BP's Gulf of Mexico Disaster - Up Close

British Petroleum (BP) is live casting a view from the submersible ROV that is monitoring the fractured well in the Gulf of Mexico, the result of the MC252 oil well disaster that has been spewing oil into the Gulf since an explosion rocked the well on April 20th. The video feed drives home the magnitude of the disaster but will probably also be interesting to view as BP tries to implement it's latest attempt, 'top kill', at stopping the leak. BP describes Top Kill as "The primary objective of the top kill process is to put heavy kill mud into the well so that it reduces the pressure and then the flow from the well. Once the kill mud is in the well and it’s shut down, then we follow up with cement to plug the leak."

Robotic Web Cam Video

WowWee is getting set to launch it's new ROVIO roving web cam this Friday. The little robot can be controlled via a web connection from anywhere you are. Equipped with LED lights for night time running, microphone, speakers, a self docking feature and in home gps, ROVIO looks to be an interesting little device. Roomba manufacturer iRobot is also preparing for a robotic web cam with the announcement of beta testing of it's ConnectR robot. The ROVIO will be available through Amazon and Hammacher Schlemmer. It will be interesting to see which company dominates this market, I'm inclined to favour the iRobot offering over that of a toy maker but then again I own a Roomba, a Scooba, and have offered my name to the ConnectR beta test so I may be a little biased. The ROVIO videos are quite impressive though...

The latest in USB hubs

I've been contemplating the purchase of a USB hub for a short while now. Not that it should be a tough decision to make, just that I'm a bit of a procrastinator at times. My Dell has 4 USB ports, one occupied by my printer, another by my web cam, the third usually has my HomeScan cable and the forth alternates between my thumb drive and digital camera. To make matters worse the two ports on the front of my PC are angled downward towards the floor, while this does allow the little door on the front of the Dell to remain closed, it is often a point of contention as I find it difficult to plug into from a seated position.

Alas, I think I'm glad I waited! According to Engadget, Belkin has just introduced 3 new hubs to the market. While I'm not overly excited about two thirds of the new offerings, the Swivel Hub at $29.99 US may just be what the doctor ordered. It allows you to swing its four USB ports in any direction via an articulating joint. I'll just have to decide which is more practical in my case, another cable to dangle from my desk or removing the little door on the Dell to accommodate the Swivel Hub... there I go again!

Image from Engadget.