What I don't get about this is: One of the leading plane designers puts out a concept with an unusual wing/tail arrangement. They say it is "the plane of the future (tm)".

Hmmm... Not much luck finding any papers on the subject. There are a number involving these authors on shape memory alloys, and I imagine this work is an extension.

I will always remember the look of an argon lamp... I once grabbed both ends of a tube like that while it was connected to power. It was rather bright in the room (I did not notice the glow of the small tube), and I thought the power was already cut.

I got a Kindle recently (yay price drop!) I definitely appreciate it. I have read more in the past couple of weeks than I have in quite a while. It is so much easier when you can carry so much with so little effort.

Well, I have a pair of Ray-Bans. I like the frame. I had prescription polarized lenses put in them, so I can't say they are in any way cheap. Sunglasses last me a long time, I treat them carefully because of the expense of buying them.

A 3 hour battery is great, a wonderful advance really. The question is: is that good enough for soldiers in the field? I have never been in the military, but my understanding is these guys tend to spend more than 3 hours out in the field with gear...

I will admit I don't think I have any Panasonic electronics kicking around, but I do have a Panasonic bike. It is from 1984, and though I have replaced several components I cannot bear to lose the frame.

@Poisonthescene: What I was trying to say is that you can have a monopoly on a type of product, not a specific product. Microsoft does not have a monopoly on Windows, they have one on operating systems.

I think the problem with this is they are not using a proper definition of monopoly. There may be some sort of anti-trust case they can bring up, but that is a different beast.

If you follow the link to the article and check out the PDF presentation, it looks like they are looking at a clean sans serif with a modern look to the edges and curves. I like it.

I have a 3G that cannot run backgrounds in iOS4. I didn't think I would care about that lack of capability. I am now wrong.

@Seeräuber Jenny: I know nobody cares, that is why I feel like an idiot for showing it off ;)

After I sent the first e-mail from my iPhone and realized it had a signature I had to remove it. I don't know that I could tell you why I dislike it, perhaps there are many reasons.

I am always a bit torn on new battery tech. I want things to last longer, but it is scary enough when lithium batteries going up in flames these days. Energy density is scary stuff sometimes.

@flashtut: Most people could not tell you how to do that already. Ever sit next to an open hood hearing someone go "...is that black to black or black to red?"

I have a really hard time accepting novelty condoms. I think I associate novelty anything with "cheap crap" and I have this feeling that cheap crap is not what I want my condoms to be...

@Swashbuckler: Generally I agree, but this is version 4...

I can't imagine the situation where I buy a keyboard near the price of most computers I look at.

I have not been using my phone much in the past couple of days (and most of my data has been on wi-fi) but I never had big problems with the service here. Maybe it is just me being lucky and not really spending time in the more congested parts of town.

@RawheaD: There was a time when a product did not make it to market until it was properly engineered to function.