No new Dell LED color
printer! Dang! But at least the suspense is over.
Last week I wrote about my
continuing hope that UPS would find the DELL 1250c printer I had ordered from
Microsoft Store over a month ago, which had been tracked to the last
way-station between Harrisburg and Kane and then had, disappeared, ::poof!::
The situation could not be more
mysterious if Agatha Christie had written it as “The Printer Vanishes.” It
could not be more tantalizing if there were 50 pounds of M&Ms in a bowl,
placed almost within reach, but retreating to a point just out of reach
whenever I try to get a handful—or fading like a mirage at each lunge by this
chocoholic.
We think Tantalus had a bad time
of it, trying to pick grapes? Imagine if he had wanted to photograph them and
print them in color! And just as he was about to receive a highly rated
laser-class printer known to have been shipped to him, he kept receiving phone
calls and emails instead, saying UPS is trying to find it, or UPS had given up
and was going to pay the shipper, and my payment would be refunded, or
Microsoft Store would refund the money or ship me another printer of equal or
better value.
In the last installment of this
saga I told you a Microsoft Store representative (upper tier) was trying to get
another representative (higher tier) to authorize sending me another printer at
a very substantial discount—probably no additional cost. Would I choose another
printer and tell him by email?
So that’s what I did. I
mentioned some models, and then listed the specifications of the kind of
printer I was looking for. Laser class, excellent color photo reproduction,
reliable paper handling, good range of paper kinds.
Another representative of
Microsoft Store called me Monday to tell me that they didn’t have any of those,
either. Actually, they had stocked three color printers, one of them an HP
inkjet and the others LED. But guess what? All were gone. Sold out. No longer
in stock and not expected to return.
But they were refunding my
money, and sending me a $75 certificate good for 90 days, which I could use on
anything in the store.
So my one remaining hope is that
sometime within 90 days Microsoft Store will obtain some laser or LED color
printers, for $140 or less: the $70 I was going to pay for the Dell 1250c, plus
the $75 value of the certificate.
I am convinced that my printer
was stolen. I do not see any way it could have been lost. It was traced to a
rather precise location in the UPS system. If it had been placed in the wrong
truck by mistake, that would have been ascertained fairly soon. Labels don’t
just fall off anymore, and since my system was being traced, a blank box would
have been identified easily enough. Anyway, there are documents inside the box
as well.
The UPS employees I have seen
seem to be trustworthy and helpful. But even “Brown” can have a bad apple in
the barrel. I hope they find and fire that person, who works between Harrisburg
and Kane, and nabbed my Dell 1250c somewhere within 100 miles of Port.
•
• •
Another great deal from a CNET
Cheapskate column (Rick Brioda), two days ago, was a Barnes & Noble Nook, a
generous 9.5 size for about $100. This color Nook can be fed a preformatted
card that turns it into an Android tablet. Even without that it would be an
excellent reader, and would be able to access the GoogleStore as well as
B&N sources of content. As an Android (Ice Cream Sandwich, or later) tablet
it would be a beauty.
I am waiting for a phablet, a
tablet that is also a phone, when prices on those come down. But others looking
for tablets or readers should check CNET Cheapskate. Seems to me Thursdays are
his days to feature tablets. His many followers are called Cheaps.
•
• •
At the University of Minnesota,
biomedical engineering students of Professor Bin He have learned to control a
flying robot with their thoughts, without having anything implanted in their
brains.
A video of the professor and
students demonstrating this feat is on YouTube, and information is available
online—Google “mind over mechanics.”
In the video we see a student
wearing a tight fitting cap, maybe made of rubber, embedded with many
electrodes.
Professor He and his students
are using his lab to develop and test brain-computer interfaces (BCI). They
want to develop non-invasive ways that brain signals can be utilized: no need
to implant chips or leads in the brain.
The helmet features many
electrodes, such as would be used in an EEG. The contact with the scalp is
accomplished by means of the tight-fitting helmet. The contacts shown lighting
up and doing the work in the video interface with the motor cortex and the somatosensory
cortex—the brain region where planning, control and execution of movement take
place.
The student wearing the helmet
is shown directing the flight of a robot, in the lab, and causing it to fly in
various patterns, and even through hoops of what look like groups of balloons
floating in the air. Wi-Fi is used to carry the signals. Rather precise control
is required.
We can think of many sci-fi and
recreational possibilities, can’t we? But Professor He is more interested in
helping people with damage caused by disease or trauma regain function,
controlling artificial limbs or speech generating devices.
Brave New World! No doubt such
technology can be abused, as can all others I can think of. But non-invasive BCI
could provide such a boon to millions of people, couldn’t it!
Drymar@gmail.com. 596-7546.
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