Category Archives: technology

Publisher sells DRM-free ebooks to libraries

Posted on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 by author-unknown

German publisher Springer Verlag decided not to infect the 40,000 ebook titles it sells to libraries with DRM — though the booksellers that carry Springer titles still insist on DRM for their proprietary stores. As a result, “once libraries have paid … Continue reading →

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Zoom for audio enables you to hear a single conversation in huge crowd

Posted on Thursday, October 7, 2010 by author-unknown

Two physicists developed a new technology called AudioScope that apparently enables you to zoom in on sounds in huge, loud places like sports arenas or lecture halls. Physicists Morgan Kjølerbakken and Vibeke Jahr, formerly of the University of Os… Continue reading →

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Five Best Fax Services [Hive Five]

Posted on Sunday, September 12, 2010 by author-unknown

Despite the overall decrease in the popularity of fax machines, faxing is still a common practice in many industries. Here's a look at five of the most popular services for sending and receiving fa… Continue reading →

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Crack the Code in Cyber Command’s Logo

Posted on Wednesday, July 7, 2010 by author-unknown

The U.S. Military’s new “Cyber Command” logo contains a hidden code. Noah Shachtman at Wired News says, “Help us crack it!”
Related reading today: Bruce Schneier says “The Threat of Cyberwar Has Been Grossly Exaggerated.”

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Rucker’s WARE books back in print — and free to download!!!11!ONE!

Posted on Monday, June 21, 2010 by author-unknown

Rudy Rucker’s seminal Ware cyberpunk novels (Software, Wetware, Freeware, and Realware) have been collected in a single volume from Prime Books, with an introduction by William Gibson. To celebrate, Rudy and Prime have released the full text of the boo… Continue reading →

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First self-replicating mathematical creature

Posted on Friday, June 18, 2010 by Beanbag

The Game of Life is a cellular automation first devised in 1970 by mathematician John Conway. It’s played by setting simple rules and then watching how the cells live, die, interact, and form complex patterns that evolve over time. Last month, Canadi… Continue reading →

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The State of Solid State Hard Drives

Posted on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Beanbag

Jeff Atwood over at Coding Horror has put up a post on his experience with his latest SSD. Sounds promising! Intel was the only game in town for about a year, but fortunately for us consumers, the competition finally caught … Continue reading →

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Mother Earth Mother Board

Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 by Beanbag

Published in Wired in 1996, this is still an excellent article written by Neal Stephenson, who travels across the globe to document how undersea communications cable are laid. While the article is very long (56 pages), it makes for fascinating … Continue reading →

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New York Times article on the life of Arthur C. Clarke

Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 by Beanbag

The New York Times has an article commemorating the life of science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who just passed away. The author of almost 100 books, Mr. Clarke was an ardent promoter of the idea that humanity’s destiny lay beyond … Continue reading →

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The stapler’s secret

Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2007 by Beanbag

If you’ve ever wondered why most staplers have the feature to bend staples outwards as well as inwards, here’s your answer. And now for what may be the most prosaic post in Eternal Recurrence history: examining your stapler! Yes, your … Continue reading →

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Binary marble adding machine

Posted on Friday, June 22, 2007 by Beanbag

Matthias Wandel built this clever adder that uses marbles. It is quite pleasant to watch it in action…check out the video. It had occurred to me that perhaps with an insane amount of perseverance, it might be possible to build … Continue reading →

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Book: Where Wizards Stay Up Late

Posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 by Beanbag

Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon Touchstone, 1998 In Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Hafner and Lyon take us all the way back to the earliest days of computer networking. … Continue reading →

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Book: Adventures From the Technology Underground

Posted on Monday, June 11, 2007 by Beanbag

Adventures From the Technology Underground: Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns, Flamethrowers, Tesla Coils, Air Cannons, and the Garage Warriors Who Love Them William Gurstelle Three Rivers Press, 2006 This is a wildly entertaining book filled with colorful characters and powerful, dangerous … Continue reading →

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Book: The Computer: An Illustrated History

Posted on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 by Beanbag

The Computer: An Illustrated History Mark Frauenfelder Carlton Books, 2005 This is computer pr0n at its finest. This large, beautiful coffee-table book chronicles the evolution of the computer through hundreds of photographs. Following the earliest counting devices, hulking mainframes, personal … Continue reading →

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Book: Founders at Work

Posted on Thursday, May 31, 2007 by Beanbag

Founders at Work Jessica Livingston Apress, 2007 This book contains 32 interviews with founding members of different tech startups. Most of the interviews follow the same general format: how they got their idea, their first steps in forming a company, … Continue reading →

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How camera lenses are made

Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 by Beanbag

A 9 minute video on how they make camera lenses. Link (via Strobist)

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Canon PowerShot firmware hacking

Posted on Monday, May 7, 2007 by Beanbag

This firmware hack for some models of Canon A- and S-series cameras with DIGIC II processors adds additional functionality to your camera – the biggest being the ability to shoot in RAW format. You also get a battery indicator – … Continue reading →

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LCDs vulnerable to Van Eck Phreaking

Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 by Beanbag

Just like CRTs, someone can eavesdrop on the electromagnetic emissions from your LCD display. Back in 1985, Wim Van Eck proved it was possible to tune into the radio emissions produced by electromagentic coils in a CRT display and then … Continue reading →

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Don’t Believe the Hype: The 21 Biggest Technology Flops

Posted on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 by Beanbag

Read ComputerWorld’s list of over-hyped failures of the tech industry. Hype is the coin of the realm in the technology business. If you listen to vendors and the media, it may sometimes seem as though every new product, service, concept … Continue reading →

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How To Choose CD/DVD Archival Media

Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 by Beanbag

This in-depth article has some recommendations for which media to use for archival purposes. It explains why DVD+R is superior to DVD-R for data, and prefers Taiyo Yuden as only media worth buying. As I said earlier, DVD-R sucks for … Continue reading →

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