Karim

Member since: Jun 15th, 2006

Karim's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
TUAW.com	18 Comments
Engadget	109 Comments
Download Squad	2 Comments

Recent Comments:

Artificial photosynthesis could power your house, even if it's not green (video) (Engadget)

Mar 5th 2010 2:34PM @arcasinky I think your math is basically right, but you are making it look impossible by thinking of it in terms of "conversion efficiency," and not including the energy that is already "present" (in the form of hydrogen) in the water.

Say it takes 1 gallon of crude oil to run a pump that will extract 100 gallons of crude oil out of the ground. The claim isn't that "1 gallon is being magically turned into 100 gallons." The energy already exists -- it's just not where we can get at it. :-) The 1 gallon of crude oil just makes it available for use.

Apparently, the 30 kWh of hydrogen is already in the bottle of water. It already exists -- it's just not where we can get at it, because it's bound to oxygen. :-) The 16 kWh of electricity just makes the hydrogen available for use.

The inventor, Daniel Nocera, is a professor at MIT and is the recipient of many scientific awards and honors. So while it's possible this invention won't pan out, or won't be economically feasible, I seriously doubt that he has made a mistake on the level of "this is clearly impossible." :-)

When good toys go bad X: Elmo makes death threats to toddler (Engadget)

Feb 22nd 2008 11:28PM Reminds me of that story a while back where Elmo ostensibly asked "Who wants to die?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av1HN5Vea7g

He was actually saying "Who wants to GO" but, you know, people want to hear evil things coming out of their innocent toys, so...

In psychology I believe this is referred to as projection.

iBox2Go trumpets portable Sprint EV-DO router (Engadget)

Jan 22nd 2008 12:15PM "How do I share my smartphone connection" is actually a common question. There was a news item a few weeks ago about a free app for WM6 that shares the cellular data connection over WiFi:

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/12/use-a-3g-window.html

http://www.jongma.org/WMWifiRouter/

As for the iPhone, I understand one can do the same thing, if you don't mind jailbreaking your iPhone:

http://cre.ations.net/blog/post/tether-your-iphone

The question is WHY. :-) The EDGE connection is already painfully slow, and you want to share it with "friends?" Are these friends you want to KEEP? LOL

Movie Gadget Friday and Blade Runner return! (Engadget)

Jan 19th 2008 4:20AM The "Penfield Mood Organ" was actually invented.

It's called an iPod. ;-)

You just dial through your playlists and songs until you find a song that matches the mood you want to attain. Need to perk up? Pick something fast. Need to chill? Pick something slow. Want to have a good cry? Pick something sad. Want to cheer up? Pick something happy.

Like the Penfield Mood Organ, the iPod is a common home appliance that can be used to easily change emotional states from "self-accusatory depression" to "awareness of the manifold possibilities open to me in the future" to a "businesslike, professional attitude."

The novel even opens with Deckard being awakened by "a merry little surge of electricity from the mood organ beside his bed," which sounds like one of those clock radio iPod docks.

Samsung intros Spinpoint M6 500GB standard height laptop drive, Hitachi be damned (Engadget)

Jan 6th 2008 6:23PM Sweet!

Lumus-Optical's LOE-based glasses get pictured (Engadget)

Jan 4th 2008 10:45AM No, it's what Marty McFly would look like after traveling from 2015 back to 1985 in order to have his hair lightened.

BlueAnt unveils voice-controlled V1 Bluetooth headset (Engadget)

Jan 3rd 2008 4:23PM Your "blue" aunt...?

BlueAnt unveils voice-controlled V1 Bluetooth headset (Engadget)

Jan 3rd 2008 4:22PM Hmmm. "Pattern Recognition" was published in 2003, but press releases for BlueAnt (Australia) only go back to 2004. Possibly a case of Gibson living in an unequally distributed future again.

The headset company is called "BlueAnt" or "Blueant," but I think the fictional version is two words, "Blue Ant."

Or maybe that's what Hubertus Bigend wants us to think...

Everex gPC gets reviewed, thrashed (Engadget)

Dec 26th 2007 6:30PM They didn't give it a low rating because it was a car that couldn't *fly.* Cars don't fly. They gave it a low rating because it was a small, cramped, noisy, ugly, unreliable, underpowered car that would only hit 55 miles per hour while being driven off a cliff.

It's the Yugo of the PC world.

Lord only knows why Google let their name get plastered all over this product, with its "Google conceptual OS." (Is that like a beta?) Perhaps the future is like Terry Gilliam's "Brazil?"

I guess it can be said a Yugo beats not having a car at all, but it seems like there might be better choices out there (e.g. factory refurbished PC, ASUS Eee). Consumer Reports told people that a nice used car was better than a new Yugo; perhaps the same advice applies here.

Tesla to deliver Roadsters with "temporary" transmissions? (Engadget)

Dec 13th 2007 11:52PM FORD PREFECT: This must be one of those Lazlar Lyricon custom jobs! Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, shifts like a cow.