Adventure Ausrama Blog

Technology: It is surprising how people and government bodies live with a problem for decades when the answer is in front of their noses. Quite frequently rescue helicopter crash into the sea. There is usually a "ho-hum" - another helicopter has fallen from the sky. Helicopters that can take off and land in the sea have been around for years. It is old technology. Obviously rescue organizations could have used them. However, they seem to feel that it best to reinvent the wheel. They plan to modify existing helicopters. A self-inflating buoyancy balloon will be attached to standard helicopters. When a sensor detects water, automatic inflation will occur. Australian defence is throwing $4 million at the project. Marise Payne the Defence Minister is lauding it, saying "this is a fabulous innovation, by Australian minds, Australian brains, Australian workers...."  Let us hope it is not just a silly idea! ◆ Technology by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventur...

Farming is becoming much more efficient. Gone are the days when growing food was at the whim of the weather. The ten day forecast and even longer weather predictions have made farming a science. Farmers are becoming more like technicians today, rather than multi-skilled laborers. Growers are using satellite technology. Pastures have optical devices in situ measuring soil and vegetation conditions. The information is collected and re-transmitted down to farmers who use hand held devices or PC to analyze data. More specifically, a pasture"s cover and biomass are measured. Its overall health is ranked. Allocating suitable farm area to grazing animals and crops is made more practical. Resources are fully utilized.  Consequently, a nation's GDP is improved. ◆ Technology by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● Vista Computer Solutions Blog           ...

You have to be careful buying new tech products. There is a belief out there that a new version is always better than the old one. This is not always the case. Take for instance the new Nexus 7. A lot has been written about this with some rave reviews. I don't know what some of these reviewers are on, but they certainly are not seeing things clearly - some bias is there. The widely held view that buying the latest Nexus 7 is the road to Nirvana is wrong. If you have another Android device with the same login you will not get an automatic restore. It just does not work because Google picks up the two Android devices. A trip into the Play Store will be necessary. Click on the icon in the top left and "My Apps" will be shown. You have to click "All" to see the apps you have paid for. Re-installing each one in turn is the requirement and don't think all your data is automatically backed up. You discover that you should have backed up the data...

We are moving toward a safer driving future. It is not just the development of driver-less cars. Special highways will have to be built for these, so it some time away before it is in common use. Just how "hoons" are going to get their fix with no risky overtaking existing anymore is anyone's guess. No, it is all the research going into improving existing vehicles. Bosch Australia is working on a system whereby people walking behind a car will automatically trigger the brakes on a reversing vehicle. One company is already going ahead and selling its own version that can be fitted to older cars. Considering rear beepers have been on cars for years would the average driver buy the product? It would be easier to modify existing beepers to apply the breaks and have an override switch. Then, I am only a consumer not a developer. How do I know what I want? It would be useful if a toddler could be detected in a driveway for example. The family car market could certai...

THE END OF THE ROAD FOR EASY WEB DESIGN Windows 8 means more problems for web page designers. What Internet Explorer reproduces in Windows 8 on a personal computer is not what comes out on a tablet. Internet Explorer 10 is the worst culprit. Having IE10 built into Windows 8 with no possibility of going back to IE9 is definitely a nuisance. Text goes right off the background square. On a PC, fonts are either extended too long and go over the background square at the bottom, or there is a line gap under the full stop because text is too short. Nearly all the other browsers reproduce correctly, except FireFox with the last word on some fonts extending to the next line. This is rare though. Obviously, the problem lies in the operating system itself which is designed specifically for tablets. Personal computers are only of secondary consideration. There is a "war" going on in the US at the moment over how images will be shown on tablets and even mobile phones. The powers ...