Recent Comments:
ZEN X-Fi: more details with a touch of meh {Engadget}
Jun 30th 2008 5:05AM So if this manages to come out at a price point comparable to a similarly-featured player without the improved audio quality would you then consider it to have enough mass appeal? I can understand it might not have the "wow" factor that something like a big touchscreen has, but I think consumers can still understand the value of enhanced audio. Especially for those times that people use these when they're actually at their destination and it could be more noticable.
ZEN X-Fi: more details with a touch of meh {Engadget}
Jun 30th 2008 4:46AM Thomas... I think that's his point. You're ignoring what makes this an interesting player for the sake of saying that it's therefore not interesting. Granted, I'm not sure Nano to full-featured flagship is the fairest comparison, but his point is still valid.
And stale? How can you call it stale when Creative seems to be the only company out there trying to improve sound quality. Which you know, is usually what people would think is INTEGRAL to an audio player. That whole "what is X-Fi?" line in the original post could be answered with a quick look at Creative's site OR the Epizenter post you guys reference. Not knowing what it is (Creative's specialized audio processing- purported to provide enhanced output) is kind of inexcusable for a tech news site.
Apple and CBS sued over Mighty Mouse name, lawyers come to save the day {Engadget}
May 21st 2008 4:24PM I agree. IF Apple got permission from CBS to use the name, it seems that Man & Machine didn't go through the proper process to use the name. Seems to me they were using it illegally in the first place. I'm just an engineer though, not a lawyer :-p.
UltraBattery developed to drive hybrid cars to the next level {Engadget}
Jan 18th 2008 3:08PM Woah, Nikola, that's quite an angry, and unprovoked, response there with some misguided assumptions. First of all, your numbers are right for overall energy use, including all sectors. But for stationary power generation, at the big centralized plants, coal is #1 by far, which is what matters for plug-in only vehicles. The numbers you cited are when you include the petroleum currently used for transportation as well, but that's not in the power mix when considering vehicles charged by the current electricity infrastructure.
And for the record, a) I'm not an asshole, b) I never said I wouldn't buy an electric car, I was merely pointing out that it's a more complicated consideration than most (like yourself, apparently) want to think about, and c) I actually walk to work since I live close enough.
So please, save the unnecessary "jerkoff" comment for yourself.
UltraBattery developed to drive hybrid cars to the next level {Engadget}
Jan 18th 2008 11:24AM Moniker and Duo, Discco actually has a very good and valid point. It's called life cycle analysis. You can't simply look at the final conversion step of the energy. You have to look at the entire supply chain of the energy and all the conversion steps involved. His point is not that it is impossible to use renewables to power electric cars; it's just that currently, that is far from what is being done. And all indications are that this will not change for a long time, especially since the US has enough coal to last for more than another 100 years from known resources alone. Add to that the public perception that renewables are just too expensive, and that noone wants to install "in their backyard" (look at how many wind farms never get off the ground because people living near the proposed site call it an eyesore) and there's a lot of hurdles that need to be overcome before we achieve the renewable-powered utopia vision. Now, advanced coal plants with carbon sequestration can help make the option a lot more environmentally preferable, and these plants are currently "in the works" for deployment, but there's still some time yet before we start to see these. So currently, plug-ins are not as environmentally benign as people seem to want to think. Plug-ins will only ever be as clean as the electrical infrastructure supporting them; there's no getting around that point. And unfortunately, right now, the electrical infrastructure is far from clean by any standard.
Toshiba crams a fuel cell into PMP concept {Engadget}
Oct 4th 2007 11:11AM What? You've got to be kidding, right? There was no sarcasm at all in my comment. And what I was responding to were ill-informed, sarcastic comments by yourself and Dias. Your original post and this comment are dripping with sarcasm and don't even really discuss fuel cells; they just make a joke about how you THINK they operate. Learn a little more about the topic, and then we'll talk.
Toshiba crams a fuel cell into PMP concept {Engadget}
Oct 3rd 2007 1:42PM The comment about the airports is actually valid and something that fuel cell developers are working to figure out with the FAA. While it hasn't been allowed in passenger cabins yet, there has been progress in at least shipping the methanol in handheld electronics by air.
As for your other concern... the idea is certainly not that you would have to "fend for yourself" to find methanol. Any company developing the fuel cells and not developing the logistics for distributing the fuel isn't seeing the whole picture. It's just like the hydrogen fuel cell cars being developed. Noone's saying that the current fuel supply is the way things will remain. Someone will establish the methanol distribution. Now, as for 10 hours per methanol canister, that's not really the vision either. The unit itself may only hold enough methanol for 10 hours of playback, but there's nothing saying that your canister will only hold 10 hours of fuel. Fuel cells have that advantage over batteries- the size of the fuel compartment doesn't limit you as long as you continually supply fresh fuel.
Also, as for the number 10 hours itself, remember that fuel cells are still a developing technology that haven't made it very far beyond the prototype stage. There is still a lot of development and improvement to be made. By the time these are largely commercial, that number should jump up a bit.
Toshiba crams a fuel cell into PMP concept {Engadget}
Oct 3rd 2007 12:53PM Major and Dias,
Have you ever seen a DMFC in operation? The amount of water that gets evaporated is incredibly small. This won't cause "sweat hands" or puddles. In fact, in most DMFC designs, the majority of the water is actually recirculated to keep the membrane hydrated, which is an essential aspect of the operation and longevity of the fuel cell.
And kjb434,
No, DMFCs can only run on methanol. Currently, they're the only type of fuel cell being investigated for handhelds. Other fuel cells (SOFC, MCFC) can run on a variety of fuels, but these are large, stationary units for power plants and the like. Besides, the fuels being looked at there are usually natural gas and reformates, not gasoline.
The hundred gadget giveaway, grand prize round: Nikon D40 DSLR {Engadget}
Sep 14th 2007 4:57PM Oooh!!! I gotta enter this one. I do a bit of photography, and this would be a great opportunity to work with alongside my Pentax dSLR :-p.
Toyota set to test new plug-in hybrid vehicle {Engadget}
Jul 25th 2007 4:17PM I believe this is the same vehicle that my lab just (today) publicly announced it is going to test:
http://www.today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1644
There's lots of info in that article about other vehicle studies at my lab as well.
