Rig Intelligence

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A software engineer's experience coding in the oil field. *Tips, tricks and other things that seem interesting {to me}.

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Brands are Finally Starting to Get It

For me Monday’s = me building reports for about 10 straight hours, with that in mind it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Pandora (sorry no link, if you don’t know what it is please stop reading this right now and never come back) has become one of my closest friends each Monday.  And with all of the psychic’ish songs, I’m used to having to listen to the obligatory advertisements every couple of songs.  However for great music I can’t complain about ads, Pandora has to write some very large checks to bring us medleys for free.

Today I was greeted with the option of accepting an additional trial of PandoraOne (the premium, ad free version) of Pandora.  And who should I thank for my ad-free listening experience this week? Red Bull.  They’re paying to give listeners (even those who have already had a 7 day trial in the past, like myself) a free week of the premium account.

It seems like everyone talks about how brands can garner a positive reputation online: viral videos, sponsored stories, twitter ads, et al et al.  However I have a better feeling about Red Bull right now because they:

  • Gave me something I want, completely for free
  • Removed the chance that I will hear ads from any of their competitors

Hopefully companies will start to realize this is the type of advertising that users want online, and will start putting their marketing dollars towards worthy ventures such as this.

Leap Motion, a San Francisco startup has created a device (“the Leap”) that lets you control your computer just my moving your fingers over it, as if you were using a touchscreen in the air.

Leap Motion is now taking pre-orders for the $69.99 device but won’t begin shipping it until the end of this year or early 2013. The company is also opening up its developer ecosystem to give software makers a head start on developing new applications.

(via fastcompany)

Researchers Using Bio-Engineered Viruses to Power Nano Electronics The researchers looked to viruses as a new material to work with because they reproduce rapidly and align far better than other materials, making them good candidates to accumulate a charge on one end of the virus. The researchers then genetically engineered the virus with proteins that enhance the buildup of charge on the ends of the rod-shaped viruses. The viruses only attack other bacteria so are considered benign.  The viruses are stacked onto thin films and then several thin films are layered to build up as much voltage as possible. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab group isn’t the first to pursue viruses as a means for building up electric charge. Researchers at MIT in 2009 said they were able to wire a charge-building virus to a lithium ion battery. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s prototype was only able to generate about a quarter of the voltage of a triple A battery, but they believe that their approach to “viral electronics” can scale up. (via Step on it: Virus could lead to motion-powered gadgets | Cutting Edge - CNET News) High-res

Researchers Using Bio-Engineered Viruses to Power Nano Electronics

The researchers looked to viruses as a new material to work with because they reproduce rapidly and align far better than other materials, making them good candidates to accumulate a charge on one end of the virus.

The researchers then genetically engineered the virus with proteins that enhance the buildup of charge on the ends of the rod-shaped viruses. The viruses only attack other bacteria so are considered benign.  The viruses are stacked onto thin films and then several thin films are layered to build up as much voltage as possible.

The Lawrence Berkeley Lab group isn’t the first to pursue viruses as a means for building up electric charge. Researchers at MIT in 2009 said they were able to wire a charge-building virus to a lithium ion battery. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s prototype was only able to generate about a quarter of the voltage of a triple A battery, but they believe that their approach to “viral electronics” can scale up.

(via Step on it: Virus could lead to motion-powered gadgets | Cutting Edge - CNET News)

(via joshbyard)

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