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July 30, 2003
Wednesday Wendings
Firebird 0.6.1 Mozilla released what they describe as a "minor bug-fix release" recently. Fixed are: The auto-complete crash bug, the DOM security restriction bug that broke many bookmarklets, contentEditable support, brushed up default theme, including updated toolbar icons, and a new application icon. If any of these bugs have bit you, you may want to visit their site here.
Inductive Reasoning The Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories site has an interesting page on something they call iGlassware (see it here). It is based on the following:
Since restaurants often make much of their profits on drinks, it is critical for servers to offer refills in a timely fashion. We propose wireless liquid level sensing glassware to aid in this task. Specially instrumented glassware detects fluid levels via a high-resolution capacitance measurement. A coil embedded in the table inductively couples power to the glasses, and provides a path for data exchange. Our prototype glass uses a standard microprocessor and a small number of passive components, making it extremely inexpensive.
Don't ask me if this is for real or a very well done hoax, but it's interesting nonetheless.
I've got a busy day ahead so I gotta go.
Aloha!
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Comments
It could well be real.
I can imagine a lot of interferance when there are a lot of glasses and other objects on the table. I can also envisage problems when other electronic tools (mobile phone, pda,...) are on the table. And a possible health concern with current and older inductive medical instruments (pacemakers, insulin releasers, etc.)
It does smell like a typical student-research project [beverages, students, ... get the link:)] with some potential but not likely to lead anywhere.
Posted by: sjon at July 31, 2003 02:40 AM