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.
Click here to read more...
Phraselator
On 12 January, 2005, by se99jmk
One step closer to the babelfish from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Click here to read more...
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.
Click here to read more...
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.
Click here to read more...
Modding the Segway
article written by : killdashnine released on : 17 May, 2004 | send killdashnine a private message! killdashnine's rating : ***** |
Modding the Segway? I've heard of stranger mods ... but I suppose it's another "just because" like the following pic ...
... like this case?
Now, you can pick up a Segway with studded tires and camoflage coloring so you can cast off your urban terrorist garb hit the backwoods trails for a little reprieve from modern life! Oh my ... like I could afford to have one anyway! Honestly though, this has my attention ... my obvious question is of course, "Why would someone want to do this?"
The Stealthy Ground Attack Vehicle
"Now Segways are practical for campers, hunters, nature lovers, etc. gliding in any environment where there is no pavement. A more 'environmentally friendly' form of transportation would be hard to find. Many 4-wheeled ATV's cause permanent damage to our state and federal parks and lands. 90lb off-road Segways would be hard-pressed at 12mph to damage our environment at all! Segways are now a practical form of transportation for not only city people, but rural people too!" - www.off-roadsadventure.com
Ahhh, so this makes much more sense, however for the Basic Model M-167C, the Stealthy Ground Attack Vehicle, having a pricetag of $5499.99, it's more than a little out of my price range.
Can you see it? Neither can that 8-Point buck grazing quietly in the field!
You can find a lot more action photos on Extreme Segging at Off-roadsadventure's website. Appaently though, the design still needs a little more work, perhaps a bit more 'oomph' as per this discussion with a Beta Tester on TechTV indicates. Getting stuck on some twigs would be a bummer ...
Military Uses
Seriously though, beyond a more environmentally-friendly way to go hunting, military uses for the Segway are being considered.
"Researchers say potential applications for the robots include performing search missions on the battlefield, transporting injured soldiers to safety, or following humans around while hauling their gear." - ImpactLabs.com
Again, like with DARPA, many military scientists are looking for new ways to use robotics and autonomous transport. The Segway, with it's unique self-righting abilities is intriguing to them, but is still largely out-of-reach for us civilians. Carnegie-Mellon University and others are working on projects to aid this goal, with a little "robot soccer" experimentation. In all, it's some interesting modding prime for Robot Wars stuff.
Go get it, boy!
Good luck to Segway and other developers ... hopefully they'll find a real market for this interesting product, military or otherwise! Personally, I think someone should slap a fridge on it and make it follow me around with a beer cooler, but alas ... nobody would think that kind of weirdness up, would they?
Hybrid Heaven
article written by : killdashnine released on : 17 May, 2004 | send killdashnine a private message! killdashnine's rating : ***** |
I've really never thought about it, but there seems to be a movement for SUV owners here in the US that says: "What is your SUV doing to national security? Detroit, America needs hybrid cars now."
While we see more and more people decide they need that XUV (whatever that is) and "Terrorist Soccer Moms" driving Hummers and other crazy Suburban Assault Vehicles about town making for mass chaos (oh, maybe and overexaggeration, I admit), gas prices continue to skyrocket. To me it makes absolutely no sense.
Per one article covering the Envoy XUV the "The V-8 is rated 15 mpg in town, 18 on the highway, about par for the class, but the V-8 test truck delivered a measly 12.5 mpg in 112 miles of suburban schlepping. Previous experience with the inline six-cylinder in other Envoys suggests it would be a little better."
The Hummer, by the way, fails to even mention gas economy on its website (which is somewhere near 15 miles per gallon). The worst of it is that tax loopholes allow executive types to snag huge tax deductions for their mid-life crises: "The loophole would allow someone who buys an $102,581 Hummer H1 for ?business purposes? to deduct $87,135 from his taxes immediately. Seriously. Good deal if you can get it."
Carpool? Bah!
Hybrids for you and me
Alas, enough ranting ... everyone's entitled to drive what they want, but when the fuel runs out, it'll be awful hard to sell off these behemoths or convert their systems over to hybrid tech. It makes you wonder if Ford will turn to the nuclear powered car like the Nucleon again? ... /me shudders ...
Five THOUSAND miles per fuel-rod, baby!
So, if you have to buy an SUV and you don't want to go nuclear, you'll be happy to know that other options are on the way. The Prius and others have been around for a while and actually seem to be doing quite well. Well enough that the SUV-set are going to start seeing hybrids built for them ('bout time!) such as Toyota's Highlander which can go like 600 miles on a tank of gas (reasonable and translates to about 27.6 miles per gallon).
Maybe a little more redneck-ish are the Dodge Durango and Ram HEV vehicles. The hybrid Durango can get something on the order of 22.3 mpg (not bad for a truck), but they're aiming for 30 mpg (something like 17 now for the conventional vehicle). There are obviously significant military uses for this truck (particularly running in an electric "Silent Watch" mode.
Combat Ram! Where's my TOE?
What I dig even more is the thought that for the Ram model, there is a 20 kW generator on-board. Give me a few of these babies for my next LAN Party!!!
Speeeeeed!
The cool thing about hybrids is their penchant for speed. I'll never get over the tzero: A racecar powered by batteries that can do 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds!
That's a lot of lead-acid ... be deathly afraid of a crash and the subsequent "splash" of sulfuric acid, methinks ...!
Or better yet, try the eCycle with an estimated fuel consumption of a blistering 180 mpg. Man, that might get some guys all the way through a year of college without refilling!
No seriously, 180 mpg!
The Military gets in on the action
If any of you have the opportunity to watch Tech Tuesdays on the History Channel, then hopefully you'll catch a show called "Tactical to Practical". This is a very slick show talking about tech transfer from military to civilian uses.
One interesting tidbit I found which nicely closes out this article was on The Shadow (no now the character) ... and again we're back to the big name in autonomous vehicles, DARPA.
"The Shadow RST-V has a hybrid-electric drive based on a front mounted turbocharged, intercooled common rail direct injection diesel engine, type 2.5 liter DI-4V, supplied by Detroit Diesel and rated at 114kW. The diesel engine powers a 110kW Magnet Motors permanent magnet generator that drives four 50kW Magnet Motors permanent magnetic hub motors, mounted one in each of the Shadow's four wheel hubs. The power generation system also includes twin SAFT Li-Ion battery packs with total rated output of 20kW hours and a peak power output of 80kW." - Army-technology.com
Only the Shadow knows ...
Watching this thing in action was sheer bliss for any ZZZer ... the cool aspect of which is that all four wheels can rotate independently so it can literally spin around in a circle. As for the economy specs the Shadow can go about 758 km on 95 liters of fuel which translates to approximately 8.0 km/liter or 19 mpg (not bad). More on the shadow can be found at Globalsecurity.com.
I'm thinking that hybrid tech has a considerable future, hopefully tempering the insanity of the oil industry until we can come up with cheap hydrogen power or better yet, something like cold fusion. Unless something really bad happens to discourage me, I'm certain that my next car will be a hybrid -- it just makes sense.
Brotron Gallery
article written by : killdashnine released on : 17 May, 2004 | send killdashnine a private message! killdashnine's rating : ***** |
1:49 am ... I'm happy to discover that I can actually get myself that Death Ray Gun that I've always wanted:
ZAP! (Man, now only if I had a really big SUV to strap it to!
Is this some kind of high-tech art or the future come to life? Hmmm let's see ... (I'd prefer the latter personally):
"Creating pieces that resemble high-quality merchandise from some futuristic, Sharper Image catalogue, Greg sees to the design, casting, forming, manufacture and electrical needs of all of his "sculpture". Whether it's a planet-taming laser cannon made of vintage vacuum cleaners or a stunning, oddly sexy "she-droid", Greg excels at bringing yesterday's version of tomorrow to life. Today!"
No matter, I enjoyed browsing through the gallery at Brotron Labs. I really need that Electrolux vacuum deathray (not want ... NEED)! But then again, the Sunbeam Heat Ray or the Hamilton Demo-6 pulse cannon would do in a pinch. Alas, no prices listed. Must be expensive, but I can't even imagine the pricetag on the Mercury 5000 robot!
The Flash as a Bot!
Seriously folks, check out Broton.com for some wonderous sci-tech art!
Issue Image!
Only one hint ... this is art (of some deranged form)