David Hermance, executive engineer for environment engineering at the Toyota Technical Center USA in California, was a key figure behind the success of Toyota’s popular Prius hybrid cars… died in a plane crash. “When that car came out, no one knew what it was,” said Bill Reinert, a Toyota national manager. “Dave dedicated his life [...]
Joe Levi .com
Greener Living through Technology: How a Geek gets Back to Basics
Monthly Archives: November 2006
Nov 27
Have an MP3 Player? You're a Thief!
According to UMG chairman/CEO Doug Morris, “These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it. So it’s time to get paid for it.” The comment came on the heals of Microsoft’s agreement to share revenue from Zune sales with record labels and artists. At the heart of the issue was UMG [...]
Nov 27
Comment Spam and Akismet
In an effort to boot reader participation though comments I recently turned off the requirement that comment posters be registered users on the site. Knowing this was an open door for comment spam, I took the plunge hoping that Akismet would help weed out the spams. This morning I checked, sure enough, Akismet had caught [...]
Nov 27
Mapuche Indians claim language as "Intellectual Property," take Microsoft to court over translation
Mapuche Indians in Chile are trying to take global software giant Microsoft to court in a legal battle which raises the question of whether anyone can ever “own” the language they speak. The row was sparked by Microsoft’s decision last month to launch its Windows software package in Mapuzugun, a Mapuche tongue spoken by around [...]
Nov 23
Remembering Thanksgiving
According to Wikipedia: “U.S. tradition associates [Thanksgiving] with a meal held in 1621 by the Wampanoag [American Indians] and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This element continues in modern times with the Thanksgiving dinner, often featuring turkey, playing a large role in the celebration of Thanksgiving. … The Pilgrims were particularly thankful to [...]
