OLPC XO 1.75 Specs

Technical specs. 

"The processor used in OLPC XO-1.75 is the ARM based Marvell Armada 610 (single core) running at 1GHz with 1GB RAM and 4GB Flash. The laptop can be recharged with a hand crane for 1 minute, then the laptop can be used for 10 minutes (color) and about 12 minutes (black and white). With the third generation, the price is only marginally cheaper than the previous generation (<200 USD), but the power consumption is now 2 Watt (instead of 4 Watt) and it is the most important part, as electricity costs are high where OLPC laptops are used. At first, the PCB seems very large with an embedded solutions, but the reason is that it needs to fit in the existing casing and doing separate smaller PCBs with connectors would end up being more expensive.  The OS is Sugar OS and most application are based on Python. Ed NcNierney does not see the use of using Android in such devices, but said it’s possible to run any OS from the SD card thanks to their open source firmware. "

Bacteria in a meteorite from outer space?

Extraterrestrial Life?

"Dr. Hoover has discovered evidence of microfossils similar to Cyanobacteria, in freshly fractured slices of the interior surfaces of the Alais, Ivuna, and Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorites. Based on Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and other measures, Dr. Hoover has concluded they are indigenous to these meteors and are similar to trichomic cyanobacteria and other trichomic prokaryotes such as filamentous sulfur bacteria. He concludes these fossilized bacteria are not Earthly contaminants but are the fossilized remains of living organisms which lived in the parent bodies of these meteors, e.g. comets, moons, and other astral bodies. Coupled with a wealth of date published elsewhere and in previous editions of the Journal of Cosmology, and as presented in the edited text, "The Biological Big Bang", the implications are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets.

Members of the Scientific community were invited to analyze the results and to write critical commentaries or to speculate about the implications." 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Hoover

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-alien-life-20110308,0,5561322.story

IBM attempts to patent Pill-dispensing psychoanalyzing teddy bear for children

This is one of those rare ideas where I said "wait I minute, I DID think of that!"

But you know their IBM so they can get to the patent office. Anyways... here's the story.

"IBM has just submitted a patent application dubbed an “Adaptive System for Real-Time Behavioural Coaching and Command Intermediation”. The translation to human: IBM is developing artificial intelligence for toys that could help children stop or develop certain behaviours. Read on for IBM’s explanation…

“…to help a child who plays rough with other children the interaction data can include multiple interaction operations that can be performed by the interactive device for helping the child play less rough with other children. For example, one interaction operation can include an audible warning telling the child ‘to play nice’ in a strict tone of voice, whereas another interaction operation can include an audible warning that asks the child ‘would you like someone to do that to you’ in a softer tone of voice along with a visual cue as well.”

FairChild Semiconductors Opto-Isolators

http://www.fairchildsemi.com/index.html
http://www.fairchildsemi.com/products/opto/oi/

http://www.fairchildsemi.com/pf/H1/H11F1M.html
"The H11FXM series consists of a Gallium-Aluminum-Arsenide IRED emitting diode coupled to a symmetrical bilateral silicon photo-detector. The detector is electrically isolated from the input and performs like an ideal isolated FET designed for distortion-free control of low level AC and DC analog signals. The H11FXM series devices are mounted in dual in-line packages."

BrCcnaBox

BrCcnaBox

Let's market this device, we'll call it "bureaucracy-a-box", and it will basically be an ISO standard shipping container(izable) box with electrical hook ups and we'll stuff it with computers and network switches. We'll roll it out on flat bed truck in hati and it will act to restore governmental functionality (of a type and kind we program).