Month: May 2009

Google Partners with Itron

From nwinnovation.com :

“Liberty Lake, Washington-based Itron, a maker of smart electricity and other utility meters, has partnered with Google on its Google PowerMeter program, Google disclosed this morning. (May 20th) According to Google, Itron is the first partnership with a company which is helping to enable implementation of its software, which allows consumers to access and track their energy usage through the Internet. Itron’s meters are being used by one of Google’s first utility partners, San Diego Gas & Electric, which will allow its smart meter customers to access information about their energy usage through the Google PowerMeter widget software. Details on the partnership were not disclosed. ”

Google PowerMeter partners

Boston Dynamics’ “Big Dog”

While I find this technology to be quite impressive, I also find it to be CREEPY AS HELL. 😉

Here’s a video of Boston Dynamics’ “Big Dog” robot intended for use in Afghanistan by the US Army.

Why Mac OS X > Windows

I hopped on my road to geekdom in the 80’s when my family purchased a Commodore 64. In Elementary School I attended BASIC programming classes using Apple IIEs. In the 90’s I got my first PC, a 386SX running MSDOS 5 and Windows 3.1. For many years, I was a “Windows guy.” I bought more computers, built some of my own, and always upgraded to the newest Microsoft operating system. From Windows 3.1 I upgraded to Windows for Workgroups. From there I upgraded to Windows NT 4.0. Then came Windows 95, and Windows 98. My Windows journey finally stopped at Windows 2000. (I hopped on the LINUX train, but that’s a different story.)

Thinking back to all these Windows upgrades one thing stood out. Whenever a new Windows OS was released, I had to upgrade my hardware. Yes, hardware upgrades are necessary to take advantage of new OS features, but for the most part, the upgrades were needed because the OS itself became more bloated, and therefore needed more powerful hardware to run it. I never remember performing a Windows upgrade because the newer version used less RAM, or had been tweaked to run better on less powerful processors. It was always the opposite. The reason being is that Windows helps PC sales, and PC sales helps Windows.

Why do I bring this up? Because unlike Windows, Mac OS X actually gets tuned in each release in an attempt to shrink its footprint and allow Mac users with older hardware to utilize the newest OS version. The next version of Mac OS, code-named “Snow Leopard” :

dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos

AND

takes full advantage [of multi-core processing] by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors

Have you ever seen a Windows ad claiming that the newest version will take up less space and perform better on your current hardware? I haven’t. This is just one more reason why Mac OS X is > Windows.

Newest Star Trek Movie Reaches Audience Balance

To say that I’m a Star Trek fan, is a pretty big understatement. I’ve seen every episode of every Star Trek series at least twice, and have seen all the movies so many times I’ve lost track. I own Star Trek novels, Technical Manuals, toys, video games, and have even attended 2 Star Trek conventions. So, when I heard that Paramount was “rebooting” the franchise I was very concerned.

I just returned home from seeing the movie tonight, and to my surprise, I quite enjoyed it. The makers of this movie have somehow, inexplicably managed to make a movie that “ordinary” people will enjoy, without alienating existing Star Trek fans. Was Star Trek canon altered? Yes. Was it altered so much that I couldn’t enjoy the movie? No. Sure, the previously established Star Trek timeline and backstory has changed a little, and some of the crews’ relationships have been “tweaked” but in the end, knowing what damage Paramount could have done to the franchise, I’m happy with this movie.

The reason I’m still a little reserved in regard to my praise the film, is because until now, all the movies were based on a TV series, which is what Star Trek is, and should be at its core; an episodic television show that uses the envelope of Sci-Fi to discuss social topics and even provide some social commentary. Obviously, a Star Trek movie can’t really address social issues like a TV series can, (although Star Trek IV and VI did a pretty good job) so in that sense I can’t really say I’m 100% pleased with the direction that the franchise is going. However, disagreeing with the direction of the franchise doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy an action packed Star Trek movie with great production value, acting, and respect for the source material.

In my opinion, this new movie is the best reboot of the franchise a hardcore Star Trek fan like me could hope for. While I didn’t want a re-imagining of my precious Star Trek done in the first place, once I accepted that it was inevitable (it can’t stay the same forever, it IS 42 years old after all) I was able to go see this movie and have a really good time.

So, fellow Trekkers, go in with an open mind, don’t nit-pick the movie to death, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. I’d much rather have a different Star Trek than no Star Trek at all. Maybe, just maybe, this rework of Star Trek was needed in order for the franchise to continue to ‘live long and prosper.’