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LOS ANGELES - Lindsay Lohan, whose car crash in May led to a state law aimed at reining in celebrity photographers, has crashed again, this time after witnesses said she was swarmed by paparazzi. Lohan and a female passenger suffered minor injuries Tuesday after the actress' Mercedes-Benz convertible collided with a van on a West Hollywood street. Witnesses said Lohan, 19, had been shopping at a clothing store when she was confronted, and that dozens of photographers had been following her before the crash.
MSNBC- Now-former police chief set fire to building to rescue and impress his
NEW YORK (AP) -- A new online domain for the travel industry is open for business. Airlines, theme parks, restaurants, tourism offices and others in travel and tourism are eligible for Web sites and e-mail addresses ending in travel."
I am finnally here
Check out my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mindtron
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Micro Patrol
To Serve & Connect
So now that I am settled down in Nashville, I've got my own apartment, a good job, I am working on getting my business back together. I've decided to change the name from CrucialSolutions.com and go in direct competition with Best Buy's Geek Squad. Therefore the new company shall be called Micro Patrol. Over the next few weeks I am going to redo the website, www.micropatrol.com, upload pictures of my car, uniform and a service call or two. So if you have any ideas for the new website please let me know by e-mailing me at pmcd@micropatrol.com!
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Weather.com
Oh Really?
So I was looking at weather.com yesterday to check on the radar, tell me if this text matches this image or not...
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, August 15, 2006
From C/Net News by Reuters
Researchers trying to make tiny machines have turned to the power of nature, engineering a virus to attract metals and then using it to build minute wires for microscopic batteries.
The resulting nanowires can be used in minuscule lithium ion battery electrodes, which in turn would be used to power very small machines, the researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
The international team of researchers, led by a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used the M13 virus, a simple and easily manipulated virus.
"We use viruses to synthesize and assemble nanowires of cobalt oxide at room temperature," the researchers wrote.
They modified the M13 virus' genes so its outside layer, or coat, would bind with certain metal ions. They incubated the virus in a cobalt chloride solution so that cobalt oxide crystals mineralized uniformly along its length.
They added a bit of gold for the desired electrical effects.
Viruses cannot reproduce on their own but must be grown in cells--in this case, bacteria. They inject their genetic material and then the cells pump out copies of the virus.
The viruses formed orderly layers, the researchers reported.
The resulting nanowires worked as positive electrodes for battery electrodes, the researchers said.
They hope to build batteries that range from the size of a grain of rice up to the size of existing hearing-aid batteries.
Each virus, and thus each wire, is only 6 nanometers--6 billionths of a meter--in diameter, and 880 nanometers long, the researchers said.
"We have previously used viruses to assemble semiconductor and magnetic nanowires," the researchers wrote.
Story Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©1995-2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
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posted by mindtron on Saturday, April 08, 2006
From C/Net News
Hard-drive manufacturers are contemplating a new-size hard drive to counter the challenge presented by flash memory.
Drives with platters measuring 1.3 inches in diameter are being discussed, according to Bill Healy, a Hitachi senior vice president of corporate strategy and marketing.
The hard drive insideHitachi's CinemaStar DVR.
These drives would hold far more data than the smaller 1-inch and 0.85-inch diameter microdrives now on the market, yet take less space and consume less energy than the 1.8-inch drives found in standard-size iPods and mini-notebooks.
"It gives you more competition with flash and doubles the capacity over 1-inch," Healy said.
Discussions are only preliminary, but such a move could help manufacturers of hard drives--a technology that celebrates its 50th year in 2006--expand their position in the consumer electronics market.
Consumer electronics have served as a lifeline for drivemakers, which tend to bounce in and out of profitability. Hard-drive shipments for consumer electronics will grow by about 35 percent this year, expanding from about 60 million units to over 80 million units, said John Donovan, an analyst at research firm TrendFocus.
Overall, the hard-drive market will increase 18 percent, from 380 million in 2005 to 450 million drives in 2006. Most will still go to the PC industry.
Many of these drives measure 3.5-inches across and go into digital video recorders and TVs. Hitachi, for instance, has released a TV in Japan that has a built-in digital video recorder (DVR) with 1 terabyte of video storage.
Hitachi is rolling out a new line of drives this week for DVRs. The CinemaStar hard drives have been tweaked to run more quietly than their desktop counterparts, the company said.
The drive industry, however, has lost some of its luster for music players. Hardware makers began inserting microdrives into music players in 2003, and their popularity zoomed after Apple Computer put one inside its iPod Mini in 2004. It was a watershed application--drivemakers have been looking for a high-volume application for microdrives since IBM (which sold its drive division to Hitachi in 2002) invented them in 1999.
The honeymoon was short-lived. Apple released the iPod nano in 2005. It relies on flash memory, which is more expensive but faster than microdrives. Microdrives have landed inside some phones and video cameras, but mostly only in high-end models.
"The microdrive is tough right now," Healy said. "Flash has certainly come in and affected that business."
Increasing the diameter size would expand storage so that the 1.3-inch drives could be used in video players. Currently, one-inch microdrives max out at 8GB (too small for conveniently storing lots of video), while 1.8-inch drives can pack in 80GB. A 1.3-inch drive would provide storage somewhere in between and conceivably provide it as a far lower cost than flash memory.
"You'd have more space on the platter, but it all depends on what the customer base says," said Rob Plait, the director of global consumer electronics marketing at Seagate Technology. "The disk drive industry has been talking about the technology for a few months."
Donovan at TrendFocus warned, however, that getting the cellular companies to accept these drives could be an uphill battle. The 1.3-inch drives could easily fit inside a cell phone, but a phonemaker may not believe that their customers want that much storage.
Drivemakers have ruled out shrinking the size of drives. That would raise the cost and reduce storage size, making it even harder to compete against flash.
Hard-drive capacity, Donovan added, continues to grow about 40 percent annually, thus doubling hard-drive capacity every two years. In the late '90s, drive capacity had doubled annually.
CinemaStar turnWhen it comes to its new line of drives, Hitachi says slower is better.
The CinemaStar drives are essentially DeskStar drives--Hitachi's PC line--tweaked to run more quietly, Healy said. The seek function, when the drive is looking for data, runs slower than on desktop drives. This allows the platters to spin at a lower rate and reduce noise; consumers, however, don't experience a drop in performance--or video-flicker--because it is easier for the drive to find the next scene in a movie than it is for it to find other types of data.
"You are reading long block lines, so you can slow down," Healy said. "We've developed algorithms so you can run the drive differently."
The drive head also moves off the surface of the drive platters as much as possible to reduce aerodynamic resistance on the head. That resistance is generated by the spinning platters, another source of noise.
In the future, Hitachi may try to take out some of the air inside the drive chassis and replace it with a different gas to further reduce aerodynamic resistance, Healy added.
The CinemaStar drives, which sport a 3.5-inch diameter platter, range in capacity from 80GB to 500GB. They will be sold to consumer electronics manufacturers and PC makers.
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posted by mindtron on Saturday, April 08, 2006
Finally Settled In
It took a whole month to make it happen, but I finally got all of my stuff and moved it into the house I'm renting a room from. My new job is great, I love the staff, I love the hotel and I love working downtown. Nashville is definitely not anything like Memphis or Knoxville and I'm very glad about that. Although I miss all of the people I've met in Knoxville I know I'll be seeing them again, only being 3 hours away.
Yesterday was ridiculous. I started the day out at 7am ET in Pittsburgh, rode to the airport, flew to Nashville via Charlotte, made it to Nashville, spent some quality time with my girlfriend, then the two of us got a tank of gas and headed on over to Knoxville to pay my last bit of rent and pick up my remaining things. Promptly, we drove right back. I'm an exhausted but very relieved of all of the stress that came with that.
Now that I have all of my things, I need to get rid of some of them, unpack the rest, organize them and stop living like a college kid. Hopefully I'll get into the routine of picking up after myself, cleaning my room and making the bed in the morning...so far...I'm not quite there yet...
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posted by mindtron on Monday, March 27, 2006
Listen now
Listen to my new podcast!
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posted by mindtron on Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Wow, we have some visitors!
Alright, it's time to give an update on my life. I've been weary of posting to my blog because of a few career decissions I've been making. Right now I am considering moving to Nashville to take on a new position. I don't want to tell you where or doing what until everything gets finalized, but it's a cool job.
Business-wise, I am going to transfer my business idea into the Nashville market once I move. I am hoping to seek some venture capitol. I would like to find a few investors and a few prospective employees. I believe I can get the new business off of the ground and make some money. If you want to check out the CONCEPT website then visit http://www.micropatrol.com/. I think you'll like it.
Happy Valentine's Day!
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Vacation @ Home
Maybe you have planned out an elaborate vacation. You didn't have much time off, but you knew you needed to get out of town for a while. Also, you may have had your plans fall through. This weekend was a combination of the both.
I haven't left Knoxville since I visited Pittsburgh this summer, with the exception of a few overnight trips with my roommate to pick up cars. So, this weekend, fall break, I decided I was going to pack up, grab my girlfriend and hit the road. Suddenly, I realized it is not very easy to "pick up and go" on a vacation. You need very early reservations for affordable rates, you need lots and lots of money, you need things to do, people to see and time to spend just relaxing. I realized with all of the cost involved in going somewhere for my vacation, I could do the same thing here, more comfortably, for free.
My girlfriend, Lana, and I spent the weekend in Knoxville. We didn't do anything too terribly special, and we probably won't write home about any of our experiences. However, I learned that you really can have a lot of undiscovered fun in your home town.
The weekend started out Friday night when I got off work. Lana and I are very indecisive, so we agreed that I would take the responsibility and initiative to make a plan and execute it. We did exactly that. The moment I got off work, we shot over to a military supply store so I could buy a couple things for work, afterwards, we went to my apartment, I changed, she freshened up and we went out to eat.
If you like Chinese, have a little bit of money and also like being entertained, you'll love Japanese steakhouses. We ventured out to Turkey Creek and ate at Wasabi. Luckily, I had made a reservation or we wouldn't have eaten until morning. After the movie we hit up Starbucks and ran into a friend who used to work at the Starbucks in the library where I work.
Against Lana's wishes, but with the manners I had been taught before and my relentless selflessness (not always a good quality), I invited our friend to join us for a movie. The movie was a surprise to Lana. I had read all of the reviews for the movies out in theatres and stumbled upon an interesting movie on limited release, A History of Violence. The movie was superb and the company even better.
Yesterday, Saturday, we woke up, made breakfast and headed to the mall. After shopping around in there, we decided to get some food, ended up looking in a furniture store for a while and ate a wonderful meal at the Silver Spoon (American Cafe). Afterwards we very predictably headed to the nearest Starbucks for a delicious cup of Cafe Estima coffee.
Today was excellent, we started by going to the sports apparel store to purchase matching Pittsburgh Steelers hats. We then went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a depressing loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tommy Maddox needs to find another sport.
Next we went to my apartment and sulked in our misery from losing a very hopeful game. I asked Lana if she wanted to eat out or if I should cook. We ended up going to Kroger to buy groceries for a portobello and Parmesan Regiano pizza they had been joking about on a Sex and the City. The pizzas came out wonderful, and I'll post the recipe I created later. After dinner I made a couple caramel lattes with some Blue Mountain coffee from The Fresh Market.
All in all, the weekend was one of the most romantic weekends I've had in my life. I'm sure you don't care, but it was so wonderful, I felt I had to share...
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posted by mindtron on Sunday, October 16, 2005
This time by a paparazzi minivan
The Mercury News has the full story.
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posted by mindtron on Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Knoxville Pays Premium for Regular
Drive down Cumberland, Kingston, Middlebrook or Sutherland and you'll see gas prices starting to fall back down. Prices now are around $2.99/gal of regular unleaded. Of course, if you drive a car with a nice motor, you might want to contact your dealer about feeding it 10% ethanol which is now mixed in most retailer's regular 87 octane.
UT's Dr. Glen Schuler talks to WBIR-TV, Knoxville about Knoxville gas prices in relation to Atlanta and New York.While high prices fuel frustration for many, Dr. Schuler sees no sign of price gouging. "I don't think I would go to the point where I would say the companies are gouging because we haven't seen this behavior ($.40 cent increase) go on before this time."
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posted by mindtron on Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Didn't phil so good afterall...
A diet plan by the popular Dr. Phil McGraw didn't help users lose weight anywhere other than out of their wallets. CNN has the story.The suit alleges that the plan is useless. It called for dieters to take 22 herbal supplements and vitamin pills a day and cost about $120 a month. The plan also advised dieters to adopt a low-calorie diet and to exercise. The plaintiffs allege that while they lost plenty of money on the plan, they didn't lose any weight.
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posted by mindtron on Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Why shift jobs suck
I guess no one will read this for hours, because it seems to me that the majority of people that work in this city only do so in the afternoon and overnight. For example, I work 4pm-12:30am every night. But today? Today I have the unique pleasure of working an 8-5. Yessir. Not only do I have that unique pleasure, but I am officially done with my day at 8:15pm after my last class. So here is my salute to everyone in the world with a normal job. You have no idea how lucky you are to have it as easy as you have it.
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posted by mindtron on Wednesday, October 05, 2005
A stroll through the world of Drew Curtis
If you've ever watched "The Countdown" on MSNBC with Keith Olbermann, you've probably heard about a little website called Fark.com. Bloggers and surfers from around the world submit some very silly and sometimes very serious stories to the website every day. Each week I'll try to pull out a few highlights that you should definitely look into.
Check out the links and check out Drew Curtis' website while you're at it. I'm going to have to format these posts a little differently...
girlfriend. Hilarity ensues
ABC News - Owner of boat that threw 47 elderly passengers into water
faces $25 fine, presumably for littering
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Public Service Announcement
I always like to share little links that help me throughout my day. With gas as high as "3.29, ARM, LEG" as you've seen on some signs, it is important to make sure you get the best price you can when you go to fill up your 50-gallon tank. KnoxvilleGasPrices.com is an excellent resource for checking prices before you brave the battle with the pump. If you commute and notice a few key prices, be sure to post them online to keep the prices fresh. If anyone finds any gas less than $2/gallon, let me know...
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, October 04, 2005
yourfavoriteairline.travel
What happened to my .com?
As if .com, .net and.org weren't confusing enough, there is a huge influx of .whatever's. Instead of going to sex.com, soon you'll be able to visit whateveryouwant.sex, or whateverelseyouwant.xxx. We've already seen the arrival of the .tv, one of the first ICANN extensions to supersede the .com era.
However, when you go to check out CNN, is it not cnn.com that you choose to visit instead of cnn.tv? .travel will probably be a flop, but get ready for more brokers to gobble up the URL's, placing phony search engines covered with Google's AdSense. BTW, americanairlines.travel, usairways.travel and united.travel are just a few URL's that currently point nowhere.
ICANN has been creating new Internet suffixes partly because existing ones like ".com" are crowded, making easy-to-remember addresses difficult to obtain. Nonetheless, Web sites that already have a ".com" name are likely to keep it and automatically redirect visitors to the new ".travel" site instead.
"Nobody wants to give up a dot-com name at this stage," Mathai said.
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, October 04, 2005
AIM
Codename Triton
It all started when I visited AIM.com. I'm never satisfied with the current version of anything. I'd always rather have a beta with 3,767 bugs over a gold release with 3,765 bugs that people all download on the same release date. There is something exciting about beta software. You feel like you are part of the development process. Although, after spending three years as a beta tester for America Online, I can confess that I never was a part of the development process. I must however admit that I was offered a free satellite dish, tried the first "smart card" for shopping online which involved a microchip and a microphone.
America Online's proprietary messaging software, AOL Instant Messenger, is working on stepping up with the rest of tech. Instead of the gloomy Windows 95 GUI that it has operated on for the last God-knows-how-many-years, it is going for a fresher, cleaner, more sleek, more "Windows Vista" look. Could this be one of the biggest applications designed for Vista? The current build supports 98SE-XP so it is definitely 32-bit oriented.
The great thing about the new software is it's integration with Plaxo contact management system. Instead of having a separate rolodex of contacts in each software application, you can connect them all to your profile which constantly manages them all. I haven't investigated how it all works, but I'm sure it's some amazing technology only "As Seen on TV."
Although I haven't had too much of a chance to break in the new software, it definitely blows doors off of AIM 5.9. So, if you're interested in checking out the new version of AOL Instant Messenger, AIM 0.6.17, check it out and tell me what you think.
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posted by mindtron on Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Livin' it up at the Hotel Cumerland
11th Street Sees New Business
If you hang out at UTPD, World's Fair Park or the Knoxville Museum of Art, you've probably noticed the construction of a new hotel. It's the Cumberland House Hotel. I just contacted the manager there to see if I could get a tour. My parents, oddly enough, called me while I was surfing their website to let me know that they were coming to visit this weekend. My plan is to check out the hotel, get a good rate, put my parents up for the weekend and tell you all how they enjoyed it. Check out their website at CumberlandHouseHotel.com for now.
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posted by mindtron on Monday, October 03, 2005
Drivin' Slow on Sunday Mornin'
Maroon 5, meet Knoxville Traffic
The people at AtomicTumor got a wonderful editorial on Knoxville drivers. If you live in East Tennessee and have lived in any "bigger" metropolitan area, you'll understand their gripe.
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posted by mindtron on Monday, October 03, 2005
Hasta La 'Vista' Windows XP
Microsoft Prepares for Windows Re-Release
Microsoft (MSFT) plans on making a big boom with it's new release of Windows Vista--formerly codename Long Horn. Microsoft also plans to release Office 12 which Gates claims will be the greatest upgrade since Office 95. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft believes in the new releases so much, they're spending over $100,000 in helping developers create software for the new operating system. (Full story from CNN/Money)
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posted by mindtron on Monday, October 03, 2005
Good 'Ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top Brigade
It's Blogging Time in Tennessee!
If you don't know who Glenn Reynolds is and you think blogging is a way to "confess your inner desire," you watch way too much tai chi and not enough CNN. Hop on over to the Rocky Top Brigade and see what blogging in East Tennessee is all about.
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posted by mindtron on Monday, October 03, 2005
Grande Nonfat Caramel Macchiato
caffeinated Sin
Alright, anyone that has ever visited my website, has ever met me, or knows anything about me knows that I love coffee, especially Starbucks coffee. Recently I worked at the Starbucks at Hodges library as a latenight barista. Although my employment there hasn't lasted long, I have had the pleasure of serving my fair share of espresso beverages and ice blended frappucinos. In addition, I had the unique opportunity to learn how all of the drinks are created.
In the wake of my third shift job at Starbucks, I have taken it upon myself to learn a lot about the company and how it operates. Now, understand, the location I worked at is not a corporate store but an Aramark-run business associate. Starbucks corporate stores are the ones you'll find in your neighborhood in their independent locations. Starbucks has several business partnerships in places like Hilton hotels, Target and other locations.
Knoxville is a booming market for Starbucks. A few years ago, Hodges Library was their only location. Recently Turkey Creek, Bearden Center, Cumberland Strip and Hilton Hotel locations have been sprouting. Tonight I visited the Cumberland Strip location for the first time. I was surprised at the lack of customers. Although, I will admit the location did open in what seemed like overnight. The new store design is refreshing, modern and still sophisticated and relaxed. I don't anticipate the new campus location cutting into any of the business at the library location. Instead, I see more commuters utilizing the drive through and more hospital and downtown workers stopping in for their addictive stimulants.
If President Bush ever wanted to make money by taxing drugs, caffeine would be the way to go. Unfortunately, some states, such as Tennessee, already tax the impossible-to-harvest-bean, as well as all other foods and necessities. However, if I have to pay an absurd amount of tax on a pack of cigarettes, I should assume to do the same with an equally-costing cup of coffee. Then again, I pay enough taxes, so maybe I should rejoice that my coffee still remains untaxed, except for the ridiculous 9.25% sales tax I pay on it and everything else.
Starbucks as a company is a very interesting entity. Stemming from a little tea and spice shop in Pike Place Market it turned into an everyday corporate, scholastic and metropolitan Mecca which pilgrims visit daily, or in some cases, several times a day. The presence of Starbucks in our society is nowhere exaggerated as much as in the city of Seattle.
Over the summer I took a vacation to Seattle to meet with my parents and experience the city. During my stay there I visited more than 20 Starbucks locations, without ever leaving the downtown area. When you go for a walk in the city, you'll notice several siren-storefronts on every block. However, the most observant will notice never at once can you see two stores at once. I was perplexed by this theory and tested it out on my last day there and seemed convinced that Starbucks would not allow any store to be opened within direct sight of another site.
Most suburbanites reading this will be appalled in my findings as they themselves drive past a Barnes & Noble location, Target location and corporate location all in the same parking lot every day. Careful observation will show you that Starbucks in America is very unlike WaffleHouse in Atlanta, for seldom will you see two full corporate operations in plain sight of each other. Test my theory and tell me what you think...
Tonight's drink: grande nonfat 2-pump caramel macchiato
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posted by mindtron on Sunday, October 02, 2005
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