Bloggers@large

Pesky telemarketers Don’t you hate it when you just walked into your home after a long day and the phone rings and it’s one of those pesky telemarketers trying to sell you something? Usually I recognize them from a mile away because 99 out of a 100 times they do not show up on my caller-ID. In case I do pick-up accidentally, I just act like I can’t here them: “Hello?!, Hello!? Who is this? I can’t hear you, I’m hanging up now”. That always works and it is also hilarious to hear the person on the other end of […]

Stardust launch, 1999 It was May 1998 when I read about this cool NASA endevour called Project Stardust. The idea of this mission was to launch a capsule that would fly through the tail of the Comet P/Wild 2 and collect some interstellar dust. The collected dust would then return to earth in a capsule so it could be studied here. Now, what was special about the mission is the fact that in a public outreach effort, over 1 million names of people were collected and placed on two chips inside the Stardust spacecraft: the first one has 136,000 names […]

Pigs in space? Get this: Taiwanese scientists (I wonder if they are related to Dr. Frankenstein) have bred “fluorescent green pigs”. Researchers hope it will boost their stem cell research. Previously (2003) they bred the world’s first transgenic glowing fish; a big hit with fishlovers. The transgenic pigs, commonly used to study human diseases, would help researchers monitor and trace changes of the tissues during the physical development, researchers said. In neighbouring South Korea, disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk apologised on Thursday for wrongdoing at his laboratory, but hinted at a conspiracy to discredit him and said he was […]

Done it again What can I say; Apple pulled it off once more: a flawless Apple Macworld event. Jobs was really going at it again this time (see the streaming webcast here – quicktime needed). Sixty percent of his show was aimed at the new versions of existing Apple software, in particular iLife. Once again Apple has added ton’s of new features, most notable podcasting capabilities for all applications: iPhoto, iVideo and even Garageband can be used. Or just simply put: your life…. Digital. And now also on Intel. I’m quite sure Jobs has many reasons to be very pleased […]

Standard? Why? Remember when we had three video formats? We had Betamax (Sony), VHS (Video Home System, by JVC) and Video2000 (Philips). VHS became a standard format for consumer recording and viewing in the 1980s and 1990s after competing in a fierce format war with Sony’s Betamax and, to a lesser extent, Philips’ Video 2000. Since none of the systems worked with each other, millions of consumers that didn’t choose VHS initially, wounded up with a non-standard product (and loads of shitty videos). In short: it sucked. When the DVD came out in the mid-90’s, at least every DVD player […]

Lexar USB stick Since I’m in the IT-business working for a premedia/prepress firm, I have always been interested in E-ink or digital paper. Ever since I started working for an Internet firm in 1995, it has been my strong belief that paper (except maybe toilet paper) will be replaced by something else. After all: chopping down trees just to make paper from it seems so archaic and political incorrect to me. In fact I always said that trees will become what those fluffy white baby seals where in the 80’s: it is political incorrect to kill/chop them down. Off course […]

Xmas presents: oh joy! Once again I am back home after a Christmas in Tallahassee with my girlfriend Carrie. And what a great time did I have! I think this must have been the best visit I had in years. I think it was just what we needed: some quality time. I can’t wait till summer vacation: we very much would like to visit Italy and drive there and make it a great trip down the south of Europe. But here I am again: back in cold Holland. Going from some 18-20 degrees to just 0-5 degrees isn’t a pleasure! […]

Bloggers@large wishes you a Merry Christmas & A Happy 2006Hope to blog you again next year!

Happy Xmas Oh yes: three more days to go and then I’m driving home for Christmas! This friday I’ll be on the plane and then I grab a rental for my last stretch to Tallahassee. I have spend a lot of christmases with my girlfriend, but for some reason this year feels special to me (for several reasons). What – to me – surely is going to be weird about it, is the fact that for the first time ever, my girlfriend will not be home when I arrive; she is working at a different time now and she probably […]

Honda Asimo The Japanese never cease to amaze me. They are doing a lot of research with robotics and it seems they are years ahead of the Americans. Just take a look at the new Honda Asimo robot. It is awesome to see this thing move! Fluid motion and a perfect balance. Just check out the little flash movies they have on the website. You can see by the way this robot moves so fluid like and the way it interacts, that a lot of progress has been made: previous attempts to have a robot with two legs were pretty […]