which brings together researchers, game developers and medical professionals to study and find out the best ways technology can help improve health.

Sawyer praises Nintendo for a product which he thinks could propel non-fit people to eventually start going to the gym and making health a priority.

“We need this to be a special form of intervention,” he said.

The key, Sawyer says, is not just how many people buy the game, but whether it is embraced by mainstream gyms, after school programs, parents and teachers.

Patricia Gaudreau, supervisor of science, health and physical education for the Montgomery County schools in Virginia, has seen great attempts at weaving similar tools into the curriculum. Gaudreau said teachers have made “Dance Dance Revolution” — one of the first game titles to attract real national attention to exercise gaming — apart of the curriculum. She sees “Wii Fit” as a possible classroom tool if schools can get grants for the devices.

While the hype over “Wii Fit” has gained large momentum including large scale pre-orders since it was first announced, the true test of its success, Sawyer says, is at least a year down the line.

“The question is will we look back at “Wii Fit” and say that was a real seminal moment?” he said. “Or was it just another step in direction of more of the same attempts.”

WTF is UP with these companies and ‘multi touch’!?  I will NOT want to get my screen dirty with my grubby finger prints.  Sure, it’s cool.  But on my main screen!?  Get the F*ck out of here!  I have a feeling that this is going to be a  feature that most people will NOT use.

Linkage: http://gizmodo.com/393568/windows-7-features-revealed

I’m not getting rid of my Decks, but this looks awesome.

Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.