NYTimes: When Laptops Go Light

I bought the HP mini last week, and have been very happy with it. It
also rates well on CNET.com. http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-mini-1000/4505-3121_7-33351192.html

STATE OF THE ART: When Laptops Go Light
By DAVID POGUE

Netbooks have slow processors, tiny screens and are good at handling e-
mail. Why are they so popular?...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/technology/personaltech/26pogue.html

Memory: In One Ear and Out the Other

Our brains are good at remembering the general gist of things, but poor at recalling detail.

“Jokes work because they deal with the unexpected, starting in one direction and then veering off into another,” “What makes a joke successful are the same properties that can make it difficult to remember.”

In One Ear and Out the Other
By NATALIE ANGIER

Why the best jokes are the most difficult to remember....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/science/17angi.html

Repairing undersea cables

[Using the submersible machine to retrieve broken undersea fiberoptic cables...] 'Plucking a cable from the ocean floor is akin to picking up a piece of thread in a blizzard while wearing a catcher's mitt.' Popular Science Apr '09 p49 http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-03/who-protects-intrnet

One internet exchange hub spends $630,000 a month(!) on electricity, mostly for cooling I guess.

This article has a link to a fascinating tool that traces the path of your internet packet across the web:

http://www.popsci.com/content/trace-your-route

Also in PopSci this month, a belt-drive bicycle (no grease, no noise). p20

http://www.popsci.com/node/33469

Mithridatism for peanut allergies

Mithridatism, the ability to gradually build up resistance to a poison, may be a cure for peanut allergies.  This report of successful placebo-controlled trials is encouraging.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/health/16peanuts.html

Incredible wearable computer

Want to see dialing a phone by touching numbers projected on your hand? See a wearable computer helping you choose products to buy? Here's an incredible bit of technology cobbled together by a research team, they say for $350, that uses the user's cellphone for brains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ-VjUKAsao

Hotel security - soon to be more like airport security.

In the wake of the Mumbai hotel attacks, hoteliers are scrutinizing and revising their approach to security. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29434591/Also in this article, tips for traveling safely... wise for any traveler.

Line-uppers vs sidezoomers - frustrated about traffic?

Hate sitting in a traffic line-up and someone zips past and cuts into the line way ahead?  Here's an article that goes into depth and interviews experts who have put a lot of thought into it.

I liked how well-researched this article was. Interesting conclusion that it is best to hang back and make a gap for a sidezoomer to enter. Sound cryptic? Read the amusing article and you'll understand. 

August 03, 2008 The Urge to Merge By CYNTHIA GORNEY What I, as a driver, learned about the war between lineuppers and sidezoomers in the battle for a lane.

NYTimes.com: Supreme Court Enters the YouTube Era

Video is everywhere these days.  The fact that it is entering the court system is a landmark.  This article quotes a law professor who states that in the courtroom, 

'Video introduced in a court of law is a partial, volatile, and dangerously persuasive' piece of evidence. Interesting. 

| March 03, 2009 Sidebar:  Supreme Court Enters the YouTube Era By ADAM LIPTAK The advent of video links as evidence has the potential to unsettle the way judges do their work.