Monday, April 15, 2002

The Futuristic Segway Scooter Is a Publicity Success. The importance of Dean Kamen's "It," may have as much to do with the scooter's future engine as with the scooter itself. By Teresa Riordan. [New York Times: Technology] When I think of an engine I naturally think internal combustion like we see in cars and more importantly, direct mechanical power. But I'm almost positive that won't be the case here. When and if Kamen starts incorporating his version of the Stirling Engine into the Segway and iBot it's probably going to be as a replacement/supplement for the batteries that power the scooter. I wonder how efficiently a Stirling Engine in conjunction with a generator can convert fuel into electricity? 9:02:15 AM     The Science of Pitching, Redux. In baseball, a pitcher's motion has long been the subject of scientific analysis. Now, the coach of a talented staff is getting even closer to figuring out what works and what doesn't. By Steve Kettmann. [Wired News] As far as I know the Mariners aren't doing anything with this yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if their excellent young pitching coach Brian Price gets them up to speed shortly. From what I've seen and heard he seems to be a pretty computer savvy guy and puts it to good use when working with his pitching staff. I give him a lot of credit for the M's success over the last few years. 7:40:14 AM     A Top-Secret, One-of-a-Kind Mac. A private computer museum in an old barn may have the rarest Mac ever: an apparently unique computer evidently made for a spy or military agency. It's so secret, no one knows anything about it. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News] That's pretty wild. It's too bad they don't have the motherboard anymore. The Black Mac would be even cooler if it was still functional, but I guess that is kind of unlikely. 7:32:07 AM

© Copyright 2002 Jason Gilman. Last update: 4/15/02; 7:32:09 AM.