Harrkev

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• Commented on Chip Sounds
  Wow. They charge $95 for it! On the web site, they claim to put in 4 years into this project (seems reasonable). Given that amount of work, $95 seems justifiable. However, they priced themselves out of my price range (cheap...
• Commented on Gadget Reviews: Akai Miniak, Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ and more
  Wingo: The Micron does not have a microphone or vocoder. That little addition to the Miniak makes this more comparable to the Korg Mini. The Akai looks better too: no red side panels....
• Commented on Gadget Reviews: Akai Miniak, Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ and more
  About the Akai keyboard. I would never recommend an M-Audio USB-MIDI interface. That type does NOT come with the firmware built-in. So, you need a driver that will download the firmware to tell it that it is a MIDI interface....
• Commented on Tiny pinfire guns
  Note that the average BB gun has more power than these things....
• Commented on Snakeguardz Are Also Bulletproof!
  The general rule of thumb is that a shotgun blast spreads one inch per yard (more or less, depending on choke and load, but this is a good starting guideline). So, for a 20-foot distance, you can expect a spread...
• Commented on Mystery Mid looks like iTablet of 2007
  Why should Apple be embarrassed for releasing a jumbo-sized iPod as a tablet. If it is polished, it might be awesome. At some point, physical devices stop evolving. Have you ever seen the new and improved fork or spoon? Me...
• Commented on Review: Audio Technica ATH-CK7 headphones
  Here is the real scoop about impedance: the impedance of the headphones must match the internal impedance of the source (MP3 player) for maximum power. The math behind this is fairly simple. You can model a power source (such as...
• Commented on Man brings gun into jail hidden in his body rolls
  #5, Hawley. The people who run this blog are in California. They probably barely know which end the bullets come out. (OMG, guns are eeeevvvviiillll). If this blog was run out of Wyoming or Montana, then they would know the...
• Commented on Camp Stove Burn Wood, Fire Make Hot
  This is a fancy version of a "rocket stove" which is usually made out of a 1-gallon paint bucket for MUCH less than $35. A little googling should return some DIY instructions....
• Commented on Radio chip inspired by human ear
  This might be useful as a spectrum analyzer (as they claim), but I am dubious about its ability to actually decode any of the signals. The general focus these days is to get as much data in as narrow a...
• Commented on What the world needs now is more shiv cosies
  #7, Radiomovies. Not true. Have you ever tried chewing a shipping box open? I use my knife all the time. When cooking a Banquet frozen meal (TV dinner), how are you supposed to cut a slit in the film cover...
• Commented on Why is in-car Bluetooth and iPod/audio support still a "premium"?
  "User Device" is appropriate. I have an MP3 player or two, but NONE of them are made by Apple, and none of them are called an "iPod". I try to avoid iPods because of the way that Apple has gone...
• Commented on Energizer-branded Wiimote charger up for pre-order
  Wow. Recharging without removing the jackets. That is what I have been waiting for. My two young kids play the Wii, and the wiimotes have gone flying across the room a couple of times. The jackets stay. This is a...
• Commented on Chunky crapgadget used to conduct the US census (kind of)
  Oh. I forgot to mention. The fingerprint reader was probably a "shall" line in the specifications. Since it is not likely that any existing device would have one built-in, they HAD to build their own, or they did not meet...
• Commented on Chunky crapgadget used to conduct the US census (kind of)
  I am getting a kick out of this, because I used to work for Harris, and am still friends with one of the higher-ups who *used* to work on this thing. This project started years ago, before you could get...
• Commented on Lime green Nintendo DS lite bundle readied for sale in US
  Gaaaa. The color -- it burns! Seriously, what an eyesore....
• Commented on Columbine anniversary and videogames
  That study is clearly un-American. The American way is to find something to blame besides the culture or the individual. We HAVE to blame the video games, the guns, or something! That gives us the illusion that we can erect...
• Commented on HP-35 scientific calculator gets IEEE milestone award
  Once you take the trouble to learn RPN, you never want to go back... especially using a recent-vintage calculator with a large screen that shows you the last several entries in the stack. I still have my HP-48sx, and I...
• Commented on Aussie cops mistake wheel lock for gun, arrest driver
  Sounds like the Aussies have outlawed guns so much, even the cops don't know what they look like....
• Commented on Floating rocks
  Riiiight....
• Commented on EFF attorney explains Obama DOJ's radical authoritarian position on wiretapping immunity to Olbermann
  Change you can believe in....
• Commented on Heinlein's house for sale
  Cool. According to Google Maps, I am less than a 12-mile drive away. I might have to drive by there. According to his Wikipedia entry, the house even has a bomb shelter....
• Commented on Pete Verrando's CD Turntables
  #9) These days, head positioning of an optical media IS a trivial issue. The head just has to be "close enough" to read the track. The lens in the laser assembly actually swivels, which allows it to make the last...
• Commented on Music Video: Tommy Sparks - "She Got Me Dancing"
  I loved it, in a cheesy/retro/low-budget sort of way....
• Commented on India releases $2,200 car
  #1): Two-cyliner is NOT the same as two-stroke....
• Commented on Perfectly Good Names The SciFi Channel Could Have Chosen Instead of The Utterly Stupid "SyFy"
  The "All Grace Park All The Time Channel" might get more viewers ;) I have always wondered why Joss Whedon didn't jump over to SciFi. The "Firefly" fiasco would have made me bitter. Instead, he trusts "Dollhouse" to Fox. Bad...
• Commented on Manufacturer confirms chip: iPod headphones now have the Apple Tax; Update: Apple confirms no DRM, authentication, just licensing
  The real questions are: 1) If anybody tried to reverse-engineer this and make a clone, would they get sued? 2) Is there any encryption in there? As an engineer, given that marketing wants something with three buttons on there, it...
• Commented on Which Side Are You On? Explaining what happened to labor in America
  #17, Noen: I am not against people taking a lunch break. However, sometimes, you have to roll up your sleeves and get the job done, even if it means taking a 10-minute lunch break every month or two. But not...
• Commented on Which Side Are You On? Explaining what happened to labor in America
  I have seen and heard of the down side of unions. I am an engineer, and I once had to deliver a product to an aerospace company. The engineers who worked there were not even allowed to touch the hardware....
• Commented on Viagra orgy leads to man's death
  Takuan, you are my hero....