Vista on wheels
A high-performance luxury car will soon have Microsoft Vista on-board to control some of its functions. Thankfully, those don’t include steering or brakes, but will be involved in communications and entertainment packages.
The deal came about between a Michigan-based car systems company called Azentek and car maker DiMora Motorcar. The vehicle targeted for a Vista overhaul is Natalia Sports Luxury Sedan. Judging by the pictures (see for yourself) this is one slick ride.
Readers, please note that I have avoided any mention of the words Vista, car and crash in the same sentence. It’s killing me not to furnish you with the obvious jokes here, but the first time one of these puppies runs off the road due to a bizarre DLL error, I’ll be sure and let you know.
Wozniak’s got a lead foot
Speaking of high-tech car shenanigans, Apple guru Steve Wozniak was recently pulled over for topping 100 MPH in his Prius. Wozniak’s excuse is that he’s used to driving overseas in countries where kilometres is the usual method of gauging speed. Clearly, the judge was not impressed and fined Woz 700 bucks. Now this guy is supposedly one of the founding fathers of modern computing. Saying you mixed up KPM with MPH is a bit like saying I’m late for work because I was looking at my watch upside down. What he should have said is he’s got one of those new cars with Vista on board and it took over his system.
Hot hands the next laptop battery?
Now this is cool. So to speak. The German Fraunhofer Institute has discovered a way to improve laptop battery life by using body heat. Now your sweaty little hands will actually be useful rather than just an embarrassing source of soggy handshakes. The device from Fraunhofer converts body heat into electricity resulting in an additional power source for laptops. Of course, body heat alone isn’t sufficient to keep today’s laptops up and running – if such a thing were possible, we’d have solved the energy crisis before now – but it’s a start. However, the Institute has devised a new breed of laptop circuitry that can operate at much lower energy levels. Dang, those Germans are smart cookies.