Tag: Technology

Categories
Misc.

New York to LA in Just Over Two Hours

Air Kazakstan Timetable

Wired:

A new generation of supersonic private jets could trigger a boom in luxury high-speed flight — without the sonic boom normally associated with breaking the sound barrier.

Lockheed Martin’s advanced Skunk Works unit is designing a small, 12-seat passenger jet that would travel at 1,200 mph (Mach 1.8) but which would produce only a whisper of the annoying crack once emitted by the retired Concorde.

The sleek, 130-foot-long QSST (for “quiet supersonic travel”) aircraft is being designed for a Nevada consortium called Supersonic Aerospace International, or SAI, at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion.

Aimed at business executives and diplomats, the QSST will fly at nearly twice the speed of conventional business jets and have a range of 4,600 miles nonstop — Los Angeles to New York in just over two hours.

It could be ready for boarding by 2013, according to the company.

Meh.

How about New York to London in less than an hour? Now that’s more like it.

And hell, while we’re on the topic of outlandishly silly-ass engineering feats, can we get a fricking space elevator up and running already?

(First link via.)

Categories
Misc.

Google Quechua

Thanks to Google Quechua, Indigenous people in the Andes can now search the Web in their native tongue.

Economist:

Estimates of the prevalence of Quechua vary widely. In Peru, there are thought to be 3m to 4.5m speakers, with others in Bolivia and Ecuador. The language has long been in slow decline, chiefly because the children of migrants to the cities rarely speak it. But it is now getting a lot more attention.

In recent months, Google has launched a version of its search engine in Quechua while Microsoft unveiled Quechua translations of Windows and Office. Demetrio Túpac Yupanqui, who last year translated “Don Quijote” into Quechua, recalls that a nationalist military government in the 1960s ordered that the language be taught in all public schools. It didn’t happen, because of lack of money to train teachers. By law its official use—and bilingual education—is now limited to highland areas where it is predominant.

After spending a year in Ecuador, I can tell you this: I know precisely two words of Quechua, both of which have made their way into everyday Ecuadorian parlance (at least in the sierra): 1) “chuchaqi” (which means hungover), and 2) “cha-chai” (which means cold).

Related oldie-but-goodie: Ecuadorian slang.

Categories
Misc.

Skype, Writely, and GMail Notifier for Mac

Three tech updates for you:

1) Skype. It rules. But you knew that. I’m all up on it. Finally got a headset and mic and am no longer pussyfooting around. So hit me up VoIP-style. My Skype ID is newleypurnell. (And yes, I know I’m like five years late with the whole calling-over-the-Web thing, but still.)

2) Remember Writely, that sweet Web-based word processor that I told you about back in December? Yeah, well, Google seems to think it’s pretty good, too. Memo (composed using Writely) to my product development friends in Mountain View: stick with me. We’ll go places. (FYI: WebOS, here we come.)

3) Speaking of Google, they recently released the Gmail notifier for Mac, so that you can receive Outlook-style alerts — complete with snippets of text that pop up on your screen and screw up your workflow — when you receive a new email (or should I say a new Gmail?). I’ve had some connectivity issues, but the application looks promising.

Online To-Do List Tool

Backpack has been around for a while, but I’ve only recently started using it. The concept is pretty simple — you can create various to-do lists and notes that can be easily altered on the fly. The free version seems powerful enough for basic personal uses, and I imagine the souped-up pay version would be great for project management among team members in a professional setting.

Bangkok’s Coolest Web Cafe

True Urban Park

In my most recent Gridskipper dispatch, I take a look at True Urban Park, a Web cafe (and much more) in Bangkok’s Siam Paragon mall.

Uber-Tunnel

I know this is yesterday’s news and all, but holy crap: have you been reading about this mega-tunnel under the US-Mexico border?

On Texting

The New York Times’s Charles McGrath examines text messaging around the world. As I’ve mentioned before, I find texting to be an especially useful and enjoyable mode of communicating; as McGrath notes, the practice is huge in Asia, and I became enamored with texting last year in Taiwan.

My only gripe with the article is that, like many pieces written about text messaging, it focuses entirely on the standard method of texting, in which abbreviations and acronyms reign supreme (i.e. instead of “tomorrow,” you type “2morrow;” LOL means “laughing out loud,” etc.). But all serious texters I’ve ever encountered — and yes, I consider myself one — use predictive texting. It’s way faster. And more coherent.

Categories
Misc.

A Nine-Month Project Comes to Fruition

I rarely write about my day job here in DC; I spend my time helping foundations and nonprofits communicate online. I launch Web sites, publicize existing ones, and give clients advice on how to build effective sites or re-design existing ones. My employer is Burness Communications, a 30-person public relations firm that works exclusively with nonprofits. (I’m delighted to be at Burness — I have smart, friendly colleagues, and our clients do interesting work.)

When I came back to DC in April after living abroad for two years, I re-joined Burness and took on the task of project managing the re-development of our new Web site, which just launched. I’m quite proud of it. I’m passionate about Web usability, and I think we did a good job of striking a balance between ease of use and attractive graphic design.

My job was to act as a liaison between Burness and the Web development firm that built the site, a DC outfit called iapps. (Technical note: the site is database-driven and is maintained using a custom content management system.) The graphical design was handled by Nicolette and Frans van der Lee of vanderleeMEDIA. If you’re looking for Web development or design, I enthusiastically recommend these two groups. And if you’re a nonprofit looking for communications help, look no further than Burness.

(Oh, and if you’re wondering what our old site looked like, you can see it here. I think you’ll agree our new Web presence is a vast improvement.)

Taipei: WiFi Everywhere

The WSJ reports that Taipei’s burgeoning WiFi grid:

…is expected to soon become the world’s first citywide wireless-computer network in a major metropolis. The network, initiated by the Taipei city government and built by a private company, already includes more than 3,300 wireless “access points” that cover half the city’s 106 square miles.

Robots and Japan

The December 20th issue of the Economist contains a fascinating, must-read story about robots and Japan. Why is that Westerners tend to be afraid of artificial intelligence, and yet many Japanese actually prefer the company of robots to real humans? The answer, the Economist says, has to do with religion and popular culture:

Few Japanese have the fear of robots that seems to haunt westerners in seminars and Hollywood films. In western popular culture, robots are often a threat, either because they are manipulated by sinister forces or because something goes horribly wrong with them. By contrast, most Japanese view robots as friendly and benign. Robots like people, and can do good.

The Japanese are well aware of this cultural divide, and commentators devote lots of attention to explaining it. The two most favoured theories, which are assumed to reinforce each other, involve religion and popular culture.