PhoneSecure
On 12 January, 2005, by se99jmk
I'm not generally an insecure person. I'm perfectly happy with carrying in excess of ?1000 in electronics on my person... well, maybe I should get some protection after all, and I've found it, in the form of PhoneSecure.
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Phraselator
On 12 January, 2005, by se99jmk
One step closer to the babelfish from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
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Epson fabricates 20-layer PCB using InkJet tec
On 05 November, 2004, by Dreadnought
Epson has fabricated a 200micron thick 20 layer using their own InkJet technology with a conductive ink containing silver micro-particles measuring from several nanometers to several tens of nanometers in diameter, and a newly developed insulator ink.
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PetaPixel displays, 100TB storage and more...
On 05 November, 2004, by Dreadnought
Colossal Storage is developing 14M dpi or 200Tpixels per square inch of near-non-volatile display. It is based on a ferroelectric material which gives each pixel a state retension of up to 12 hours. Display resolutions of up to 4Petapixel will be possible with this technology.
Colossal Storage is also developing a holographic media which can store 10TB on a single 3?" disc. The theory behind it can go up to 1.5Exabytes (1.5x10^1
.
They are currently looking for companies who are interresting in licensing the products.
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ZZZ Holidays ... A Hard Geek Wishlist
article written by : killdashnine released on : 26 December, 2003 | send killdashnine a private message! killdashnine's rating : ***** |
Ahhh, it's that time a year again. While many cultures celebrate the tradition of gift giving ... packing the stores at ungodly hours, turning over cash, running up various ledgers of credit and debit to whatever store they choose.
Each and every year, it seems, my family elects to present me with a variety of sweaters and other clothing materials, or at the best hands over a few gift certificates to my favorite local technology store. This year, however, I have a list pre-prepared for the ZZZ-set. It goes something like this ...
Dear (Mythical Gift-Giving Icon ... Aunt Gertie ... or Mom),
I've been a faithful ZZZ reader this year and instead of getting the traditional (same old gift as last year), I'd really love to make some recommendations should you go shopping. Given that I'm such an Internet addict and all, you can likely even find all of these at your nearest corner (online) store.
Sure, I was working on that Excel Spreadsheet, boss!
Fun on a Budget
For that hurried office worker, stealing a few minutes between pushing papers and surfing for the latest and greatest video card to play Call of Duty on, send a nice old-school floppy disk with a couple zip files on it. Do you know someone who likes Pacman or really pines for a refreshing old school game of Space Invaders? Well some genius techie managed to lever them both into a standard Excel spreadsheet.
Magic Fingers, FPS Style
While perusing Wired Magazine this month, I happened across a really cool concept for a keyboard via a company called Ideazon. Wired, unfortunately, didn't do the keyboard justice and left me hanging ...
I go to a good number of LAN Parties during the course of the year, and the keyboard is a critical part of gaming. Console gamers don't seem to understand, given that they have a convienient little two-hand controller. But keyboard leads to a higher degree of finesse in some cases ... particularly because PC gamers are much more able to map custom configurations to their favorite keys (and to more of them). Those with big or small hands often find the value in a keyboard over a controller quite quickly.
The good people at Ideazon sent me a Zboard and a few plug-in interfaces to try out, so I got to work, first loading up Halo for the PC. I enjoyed the Zboard ... it was as easy as any other keyboard to install. The Base model comes with a standard Internet Explorer style of keyboard. Black and very nice. But the true power comes with the modules or interfaces that you can literally "slip in" at any time to customize your gaming experience.
I tried the Ideazon Crossfire keyboard and really appreciated the wide keys. The standard "WASD" configuration that most gamers map to move around is splayed out over a wider region. The bonus is that you can download key assignments for multiple games via the internet. I did this with Halo and found it pretty easy to get along, despite the fact that I've yet to play the game very much and so was unfamiliar with the various keybinds.
Spread out .... no more standard WASD
The custom keyboards have a condensed letter-based keyboard adjacent to the major gaming function keys. That's so you can still talk smack, ASCII style whilst hammering your opponent. Like a lot of Civilization addicts, the keyboard interaction with the game is demanding. I'd really consider buying the "Civilization Interface" just to have mapped keys for things like controlling workers:
Hmmm ... tempting, but then my girlfriend wouldn't appreciate the 12+ hour Civ 3 sessions.
Some minor drawbacks ... I made my girlfriend use it while she typed a paper and she found that if she moved the keyboard around too much, the keypad could come a little loose (especially if you don't make sure the clip that holds the unit down is secure. Reseating it solved the problem, and she had no issue extracting my Crossfire keyboard and putting in something so she could more easily type (and play Solitare, tsk tsk ...).
This is a definite "cool factor" on anyone's gift list. Not too expensive (decent prices over at ThinkGeek or directly via Ideazon's Webstore), and face it, those of us who do a lot of gaming spend a load of cash on this kind of stuff anyway 
The "I need another PC like I need a hole in my head" Department ... but,
Yes, there's always a "but". Being the I.T. resource for my family, I have to keep on top of things right? So how about buying me something so that I can still manage to check my "Kings of Chaos" account (and update ZZZ?) when I'm staying over for a week at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sheesh, I can't figure out how you've botched your computer anyway so I won't even touch it ...
Now this is the best "stocking stuffer" material. About the size of an orange, the T-Cube is literally a true Micro PC:
Where's my KVM?
Can anyone say Linux Cluster
Sure, I can't read Russian (or Japanese for that matter) but thanks to Altavista's Babel Fish, the crucial information from 3D News says:
"In the computer is used MIPS processor NEC VR5701 by clock frequency of 400 MHz, 64 MB or 128 MB of memory. T-Cube also has slot for Compact Flash maps of memory, two USB 1.1 ports, RS-232C, Ethernet adapter, audio input and output."
With a little FreeBSD, these would make a nice little linux cluster, even at 400 MHz each. What's more, you can fit the darn thing in a shoebox! Check this link for a little more background on the T-Cube.
You've got to be kidding me!
Tiny Disk Drive
Chances are that this little T-Cube won't have a lot of Hard Drive space. In the space the size of your fist (52 mm x 52 mm x 45 mm) there won't be much room to plug in a 120 GB SATA drive ... so on my wishlist, I'd like the Toshiba Technology folks to imbue this little miracle with a tiny disk drive like this one - Two to three Gigabytes packed squarely into a 0.85 inch (~2.1 cm) diameter?! Fantastic.
Cellular + Linux = A Perfect ZZZ Gift
Santa Tux bringing me a Linux Phone?
Nothing says you care about a person like the gift of technology Seriously though, all those sweaters and other gifts eventually end up being given to charity. To make my wishlist complete, a nice new linux-based phone would be lovely.
"240x320 color LCD, 32Mbyte memory with 7Mbyte user storage space. Features include EMS, MMS, picture caller ID, built-in camera, POP3/SMTP email, J2ME MIDP1.1, browser supporting HTML, WML and JavaScript. Audio entertainment includes 32 polyphonic MIDI and MP3, which can also be used as incoming ringtone.
The E2800 provides an SD/MMC memory card slot to provide extended user memory storage for MIDI files, MP3 files and J2ME applications" - citation here
Check it out in 3D here
Egads! This satisfy my needs in a phone quite completely (except for the lack of a two gigabyte hard disk!).
And finally ... Flying Cars! (Or the Lifter Revisited!)
And finally, although I may be dreaming, but I still want a flying car. Perhaps someday the guys from Moller Skycar will invite ZZZ to visit and take a tour, but they're still testing with a tether (otherwise, they're told their insurance will skyrocket).
I expect to sooner see some kind of modification of what's become known as the "lifter". Sure, the lifter is old news, but continues to be in the news on a regular basis. Any Physics geek would love to tinker with such a device, particularly with the advent of "modular thrusters" which could constitue a considerable increase in payload.
This year, the Spiral Hex from Blaze Labs won the 100g challenge:
It's interesting to see that these devices have been around for decades, but have never really 'taken off', so to speak. Per Jean-Louis Naudin, there are at 215 succesfull registered lifters worldwide, so I suppose this is the geek equivalent to the whole R/C Car craze that I've seen lately. There's a lot of cool stuff on Naudin's Lifter pages ... If I don't get a real lifter, at least a nice High Voltage Power Supply (up to 30 kV) would be a start
ZZZzzzz...
That's of course the end of the ZZZ 'wishlist', except perhaps with the inclusion of a one year prescription to Modafinil! Sleep may become optional .... but not your ZZZs.
Piezo Transformers
article written by : killdashnine released on : 02 January, 2004 | send killdashnine a private message! killdashnine's rating : ***** |
Thanks to Slashdot, I ran across something else that's of interest to the ZZZ-set. Imagine, you've got that optical clock, a quantum networking card, and a very l33t laptop. The laptop, however, is still way too heavy to lug around, despite the advances of fuel cell tech. So ...
"As notebook computers become thinner and lighter, the ever-present bulky power adapters used for line current approach the weight of the laptops, but smaller and lighter adapters may be on the way, thanks to piezoelectric technology, according to a Penn State electrical engineer. "
Sweet indeed. Digging further, Penn State was working with a couple of different companies, including Face Electronics, LC. This group came up with piezoelectric technology ultimately from their research on the "Smart Vibration Concept" originanally used to drive water and air from freshly poured concrete within seconds.
Shake it up!
This ultimately led to their discovery of the "Transoner" ...
"Perhaps the most unexpected development came while Face engineers were testing a circuit for a vibrating concrete tool. They noted strange behavior in the circuit and they investigated.
What they discovered led to the revolutionary Transoner? family of piezoelectric transformers (PTs). Transoners have already demonstrated six times the power capacity of other PTs. (80 watts vs. 12 watts)."
Transoners
No more mondo-sized power supply forcing me to involuntarily lift weights dragging my laptop to and from work each and every day. Let's look forward to another year of hopeful innovation and ZZZ worthy goodies in 2004. Happy New Year!
killdashnine
Issue Image!
Have fun trying to figure out what the heck this device is. Hint, think '59th Century'