• Automobile manufacturers are getting better at making better engines, but;
• There's contention around how much power is actually sent to the wheels
• Essentially, "they" say that the average transmission (manual or otherwise), soaks up about 40% of the power generated by the engine
• But since we develop lead foots and quick rivalries at the red light, we don't care and stomp on the gas pedal anyway, so;
• We end up paying more at the pump and end up paying more for newer cars that claim faster 0-to-60 times

Thomas Kasmer, a US inventor, has invented something he calls the "Hydristor", that will:

• Transfer 97% of the energy from the engine to the wheels and let the transmission soak up only 3%
• And save stopping power in a hydraulic container; meaning:
• Theoretically, one could stop from 70 to zero in a few seconds
• One could use that stored stopping power to go from zero back to seventy within a few seconds - again, theoretically.

And for the saner drivers amongst us, the better transfer ratio would mean lesser stops at the pump and greatly, greatly increased gas mileage.

Also, since this isn't gas-variant based, this would very well be deployed in any country on the planet that uses fossil-fuel-derivative locomotion. Translated, the entire civilized part of the planet. Translated, the entire world, no less.

Ergo, two things could happen if this is anywhere near true:

• If Kasmer has the right patents in place, it would probably take him a few months to beat Bill Gates in personal wealth, and/or;
• Become the most wanted person on the planet on so many different lists that he'll probably have to use that money to build himself a spaceship and leave the planet to stay alive.

And, for the average commuter:

• We'll still keep buying cars, enamored by ads and pretty faces and slick slogans; but,
• Those cars would probably employ a hybrid of hybrid technology (ooh, alliteration) and hydristor technology, thereby making a gas stop a monthly maybe rather than a weekly weep.

I can live with most of that. The way I see it, we'll probably see Kasmer's new house on Cribs if all goes well for him, or this subject will mysteriously vanish from the news if it doesn't.

Kudos to Kasmer, but don't hold your breath for any of the above to see the light of day. Its gotta weave its way through tons of political bureaucracy, EPA approvals and fight the might of the global petroleum powerhouse that believes it controls the world. And its probably not too far from being right, too.

As if the Internet weren't chock-full of ways to date people already, here's a link to a news story about how the a German court upheld every Wal-Mart employee's right to flirt.

Well, y'know - they're known for being efficient....

Back in the States, here's how a California school is probably going to ensure that all its kids are not only fit and have excellent hand-eye-foot coordination as they grow up, but also that they'll be the heroes of the video game arcade at the local multiplex!

Getting Dance Dance Revolution into a school under the guise of making for fitter kids doesn't really say much for that school's gym teacher and facilities, does it?

It isn't every evening that primetime programming is interrupted. Its worse when the interruption is a tsunami warning for the entire Californian coastline.  Its even worse when you recognize the exact spot on the map that shows up as the epicenter as a place that you've been very near, not too long ago...

Mapping the USGS epicenter data on Google Maps had it show me this. That's a curious clearing there, ain't it? Even more interesting is the solitary piece of civilization not too far away, if you zoom out a few levels...

Hope everyone's safe. Oh, and happy Flag Day...

A few days ago, the Stanford Daily ran an article about the lackluster response for a Playboy "photo audition call" for an upcoming "special" (careful!).

Today, the San José Mercury News ran an article about the response (the link may require you to sign up for a free registration at the Mercury News website), and it didn't imply that the response was "lackluster", in my opinion. It did not say that kids were lining up or falling over themselves to get into the audition, but it didn't exactly reflect the previous story I'd heard about this.

I think I preferred this Stanford sentiment on "eye-catching photography" a lot more. T'is better to raise money for tsunami victims than sales for Playboy.

If you've not been in school for that time, what's the longest you've written in the last six months? Two pages at a time? Three? What was that magic number when you started thinking - "I could do this much faster on a keyboard!"?

Fortunately, with it raining blogs all over the Internet, we haven't quite seen the death of penmanship as the text-messaging naysayers had previously predicted with gusto. Then again, photo and video blogs are gaining ground as well - and perhaps we'll soon see the Internet grow to a gazillion petabytes worth of media goo, full of pictures and movies that everyone wants everyone else to see and comment about.

"SMS" is probably the most overrated three-letter acronym on the planet today. Its actually become a selling point for some telcos, most of whom depend on the average consumer's ignorance of the difference between a text message flying between two cellphones via "email" and via "SMS". I don't even see why the average consumer should care how it gets there as long as it does. It could be SMS, WAP or carrier pigeon. Perhaps its the whole American Idol thing that makes SMS so "cool". Perhaps its the whole Brit thing. Perhaps its those annoying Jamster tunes. Seriously, who buys those?!!

And then there's the other "MS" that's derived off SMS. Its called "MMS"; a SMS-ised cute way of saying "send your cameraphone pictures from one cellphone to another". Here's another way of saying it that most telcos don't want you to know about - "send it as an email attachment from one cellphone to another"! It can be done as easily - and has been for a long while now. None of this is rocket science. Its just a lot of people paying for stuff they already had, and not knowing it.

Imagine my pleasure when I heard of the old-but-wise fingers of an 82-year-old Morse code guy beating the supple-and-quick fingers of a 13-year-old at a game of speed-messaging...that'll make for nice set of supplementary ammunition for my next "GSM versus CDMA" deathmatch.

Perhaps I'll rechristen it as "Slower than Morse, Sucker!"

Before it came out, I thought the concept behind Sync magazine was a stellar idea. Somewhat of a "lifestyle" magazine for the digerati in the upper echelons. Best Life meeting Cargo, if you will. After three issues, I think its the first magazine that I would call a real rag. I rememer taking a while to read through the likes of PC World and MAKE - and I've always seen myself put Sync down after about ten minutes. And its not just flipping through; I'm really looking for content - honest! There are often little gems one can find buried near the seam of tech magazines and periodicals; and I hate to miss out.

And then there's the glaring snub at the fairer sex with their tagline - "Stuff for a man's life". I wonder if its an all-male editorial office. Still doesn't explain the crappy chick pictures they try to sprinkle around inside their magazine, though.

In my opinion, a yuppie digerati magazine should have more than just glossy pictures of widescreen plasmas with pretty young somethings draped over 'em. That's great garnish, but far from the meat on the bone. I'd like it to have some well-done reviews of all these splashy new things, and not just something that goes - "This is cool. Buy it." - 'cause most people who qualify as digerati would turn around and ask a resounding "Why?!".

Summary - Sync stinks.

It was either their last issue or one of the standard in-flight magazine fare that had me coming across an interview with the "inventor of the cellphone, who sold the patent to Motorola for a dollar". That's another addition to my list of things to do with a time machine! Anyway, upon further Googling, it turns out that Dr. "Marty" Cooper - the self-proclaimed inventor of the cellphone and the holder of the one-dollar-check from Motorola as payment for the patent rights, has apparently made that claim several times in the past; and there have been some serious detractions to his theory. In fact, some websites call it a complete fairytale.

If his story is true, it makes me wonder about a tangent - if he did sell his patent rights to Motorola for a dollar, then does Motorola get a cut out of every piece of celullar telephone technology sold? That would make it an interesting stock to hold..

Cellular telephony is one aspect of life today that I don't see evolving into a completely changed avatar in a hurry. TVs changed from CRTs to LCDs and DLPs and plasmas. Stuff went BlueTooth, networks went wireless, cars went hybrid - but I don't see cellphones morphing int something else in a hurry. Perhaps they'll have fuel cells, and perhaps we'll be piping videoconference calls and TV and the kitchen sink over the xG airband in a while; while talking over super-small transceivers and the sort. But I just dont see 'em going away.

And as for Dr. Cooper - if his story is true, I feel bad for him. I don't see how he could sell something that he created with so much passion and had so much vision for - for a dollar. And if its not - I wish him well for his appearances on CourtTV after doing ditto on regular TV.

They say modern medicine has increased the average lifespan significantly, and that modern drugs are capable of letting the human body withstand a lot more than it could in the past. In addition, nutrition and exercise are getting to be an exact science, and apparently we've got all the ingredients today that would theoretically allow the average human being to live a long, healthy life.

And then we hear of Burger King's latest effort to help us understand that "breakfast is the most important meal in a day". At 730 calories, this is either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. The country has been on the low-carb, Atkins-friendly, eating-at-Subway-after-working-out-at-Gold's Gym thing for a while now; sorta making most either head to the gym, or consider heading to the gym. And then one of the largest fast-food chains in the country releases something that sounds fundamentally contradictory to everything the average weight-watcher holds sacred.

This makes advertising for it a moot point, of course. I'm sure everyone's heard of it already. And I can imagine some execs at Burger King conjuring up a simple calculation: "If 150 million adults have heard of it, and if only 1% actually buy it once a month for six months; we'll make $45 million". I ain't no finance major, but I think that's a pretty good chunk'o'change.

So, we have modern medicine that can kill and cure for the good of all mankind. And then we have faster cars, increasing pollution, fattenning and artificially preserved foods, higher-stress lives and a growing fixation on violence in the news and in the media that can certainly have an impact on the average mind. I guess this is what they call a "natural balance"!

What got me thinking about mortality and health on a Sunday morning? A picture of a 101-year-old lady dancing on stage. I think it deserves a Pulitzer. If one considers a list of things that can truly motivate one to aspire for good health, a long life and overall well-being; this has to be among the top five.

The last time I'd heard of "beaming brainwaves" was during one of the earlier Batman movies; the one with Jim Carrey cooking up a hairdryer contraption that would beam holographic images into the wearer's head while letting him read the wearer's mind. That movie had some really good lines, like:

• "Your entrance was good, his...was better" (The Riddler to TwoFace after Batman crashes through a skylight)
• "Riddle me this, riddle me that - who's afraid of the big, black bat?!" (The Riddler to Batman, after he's figured out the Bruce Wayne - Batman connection by reading Batman's brainwaves)
• "..for if information is power, then I am...God!" (The Riddler - talking about his invention)

Anyway, that was then. This is now - Sony's filed a patent for "beaming sensory information directly into the brain".

One could sorta draw a parallel to the Matrix as well, but I think its the Batman movie that deserves the "reel-to-real" credit for this.

And if this patent involves the other half of Riddler's device as well, I don't think I'll be stepping into a Sony "fun booth" anytime soon!

The bigger they are - the louder their news gets. (Sujeetism). Applies to celebrities, politicians and pretty much anyone who is newsworthy.

And Mercedes is very newsworthy.

The company is recalling 1.3 million cars (worldwide) to fix a problem with alternators and batteries. There's some more autobabble in the recall notice, but I figure this is big - especially with gas prices and the overall oil  / economy making everyone consider going hybrid. '

I wonder if the Mercedes brand loyalty will withstand the recall ordeal when it comes time to buy / lease the next one.

That was bad. This is downright unfortunate. A Mercedes-owner in Kuala Lumpur had his index finger cut off by thieves who needed it to restart his car after they had "coaxed" him into starting it the first time.

That's a solid attestation to the ups and downs of biometric authentication. The upside is that it works really, really well. The downside is that anything today that is valuable enough to have in-built biometric authentication usually makes for a very desperate / ruthless brand of burglar.

Its not the first time it happened at UC Berkeley. A news report in October 2004 stated that "The files contained approximately one million names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for participants in California's In Home Supportive Services (IHSS), a social services program for disabled and low-income elderly residents.". A million. That's six zeroes, and it probably slipped under radar 'cause the whole SB 1386 thing wasn't quite that well nailed down just yet.

That was then - about six months ago. One would think that losing a million records would scare 'em to bolt things down, wouldn't you? Well, guess again. A news report today reported that another 98,000 records were lost due to laptop theft.

So, either its a fluke and the thief just wanted a laptop; or it was very focussed and the thief knew exactly what he / she wanted. The college lost a laptop and had to notify 98,000 people. The affected people at the bottom of the chain; may have to contend with losing sleep for a considerably long time after this.

For starters, I know laptops have been very "in" for a while now, but stuff like personal information just doesn't belong on anything that can be fundamentally described as "portable storage". Its got to be on a server that is bolted down to a rack, which is secured behind an access-controlled door behind a few big guards protecting the front doors of the concerned institution's data center - however small that "data center" might be. Else, its got to be severely protected - anywhere from super-high encryption with split keys known by separate people and/or biometric authentication right up to a retinal scan. At the rate at which massive amounts of identities are leaking out via theft today, I don't think any of the above is overkill.

Don't wait for tomorrow or "later today", people! Lock it down, lock it down, lock it down. It hits hardest when it hits close to home, and with our current social infrastructure making the Social Security Number the single point of failure; stuff can (and probably already had) start getting real hairy real quick.

In other California news, Sony lost a patent-infringement lawsuit; something to do with "tactile reponse"; and the judge in question stated that the sale of Sony's PlayStation 2 should be stopped in the US for now.

The ruling isn't in effect immediately, and many doubt it ever will - but it does make for interesting publicity for Sony at a time they need it the most. Its like the Paris Hilton video coming out right before the debut of the Simple Life. Sony's pushing the PlayStation Portable to everyone who will listen (and has the ability to cough up $250-odd for a device that could very well be obsolete within the year); and the extra publicity wouldn't hurt. In addition, it really doesn't hurt 'cause the ruling isn't in effect and the news could very well cause people to "snap up the remaining PlayStations on the shelf before they're deemed illegal". Translated, people will either be dropping $150-odd on the PlayStation 2, or $250-odd on the PlayStation Portable.

I don't think anyone at Sony's really sweating this one out..

Just heard about the 8.2 quake / aftershock (of the December 26 quake) off Sumatra.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050328/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

An 8.2 aftershock? That doesn't sound good...

A couple of weekends ago, they had "10.5" playing on one channel and "Sum Of All Fears" playing on another - both free channels, and t'was broadcast during primetime hours on a weekend.

So, lets see - should we watch an earthquake separate a chunk of the West coast from the rest of the nation, or should we watch a cigarette vending machine go nuclear on the East coast?

Why do they make movies like this in the first place?! If the point is that there are those who can buy nuclear material and make "stuff" out of them and get it into the country - I think we've had several movies reinforce that conjecture enough already. If its meant to scare us into building bunkers in our wine cellars - I think those who can and want to; already have. If its meant to make us "live a fuller life" and "treasure every living moment"; try savoring that thought for the rush-hour commute.

Oh, well - I hope t'was a fun Easter weekend Happy Monday, best wishes for the week ahead, and I hope you're done with your taxes!!

The green theme is perfect for today, ain't it? St. Patrick's Day is another one that sorta confuses me. I understand its the Roman Catholic Feast Day that celebrates St. Patrick - the saint credited with using the shamrock to teach the Irish about the concept of the Holy Trinity (that God existed in three distinct persons - the father, the son and the Holy Spirit); but why is the day best known as the day he died celebrated with a feast in his honor? Doesn't that sorta indicate that we're celebrating his passing, instead of his arrival?

Scott Peterson was sentenced to death today. I know I should be in favor of the verdict (everyone in California seems to be), but there's a part of me that wonders if it was the media that biased most of the minds against him through all those TV shows, TV movies and the rest, or if there was truly enough evidence that made the jurors agree upon a death sentence for him.

Contrast that against the (in)famous OJ case, wherein he walked, and ditto for the surviving two suspects of the Air India Flight 182 incident. A court in British Columbia (a province within the same country that recognized the incident as the largest mass murder in their history) released the two suspects involved in the case. The case ran for 20 years and has cost $130 million so far. And the two walked today, today. Technically, this makes the case an "unsolved" case after 20 years of very public investigation by two different countries. 

So, examples of botched court battles abound in the world - from the celebrity (Robert Blake was acquitted today) to the gruesome (The Air India Flight 182 suspects were acquitted today); but the media focuses its attention on sentencing a fertilizer salesman with a mistress for the death of his wife; even though the evidence is frugal, at best. No, I'm not supporting the guy - I'm supporting the truth - which in this case, is characterized by an absence of damning evidence and/or anything that the average investigator would call a "smoking gun". If the guy's guilty, I welcome the decision. However, if he's not - I do know of people who've been released from prison; after serving 15 years of a death sentence, 'cause a DNA match now proves their innocence. I would hate to be the judge, or among the jury, who were part of that verdict.

I believe that the judicial system is based on evidence, and that everyone is "innocent until proven guilty". In Scott's case, I think everyone "sorta knew" he was guilty because he "looked guilty", and of course - 'cause he had a mistress (who, by the way, went on to publish a book about the affair that dragged Scott's overall persona into the ground some more - and made her some money).

Cheating and lying makes him a bad person; but does that convert circumstancial evidence into grounds for a death sentence?

Bill Gates was knighted today. No, it doesn't mean he gets "Sir" prefixed to his name. Why? 'Cause the US doesn't recognize Queen Liz as the head of state.

So...what does that mean? Um - I haven't the faintest. Bill could convert his citizenship and get a "substantial award". Stop laughing, there's more.

Translated, he can't get "Sir" prefixed to his name and can't make any money off it. And he was already one of the most famous and wealthy people on the planet before he got the title.

The proverbial tree falling in the forest, ain't it?

Happy Monday! Had a good weekend? Reading about the EA lawsuit this morning had me come across this interesting gem:

"Since 2000, California labor law has exempted some professionals in the software industry from overtime regulations. Companies do not have to pay programmers overtime if they make more than $41 an hour and engage in advanced work that is creative or intellectual in nature."

Interesting, isn't it? So, if you make $41 an hour in California, don't bother asking for overtime even if you're working weekends and the sort. And if you can exert influence on your payrate, try to get something below $41 so that you could make up for the $1 / hour loss through a single hour of overtime! I'm sure there are more than a million caveats, clauses and sub-clauses in this that employers can hide under, but its good to know that $41 is the magic figure.

What about the EA lawsuit, you ask? Essentially, it is a contention that:

EA's engineers should be eligible for overtime because they ``do not perform work that is original or creative,'' have no management responsibilities and are seldom allowed to use their own judgment.

For a company by the name of "Electronic Arts" who happens to be in the hypercompetitive world of video games, its interesting to see it being sued by its own workers, who quote that they do not do anything original or creative. Makes me wonder...

If you have a holiday today, lucky you - make the most of it. If you don't, take refuge in the fact that the "we agree to disagree on making this day a holiday" has as much history behind it as the holiday itself!

Have you heard about Bubbler yet? Its a Palo Alto startup with a plethora of predictably Palo Alto blah strewn all over its website. Equally predictable is the fact that one can get almost all one needs to know about the service on one page of the entire website. Don't take my word for it, but here it is. Does the world need another "unique" means to blog? Especially after Microsoft's plonked some of its mightly moolah into the mix? I think not, but I do wish the folks behind Bubbler all the very best. I also wish them all the very best in fielding calls from people who think they sell those bubble-spewing toys. That was my first thought when I heard the name...

There's another name in the list of Palo Alto startups that tends to grab quite a bit of attention, both in the news and if you're driving by. Danger. Yeah, that's right. Danger. The company that makes the famed electronic friend of the rich and famous. The SideKick.

'Cause, y'know, "everbody needs a SideKick". It must be true if Snoop Dogg says so.

Must've been a lot of fun the day some hacker got into the T-Mobile network and ferretted out tons of electronic data, including the picture / IM chat / email content on the SideKick servers. Translated, this means celebrities who took pictures and got into IM chats and sent email from their supercool SideKick had to contend with most of their data being made public.

Yes. Paris Hilton had a Swarowski-encrusted SideKick. Yes, she had "pictures" on it. Yes, they're out on the Internet...again. No, I'm not going to tell you where. No, it doesn't necessarily mean that I've seen them.  I think that girl's one helluva gutsy gal. Two tapes, a personal-PDA-full of pictures and a truckload of tattletale telephoto paparazzi shots later, there's still no stopping the lissome lass from doing her thing. I've never seen the Simple Life, or the sequel, or anything else among the Paris Hilton tranche of media (barring a featurette on E! about the sisters...), but she's welcome to my vote for Celebrity of the Year anytime. 

Heard about the ban on fox hunting, hare coursing and all other acts of killing mammals that was FINALLY enforced in the United Kingdom today? I wonder what all the royals will do with all their free time now. Paintball perhaps? Or would that present them with too much of a competitive scenario? After years of shooting at creatures who can only run and hide, stuff like paintball can be quite traumatic - the other side can actually shoot right back at ya!!

On this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected the first (and only) President of the Confederate States of America...in Montgomery, Alabama.

Exactly four years later, Delaware voters rejected the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Essentially, they voted in favor of continuing the practice of slavery.

I wish I could hate Delaware for that, but they did eventually come around, in 1901. And they're still a tax-free state...

On this day in 1911, the first official flight with air mail was completed in Allahabad, India (then known as "British India", of course). 6,500 letters were delivered by a 23-year-old pilot to a town about 10 kilometers away.

Interestingly, exactly nineteen years later, there was another flight-related piece of trivia that the world took notice of. Elm Farm Ollie (known locally as "Nellie Jay") was the first cow to fly in an airplane. On the same trip she also became the first cow milked in flight. This was done for scientists to observe midair effects on animals, among other reasons.

Between those two, I would vote for the former. Airmail is a critical part of our lives. Milking cows mid-air, is fortunately, not.

Birthday wishes to Enzo Ferrari (a name that needs no introduction, born 1898), Yoko Ono (of John Lennon fame, born 1933), Princess Christina of the Netherlands (of royalty & family fortune fame, born 1947), Cybill Shepherd (of "Moonlighting" fame, born 1950), John Travolta (of "has a Boeing parked in his front yard and is married to Kelly Preston" fame, born 1954), Matt Dillon (of 'Bourne Identity / Supremacy' fame, born 1964) and Dr. Dre ( of hip-hop and all things hip that one can get hopped up on...fame, born 1965).

Michaelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) died on this day in 1564. May he rest in peace.

If I was half as curious about history in my younger days as I now am, I would've done so much better in school!

The news reported a 3.2 earthquake a few miles South of home. Didn't feel a thing. If you want specifics, click on the "QuakeWatch" link in the "Right here, right now..." column on the right, and then click on the larger blue square. If that seems boring, here are some equally boring details;

Home is at:

Latitude: 37.2479 degrees North

Longitude: 121.8568 degrees West

Height: 121 feet

The earthquake occurred at:

Latitude: 37.2568 degrees North

Longitude: 121.6395 degrees West

Depth: 4.1 miles

The difference:

Latitude: 0.0089 degrees North

Longitude: 0.2173 degrees East

Depth: About 5 miles...

Translated out of GPSpeak, that's a reasonably large distance and depth.

The bottomline: Didn't feel a thing. There are a very few things that can do that after 1 in the morning..