Metaphorically, the internet may be a series of tubes. But in reality, it’s a bundle of wires. Wired (heh) got a look inside the world’s densest Meet Me Room at One Wilshire Boulevard in downtown LA. If somebody were to trip over an extension cord in this room, “most of California and parts of the rest of the world [including most of the Pacific Rim] would not be able to connect to the internet.” A Meet Me Room connects (among other things) different internet service providers to each other… If it weren’t for rooms like these, you’d only be able to view sites hosted by your ISP. This room interconnects over 260 ISPs, and that means a lot of cables, and a major headache for the poor guy who has to keep track of them all.
I’ve really never put much thought into how I store my DVDs and CDs. Movies are stored in their original boxes in cabinets sitting in my living room. Most CDs are either strewn about on my desk or arranged neatly in binders. Unfortunately none of these methods is all that great for long term disc storge.
Mitsubishi has created the ARLEDIA DVD-R discs that are said to have twice the life expectancy of regular DVDs. They accomplish this by using a gold and silver reflective film which prevents oxidation. No word on pricing or availability.
There were a lot of peripherals kicking around the Game Developer’s Conference expo floor, but most of them, however cool they might be, are just faster or better or fancier reincarnations of existing technology. The biggest wow factor as far as gaming interfaces goes was something I wouldn’t have even considered to be a viable technology, until I tried it out for myself today: brain-controlled gaming.
There were, in fact, two companies that I saw today offering brain interfaces for gaming. Both Emotiv Systems and NeuroSky were showing off wearable brainwave sensors, designed to pick up the faint electrical signals that your neurons emit whenever they’re busy. It’s the exact same thing as an electroencephalograph machine, just simpler and without the conductive goo or the metal pins in your scalp. These interfaces can’t tell exactly what you’re thinking, but they can make educated guesses about the type of thinking you’re doing. I know, it sounds like it could never really be anything more than a gimmick, but the thing is, it totally works, and it’s an entirely new gaming experience. Read more after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been saying for a while now that I’d love to switch the main hard drive in my PC to a SSD drive. There are two very obvious reasons why I haven’t taken the plunge yet. Namely, they aren’t very large, and you pay an arm and a leg for what little you do get. BiTMICRO is looking to change both of those things with a new drive that they’ll be unveiling this week at CES.
Their new SSD will be sporting a whopping 832GB of storage space. That’s a huge leap from the 64GB drives that we’ve been seeing lately. What’s even better is that they’re using a new proprietary technology called MLC which they promise will bring the price down below the market average. We’ll look forward to hearing more about this later in the week.
The guys at Gizmodo are in Dubai for an air show, and spotted this bit of news. Sheikh Rashid, the ruler of Dubai, just purchased the first unit of the Aerion Supersonic Business Jet. And some jet! Even at $80,000,000 the bird seems to be worth every penny. It’s able to sprint up to 1.6 Mach, and cruise at 1.5 Mach where allowed, which is pretty much only over oceans. At this speed though, an Atlantic crossing is done in just two hours. Over land, it can fly along at 0.98Mach in the USA (due to regulations) at a similar cost-per-mile than competing subsonic private jets; in other parts of the world, where regulations only require no sonic boom to reach ground, it can speed up to 1.1 Mach without a boom. Its twin Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 engines produce 19,600 pounds of thrust and it has a ceiling of 51,000 feet.
Expect delivery around 2014, and if you’re serious about getting one, you can leave a $250,000 deposit now. Then, you can call me and buy me lunch, you rich bastard.
For what it’s worth, you gotta give it to GM for getting their feet wet in the green sector. They’re doing a pretty good job too, what with the 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line SUV receiving a 25mpg rating in the city, and 32mpg on the highway. That’s 585miles on a tank of gas and it the best highway mileage for any SUV. The kicker? An MSRP of less than $25k. We’re telling you about this because we’re impressed with the technology that’s gone behind this effort:
The Vue Green Line’s hybrid system combines sophisticated controls with a precise electric motor/generator mated to the 2.4-liter, 172-horsepower, four-cylinder engine and a modified automatic transmission. The system delivers fuel economy gains through advanced engine control algorithms including early fuel cut-off during deceleration, optimized transmission shift controls and by smoothly stopping the engine at idle. The system also features regenerative braking to capture electrical energy during braking, electric power assist during acceleration, low-rolling resistance tires and improved aerodynamics.
Roundtrip from LA to Vegas on one tank of gas in an SUV, for under $25k? Not too shabby.
Energy is one of those things that everybody seems to be just a little bit short of. That’s why half of humanity is addicted to coffee, and also why we get understandably excited when we hear about new technology that is able to suck the energy out of everyday life. Hmm, that came out wrong… And yet, that’s exactly what Yael Miller’s Kineticel concept is designed to do. Kineticel captures energy from moving things (through normal daily activities) via piezoelectricity, and stores it in batteries for later use. It’s just a concept, so none of the engineering has been worked out, but DARPA is already using this sort of tech to power wearable sensors.
Of course, there’s no such thing as free energy (Steorn be damned). So, if you hook up a Kineticel to a baby swing, you’re going to have to push it just a little bit harder. Although the designer suggests using Kineticels to sap electricity from electrically powered things like vacuums, the most effective use for this technology is probably to hook it up to things that are human powered, since we’re pretty efficient energy producers (in that we run on carrots and stuff). So for example, you could lift weights, and the weights would generate electricity from being lifted.
Kineticel was submitted to Metropolis magazine’s 2007 Next Generation competition which was all about integrating piezoelectric energy generation into everyday life; you can check out some of the other entries in this article.
Sometimes it takes videos like this to really drive home the fact that the atmosphere is really just a big gas ocean, that displays basically the same physical properties as a liquid ocean. Festo took this concept to heart when they designed the Air_ray, a remote controlled blimp that swims through the air just like a manta ray. The blimp is filled with helium, making it buoyant, and contains servos which flap its wings, propelling it through the air and allowing it to maneuver. It also seems to have a movable tail to control pitch. Overall, it makes for a very organic form of propulsion; click on for a soothing video of the Air-ray flapping around. Read the rest of this entry »
Walls. They’re so boring. And they’re everywhere. HypoSurface smashes through the, uh, fourth wall with a shape changing, interactive surface. Using interlocking flexible panels activated by compressed air from behind the wall, HypoSurface can create three dimensional waves, patterns, images, and even words by moving the flexible panels in sync. Software allows the wall to react to sound or movement, and… Well, just watch the video:
You can lease one of these; it comes with everything you need to get it up and running (including a technician). They don’t say how much it costs, but it would probably cheaper to just stare at a normal wall while you’re really, really drunk [Yes… drunk… -Ed.] (and listening to Pink Floyd).
With kids all across the country feeling the pinch as time to return to school draws near, parents are ready to start getting the high tech goodies kids need to make learning more fun.
Leap Frog is better known to me as the maker of toys for toddlers that teach sounds and letters. However, Leap Frog has a device called the FLY Fusion Pentop computer that is aimed at kids in middle school and high school.
The digital pen has been updated with four times the memory of the original FLY fusion, better PC connectivity (no Mac compatibility), MP3 player and an expandable Spanish translator. I can’t see many schools allowing the FLY Fusion to be used in class. It seems like it could be used for cheating, plus the instructions say don’t drop the pen frequently making me think it’s not very durable. The FLY Fusion is available now for $79.99 the pen also has a number of available software titles to expand its abilities.
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