Elliot Lee » 2005 » October » 16

Gas Prices Aren’t Bad

Elliot Lee — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 02:45:45 +0000

In the U.S., that is.

It might make you feel better that we are still paying $3.19 and happy about it since it has been hovering in the $3.40 range for a while now. I think it can only get better….or not.

by Anonymous at 11:26PM (PDT) on Oct 8, 2005

well, i live in germany..

we pay 1,30EUR per liter, thats 1,57$

1gallon would cost about 6,30$

by Anonymous at 07:30AM (PDT) on Oct 10, 2005

i live in austria:

update: now its at 1,40€ (5,30€ per gallon-about 6,90$) – thats about 25cent more in only one week..
its quite hard but it helps reducing the co2 emission.. and those hurricanes are not the only effect that have their origin in the shameless usage of fossil power by many industrial countries…

just my 2ct

by Anonymous at 11:22AM (PDT) on Oct 11, 2005

But anyway… I’m in Australia (central Victoria) and today we’re paying AU$1.33 per litre, which works out to US$3.79 per gallon.

by Anonymous at 06:45PM (PDT) on Oct 16, 2005

Inductive Coupling: Power of the Future?

Elliot Lee — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 02:20:44 +0000

SplashPower claims to be offering practical wireless power solutions in the near future.

According to Wikipedia:

In electronics, inductive coupling refers to the transfer of energy from one circuit component to another through a shared magnetic field. A change in current flow through one device induces current flow in the other device. The two devices may be physically contained in a single unit, as in the primary and secondary sides of a transformer, or may be separated as in the antennae on a transmitter and a receiver. Coupling may be intentional or unintentional. Unintentional coupling is called cross-talk, and is a form of interference. Inductive coupling favors low frequency energy sources. High frequency energy sources generally use capacitive coupling.

I wonder what the range is on these things!

Altec Lansing Speakers

Elliot Lee — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 10:07:27 +0000

I’ve been researching speakers because I really need to get something better than the ones built into my LCD monitor. The brands to be considered are:

Logitech My friends in the room next door both have Logitech speakers. They’re different models (not sure which models), but they’re both awesome.

Creative I saw some Creative SBS Vivid 60 speakers in the USC bookstore. $30. Also, the SBS 260. Good reviews, and astoundingly cheap. $17.

Altec Lansing This seems the most likely candidate. They have a good reputation and a nice lineup.

VS2221 2.1 speaker system. I’ve decided against these due to the large subwoofer and distortion.

VS2220 Compact and good reviews all around. Most likely one I’ll be getting. $30.

121i 2.1 speaker system. Decided against these due to bad reviews, including one that said they went bad after 2 months.

120i The cheapest ones; they’re tiny, but have good reviews. $15.

Generally, the speaker systems always cost around $30. The range is $15 to $50. A must for any speaker system is a volume control and a headphone jack.

Failure Loading Desktop Class

Elliot Lee — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 07:13:06 +0000

I got this error when trying to run MATLAB 6 R12.

“Failure Loading Desktop Class”

The first result in Google didn’t help. But Solution 1-1881O did.

I’m running Windows XP on a Dell Dimension 4600 with a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4. With a similar (P4-based) setup, you may get the same error. To fix it, simply download and run this patch: JREpatch.exe.

Make sure MATLAB is closed when you run it. The first time I did, I was running MATLAB (although it wasn’t working) – and some files couldn’t be overwritten. After running the patch, MATLAB worked like a charm.