Technology

Back in November, we all got a good laugh when Iowahawk made fun of the lefties and their automotive fantasies…      …and now they give us the PUMA, the Birth Control Car for guys with Birth Control Glasses: What ARE those thingies fore and aft, training wheels? It’s hard for me to see how this Read more

Atul Gawande explains the life-saving power of…the checklist. Tip from Andrew Gelman. Read more

Geoffrey Pullum blows the whistle on poorly designed controls ("human interfaces").  He has my sympathy; my wife and I are puzzling out the controls on an iPod. Read more

How’s that biodiesel working, Al?Tip from the Instapundit Read more

Hey, it’s a step up from living in a cardboard box. Read more

I’ve been noticing quite a few SmartCars on the road recently, and mentioned to my wife that I was curious about their safety and handling (San Antonio is currently one giant construction site, overrun with cracked pavement and orange barrels).  Looks like they’re pretty good in the safety department, and the comment at the end Read more

What is this, Hissy Fit Week? Now some thumbsucker in Blighty is giving himself the vapours, worrying about killer robots.  When the robos start doing drive-bys, or preaching jihad to one another, I’ll start worrying.  Until then Professor, spend a little less time watching the SciFi channel, and a bit more time out of doors, Read more

Unlike the hopelessly tech-addicted, I have not been swooning over the iPhone — it reminds me of that loudmouth lame-o kid in 7th grade who always had the newest Nifty notebook or space pen…and absolutely nothing else going for him. In fact, this column by Lenore Skenazy pretty much echoes my attitude towards cell phones. Read more

Leave to a Dutchman to save money: Sietze van der Sluis has a plan to use large cold-storage facilities to buffer the variations in electrical power generated by renewable energy sources. The clever part of using coldstores is that it doesn’t require much new investment, argues Van der Sluis. "The ‘batteries’ are already there, at Read more

WTF is with product designers these days? If it’s not some gadget beeping and booping because it wants to be turned on, turned off, unloaded, rebooted, reloaded, or have its diaper battery changed, it’s the Franken’  computer and monitor FLASHING THEIR POWER INDICATOR LIGHTS all g*ddam night to tell me THEY’RE IN LOW POWER MODE.  Read more