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Comment My theory : It's Capacitor (Score 1) 602

by csoh (#48002729) Attached to: The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy

I have no scientific data to back it up, but I strongly suspect both CFL and LED's premature burnout problem arises from using cheap,low-grade capacitors(Both needs capacitors for power conversion circuit). And I think LED last longer than CFL just because LED draws less current from that same cheap,low-grade capacitor so that it's less damaging to that crap.

Comment Recipes (Score 1) 238

by csoh (#47896295) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Advice On Building a Firewall With VPN Capabilities?

There is more than one way to do it.

1. Raspberry Pi(not practical)
RPI+linux+iptables+openvpn
pros : cheap, low power(5W), no noise, low heat
cons : 1 100Mbps port only, usb-ethernet/usb-wifi+additional switch needed, usb performance not good. Not recommended unless your outer ethernet side is very slow.

2. DD-WRT + supported hardware(ap/router)
AP/router(typically arm based)+linux+iptables+openvpn
pros : relatively cheap(depends on hardware model), low power(typically 10W), no noise, low heat, integrated WIFI/wired ports. small. clean looking.
cons : limited internal storage/memory. May brick your hardware if you are not careful enough(and void your warranty) useful for dedicated role(firewall, vpn)only
                    may use for printer/file server or other role if your hardware has usb port, but (typically) slower than full pc.

3. Mini ITX based PC
Low-end bay-trail based Mini ITX motherboard(j1800 recommended)+dc-dc power+12V power brick+small case+storage+linux/bsd(?)+iptables/pf(?)+openvpn
pros : versatile(file/full printer(cups)/application(ex. minecraft) server capable depend on configuration, up to 8/16GB ram + TBs of storage),
                  still can be made fanless&no noise if you've planned well,
                  relatively low heat(warm) if you leave it on open space
cons : most power hungry(~15W, depend on configuration), additional usb-ethernet adapter/switch/wifi needed, biggest of all above(20cm*20cm*5cm + brick)

tips
-for cheap 12V power brick, look for power brick for LCD monitors(12V 3.5A/5A SMPS - depend on your system's power usage- widely manufactured)
-about iptables, read iptables tutorial on frozentux.net
-p910nd - light, spoolless(no file operation) print server daemon. turn your cheap usb only printer to always-on networked printer even on limited storage platform.

Comment Could it be improved by... (Score 1) 138

by csoh (#45895519) Attached to: Steam Controller Hands-on

attaching some additional pieces of hardware like some rubber, plastic pad, spring ,small stick to make it behave like real joystick? I remember that there were some hobby projects to make something attached to MSX numpad to make it work like joystick long long ago.

Comment Cheaper material (Score 1) 149

by csoh (#43869255) Attached to: Casting a Harsh Light On Chinese Solar Panels

Roughly 3 yrs ago the company I work for noticed that Price of Nylon 12 resin had been steadily rising. Once asked, representative of resin manufacturer said "Oh, they're hugely popular replacing fluoropolymer based plastic(PTFE-teflon I think) in solar panel(in china)." While Nylon 12 is still better than more common plastics for this purpose, it is definitely less durable and cheaper alternatives to fluoropolymer.
The Military

United States Begins Flying Stealth Bombers Over South Korea 567

Posted by samzenpus from the nice-day-for-a-flight dept.
skade88 writes "The New York Times is reporting that the United States has started flying B-2 stealth bomber runs over South Korea as a show of force to North Korea. The bombers flew 6,500 miles to bomb a South Korean island with mock explosives. Earlier this month the U.S. Military ran mock B-52 bombing runs over the same South Korean island. The U.S. military says it shows that it can execute precision bombing runs at will with little notice needed. The U.S. also reaffirmed their commitment to protecting its allies in the region. The North Koreans have been making threats to turn South Korea into a sea of fire. North Korea has also made threats claiming they will nuke the United States' mainland."

Comment Still not good enough for me(just my opinion) (Score 2) 103

by csoh (#41309657) Attached to: Intel Unveils 10-Watt Haswell Chip

What I want for my ultimate mobile computing device:

1. Small, lightweight and have physical keyboard
  I walk a lot so I want small device that fit comfortably in my backpack (so that's below 7'') and weight less than 1.5(preferrably 1) pound. I'm not all-day mobile warrior so I can live with cramped keyboard but after testing my wife's galaxy s2 touch keyboard I decided I DO NEED a physical keyboard for typing documents/playing games(like nethack, old dosbox compatible games).

2. MS application/IE compatiblity
    I need to do business with MS office documents and MS IE only internet banking/payment processing. Libreoffice is not good enough if you have to edit/exchange MS office documents with other business entity(and that stupid and powerful entity is stubborn enough that it want genuine MS office docs only and complain slightest of incompatibility problems)

3. Very low power
10W - It will still need fan or huge heatsink. Moving part/high power is not good for longivity/ruggedness let alone battery life. My estimate is that you'll have to go below 2W to acheive compact & sleek design without fan/huge heatsink - Yes atom Z5XX do that and I have one now.

4. usable graphic core without fsckup.
I need graphic core that supports linux well and play angry bird. PVR core in atom don't support either. Even their xp driver don't support basic opengl well enough.

5. Support basic net tools/secure net connection I feel comfortable
I want to redirect all normal net connection via VPN using my secure home base using openvpn when I connect to untrusted/public wifi. I believe that is reasonably achievable(without heavy source modifying/manually recompliling) with only linux/winxp~7 for now. And I hate OS that don't support basic net tools.

6. Trusted application that I know What it is doing.
I don't want application that does unknown things behind my back(leaking private info for whatever reason or doing net connection I don't want it to do). So I prefer well known/open source apps and become skeptical on many android/google apps.

If you go ultrabook route, you can acheive 2,4,5,6 for now.
If you go atom route, you can achieve 1,2,3,5,6 for now. Currently I've settled for this.
If you go arm based smartphone/pad route, you can achive 1(depends on device),3,4,may be 5 (if you rooted your phone/pad) for now.
With WINRT device, may be you'll be able to achieve 1,2,3,4.

Of course things are changing so somewhere in future may be you could do things with a platform that counldn't do for now(compatibilty/standard compliance got better,intel finally make 2w non-atom processor/drop FSCKING pvr core from atom, better performance to run emulation comfortably, corporation changes their mind about privacy...). So I think it is the race between platforms which acheives the most within reasonable time.
Nintendo

Submission + - Nintendo Warns 3D Games Can Ruin Children's Eyes 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Fox News reports that Sony has posted a cautionary note on its Japanese website that "“vision of children under the age of six has been said [to be in the] developmental stage,” adding that 3D content “delivers 3D images with different left and right images, [which] has a potential impact on the growth of children’s eyes.” The notice went to say that Sony recommends that all viewers take regular breaks while watching 3D video or playing stereoscopic 3D games (google translation). Dr. Michael Ehrenhaus, an ophthalmologist with New York Cornea Consultants, thinks Nintendo and Sony may be getting ahead of themselves with these disclaimers. "It's hard to say that it'll ruin development," says Ehrenhaus. "I don't foresee it as a major issue, they're just being overly concerned." Ehrenhaus says the disclaimer comes from worries about the eye strain people can get by focusing on something for long periods of times and that young children may suffer from a condition called amblyopia or "lazy eye," where one eye sees better than the other. Eye strain from 3D may turn out to be merely the latest in a long line of fears about television and video gaming similar to the widespread worries that arose after flashing lights in games led to rare epileptic fits, or the old wives tale about sitting too close to the television. "A lot of these myths never really play out," Ehrenhaus says."

Comment Nettop itx ATOM board done right. (Score 1) 86

by csoh (#30521262) Attached to: Intel's New Atom D510 Benchmark Tested

Look at the picture of this board. Unlike typical atom330+945gc nettop board it has NO FAN. And if we recall the fact that 945gc chipset consumes 25w of power, way more than 8w cpu itself, I would rather call this board "Nettop ATOM board done right, powerwise". So if you already have netbook which uses 945gse mobile chipset(which is already power efficient), this would mean nothing more than minor facelift. But if you're going to buy atom330+945gc itx nettop board, this is much improved product to consider regarding power. And minor upgrade from gma950 to gma3150(slightly improved g31), would be better than nothing.
Earth

DoE Considers Artificial Trees To Remove CO2 418

Posted by timothy from the putting-the-artifice-in-artificial dept.
eldavojohn writes "CNN is running an article on a new angle of attack to reducing greenhouse gases. After meeting with the US Department of Energy on the concept, the researchers revealed the details that each 'tree' (really a small building structure in the concept design) would cost about as much as a Toyota and remove 1 ton of CO2 from the air per day. Don't worry, they're accounting for the energy the 'tree' uses to operate: 'By the time we make liquid C02 we have spent approximately 50 kilojoules [of electricity] per mole of C02. Compare that to the average power plant in the US, which produces one mole of C02 with every 230 kilojoules of electricity. In other words, if we simply plugged our device in to the power grid to satisfy its energy needs, for every roughly 1,000 kilograms [of carbon dioxide] we collected we would re-emit 200, so 800 we can chalk up as having been successful.' Each unit would remove 20 automobiles' worth of CO2 from the air and cost about as much as a Toyota... so the plan might be a five percent surcharge on automobiles to fund these synthetic tree farms."
Sony

Submission + - Sony Films Won't Play on Sony DVD Players

Submitted by taxevader
taxevader writes: Sony Films Won't Play on Sony DVD Players, Say Reports
Complaints have begun appearing on some tech websites that copyright-protection coding on new releases from Sony, including Stranger Than Fiction, The Holiday, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness, has made them unplayable on certain DVD players. One person complained on an Amazon.com discussion board that when inserted in Sony's DVP-CX995V player, the disks "load up to the splash title screen and then load no further, then after about 60 secs the player turns itself off!" The writer said that when he contacted Sony he was told that the company was aware of the problem and that it was working on a firmware update. The writer then asked Sony, "Would it not be a good idea to test changes you intend to make on your DVDs at least on your own equipment so that if you find a problem you could have the firmware update available instead of not only inconveniencing, but alienating your own customers?"

http://imdb.com/news/sb/2007-04-16/

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