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Dr. Samuel Says
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Weirdness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Monday, 11 February 2008 |
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An interesting product concept is making the rounds on various tech, design, and gadget blogs. It's the Yuno PC, and it's essentially a touchscreen-computer-slash-coffee mug. Actually, the concept itself isn't as interesting as the discussion trailing in its wake. Much disagreement over whether the Yuno is (a) real, (b) possible, (c) desirable, or (d) flatly ridiculous.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 February 2008 )
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Rants
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Thursday, 07 February 2008 |
Having recently, somewhat reluctantly, attempted a migration to Mac, I've noticed a few things. First, years of using Windows has most certainly trained me (brainwashed me?) to expect certain things from my operating system. I've come to assume that basic functions like saving, moving and converting files between applications will require several right-clicks, drop-down menus, and open windows. Mac's big selling point -- at the core OS level -- is that it greatly simplifies these things into a universal drag-and-drop paradigm.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 February 2008 )
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Bidness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 06 February 2008 |
There's a great throwaway scene in Steven Spielberg's otherwise overrated Minority Report. As Tom Cruise's character walks through a crowded public space, dozens of holographic billboards turn to address him directly, by name, shilling various products and services. Minority Report was based on a story by sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, and like the rest of his work, is filled with oddly prophetic moments that presage 21st century trends.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 February 2008 )
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Weirdness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Friday, 01 February 2008 |
The nature of websurfing has, at its essence, a certain quality of lateral drift that I much enjoy. I might start out the day browsing for recent trends in sub-symbiotic artificial intelligence, say. Or major league baseball. And within a few dozen clicks I find I'm scanning Swiss real estate ads, or downloading Gaelic instrumental covers of Led Zeppelin songs. You just never know.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 01 February 2008 )
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Bidness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Thursday, 31 January 2008 |
If you're planning to be in NYC this weekend, and looking for a date, I'll be attending the first annual Greener Gadgets conference on Saturday at the McGraw-Hill Conference Center in Manhattan. In keeping with the spirit of the event, I'll be camping on the shores of the Turtle Pond in nearby Central Park. No-impact camping, of course. Stop by if you can. Just ask around in the park -- the locals know me.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 January 2008 )
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Smart Design
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
My nephew Calvin, being 15 years old, is naturally several light years ahead of me when it comes to understanding the particulars of digital music. He's a good lad, though. Very enterprising. He once created an entire bit torrent network expressly for the purpose of sharing and distributing old Devo records. It's so nice to see a respect for the past from the young people today.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 January 2008 )
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Arts & Science
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 23 January 2008 |
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More from the meta-weirdness beat: Clearly, information is moving around in profoundly different ways in the Internet Age. Virtually every aspect of communication, personal and mass, is changing -- and I don't use the word "virtually" coincidentally.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 23 January 2008 )
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Weirdness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Friday, 18 January 2008 |
By now, everyone knows about the Chuck Norris Facts website and attendant phenomena. This is a perfect example of an idea that, in 1983, would have been a xeroxed 'zine making the rounds in Austin, Texas, or somewhere -- but in the 21st century is a worldwide pop cultural touchstone. Neat the way that happens.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 18 January 2008 )
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Bidness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Thursday, 17 January 2008 |
Apple's recent announcement at the Macworld expo that it will be offering downloadable movies via its iTunes system left me with many ambiguous and contradictory feelings. A typical reaction for me, any time I have to listen to Steve Jobs. Remember when Jobs was the likeable hippie underdog, and Bill Gates the terrifying corporate titan?
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 January 2008 )
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Arts & Science
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Thursday, 17 January 2008 |
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Several years ago I was involved in an ambitious, top-secret project for Weyland-Yutani concerning RFID (radio frequency identification), the technology that uses embedded radio transponders as a kind of universal, invisible barcode system for people, places and manufactured items. RFID has since come under severe scrutiny for various health and privacy concerns, but back in those days we didn't sweat such small details. That's the fun of working in theoretical R&D for a ruthless technology firm.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 January 2008 )
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Weirdness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 16 January 2008 |
Interesting article in the Times this week, concerning the area of brain-machine interface research. Loyal readers know that this has long been a hobby of mine, ever since working on the ED-209 project at Oni Consumer Products back in the 1980s. That didn't end well.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 January 2008 )
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Bidness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Friday, 11 January 2008 |
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Well, I managed to miss most of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. I programmed my tesseract
matrix to create a D-space temporal loop, so I could cover more ground
by flipping myself back in time, but instead somehow wound up at the
second Continental Congress, ratifying the Articles of Confederation.
Again! I've been trying to fix these bugs, but all my beta testers keep
disappearing.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 January 2008 )
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Arts & Science
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
Standalone holographic technology -- think Star Trek's holodeck, or the various instances in the Star Wars films -- is still many years away. The trick is creating freestanding imagery without a containing medium, you see. You can create holograms on surfaces, in blocks of glass or plastic, or even ice, but actually projecting them into thin air. Well, that's the trick isn't it?
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 January 2008 )
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New Toys
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
Hey, I like LED technology as much as the next guy. But let's be frank. The light-emitting diode isn't as sexy as it once was. Sure, it was exciting when Oleg Losev published his initial (and largely ignored) research in the 1920s. But since then, really. LED: What have you done for me lately?
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 January 2008 )
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New Toys
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
Sorry about the interruption there -- received a last-minute assignment from the Justice Department to head up the missing CIA videotapes investigation. I clocked a few days' work up in D.C., but finally decided to pass on the project. I figured, who needs the grief? Grilling dim-bulb CIA drones all day is not my idea of a good time. So I gave the gig to my old college roommate John "The Bull" Durham. John's a tough old bird. Heads up, Langely!
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 January 2008 )
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