A new approach to solar power from Infinia appears to be a smaller alternative to standard photovotaic cells. Their solution also looks to be more efficient at converting solar energy to electricity.
Archive for October, 2006
When I downloaded pre-release builds of Firefox 2.0 I was surprised at the additional close buttons added to each tab. I didn’t know whether I liked them or not, but I found when I switched between Firefox 1.5 and 2.0 from time to time, I was more likely to look for the close buttons on each tab than having just one button on the far right. It was new, but it seemed right.
A story on ZDNet today confirmed that my own intuition matches HCI tests run by Google and NASA:
“Google did usability studies with eye-tracking tools and determined that
people actually look to the tab first, and it would take longer to determine
if they had the right tab and were ready to close it,” Beltzner said. “NASA
Ames recently did cognitive modeling for us on tabs. Not only was the
‘close’ button on a tab quicker, but people would be more accurate. They
also gave us good data on how wide tabs had to be before people clicked on
the wrong one.”
It’s exciting to know that these two organizations are both supporting the development efforts of Mozilla…
While in the shower this morning, I heard a radio commercial for the release of Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft’s marketing blitz is in the works. Keep in mind that this is a marketing campaign for what is ostensibly a free product. I guess it is important to them, having lost about 10% of the browser market to an open source product.
The IE development team apparently also sent a cake to the Firefox team to congratulate them on the shipment of Firefox 2.0 today.
Ars Technica is carrying a story about cutting the use of standby power on electronic devices. It’s a very practical step for people (read: everyone) to take to reduce energy need and cost.
This story comes a few days after another story that interested me about the increasing use of home wind turbines in Britain. There are always two sides to this equation — how can you increase your use of renewable energies, while also reducing your energy requirements?
In my own home, I must admit there is not a lot I’ve been able to do. I looked around our small apartment for any stray power cords that were unused, turned off another stereo component (which was already on standby), and expect to turn off my computer tonight… and hopefully more nights in the future.
With my “constantly connected” lifestyle, I have a hard time waiting for my Mac to boot up, no matter how quickly it moves.
Since I “upgraded” my iPod, it seems that it eats up its battery faster every day. I was pretty certain when I replaced the 20 GB drive with a 30 GB drive that the power consumption would also grow. Additionally, lithium ion batteries are known to have a limited lifespan, as charge capacity dissipates over time. By last week, my iPod’s battery seemed to hold about enough charge to get me to work and would die shortly after that. Moreover, if I changed course in my playlist (e.g. changing artists or songs in mid-stream) more than once or twice in an hour, the added seeks on the hard drive would cause the batter to expire even faster.
The battery meter was never quite right, either. Directly after charging the battery, the meter might read less than 1/4 full. As music played, the meter would rise for a bit. Or, sometimes when the meter was at about 1/2 full, the battery would suddenly quit.
I named my iPod Lazarus. When I replaced the broken hard drive, it got a 2nd life. (No that doesn’t make me Jesus, that’s not where I’m going.) It was time to revive this little guy one more time.
I bought a new battery on eBay. There are a number of suppliers who sell new batteries that fit all varieties of iPods. These come with plastic tools that are useful for prying open the case. I only paid about $12 for this battery, including shipping.
It took only about 10 minutes to open the case and replace the old battery. The new battery actually has close to 50% more capacity than the original battery. It easily holds a charge through 8 hours of play. Good as new… more or less.
My iPod is just over 2 1/2 years old. It’s now had 2 major surgeries and purrs like a kitten. As far as I’m concerned, this thing could easily last another 3 years with regularly scheduled “maintenance”.
Who needs video, anyway?
