Exactly! As my physics teacher once said: Newton was not the "first scientist" he was the "last alchemist".

The download of Skype takes ~8.5MB, when installed it eats ~14MB of my meager phone storage.

I've seen comments that it requires a lot of CPU, introducing noise in the transmission for low-end android phones (I didn't try to make a call myself).

For comparison, Nimbuzz - which also use the Skype network - takes ~4.5MB to download and uses ~9.6MB of storage after install.

Also I wasn't able to find a "close" function in Skype! I could of course kill the app, but that should *not* be necessary. Another option is to log out, which requires entering the password at next login, also not convenient.

All in all I decided to uninstall skype, and keep using Nimbuzz for the rare times I need VoIP on my mobile.

The digitizer has 2450 dpi resolution. The screen is 1024x786 with 64 grey levels.

It look like a concept I could use. For lab journals etc - snap an image, write a note.

So let me see, if I understand this correctly:
Time has the ballistic and aerodynamic properties of a medieval wooden projectile? :)

In my experience it has nothing to do with egos or competition.

But it is damn hard to publish something that doesn't work!

I was recently involved i developing a microfluidic system for diagnostics. Every milestone and sub-problem was solved. But when the final injection molded devices were tested, they failed due to an sort of interesting non-obvious combination of factors. Two issues with publishing this; the problems were very specific to our system and the conclusion could be written in 5 lines of text.

It would have been like a movie with huge setup, but within the first 3 minutes the hero stumble, break his neck, and dies. End credits. It was a EU founded research project, no more money no more time. You can't get founding to continue a failed project. End of story.

But my point is, in all my experience as scientist. I've never seen one of my colleagues say "we should hide this", but I've often heard "I would like to tell about this, but I don't know of a paper that would accept it".

Also when something fails we need to carry on, but now we're behind schedule...

Adblockers are slowly starting to work just fine in google chrome https://chrome.google.com/extensions/search?q=adblock :-)

And here I was waiting out for the Wii2 (Wii-ii?)

I think my 'standard data drive' is around 600 GB. I have gotten used to use it for everything. That way I know my personal data - photos, documents, pirated music :-) is hidden by default should someone steal my computer.

Allergic to sunlight? Are you sure it's not just PSR? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_sneeze_reflex

I have it myself. I usually joke that I'm allergic to crossing the street. The reason; when I look left and right for cars, I will most probable look towards sunlight at some point. The effect is an increased probability that I sneeze while crossing the street :-)

In Denmark, an unlocked HTC Hero costs ~620 USD. (including the Danish 25% VAT).

Most people I know (myself included) buy phones unlocked (because my (current/prefered) phone company don't sell phones - but I like their simple "~10 USD/month for up to 1GB" data plan).

Using the "US to Danish price" conversion (multiply by 1.25, add some) it will cost around 670-700 USD in Denmark (of course payed in DKK).

The price does not surprise me. I am planning to replace my phone ½ year from now (then my current phone will have survived 2+ years). It will probably be an Android based, in that price range.

For comparison, in Denmark, an iPhone (unlocked 3GS/32GB) costs ~1100 USD.

I couldn't decide whether to mod you Informative or Funny. Modding you Funny would have been Redundant, but Informative would have been really Funny...

In the end I realized: I'm at work! I don't have time for this!

... Efficiency is the enemy of redundancy!

Old documents, saved in 'almost like ascii' is still 'readable'. I once salvaged a document from some obscure ancient word processor by opening it in a text editor. I also found some "images" (more like icons) on the same disk (a copy of a floppy), even these I could "read" (by changing the page width of my text editor to fit the width of the uncompressed image).

As long as the storage space keep growing...

Maybe slightly off-topic, but it reminds me of the bad Babylon 5 spin-off focusing on the rangers. I saw the pilot (the plot was something with someone had a really anal interpretation of the rangers' slogan "we live for the one, we die for the one" - with emphasis on "die")

They had this space ship, with a holo-deck like weapons-control-system. The combat officer literally had to punch and kick at the opponent (punches fires lasers, kicks fires "missiles" (or their future equivalent)) ... Not only had they actually reduced the capabilities of the weapon systems to the stamina of the officer (why, luckily, were a fit, well trained woman), but the sensors was also reduced to the human field-of-view.

Anyhow, back to reality. For combining training with fun, this sounds like a fantastic idea! As long as the game is "RPG like" and does not depend on your reflexes like a FPS. Because then this equipment will only be used until the first encounter...

(Though it would be really good training with all the running in BF2/CoD etc.)

In Denmark we had the problem with the Legionella bacteria a couple of years ago. In order to save heat/oil/electricity, most had turned the hot water temperature down and the bacteria was able to survive somewhere in the hot water system (a problem in larger departments, where there is a central water heater, long pipelines, and the individual resident can not control the temperature of incoming water).

Especially old people were in danger when inhaling water aerosols containing bacteria. The problem was of course unnoticed for several years, but is estimated to have caused several deaths.

Solution to the problem; the water temperature in the hot water system should not go below a certain threshold.

You can call it "tips" if you want. However, taking money to prioritize is called bribing! It must be discouraged since it will corrupt any system.