A Little Ludwig Goes a Long Way

A smattering of opinions on technology, books, business, and culture. Now in its 4th technology iteration.

Interesting matsci stuff this week

30 July 2007

* Perfect lens could reverse Casimir force (July 2007) - News - nanotechweb.org – a way to eliminate sticking forces at the nano/mems level. pretty fascinating. * Motor proteins (AAAS membership required) – “The biological cell is equipped with a variety of molecular machines that perform complex mechanical tasks such as cell division or intracellular transport. One can envision employing these biological motors in artificial environments. We review the progress that has been made in using motor proteins for powering or manipulating nanoscale components. In particular, kinesin and myosin biomotors that move along linear biofilaments have been widely explored as active components. Currently realized applications are merely proof-of-principle demonstrations. Yet, the sheer availability of an entire ready-to-use toolbox of nanosized biological motors is a great opportunity that calls for exploration.”

Ignition blog roundup

29 July 2007

OK well mostly Rich highlights.

* Tong Family Blog: iPod Backup – Rich points to a summary of ipod backup tools. L this is what you need. * Brett on field water purification. We just had an instance of giardia in the family so this is timely * Rich on home NASes. I’ve gone away from NASes as I always have an old PC around and it just easier to whack a bunch of usb drives on it and use it as a server. * Rich on Seattle Dim Sum.. Rich you have to take me to lunch at Top Gun someday and show me what to order

Software links

23 July 2007

* WikiMatrix - Compare them all – lists and compares all the wiki implementations * Forummatrix – same dealy for forums * MonkeyGTD – the fusion of wikis and GTD ideas is a strong draw to me. i religiously use my blackberry todo list, i wish it could be richer and embody more GTD functionality * Pictobrowser flickr viewer. nice way to view a flickr photo album * WIndows codec installer. Amazingly sad that you need tools like this on windows. * How to use photoshop to create a mosaic effect * Bust a name – better way to find domain names * I never knew the value of CTRL-SHIFT-ESC. ANother sad commentary * Turok -- maybe I will need to get a PS3

More Stuff I Want But Don't Need

16 July 2007

* Bell & Ross BR 01 Phantom – beautiful sparse design. Not sure I could ever justify 4-5K for such sparseness tho. * The Teslaphonic Organ – I pretty much love anything involving a Tesla coil. * Burning Rocks. They just look cool. * Ultralight Pack. If/when I ever get serious about hiking I will have to go ultralight * Electronic guitar tuner. Not sure that adding a bunch of electronics and a battery to the process really helps in guitar tuning…