Free up time with an iPhone – Part 1

February 26, 2010

This is the first part in a series I am working on for how you can use an iPhone, or other smartphone, to free up time in your daily life.

An RSS Reader application is an excellant way to save time catching up on news and articles from your favorite websites and blogs.

Pros:
– Saves bandwidth and battery life on mobile devices, as compared to the browser.
– Allows you to scroll through just the article titles to find what you would like to read.
– Can tag or star an article for later reference or reading.
– You do not need to remember or bookmark all those Website and blog URLs.

Cons:
– If you do not stay up to date with your RSS feeds, unread count can get large.

One option is to use Google Reader to manage your RSS feeds and then an iPhone like NetNewsWire to connect to your Google Reader account and browse your feeds.

Google Reader

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Posted by Dayton

Hidden gem of a hiking trail near Columbia SC

February 26, 2010

There is a really nice group of hiking trails in Lexington SC, with a rock that looks like a balanced inverted pyramid rock. It is called the Peachtree Rock Heritage Preserve. The parking area is within a 10 minute walk of the rock and a small waterfall. The area makes for an excellent picnic spot. Check it out for yourself, it is free and well worth a visit if you are in town and have the time.

Peachtree Rock Heritage Preserve

PR HP Trail Map

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Posted by Dayton

The only Tea Garden in the USA

February 26, 2010

This past Saturday, my girlfriend and I went to Charleston SC, and we visited the Charleston Tea Plantation. While we were there, we learned they are the only tea farm in the USA. The plantation offers a tour of the farm for $10 a person and a free walking tour around the sides of the tea processing plant. They have 5 kinds of tea, but one that truly stands out, their Peach flavored black tea has a smell that will leave you in love.

http://www.charlestonteaplantation.com/

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Posted by Dayton

Bloom Energy – 1000kW from 64 therms

February 25, 2010

So, I read about the Bloom Energy Fuel Cell technology today and calculated some interesting numbers based on the data sheet on their website (link below).

The unit produces 100kW using 0.661MMBtu/hr of Natural Gas. Based on a conversion I got from Google, 10 therms is equal to 1.034MMBtu/hr, so 0.661MMBtu/hr is equal to 6.39 therms.

So to generate the following, you would need the corresponding amount of gas:
1kW – 0.0639 therms
1000kW – 63.9 therms
2500kW – 159.75 therms

If you can get Natural Gas at $1 a therm, that puts power from the Bloom Energy Server at 6.39 cents per kW not including the cost of the unit, which is 1.5 to 3x that of Nuclear, depending on where you get your numbers from.

Bloom Energy – http://www.bloomenergy.com/products/data-sheet/

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Posted by Dayton

iPhone 3GS vs Nexus One in 3D game test

February 25, 2010

I was just checking out the video here were they ran a 3D game fps test on a iPhone 3GS and also on a Google Nexus One phone, and the iPhone 3GS was between 1.5x and 2.0x faster.

Engadget Artcle

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Posted by Dayton