Five Diesels from Europe that will out-eco a Prius - Autoblog

Five Diesels from Europe that will out-eco a Prius - Autoblog

Be sure and check out the Audi A2!

Make:Blog rollup

Here are the last few interesting articles from the past two months on the Make:Blog. If you're a nerd, you should subscribe to their RSS feed.

• HOW TO - Boot XP from an ordinary USB drive
• Learn about physics from Walter Lewin (videos)
• The Great Escape - and other Maker films?
• Maker Faire - Fancy Knots
• $39 GPS logger
• Low power LED PVC flashlight
• HOW TO - Kite aerial "panography"
• PVC Light box / light tent
• A real tree "house"
• Super Grip your stuff with Plasti Dip
• Chair made from 4,000 CDs
• HOW TO - Make a super simple light tent
• $16 DIY Greenscreen/Bluescreen
• Instructables is hip
• HOW TO - Backup Files to a DV Camera
• HOW TO - Fire by Friction
• Build a $19 AVR Butterfly MP3 player
• American Inventor discussion - MAKE forums
• Build a pedal powered generator
• The Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge - Top 25 Inventions of 2006
• Easy to build, easy to use, water bottle launcher!
• HOW TO - Make a flash mounted home made DIY softbox
• Plastic you can mold in your home for DIY projects
• Orange-Peel house for campers
• HOW TO - Make a plastic clone
• Open Source Hardware and Industry
• Drive bay cover mod
• Using the sun to sterilize water
• Origins of Scotch Tape
• MAKE VIDEO PODCAST - Musical Instrument Innovation and High Voltage Electricity
• Train your brain with Brain Age for Nintendo DS
• DIY Video recorder
• HOW TO - Make a Motorola RAZR phone cradle with open source software and a waterjet!
• HOW TO - LED Earrings
• Optical Illusions blog
• HOW TO - Build a plexiglass PC case
• Cheap ethernet cables & more from Home Depot

MAKE is a quarterly publication from O'Reilly for those who just can't stop tinkering, disassembling, re-creating, and inventing cool new uses for the technology in our lives. It's the first do-it-yourself magazine dedicated to the incorrigible and chronically incurable technology enthusiast in all of us. MAKE celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend technology any way you want.

Dan's cats

Tonight a friend of ours had us over for a dinner party. It was a magnificent meal with great friends and we loved everything. Dan has two very cool cats. The one above this text (both pictures) is named Sencha. Her sister, Pekoe, is shown below. Notice that Pekoe's front paws are pointing west and her back paws are pointing east.

Cabela's - $139,999.99 shotgun

Cabela's - $139,999.99 shotgun
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

This is a 12 gauge over/under shotgun with three barrel sets and a case. It was made by James Purdey & Sons. I assume it was a an antique. We saw it when we were at Cabela's new store in Buda.

Bob Schneider with Strings Attached

Last night, we went to St. David's Episcopal Church to see Will Taylor and Strings Attached. Their featured performer was Bob Schneider.

Before the show started, we preordered a CD of the concert we were attending. They had a portable CD duplication system that could make 14 CD's at a time. So, after the show, we went to the next room and stood in line for 15 minutes and Amy grabbed our copy of the CD. She then strolled over to Bob and told him that she's a fan and he autographed the CD. She was stoked.

If you don't know about Strings Attached, go check out their site.

Gene Simmons is working for who ?

I had no idea that Gene Simmons was pimping Indy. He even wrote a song called "i am INDY"

: "The Indy Racing League's partnership with Hollywood-based Simmons Abramson Marketing is highlighted by the 'i am INDY' campaign and signature song, co-authored by KISS founder Gene Simmons and BAG.

The effort is the first official theme song for a modern professional sport. With its growling affirmations and foot-stomping, 'We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions' sensibility, the 'i am INDY' song forges a resonant link between the drivers and the IndyCar Series fans."

Looking for a house in Round Rock ?

This one looks like a deal...
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors - Property Detail

Going to the Apple Store

Amy's getting close to purchasing a notebook. We are going tonight to look at additional models that a friend suggested. She's definitely buying an Apple. Tonight, we will compare the 14" iBook and 12" Powerbooks (along with the other iBooks and Powerbooks).

Cool Site: Lifehacker Volume 2

Here's some cool articles or posts that I've found on Lifehacker in the past couple of months. This site alway has great stuff. They describe their site this way:

Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the downloads, web sites and shortcuts that actually save time. Don't live to geek; geek to live.

• Geek to Live: Laptop tips
• Don't give out your Social Security Number
• Ten Ways to Attract More Traffic to your Website or Blog
• 12 Things You Can Get Besides News on the Web via RSS
• DIY home improvement for beginners
• Reverse dictionary search
• How to brew beer
• Hack Attack: The self-sustaining iPod
• Download of the Day: Handbrake DVD ripper
• Keep headphone wires from getting tangled
• DIY camera hacks
• Dell PC buying tips
• Pay bills online now!
• How to whistle loudly with two fingers
• Geek to Live: Extreme makeover, filing cabinet edition
• Find similar sites with Similicio.us
• How to take great digital portraits
• Download video from your favorite video sites
• South by Southwest podcasts available
• Call for help: Digital movie organizer?
• Getting to Done: Pimp your Mac Mini
• Finding Free Conference Podcasts
• How to set up reBlog - killer server side feed reader
• Be smart about your Smart Playlists

Another tree...

(taken with my Treo 600 smartphone)

Dynasty - A Survey

When you hear the word "dynasty", which of the following comes to mind?

• Dynasty - A full size front-wheel drive sedan made by Dodge. It was the twin to the Chrysler New Yorker and was available from 1988 to 1993.
• Dynasty - A studio album by the band KISS, released in 1979. It contained the hit "I was Made For Lovin' You".
• Dynasty - An American primetime soap opera that aired on ABC from 1981 to 1989. The series revolved around the Carrington family.
• Dynasty - A term used to refer to a team that dominates their sport for an extended period of time. The Chicago Bulls of the 1990's are an example (6 championships between 1991 and 1998)
• Dynasty - A succession of rulers who are members of the same family for generations. The term is also used to refer to the period during which that family reigns.
  

Brothers of a feather

Yesterday, we ordered tickets for 'The Black Crowes & Brothers Of A Feather: An Acoustic Evening with Chris & Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes'. This is a very exclusive tour and it just kicked off Friday at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, SC. At Friday and Saturday's shows, they played for nearly three hours. It will be our first show at The Cactus Cafe.

We last saw The Black Crowes on March 8, 1999 at the Austin Music Hall. We also saw (and met) Chris with New Earth Mud at the The Mercury in Austin on November 22, 2002.

Bra Tree produces fruit (close-up)

We came home today and found that the tree in our front yard, had a bra in it. It's size ? 34A - Padded. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen a bra in this tree...

Today is Origami announcement day

Today is the day and there is much info already available. The only availability information I've seen is "soon". The vendor websites (Sanyo and Asus) don't yet have info or press releases.

• Interview with Otto Berkes - Origami's Architect gives first look at Ultramobile PCs
• The Ultra-Mobile PC (at Microsoft)
• The Origami Project - Week 3
• Ultra Mobile PC (at Intel)

Here are the Hardware Specifications

• Approximately 7” diagonal display (or smaller)
• Minimum 800 x 480 resolution
• Approximately 2 pounds
• Integrated touch panel
• WiFi- and Bluetooth-enabled
• Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 OS

The Simpsons

In case you haven't seen this, it's the intro to the Simpsons using real actors and scenery. They did an outstanding job.

IX Paralympic Winter Games 10-19 March 2006

Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7, at 12, the Opening ceremony of the Paralympic Village of Sestriere will take place.

The President of COMPARTO Tiziana Nasi, the director general Dario Fabbro, the mayor of the Village Ivo Ferriani (competition manager for bobsleigh, skeleton and sledge at the Olympic Winter Games Torino 2006) and the two vice-mayors, Piero Gros and the multi medalled Paralympic cycling and athletics champion Claudio Costa will take part.

On Saturday, March 4, the two Paralympic villages of Torino and Sestriere opened their doors to athletes: in Torino there will be 300 people (athletes, technicians and accompaniers) while in Sestriere the guests will be about 1.000.

To have access to the ceremony it is necessary to be accredited for the Paralympic Winter Games."

No, thanks

I was at the dollar store and noticed that this was the only candy that NONE of the kids in front of me asked their parents for. Who would have known that people (including children) don't want to eat something that looks like a rat ? I bet the company's marketing department is still scratching their heads over that one.

Spiral

More Origami stuff

The official site says that we'll find out about Origami on March 9, 2006. I think this date only represents the announcement of the platform, followed by press releases from the various vendors about when actual products will be available. I expect that none of these devices will be available before September 2006.

Somebody unearthed the video below. It appears to be a commercial for the new Origami platform. It seems consistent with the vision and it's clearly too well produced to be a hoax.

Enjoy the video.

Microsoft Origami speculation

There's a great deal of speculation on the net about Microsoft's Origami project. I'll jump onboard the speculation train.

Features we need:

• Price $500 - $1000 - At the lower end of this price scale, it's a great deal. It's going to be difficult to justify a purchase like this for more than $650
• USB 2.0 Host - This is an absolute requirement. What this means is that I can plug any USB device into it (including hubs to provide more ports, digital cameras, digital media players, USB drives (hard, optical, removable or flash), keyboards and mice, printers and all other USB devices with Windows XP drivers.
• Hard drive - This is an absolute requirement. Capacity should be 20GB-30GB at the lowest price point.
• OS - Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
  
• Synchronization Software - ActiveSync
• Wireless - 802.11G (nice to have), 802.11b (necessary), Bluetooth (necessary) and IR (no added value for 99% of users).
• Ports - Serial (at least one), Parallel (not needed), USB (at least two), Video Output (VGA and some kind of consumer video output), Audio Out, and Microphone In.
  
• Optical Drive - External only. Make it optional. Because of this requirement, It should be able to easily get the OS reinstalled, either by having it available in a safe partition on the hard drive or by having the OS embedded in ROM.
• Memory card slots - Leave them out entirely. With USB host, I can either hook up my camera directly or carry a small flash card reader.
• Microphone - Absolute requirement

Not subdued

the subdudes - Austin, TX - 2006-03-03
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

Last night, I went to see the subdudes with Jason, Matthew & Al. It was the third time I've seen the band and we had a great time. If you haven't heard of them, you can download several of their songs for free at their subdudes.com.

I was hoping that Amy would be able to go, but she had to fly to Alabama for a family emergency. I did get her a cool t-shirt at the show. Be sure and keep that info under your hat.

Softick Card Export II for Palm OS

Softick Card Export - Evaluation
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

A couple of days ago, I downloaded and installed Softick Card Export II for Palm OS for my Treo 600. My SD card reader has seemed shaky over the last few days. That's how I transfer podcasts to the Treo so that was a problem.

Once Card Export II is installed, just run it and Windows 2000 and XP will recognize it as a storage device (just like a USB flash drive). From there, it's a simple matter to copy files over. The app is also available for Windows Mobile.

This is the evaluation version and is good for 30 days, I will be purchasing it in a couple of weeks. At $14.95, it's a bargain.