Sep 30, 2008

Apple Tablet Speculation

I read recent articles 1, 2 suggesting that Apple wouldn't go to such great lengths to design such a cool touch-screen technology (used by the iPhone) without planning to do something very neat and very different with the technology... like an Apple Tablet.  So I looked it up and found many photos of supposed future tablets, but they're all very dissimilar.

There were 3 notable designs: one is basically a super-sized iPhone design:
This seems too small to be used as a computer but too big to be a phone.  The next one was a foldable laptop that looks more like a child's toy than anything:


And the third (and my favorite) looks like a screen-only prototype of the MacBook.  There were 2 compelling demonstrations of this version:  The first one is a video Popular Mechanics came up with (click here)  The video makes this look like a MacBook with a detachable keyboard, which (from the recent patents 1, 2, 3 Apple has filed) doesn't look like the direction Apple is going.  The other is the picture below:


Whatever way Apple decides to go (if any) it will probably be pretty impressive.  They have quite a bit of money from their last few investments ($1.07 billion net third quarter this year).  I guess I'll just have to wait like everyone else.

Sep 25, 2008

Crystal Got Trashed

Recently Crystal had a little accident in our garden behind our house.  She filled the trash up with dirt and asphalt and tried to tip the trash up on it's wheels to move it.  

Well, she pulled too hard and it tipped over, pinning her to the ground.  Luckily she had her phone to call for help.  When the paramedics came it took four big guys to lift the trash off of her leg.



Here is the picture the trash as the paramedics left it.  I tried to lift this myself and there was NO WAY I could lift it.  I had to empty half of the dirt and asphalt out to get it upright again.


Now here comes the geeky part.  Crystal and I were talking about how heavy it must have been ... so I decided to figure out how much it weighed.

96 \frac{gallons}{trashcan} \times \left( .05 \times 9.4 \frac{lbs}{gal} +.45 \times 14 \frac{lbs}{gal} \right) = 650 lbs

It surprised me how heavy the trash was, especially only being half-full of dirt and asphalt.  If the entire trash had been completely full of dirt it would have been over 1300 lbs!  

I included the numbers and estimates below for my fellow geeks.

Asphalt Info
-Density = 9.4 lbs/gal
-Content = 5% by volume

Dirt Info
-Density = 14 lbs/gal
-Content = 45% by volume

Crystal told me she had the garbage can about half full of packed weeds, so I just assumed that to have no contributing weight.  The dirt/asphalt mixture was mainly dirt, so I assumed a 5%/45% split between the asphalt and dirt respectively (as indicated above).  

Here are the websites I pulled my data from:
Trash bin info 1, 2
Dirt Density 1, 2
Asphalt Density 1

(these numbers seem a bit high, but I couldn't find a mistake.  if anyone else has a correction please let me know. thanks.)

Sep 23, 2008

A Brief "Catch-Up"

So, I typed this whole long history up to "catch" people up on my life, but I read it and realized my life isn't that exciting; so here's the (much more exciting) short version:

I was going to school at UVSC


got married


moved to SLC  to go to U of U


Crystal and I had a baby girl named Chloe


and then moved to Provo to work

Now we live in Provo between Seven Peaks and Downtown Provo.  I work full-time for my dad, who owns a mid size consulting company.  I also go to school part time and am due to graduate Spring 2010.