Not for the faint of heart or wild of imagination, here’s the tale of a science lab and their “black hole machine”:  a little particle accelerator which could create a pull stronger than gravity and suck us all into oblivion.  While it would make an exciting movie plot, I’m not too comfortable with the reality of the thing.  I suppose we have to take risks to make big gains, but I wish science didn’t have to risk me.

If you’ve been begging since last year for an invitation to the private Hulu beta, today you can finally rest.  Hulu.com is live and open to the public, and reviews from beta testers and the first visitors from the general Internet public have been surprisingly good.  The site offers everything from complete episodes of television programs, to short clips, and TV addicts will be delighted to find that the library includes classic shows from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  You can start with “Dragnet” or “Kojak”, work your way through “Hill Street Blues”, and watch a bunch of Digital Shorts from “Saturday Night Live” before you realize you’re not getting any work done.  The site isn’t limited to just NBC, either… FOX is represented here, as are the SciFi and USA networks.  Here’s a full list of all the TV shows available on Hulu.com.  Not content to just represent television, Hulu is the online face of MGM, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros., meaning full-length, free, streaming movies.  I noticed “Ice Age” and “The Usual Suspects” during my brief stop at Hulu, and it looks like there are about 75 additional titles.  More will be added all the time, I’m sure. 

Surprisingly absent from Hulu is “American Idol”.  Putting AI clips on Hulu would be a great way to attract new visitors, but for now, you’ll have to get your AI fix on the regular Fox website.  If you’re into reality television, you can still use Hulu.com to catch up on “The Moment of Truth”.

Hulu isn’t going to replace watching HD television, and it won’t replace watching DVD movies.  The video quality is the same quality as you’d see on any network website, which means that it’s fine to watch as a passing amusement and to kill some time.  The quality is also a heck of a lot better than most amateur YouTube videos, so you’ll be doing your eyes a favor.

Sales of HD VMD are scheduled to begin on Amazon in the next five weeks.  The manufacturer isn’t too worried about who buys them because ultimately, he thinks the main market for HD VMD may be in Australia, China, India, Central Europe, Russia and Scandinavia.  With players designed to sell for $90 and still make a profit, they may be perfect for markets with lower incomes.

At this point in time, one can only speculate how this scenario may play itself out.  If nothing else, perhaps HD VMD could provide a way for churches and nonprofit groups to successfully produce high quality marketing videos, leaving Hollywood to deal with Blu-Ray.

The decision by the state Supreme Court wasn’t unanimous.  Some judges were bothered by contradictions in the CAN SPAM act (the act was the basis of the prosecution’s case).  The dissenting judges didn’t like the fact that the act doesn’t make exceptions for spam which is religious or political in nature, citing that that both those subjects are protected as free speech by the First Amendment.  I hope the dissenting judges aren’t losing any sleep over their positions, because I’m sure the majority of Americans think unwanted email is unwanted email, regardless of the topic.

Fujifilm holds a license for Polaroid film technology, and they’ll continue to manufacture film for personal and some corporate uses (like ID cards and passport photos). While the cameras are no longer officially being made, online auction sites guarantee that they’ll still be available for purchase for many years to come.  A word of advice:  buy your Polaroid camera now, while it’s a cheap $20 novelty, and don’t wait until it turns into a $200 “antique”. 

Heins invention is called “Perepiteia”.  It’s a simple electric motor, with a driveshaft.  The motor is activated using regular electrical current, but then a large magnet is held a few inches from the driveshaft to create a magnetic field.  When the magnetic field is applied, the motor inexplicably begins to accelerate.  If Heins machine forces the laws of physics to be rewritten, it means that an electric car could start up on a battery, but the battery could be constantly recharged by the application of a magnet while in motion.  Moving a magnet closer to the engine could assist in acceleration.  It’s potentially a vast source of clean, renewable energy with no nasty side-effects.

After years of dismissing Heins’ claims, some people in scientific academia are finally starting to show interest.  The inventor was recently invited to demonstrate his machine at MIT, and the University of Ottawa has given him access to a professional lab where he can perform tests and experiments on a larger scale.  He’s trying to attract the attention of people like Al Gore, Richard Branson, and the head of Tesla Motors, hoping they’ll help with financing and with credibility.

The laws of physics won’t be rewritten easily, and there’s no need to change them until some great mind can explain why the Perepiteia acts the way it does.  Perhaps it’s a simple explanation, or perhaps it truly is a revolutionary new discovery which could open the doors to endless supplies of cheap energy.  The answer will surely come soon, because after two years of being dismissed and ridiculed, scientists can no longer ignore what Thane Heins has to say.

You can read more about Heins and how he stumbled upon his discovery by reading this article in the Toronto Star.

While I obviously have an issue with the product name, I like a lot of things about the product itself.  I’ve listened to iPod products, like the Shuffle and the newest iPod Touch, and the Creative has amazing sound.  While the included earbuds are adequate, I stepped up to the Creative EP-630 earbuds for about $30 at Amazon.com, and the sound was fabulous.  I listened to songs I hadn’t heard since I’d played them on LPs back in the 1970s, and heard sounds and background layers in the music which I’d never known were there.  It was a wonderful experience.  When one of my cats chewed through the Creative EP-630s, I took another step up the earbud ladder, this time to the Sennheiser CX300-B.  Again I heard an improvement in the sound, proving that the Creative Zen is offering top-notch audio if you use the right tools to listen to it.  I eventually learned that a cat can bite through the cord of the Sennheiser CX300-B, too, but that’s a story for another day.  (I’m now seriously in the market for a paid of chain maille earbuds if someone can hook me up).

The Creative Zen allows you to listen to audio (music and books, for example), store photos, listen to FM radio, record voice memos, and sync with Outlook.  What makes it a “portable media player” is that it also allows you to store and view movies and videos on the 2 inch screen.  I didn’t have much luck trying to rip my own DVD movies onto the player (thanks to the DVD Copy Control Association), but I was able to download some fun TV shows and movies using the “Amazon Unboxed” feature at Amazon.com.  The video is bright and crisp, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching an episode of “30 Rock”, as well as an hour-long comedy special featuring Kathy Griffin.  It’s no substitute for a 62” plasma TV set, but it’s a nice diversion if you have a lot of time to kill, say, riding a bus or sitting on an airplane.  You can also add your own videos, and videos you’ve downloaded from the Internet.

I wanted to write about the Zen because as much as I love it (and use it every day), it’s been extremely buggy and temperamental.  I’m even on my second Zen, after sending the first one back for a common problem where the screen goes white and loses video.  Even though my current Zen is better-behaved, it still locks up every time I charge it, requiring a hard reboot.  Many issues have been fixed with firmware updates, but just as many quirks remain.  Creative offers a customer support forum which is full of Zen owners, like me, who love their product but who wish it would work more reliably.  Every few months I quietly glance at ads for products like the Sansa Live portable media player, wondering what it might be like to own something less temperamental. 

So, that’s a brief overview of my time with a Creative Zen portable media player.  It’s got some wonderful features, works well with subscription services like “Rhapsody to Go”, and it’s light and sleek to carry around.  Audio is amazing, and you’ll have fun watching videos on it, too.  Just cross your fingers that you don’t get a buggy player, or one with a screen malfunction, or one with another issue which will require return or exchange.  Despite my love of the Zen, it’s tough to recommend a product with so much potential for disappointment and frustration.

I’m not a newbie air traveler, but I am a germ-o-phobe.  When flying I take with me lots of my own tissues, portable hand sanitizer, and I make a point of never touching my face as to avoid escorting germs directly into my eyeball, for example.  I often bring my own snacks and water bottle so I don’t have a lot of hand contact with the flight attendants, who are passing things out and retrieving used objects from every passenger on the plane.  I feel like I do everything possible to isolate myself (everything but wear a mask and make people think I have TB), yet I still came home from my recent flight with a terrible virus which has moved through my sinuses and lungs with joyful abandon.  I tried to drown it out of me with hydration, using Airborne as RU-486 for head colds, but the virus was victorious.  It hit me with a wallop about 72 hours after I was safely back home in sunny Las Vegas.

I’ve never traveled on an airplane without catching a cold virus, and I’m frustrated in my failed attempted to change my odds.  Given all the efforts I make to isolate myself from germs while flying, maybe it’s time for the airlines to step up and take some responsibility for this, too.  Can’t the air be run through UV and other sterilizers as it’s recirculated during the flight?  Is it really so difficult to keep air in such a tiny space clean?  I’ve got a room full of cockatoos in my house with one air-cleaner, and I think that air quality is better than anything I’ve breathed on an airplane.  I don’t think the airlines are devoting enough attention to the problem because consumers are complaining about it.

The next time I fly, I’m considering the paper mask.  Perhaps I’ll just wear a gas mask with charcoal filtration to save me from rhinovirus and anthrax.  What I really want, though, is to see an advertisement for a new airline called “Fresh Air” or “Head Cold Free Air”, so I can throw them my business.  I’m supposed to fly again in April and while I look forward to the trip, I also know I’d better stock up on Theraflu so I can drown my sorrows when I return.

I’m envious of those of you who live in areas with a good view of the night sky.  The city conveniently surrounded my backyard with streetlights, so the only things I see zipping through the sky at night are moths.

In case you were wondering, the Oxford dictionary also has a “word of the year”, but the word is selected by Oxford and not voted on by the general public.  This year’s winning word for Oxford was ”locavore”, which sounds more dignified than “w00t”, but not nearly as exciting.