Headworx

HTC has come with an interesting twist on virtual reality glasses with the recently launched Vive Flow.  Judging by the specifications, which clearly compromise performance for weight and comfort, the Flow is probably the first video headset for the masses. I mean not for hard-core gamers, but for those who would enjoy just viewing a movie or a YouTube video on a wearable big, virtual screen. They unfortunately have made some weird design choices, making the Flow compatible only with a small selection of Android phones. The Flow has a USB-C input, but that is only for power. And supposedly they use WiFi / Miracast for video transfer. Why oh why? I wonder why they just do not support the USB-C alternate mode, making them plug-and-play compatible with just about everything, including iPads, MacBooks, Windows, and - of course - Android (but without a need of a special app). The glasses could just present themselves as a display device when connected to a computer or a tablet or a phon...

It has been barely two years since I got my pre-ordered Boosted Rev scooter , hoping to have this dream machine last for many years. Unfortunately the company went from boosted to bust (pun intended) right after. Well, I thought, the sky still did not fall, so I went shopping for some extra batteries and tires, as I expected them to degrade over time. The first replacement battery I got from China, and it arrived dead, while the seller disappeared. I tried to refurbish the battery and then together with the battery specialist I realized things were not that straightforward. It turned out Boosted spent a lot of effort to make things unserviceable. At least not by 3rd parties. There were several protections implemented - the battery included a charging circuit - called Battery Management System (BMS) which locked up if disconnected from the cells. Replacing the BMS did not help, as the Boosted Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) could be unlocked only when the original BMS is in place. All...

Apple has been proven it is not a technical challenge to have a Type-C port in iPhones. We have been hearing all sorts of stories that the connector is too big or it would stop innovation. Now an engineering student made a USB-C iPhone as a side project . One interesting note on Ken's write-up is " it turns out that Apple sells the Lightning connector to the MFI manufacturers for $2.8. Then those manufacturers build the cable around that connector. ". So it is not about innovation nor technical issues. It is about the $2.8 Apple can collect on each lightning cable, it would not after moving to USB-C (which would be good for all of us and help the Planet). Elon Musk has been selling the "Full Self-Driving" vaporware even as he clearly knows this would not work. But he is intentionally misleading the customers, to fuel up Tesla's profits and company valuation. Bitcoin, a financial instrument which is helping with illicit transactions, is also an opportunity ...

It seems we are facing a long term energy squeeze. There are some macro trends and some local events leading int that. The most impactful macro trend is the increasing rate of consumption of goods. We buy things and throw them away. And even if we recycle the materials they are made of, the recycling itself requires energy. Shortened lifespan of goods is multiplied by the number of people buying and throwing them away. The population growth we have experienced over the last 200 years can mostly be attributed to the average human life span which has doubled, or even tripled (in many cases) in the last century or so. In 1843 the life expectancy in Liverpool, UK, was 25 years. Yes, 25. Of course this was the extreme, but only  between 1920 and 2020, the average human life span doubled .  Then there are several events we can call local - such as droughts in China, which ave led to reduced output of Chinese hydroelectric power plants. That, combined with growing energy consumption,...

I think not many of you have heard the term HDMI CEC. It stands for Consumer Electronics Control , which again, does not say much. It is a very useful standard though and helps audio-visual devices function much better and become much more friendly and easy to use. But there are two problems with CEC. The first: not every piece of equipment implements it. Some do and some don't. And the second: every vendor has it's own name for this feature. Anynet+ (Samsung), BRAVIA Link (Sony), EasyLink (Philips), SimpLink (LG), EZ-Sync (Panasonic) to name just a few. In other words, a jungle. CEC is one example why things should not be optional in standards. HDMI as such does not have the best reputation. Problems with cables, connectors, version compatibility, copy control have earned it the "problematic" label. Sure it is better than VGA, as at least pins in cable connectors do not bend, but overall HDMI has not solved the "Looking for an active signal source" problem ...