25 thoughts on “October 15, 2014: Development”

  1. Groupon has a deal on Samsung Galaxies today. I've wanted a tablet for a while now, so this caught my eye. Anyone with any specific experience one way or the other? Also, what size tablet do you have, if you have one, and is It a good size? Deal here

    1. PS - I also have a $10 off coupon for Groupon, so I'll be getting an even slightly better deal if that tips your scale.

    2. I have an iPad Air and love it. For the most part it has completely supplanted my 15-inch MacBook for anything except longform writing projects and digital media management (photos, music library, etc). I paired it with a Bluetooth keyboard, which I take to work. The battery can do more than a day of pretty heavy email and Internet browsing on a single charge. I probably would have been okay with an iPad mini, but I decided to get the larger tablet as a laptop replacement and thought the extra screen real estate for watching Netflix and writing. Traveling with the iPad instead of a laptop is a dream.

      1. I got J an iPad Air last fall when she was having some computer issues. She loves it and uses it almost all the time, except for writing things which she does on her laptop. I have an iPad Mini Retina and I love the size. I use it a lot less. I use my laptop when I'm doing schoolwork and use my desktop when I'm at home. I mostly use my iPad when I'm travelling or web browsing/Netflix laying in bed. I think the larger size would be a tish more functional, but it depends on what you use it for I guess.

    3. I bought a (2012) Nexus 7 for the wife and would like to think she likes it. The 2013 edition was popular and a 2014 edition will probably be coming out.

      My biggest concern with regards to any mobile device are software updates. Android device manufacturers have spotty support for keeping the OS updated. The Nexus devices from Google are pretty good: 18 months to two years of updates can be expected. Apple is better about this. You can expect updates until the new OS won't run well on the device; that's about three years, but may be longer as devices stop increasing in speed so rapidly. This ignores people rooting their (primarily Android) device and upgrading at their own pace.

      1. I have a Nexus 10 that I got shortly after it debuted and I love it. In my mind, 10 inches is a good size as it offers a distinctly different form factor than my phone . I use it as an ereader, a game platform (I have digital versions of Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, and Ticket to ride, so I can play board games on the road really easily), and a work tool (email and mindmapping are the most useful. I can do limited remote desktop, too).

        If you're going with Android, the Nexus devices are awesome as they are usually a pretty decent value and get software upgrades for quite a while. Additionally, they are very open, so if you want to tinker with root/ROMs, you can extend the useful life even further (The nexus one phone can run the latest version, 4.4.4. It isn't without bugs, but that it can still run it with pretty much full functionality is pretty insane since the phone was released 4.5 years ago).

    4. I bought a Galaxy Tab 3 Lite in July (so its smaller than the ones on that groupon link)

      It is my first tablet, and I love it.

  2. There's a good chance I will be at Bunkers around 3:00 pm to see if KC can clinch the pennant, in case anyone is nearby and wants to stop in for a cold one.

  3. The Foo Fighters have taken up residence at the Ed Sullivan Theater this week and have put on some great performances/ Last night, Heart joined them and played 'Kick It Out'

    turn your volume to 11.

  4. Limitless power!
    Not the Onion, apparently.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.

    Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work.

    Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire told reporters.

      1. One of my favorite jokes applies here:

        Soccer is the sport of the future in America, and always will be.

        1. Men in Blazers' tagline is something like "covering soccer, America's sport of the future since 1972"

    1. Until there's significantly less hydrogen left on earth and all the helium is escaping earth's gravity.
      We'll have to find a way to mine hydrogen. I think there are some in fossil fuels.
      Separating them from their hydrocarbon chains will probably require burning the fossil fuels, though.
      /Just enough college chemistry to be dangerous.

      1. The earth is getting heavier, so that rate of loss must be slowing down and eventually will be reversed. Here's the proof:

        Dear Chris,

        I have just read your comments regarding the loss of mass in the earth. I feel that you have forgotten a key amount of gains that are causing the planet to grow in size. This is the mass generated by plants. Plants take in the suns energy to grow. As the plant grows it sheds leaf and branches these cause the surface to raise. This can be proved by the depth you must dig down to find archaeological finds.

        On this note, I have been looking for some time for evidence or theory of the amount of gravity today compared to 50 million years ago. I would be happy to receive your comments on the above.

        Kind Regards,

        MARK SCOTT

  5. Twayn bait.

    recent dynamometer tests of an Achates two-stroke engine in a full-size pickup truck have produced remarkable reductions in fuel consumption.

    Achates says that against the most advanced four-stroke diesel engines, its design can cut fuel use by 30 percent--a significant amount when even an improvement of 0.1 mpg is considered worthwhile on CAFE testing.

    Started in 2004, Achates (pronounced "Ah-KAY-dees") has had test engines running for nine years now and has raised more than $100 million in venture capital.

    1. Hmm. The article claims the engine is horizontally opposed, but the diagram indicates it is actually vertically opposed when installed in the vehicle. (Closer to a Slant Six rather than truly vertical, but whatever.) And two crankshafts like the later Junkers Jumo. Interesting.

Comments are closed.