ZogBlog

I found the following over on Michael Flanakin's blog. This is apparently patented: US Patent No. 4,320,756. What do you think? I always thought that your sewage line had noxious (sp?) fumes in it. If so, then this would definitely be a bad idea.

Described as a "Fresh Air Breathing Device", this tool was invented by William O. Holmes to enable persons trapped in the upper floors of a burning building to survive toxic smoke by inhaling "clean" air through the water trap of a toilet until they could be rescued.

Gizmodo links to Thurott's review on WinSuperSite. From Gizmodo:

Paul Thurrott has a review up of the Xbox Media Center Extender kit—the package that lets you stream Media Center recorded content to remote TVs via your Xbox—and it's pretty much a must-read for anyone considering using the (fairly) recently-released devices. While it has a lot to offer to Media Center PC owners, a few glaring oversights, like a remote thats incompatible with other Media Center devices (and vice-versa) and the decision by Microsoft to force users to keep the software DVD in the Xbox at all times instead of loading it onto the hard drive keep it from being a clear winner. His short take is that it's good for those already hitched to Microsoft's wagon, but it isn't going to win any new fans.

Then Engadget has this cool HOW TO: Using a Media Center PC through your Xbox. Engadget also has copious photos and a few video (WMV) links: MCEE Overview and the Engadget how-to video.

Man I wish I had an extra $2000 to buy a Media Center 2005 pc and the XBOX MCE Exender. Sigh.... I guess I need another raise.

My mom called yesterday and told about this exciting "new" projection technology in her clock. "It projects the time on our bedroom door!" Naturally, I told her about this recent Engadget article by Dan Wu:

Cambridge University researchers have created a more efficient holographic laser projector, capable of generating 200 holographs a second (which would make for very smooth video), which could see potential use in handheld devices, notebooks or PDAs. The image could be focused at any range and operates by “steering” light, instead of blocking and wasting light energy the same way current projector lamps do. Save your Star Wars references, though, as this is 2D video only, friend.

Recall that theater movies, TV and HDTV pretty much all run at 24fps (frames-per-second) where as the average video game runs at 38+ fps. This baby runs at a blistering 200fps. Of course the real question is how clear the resulting picture is... for this we look at the ppi/dpi (pixels or dots per inch). Printers routinely run at 600 or 1200ppi on average, LCDs at 72ppi (or in the case of my powerbook < 72ppi due to its fuzzy display and low resolution = 1280x854, definitely not UXGA).

Funny aside: Mom also had a question (because she's about to order DSL) about this N.I.C / etheridge cartridge thing... lol.