Reporters Notebook

May 7, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Toshiba will start shipping a micro-sized nuclear reactor for use by small towns or individual buildings later this year. In fact, the company intends to use old HD DVD player parts in the reactor’s construction.

Actually, the latter statement isn’t true, but Toshiba has really, truly developed a small nuclear reactor for commercial use. I’m a little dubious about this concept and I’m sure that if U.S. government does not want Iran to have a nuclear reactor, I think it would have a little trouble with the idea of an office-building...Read More

May 6, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

I have always felt that the Grand Theft Auto video game series not only adds little to our society, but in fact is terribly degrading.

This feeling is even stronger after having spent half of April sitting on a jury that had to decide whether or not a 22-year-old man should go to jail for killing a 17-year old girl in a drive-by shooting.

Not that the game played any part in the trial or helped cause the murder, but after this experience I’m all for a decision by the Chicago Transit Authority deciding to pull ads for Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest installment in the series.

March 28, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

I say no.

Sorry if this upsets everyone in the industry, but I just can’t go along with the government’s plan to spend at least $900 million so people who still receive over-the-air TV signals can go buy an analog-to-digital converter box.

Granted, it was the government’s decision to eliminate the analog spectrum, thus forcing everyone to upgrade, but our fearless leaders make decisions every day that require us to spend money and they never bother to pay us in those cases. So why now?

Just to double check that my personal feeling on this issue are in line with the Founding Fathers’ thoughts, I ch...Read More

March 20, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Here is another reason why car manufacturers had such a high-profile presence at International CES this year.

Toyota and Panasonic are working together to develop lithium-ion batteries, the kind commonly used in laptops and other portable devices, for use in plug-in hybrid cars, according to this AFP story.

March 3, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

Recently while standing in line at the customer service counter of my local Pathmark supermarket, I overheard a mom ask the sales person if the store still had any of those Dell notebooks available.

I stopped picking my N.Y. Lottery numbers long enough to look up and watch the sales person turnaround and pick up a small box marked Dell and hand it to the woman. It was stacked right in front of the cigarettes. She rang it up for $399.

The mom and her 10-or-so-year-old son were thrilled with their purchase. She even smiled at me and said, “Isn&rs...Read More