Category Archives: Random Tech

50 Years ago John Glenn Orbited the Earth

 

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John Glenn in his Mercury Spacesuit in 1962

50 years ago today, John Glenn, one of the original 7 Mercury Astronauts, became the first American to orbit the planet Earth. Today NASA no longer has the capability to send humans into space.

With NASA stepping away from costly human space exploration, it is now time for the innovators and entrepreneurs to step up their game to bring safe, repeatable manned space flight back. Those at Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic seem poised to be the leaders of the new privatized future of space travel.

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Battery Life and 4G Smart Phones

 

Smart phone designers know that new power hungry phones are killing batteries much faster than the older models. They are beginning to address the problem with new phones like the Droid Razr Maxx and adding extended batteries. Dual-core smart phones are much more powerful than the laptops of just a few years ago but have tiny batteries compared to those of laptops. Otherwise your speedy new 4G phone would look like something like this:

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Giant Mobile Motorola DynaTAC 8000X Phone from the 80’s. Is this the shape of the iPhone 5?

Soon battery technology will catch up with the fast phones of today. Then something faster will come out and we’ll have to use fuel cells to power them. Or Mr. Fusion.

FTP ASCII vs. Binary transfer modes

FTP ASCII vs. Binary transfer modes

In this demonstration we will be using ftp to transfer files from a Solaris 10 workstation to a Windows workstation using the dos command prompt ftp program to connect to the ftp port of the Solaris machine.

The two primary modes of transferring files via FTP are ASCII and binary. ASCII is an acronym for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, an early standard of character encoding. ASCII mode in FTP is meant to transfer text files. Examples of ASCII files are .asp, .html, .php, .pl and .txt files. Binary mode in FTP is meant to transfer raw data files. Examples of binary files are .gif, .jpg, music and video files, as well as zipped (compressed) tar files. Be sure you understand the ftp ASCII vs binary differences so you know which file transfer mode to use.

 

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Transferring a jpg file in ASCII mode, will get you something that looks like a screenshot of the game Pitfall! on the Atari 2600, circa 1982. It won’t look anything like the original file.

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Snapshot of a 2012 Unix Calendar jpeg transferred via FTP ASCII mode--psychedelic eh?
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Pitfall! Game Cartridge from Activision for the Atari 2600

So to transfer a non-text file with all the bits intact, use the binary mode by typing ‘binary’ at the ftp command prompt. In the dos version, you’ll see the “Type set to I” message rather than the “Type set to A” message for ASCII mode.

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Use binary transfer mode for your non-text files and they should arrive fully intact and legible:

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Snapshot jpeg of a unix 2012 calendar transferred via FTP binary mode

 

 

 

 

Virgin America serves real beer in flight

Richard Branson’s Virgin America has many advantages over the budget airline competition. One of them is the ability to order drinks and food using the touchscreen on the back of the headrest on every seat. Here you can order basic drinks (still free) or the “Good Stuff” as Virgin America calls them. Just swipe your credit card on the screen and your order is brought right to you. And Virgin America has real beer. In a can. Before you scoff, ponder a little beer can tech below the image.

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Black Star beer in a can–a mini keg if you will

Beer ‘bottled’ in cans seals out light and oxygen, two mortal enemies of fresh hoppy beer. Another mortal enemy of fresh beer flavor is heat. While the can isn’t that different from the bottle in staying cool, the can is lighter than the bottle, easier to transport and stack in your cooler, easier to recycle, and much more forgiving when you toss a brew to your buddy who isn’t paying attention. And when the cans are recycled, the precious aluminum (aluminium for those non US readers) may just be made into a Virgin Galactic spaceship. I’m pretty sure Richard Branson will serve beer in space as well. Just have to figure out that whole weightless beer pouring thing…

So the next time you see a craft brew in a can, give it a try. You’re in for a pleasant surprise. Other beers besides Black Star appearing on Virgin America flights are Blue Moon, Heineken,  and if you like, Bud Light.

 

NASA Spots Old Mars Landers

On  Jan. 29, 2012, using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the space agency spotted the lander from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. The rover drove off after landing and explored its corner of the red planet for 6 years! The little rover is quietly resting now on the surface having done it’s duty. The Phoenix Lander was also found by NASA. Check out NASA’s site for some amazing color Mars images. (link below)

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Spirit Mars Lander spotted from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter--Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
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Phoenix Mars Lander spotted from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter--Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Where is the planet Mars now you ask? Look up tonight to the left and above the bright Moon and you’ll see the red planet shining a bright, ruddy red in the night sky. Mars will be getting closer to Earth these next few weeks and will be at it’s closest in early March. Be sure to check it out!

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The Moon and Mars high in the sky on Google's Sky Map app in ICS--Image credit: SiliconCali.com

Full image from NASA at the link. Full story from NASA here.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Screenshot

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SiliconCali.com Screenshot on the Samsung Nexus phone

The new Samsung Galaxy Nexus Google Phone has the capability to capture screen shots by simply holding the down volume button and power button simultaneously for about 2 seconds. The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS will save the image as a .png file in your phone’s gallery under screenshots for easy on the go blogging, emailing, posting or just capturing the digital moment on your screen. Happy screen capturing!

 

Rain finally arrives!

imageRain finally arrives in Silicon Valley.

Sh*t Silicon Valley Says

Like she says, I miss seasons.

It’s like Pandora, for cats.