Tequila into Diamonds

The week in Geek News followed by your questions and comments about technology.

Scientists Turn Tequila into Diamonds

Whoever thought that science was a dry subject might change their mind after learning about a new discovery in which tequila is turned into diamonds. A team of Mexican scientists found that the heated vapor from 80-proof (40% alcohol) tequila blanco, when deposited on a silicon or stainless steel substrate, can form diamond films.

Tethering Coming to the iPhone

Technologizer reports that at the Web 2.0 Summit AT&T Mobility President and CEO Ralph De La Vega told interviewer Michael Arrington that the company is working with Apple to let the iPhone serve as a tethered wireless modem for laptops.

White Space Wi-Fi Approved Unanimously by FCC

The Federal Communications Commission gave its unanimous approval (PDF) for white space Wi-Fi, allowing manufacturers to build unlicensed wireless devices that make use of vacant digital TV channels.

Northern Lights captured in 3D for the first time

Watch footage from the first 3D film of the Northern Lights and find out more about the expedition to capture the phenomenon.

Obama launches Change.gov

Obama has launched Change.gov. According to the site ’Change.gov provides resources to better understand the transition process and the decisions being made as part of it. It also offers an opportunity to be heard about the challenges our country faces and your ideas for tackling them.

The end of an era - Windows 3.x

Windows 3.x has come to the closing moments of its long life.

On 1 November Microsoft stopped issuing licences for the software that made its debut in May 1990 in the US.

CNN's "Hologram" Technology

According to CNN, it was real “hologram” technology that beamed Jessica Yellin, a CNN correspondent from Chicago, to the CNN press center in New York, where Wolf Blitzer could grill her about what was going on in Chicago. It simply was not.

Here are more links:

http://news.cnet.com/cnns-human-hologram-on-election-night/?tag=mncol;txt

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2008/11/05/anderson-cooper-will-i-am-hologram-cnn/

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/3DDisplay/

Battered, but not broken: understanding the WPA crack

It looks like you can use your wireless connection safely, for now. To be on the safe side, disable TKIP and stick with AES-only encryption.

AnandTech's Intel Core i7 CPU Review

As always, Anandtech does a stellar job of explaining and testing CPU technologies.

How to pronounce Neal Stephenson's Name

We spent time talking about this, and this site was mentioned. It appears to be pronounced “STEE-ven-son”, and that was how he was introduced to Sean when he attended a reading at Cody’s books in Berkeley.