In remarks before a captive audience, Microsoft founder Bill Gates predicted Tuesday that five years out, newspapers will have nearly faded from existence as digital devices — readers, phones, computers, big screen displays, etc. — overtake print as a delivery medium. That forecast was made May 8th, in front of the 8th annual Strategic Account Summit of Microsoft’s global advertising partners.
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Monthly Archives: May 2007
hot rodding meets rocket science
Do you manufacture tech-related products? Do they involve paint, welds, metalurgy, clothing, synthetics, plastics, chrome, cnc, etc.?
While NASA the government agency might draw a laugh or two from time to time, nobody’s laughing when one of their majestic flying machines rockets into orbit. So here’s the deal: you’re a taxpayer, and they’ve got solutions. Boy, do they have solutions.
NASA’s loaded with engineering talent. And that talent’s available to the general public with surprisingly few strings attached. Only small business (less than 500 employees), no software or IT issues, a 40-hour research limit and your dilemma can’t be easily solved by the private sector.
Otherwise, SATOP — the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program — is ready and waiting to help you solve your otherwise insurmountable mind-benders.
It’s a 12-year-old program that renders aid to the commercial sector in the form of really good answers to a bewildering array of questions. You work by e-mail, fax and/or phone, after having your problem reviewed and then matched to a NASA volunteer for peer review.
Seems like a good deal to us — after all, this is the outfit that came up with Teflon and Velcro.
these won’t be your grandpa’s harleys
This is what we’ve been able to discern from the few tea leaves scattered about. Change – big change – seems to be waiting in the wings for The Motor Company as demographics, competition and environmental regs continue to shape HD’s destiny.
Might this be the year for the beginning of the end of the air-cooled twin? With two BT radiator – in-frame coolant? – displacement versions ready to go, probably.
Big Daddy, with 2450ccs of tub-thumping water-cooled torque, would seemingly raise the bar quite a bit. And if this be the year, one coupled with the dropping of six popular models – ST (3), DWG, FL and XL883 – it would open a huge chasm between the original and the clones from the marketing and technology perspectives.
These changes could also signal a larger focus on touring rather than cruising, and if so then another seeming nod to the aging of the profile.
That’s the view from the front porch rocker. We’re saving the goat entrails for a group slam.
ride smart to ride safe
Motorcycle Safety Foundation president Tim Buche announced a new campaign to help curb injuries and fatalities with soon to be released web content on YouTube and Break.com, local market PSAs and a targeted short aimed at drivers ed programs across the country.
While different factions argue over the percentage increases in death and injury against registrations, actual numbers continue to rise. Given increasingly crowded highways jammed with drivers text messaging, coordinating their GPSs and scrubbing through their iPods while rolling along in cruise-controlled comfort at 85 mph, it’s not getting any safer.
Add in the steadily deteriorating condition of most of the worst roads and interstates, and it’s a cinch we need all the help we can get. Find out how, from the source.
bagger books on the rise
Two new titles join the growing number of pubs devoted to v-twin customs and near customs. American Bagger and American Cycle are both based in Spearfish, while Hot Bike’s Baggers is a product of the Primedia library. Find both on the shelves now.