You don't write on books because it's permanent and possibly damaging; Post-Its caught on as a way to work around that.

The (e-ink) Kindle solves the speed+versatility vs power+weight compromise by specializing in a task that requires little of the first two. Arguably, virtual Post-Its don't require a change to that compromise; a better, more interoperable implementation doesn't cost extra.

PC integration? Sure, just sync in a simple, flexible way (i.e., not iTunes) to a PC/Mac app or to your account through the WiFi link you already have on board.

Speech recognition? Now that's expensive, even more if done offline. At that point you should consider a tablet.

At the risk of being modded into the ground, how is this Slashdot material?

My method takes six steps, tops: http://i.imgur.com/Ot0mJHf.jpg

I could mention a few things that I've enjoyed, but for every show there's a crowd that'll deem it too crass, too silly, or not smart enough; and then there are those who simply enjoy lamenting the state of things.

Anyway, there's dumb, dumber and dumberer. There's something to be said against a show that can be recognized at a distance by the train of canned laughter pulses (yes I know, "filmed in front of a live audience", just like your gummy candy is "made with real fruit").

The Chinese Ministry of Culture reports a 3-point increase in the average urban IQ.

It appears you missed a (silly) reference there: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wik...

The Venezuelan government hasn't published violence statistics for years, so NGOs and journalists query the morgues every week. But that doesn't stop the nomenklatura from denouncing the state governed by the most prominent opposition candidate as having "the most murders" (it's not clear, and not too relevant, whether they mean count or rate).

https://dl.dropboxusercontent....

Try this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent....

https://dl.dropboxusercontent....

Normally you'd wait for the inspector to come, then make your proposition. If you can't even see him, you'd have to find out who he is and pay him a visit, o bribe his boss, which costs more.

Arguably less than the reduction in the factories it'd catch during its service life? Even if it were a pick-up truck the tradeoff is just silly.

But the thing here is that it's easier to check on a big industrial park or mining operation from the air, and a lot cheaper if the aircraft doesn't have to carry a pilot and an observer.

- Egon Spengler

(obligatory nod to the memory of Harold Ramis)

A Scooter would be "GoBot-style". *scoots away*

The regulators are there - you can see the 'big' coils in TFA. The capacitance for a simple "drain till you drop" scheme would have to be a lot here - very roughly 2*Energy/efficiency/(Vddmax^2 - Vddmin^2). So, step the voltage up optionally, keep the caps charged as high as practical, squeeze them dry when needed through a step-down converter.

TFA also says that the drive periodically monitors the "status" of the caps; I'm not sure if that means charge level or charge-holding capacity but it could test-discharge one cap at a time.