Lunch With George!

December 6, 2001 - Taco Cabana

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Agenda

• Curved Spacetime - DEFERRED
• Segway
• BOREF
• Infinity - DEFERRED
• XM Radio
• It runs Linux, too?
• Platinum Discover Card
• Killer App
• Final Fantasy
• Disposable Printer - UPDATE

Segway

Well, everyone has now heard about the new Segway personal transporter (formerly known by codename "Ginger"). This cool device is said to almost read the mind of its rider, anticipating where and when a person wants to go (or stop). If you want to learn more, see full coverage at

George noted that as you lean forward, the Segway senses your movement and increases its speed (both to meet your desire to go faster and to compensate for your leaning). He was wondering what it does when it has reaches its maximum speed? It can no longer increase its speed to keep you from falling over, so do you fall over forward?

I was concerned that mixing Segway riders with pedestrians might lead to nasty collisions. Shortly after I graduated from Arizona State University, they banned bicycles (and skateboards, scooters, etc.) from the main malls during "prime time" for this very reason.

BOREF

• A small chip which converts heat to elextricity called Power Chip.
• A small chip which removes heat called Cool Chip.
• Chorus: a significantly more efficient electric motor that uses electromagnetic harmonics to greatly increase the motor's output, or torque.

George was talking about tri-phase AC motors... but I didn't understand! DC.. AC.. George actually took a course in electric motors while earning his Mechanical Engineering degree. They had to descend to the dark depths of some basement where large electric motor components littered the room.

XM Radio

So what's my problem? It's not the $300 system (that's the cheapest one), nor is it the monthly fee. I don't want to subscribe because I simply did not find programming in which I was interested (checkout the web site). They have news programming, but not the ones I want. They have sports programming, but not the ones I want. Even though there are a handful of classical stations, the choices don't really appeal to me (two of the five are "Opera" and "Clasical for the rest of us").

So it really IS like cable/satellite TV... 100s of channels and nothing to listen to!

It runs Linux, too?

I know... you're getting tired of the Dreamcast stuff! But I was quite surprised to discover during my research that there are devoted followers out there who run variations of Unix on their Dreamcasts! There is a version of Linux, as well as a flavor of NetBSD. I'm not sure what for what you can really use it, but it seems pretty cool.

I picked up another game for the DC at Target: Shenmue. It is a multi-disk game which is a combination of adventure, combat, and puzzles. Your character (Ryo Hazuki) is searching for Lan Di, the man who murdered his father. Along the way, he learns new martial arts techniques from various masters. I was standing there reading the case in Target when two young boys (probably 9 and 11) saw me and proceeded to tell me what a GREAT game it is. I'm sold! The best part: It was on Target clearance for $9.00.

I've been searching the web for Dreamcast resources, and came across a great game site (and it's not just for DC): IGN.com. They have a separate site for each game platform (including PCs). The IGN Dreamcast site contains lots of great game reviews, articles, and news about the platform. A really great article recommends the 20 best games for Dreamcast.

There's a website dedicated to saving the Dreamcast: DreamAlive, and there's even a Save Dreamcast website with a petition you can sign. I found it by reading through posts on the bulletin board at the Official SEGA site.

Platinum Discover Card

Killer App

This reminded George of Agile Software development. He said that XP is a subset of Agile Development. You can check it out at the Agile Alliance web site.

They value:

Perhaps it is the manager/process advocate in me, but the way in which their manifesto is worded makes it sound as though the inmates are running the assylum.

However, once I clicked through to their Principles page, I was sold! This looks like the right way to successfully develop software.

Final Fantasy

Maxim Magazine declared the main character from the film, Dr. Aki, to be among their "Hot 100". One article on the web claimed that the CGI human could not be told apart from the real humans in the magazine photos.

I still need to rent this one!

Disposable Printers UPDATE

When I went to replace the cartridges (they're around $24 each), I discovered that Fry's Electronics was selling factory-refurbished Espon Sytlus 777i printers (with a full set of cartridges included) for $39. I asked Teri if she wanted new cartridges or a new printer (and I guaranteed that if she didn't like the printer, she could have the old one back with new cartridges), she naturally took the new printer. What a deal! The 777i has twice the resolution of the 740, and it printers faster and quieter.

At this rate, I may never buy a separate print cartridge again!