The upcoming week I'll be in Delhi, exposing the BM Design PRT project at a speech.
I'll be blogging from the event, which is about sustainable transport in developing countries.
http://www.ewebevolution.com/transtec/
Cont'd: I wrote some remarks on the individual presentations but haven't typed them in, yet.
Some of the pictures I took are available in Flickr.
My own presentation slides are also online.
Now, need to pack & fly. :)
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Saturday, December 19, 2009
WLAN interference from a USB stick :)
Recently, we bought the Acer Revo to my Mom and Dad for a browsing machine. It's otherwise okay, but the internal WLAN antenna lets you wish for more.
Mom had reported Internet to be stucky, so I had a look. With the help of the InSSIDer program I found out reception to be around -70dB. But what was amazing was that plugging in her favorite USB stick (old, transparent, probably USB 1.1 era) made reception fall at least 5dB. Essentially, it makes the difference between 4 bars and 2 bars in the Windows internal gauge.
Telling now these old sticks must go. I bet many users around the globe never come to think their USB sticks might interfere with their WLAN. I checked them all, now. Out of our collection, 2 kinds drop the reception and one actually seems to raise(!) it somewhat. The USB port in question is not even close the WLAN antenna.
So, if you're considering an external antenna to your Revo, check your USB sticks first!
Mom had reported Internet to be stucky, so I had a look. With the help of the InSSIDer program I found out reception to be around -70dB. But what was amazing was that plugging in her favorite USB stick (old, transparent, probably USB 1.1 era) made reception fall at least 5dB. Essentially, it makes the difference between 4 bars and 2 bars in the Windows internal gauge.
Telling now these old sticks must go. I bet many users around the globe never come to think their USB sticks might interfere with their WLAN. I checked them all, now. Out of our collection, 2 kinds drop the reception and one actually seems to raise(!) it somewhat. The USB port in question is not even close the WLAN antenna.
So, if you're considering an external antenna to your Revo, check your USB sticks first!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wow, What a Globe Screen!!
I visited the Heureka science museum today and they had this amazing, animated globe hanging in the air. I was told it's technology prepared by the American NOAA organization. Four projectors carefully aligned to make the globe act as one screen. The resolution was sharp and the experience is flawless. One can walk around the globe and study it from any angle.
They presented multiple data sets, some having to do with weather (in the picture). Others showing flight patterns and even individual airplanes depicted as little beams of light. The globe can be span around using a Wii remote.
Even better, this Finnish invention could be used to roll the globe, and even squeeze it! :)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Zune-alvelu XBox 360:llä
Microsoft avasi tänään videovuokraamon nettiin myös Suomessa, ja katsomani pätkien perusteella (Welho 5M yhteydellä) kaikki näyttää hyvältä. Paitsi lisenssisopimus, joka on vähintäänkin "kuvaava".
Jos yrityksellä ei ole halua, aikaa tai osaamista lukea omat lisenssitekstinsä kuntoon ennen palvelun (sorry: alvelun ;) aloittamista, niin sietää mennä itseensä.
Lisenssissä on muuten 28 kohtaa (muistaakseni) ja sen läpi skrollaamiseen menee arviolta 4-5 minuuttia (lukemiseen ehkä tunti).
Parasta tietenkin olisi, jos MS ystävällisesti (ja vähintäänkin auttaakseen itseään) tarkistaisi lakitekstinsä ja pudottaisi sen järkevän kokoiseksi. Säästäisivät käännöskuluissa kenties miljoonia. Mutta he ovat lakiosastonsa vankeja. "Kun ei vain sattuis mitään", kuten kolleegani tapasi sanoa.
Tällaiset lakitekstit eivät istu nykymaailmaan.
Itse palvelu on silti hyvä ja sopuhintainen. 240 MS-pojoa HD-filmistä saa ainakin itseni katsomaan "V for Vendettan" tänä iltana. DVD:t taisivat muuten juuri kuolla. :)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Hot in India!
I'm writing this at a terrace in Mangalore, India. This is my third visit to the country, but I had either forgotten how hot it is, or this time it's simply a bit hotter. Maybe both. Anyways, some of the clothes I have with me will probably not be needed at all. A shirt a day; yesterday I used 3. Lot of laundry for someone.
This made me think - US has similar climate which is coped with huge amount of air conditioning. It's either hot (outside) or way too cool (inside). And of course it uses up huge amounts of energy.
Part of India is like that, too. Hotels would have AC. Normally, they tune it way too cool, maybe because they think that would be "elegant" or "western" or whatever. If all the big private houses (like this one) would do AC, the country's electical grid would collapse (ehem, collapse more often than now :).
The solution is two-fold. Be smart about how to live in the climate. I will surely learn that in a week - i.e. sitting on the terrace now is comfortable. Indoors, it's not. Shopping is done in the evenings, not at bright daylight. Any Indian would know this! Instead of using the technology (AC) to its maximum, use just as much as is needed. This is something *Indians* should teach the US people, not the other way round!!!
As to those newly built colossal houses with absolute need of AC, they should be self-sufficient with electricity. Put sun panels on the roof and living can go on despite shortages in the city electrical grid. I *really* doubt they do this. They just have big batteries somewhere in the basement and that's it. Indians aren't very ecological as far as I can think, but in this climate, they could be. It's just a matter of opinion, learning and appreciating!
A better solution for this climate would be appartment houses with smallish terraces covered with plants. US has had some prototype houses like this; the amount of cooling the plants on the outer walls cause is huge (something like 30-50% less AC need). And they give shade and they are according to the local building tradition.
Currently I have not seen any such compound in India. I was googling for "ecocity India" and it gives some faded hits. There should be a Masdar for India, soonish. Otherwise this will simply become a copy of the US apartment + enough AC + integrated garage model that eats up too much common resources.
Currently, India still produces about 1/5th as much CO2 as US or China (which are pretty even)*. In order to keep it like that, *smarts* is needed, not greedy copycatting of the west. India is known for being smart, so we still have hope. On the other side of the coin, energy here is abundant if we just start collecting it. My sweat confirms that!
*) http://rainforests.mongabay.com/09-carbon_emissions.htm
ps.
Nanosolar is the manufacturer of roof top sun panels that I would actually consider using. They have started manufacturing but are not selling to individual houses, yet. But they will. Anyone in India reading this, being their installer / distributer will be a big business in 2-10 years. Sign in.
About Ecocity India, the closest I've found is Falcon GEC (Global Eco City). They seem to compare it to Masdar and similar Chinese projects, but it kind of has a wanna-be feeling to it. I wouldn't trust that project, yet.
pps.
A document on Pune from 2006 looks more interesting. Pune is a university city in Maharashtra and by the reputation of it would make a splendid big-scale sample on how a complete city can be remade to be more sustainable. Let's wish them luck and hope the project proceeds.
More: ecocities-india.org lists some cities which are going to do general "clean up" for making them more enjoyable, healthier and ecological. This is an incremental approach and should really be part of any city planning, anyways.
This made me think - US has similar climate which is coped with huge amount of air conditioning. It's either hot (outside) or way too cool (inside). And of course it uses up huge amounts of energy.Part of India is like that, too. Hotels would have AC. Normally, they tune it way too cool, maybe because they think that would be "elegant" or "western" or whatever. If all the big private houses (like this one) would do AC, the country's electical grid would collapse (ehem, collapse more often than now :).
The solution is two-fold. Be smart about how to live in the climate. I will surely learn that in a week - i.e. sitting on the terrace now is comfortable. Indoors, it's not. Shopping is done in the evenings, not at bright daylight. Any Indian would know this! Instead of using the technology (AC) to its maximum, use just as much as is needed. This is something *Indians* should teach the US people, not the other way round!!!
As to those newly built colossal houses with absolute need of AC, they should be self-sufficient with electricity. Put sun panels on the roof and living can go on despite shortages in the city electrical grid. I *really* doubt they do this. They just have big batteries somewhere in the basement and that's it. Indians aren't very ecological as far as I can think, but in this climate, they could be. It's just a matter of opinion, learning and appreciating!
A better solution for this climate would be appartment houses with smallish terraces covered with plants. US has had some prototype houses like this; the amount of cooling the plants on the outer walls cause is huge (something like 30-50% less AC need). And they give shade and they are according to the local building tradition.
Currently I have not seen any such compound in India. I was googling for "ecocity India" and it gives some faded hits. There should be a Masdar for India, soonish. Otherwise this will simply become a copy of the US apartment + enough AC + integrated garage model that eats up too much common resources.
Currently, India still produces about 1/5th as much CO2 as US or China (which are pretty even)*. In order to keep it like that, *smarts* is needed, not greedy copycatting of the west. India is known for being smart, so we still have hope. On the other side of the coin, energy here is abundant if we just start collecting it. My sweat confirms that!
*) http://rainforests.mongabay.com/09-carbon_emissions.htm
ps.
Nanosolar is the manufacturer of roof top sun panels that I would actually consider using. They have started manufacturing but are not selling to individual houses, yet. But they will. Anyone in India reading this, being their installer / distributer will be a big business in 2-10 years. Sign in.
About Ecocity India, the closest I've found is Falcon GEC (Global Eco City). They seem to compare it to Masdar and similar Chinese projects, but it kind of has a wanna-be feeling to it. I wouldn't trust that project, yet.
pps.
A document on Pune from 2006 looks more interesting. Pune is a university city in Maharashtra and by the reputation of it would make a splendid big-scale sample on how a complete city can be remade to be more sustainable. Let's wish them luck and hope the project proceeds.
More: ecocities-india.org lists some cities which are going to do general "clean up" for making them more enjoyable, healthier and ecological. This is an incremental approach and should really be part of any city planning, anyways.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tech fix: keyboard mapping with VMWare Fusion 2.0.5 and Logitech diNovo Mac edition
Placing this into the blog, since normal googling gave no solution on this one.
Problem: VMWare Fusion autodetects Logitech diNovo Mac edition (at least with European keyboard layout) as Macbook keyboard. Which makes it use the numeric pad Enter as AltGr.
This is how to make it use the right Cmd key as AltGr.
1. VMWare > Fusion > Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse
2. Remove the current 'cmd' shortcut (pointed to Windows key on mine) or reuse it
3. Don't try pressing the key, just leave the cmd emblem enabled and the key field empty
4. Map to Right Alt (AltGr)
That's it.
Actually, this should have been obvious, and I dare not think how much googling I tried in vain. What mislead me was the mapping of CMD without saying whether left or right should be mapped. Seems the "enable OS X CMD" setting overrides the left key (only) so I get what I want: left for OS X, right as Alt-Gr. Maybe VMWare should do the UI better, but I don't exactly know, how. For people with Apple keyboards I guess the thing "just works".
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
What cars should already be (core77 design site)
A friend of mine (a great designer, by the way!) showed me to this web site.
They have a nice studying article about what should happen to the cars in the next 40 years. Or -actually- what should have happened to them in the *last* 40 years.
I'll be a lazy jerk and just copy-paste some of the good parts (which are many):
...and so on...
Personally, I would love to have a car of their design. But I am realistic it will really take the 40 years - maybe 50 - to get there. Like the Moon is seen as a middle stop to getting us to Mars, I am seeing PRT as a middle stop to getting us to full automated traffic.
They have a nice studying article about what should happen to the cars in the next 40 years. Or -actually- what should have happened to them in the *last* 40 years.
I'll be a lazy jerk and just copy-paste some of the good parts (which are many):
It dawned on us: today's car industry is brainwashed by its own car culture, with its obsession for speed, styling and fantasy. The car business has become one of repackaging, steering people's focus towards style and a narrow definition of performance, not on our true needs.
the desire not to drive. Sure, everyone wanted to get from A to B, but they'd just rather be doing something else while en route: talking to friends, sleeping, or, as our French intern Laure suggested: "I want to enjoy the view with a nice wine, some cheese and a baguette."
Driving is like putting your life on hold.
we have subscribed to a false sense of freedom, the freedom to waste countless hours strapped behind the wheel.
Our conclusion? Humans are not meant to drive, nor should they have to.
...and so on...
Personally, I would love to have a car of their design. But I am realistic it will really take the 40 years - maybe 50 - to get there. Like the Moon is seen as a middle stop to getting us to Mars, I am seeing PRT as a middle stop to getting us to full automated traffic.
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