Portable Ultrasounds: Media behind the curve

I saw the AP article on today's edition of our local paper, but here's USAToday's version: "Market grows for portable ultrasound".

As I've proposed before with USB ultrasound, we're still not at home level Ultrasound. If you look at the photo in the above article, it seems you need a specialized machine but I believe the same functionality can be implemented with video game controller (Wii might be really cool) and USB Ultrasound wand. Or better yet, how about Wiimote + Ultrasound "nunchaku" (on Wii, there is a secondary controller, called "nunchaku," which is attached to the main Wiimote and allows for extra controls). This will allow the user to stick the Ultrachaku to the body part in question with one hand and manipulate the image on the screen with the main Wiimote controller with the other hand. Any game player could do this: hmm, a pre-teen ultrasound tech?

Copyright 2007, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.

Scratch Programming

Scratch is yet another programming language for children. See BBC's intro "Free tool offers 'easy' coding".

Here's an interview with someone using both Scratch and Alice: "A Chat with Michelle Venable-Foster"

My older son started Alice, but my younger son has stuck with Stagecast.

Stay tuned since we'll give Scratch a try once things settle down at the web site....

Copyright 2007, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.

Dragonfly Remote Control

Flytech's dragonfly is very cool. My sons and I have started flying remote control helicopters and this thing caught our eyes, as it was being introduced in a Japanese TV program.

Computer fixed: CPU Repair in Irvine

I had my Toshiba M4 notebook being repaired at CPU Repair for few weeks. I had a problem with video card where I'd get fuzzy and snowy and even all white display on my computer screen. Since it was under warranty (I bought 3 year extended warranty plus accident guard in case I was dumb enough to break my screen, etc.), it didn't cost me anything other than shipping it (since CPU Repair is too far from where I live and I do not work in or near Orange County). At first the motherboard (MB) had to be replaced (due to bad video chip/card) and was on a waiting list. They were able to put me ahead of the line (since I had mailed it in rather than a walk in) so it got repaired a week earlier than ETA. However, the replacement MB was DOA, so I had to get back in the queue again. Fortunately, they were able to bump me up again (sorry for those who got bumped off) and got my computer back this week (again, about one week earlier than promised).

The good: they replaced my LCD due to bad pixel(s) along with the frame around the LCD and the top half of the frame of the main notebook area (the area around the keyboard) (I broke it when I dropped it on hard floor and fell on the corner and cracked frame: this was fixed via my "accident guard" insurance) as well as my original video card problem.

The bad: They didn't send me any tracking # or call and let me know it was coming back. My screen guard (film) wasn't replaced, so that was another bummer (I don't use the touch screen afterall, so it's no big deal).

Overall, I'm happy with what I got back. They took longer than I wanted but then if the queue is long (as they have claimed) then there's not much I can do about that. So far, I had my MB, LCD, top half of frame, keyboard (soda spell about 1.5 years ago) and my batteries (via recall) were replaced, and I had upgraded the HDD and RAM on my own. The only old components left seem to be the bottom half of the notebook body/frame and my DVD writer/reader.

Copyright 2007, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.

HD-DVD key cracked (updated title)

I had to join in the bandwagon. Esp. when my better peers have done so too :-). Kind of fun to read what happened at digg, as reported by Wired.

Update 5/4. After AACS LA has made rumblings about suing bloggers, I've decided to remove the actual key. Instead, I'll copy what one digger did:

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 BD
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 BE
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 BF

[... BANNED ...]

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C1
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C2
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C3

so no need to sue me since I'm not publishing anything illegal.

Copyright 2007, DannyHSDad, All Rights Reserved.