Browsed by
Month: April 2009

Speaker paper

Speaker paper

Yes, a sheet of pretty standard paper is turned into a speaker.  Still bendable, good audio quality (50hz-20khz), etc.  Only sad part is that I can see this primarily used for advertising.  As if adverts weren’t already more than annoying enough.

Link is a video clip showing it actually playing music – crazy.

Interesting videos on your civil rights

Interesting videos on your civil rights

In some ways I’m a libertarian, a Democrat, and a Republican.  However, it is always interesting to hear opinions about your rights.

Here’s a recording of a law class given by prof on why you should never let your client talk to police without a lawyer present:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865
This video is slightly more biased towards getting away with things you maybe shouldn’t, but does give you a great visual show of how easily you can accidentally give up your rights.
Citizen’s guide to your Rights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMjMPlXzdA

50 things every 18 year old should know

50 things every 18 year old should know

I always liked these sorts of lists.  Much like the “12 things I learned by 42 that I wish I’d known at 22“.  This is also an interesting list overall, but I liked a few more than others:

1. If you are buying something that you will use often and for a long time, never go cheap.
5. Try to keep enough cash to pay your bills for at least six months in reserve. It will make your life immeasurably easier if your car breaks down, you have a surprise medical expense, or you get an opportunity to get a fantastic bargain. (I’m shooting for 12 months myself)
7. “Don’t have any children or get married until you can support and love yourself first.”
10. Start looking for a new job BEFORE you quit your old job.
11) Don’t take any job that only pays commission unless you’re either an expert salesman or ready to spend months working without pay to gain the skills you need to become an expert salesman.
24) Don’t ever loan your friends money if you want to keep them as friends. After all, if they were good with money and were likely to pay you back in a timely manner, they probably wouldn’t need the loan in the first place. If they really need the money, you want to help them, and you can afford it — just give it to them.
26) When men have a problem and they tell you about it, they want to know how to fix it. When women have a problem and they tell you about it, they just want you to listen.
28) If you don’t know the agenda of the people you’re getting your news from, then you don’t have the information you need to know if what they’re telling you is true.
35) You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
38) You are not invulnerable and you are not going to live forever. You can make mistakes at 18 that you will have to live with for the rest of your life.
45) If you want your life to have impact, focus it! Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity. You can be busy but without purpose.
50) When trying to decide between two closely matched alternatives, always have a bias towards action. In the long run, it’ll lead to your having a lot more experience, great stories, and a richer, fuller life.

Project Offset and Tom’s hardware does Larrabee

Project Offset and Tom’s hardware does Larrabee

I’m currently working with Intel’s newly acquired game development team called Project Offset.  You can see some video clips of recent work hereor here (Voodoo Extreme), or here (Gamespot).  There’s also a video clip of Sam McGrath on G4 TV showing off the system (I worked with Sam on two different technologies now)

And get it directly from the Offset project page – and see that I’m listed in the ‘Meet our team’ section.  🙂

Also, Tom’s hardware does a decent review of publicly available info on Larrabee.

One of my old managers dies in plane crash

One of my old managers dies in plane crash

http://www.katu.com/news/local/42264232.html#idc-container

One of my old managers from a few years back – Pam – a very avid flyer, died in a small plane crash last week.  She used to communte to work via plane (hillsboro airport is right across the way) and I would sometimes pick her up for rides when she was walking between the airport and work.  She was a great lady – and will be missed.

No news yet on funeral details.

Quote of the week

Quote of the week

“The guy driving the Prius/Volvo with it’s Obama sticker in the window in downtown Portland is just as big a stereotype as the guy driving the red pickup with a Bush/Cheney sticker in Tigard.”

Housing price estimates through March 2010

Housing price estimates through March 2010

Even though the experts are saying that certain housing markets are bottoming out, the question is who and which?  To that end, Money magazine published an interesting article that reports estimated housing price changes for the next 12 months by city/state.

Interestingly, Portland is slated for a 10.2% drop in house prices from now till March 2010.  Something that local realtors are not likely to tell you.  In fact, according to the local radio ads – it’s never been a better time to buy!  (Just like they’ve been screaming for the last 2 years).  But anywho, that matches up with the historical data that says Oregon tends to enter recessions later than others, but tends to stay longer (and sometimes goes a bit deeper).  But anyway – go give the list a look – interesting trends.