October 2004 Archives
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October 27, 2004
Miata In and Out of Service
The Miata has been acting up for a while now -- pretty much ever since we took our last big road trip (a couple months ago).
Recently, the problem had gotten worse -- when going on boost it would suddenly lose all pressure, and then start gaining again. This made the driving very rough; I pretty much had to keep it off boost.
Taking it in showed 3 error codes off the computer: TPS, random misfire on #3, and running to rich. None of these seemed particularly related to boost issues. However, replacing the spark plugs seems to have fixed it all -- at least, the check engine light hasn't gone back on. It's nice to have the car running smoothly -- and powerfully -- again.
It got new breaks, and an oil change as well. And with the new tires (Bridgestone S-03s) from Costco and a recent car wash mean the car is looking and acting quite well again. At over 75,000 miles now that's not bad at all.
Just as long as everything goes well with smogging next year... ;)
October 25, 2004
Finally! A DVD Rewinder!
It also supports the rewinding of MP3s found on the DVD or CD. This is good, because we all know the hassle that is caused when you're trying to play your favorite MP3s and you forgot to rewind them last time.
Unfortunately, it won't autodetect if it needs to rewind MP3s or not, so you have to slide the little lever. It's still an absolutely tremendous time saver!
Coming soon: DVD rewinder shaped like a car!
October 22, 2004
How Little Electronic Components Are Made
Gizmodo : Circuits Discover... Each Other
And by little, I mean young... :p
October 19, 2004
Bold Coffee != Strong Coffee
Russell Beattie Notebook - Folgers Breakfast Blend
... at least when you're talking about caffeine content.
October 14, 2004
More on Google Desktop
"
Google Desktop Search is preparing an index that will allow you to search through your information as fast as you can search the web.
# This is a one-time process that may take several hours.
# You may continue to use your computer as usual and it is safe to shut down your computer.
# Indexing will only be performed when your computer is idle.
"
That's scary. "Several hours" ?
It sounds like it only works with the IE cache. I'm a Firefox convert, not sure how well that'll work. It did want to close Firefox, though.
It also apparently can inject it's results into regular Google web searches. Now that is useful as that means it should work with the Google Deskbar which I use frequently.
We'll see... several hours, and I'm on a P3...
Google Desktop Search!
Google Desktop Search Download
Apparently it can search email, files in many formats, cached web pages, and other stuff.
Search is what Google thinks can replace organization. "Since you can easily search information on your computer, you don't need to worry about organizing your files, email, or bookmarks. You can just do a quick search for what you remember seeing, instead of having to remember exactly what file, email, or web page had that information, and where that item is now located on your computer."
If only this could apply to real life physical things, like my clutter on my real world desktop. ;)
We'll see how well this works and how fast it is compared to the various searches built into Windows.
October 6, 2004
Motion where there is none
The brain makes the wheels move unless your eyes stand still on one spot for a little bit. When I do that, I see the motion stop in an expanding circle around where I'm looking. It's fun, but also a little scary that our brain plays such tricks on us.
October 4, 2004
Virtual worlds
This project is quite interesting in that it's essentially a multi-user collaborative 3D UI. Any existing application can be run in the context of this 3D space. Everything can be local or globally connected.
This application, which is often called a game but isn't exactly a game on it's own, has been shipping for over a year. You can't run existing applications, but one does have the ability to create games and applications. It allows the owning of "land" (what essentially amounts to server space and resources). Everything is kept on a server; there is no local option.
We've come a long way from VRML! The metaverse described in Snow Crash is a reality, in many ways... and it'll only improve from here.
