IBM to ship new notebook line [IDG InfoWorld]

This new line of Thinkpads will have power to match most high end desktop workstations. Time to start saving my pennies...

10:15:51 AM    

Sheep slaughterman 'shot dead by accident'. UK latest: Foot and mouth culler was killed with bolt gun,jury told. [Guardian Unlimited]

Basic Gun Safety, folks:

1. Never point a gun at something that you do not want to destroy
2. Treat all weapon as though they are loaded, at all times
3. Never insult an armed person

10:12:44 AM    

Fusion controversy rekindled. A report that researchers have reproduced nuclear fusion - the energy source of the Sun - in an experiment divides scientific opinion. [BBC News: sci/tech]

I thought this was the whole point of peer review, that other people could attempt the experiment and either duplicate or refute the results. The big thing will be if/when we can set up the reactor to generate more energy than it takes to run it.

9:58:53 AM    

Batteries. Not too long ago I stumbled upon and interesting problem. I found a real situation, in which a company has more rights than "just a person." This is not about a billion-dollar lawsuit, or lobbying the government, this is about a simple AA battery. [kuro5hin.org]

Here is where you can get the industrial strength batteries, but you have to be a business in order to purchase them. Interesting that they do not want to sell these to the general public, though it makes sense from the perspective of apocraphal story of the company that went out of business by making light bulbs that lasted for years.

9:52:13 AM    

Solar sail flight delayed until September. The Planetary Society recently announced that it will delay the launch of its solar sail... [spacetoday.net]

Having had just read The Mote In God's Eye and The Gripping Hand in the past week, I'm looking forward to seeing if/how this technology will work. The idea is that the sail catches the light emitted from the sun, and as the photons hit the sail, they will propel it along. Details here.

9:43:46 AM