I worked on the 9th Come Across Podcast last night and posted it. In it, I talk about some big changes that may be coming soon for my websites, and I also picked the “best of” entries from my blog. Plus, if you’ve wondered what my voice sounds like, now you can find out… Here is the link.
Tag Archives: news
ComeAcross Podcast 9
➡ Download ComeAcross Podcast 9
Summary: First, a heads up – I might combine some of my sites very soon to deliver extra content efficiently. For this podcast, a “best of” approach where I pick the best blog entries from my blog (raoulpop.blogspot.com). The news: super-efficient cars, Turbotax, SimplyHired, Chernobyl, silly passwords, BYOL (bring your own laptop) to work, World Bank reports on corruption, and other things.
A big thank you to the new subscribers!
From gas guzzler to green extreme
Professor Andrew Frank from the University of California at Davis developed a hybrid SUV that can get about 100 miles per gallon – or so the article says. It does this because it’s a plug-in hybrid. It recharges its batteries from an outlet at night. This is indeed really cool, but what I’d like to know is how much electricity it consumes. I’m not sure that the fuel savings offset the cost in electricity, so if we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, is it worth it? Here’s the link to the article.
Addition: just stumbled onto this related article, also at CNET News, which talks about the upcoming “100 miles per gallon” cars. Problem is, there’s a cost of $10-12K to convert a hybrid car to a plug-in hybrid, and again, the cost of electricity used to charge it up seems to be sidestepped.
Yet another addition: just came across this video from the Maker Faire, also at CNET News, where the fellow who gets interviewed mentioned you can take an ’04-’06 Prius and convert it for under $3K. One caveat: you’ll need the help of an engineer or electrician who’s comfortable working with high voltages. Cool!
Robot runs over water
Assistant professor Metin Sitti at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh developed a little robot that can run over water. The professor looked to nature for his inspiration, in particular to the basilisk lizard, which creates little air pockets as it slaps the water with its feet. He created both two-legged and four-legged robotic lizards that can scurry across the water surface at .8 m/sec (that’s almost 3 feet per second). Pretty cool! Here’s the link to the Discovery News article.
Too many passwords equals less security
Found an article on CNET News which details a survey done in Britain. It showed that there is a directly proportional relationship between the number of passwords one has to remember for work, and the number of unauthorized accesses on the company’s networks. Here’s the link to the CNET article.
Having been a director of IT twice in my career, this is a no-brainer to me. And here’s another thing I’ve found: the more inane the password rules are, the easier you’ll make it for your users to write their passwords down on a sticky note, which they’ll store either right on the screen, under their keyboard, or in the top desk drawer. If you’re going to use passwords, you need to strike the RIGHT balance between password security and real-world usability. Sadly, many companies fail in this area.
Seems the way to go is single sign-on, with added proximity devices if needed.
Raoul Pop 