The Geeks discuss the week in tech news, including the further decline of HD DVD sales, the blackest black courtesy of new carbon nanotube material, an asteroid hitting Mars, a CIA report revealing the weaknesses of power grids to hackers, and commuting Hwy 17 by bus between Santa Cruz and San Jose with full connectivity. Also discussed are the benefits and the drawbacks of the new Apple MacBook Air notebook, with emphasis on the latter.
The odds of an asteroid hitting Mars has been increased.
[The odds are now as low as 1 in 75|http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/12/21/mars.asteroid.ap/index.html].
Scientists [create the worlds’s blackest material|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22690997/] made with nano-technology.
According a Nielsen report covered in [Home Media Magazine|http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?sec_id=2&&article_ID=11894] , HD DVD constituted only 15% of hi-def disc net sales during the second week of January, 2008. As an example, the top title released for HD DVD, The Kingdom, sold just 10% as many copies as the top Blu-ray Disc release, 3:10 to Yuma.
It seems that hackers have figured out how to [compromised the US power grid|http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080119/tc_pcworld/141564;_ylt=AvJNHhFXFMfzKbDPa6ZEG18jtBAF] as a new extortion tactic.
The Metro is installing Wifi into their 17 Express busses. Commuters going between San Jose and Santa Cruz can now compute while they commute. While it is certainly better than trying to use a computer while driving on Highway 17, it is definitely not recommended. (See page 68 of the Santa Cruz Metro Winter Headways publication for more information).
! Links
