Wednesday, January 16, 2008

High/Low Tech News

1. "Email in the 18th century"
  <http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/email-in-the-18.html>
"More than 200 years ago it was already possible to send messages
 throughout Europe and America at the speed of an aeroplane - wireless
 and without need for electricity."

2. "Second Life Closes Banks"
  <http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20037/>
"After months of financial scandals and fraud allegations, virtual
 banks got an eviction notice from Linden Lab."

3. "Commuters' body heat to warm Swedish office"
  <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/11/2136993.htm>
"A Swedish state-owned firm has found a cheap, eco-friendly source of
 energy to warm one of its offices: body heat from 250,000 commuters
 steaming through Stockholm's central train station."

4. "How Addicted to Apple Are You?"
  <http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/apple_addiction>
Apparently I'm 56% addicted, which sounds about right.  Today Apple
announced a super-thin notebook, the MacBook Air.  It looks great,
but too pricey for me:
  <http://www.apple.com/macbookair/>

5. "Best picture quality with 6 megapixels!"
  <http://6mpixel.org/en/>
Challenges the view that more megapixels is better.

6. "The Doh! of technology"
  <http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19626359.900-
     the-doh-of-technology.html>
"[W]e've rounded up five of the most shocking, surprising or downright
 silly that may have slipped under your radar"


Ok, this last one has nothing to do with technology, but it's the
funniest thing I've heard this year.  Both are in the wrong, but who
is in _more_ trouble?

7. "Couple divorces after running into each other at brothel"
  <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/10/2136113.htm>
"A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and
 spotted his wife among the establishment's employees."