[Thu Sep 27 11:33:43 CDT 2012]

Here is one of those newspieces about a cool technological invention. Hitachi announced permanent quartz glass data storage by 2015.

Just a little comment, though. Exciting as it is, sometimes I get the feeling that we miss part of the story: sure, the data can be preserved for "hundreds of millions of years" but will we have the technology to be able to read it then? In other words, I get the feeling that, when it comes to technology, we are sometimes hopelessly naive. We constantly see things from inside the box. Just think of it this way: if the Rosetta Stone had been a tiny quartz glass, what are the chances that we would have ever managed to read it? Actually, what are the chances that anyone would have even imagined that it contained any information whatsoever? {link to this entry}

[Wed Sep 19 16:31:42 CDT 2012]

I'm not sure I fully understand. According to Jared Newman on PCWorld, the new tablets running Windows 8 will sell for US $600 or even more:

Pricing for Asus' Vivo Tab RT will start at $599, and the Intel Atom-based Vivo Tab will start at $799, according to the roadmap obtained by ZDNet. Optional keyboard and trackpad docks, which transform the tablets into laptops more or less, will reportedly cost an extra $199. This raises the total price of the Vivo Tab RT to about $800 and Vivo Tab to $1000.

In other words, for the price of one of these I can buy either two Android-based tablets or two Linux laptops. I just don't get it. Are these the only tablets that will be sold with the new Windows 8? I mean, not that I'd even consider buying one. I'm just trying to figure out whether these people are out of their minds or what. Apple's usually pricey stuff is nothing compared to this! {link to this entry}