7. … And Keep Tabs on Friends

7. … And Keep Tabs on Friends Fans of Twitter, the micro-blogging service that lets others know what you're doing at this very minute, will find SMS virtually indispensable for sending and receiving updates. Start by configuring your Twitter account to support text messaging: Click the Settings link and then click Phone & IM. Follow the instructions to enable your phone, then set Device Updates to "on." (While you're at it, click the Notices option and set "sleep" hours so you're not bothered by new messages all through the night.) To receive text-message updates from your friends and family, click the Following link in your profile and set Device Updates to "on" for each person. To broadcast your own updates straight from your phone, text your messages to 40404.

Robobug goes to war: Troops to use electronic insects to spot enemy 'by end of the year'

By DANIEL COCHLIN - More by this author » Last updated at 01:16am on 4th May 2008

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Plans for a robot that can crawl like a spider are 'well developed'

It may have seemed like just another improbable scene from a Hollywood sci-fi flick – Tom Cruise battling against an army of robotic spiders intent on hunting him down.

But the storyline from Minority Report may not be quite as far fetched as it sounds.

British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.

Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby.

Soldiers will carry the robots into combat and use a small tracked vehicle to transport them closer to their targets.

Then they would swarm into the building and relay images back to the soldiers' hand-held or wrist-mounted computers, warning them of any threats inside.

BAE Systems has just signed a £19million contract to develop the robots for the US Army.

Researchers hope they will eventually create machines that can fly like a butterfly

Plans for a creature that can crawl like a spider are said to be well developed, and researchers eventually hope to be able to create creatures that can slither like a snake or fly like a dragonfly.

While some of the creatures will be fitted with small cameras, others will be equipped with sensors that will be able to detect the presence of chemical, biological or radioactive weapons.

A computer-generated video from BAE Systems shows the tiny invaders being released by a soldier, before scouting out a suspect building, which is finally blown up by ground forces.

BAE Systems scientists from the UK and America plan an army of the electronic bugs, and have ambitions to equip every front-line soldier with them.

Programme manager Steve Scalera was inspired by the way creatures use their senses to detect danger.

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• See what Robobug will look like in action

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Promotional video shows a 'bug' being sent into a danger zone in a special vehicle

"What we are doing is providing an enhanced awareness for soldiers, basically an extension to their eyes and ears," he said.

"The creatures have external sensors. They can be tossed out into a building or a cave or even a pile of rubble and then send images back to the troops.

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Pictures from the bug are beamed back to the operator, allowing the target to be blown up

"The idea is to get a number of these working together – some tiny, some maybe up to a foot in length, and all going into a building together carrying out different tasks. Eventually we hope to have animals flying and slithering.

"The five-year programme has just started but we could have them with soldiers within six months, and then continue to develop the concept as the project goes along."

Despite the high-tech gadgetry involved, BAE Systems insists once production is in full swing, each bug will cost no more than £100 to produce.

The Ministry of Defence declined to comment.

kernel, ... the engine 'car'...Firmware is software that is embedded in a piece of hardware

Below per this AM’s Crpl “post-5^th grade RFIs”[sc]…in deference to the “Brn principle”[sc] perhaps the Crpl Clb Blg will shift from “traditional religion”[sc] to “technical proselytizing”[sc]

Kernel definition - define Kernel

Kernel definition define as The guts of any operating system. The kernel is loaded into main memory and stays there, while other pieces of the OS are loaded ... www.cheap56k.com/glossary/Kernel.html - 29k - Cached - Similar pages

OSNews > Thread > "RE[7]: Truths About the Linux Kernel" by smitty

So where there may be some people who define OS equal to kernel, ... the engine 'car', but that's exactly what people who want to take the kernel out of an ... www.newmobilecomputing.com/thread?146667 - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

What is firmware? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer ...

Software (programs or data) that has been written onto read-only memory (ROM). Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. ... www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/firmware.html - 63k - Cached - Similar pages

Firmware Definition - What is Firmware?

Firmware is software that is embedded in a piece of hardware. You can think of firmware simply as "software for hardware." pcsupport.about.com/od/termsf/g/firmware.htm - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

What is driver? - a definition from Whatis.com

A driver is a program that interacts with a particular device or special (frequently optional) kind of software. The driver contains the special knowledge ... searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci212002,00.html - 54k - Cached - Similar pages

device driver: Definition and Much More from Answers.com

Writing a device driver requires an in-depth understanding of how the hardware and the software of a given platform function. Drivers "...operate in a ... www.answers.com/topic/device-driver-1 - 66k - 15 hours ago - Cached - Similar pages

Glossary definition for Driver Software

Glossary definition of the term Driver Software. ... Driver software is written specifically for the device to allow it to work with a particular operating ... www.cryer.co.uk/glossary/d/driver_software.htm - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

Firmware: Definition and additional resources from ZDNet

Firmware includes flash, ROM, PROM, EPROM and EEPROM technologies. When holding program instructions, firmware can be thought of as "hard software. ... dictionary.zdnet.com/definition/Firmware.html - 66k - Cached - Similar pages

Basic Programming for Computer Literacy - Google Books Result

by David G. Moursund - 1978 - Reference - 268 pages Parts of the Computer Hardware Programming languages (BASIC, C, Pascal, Definition of a Computer Hardware Software and Firmware. books.google.com/books?isbn=0070435650...

firmware contract - Trovit Jobs

Firmware Development Engineer is required to define, implement, integrate, and test firmware ... Support during hardware, firmware and software integration. ... jobs.trovit.co.uk/jobs/firmware-contract - 52k - Cached - Similar pages

What is "firmware"? [Archive] - Tech Support Forums - TechIMO.com

Jun 23, 2005 ... I would define firmware as the BIOS of a drive (or device) . ... Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. ... www.techimo.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-5976.html - 7k - Cached - Similar pages

Subject: WIKI = "What I Know Is" [sc!]

A wiki (sometimes spelled "Wiki"- comes from the word "wikiwiki," which means "fast" in the Hawaiian language ") is a software program that resides on a server. This software allows users to collaborate in forming the content of a Web site. By using a regular Web browser, any user can edit content within the wiki, including other users' contributions. By virtue of the fact that wiki content is open to manipulation by any user, a wiki Web site must operate on a principle of collaborative trust. It also must operate on the assumption that anyone who provides content to the wiki has validated that their content is factual. A wiki allows a visitor to the "wikified" Web site to edit the content of the site from their own computer. Visitors can also create new content and change the organization of existing content. The simplest wiki programs allow editing of text and hyperlinks only. More advanced wikis make it possible to add or change images, tables, and certain interactive components such as games.

5 Things You Never! Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do

5 Things You Never! Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do For all the folks with cell phones. (This should be printed and kept in your car, purse, and wallet. Good information to have with you.) There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it: FIRST Emergency The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find Yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to Establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, thi s number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out. SECOND Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your ke ys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot From your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked Our car over a cell phone!' THIRD Hidden Battery Power Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time. FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone: *# 06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones. And Finally.... FIFTH Free Directory Service for Cells Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not<>carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800)FREE411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

Mexican "insurgency" [sic] HS-Style @ CA

Snopes.com says this is TRUE.

I guess they already finished their English homework!!!

Montebello High School in California You will not see this heart-stopping photo on the front page of the NY Times, nor on the lead story of the major news networks. The protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it. (*See pictures below*) I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington. The image of the American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail. Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books and to every representative in the state and federal government. If you choose to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person CAN make a difference.

One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one........ . The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean something, however, hasn't even begun. If this ticks YOU off...PASS IT ON! IF IT DOESN'T IT SHOULD!

Vehicular Voltage Q&A (Secular)

Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 6:54 AM Subject: RE: voltage question for the smart man

Nominal Current draw = Power / Voltage. Typical steady state current draw for a running vehicle would be 80 watts /28 VDC = 2.85 Amps. Typical steady state current draw for a vehicle with the engine not running would be 80 watts / 24VDC = 3.33 Amps if the battery is new and in good condition, and 80 watts / 20VDC = 4.00 Amps for a weak older battery. If the Display Screen is turn down less power and less current is drawn. At the lower and upper environmental temperature extremes, thermal management routine s kick in to turn heaters or cooling devices on, and more power and current is drawn.

Current flows from the battery's positive terminal to the computer and and returns back to the battery through it's negative terminal. The battery is basically an energy storage device. Energy is removed from the battery when you place a load on the battery, in this case the computer system. The vehicle's alternator system generates electrical energy to replenish the energy drawn from the battery, to keep the battery fully charged. There really is no good way to measure how much energy is returned to the battery because the device that puts the load on the battery (the computer system in this case) only draws enough current to meet its needs.

During equipment bootup, different power draws will be experienced as the various systems and subsystems are brought online. Inrush currents will surge and vary until the computer system achieves steady state operation, usually within several minutes.