Amazon Kindle Disassembly and Take-Apart Guide

RapidRepair has completed the new Amazon Kindle disassembly guide. With the slicing and dicing complete, you need only look down to see the internals of the new Kindle from Amazon.

Photos: A brief history of stealth aircraft

TechRepublic reports: "Just a generation ago, it was a hush-hush military project, a futuristic aircraft that fit right into the shadowy cloak-and-dagger atmosphere of the Cold War. Nowadays the F-117A Nighthawk stealth aircraft--the first of its kind--is making a high-profile circuit of the world's air shows, from New Mexico to Dubai, as it heads into retirement. But even today, the plane is still as startling a sight as it was in the late 1980s when the Pentagon first revealed it to the public, all triangles and trapezoids. Those long edges and slopes, along with smaller serrations spread across the airframe, are key elements of how the F-117A hides in plain sight--they scatter and redirect radar signals away from the radar detector that sent them skyward."

See some pictures of some pretty amazing planes. Some of them I have never seen before.

Family Holiday Survival Kit

ATG Javelin - Personal Jet

Excerpt from the Wikipedia: "The Javelin is a small high-speed personal jet being developed by the Aviation Technology Group (ATG). Planned for FAA certification under 14 CFR part 23, the Javelin has a design resembling a fighter aircraft, an unusual concept for civilian jets. The Javelin MK-20 derivative, being developed in cooperation between ATG and Israel Aerospace Industries, is expected to fill the jet trainer role for various air forces. The Javelin is designed to look and perform like a fighter jet. Pre-orders are being sold for approximately US$ 2.995 million in the civil market."

Majority of Internet bandwidth consumed by P2P services

TechRepublic.com reports: "New research from German deep packet inspection gear maker Ipoque shows that P2P traffic consumes anywhere between 49 and 89 percent of all Internet traffic in the day. At night, it can spike up to an astonishing 95 percent. Ipoque gathered over three petabytes of information with the permission of ISPs and universities in Europe, the Middle East, and Australia between August and September this year."

The question is, will P2P kill the Internet? Or, will ISPs learn how to exploit it in some way to their advantage?

Remember: When the life gives you lemons, learn to make lemonade...

The 12 Pains of Christmas (Disney Version)

World Faces 'Cyber Cold War' Threat: Report

PC Magazine: "A 'cyber cold war' waged over the world's computers threatens to become one of the biggest threats to security in the next decade, according to a report published on Thursday. About 120 countries are developing ways to use the Internet as a weapon to target financial markets, government computer systems and utilities, Internet security company McAfee said in an annual report."

Really makes you want to hook up to the Internet...

How to deal with an asteroid threat

MSNBC reports: "When it comes to 22-million-ton asteroids, the small stuff, it turns out, can make a huge difference in a potentially disastrous path toward Earth. Using limited observations and lots of high-end computer modeling, astronomers have gotten a better handle on the limitations of asteroid-track forecasting in a new study of a potentially threatening asteroid called Apophis. In this high-stakes game of Whack-a-Cosmic-Mole, just knowing exactly what it is you don't know can be useful."

We appear to be safe past 2029, the real worry is for now is 2036...

Google’s GDrive may be more than just rumors

TechRepublic reports: "If this sounds familiar it is. Rumors of Gdrive have been around for months. Gdrive went from a dead project in August to being a part of Google Apps in September to losing a key developer to Facebook. Google is serious though since it secured a bunch of name servers."

I just found this blog post of someone else thinks the samething that GDrive is just a few months away.

Getting cash for crashed gadgets

Webware reports: "Tech recycling services traditionally are either free or charge you a fee for trying to keep old gear out of landfills. But as long as you're cleaning out closets to make room for another season of gifts, you could finance some of your holiday shopping by sending tired tech toys to a service that will pay for them."

When you have to get rid of those old gadgets, you should do it responsibly. Here are some great solutions for disposing of them.

Can baking soda curb global warming?

CNET News.com reports: "Some scientists have proposed compressing carbon dioxide and sticking it in underground caves as a way to cut down on greenhouse gases. Joe David Jones wants to make baking soda out of it. Jones, the founder and CEO of Skyonic, has come up with an industrial process called SkyMine that captures 90 percent of the carbon dioxide coming out of smoke stacks and mixes it with sodium hydroxide to make sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. The energy required for the reaction to turn the chemicals into baking soda comes from the waste heat from the factory."

This sounds like a great idea, but I would be uncomfortable using the baking soda extracted from the process.

Google to Offer Personal Storage?

"NEW YORK (Reuters)—Google Inc is preparing a service that would enable users to store data from their personal hard drives on its computers, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday in its online edition."

Could this be the 'G-Drive', that was being talked about a long time ago (okay, it may might have been several months at the very most)?

Our 56 Top Holiday Picks - Holiday Gift Guide by PC Magazine

PC Magazine reports: "Ready, set, shop! Yes, the holiday shopping season has begun, and there's no time to waste. That's OK, though, because we're here to save you tons of time. Don't bother making lists or doing research (unless you do it here); we've polled our expert analysts and asked them for their gift recommendations in each of the major categories. So, take a deep breath and get that credit card ready."

Looking for something special for that special person for a special occasion, then check out this special article. ;-)

Nvidia Commercial (Overclocking)

U.K. government reveals its 'biggest privacy disaster'

ZDNet reports: "Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has admitted to losing the details of 25 million individuals, with 7.25 million U.K. families potentially affected. In a speech to Parliament on Tuesday, the chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, told of the loss of two discs containing the details of everybody in the U.K. who claims and receives child benefits."

Intel Considering Portable Data Centers

Data Center Knowledge reports: "The cost of building a new data center is extremely high — between $40 million and $60 million. As an alternative, we are considering placing high-density servers on racks in a container similar to those you see on container ships and trucks. We estimate that the same server capacity in this container solution will reduce facility costs by 30 percent to 50 percent versus a brick-and-mortar installation. Because it’s a small, contained environment, cooling costs are far less than for traditional data centers. Even if we build a warehouse-like structure to house the containers (thus addressing security and environmental concerns), the cost is dramatically less per square foot. In fact, the difference is so great that with this solution, brick-and-mortar data centers may become a thing of the past."

I have been following this technology for a few years, when on November 17, 2005 Robert X. Cringely reported: "in one of Google's underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center."

I got even more excited about the technology when Sun introduced 'Project Blackbox', because they really showed the potential of this technology. Check out the site for more information.

Quote of the day...

"People buy solutions to a problem, they don't buy technology" --Unknown

Google Testing Own Wireless Network

Google Watch reports: "Google is testing its own wireless network to prepare for the Federal Communication Commission's 700 MHz spectrum auction in January, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. Using a test license from the FCC, the search company is running mobile phones with its Android software on the network. The idea is that if the company bids on and secures wireless spectrum, it will have an idea of how to use it."

Seagate Launches Data Recovery Service at Staples

eWeek reports: "Seagate Technolovery Service at Staplesgy's Recovery Services division is offering a new set of data recovery services for consumers and businesses at 1,400 Staples stores in North America and Hawaii. Staples, the world's largest office products company, is fronting the services through its in-store EasyTech services staff. The chain began offering the services Nov. 20."

It looks like Seagate and Staples are commoditizing data recovery services. Repairs will run anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

So backup your data now. You can save yourself a lot of money in the long run just in case you lose your hard drive.

Discount Electronics Site Called a Scam

PC Magazine reports: "Would you be suspicious of an American e-commerce site that required a $500 minimum purchase, didn't accept credit cards, and asked you to send a money order to an address in Italy? Jeff Garstecki, a PC Magazine reader, was. But the design of YourDigitalElectronics.com was sophisticated, well-organized, and offered prices low enough to come up on the Google Products shopping page—too good to be true, Garstecki believed. His suspicions and those of others were borne out when Garstecki and others started checking out the site using conventional methods, such as a call to the police, as well as newer tools like Google Street View, which can be used to assist citizen sleuths."