Most Viewed Technology Blogs (217)

Nuked by a software glitch. I queried what happened and got the below reply. It seems I am not the only one.
Stuff happens.

"Hi Ken -- Thanks for the message. Recently a small number of user accounts and their associated messages were accidentally deleted during a clean up of our database. We apologize deeply for the problem. It's great that you've created a new account and we hope you'll continue to participate in the CS community.

Sincerely,
CS Staff"

The 1962 cartoon series The Jetsons is a look at what family life could/would be in the future where every family had their own flying vehicle. YouTube has dozens of videos of experimental one-man drones labeled eVTOL. Vertical Takeoff and Landing.
While they all make lots of claims like no-license, ultra-safe, long flight times, I haven't actually seen any production models flying around my neighborhood.

This morning another eVTOL popped up on my technical radar. It's called the Jetson ONE. At a cost of $92,000 production for 2022 is already sold out and they have taken lots of orders for 2023.

All but one or two of these concept flying vehicles have the rotor blades at knee level and my first thought is they fail miserably with regard to safety.

While they have a cool 3 minute video of the Jetson ONE, it's promoted as a fun vehicle.
The website calendar shows they booked one per month in 2022 and a list of more than 100 orders booked for 2023. Yeah, maybe lots of people have $92,000 to spare.




Official site:

As followup to my 'Watch' this blog, about the number of people wearing watches that connect to their cellphones, I decided to buy a low-end 'fitness' watch just to check it's operation. I'm highly skeptical these devices could be accurate, at least in the ones that are inexpensive, but I'm giving it a try.

First step with any of these watches is charge the device. That gives you time to read the instructions and download the app that connects it to your smartphone. Allow time to be familiar with the settings for both the phone and watch. It defaults to metric, so I changed things to Imperial, including Fahrenheit for temperature. Only my doctors record my weight in kilos.

Since I wear no jewelry and haven't for years, I found it annoying to have this fitness watch attached to my wrist. It's already hitting the countertop, edge of doorways and anything I come in close proximity to. I expect lots of scratches on the bezel within the first week. That makes me wonder about all the people wearing diamond studded watches the size of a Frisbee!
That would equate to the women wearing 'inch-long' fake eyelashes. If you do it long enough, it becomes part of you. Kinda like Paul Stanley (KISS guitarist) wearing six-inch high platform shoes on stage must have required weeks of practice elsewhere.

Okay, I've had the watch on for 12 hours and it's reporting to my phone some statistics. Blood pressure at it's highest 127/64 and 81 beats per minute, currently 53bpm. Temperature 98.0 F, blood oxygen at 98% and I burned 11 calories.


I'm most curious about the sleep status. The first night shows 3 hours and 50 minutes with 1 hour and 30 minutes being in deep sleep.

Although the device is water resistant enough for swimming, I'll remove it for my morning shower.

Later today, I'll compare the blood pressure and beats with my stand-alone blood pressure monitor.

Within the last year or so a lot of the social media "clowns" decided they had sucked enough of the economic lifeblood from their customers worldwide,exploited their home countries economic opportunity to the hilt and......ALARMINGLY, have decided to enter into an incestuous relationship with our sworn enemy China for God only knows what advantage they can gain only to sharply tilt the dynamic and thereby seriously threaten our National Security! Set aside,for a moment,the militarily strategic position this decision could shape for the US in the future and focus on the blatantly TURNCOAT aspect these SCUM have demonstrated to their home country. They all were allowed tax incentives,loans,the ability to pick from the finest technological talent available to start their companies in the friendliest economic environment on earth to achieve all they now have! By way of thanks they figuratively give the finger to every single customer that ennabled them to prosper! We are currently in a situation where every single opinion,political stance and ideaology they disagree with is heavily CENSORED, they ASSUME to decide who thrives economically online etc...... This is TOTALLY unacceptable and I would humbly submit that after the first High Profile lawsuit,hopefully followed by many others,along with heavy and very SEVERE Government regulation these unappreciative,treasonous,traitorous lowlifes will be properly brought to bear! If not,I don't care how Congress and DOJ go about it but I honestly believe there is sufficient grounds to,under the auspices of National Security,Seize,(by any means available,these peoples considerable wealth,revoke their citizenship and EXPORT their asses to whatever communist country they aspire to! Questions? Comments?

.....they highlight in unusual colors, but won't open. Rest of CS seems OK. Must be what the CS big house looks like. Well, who deserves it more than I? I'll be careful never to bend over to pick up soap in the open pod showers. Adios, friends.

For years, I've been reading about Amazon making deliveries by drone. For the record, it's not perfected yet. Good idea or not, something on a large scale must get the approval of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which is the same government agency that hasn't allowed flying cars. Remember those?
I'm reading some drone companies have plane-like aircraft that drop their cargo from 10 to 12 feet and not land to release the package. Tell that to your Rolex vendor.

People who make flying cars often depict someone stuck in traffic and like a transformer, opening wings and taking to the sky. Read my lips: It ain't happening.
Airplanes (real or converted cars) have to get approval from a flight tower and have a prescribed flight plan... with the exception of a crop duster in Kansas, they all have to be 'on the radar' and takeoff and land from a runway. That includes manned drones.

While Amazon drones have great merit, you cannot fill the sky with drones dropping $200 Yeazy sneakers across town. What are they good for? In my opinion, special emergency authorization like a 20 minute direct flight transporting a heart (on ice) to a hospital 50 miles away where an ambulance transport could be more than one hour getting through one busy city to another busy city. Just like an ambulance helicopter transport, a designated heli-pad is where the package would be received. Logically, there would need to be a fast charge station for the return flight.

Drone on...

Carbon emissions may play a part in the environment but is not ultimately the heart of the issue.
Heat emissions is the core here's why:
The heat of a regular gasoline car is up to 1400 degrees Fahrenheit or 760 degrees Celsius

Apply this heat emissions on the Highway 401 in Toronto America
Or Dan Ryan Expressway through Chicago on a daily basis.
Also apply this to factories whose heat emissions are equally high you have current practical idea of what is affecting climate change

The morning heat of the sun creates fog which lowers the moisture content from the soil that same fog rises and becomes clouds. But the most important factor is lowering moisture content in the soil. But radiant heat can not achieve this if it is affected by convective heat and if the soil has prolonged moisture content it will begin to crate water mold on a molecular level.

This is a war of convective heat versus radiant heat on a global scale day to day.

But also this creates an unbalance of natural weather cycles because the moisture content if ever is dissipating at a later time during the day due to the high levels of convective heat.


However this is solvable and a business here in Whanganui has created a solution of lowering heat emissions by 99% called TPE Racing. Owner David Tunnell.

You could apply this to computers where u will no longer need fans or water coolant systems to cool cpu hard drives gpu motherboards etc or even large computer systems the amount of savings u would make would be substantial.

Apple Helps Chinese Communists Suppress Protests – Removes Crucial Tool of Dissent on iPhones and Does Not Tell Mainland Users.

Sadly, the freedom protesters were not able to use AirDrop, a file-sharing feature on iPhones that allows users to share content in authoritarian states.

Apple removed the feature in their latest update in China and did not notify users.

Apple is working with the communists now.

Anti-government protests flared in several Chinese cities and on college campuses over the weekend. But the country’s most widespread show of public dissent in decades will have to manage without a crucial communication tool, because Apple restricted its use in China earlier this month.

AirDrop, the file-sharing feature on iPhones and other Apple devices, has helped protestors in many authoritarian countries evade censorship. That’s because AirDrop relies on direct connections between phones, forming a local network of devices that don’t need the internet to communicate. People can opt into receiving AirDrops from anyone else with an iPhone nearby.

That changed on Nov. 9, when Apple released a new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 16.1.1, to customers worldwide. Rather than listing new features, as it often does, the company simply said, “This update includes bug fixes and security updates and is recommended for all users.”

Hidden in the update was a change that only applies to iPhones sold in mainland China: AirDrop can only be set to receive messages from everyone for 10 minutes, before switching off. There’s no longer a way to keep the “everyone” setting on permanently on Chinese iPhones. The change, first noticed by Chinese readers of 9to5Mac, doesn’t apply anywhere else.

I'm thinking about a phone upgrade this year and the model I want is around $1,000. Scary thought to pay so much for a phone, but there's an interface that connects it to a monitor, mouse and keyboard creating a desktop environment. That way, you don't have to squint and pinch.
That model is also available in a 5G version for $300 more.
If I go for the 5G model, It will probably be the single most expensive device I own, exceeding the GPS drone I purchased a few years ago.

I'm not a power user and don't spend time streaming videos on my phone so the idea of 5G isn't a requirement.

To 5G or not to 5G... that is the question.

Decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit to measure sound or electronic signal levels. For the purpose of this blog, I'll use it in audio... sound levels.
On another blog, a member will be going to a Formula One race and it's suggested they bring along hearing protection as often race cars develop noise of over 130 dB. Two weeks ago, I attended an outdoor concert and used ear plugs to lower the sound of the performance. It didn't bother my friend, but for me, the volume was louder than I wanted to be subjected to.

The decibel scale In basic terms: zero dB is the threshold of human hearing and a whisper would be 25-30 dB. Normal conversation is 60-70 dB and a lawn mower (at 6' feet) is around 100 dB. Most scales I've seen rate 125 dB as a level of pain and a jet engine at 100 feet away would be 140 dB.

Some sound ratings in the work force, like the noise from a wood chipper or jack hammer where used continuously poise serious problems of hearing loss. A blast from a shot gun could register 170 decibels. Although it's only a split second of noise, a few of those could permanently harm ones hearing. I know 2 people who lost most of their hearing... one guy had the job of refueling helicopters in Vietnam. The aviator hearing protection always fell off as they scrambled to get the helicopters back in the air and he now has dual hearing aids supplied by the VA. The same for my uncle who had the assignment to load bullets on the guns of a battleship during WWII.

When we were kids, it's was rare to have a car stereo more than 20 watts. It's become commonplace to see custom shops installing 1,000 watt systems in cars now!

When talking to one of those guys (with a megapower system), it won't be long before their first word is... huh?