There are references to the Japan Institute of Science and Technology in a Google search. And they seem to link back to the Advanced one. So maybe just a different way of naming it?

Well this is interesting.. There IS a "JAPAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY." referenced on a few physics websites. There is a Japan ADVANCED Institute of Science and Technology. But I can't find anything on it regarding this kind of work.

what you did with the Xbox and Kinect is what I do with day to day items. If I'm in a store and they are selling something for 99c and then they have a pack of two for the special price of $1.99, I will buy the two singles and save that penny. Even though it's just a penny, I always feel good when I saw "The Man's"…

Years ago I did tech support for a cable TV company. This was back when HD TVs were just becoming popular. (Moving from 480 to 720. So now you know how long ago it was.) We had some HD boxes that had the HDMI connector but they weren't active yet. So just a dead port pretty much. I had a customer call in trying to…

I know it's meant to be a legal issue with ROMs you don't own, but the makers of those games are happily turning a blind eye to it. They know that it's a nice database of the games they made from yester-year. In fact, at least one of them used the ROM dump from MAME to rebuild an old game for their museum when they…

Well done for building your own. I could never have that level of skill in soldering. The best I got up to was soldering CB mics when I swapped rigs. Using a bit of wire to short the pins out on the rig to see what gave audio or turned on the transmitter. And being more careful with the mic by using a multimeter to…

I had a ZX81 with the 16K pack and remember spending hours typing in a text golf game in BASIC out of a magazine. When I went to save it I forgot to unplug the line out jack so it just got feedback and never saved. But I didn't realise this until the next day. :-( God I was so pissed at myself. I returned the ZX81…

I think you just hit it right on the head for me. There wasn't enough driving. I've been trying to figure out what I liked about the other specials more than this one. And you just said it for me. There was too much doing other stuff than just driving. The TG specials are like going on a road trip with your buddies.…

I felt the same when watching it. I got so close to switching it off a few times but hoped it would get better. It feels like they're now at the point where they think "Where can we go for a vacation this year and get paid while doing it?"

It's a human thing to attach a personality to things and through that, become emotionally attached to them. How many of us have had something at some point in our lives that we thought had "moods"? A car that would have a 'bad day'? An electronic device that would always crash just when we really needed it? A computer…

How is it the old saying goes for Magpies...?

Ah, ok. That explains it a bit more. Thanks for the heads up on the extra info!

Oh I don't know... I think a few of us would be interested in reading that! :-)

Ew, Ew, Ew, Ew, Ew.

I find the accuracy info a little weird in this article. I've used GPS systems that were far more accurate than 10-15m. In fact, I had a Blackberry Curve that had GPS and I used maps loaded onto the smart card and the radio turned off and got accuracy down to 1-2 metres. I know that a lot of the commercial GPS systems…

Talking about slot cars reminds me of something that happened when I was a kid.

Hey I never thought about that! I don't know if you're talking about the big RC cars or the little hotwheels size ones. But little RC cars would be so much better for racing in the house. No limits to how long the track is and no having to go and put them back on the track when you go too fast into a corner. That's a…

An old crappy car built from old even crappier British parts? And the seller is wondering why no-one wants to buy it? Christmas is the time for miracles... but we're not stupid.

I know you don't want to hear this because you have an excuse to get that MacBook Pro... But if you're comfortable with opening your laptop you can do that and clean it out properly with compressed air. Or replace the fan if that's the issue. That should fix your overheating issues.

I'm in the same mind set as you with a pad device. Don't get me wrong, I think they are really cool and I love the idea of them. But... I have my laptop that does everything I need it to. And with an extra monitor connected I can watch TV on it while I browse the net or do whatever it is I'm doing. When I had my…