This article explores why computers can’t do floating point maths, which is what makes Excel and all those online calculators such lousy mathematicians – basically because computers are binary, they can’t calculate anything after a decimal point, so the workaround is to put the number including the decimal point in a register of a certain Read more about Why computers suck at maths[…]
Using Augmented Reality goggles, powered on an Android platform, marines are able to maintain their vehicles 46% faster than using a laptop with technical manuals. The AR system provides label names to each object, shows a 3D model of the tool you need and gives instructions for specifica tasks overlaid on the camera view of Read more about Fixing stuff goes faster with AR[…]
The Lausanne university in Switserland has moved from the software to the reality: they’ve managed to get robots to evolve and learn behaviours, as well as the behaviour to decieve and cooperate through communication (flashing lights) and movement. It’ s a very interesting experiment, showing that robots are getting smarter every day and are now Read more about Evolving swarm intelligence in robots[…]
Which goes to show – it’s the Ipod / Iphone which is floating the Apple. Nope, Macs just suck and their fanboy users are a teeny tiny minority. And the rest of the I-Have-A-Mac smug bastards are hypocrites. You wouldn’t need a PC if your Mac was so perfect, now would you, mister I’m a Read more about 85% of Mac users own a PC[…]
Samsung Electronics announced this week that it has begun mass production of a new kind of memory chip that stores information by melting and freezing tiny crystals. Known as phase-change memory (PCM) … Unlike conventional memory, which involves moving electrons around a chip, PCM data would literally be frozen in place, even when the machine Read more about Melting memory chips in mass production : Nature News[…]
This thing has a 300MHz processor and has been hacked to run Linux with mouse and sound support. $38 Zipit Wireless Messenger receives Linux injection, becomes $38 netbook.
A South African IT firm sent a carrier pigeon 50 miles with a datacard attached to it’s leg. The pigeon was faster than the internet, which after 2 hours had only completed 4% of the transfer. This was in protest at the sucky internet connection available through Telkom. Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa’s Read more about South Africa’s Telkom: faster internet via carrier pigeon[…]
These flowcharts are very very good indeed, with a “Boot Failure Troubleshooting Poster” which encompasses all of the flowcharts in one huge poster. Computer Repair with Diagnostic Flowcharts – Troubleshooting Dell, HP, Sony, eMachines, IBM, Compaq and Gateway PC’s.
MegaTux, the Dell Thunderbird with 4480 Intel processors will run 1 million copies of bots in a limited area botnet over Wine in order to create simulations of differnet botnets on a massive scale. Researchers can then stop the simulation at any point and have a look at the state of the different virtual PCs. Read more about 1m virtual PCs on one server[…]
This thing is made up from a few pieces of PVC piping, costs around $10,- to make and works really really well. Homemade Steadicam Costs About $24,990 Less Than The Real Thing – Steadicam – Gizmodo.
DataSlide’s Hard Rectangular Drive (HRD) does not use read-write heads moving across the recording surface of a spinning hard disk drive (HDD). Instead an ultra-thin, 2-dimensional array of 64 read-write heads, operating in parallel, is positioned above an piezo-electric-driven oscillating rectangular recording surface, and delivers 160,000 random IOPS with a 500MB/sec transfer rate. via DataSlide Read more about DataSlide reinvents hard drive[…]
The idea is to use cheap off-peak energy at night to freeze a tank of water or “distributed energy storage system” then use that great block of ice to cool your data centre in the daytime. Refrigerant would circulate from the tank to the Data Aire equipment eliminating the need to run the energy-intensive compressor Read more about Ice air con system aims for cool on the cheap[…]
as it turns out from the launcher screen of your Pre simply type in the phrase “upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart” — which if you parse with spacing might be more easily recognizable as the infamous Contra Konami code look it up — and up comes a hidden app called “Developer Mode Enabler.” via The secret to Palm Pre Read more about Palm Pre Development code[…]
It’s only been a few days since the Palm Pre was released, but one of the biggest breakthroughs for the outside-the-system developer community may have just been made. With this, people can probably tell how the OS hooks into the hardware, which will allow them to hook in themselves – something Palm itself has been Read more about Pre Recovery Tool Leaks Out, Including webOS Root Image(!)[…]
It’s been a long long while since anything new has come out for military flight sim enthusiasts, and this looks like it is just what the doctor ordered. Since Vista dropped support for the gameport – and thus for my F-15 inspired Suncom set up (no longer for sale, but definitely the best stick / Read more about Logitech’s Force Feedback Flight System[…]
A Parisian scientist at the observatory has figured out a way to fix your position in time and galactic space by measuring the radio signals sent out by four pulsars.
The Toradex Robin Modules for Intel Atom are tiny and cheap: around $129,- and up.
Kinetic Energy Recovery System, stores the energy created by regenerative breaking and stores it in a battery. When the driver presses a button, he gets a turbo boost as the energy store is emptied onto the drivetrain. This system gives him up to 6.5s of turbo boost per lap.
Only $40,000
This external HD, in 500 GB, 1TB or 1.5TB, is fireproof for 30 minutes at 1550o F and can stand submerged in 10′ water for 3 days. It comes with a 3 year disaster recovery plan, and is priced fairly reasonably.
Not being a fan of taking the control panel off your radio every time you leave the car, I used to have a Sony with a blank face, which swivelled when you wanted to use the controls. This JVC is fully touch screen, allowing the same functionality.
This thing is totally awesome: a UPMP the size of a phone with a touchscreen, sliding qwerty keyboard with 3G in it. At $1500 the price isn’t too bad either.
This machine will take a 3D object on a turntable and scan it in 3D
It’s a full size keyboard. With a touchscreen. And a whole PC inside it. With loads of ports on it. Now you just need a roll up screen to carry it in and you’re superportable!
This causes vibration which in turn leads to quite measurable latency.