In 2008, hundreds of planes will be flying with in-the-air wi-fi service. One technology comes from AirCell. This is an air-to-ground connection using EV-DO technology. EV-DO is the same technology used by Verizon and other cell phone companies to give laptops broadband access through the cell phone network. AirCell has purchased spectrum (800 Mhz) that [...]

If you are at a Super Bowl party this weekend, you may want to avoid the dip: Dip Once or Dip Twice? The concern is “doubling dipping” – a concern first given wide publicity by an episode of “Seinfeld.” The problem mentioned in that episode is that some people take a bite of a chip, [...]

The AD-1: See also: Ames-Dryden-1 (AD-1) From the article: It was designed as a low-cost/low-speed research aircraft to test a pivot wing design. The AD-1 took off with its wing positioned at a right angle with the fuselage. Once in the air, the wing would rotate on its pivot point on the fuselage until it [...]

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is a NASA satellite that will orbit the earth and measure CO2 levels in the atmosphere with high accuracy. The goal is to find sources and sinks for CO2 to better understand where CO2 is being created and absorbed on the planet. This page describes the mission: OCO – Orbiting Carbon [...]

Cool, but strange: And the slo-mo is nice. The obvious question: how did they create the explosions? It would appear that they used a licensed pyrotechnician for the shoot and that he/she used flash powder. This video, for example, shows the effect of two ounces of flash powder: This page shows a van explosion using [...]

The 9/11 conspiracy theory popped (very briefly) into the news again this week because 9/11 hecklers had another run-in with Bill Clinton: Conincidentally with that, I have a friend who sent me links to a series of 9/11 conspiracy theory videos called “September Clues”. The gist of September Clues seems to be, “we can find [...]

Here’s the question: One things that I have run across on my quest for a TV is: Pixel response time, shown as 8 ms (milliseconds) more or less. Where does this fit in and what range should we be looking for? If you are looking to buy a new LCD HDTV, there are several things [...]

A 10 year old builds an awesome snow making machine with an air compressor and a pressure washer: Real-World Calvin Builds Snow Machine, Creates Backyard Mountain Overnight The link includes a video showing his invention. For more info see: How snow makers work [See previous TIM]