Nanotube Transmission for Nanobots
Automatic transmission is fairly useful for many people who just need a car that gets them from point A to point B. They may not have as much control during the trip as someone with a manual transmission, but they do not need it. In the nanoscale world though, control is needed, which is why Chinese researchers have created a nanoclutch, as reported by the American Institute of Physics.
Unlike the transmission in your car, this device does not use any gears. In fact, the device is just two carbon nanotubes, one inside the other, and some water in between. Normally in this state, the clutch disengaged, but when a charge is applied to the nanotubes, it engages. This is because of electrowetting, which causes the water between the nanotubes to adhere to their walls. As the amount of charge can be completely controlled, the researchers note that it is possible to have stepless speed regulation with the nanoclutch by varying the charge.
This may not help you shift your car from one gear to another, but it will prove useful in a variety of nanorobots. Such control will be needed in many designs but also the creation of future nanotechnology.
Read More ...
Marvel Heroes MMO Lets You Play as Your Favorite Marvel Character
Marvel has joined forces with developer Secret Identity Studios to create a free-to-play MMO that allows PC gamers to play as any of their favorite Marvel comic book characters. Marvel Heroes will have a virtual library of super-powered heroes and heroines available for players, with an eventual roster of around 8,000 Marvel characters to choose from. "Marvel Heroes allows players to become their favorite Marvel Super Heroes - from the popular Iron Man, Thor, Storm and Black Widow to the lesser known Squirrel Girl and Cable," said publisher Gazillion Entertainment. The game lets players explore familiar Marvel landscapes such as the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning or Midtown Manhattan, or seek adventure in the Savage Land or Mutant Town.
Want to outfit Spiderman with the cool alien symbiote costume instead of the standard-issue red and blue garb? You can. "Fans will be able to completely customize their characters by constructing costumes taken from each hero's rich history, choosing from a huge array of super powers for each character, and finding thousands of other items," added the publisher. The game takes the MMO experience to an isometric perspective similar to Diablo 3, and will be based on a storyline written by Marvel scribe Brian Michael Bendis. Although no release date has been announced, Marvel Heroes will have a public unveiling at the San Diego Comic-Con this July.
Read More ...
Doping Graphene for Photovoltaic Gain
Graphene, our favorite atom-thick material, has been combined with another material to create a solar cell more efficient than previous graphene cells. Though graphene already has amazing electrical conductance, researchers at the University of Florida added trifluoromethanesulfonyl-amide (TFSA) as a dopant to improve conductivity and increase electric field potential within the cell. This results in higher energy electrons being produced as a result of the photoelectric effect.
Graphene solar cells have been made before, because graphene has extraordinary electrical properties and potentially can be made very cheaply. Unfortunately these cells were only about 2.9% efficient, at the most. By adding TFSA as a dopant, the researchers were able to reach 8.6%, which is a significant improvement.
This new cell places a single layer of graphene on top of a piece silicon, with gold surrounding it. The silicon and graphene create a Schottky junction, which only allows electrons to flow in one direction. The researchers hope to reach 10% efficiency by doping graphene, because, if they can keep costs down, the resulting solar cell will be economically viable. Before that happens though, a replacement for the silicon may have to be found, as it is not the most economical material for this design.
Read More ...
Hardware Roundup: Tuesday Edition
Things are a bit light following the Memorial Day holiday here in the U.S. Our colleagues at Neoseeker have a look at a 120GB solid state drive, one of VisionTek's Racer Series of SSDs. Our roundup today also features a pair of networking items. The first of which is an interesting device, the Icron USB Ranger 2211, that enables you to extend a USB connection up to 100 yards although both performance and your wallet will take a hit. Finally, we have the Sitecom N750 X6 WLR-6000 802.11n wireless Gigabit router that can also be used as a NAS or print server via its USB port.
Networking
Icron USB Ranger 2211 Range Extender @ Benchmark Reviews
Sitecom N750 X6 WLR-6000 Wireless Gigabit Router @ Madshrimps
Storage/Hard Drives
VisionTek Racer 120GB SSD @ Neoseeker
Read More ...
Extreme Ultraviolet Technology in Beta
The future of microchips and integrated circuits is in smaller and smaller components, but making these components is becoming increasingly difficult. The current method uses photolithography that burns away material with ultraviolet light. The frequency of the light determines the minimum size of the components, so for things to get smaller we have to get a handle on more extreme frequencies of light, with their smaller wavelengths.
The industry's target wavelength is roughly 13.5 nm, which puts it in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range, and is considerably smaller than the current 193 nm wavelength systems. To achieve this entirely new light sources have to be developed, which researchers at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have been working on since 2006, when they built the first EUV prototype. Now the researchers have a beta of their technology already in industrial applications.
The EUV light source uses a laser and electric current to vaporize tin into emitting at the 13.5 nm frequency. The resulting light pulses thousands of times a second. That light then has to be collected and aimed exactly for any components to be made. These other optical components have been made at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology ILT Aachen, for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden and for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF Jena. The expectation is for EUV lithography to enter industrial production systems in 2015.
Read More ...
System Specifications Further Refined for Max Payne 3 - New Screenshots Shown
Console gamers have been enjoying Max Payne 3 for a little while now, but later this week PC gamers will get to experience the action. Rockstar has been saying Max Payne 3 will run on a wide variety of hardware, and judging by the initial system requirements, it has accomplished the job. Recently, Rockstar has revealed a refined list of the hardware you need to run the game, with several options listed. The company is listing the lowest tested specifications, the lowest recommended, the highest recommended, and then the highest tested that should give you an idea of what kind of computer you need. I doubt very many people will have a system close to the highest tested, but at least Rockstar has you covered.
LOWEST TESTED SPECS
Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
Intel Dual Core 2.4 GHZ or AMD Dual Core 2.6 GHZ, or better
2GB System RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce 8600 GT 512MB RAM
or AMD Radeon™ HD 3400 512MB RAM
LOW RECOMMENDED SPECS
Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
Intel Dual Core 3GHz or AMD equivalent
3GB System RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce 450 512MB RAM
or AMD Radeon™ HD 4870 512MB RAM
HIGH RECOMMENDED SPECS
Windows 7/Vista (32 or 64 bit)
Intel i7 Quad Core 2.8Ghz or AMD equivalent
3GB System RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce 480 1GB RAM
or AMD Radeon™ HD 5870 1GB RAM
HIGHEST TESTED SPECS
Windows 7/Vista (64 bit)
Intel i7 3930K 6 Core x 3.06 GHZ
or AMD FX8150 8 Core x 3.6 GHZ
16GB System RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680 2GB RAM
or AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 3GB RAM
Like I said, Rockstar has covered the gamut of computer hardware with these tests. Max Payne 3 will be making use of DirectX 11, Tessellation, FXAA, improved textures and water/shadow detail, high resolutions, and a bunch of other PC goodies. There are also some new screenshots releases, which you can check out below. Max Payne 3 will release internationally for the PC on June 1st.
Read More ...
Carmageddon: Reincarnation Hits Kickstarter Goal - GOG.com Adds Support
Fans of car combat series Carmageddon can rest easy, as Carmageddon: Reincarnation has reached its Kickstarter goal. The team at Stainless Games set a goal of $400,000 to fund the new game, which was reached over the weekend. Right now it is a little under $440,000 with nine days remaining, so the total could go a lot higher. What's more is GOG.com have taken an interest in Carmageddon: Reincarnation and added its support to one of the reward tiers. Anyone who donates $25 or more will receive a voucher to download the original Carmageddon and The Splat Pack for free once those two are added to GOG.com's selection. This is an extraordinary contribution and should help Stainless get even more donations for Reincarnation. Now you can play the original Carmageddon while waiting for the new one to release and help out the developers at the same time.
Read More ...
Collapse of 38 Studios and Big Huge Games Means No Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Patch
The other day came the news that 38 Studios and Big Huge Games have laid off the entire staff at both companies. Earlier this year the studios' first game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, released to a good deal of critical acclaim and even sold nearly a million copies, but 38 Studios was unable to repay its loans. Sadly, the layoff of the entire staff will take its toll on the game, as Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will not receive a patch to fix any of its remaining problems. The former lead designer, Ian Frazier, announced on the game's official forums that a patch was being worked on but the unfortunate closure of the studio means gamers will never get it. The developers wanted to work on a patch right away, but were unable to do so for reasons Frazier did not discuss.
A PC-only patch was given the greenlight eventually, and while the developers wanted one for all platforms, were happy to begin implementing fixes for the PC game. The patch was supposed to have fixed a variety of bugs, added a new camera feature, and even two new difficulty modes, but now it is all gone. Perhaps an unofficial patch can take its place, but this is just another sad tale in the fate of Reckoning and its creators.
Read More ...
Available Tags:Hardware ,
No comments:
Post a Comment