tech

Lines, Lines, . . . or Not

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There is a television ad for Galaxy S3 (I think) that is all about the iPhone lines, and the hours that people wait in them.  When you’re ad is mostly about the opponent, you’re losing. Apple announces a new product, and there will be tens of thousands of people waiting in lines to get it. … Read more

Embeds – WordPress 3.4

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I noticed that the new WordPress update automatically creates embedded content for several sites.  It actually started in 2.9, but Twitter was added with this version.  All you have to do is include the link by itself on a line. It will make it much easier to steal Jay Lee’s content.  (Actually, i’m sure it … Read more

Kill the 2WIRE – Renaming your U-verse Router

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AT&T U-verse modems all come pre-installed with default names (2WIRE123) and default passwords (10 digits).  That is boring, and not easy to remember.  Picking your router from all your sheep neighbors can be difficult if your urban density is high, and the 10 digits are not the ones you need.

If you connect your computer to the modem directly with an ethernet cable, you can manipulate these things.  There is a default IP address for ALL routers.  If they’ve politely implemented it, you can access it at http://192.168.1.254/ – though there are other addresses used by different manufacturers.  The U-verse modems have a quite nice interface to manipulate the settings. (I’ve recently found that http://gateway.2wire.net/ might get caught by the modem as well.)

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Drive Me Home, Car

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Wired Magazine had a very interesting article about the current activity in driving automation.  Written by Tom Vanderbilt, it reviews the large leaps that have been made in the field in the past decade.  It’s amazing that we really are so close, so much that it will be a legislative problem over the coming decade to catch up with the state of the technology.

On a week that my mother bought what she expects to be the last car she owns, not expecting to be allowed to drive (by me) after she’s 80, it looks like she might be able to buy a car that (mostly if not entirely) drives for her by that time.

Reading over the article, which is quite long, thorough, and awesome, I had several thoughts on the future of the technology and implications.

Stop n’ Go Traffic

I was reminded this week of an awesome example of the emergent nature of stop n’ go traffic in a non-bottleneck/accident environment.  A video of a circle of cars that begin equal spaced but because the nature of humans begins to undulate.

One would hope that the automation of driving would put an end to the annoying of such.  Prediction 1: I think it won’t (without legislative force or technical cooperation).  I suspect that the varying granulation of the differing softwares among cars, and also likely setting of comfortable follow distances will cause the same emergent fluctuation of speeds.  The best way to counter this, in my opinion, would be to recognize a stop n’ go situation and limit the allowed acceleration after a slow down.  Just a critical mass of cars taking that approach could cause the behavior to not manifest.

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