Comment Re:Amazing (Score 1) 10
This has been done for many years. And it's not X-10. X-10 would be way too slow and unreliable. This system is called Light-O-Rama
Comment Re:What's happening at iRobot, anyway? Nothing? (Score 1) 108
The gutter cleaner is not the latest. It has been around for years and has already been seen on wholesale surplus selloff sites like woot.com
Comment Re:Two things... (Score 1) 154
oops, i had a coworker switch which article i was looking at while i was afk. Ignore this.
Comment Two Things: (Score 1) 108
1. That's not a vacuum model. It's an irobot Create which is just a platform to build hobby robots off. It has no cleaning power at all.
2. This is an old video. I mean OLD; years old. It was done by a few geeks asked to demo what the irobot create could do, when they were first introduced to the market. That's all, no 'hamster cleaning' market in mind.
Bad slashdot, bad. Check your sources before publishing a story.
2. This is an old video. I mean OLD; years old. It was done by a few geeks asked to demo what the irobot create could do, when they were first introduced to the market. That's all, no 'hamster cleaning' market in mind.
Bad slashdot, bad. Check your sources before publishing a story.
Comment Two things... (Score 1) 154
1. That's not a vacuum model. It's an irobot Create which is just a platform to build hobby robots off. It has no cleaning power at all.
2. This is an old video. I mean OLD; years old. It was done by a few geeks asked to demo what the irobot create could do, when they were first introduced to the market. That's all, no 'hamster cleaning' market in mind.
Bad slashdot, bad. Check your sources before publishing a story.
2. This is an old video. I mean OLD; years old. It was done by a few geeks asked to demo what the irobot create could do, when they were first introduced to the market. That's all, no 'hamster cleaning' market in mind.
Bad slashdot, bad. Check your sources before publishing a story.
Comment Nothing New (Score 5, Informative) 63
Generators and climate control built into containers is not a new idea at all. Traveling carnivals have used generators in containers for decades. The same for air conditioning for outdoor boat shows. The fact that Sun is just offering the option to go with boxed data centers when costumers could have easily just contracted out to a generator company instead isn't news.
Comment Re:That's it? (Score 1) 594
While we could go back and forth on the grid and if ready or not, the data isn't 100% conclusive. Although, i will add that a power plant takes 30-50 yrs to build from location scouting to full power production, so if we do need more power we better decide soon.
My concern is what the article says about charge time. It claims 1000 horses and a distance of 150 miles per charge. If even you stay conservative on some of the unknown variables, that is a high capacity battery to store that much energy. And to have a battery with such low internal resistance that is is able to fully charge in 10 minutes jumps out at me. That means a very high current battery charger to deliver that much energy in that short of time.
Imagine this, a whole street of rich boys all getting that car, coming home from the office at the same time, and plugging in there car simultaneously. I fear there might be a new strain on local low voltage (compared to power transmission) power distribution systems. This might cause a whole new concern for the power industry, besides the fear of low power production capability.
My concern is what the article says about charge time. It claims 1000 horses and a distance of 150 miles per charge. If even you stay conservative on some of the unknown variables, that is a high capacity battery to store that much energy. And to have a battery with such low internal resistance that is is able to fully charge in 10 minutes jumps out at me. That means a very high current battery charger to deliver that much energy in that short of time.
Imagine this, a whole street of rich boys all getting that car, coming home from the office at the same time, and plugging in there car simultaneously. I fear there might be a new strain on local low voltage (compared to power transmission) power distribution systems. This might cause a whole new concern for the power industry, besides the fear of low power production capability.
Comment Re:Way too many unknowns (Score 1) 465
They didn't say "170 vac rms", which is the point. Why don't you just admit that you made a mistake in saying it was 115 V peak-to-peak? All this twisting and turning just makes you look like a jerk. It's 120 V RMS, which is 170 V peak-to-peak.
Exactly; lol, thank you. And Ehud, make sure when you try to argue something, that you are not arguing with an expert in the field. Electrical Engineer with specializations in Power
Comment Re:Way too many unknowns (Score 1) 465
> You don't say. http://tinyurl.com/de8ywk
Ehud
I'm confused, your google results confirm what i said, along with everyone else posting. So, thanks? for backing me up i guess.
Comment Re:Way too many unknowns (Score 1) 465
"US Power" is not a defined term. Even if you went to the effort of saying "The two leads need to be supplied with a sine-wave alternating current peaking at 115 Volts"
Well, they would have a problem if they followed that. Technically its 120 V RMS, 170V peaking voltage.
Submission + - Netflix Adds Fee If You Want Blu-Ray Movies (engadgethd.com)
Just_Pick_Pocketed writes: Just got an interesting email from Netflix. Looks like I will be paying more.
Quote from Engadget
"It's true — the inevitable has happened. We learned in August that Netflix would be tacking on a $1 surcharge per month for unlimited access to Blu-ray titles, and now a flood of users are receiving e-mails confirming the fee. Starting on November 5th, the $1 charge will be added on each month so long as you're craving BD content, though we have a sneaking suspicion that won't force you back into the less detailed world of DVD. Gotta pay to play, they say."
Quote from Engadget
"It's true — the inevitable has happened. We learned in August that Netflix would be tacking on a $1 surcharge per month for unlimited access to Blu-ray titles, and now a flood of users are receiving e-mails confirming the fee. Starting on November 5th, the $1 charge will be added on each month so long as you're craving BD content, though we have a sneaking suspicion that won't force you back into the less detailed world of DVD. Gotta pay to play, they say."
Submission + - Flux Capacitor on Sale (thinkgeek.com)
madsci1016 writes: Thinkgeek.com is now selling a limited edition full size replica of the Flux Capacitor. Uber geeks get your credit cards ready.
Submission + - Sharper Image now closing for good (cnet.com)
madsci1016 writes: Geeks in the US today will shed a tear as recent announcement that Sharper Image is finally closing all their stores for good. The once supplier of overpriced gadgets that made life a tad bit easier has been sold and it's new owners are stripping it bare. Where will we sit down in a massage chair when are girlfriends drag us to the mall now?
Comment FPL has been doing this for years (Score 1) 268
I live in Florida and FPL already has a system like this in place and has so for the better part of a decade.
It's called FPL On Call. It let's FPL shut off certain appliances you wire to there smart boxes when the grid is under heavy load. My neighbors have them tied to there pool filtration system.
For the discount they give on the bill, it's not a bad deal for non-essential appliances. I would never wire my whole house to one though.
Or my A/C system.
The other talk about letting the power system control your smart house seems ridiculous. If i'm going to build a smart house, i'm going to be the one who controls it, not the power company.
Submission + - Florida State Employees Personal Data Exposed. (tallahassee.com)
madsci1016 writes: "I am an Employee of the State of Florida. I just received an email with the following information.
Quote"
State employees' personal data may have been exposed
Some state employees who used a "proxy server" in Germany to tap into their online payroll data may have exposed their personal information to identity theft, prompting a statewide reset of passwords.
Kevin Cate, deputy communications director of the Department of Financial Services, said Monday there was no breach of security in Florida's personnel computers. But he said DFS learned late last week that some employees had used a site, veryfastproxy.com, rather than clicking through the regular steps at myfloridacfo.com.
"We're doing a mandatory password reset as a precaution," said Cate.
He said no one could hack into the state's FLAIR accounting system but that DFS has no way of knowing what might be done with data entered on a proxy site by an employee. He said a proxy site allows users to search the Internet without leaving tracks.
But users don't know who is watching what they enter into the proxy site. If they provide sign-on and password information, it might be copied. Cate said the proxy site had been used five times since January to view payroll information, but it was not known which employees used it.
"We've got an open inquiry on it," he said. He emphasized that only the employee's own information could be at risk and that there was no breach of the entire system.
"If you use our state system for payroll information, it is perfectly secure," he said. "There may be no safeguards if you don't use the official site."
DFS has broken all links with known proxy services. Cate said each user is responsible for using firewalls and anti-virus software, monitoring system updates and not sharing log-ins or passwords with others.
"end Quote."
Quote"
State employees' personal data may have been exposed
Some state employees who used a "proxy server" in Germany to tap into their online payroll data may have exposed their personal information to identity theft, prompting a statewide reset of passwords.
Kevin Cate, deputy communications director of the Department of Financial Services, said Monday there was no breach of security in Florida's personnel computers. But he said DFS learned late last week that some employees had used a site, veryfastproxy.com, rather than clicking through the regular steps at myfloridacfo.com.
"We're doing a mandatory password reset as a precaution," said Cate.
He said no one could hack into the state's FLAIR accounting system but that DFS has no way of knowing what might be done with data entered on a proxy site by an employee. He said a proxy site allows users to search the Internet without leaving tracks.
But users don't know who is watching what they enter into the proxy site. If they provide sign-on and password information, it might be copied. Cate said the proxy site had been used five times since January to view payroll information, but it was not known which employees used it.
"We've got an open inquiry on it," he said. He emphasized that only the employee's own information could be at risk and that there was no breach of the entire system.
"If you use our state system for payroll information, it is perfectly secure," he said. "There may be no safeguards if you don't use the official site."
DFS has broken all links with known proxy services. Cate said each user is responsible for using firewalls and anti-virus software, monitoring system updates and not sharing log-ins or passwords with others.
"end Quote."
