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SoloScuba

Technology

Huge Texas Wind Farm's Turbines Will Be Made in China

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 10.30.2009 44 Comments
Clean tech has seen a boost as the U.S. pours government funding into renewable energy, and China looks set to reap much of the benefits. Latest example: a Chinese wind-turbine company has just become the exclusive supplier for one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S.

11.1.2009 at 09:38am - Comment by SoloScuba

I understand it is cheaper to get these items from China, just once it would be nice for a company to do the right thing and not the cheap thing. I understand they have a "bottom line" and shareholders and all the other reasons businesses have used to send work and manufacturing to China. At what point will these businesses do the right thing for the country? Of course a lot of this is our fault, we want the best for the cheapest price we can find it. I have a little game I play called, Don't buy Chinese. When I have the opportunity I buy items made just about anywhere other than China. It is a challenge and when I do find something not made in China, I'll often buy it even if I don't need it right at that moment. Maybe if we were all willing to spend a little more for items NOT made in China, these companies would get the message and start to invest in this country.
Gadgets

Apple's Magic Mouse Mates a Multitouch Trackpad With Traditional Pointer

By John Mahoney Posted on 10.20.2009 10 Comments
Good idea: ditch the annoying scroll nipple (especially annoying on Apple's previous mice) and turn the entire top surface into a multitouch trackpad. That's what Apple's done with the Magic Mouse. Is this the end of the scroll wheel?

10.27.2009 at 09:49am - Comment by SoloScuba

I have the current Mighty Mouse and while the scroll ball can get gunked up, especially with sweaty hands, I like it just fine. I used the new Apple Magic Mouse at the Apple Store this weekend and I really like it. Of course I like the whole new iMac that comes with a wireless keyboard and the new Magic Mouse. I can hardly wait to upgrade from my Mac Mini to the new iMac. Then I'll use the Mac Mini to stream video to my television. I'm not an Apple "FanBoy" as some may say, I just enjoy good products working the way they should and having a pleasant computing experience. For those of you who oppose Apple products at every turn, try purchasing one, giving it a chance then make your decision. Don't spew your negative opinion about products you've never used.
Gadgets

How The Apple Tablet Could Ruin Computing

By Tom Conlon Posted on 8.6.2009 92 Comments
Though whispers of an Apple tablet device practically predate Australopithecus, this week they’ve reached a fever pitch. It’s been reported by several news outlets that the supposed iTablet will feature a 10-inch touchscreen, both Wi-Fi and 3G data, and a custom ARM processor. It’s already been priced at $800 and even greenlit by none other than His Majesty Steve Jobs for a September release. Not one iota of this has been officially confirmed, but the prospect of a Mac Tablet seems more within reach than ever before. This is not a good thing. If an Apple tablet is ever actually released, we should all be very concerned for the future of what most of us take for granted today: our digital freedom.

8.26.2009 at 06:47pm - Comment by SoloScuba

As already stated by others, if you don't like Apple, don't buy it. I have an iPhone and I'm happy with the app choices in the App Store. I have no desire to jailbreak my phone and take a chance it will not work. Having worked for AT&T Wireless in the past, I do believe they need their feet held to the fire. MMS and tethering not ready? They had plenty of time to make their system ready for those features, they are just trying to figure how they can justify charging for those features on the iPhone. AT&T makes a ton of money, their inability to be profitable is due to their poor customer service and poor management in general. We as consumers choose what products succeed and which ones fail by what we choose to purchase. The best thing Apple could do to make the iPhone even better would be to run screaming from AT&T as soon as they can and include another carrier to put pressure on AT&T to get their act together.
Gadgets

The Five-Minute Review: Nike+ Sportband

By Mike Haney Posted on 8.13.2009 1 Comments
While I love my fancy Garmin watch, most runners don’t need $400 worth of tech on their wrist. That’s why the Nike+ iPod system is so brilliant: cheap, stupid-simple and gives you the basic info—time, pace, distance—automatically uploaded to Nike’s training site. Which is why the utter lack of innovation since the system debuted more than two years ago has been disappointing.

8.18.2009 at 02:15pm - Comment by SoloScuba

Ditto on the Heart Rate Monitor. I've been using the Nike+ with an iPod for over a year. Yesterday the display said the sensor / transmitter battery is low. I'm thinking of getting this so I can upload my runs from multiple computers. Understanding they will have to have the Nike+ program on them. Thanks for that tidbit of information.
DIY

How to Make an iPhone App: Part Two

By Dave Prochnow Posted on 3.26.2009 2 Comments
The third and final installment in this series takes our App to market, err, the App Store. In the first part of this series, we covered the "nuts and bolts" for assembling a workable iPhone app development platform. Now that our desktop is cluttered with a mess of cables, it's time to roll up our sleeves and start cobbling some code together.

3.12.2009 at 09:51am - Comment by SoloScuba

I am not a programmer, but I so want to learn how to write apps for the iPhone because I think I have some unique and different ideas. I'm following this story very closely and I already have most of the tools needed. PopSci, do me a favor and when you add the final part, give us a link to download a clean pdf version of this story without the ads.
The Environment

Making the Most of **it

By Posted on 1.19.2009 19 Comments
In José Saramago’s novel Blindness, when an epidemic of sightlessness sweeps the city, among the foulest signs of civic breakdown is its inability to handle its own excrement. Human waste piles where it lands, left to the elements and not modern plumbing. To newly minted industrial designer Virginia Gardiner, we might as well be blind to our own waste. Her plumbing-free toilet project, the Gardiner CH4, makes us personally responsible for our intimate product—and makes it useful.

1.19.2009 at 09:34pm - Comment by SoloScuba

I think that Virginia Gardiner should be commended for TRYING to do something other than sitting in front of her computer and poo pooing (no pun intended) other people's ideas. Most of the comments reflect our inability to look outside the box and find new solutions to age old problems. While I see the need for this in underdeveloped countries, I think it's time for us to get off our high horse and take responsibility for our own waste. Every community spends millions of dollars to make going to the bathroom something we take for granted. Our attitude needs to change and we need to accept and learn new ways that don't waste water and money.
Technology

Explaining the US Airways Crash

By Stuart Fox Posted on 3.3.2009 25 Comments
Today US Airways flight 1549 made an unexpected stop: the Hudson River. After a troubled take off around 3:30PM, the Airbus A320 descended into the river on the west side of Manhattan. Local ferry operators immediately began to throw life vests into the water and pick up passengers, with the Coast Guard Cutter Ridley and NYPD arriving shortly there after. All 148 passengers, as well as the 5 crew members, are all alive and accounted for. An FAA report said that a flock of geese likely caused the crash.

1.16.2009 at 10:58am - Comment by SoloScuba

This story hits home for me because I fly every Monday and every Friday for work. As some have already mentioned, it's good to hear a story with a happy ending these days. The flight crew did an outstanding job and this is proof of the importance of continuing training. I know I will be listening a little closer to the pre-flight briefing this afternoon as I prepare to fly home for the weekend.
Gadgets

Middleweight Camera Championship

By Sean Captain Posted on 12.2.2008 2 Comments
Size is an issue with cameras. I miss a lot of good shots when I don’t feel like lugging around a hefty SLR (such as my current fav, the Nikon D90). And while my pocket camera (presently a Canon SD800) is easy to tote, the image quality is more for “snapshots” than “photographs.” I, and a few other shutterbugs around the Popular Science office, have been looking into the middle category of cameras: big enough to take good pictures, but not so big that it’s a burden. Now is a good time to look, since several camera makers have fresh midsize camera offerings.

12.2.2008 at 04:09pm - Comment by SoloScuba

I have a Canon G9 and I really like it. I bought it to replace a Canon SD630 that was stolen. I need a camera that fits in my laptop case but has a lot of flexibility. I especially like the 3" LCD screen. While my other cameras may have had ISO adjustments, it's really easy to use on the G9 with a knob dedicated to that function. I take a lot of photos in server racks and other tight places where a flash causes too much reflection. I simply dial up the ISO to 200 to 800, whatever keeps the camera shake icon from coming on, snap the picture in macro and I'm good to go. With the manual flexibility I'm experimenting with different f stops and shutter speeds to create the results I want. I also like the pre-programed underwater mode. I've used this on my other Canon digital cameras I've owned and it's a great feature. I'm going to buy a underwater case from Canon for this camera and I can't wait to see the photos I can take while SCUBA diving. I looked at getting a DSLR and still may one day, but the G9 has really fit my need of an everyday shooter.
Technology

Bytes in the Air

By Posted on 11.23.2008 9 Comments
As I post this, I am thousands of feet above San Francisco, on a Virgin airplane, surrounded by press and partygoers celebrating Virgin's imminent roll-out of wireless internet to their passengers. The in-flight service is provided by a carrier called Aircell, which spectrum geeks may recall won an exclusive ten-year contract from the FCC in 2006 to provide air-to-ground broadband at 3MHz. Onboard, a standard 802.11 wi-fi network works with all standard devices.

11.23.2008 at 08:32am - Comment by SoloScuba

To have the ability to text my wife the status of my flight or just to chat with my daughter from the plane would be fun. I fly EVERY week, on Monday away from home and on Friday back home. So, for me staying connected to my family is important. And if I just want to relax, as much as you can on an airplane with Jabba the Hut sitting next to you, I know where the ON/OFF button is on my iPhone. Paying for it, though? That's so 90's.
Entertainment & Gaming

10 Terrible Tech Ads

By Tom Conlon Posted on 4.2.2009 2 Comments
If the late-’90s dot-com boom was the original Golden Age for awful TV tech ads, then today we are surely living in the Renaissance. Yes, back then we had the Pets.com sock puppet and lots and lots of chimps, but take a spin around the dial and I think you’ll agree that there are now more technology-related ads on television than ever—most of them quite terrible. Here are the ten that bug me the most, and I invite you to please cut loose in the comments on any offenders I neglect to mention.

11.22.2008 at 12:27pm - Comment by SoloScuba

As for the "Hand of God Phone" comment on the iPhone commercials, I really never saw it as the Hand of God but I guess that's one way to look at it. I'm not a fan of commercials, I usually fast forward through them but I think Tom misses the reason why some of these commercials are so repetitive. I heard someone use the phrase United States of Amnesia and I think it's true (see I can't remember where I heard it from) we have a really bad history of not remembering so companies do what's called "Front of Mind". It means repeating something over and over so it stays in the front of our mind. For example Coke is a world recognized symbol and product, but they still spend millions on advertising because they want to keep their product in the Front of our Mind. Any company that has the money will spend millions to stay in the Front of our Mind. It will be interesting to see what will happen with the recent lowering of gas prices, will we forget the high prices of a few months ago and return to buying inefficient vehicles or will we finally wise up? As for the iPhone commercials this is one of the few I don't fast forward through. Since I don't have a lot of time to search through the App Store or read updates online, I often learn of some new app or function I didn't know about before that I can use on my iPhone.