Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, Chores, then off to a competition to cheer on some friends, then off to a St. Pats day party that night. It will likely be very quiet around here until Monday, as Sundays are "off" and Sunday night I'm going to Frank's house to hang with him, someone I definitely don't get to see enough of.

Monday things will return to normal.

11:11:25 PM    

101 Dumbest Moments In Business [Slashdot] [Business 2.0 Article here]

Admission: I am not the the brightest businessperson ever. But, MAN!

10:27:51 AM    

The Bearable Lightness of Healing. In the next few years, a new form of therapy will likely play a critical role in treating injuries for athletes and patients. Light can bring injured cells back to life. By Kendra Mayfield. [Wired News]

Infared light, which has been used as a means of therapy in Europe for over 30 years, is starting to be used here in the States as a means of speeding the healing process. Sports teams are adopting it first, and we'll probably see this as a commonplace thing in the next 12 years, should it prove to be effective,  if the proliferation of MRI's can be used as a measure of how fast medical tech gets adopted.

I'm especially interested (read: Smelling snake oil) in the claims of healing spinal cord injuries, which thus far have proved to be the holy grail of modern medicine. Maybe some combination of stem cells and this could do the trick...

10:13:45 AM    

What Price Fuel Efficiency? Senate debate over automobile fuel standards boils down to dueling statistics and, of course, politics. Meanwhile, the real picture of a complex issue may end up lost in the fray. By Farhad Manjoo. [Wired News]

The arguments: Bigger cars are safer! Smaller cars are more efficient! Why can't we have big, safe cars? Audi has shown that Aluminum can be welded to make a frame from what was previously thought to be a great, but unusable metal, saving 40% in the this area alone. Acura was the first manufacturer to make an all aluminum production car, the NSX. It's been done! Why can't SUV makers start using it too? I know that there will be costs to re-tool and retrain their workers, but those can be written off as a one time plant cost. Cadillac could start, as GM has often used them as a test bed that they roll out new tech.

10:06:04 AM    

Airport Security vs. Cyborg Steve Mann [Slashdot] Also [NY Times][Kuro5hin]

Gargoyle pioneer Steve Mann gets his wearable computer forcibly removed by airport security in Canada, despite his having a note from his doctor stating the importance of his gear. Lesson: If you are going to be a pioneer of technology, please consider the following guidelines for any tech you develop:

1. Should be easily removed.
2. No matter how customized, you should have a backup/replacement handy.
3. Make it as unobtrusive as possible.

While I feel sorry for Professor Mann, I cannot help but think that he may have brought some of this on himself, given how uptight airport security has become. 

9:41:50 AM    

Russia unveils tourists' spaceship. Russia presents the prototype of the world's first reusable space ship, designed to make space tourism widely accessible. [BBC News: world]

Near space vehicle (around 100 KM above the earth's surface) that carries three passengers for $100k each. I imagine that this could also be used for slingshotting payloads into space. I also think this is probably similar in function to the XCOR project.

9:18:35 AM    

CeBit: Desks bust a rhyme. Olympia launches a gadget that will turn most any flat surface into a speaker, and Check Point Software unveils products for safer Web surfing on handhelds. [CNET News.com]  (Also on Slashdot) (Company Site)

Very cool technology. As long as audio fidelity is good, I look forward to seeing this roll out in public. Also, one of the products that they are developing is something that acts as a white noise generator for noise cancellation. Applications:

1. Noise deadening in urban areas, as it would likely be easier to retrofit this into an exisiting structure than to rebuild the structure with sound insulation.
2. In recording studios to minimize background noise.
3. In a car around the engine compartment and drivetrain to help quiet the car.

9:02:25 AM