Josh Taylor's Blog

Nokia 6120c Overheating

Josh Taylor — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 10:04:32 +0000

I was able to obtain this information from 3 as I have been expriencing the same problem with my 6120c. It’s not supposed to be givin out to the public. Sometime last year, not sure when Nokia admitted that the 6120c was made with different components which is causing it to overheat, but they say it’s completely normal for the 6120c and it complys with the standards.

Another one of those chalk drawings

Josh Taylor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:37:31 +0000

Ok so the world didn’t end on Wednesday and it’s nearly the end of the term, so here is another one of those chalk drawings I like………..

The Terminator is back

Josh Taylor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:29:22 +0000

At this year’s SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles, Taisuck Kwon (from the Kyushu Institute of Design) demonstrated his latest work in the realm of “photo real” robots: robots designed to reproduce the facial expressions that human beings take for granted. Unlike the robots that assemble consumer electronics or detonate IEDs, the photo real robots convey emotions, using articulated humanoid facial features designed to put people at ease, “especially seniors and toddlers.” The robots have an underlying mechanical configuration that mimics the muscle structure of the human face, involving 26 moving units in total, with servomotors and actuators used to manipulate “muscles” beneath the “skin.” See a video here.

Big Brother in your car

Josh Taylor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:25:31 +0000

Of all the things that seem unfair about car insurance, this is perhaps the worst: Infrequent drivers who log less than 5,000 kilometers a year, are charged roughly the same as long-distance commuters who cover 30,000 kilometers a year.

High-tech advances may end this inequity soon, but the cure could be worse than the disease – if it’s not carefully regulated. Occasional drivers will soon have a chance to lower their insurance rates, but only if they agree to extensive electronic tracking of their driving habits.

New gadgets installed in cars will be able to tell insurers how many kilometers drivers have logged, what times of the day they drive, and even how frequently they abruptly stop and start. Other incarnations of the technology involve GPS devices that can even tell insurers precisely where drivers have traveled, and if they obeyed local speed limits.

Don’t drop the ball

Josh Taylor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:17:51 +0000

The robot table pictured below will never drop the ball.

Keeping a ball balanced in the centre of a metal plate is not much of a party trick. But if someone gives that ball a shove, chances are you won’t react fast enough to stop it flying off the edge. Unless you are this mechanical table.

Francesco Prosperi designed the gadget with the lightning fast reactions needed to keep the ball balanced. To see it in (impressive) action, click here.

The ball sits on a vibrating FLEX board with embedded microchip controllers. The ball is tracked using the same method in a touchpad or touchscreen, and two servomotors tilt the table to bring the ball into balance whatever happens. Not likely to be in the shops soon, but it’s certainly fun.

Go to space for $2

Josh Taylor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:10:57 +0000

Most of us will never go to space – at least, not for a decade or so. But while we may not be able to go on a space walk or bounce around in zero-G, the prospect of being able to send something into the Great Beyond sounds like a decent consolation.

IntoSpace.org is hoping to make that happen for a mere $2.

You pay $2 for the rights to a 0.4×0.4 inch block on a piece of paper, on which you can include a photograph, piece of text, or logo. If you purchase more than 20 blocks at once, you’re eligible for a small discount. There are around 250,000 blocks available, which means IntoSpace could potentially earn around $500,000.

It sounds like a neat idea, especially for the ridiculously low price. Unfortunately, it seems that the site hasn’t really figured out the logistics of actually getting to space. There’s a tentative launch year of 2010, but it seems the site has yet to work out any further details:

The right to choose the company (space agency) which carries out space programs and the way of catalog delivery into space is due to the organizers of the project. Sending of the catalog into space is due to be realized within 2-year time frame after the last seat in the catalog is booked (excluding VIP and free invitation seats).

And, of course, the site reserves the right to change its terms at any time without any notification.

It could easily be a scam – it would be nearly impossible to ever verify that IntoSpace ever made good on its promise. But I can’t help but picture the site’s founder, Arthur Stubbs, triumphantly carrying his massive binder of photos as he boards one of the first consumer flights to leave for space.

Wall climbing car

Josh Taylor — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:47:07 +0000

Well if that wasn’t interesting enough – watch out for the presenter of this remote controlled car. Takara Tomy’s AeroSpider RC car, which mystically scales walls and cruises upside-down, is finally shipping this month in Japan.

National Debt Clock Runs Out of Numbers !!

Josh Taylor — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:40:04 +0000

It’s official. We’re hosed. The National Debt Clock near Times Square has just run out of spaces to add more zeroes to its running count of our national debt, thanks to the one-two punch of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout and the $100 billion used to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before that.

National Debt in June 12, 2008

Convert Center – change that unit

Josh Taylor — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:36:36 +0000

No this is not yet another youtube converter, it lets you convert from one unit to another (meters to centimeters etc) online. This is more useful for students who want to quickly convert from one unit measurement to another. Any unit you can this of – check it out here.

The Botnets are coming to a phone near you

Josh Taylor — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:32:47 +0000

For many years, we saw stories, usually pushed by security software companies, about how mobile phone viruses were some huge threat that had to be dealt with quickly before they spread around the world. Of course, that hasn’t actually happened — and there are some good reasons why it’s unlikely. In fact, it seemed like such stories had been decreasing lately, perhaps in part due to some security firms scolding competitors for mobile virus FUD.

So, we were a bit surprised to see yet another story on the subject, this time suggesting that we’re on the verge of (I’m not making this up) a “Cell Phone Zombie Uprising.” Some researchers are predicting that mobile phones would be perfect for botnets, though, again it’s not clear how that would actually happen, given the limitations of phones. While it is true that phones have become more powerful (and open) over the past few years, there still hasn’t been much evidence that viruses and such are a real threat. Most phones are designed well enough to not make it easy for apps to just install themselves — so consider us skeptical until there’s real evidence of a mobile botnet rising.