OCZ Vertex 3 240GB Review
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Commercial Supersonic Flight Returning?
The Concord supersonic jetliner was retired in 2003 without another high speed plane to replace it, but EADS, the parent company of Airbus, has plans on bringing back the supersonic era… starting in 2050. The Zero Emission Hypersonic Transport, or ZEHST, (this link will open a pdf brochure) is to feature not one, not two, but three different propulsion methods to achieve supersonic flight of beyond Mach 4. For takeoff and landing the ZEHST will use the conventional turbojet engines, consuming a biofuel. Next a pair of cryogenic rocket engines, similar to those on the commercial Ariane rocket, will burn liquid hydrogen and oxygen to reach the altitude and speed needed for the ramjets to operate. The third propulsion type are ramjet engines that will operate from an altitude of 23Km to 32Km and will be burning hydrogen. Ramjet engines do not use a fan to pull in and compress air, instead using only the speed of the engine in the air.
The company hopes to have this in service around 2050, giving them time to meet all of their design requirements and objectives, such as being “green” and quiet. Considering this is going to utilize a new propulsion architecture, I can’t say I blame them for having such a long development phase.
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World's Oldest Working Light Bulb Turns 110
A compact fluorescent light bulb can shine for up to 10,000 hours, and a newer LED bulb can last up to 50,000 hours. However, it may surprise you to learn that the world’s oldest working light bulb is of the incandescent variety, and has been shining for 110 years, or roughly 963,600 hours! The bulb resides in the Livermore Volunteer Fire Department in California, and was first turned on June 18, 1901. Since then, it has been shining almost continuously, only going dark during a few power outages over the years. The bulb was made by Thomas Edison’s rival Adolphe Chaillet, and was designed to burn longer and brighter than an Edison bulb. Still, scientists have yet to figure out how the 60 watt bulb, which is run at four watts, is still burning.
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Valve Working on a Free-to-Play Game
I'm sure that many of you have noticed and even tried out the free-to-play games that Valve has currently begun offering on Steam. Many of the games have some kind of incentive to get you to try them out, like items in the game or in Team Fortress 2, but it appears Valve has something else planned for the F2P section. In a recent interview, Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve, said that the company is currently working on a free-to-play game. He did not go any further saying what game will be F2P, which begs the question of "which one?" We already know that Valve is working on DotA 2, a follow-up to a Warcraft 3 mod, but not much is known about it. It is possible that DotA 2 will be the F2P game, but it could be something else entirely. Valve is already shifting to shorter development cycles for its games, according to Gabe Newell, so maybe we will be seeing more F2P games from the studio that brought us Half-Life.
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Researchers Shield Implants From Cyber Attack
The thought of terrorists or other ne'er-do-wells gaining control of a person's implants, whether it be a pacemaker or an insulin device, is scary. In order to prevent this, a research team composed of scientists from MIT and UMass has developed a shield of sorts. Using transmitters, the team has created a way to jam potential sources of interference or attack. The transmitter is not in the implant itself, but is wired into a medallion outside the body. The medallion sends a jamming signal to the implant as well as legitimate command information. Because of this, devices never intended to be protected from cyber attacks can be shielded as the jamming medium is located outside the body. The medallion can simply be programmed to control the device in question, meaning that implants do not need to be removed or modified. Also, in the event that the user is unable to respond to emergency prompts and the physicians don't know the devices encryption key, the medallion can be removed to disable the jamming signal. The team plans to present the shield device for review at the Sigcomm event this August.
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Team Fortress 2 Uber Update
Valve has announced the Uber Update for Team Fortress 2, which they have dubbed "the biggest, most ambitious update in the history of Team Fortress 2." For the first day of the update, Mobster Monday, there are two weapon packs. The Heavy will get the Tomislav, The Family Business, and The Eviction Notice. The Spy gets his hands on The Enforcer, The Big Earner, and The Made Man. No mention was made of any set bonuses associated with the weapon packs. A new payload map, Barnblitz, has also been added. The update will be released on Thursday, and Valve has also confirmed that the "Meet the Medic" video will be part of this update. And to top it all off, a week long free weekend of TF2 begins right now.
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Intel Will Push for Exascale Computing by 2020
Just recently, the Fujitsu K supercomputer was crowned king, with a speed of eight petaflops. This development has urged Intel to announce that the goal for the end of the decade is to deliver the technology to enable exascale computing, which would be one million trillion calculations per second. This plan will utilize the Knights Corner CPU, designed with Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture. This 22nm design would make use of the recently announced Tri-Gate transistor and is said to pack at least 50 cores per CPU. Another focus beside raw speed is the power consumption of these machines, which currently draw so much power that it is impossible to simply add on to the current supercomputers. If the Chinese supercomputer, the Tianhe-1A, was scaled up, it would require 1.6GW of power, enough for two million homes. Although this can open a lot of opportunities for scientific research, we all know what the real question is...can it play Crysis?
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Toshiba Satellite L750D Now Available
The Toshiba Satellite L750D-ST4N01 is the first laptop to sport the Llano architecture from AMD. Llano is built on the Fusion A Series platform, merging CPU and GPU into one chip for power and performance. The L750D is powered by a quad core A6-3400M CPU and a Radeon HD 6520G GPU. This makes the system stand out more than the rest of its components, as this upgrade is available for only $10 compared to the i5-2410M and integrated Intel graphics sporting Satellite L755-S5258. Rounding out the system is 4GB of RAM, a 640GB hard drive, and a 15.6 inch screen. The L750D comes with a price tag of $699.
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Verizon's Tiered Data Plans Are Coming
It has been talked about for a while, but now it seems Verizon's tiered data plans are finally going to see the light of day. According to some leaked internal memos, the tiered data plans are coming on July 7th with some interesting prices. The cheapest option comes in at $30 a month for 2GB of data, $50 will get you 5GB, and $80 will get you 10GB. All of that doesn't include tethering, so if you want to tether your phone to use its connection, you're looking at an additional $20 a month for another 2GB. As for whether your device is 3G or 4G, it seems there is no difference between the two so you will be charged the same amount of money for the same amount of data. Verizon seems to think that its previous data plan structure will no longer work in the growing market, citing that data usage has doubled over the last three years, so it seems the new tiered plan will help to curb some of that. Whether it actually does it anyone's guess, as is what the charge will be for going over the monthly limit. It also looks like the new plans won't affect current customers, but it is unclear if you will be forced to it when you renew.
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Halo Anniversary to Use Kinect
Microsoft seems to be really pushing its Kinect platform if the games shown at E3 recently are any indication. To further show how useful Kinect will be, Microsoft has announced that the upcoming Halo Anniversary will utilize Kinect. Halo Anniversary is the Xbox 360 remake of Halo: Combat Evolved and now you will be able to control aspects of it with Kinect. Microsoft was quick to point out that it doesn't detract from the core gameplay experience and is merely an addition to the game, but the game will include Kinect support. Microsoft wants to get Kinect support added into more games and feels Halo Anniversary is a good way to do it, but once again said it is an additional feature and won't detract from the core gameplay. Perhaps Microsoft knows the Kinect isn't real popular with the core gaming crowd, but maybe how it handles the feature in Halo Anniversary can sway more people to controller-less motion control.
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Internet Finally Goes Beyond .Com Web Names
ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has approved the request to ease up on the naming convention rules for generic top-level domains or gTLDs. What this means for all of us is that we'll soon be seeing websites with domain name extensions far beyond the familiar .coms, .nets, .orgs and country level extensions such as .uk and .sg.
ICANN has gone on to say that the names can be registered in any language, in any character combination of letters and numerals, opening up whole new naming possibilities for companies, communities and individuals wanting to be creative with their domain name extensions. However, the non-profit Internet regulatory organization will base its approvals on legitimate claims of applicants, and a princely sum of $185,000 is required for the application. ICANN will start accepting applications for new domain name extensions in January 2012.
Just imagine the possibilities: .nike, .radeon, .coke, .thermaltake, .toyota, .nokia, .asongoficeandfire, .canon, .ipod, .xxx, this might very well unleash a domain name registration gold rush similar to the Internet explosion in the late 90s.
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Village Named SnapDeal.com
Life is hard for the village formerly known as Shiv Nagar. Townsfolk only get electricity for two hours a day, they live in makeshift shanties, and probably have no idea what a computer is used for. Even water is hard to come by, with people having to walk for miles before getting a potable water source. So when a godsend came in the form of India's leading online retailer, the grateful villagers expressed their thanks by renaming their village SnapDeal.com.
The water-deprived town received 15 water pumps from SnapDeal.com, courtesy of its founder, 28-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate Kunal Bahl. He was informed of the village's plight by one of his employees, whose family happened to originate from the town themselves. These water pumps, which cost the company around $5,000, eliminated the need for people to travel long distances for potable water.
And Bahl doesn't intend to stop there. He plans on further improving the lives of the villagers by developing better infrastructure for the town. And although the emblazoned SnapDeal logos on the water pumps can be easily dismissed as a PR gimmick, the gesture has made a positive impact in improving the lives of the town now known as SnapDeal.com.
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Self-assembling Nano-electronics
The saying goes, “Bigger is better,” but for electronics, “Smaller is supreme,” would seem to be more accurate. The smaller the components the less power they use and the more you can have of them, but there is a limit. To make something small you generally have to use something small, but some tools just aren’t there yet, and maybe never will be. So if you can’t make the thing, what can you do? Have it make itself! Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Institute of Nanotechnology devised a way to have an electronic component self-assemble, using magnetic atoms and a synthetic adhesive on a carbon nanotube. The magnetic nature of the atoms moved them to the correct positions along the nanotube where the adhesive can hold them in place.
While having a device assemble itself without intervention is cool and valuable, we all want to know what it can do. The magnetic atoms in the device are of the metal terbium, which is highly sensitive to external magnetic fields. Applying a magnetic field to the device will cause the terbium atoms to change the current you run through the nanotube, allowing this device to act as a switch. The fun does not end there though. Another very interesting and useful property is the ability to control the spin of the atom. Not only is this creation important to electronics but also to spintronics, which takes advantage of the quantum-mechanical concept of spin. Spintronics have the potential to combine memory, logic and quantum logic into devices.
The device is described for low temperatures of roughly 1K (-272° C) in Nature Materials and the team is working on increasing that value.
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