Alright, I'm back with another SoN (Stories of Note) post. Some interesting news lately:
- Toshiba TG01 announced!
- First operational stealth ship
- Getting Top Gear USA, or not?
- BMW loses Design Chief Chris Bangle
- Parking violations lead to viruses
- Vacant Circuit City buildings turn into schools?
- Small iPhone carrier update
- Amazon's Kindle 2 Announced!
- College Humor's "Cell Phone Reunion"
- TED Talks plants for breathing
- Denny's crowded after Super Bowl Ad
- Lost thing in Flight 1549
Stealth has always been an interesting subject. Current stealth tech hides most from radar using angled surfaces to deflect the signals. we see this in fighter planes, most notably the F-117 Nighthawk. Well, it's now been applied to ships. The Swedish have designed a Visby-class Corvette that is "eletronically undetectable at more than 8 miles in rough seas and at more than 13.5 miles in clam seas". That's pretty awesome. Using silent waterjets and non-magnetic compostie materials made this possible. The waterjets were made by Kamewa, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce, and can move the corvettes at more than 35 knots.
If you're any sort of car enthusiast, you've heard of Top Gear. The UK Car show has long been a favorite of mine because of the cars they get to drive and the funny hosts. Well, NBC had thought of bringing a version of the show to the USA. Awesome. Then, they decided not to do it. DAMN. Jeremy Clarkson, one of the shows hosts, said that USA viewers "...just don't understand a sinlge word we're on about. They just don't get it really." No Jeremy, I do get the show. In fact, there are thousands of Top Gear fans in the USA. We get it. Apparently, the only ones who didn't get it were NBC execs. If you ever have serious plans to bring the show over to the USA, look to another big TV company. Besides NBC. We, the loyal fans, await.
Chris Bangle is man you should know. Well, you should if you like the last couple designs from BMW. You see, Chris Bangle was the Design Chief at BMW. He was basically responsible for all of it. Now, he's announced that he's quitting BMW and LEAVING the auto world completely. Apparently, there were some disagreements on a project and so, he outta there. Whether you like the recent stylings of BMW or not, Chris Bangle made a huge impact within BMW and the auto world.
Being a computer user, we are at risk of getting a virus. Yes, Macs have a lower chance of getting viruses, but they're still out there. Over the years, most people have learned to be safe. Therefore, the bad guys have new tactics to get the evil onto our precious systems. They've resorted to real life trickery. Pretend getting a parking violation on your car windshield. On it, it tells you to go to a website. The website has cars actually in that area and it asks you download a tool to see your vehicle and it'll tell you why you got the ticket. Download and BAM, infected with a trojan virus. Freaking bastards need to go get a life.
Ok, this one is weird, even to me. DJM Realty is in charge of handling the real estate associated with the bankrupt Circuit City. One of the things they mention is selling them to schools. WTF? According to them, there's an "interest among national and regional retailers and supermarkets. There are great opportunities for schools and other non-retail uses." Are you freaking serious? I can't imagine what'd a school would use it for? Storage? Tutor location? But, it'll be in strip mall areas where most Circuit City's were located. Just a strange story.
The iPhone had a carrier update a few days ago. Basically, all it did was add a few images that are basically logos. They're there for when AT&T releases their new Femtocell "MicroCell" service. Basically, it allows you to put a femtocell in your house, giving you like, your own cell tower. The update were just logos to show when you're connected to it. A nice gesture, but nothing really groundbreaking.
Amazon's Kindle blew up huge when it was endorsed by Oprah. Well, now the Kindle 2 has come out! With a update to the screen, bigger storage (2GBs vs. 256MB), and a new button style, the new Kindle looks to be a huge hit. To make the launch even better, they're going to include Stephen King's new novel "UR". They said the new Kindle can store up to 1,500 novels. Yeah, that's a little big bigger than my own personal library. Just kidding.
Just for fun, check out this video from College Humor of Cell Phone Reunion. It's funny. And I do own an iPhone 3G, but I try not to act like a snob. I try.
In his TED Talk, Kamal Meattle shows that using three plants--Areca Palm, Mother-in-Law's Tongue, and a "Money Plant" - he is able to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, remove organic compounds, and generally filter and freshen the ambient air. A single person needs around a minimum of 11 total plants. I think that's an awesome idea, although you'd be hard bent on finding place to put 11 plants inside your room. I know I don't have enough room for even 2 plants.
You may remember Denny's running a certain ad during the Super Bowl that promised free breakfast. Well, that day has come and gone, but Denny's is still being bombarded with business. Ever since, Denny's has been crowded and it looks like it won't let up any time soon. Looks like the commercial did it's job, pull the crowds in.
With almost all of us being computer users, there's one thing we should all do. That's backup your data. Although, it's kind of tedious and a hassle, it's a good habit to have. The problem comes with the backup goes bad. Or gets lost. Which is what happened to an Engineer at Software Associates, William Wiley. You see, William was a passenger on-board US Airways Flight 1549, the one that went down into the Hudson River. William backs up his data from laptop to a spare laptop. The problem was, he had both laptops on the plane. When the plane went down, everyone bailed for their lives, including William. Now his laptop and his backup laptop are awaiting drying and clearance before they can be returned. He estimates the value of the data at $30,000. The airline has given compensation of $5000. OUCH. Hopefully data recovery comes through for him.
That's it for this SoN. Until next time, remember to be noteworthy.
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