Tech Cocktail 5

Posted on June 27, 2007 by Jason Shah

I have signed up for Tech Cocktail 5, the 5th gathering of technology entrepreneurs and professionals in Chicago. Note that this is the 5th gathering in the past year of its kind. TC4 sold-out within 24 hours (although sold-out is not the right term – the event has free admission and free drinks).

If you are at all interested in web companies and other high-tech endeavors, I highly encourage you to attend.

(Note: for those of you who find this kind of event knee-knocking, I suggest you don’t attend…)

Infrared grills

Posted on May 30, 2007 by Jason Shah

A key patent on infrared grill technology has expired. Backyard grills will soon have this technology built into them at a fraction of the cost today.

From the article:

The grills are still powered by propane and have traditional gas burners that heat mostly by convection — or hot air. But they also can cook foods with radiant heat generated by one or more infrared burners. (Infrared falls between visible light and microwave energy on the electromagnetic spectrum.)

Why is it important? The grills get hotter – up to 900 degrees, vs. 700 degrees for normal gas. This lets you char food more quickly at the onset. As well, the max temperature can be reached more quickly than with current technology. You can cook foods in “half the time”, according to this guy with a ponytail.

How much will you pay? Models are being released in the $500-$1000 range, whereas previous versions cost >$5000.

Headphones = Microphones

Posted on April 28, 2007 by Jason Shah

I learned that your iPod headphones may be a low-quality microphone today. I plugged my headphones into my desktop’s microphone line-in jack, and talked to Roh over gtalk. I had to have the headphones practically in my mouth, but it worked. There a few sites discussing this:

Earphones and microphones are constructed on a very similiar concept, just that earphones are optimised for hearing, and microphones are optimised for recording.

Some guy even made a completely unnecessary video.
Yes, Roh, you were right. I concede. And make my previous-disbelief-turned-appreciation public for the world.

Personalized highway billboards

Posted on January 13, 2007 by Jason Shah

MINI USA, the company that makes Mini’s, is doing something very cool.

The idea is simple, first give MINI USA some irreverent information about yourself (nothing too personal). Then MINI USA then sends out a special keyfob (4-6 weeks after sign-up) that identifies you to each of the Motorboards you pass. When the boards detect that you are about the drive by, they deliver a personal message based on the information you originally gave.

So, if I have a Mini and drive past one of their billboards, I can have it say, “Jason, you are one handsome man!” for the world to see. In Chicago, the billboard is on 294 near O’Hare.

How to: Disable your Passport’s RFID chip

Posted on January 5, 2007 by Jason Shah

The new passports have poorly secured RFID chips installed in each. What does this mean? If someone with a reader happens to walk by you, they may be able to pull down all of your personal information.

Wired has a good discussion on how to disable the passport’s RFID. See it here.

New Microsoft Office 2007

Posted on January 4, 2007 by Jason Shah

Why would a company upgrade to the new MS Office 2007? This WSJ article discusses the technology, and while the conclusion is positive, MS has created a “steep learning curve”. My favorite quote:

The entire user interface, the way you do things in these familiar old programs, has been thrown out and replaced with something new.

And another:

As if this weren’t enough, Microsoft has also changed the standard file format for Office files. Older versions of Office, on both Windows and Macintosh computers, won’t be able to read these new file types without special conversion software.

Bet on the Weather

Posted on January 4, 2007 by Jason Shah

Interesting site soon to be released that allows an accredited investor/business to trade options based on weather. Coverage at TechCrunch.

The International Obfuscated C Code Contest

Posted on January 4, 2007 by Jason Shah

The IOCCC (International Obfuscated C Code Contest) has kicked off again. The goal: solve a relatively simple problem in as difficult a way possible.

Here is a 2004 winner:

#include
#include
#include

#define _ ;double
#define void x,x
#define case(break,default) break[O]:default[O]:
#define switch(bool) ;for(;xint##if?
#define true (–void++)
#define false (++void–)

char*O=” <60>!?\\\n”_ doubIe[010]_ int0,int1 _ Iong=0 _ inIine(int eIse){int
O1O=!O _ l=!O;for(;O1O<010;++o1o)l+=(o1o[doubie]*pow(eise,o1o));return i="1,x=">I?atof(I[eIse]):!O switch(*O)x++)abs(inIine(x))>Iong&&(Iong=abs(inIine(x
)));int1=Iong;main(-*O>>1,0);}else{if(booI<*O>>1){int0=int1;int1=int0-2*Iong/0
[O]switch(5[O]))putchar(x-*O?(int0>=inIine(x)&&do(1,x)do(0,true)do(0,false)
case(2,1)do(1,true)do(0,false)6[O]case(-3,6)do(0,false)6[O]-3[O]:do(1,false)
case(5,4)x?booI?0:6[O]:7[O])+*O:8[O]),x++;main(++booI,0);}}}

What does this crazy code do? It graphs a polynomial. For instance, running it with parameters ‘0 0 2’ will graph y=x^2. Quite noteworthy.