I took a three old laptop batteries to my local Radio Shack where they advertise free recycling for your old rechargeable batteries.
The guy behind the counter said, "That's fine, but if you really care about recycling, just know that if you leave them here, they'll go into the trash. I've never seen the battery recycle bin go anywhere else." I was astounded. I thanked him for his honesty and kept the batteries.
"Privacy advocates obtained database records showing that the government routinely records the race of people pulled aside for extra screening as they enter the country, along with cursory answers given to U.S. border inspectors about their purpose in traveling. In one case, the records note Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Gilmore's choice of reading material, and worry over the number of small flashlights he'd packed for the trip. The breadth of the information obtained by the Gilmore-funded Identity Project (using a Privacy Act request) shows the government's screening program at the border is actually a "surveillance dragnet," according to the group's spokesman Bill Scannell. "There is so much sensitive information in the documents that it is clear that Homeland Security is not playing straight with the American people," Scannell said.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals, Wireless
Intel's announced USB 3.0 specification could push throughput beyond 4Gbps (300MBps) at the application level while introducing Quality of Service in support of HD video streams. Besides supplanting Firewire once and for all, a clear goal of the new "SuperSpeed USB" is to keep up with the transfer speeds of flash chips. "We don't want to be the bottleneck in the system," says Intel's Jeff Ravencraft who is overseeing the 3.0 initiative. Intel, HP, Microsoft, NEC, NXP, and TI will present the initial spec for a design review in November with first silicon to be stamped in "early 2009." While the new interconnect (pictured) will remain backward compatible with USB 2.0 and prior devices, new cables laced with an optical link and a max length of 2-meters will be required to take advantage of those high speeds acsirecording to a senior engineering manager with NEC. Meanwhile, a 1Gbps throughput is being targeted with Ravencraft's other baby: Wireless USB 1.1. Sounds great, but with existing 480Mbps Wireless USB silicon only achieving about 40Mbps in practice, Intel would be wise to focus on efficiency, not theory. Of course, it's all just a lot of smack-talk 'til they deliver, but with Apple running Intel inside now, Sony putting USB in their camcorders, and eSATA proliferating for external disks... well, Firewire's days sure seem numbered.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
since the field is so plainly tilted against Arab oil interests.""With the high cost of fuel right now, the department does recognize that a lot of people are looking for relief," said Reggie Little, assistant director of the motor fuel taxes division. "We're not here to hurt the small guy, we're just trying to make sure that the playing field is level."
Prof: So the American government went to IBM to come up with a data encryption standard and they came up with ... Student: EBCDIC!"
