Say What!?

eetimes

R. Colin Johnson writes over at the EETimes that QuantumSphere Inc. has had a breakthrough in the use of nanoparticles to increase the efficiency of Hydrogen production.
Johnson quotes the company:

“Instead of switching 170,000 gas stations over to hydrogen, using our electrodes could enable consumers to make their own hydrogen, either in the garage or right on the vehicle,” said Kevin Maloney, president, chief executive officer and co-founder of QuantumSphere. “Our nanoparticle-coated electrodes make electrolysers efficient enough to provide hydrogen on demand from a tank of distilled water in your car.”

Just sit for 15 minutes and consider just how much the concept of grassroots power production could change the way we as a species will exist.  Unlimited power for nearly free.  Too good to be true?  Before you let the realities of greed and political power seep into this thought process, just sit and dream about the possibilites…

http://www.bridgesmathart.org/art-exhibits/jmm08/

http://amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/
https://www.irexshop.com/
http://www.eink.com/
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19736/?a=f

I have been quietly watching and cheering for the developments in e-paper.  Certainly, there will always be a need for a physically permanent method of storing information. However, most of our daily requirements include lightweight, portable, low-power, e-book readers; with the same visual characteristics of paper. Amazon.com’s new Kindle looks to be a good beginning.  If they could combine the features of the Kindle with the iRex Illiad 2, eliminate the “Page flash” and delay when changing the page, I’d probably buy one.  Color isn’t as important to me as portability.  I currently carry several thousand pages of dead-tree with me between classes and it gets tiresome.

Ceramic Lens

Although Casio is the one creating the lens, it’s Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. that actually invented the transparent ceramic material.  The material actually has a higher refraction index than glass and is also a stronger substance.  In my opinion, this will have far reaching significance in many areas.  There’s no information concerning the costs of creating the material, but I’m sure it’s not cheaper than glass.

Transparent aluminum is next, right?  or is it the Diamond Age? (yes, I know...)

http://www.apple.com/

Oh my holy Buddha!  Apple’s got to be the first major computer maker outta the gate with LIQUID COOLED CPU’s! So let’s see… this week has birthed:

1. AirPort Express (coolness factor 10) but not without it’s detractors
2. iTunes 4.6 with AirTunes.
3. Dual 2.5 Ghz G5 Towers (humina humina)
4. Spoken Interface Preview (ala Tiger)

I hope y’all realize that if Apple has got the liquid cooled thing under way, that only means that the G5 Powerbook is at least now feasible and that much closer to production, no?
It also means that those poor little 2.5 Ghz G5’s are so close to exploding into flame, that Apple had to put water close by to douse the flames! Like the title suggests, sex gets hot, but man oh man!

On another note, Apple’s Spoken Interface is most definitely a step in the right direction. Despite being a niche accommodation for folks with disabilities, Apple shows some real maturity in making a ‘niche market’ an integrated part of it’s operating system.  What I am in serious need of is the other side of the coin, Speech dictation/recognition.  I know about IBM’s ViaVoice and iListen, but I’m talking about REALLY sophisticated, almost like a person is typing the stuff in for you kind of accuracy and ease of use. I think they should partner with Lucent. Those phone/voice companies have some pretty good speech recognition stuff under the hood.

Apple has been dicking around with this realm since 1993 when the Quadra 660AV and 880AV’s came out. At the time, those were pure sex.

http://www.serversunderthesun.com/tin/

Why does it strike me that something like this wouldn’t go over so well in academia?  Perhaps because we can’t afford that much aluminum foil? At any rate, It’s as good a piece of art as it it a funny prank.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3647437.stm
This is very cool.  Definitely light reading, but answers many of the obvious questions. Essentially a laser ‘painted’ image is reflected onto your retina, superimposing a display over your normal vision. Apparently the tech is in use now by Honda technicians. They are saving time working on engines because they don’t have to keep looking away to a monitor on the side.  The data appears right within their FOV. 

Where can this go?

“There is still work to be done but potentially the system could become second only to tapping into the optic nerve in terms of getting images to the brain.”

Imagine hacking someone’s monicle?

Imagine devices GUI’s wirelessly accessible, such that approaching a device would bring up it’s interface into your FOV.

Imagine how this might evolve cinema.  Not as a stupid meta-data add-on about what you are seeing, but as an extention of vision itself. I suppose if you were to stand in a pitch black room you could produce an entirely immersive 3D environment; the Holy Grail of VR!

I also feel that there is something important about the reality-enhancing characteristics of this too.
I don’t just mean in a pragmatic manner such as the Honda example, but as an everyday extension of our perception. I wonder if the ubiquitous/wearable computing folks at Georgia Tech are using these?

Apple is at it again!  Today the news is:
3rd Gen Apple iTunes Music Store.
iTunes 4.5 released
iTunes on Campus program
QuickTime 6.5.1
iMovie 4.01
iPod Update 2004-04-28

Most, if not all of these new things are related to the new iTunes 4.5 and 3rd Gen ITMS. I think i’ll wait until others find all of the gremlins.

Apple had been a busy bunch of beavers over in Cupertino.  New stuff anounced at the NAB 2004 Conference, and other new stuff released in a bit more “quite” manner. The new stuff includes:

An After Effects competitior ( Apple has REALLY got it out for Adobe!)
Motion

An Avid competitor ( Apple has REALLY got it out for Avid!)
Final Cut Pro HD

Oh, and all of that HD vid can be namshubbed onto a DVD using
DVDStudio Pro 3

Apple, Matsushita jointly develop HD editing system.
If you don’t recognize the name, think “Panasonic”
businessworld

And to top it all off, fresh new kit in the form of speed bumped iBooks and PowerBooks.

Oh yeah, you have to network those new “books” but your ideal Airport location is in the attic where you have no power outlets.  Fear not, power-over-ethernet comes to the rescue in the form of new
Airport Extreme Base Stations.

Helluva way to start the week Apple!

http://www.makingthings.com/products/products.htm

I’ve known about this for a while, but was shy of funds and time to do anything about it. OK, I was hording it to myself, but now that FlashMagazine has exposed my secret, I suppose I have to discuss it.  I can’t wait until I get my package! If you don’t have a clue what I speak of, read on. From the Making Things site:

“a Flash interface to the Teleo system and we are happy to announce that we have released a free, downloadable Beta Flash component set for Teleo. For the first time, Flash programmers can easily and inexpensively create and control applications that sense, react and interact in the physical world.

Using Macromedia’s Flash with Teleo, any Flash developer can move beyond their computer screen and mouse and create physically interactive projects (devices that actually move and behave) or develop completely new kinds of interactive environments. This system allows people to build applications that sense light, distance, pressure, temperature, etc. In turn, these same applications can react, triggering motors, lights, among other things. Moreover, applications can be controlled locally from any computer or, remotely, via a standard web browser.”

Are we wet/hard yet?

BBC NEWS

Tip found at Slashdot: article at BBC News:
Apparently, the Fraunhofer Institute is at it again. Surround MP3’s could be just the ticket for backing up DVD Audio disks or DVD surround movies.  Now someone needs to write an AC3 to MP3 Surround transcoder!  I have to admit that I do love the richness of the DVD Audio format. Natilie Merchant’s “Tiger Lily” in Dolby Digital 5.1 is astounding.  I can’t listen to the normal CD anymore.  Therefore there are none of those tracks on my iPod.  However, it seems like the new surround MP3’s provide something along the lines of a simulated 3D space; like DSP effects. The good thing about this is that the files will end up being backwardly compatible with current technology.

“Fraunhofer reproduces surround sound by adding to MP3 encoding extra information that describes the spatial characteristics of the main audio track. Using this extra information helps MP3 players recreate the surround sound effect.”

According to the article, surround MP3’s should be available by July.

I dare you to lick my mouse

According to the above article, telephones have about 25,000 germs/sq in.  That makes them almost 8 times more distusting than keyboards.

Basically, the article points out that a typical office with phones, keybords, mice, and desks is almost 400 times more germ laden than a typical restroom. -Belch- Being an instructor who teaches in labs with 25 workstations each, I am now traveling with a can of Lysol!  -gack-

Get file here

This is such an excellent example of random acts of kindness/beauty.
By simply putting two empty PICT Resource files into one’s home directory,
iDVD 4.01 will allow you to control-click on the burn button and use an external burner.
It will also allow you to save the project as a disk image for burining with toast I assume.

I think the best part is that the files are named in German. According to one poster, “xvi”,
“Yes, for those who don’t understand german, here is an English approximation: “Phfart"."

I’m super curious as to exactly WTF is going on with this hack.  The file(s) are pict resources with out any image data.  At least that’s what GraphicsConverter tells me.  But somehow, iDVD must actively look for this file in one’s home directory.  Now how the hell did someone find that “Easter Egg”?!
ya gotta be siftin’ through codewarrior and doing some reverse-engineer… er fiddling to find something like this, no?  Thank you whoever you are!