Peak Oil = De-Globalization + Re-Localization?

March 24th, 2010 Jobe Roberts 4 comments

It’s quite possible that the world’s peak oil production has already past us.  Soon the demand for oil could exceed supply.The World’s peak oil production rate is believed by many to be when we hit 77 to 88 Million of barrels per day.  After that, it gets more expensive to suck oil out of the ground and we will have less of it to go around.  This might mean that we could be returning to a world with less cars, less worldwide shipping, and more local production of food and products.

This is my simplistic optimistic hope, in reality it might turn out to be much more disruptive than simply returning to the way things were.  People could get all mixed up about what to do and panic, but I think it’s more likely that we’ll simply adapt and change as needed.  I suppose we’ll all find out if and when the price of oil goes up and never comes back down.

Here’s a neat documentary that predicts that more expensive oil will lead to the end of suburbia which is so dependent on the automobile:  The End of Suburbia.

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How to Fix Your Skittles Leak

March 16th, 2010 Jobe Roberts No comments

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Please note: this site has gone retro…

March 1st, 2010 Mitch Brisebois 3 comments

we’re having some technical glitches that brings us ‘back in time’… sorry for the inconvenience.

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Artificial Cigarettes the Alternative Smoking eXperience

February 23rd, 2010 FakeCamel 5 comments

Not too many people will dispute that cigarettes are likely to kill long term smokers.  Not to mention that smoking gives smokers bad breath, yellow teeth, makes their clothes smell bad, and can make them really sick with heart disease, cancer, or emphysema.

So why keep smoking, if it’s so bad?

One reason people keep smoking is because tobacco contains nicotine which is addictive.  There’s support for the idea that smokers that are motivated to quit smoking for health reasons will have a slightly better chance of succeeding if they use a nicotine replacement such as nicotine gum or a nicotine patch. [Real-World Nicotine Gum and Patch Quitting Rates].  If you’re a smoker trying to quit you might be alarmed to find out how many smokers relapsed within six months.  However, I know first hand of several successful ex-smokers (it is possible to quit smoking for good).

Electric Cigarettes – safe alternative or gateway to addiction hell?

It’s possible that using electronic cigarettes could prolong a smoker’s addiction to real cigarettes. There’s also a good chance that e-cig users could remain addicted to electronic cigarettes.

Nicotine is poisonous and can kill an adult if too much is consumed at once.  This nicotine delivery method is a relatively new technology; e-cigs appear to have been invented in Hong Kong about five years ago.  They consist of a battery, a vaporizer and a cartridge filled with ‘e-juice’ (propylene glycol, nicotine, and artificial flavouring).  Sucking on one will open a valve that triggers the battery to vaporize the liquid which produces what looks and feels like smoking real cigarettes.  Pictured here is a USB e-cigarette with no battery, it can be plugged into a computer USB or into an electrical outlet and puff away.

Almost the same as smoking, but not quite..

A smoker will notice right away that electronic cigarettes are not on fire and don’t actually burn anything and so there’s no need for a lighter or matches.  The burning part adds quite a bit to the overall smoking experience (both good and bad).  Once lit, a cigarette races towards its end.  There’s only so much time to consume a cigarette before it is gone.  This isn’t the case for e-cigs, they’re always on and ready to use; unless the battery needs re-charging.

The vaporized propylene glycol ‘fake smoke’ has about the same density and mimics the sensation of inhaling real tobacco smoke.  Blowing it out, the vapor will dissipate more quickly than real smoke but it looks quite convincing.  The taste is similar to tobacco but is slightly sweet.  The available flavours include artificial tobacco, menthol, strawberry, chocolate, rum, cola, clove, coffee, watermelon, and so on.

The amount of nicotine in each ‘puff’ varies depending on the e-cig brand.  This is by far the most confusing aspect of electronic cigarettes.  The high nicotine levels that I have tested are indeed much stronger than smoking a strong cigarette.  A few puffs in a row will go straight to your head, and can make you feel sick in the pit of your stomach even if you’re used to smoking.

Also available are e-cigs without any nicotine just propylene glycol.  They taste and feel the same but there’s no nicotine buzz, (except for what you imagine).  From the smokers I’ve talked to about vaping, some are anxious to give it a try, while others are not interested at all and don’t plan on quitting.

Health Canada advises not to use electronic cigarettes.

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Apple ‘Reinvents’ our 12 year-old ActiveEdge UI

February 2nd, 2010 Mitch Brisebois 2 comments


Way back in 1998, Jobe and I dreamed up a new type of interface – perfectly suited for mobile devices. We called it Active Edge. The patent was granted in 2002. It resembled the touch interface that is currently the rage, but was confined to the 4 borders of the display. The user could control the device simply by interacting with the bezel of the display. (Above are sample screens and a device prototype by industrial designer Laura Mahan)

An active edge user interface includes dynamically configurable flexible touch areas positioned near the perimeter of a display to support interactive communication between a user and a user environment for flexible active touch areas surrounding a display. The interface allows for multiple levels of sensitivity, texture, key travel, and varying widths of active touch areas based on the user environment.

As a bonus, the Active Edge UI contained piezo-electric plates to simulate effects such as physical bumps or accelerating scrolling. Alas, Nortel decided not to build this.

Today, Apple is granted a patent on essentially the same invention – 12 years after our original filing! Their ‘touch sensitive bezel’ is described as

An electronic device has a display and has a touch sensitive bezel surrounding the display. Areas on the bezel are designated for controls used to operate the electronic device. Visual guides corresponding to the controls are displayed on the display adjacent the areas of the bezel designated for the controls. Touch data is generated by the bezel when a user touches an area of the bezel.

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Dyson Re-Invents the Hand Dryer

January 24th, 2010 Jobe Roberts 11 comments

Wow!  What a wicked wipe this new Dyson hand dryer seems to be.  I anxiously await my first close encounter with the new amazing Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer.

Most of us are used to the rather lack-luster experience of drying our hands with one of those old school hot air hand dryers you find in public washrooms.  You stand there rubbing your hands around and eventually they become slightly less wet than they were when you started.  However, as I understand, drying your hands with an electric hand dryer costs up to 90% less than using paper towels. The only problem is that most of us would prefer towels over waiting for a slow hand dryer to do the trick.  I often choose to wipe my hands on my pants or shirt instead, although I would agree that this is not ideal.

Well, that is where Dyson’s new hand dryer comes in to speed up the process (only 12 seconds to get your hands dry) and save even more money with 80% less energy costs than a traditional warm air hand dryer.  This unit will wipe the water off your hands like a windshield wiper using purified air traveling at a whopping 640km/h.  Now that’s fast and efficient.  I want one in my house!

Well, I’d better try one out first, so I’m looking for the whereabouts of the first airblade hand dryer installed in the Ottawa / Gatineau area.  If any of you spot one of these at your local toilet please let me know where it is and what you think.  Um, this YouTube demo, pretty much gives you the idea of what to expect.

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TabletMac Now Available for $699*

January 21st, 2010 Mitch Brisebois 1 comment

Who knew? Everyone is waiting for the Chosen One’s product announcement, yet a Mac tablet has been available for a while. Axiotron will take *customer-supplied Macbooks and for 7 bills or so turn it into a swanky tablet.

The downside is that it’s still a bulky, heavy, full featured laptop. Pretty cool for a mod though. You would think that Apple would wage war over this – but quite the contrary. According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple registered “TabletMac” in 2005. It was granted in 2008, but Apple transfered ownership of the brand to Axiotron.

We can safely say that ‘TabletMac’ will not be unveiled next week! Some have suggested the iPad (due to a trademark battle) or the iSlate… Personally, I hope that Apple drops the silly ‘i’ thing.

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What’s Cooking Steve? Apple’s new patent applications

January 21st, 2010 Mitch Brisebois No comments


Fresh off the press at the US patent Office are some interesting filings by the Cupertino Cult.

1. POWER MANAGEMENT CIRCUITRY AND SOLAR CELLS – Are shiny solar cells going to be the ‘new aluminum’? This invention describes a clever mechanism of virtually re-ordering cells to produce constant voltage in the case that certain cells may be obscured by usage of the device. Production of this technology would certainly enhance Apple’s ‘green cred’, as well as being a great convenience for users.

2. PARKING & LOCATION MANAGEMENT PROCESSES & ALERTS – your iPhone becomes your parking valet. Seems a bit silly. Shouldn’t this just be a dollar app? The patent also alludes that it can tap into public transportation data to facilitate commuting.

3. LIGHT SENSITIVE DISPLAY WITH PRESSURE SENSOR (+2 other variants) – further proof that Apple will introduce dual touch screen with capacitive and resistive capabilities. This means a finger or a stylus for your new iSlate!

4. SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING DATA AND BANDWIDTH USAGE – an indication that Apple wants to own web content delivery. This content will be served up from the company’s watermelon patch: the new immense data center being built in North Carolina.

Custom Macbook image via Jorymon

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Specialty symbols are off the mark

January 20th, 2010 Mitch Brisebois 1 comment


Imagine if you invented the @ symbol (aka ‘commercial at’)… in 1400… or whenever (no one is sure) It was used for basic accounting, but mostly useless for the masses. That is, until that email app became all the rage. Now imagine if you could charge $2 to everyone using your symbol. You’d be beyond rich!

In this tech world of abbreviated texting it’s no wonder some want to cash in. Here is the ‘Sarc Mark’ – a special symbol meant to denote sarcasm. Download it for 2 bucks. But it’s quite uninspiring, and I doubt anyone would catch its meaning.

So what’s sarcasm? According to Webster: “a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain” That’ll be 2 bucks, buddy!

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