Friday Work Diversion: Various Entertaining Bits Of Information

Judging from all of my Computex-related material this week, you might have thought I was in Taiwan. Not so, actually…I’m Stateside, ‘virtually’ covering the show via press releases, video feeds and info provided by attendees (thereby begging a question as to the future value of huge trade shows…but I digress). However, late this evening, I’m jumping on a plane to Taipei for around a week. Like last year, I’ll be meeting with various technology companies; systems, semiconductor and software alike. 

Unlike last year, alas, I won’t be in business class airplane seats; as a reflection of the change in worldwide fiscal fortunes from then to now, I’ll be back in the economy section with the rest of the unwashed masses. One downside of this migration is that I won’t have at-seat laptop power available to tap into. However, courtesy of external battery packs loaned to me by Mikegyver:

and QuickerTek:

I should be able to keep my MacBook Air humming along for at least a good chunk of the 11-hour (and 10 minute) flights across the Pacific. As such, you’ll have to wait a few days for the x86-vs-ARM and Windows-vs-Linux writeups I promised you 36 hours ago. For now, to ease you into the weekend per a longstanding Brian’s Brain tradition, I instead offer you a few morsels’ worth of lighter-hearted fare.

Speaking of x86 and Computex, check out the wacky Atom CPU-inclusive ’systems’ on display at the show; a vase (complete with Nvidia Ion companion chip, thereby providing Blu-ray playback support!):

And a toy Ferrari:

Computex wasn’t the only trade show going on this week (that I didn’t attend ). There was also SID in San Antonio, and E3 in Los Angeles. At the latter, as I briefly tweeted about both yesterday and the day before, Microsoft unveiled some pretty slick enhancements to its Xbox 360 game (or maybe I should just start calling it ‘multimedia entertainment’) console. I was particularly blown away by the Project Natal prototype, which controls the console using only your body (no Wii or PS3 accelerometer-fed wireless controller necessary, and definitely no pulse-monitoring accessory required). Engadget and Gizmodo provide hands-on impressions. And here are a few video clips for you to enjoy:

Microsoft (Bing) and Wolfram Research (Wolfram|Alpha) have both recently released new search engines. Today, I’ll focus on the latter, specifically on some of the amusing, disturbing and otherwise atypical queries folks have been tossing at it:

• Resistor values in Wolfram|Alpha
• Wolfram Alpha: Hated, Sure, But Ridiculously Useful
• Wolfram Alpha: A Bit Racist?
• Ask Wolfram Alpha: Are You Skynet?
• Ask Wolfram Alpha: Are You Self Aware?
• Wolfram Alpha Is Actually a Frustrated Stand-Up Comedian 

And I’ll wrap up with this (thanks to Boing Boing):

Have a good weekend, folks. And don’t over-tighten those lug nuts, eh?