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I have an 80G portable hard drive from Simple Tech that I use to back up my computer and music occasionally. I have found to my chagrin, however, that it is not exactly reliable. A couple times in the past, songs and media seem to randomly disappear - two tracks will vanish from an album, that sort of thing. Sometimes I've been able to locate them by using the Search function - they're just suddenly "invisible" if you browse through the files. Other times, they disappear completely. Does anyone know what's going on? Is this a known problem with the brand? Can you suggest something else? So far it's only been an annoyance, not a serious problem, but I need something that I can depend on...

I'm working on a program that processes very high resolution photos (28Mb each). The program needs this resolution for its functionality, but when displaying these pictures on the computer screen, it takes a really long time to show them, due to the file size. I've noticed that some programs, like Microsoft Picture Viewer, don't seem to take as long to generate a preview of the picture (maybe one second, as opposed to five). Does anyone know a method of processing photos that doesn't take as much time?

I.E., if I've got a 3000x2000 picture to display on a 300x200 piece of screen, how can I minimize the time it takes to open and display the picture file? Is there a way I can skip processing the data for 6M pixels when I only need 60k for the computer display (these are made-up numbers)? I can't just shrink the photo file, because the high-res version is still needed for internal processing. The file format is .tif.

Being a cellist with fairly small hands, it's extremely important for me to develop agility, strength, and finger independence, particularly in my left hand. Does anyone know of exercises that I can do when I am, for example, watching TV or sitting in an auditorium during a boring company meeting?

I'm thinking of getting an MP3 player, but I'd like one with radio reception capabilities as well, like my current portable CD player. What are my options for this feature? Is this capability standard on any/all MP3 players? Available on iPods? What is the reception quality like, compared with, say, a car radio?

Comparing, for instance, the specs for the TIP29C and 2N4401 transistors, the TIP29C can handle a few amps of current, but has a beta (Hf) of about 30. Conversely, the 2N4401 can handle far less current, but has a beta of 80-300. Why is this? I'm looking for an answer on the semiconductor level, equations included if possible.

Does it have something to do with the cross-sectional area, perhaps?

My house has a lot of fluorescent bulbs installed (The H150MS model by Harmony Lighting), and I've noticed something rather odd with a couple of them. When I switch them off, the bulbs turn off, but continue to produce little flashes of light a couple times a second for several minutes afterwards. On at least one occasion, a bulb was still flickering once every 4 or 5 seconds several hours after it had last been used. Does anyone have any idea why this is?

Does anyone know where I can download some songs by Tom Lehrer? I don't really want to buy an entire CD for just a couple songs, so I'm looking for a place to download them (legal or otherwise, although I'd prefer legal). None of the usual sites (Napster, Y!Music, iTunes) seem to have him.

Or, maybe someone reading this has a CD of his? If so, could you please contact me?

Two geometry questions here:

1. Let A and B be two angles in 3d space. They share a point of origin, and one side. The planes containing these angles are perpendicular. What is the angle between the two outer sides of these angles, expressed in terms of A and B?

2. Let x+y+z=V be a vector in 3d space with its point at the origin. A is the angle between V and the x-axis, B is the angle between V and the y-axis, and C is the angle between V and the z-axis.

What is the value of C in terms of B and A?

I've recently designed something to solve a problem at work. I'm thinking of patenting it, but I want to get a testable prototype first. The object in question is about 4x6 inches, and made of plastic. No one at the plant where I work deals much with plastics, so they can't make it to my specifications. Does anyone know of a company that might be able to manufacture something like this? Also, what CAD program(s) would you recommend for making 3D drawings, etc.

Suppose you have a permanent magnet that is attached to a mass sitting on a surface. The attraction is strong enough that you can pull the mass via a string attached to the magnet. This is not an "idealized system" - i.e. there is energy lost through friction and air resistance. Yet, you can pull this mass as long and as far as you want without any change in the properties of the magnet. There is energy output from the magnet, since it is supplying the force to pull the mass. But where does it come from? Does this somehow violate the Law of Conservation of Energy?

How is it that two charged particles supply the energy to repel or attract one another without changing their characteristics?

Yes, I know it's the magnetic/electrical fields. And that's generated by the charge. But HOW?

I am installing an CAT5 cable with an ethernet connection over a distance of about 100 ft, and there are a lot of high-voltage (240V, 480v, etc.) power lines following the same route. Assuming they are run in the same cable tray, how much interference can I expect from the power cables? How far away should the CAT5 cable be to avoid most of the interference? Any other steps I can take to help?

When I try to use the Print Screen function on my computer to get screen shots of a DVD, something (probably embedded in the software) makes it impossible. The picture looks right until I close out of the DVD player, at which time the picture goes blank, even if I've saved it in a separate file already. Does anyone know a way around this?