Filed under: Laptops
Dell Inspiron 11z reviewed with high hopes, disappointing realities originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dell Inspiron 11z reviewed with high hopes, disappointing realities originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Astronomers are rejoicing that they've found the best place on earth for astronomical observation. The only problem? It also happens to be the "very worst place on the surface of the planet for humans." Whoops. Send in the Robots.
Dubbed Ridge A, this magical spot in Antarctica provides such a clear view of the heavens that a "modestly-sized telescope there would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth." Scientists will be using the knowledge gained from the first Antarctic robotic viewing station, the PLATeau Observatory, to set up another 'bot operated observatory station in this dry and cold place:
The simple observatory is, in the words of University of Arizona astronomer Craig Kulesa, a steel shipping container that scientists "cut in half and insulated the crap out of."
Well, not everything has to be high tech, right? Hacked together or not, the robot-manned observatories are significant not only of the data they provide, but also because of the savings in comparison to a space mission for the same photos:
Getting a kilogram of anything into orbit costs thousands of dollars. The cost of getting a kilogram to Ridge A is about $10.
This means that the National Science Foundation is getting a heck of a lot of research done without the benefits of a NASA-sized budget. Not to mention that robots are far cooler than rockets anyway. [Wired]
Time Bananas and awkward statements aside, Jason Chen's a pretty cool guy to work for. I'm sure that unlike Vicki Walker's boss, he wouldn't fire me for going nuts with bold or colorful fonts in emails. RIGHT?
According to her employer, ProCare Health, Vicki Walker was terminated from her position as a financial controller because she "caused disharmony in the workplace by using block capitals, bold typeface and red text in her emails."
What Vicki told the New Zealand Herald though, is that it wasn't a series of emails, but rather one single email which was used in the evidence against her:
The email, which advises her team how to fill out staff claim forms, specifies a time and date highlighted in bold red, and a sentence written in capitals and highlighted in bold blue. It reads: "To ensure your staff claim is processed and paid, please do follow the below checklist."
To me it sounds like Vicki is either a crazy control freak of a cat lady who insists on spelling things out as if she works with a bunch of children or maybe she learned from experience that her coworkers are in fact childlike and require colorful instructions to guide them. Either way, her email style hurt someone's feelings and they ran crying to the boss.
Has anyone had any similar experience with typography resulting in a termination or scolding at work? Or do you spend all day idly wishing that you could in fact terminate that coworker who insists on sending emails littered with bold capital letters? [New Zealand Herald]
It was bound to happen, so I'm not surprised: According to The Onion—reportedly America's finest news outlet—Apollo 11 Mission Commander Neil Armstrong has finally admitted that the Moon landings were fake and staged. All thanks to Ralph Coleman:
"It only took a few hastily written paragraphs published by this passionate denier of mankind's so-called 'greatest technological achievement' for me to realize I had been living a lie, " said a visibly emotional Armstrong, addressing reporters at his home. "It has become painfully clear to me that on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module under the control of my crew did not in fact travel 250,000 miles over eight days, touch down on the moon, and perform various experiments, ushering in a new era for humanity. Instead, the entire thing was filmed on a soundstage, most likely in New Mexico."
"This is the only logical interpretation of the numerous inconsistencies in the grainy, 40-year-old footage," Armstrong added.
About bloody time, Neil. Now, we only need to uncover where Elvis is hiding, and my life will be complete. [The Onion]
Filed under: Cellphones
Nokia's 32GB Alvin RM-559 hits FCC, Simon 561 and Theodore 563 nowhere to be found originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Taste Test food week wouldn't have been complete without our fun Q&As with Alton Brown, but his hot-out-of-the-oven book Good Eats: The Early Years is the real news peg. (Book tour dates below!)
If you've read his I'm Just Here For the Food books, you know that they're more helpful for overall skills, only sporadically providing recipes and directions on particular dishes. They're great, but they leave you painfully aware that there is no Alton Brown Cookbook.
The new book really is that cookbook, but with no shortage of the explanation, advice and minutiae that make his other works great. You may think I'm biased (and you may be right), but anyone who's learned anything from his shows should read on:
It's a hyper-illustrated paper version of his first 80 episodes for which I am particularly grateful. I may have caught plenty of installments from this six-season block, but I have always worried that the DVDs weren't randomly accessible enough. For recall, I tend to rely instead on the bare-minimum recipes that appear on Food Network's website. Now most of my favorite episodes are within instant reach—from "Crustacean Nation" to "Squid Pro Quo," from "American Pickle" to "The Choke Is On You"—complete with the random factoids, weird science, campy costumes and all.
Of course that doesn't mean I wouldn't kill for an iPhone app version of this book—quite possibly even for $25—but in lieu of that, I'll take the book.
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Giz readers shouldn't fear that any kitchen gadgets and hacks fail to make the jump from video to paper. I still remember Alton's obsessive "How to Pack a Cooler" from the squid episode, and lo, there it is depicted with a nerd-friendly cross section. Practically every chapter has sketches of gadgets or cheats—facing each other on a page in "Silence of the Leg O' Lamb" are a surgeon's knot and a chimney charcoal starter.
The trouble with the book is that there's more Alton than it can contain, so fans who wish to replicate the master's waffles, sushi or Pork Wellington will still have to look them up online, or wait a good while before Good Eats Vol. 2 appears.
In the meantime, Alton leaves readers with plenty to chew on, literally and figuratively. There's even a wall poster of the cover, for you absolute Alton freaks. [Amazon]
Also, FYI, Alton's going on tour to promote the book, starting with appearances at the NY Wine and Food Festival. Here's the rough schedule:
NYC
Friday, October 9
Barnes & Noble - Union Square
7PM
NYC
Saturday, October 10
Food & Wine Festival
12:30PM
NYC
Sunday, October 11
Food & Wine Festival
12PM
Boston
Tuesday, October 13
Brookline Booksmith at Coolidge Corner Theatre
6PM
Arlington VA
Wednesday, October 14
Sur La Table - Pentagon Row
12PM
Washington DC
Wednesday, October 14
Smithsonian (not sure which, check altonbrown.com later for verification)
5PM
Chicago
Thursday, October 15
Borders - N. Michigan Ave
7PM
Seattle
Friday, October 16
Third Place Books - Lake Forest Park, WA
7PM
(Giz readers note: I plan to attend this one)
San Diego
Saturday, October 17
Costco - Fenton Pkwy
1PM
Austin
Sunday, October 18
Location TBD
12PM
Norcross GA
Saturday, December 5
"Lunchtime"
BJ's Wholesale Club - Norcross
Taste Test is our weeklong tribute to the leaps that occur when technology meets cuisine, spanning everything from the historic breakthroughs that made food tastier and safer to the Earl-Grey-friendly replicators we impatiently await in the future.
Here's another reason to have a sit-down with your elderly relatives and make them promise that if they ever, ever find out they've won some money in a lottery they didn't enter, they should tell family members immediately.
This octogenarian sent $60,000 to scammers in the Dominican Republic while they strung him along with promises of riches.
The promise of foreign lottery winnings, sweepstakes and other riches that arrived by mail proved too tempting for John as they promised him hundreds of thousands - and sometimes millions - of dollars he was sure he was going to receive.
They came with convincing company or corporation titles, such as the Diabetes Association. Upon further investigation by family members, something always proved to be amiss.
But John wouldn't heed their warnings that he was being taken.
And there always was that catch, that small amount of money he would need to send to secure his winnings.
At one point, the scammers managed to get John to check himself out of a hospital in order to show up for a fake meeting at a Walmart parking lot. Another time, they sent him to a Bank of America branch to inquire about an account in his name; no account had been set up.
We suggest you bookmark the article for future reference. Better yet, print it out or copy & paste it, and then give it to your relatives (of all ages) with the warning that nobody EVER wins money from foreign lotteries. EVER. That may or may not be true, but we'd rather they err on the side of financial self-sufficiency than be left homeless and penniless from chasing a phantom lottery that seems to grow in value the more desperate they get.
Check out the tips and references on this post for more info on how to protect your loved ones from foreign lottery scams. You can also show them this video clip:
"Scammers leave 82-year-old Sun Citian homeless, penniless" [YourWestValley.com] (Thanks to Tiffany!)
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Are you able to solve a Rubik's Cube quickly and easily? Does that make you feel like a real smart guy? Well, piss off. Try the Bram's Cube, created by the creator of BitTorrent.
Bram Cohen, known as the dude who allowed you to download cams of shit movies you don't want to pay for, has created Bram's Cube. It's basically like a Rubik's Cube, but it has gears inside that add another layer of difficulty. So much difficulty that I wouldn't even want to attempt this thing. It just looks too frustrating for words. But hey, if you're a glutton for punishment and feel the need to be taken down a peg or two, go for it. [Shapeways via Today's Big Thing]
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Leica to announce new cameras on September 9th, absolute best day to stand out in the headlines originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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