Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, May 17, 2007

A New Visa Card For Spending Green

Posted May 4th 2007 11:01AM by Deidre Woollard Filed under: Services

Your Centurion card comes with a lot of perks but saving the planet isn't one of them. The first card that purports to do that is the ReDirect Guide Visa , a credit card that promises to help fight climate change with every purchase and offers customers discounts from green businesses. A percentage of each purchase goes to carbon offset programs to fund renewable energy and sustainable development programs through Sustainable Travel International. The card is offered through ShoreBank Pacific which is the first FDIC-insured commercial bank in the U.S. committed to sustainable community development.

copyclaim.com - Proof of Authorship?

Augustine: uuuuhhhh... getting a timestamp and hash of a piece of digital content you have on your computer does not prove you own it or created it ("ownership or authorship")... am I missing something here? (and their java app crashed my Firefox! damn!) from KillerStartups.com - published startups by Alexstl

Have you ever felt that someone is stealing your ideas, or plagiarizing your work? CopyClaim can help put a stop to that. CopyClaim is an internet tool that allows you to take a time stamp of your creative work, such as audio and video files, or pictures, enabling you to prove possession of the digital content at a certain time and certain date. With the time stamp you can then register your work and have the ability to prove the time of creation. There is no need to upload your files to the site, only hash values are registered, like MD5 and SHA. It is a safe and convenient way to protect your work. In their own words: "A free timestamp service without the need of additional software. You even don't need to create a user account." Why it might be a killer: Musicians, artists, and writers are increasingly posting songs, stories, pictures, and many other forms of creative work on the internet. No one wants their work to be stolen, or credited by someone else. CopyClaim can simplify the process of having your work copyrighted, and it soon could become a necessity for all creative works to be protected with a copyright. Some questions: Will people trust the site with their information that they want kept secret or protected? » original news

Researchers utilize electricity to move magnetically-stored data

Posted May 14th 2007 3:31AM by Darren Murph Filed under: Storage

While Fujitsu works overtime in order to boost hard drive capacity by 500-percent in just two years, researchers at the University of Hamburg in Germany are devising a method to move magnetically-stored data around a HDD "a hundred times faster than currently possible." Guido Meier and colleagues are purportedly using "nanosecond pulses of electric current to push magnetic regions along a wire at 110-meters per second," which easily trumps today's method of using comparatively slow spinning discs to access data. Additionally, their vision of the next-generation hard drive will sport fewer mechanical parts in order to lessen the "wear and tear" that existing units face. Notably, the idea behind the creation was actually conjured up by an IBM employee in 2004, but if the Germans crafting the current prototype have anything to say about it, said idea could turn into reality sooner than later. read more

LG Philips announces A4 color e-paper

Posted May 14th 2007 5:50AM by Darren Murph Filed under: Displays

While this doesn't mark the first time that we've caught wind of colorized electronic paper, South Korea's LG Philips has announced that an A4-sized rendition of the vivid bendable display has successfully been developed in its labs. The panel reportedly measures just 35.9-centimeters diagonally, is 0.3-millimeter thick, and can display up to 4,096 colors while maintaining the energy efficient qualities that inevitably come with using energy only when the image changes. Unsurprisingly, the company plans on marketing the device as one of convenience and doesn't hesitate to tout its greenness in the process, but unfortunately, it failed to mention when this would find its way out into the general public. [Via Physorg]

Dubai Burj al-Taqa skyscraper to generate all its own energy

Posted May 14th 2007 8:16AM by Conrad Quilty-Harper

Filed under: Household

A skyscraper in Dubai is being designed so that it generates all of its energy through renewable means such as wind turbines and solar panels. On top of the tower will be a 200 foot turbine that harnesses the power of the wind, and an array of solar panels on the roof and a series of islands that stretches over 161,459 square feet. The tower will also feature a massive solar shield to protect it from the sun, and vacuum glazed glass that will reduce the amount of heat absorbed from the extreme temperatures (up to 50 degrees C / 122 degrees F), presumably meaning less reliance on traditional air conditioning. Talking of air conditioning, the main system for cooling the air inside the tower uses a convection system which pulls in cold air at the ground level, and sucks it up out of the top of the tower. The air conditioning will use seawater, and underground cooling units lower the temperature inside to 18 degrees C / 64.4 degrees F. This building may be a technological beacon for environmentally friendly skyscrapers, but as a commenter on metaefficient points out, new building designs don't do much to solve the inefficiency of older buildings in cities. Although that doesn't mean we can't imagine what it'd be like to work and live in a sea of glass and metal without feeling slightly bad about it. [Via Metaefficient]

'Layered-layered' materials promise longevous Li-ions

Posted May 14th 2007 9:54AM by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

It's been a tick since we've heard details on an emerging battery technology that promises to trounce even the best products currently available, but researchers at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have reportedly developed yet another approach to boosting Li-ion capacity and stability. The technology is "based on a new material for the positive electrode made of a unique nano-crystalline, layered-composite structure," which allows an active components to provide for charge storage while residing in an inactive components which assists in keeping the risk of explosion low. Current claims are putting the capacity right around "double that of conventional Li-ion cells," and it could be used in a variety of wares from "mobiles, laptops, pacemakers and defibrillators, or even hybrid / electric vehicles." Unfortunately, there was no timetable as to when scientists expected said technology to actually be available commercially, so until then, we'll consider this yet another promise on pause.

3G option coming to MacBook Pros?

Posted May 14th 2007 10:34AM by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

Not that any of this should be a surprise, but AppleInsider says that Apple may offer a "3G wireless" option on future notebooks. Citing an "unproven but seemingly credible source," the venerable rumor mongering site says that Apple has asked for a PCI Express mini-card adapter to integrate a WWAN module inside the display lid of some future Apple laptop. While the source would not state which 3G technology would be used or which laptop(s) would benefit, HSDPA in a MacBook Pro is certainly the most likely combination what with Apple's new found love-in with AT&T. Best part? Bluetooth back to your WWAN-enabled MacBook and you've got the world's first 3G iPhone.

Samsung poised to introduce white LED-backlit displays

Posted May 14th 2007 4:04PM by Erik Hanson

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Samsung LED LCD television

Samsung believes that by 2010, 30% of all LCD televisions will include LED backlights instead of the conventional flourescent used in most sets now. What's different from the LED units we've seen before is that Samsung wants to use white LEDs, with single diodes custom-coated to produce the same backlight previously requiring combinations of red, green, and blue bulbs. Samsung recently invested in Intematix, which produces custom phosphor coatings for LED bulbs to create uniform color -- required in a television to faithfully reproduce colors. Until recently costs have been higher for LED backlight units, keeping them relegated to higher-end models. Samsung claims the single bulb process reduces costs by 40%, but time will tell whether white-only LEDs are truly better or cheaper than tri-color LEDs, or if they are just the next "Reveal lightbulb" marketing gimmick.

Fujitsu's 250GB slimster for ultra-portable laptops

Posted May 15th 2007 5:28AM by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Laptops, Storage

Slide on over Samsung, you'll need to make room on your "world's biggest" pedestal for Fujitsu's new 250GB, 2.5-inch drive for laptops. The MHY2BH matches Samsung's line-up nearly spec-for-spec: 12-ms average seek, 8MB cache, SATA interface, 5,400rpm, 24dB operational wheeze, and a slightly better 1.9W power draw. Still, neither can match the 300GB capacity of Fujitsu's other 2.5-incher. But Fujitsu's latest, just like Sammy's, measures in at a mere 9.5-mm thick -- a full 3-mm less than the 300GB beast -- making these the highest capacity drives available in the ultra-portable slimsters we all crave.

New DNA Art from the UK

Posted May 17th 2007 2:05PM by Anton Friant Filed under: Decor, Art

If you're anything like us, you probably appreciate the convergence of art and science slightly more than the average Joe; there's just something extra appealing about sleek, aesthetically attractive representations of the hyper-complex. We found some of this cool 'DNA Art' a while back from a company called DNA11, but it seems they're finally being challenged from the Brits at DNA ART UK Limited. They'll run your DNA as a graphical interpretation (the method that seems to have been popular in the past), but they'll also etch out every letter of your DNA code into a cube of crystal. A little more unique than that Van Gogh print you've had on your wall since college, eh? Just be careful if you're a wine mogul using your DNA to protect your cellar.

Belkin Network USB Hub gets official

Posted May 15th 2007 9:11AM by Darren Murph

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless

Right on cue, Belkin has coughed up the official details surrounding the Network USB Hub that we saw last month. As expected, this five-port USB hub will "work with your existing WiFi router to give you wireless access to printers, media readers, and external hard drives by simulating a direct USB connection that makes your computer think that the devices on the network are directly attached to the computer." Moreover, we now know that "special caching techniques" will enable high-speed USB devices to be supported along with isochronous transfers at full speed. The F5L009 is still on track for a June release here in the US, with launches in Asia, Europe, and, Australia to "follow soon," and while Windows users won't have any qualms trying to best the purported "three minute setup time" that this thing promises, OS X users will be pouting 'til September waiting for drivers. Click on through for one last shot.

Continue reading Belkin Network USB Hub gets official

The Motorola RAZR 2

Posted May 15th 2007 10:05AM by Chris Ziegler Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola has today officially unveiled the successor to one of the most iconic mobiles ever made, the RAZR 2. Available in 3.6Mbps HSDPA, EV-DO, and GSM / EDGE variants as the V9, V9m, and V8 respectively, the GSM and CDMA versions of the device comes in 2 millimeters slimmer than its predecessor and -- on some versions, anyway -- will be the second to use Motorola's new Linux-based platform (the first being the Z6). It includes something Moto is calling "Crystal Talk" technology that automatically adjusts volume and tone based on ambient noise. Other features include external music controls, haptics (read: vibration) for tactile feedback when external touchscreen keys are pressed, a full HTML browser, 2 megapixel cam, the full suite of Bluetooth profiles, Windows Media Player sync, a 2-inch QVGA external display, 2.2-inch QVGA internal display, and twice the screen resolution of the original RAZR. GSM versions start shipping in early July, with CDMA following up later in the summer.

Small LCDs with integrated backlight sensor use 30% less juice

Posted May 16th 2007 6:47AM by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Displays

We seem to have been draining our phone batteries even faster than usual this week, so we find TPO's power-saving display sensor tech to be pretty encouraging news for the future. The Taiwanese display manufacturer has figured out how to integrate ambient light sensors directly into a standard LCD screen, resulting in more accurate light readings than the usual external sensor setup. The system can also compensate for temperature with the addition of a black level sensor, which means the screen can detect light levels from 3 to 10,000 lux and adjust the backlight accordingly. The sensor tech is designed for small screens in mobile devices, and TPO estimates that the setup reduces overall power consumption around 30% under normal use, which would maybe let us get through a day without resorting to buying that enormous external battery pack we've been dreading. No word on when we'll see these screens hit the consumer level, but TPO says mass production won't start until 2008, so better keep that charger handy for a while.

D-Link's Xtreme N Duo MediaBridge enables HD streaming

Posted May 16th 2007 8:34AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Wireless, Networking

It's not too tough these days to find a router with HD streaming in its arsenal, but D-Link is aiming for a slightly different set with its dual-band Xtreme N Duo MediaBridge. Essentially, this liaison connects to your existing router in order to add 5GHz 802.11n abilities to your setup, which purportedly "helps avoid interference by allowing the user to use the 5GHz frequency band to provide a stable high-performance wireless link for streaming HD video." Clearly designed with the DIR-655 in mind, this device also allows up to five Ethernet-enabled media devices to become attached on a separate unit for even more high-definition WiFi streaming. Notably, the DAP-1555 itself doesn't seem to double as an Ethernet router, and unfortunately, you'll have to wait until the thing ships in Q3 to find out how much it'll dent your wallet.

Steinway & Sons, Peter Lyngdorf partner for high-end A/V equipment

Posted May 16th 2007 11:19AM by Ben Drawbaugh

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Steinway & Sons Model-D Music System

In the world of fine audio there aren't many names more prestigious than 154-year old piano maker Steinway & Sons, and now the renowned American manufacturer has partnered with Danish industry-vet and Lyngdorf Audio founder Peter Lyngdorf to release a new line of ultra-high end audio visual systems. Steinway Lyngdorf, as the joint venture is known, claims to be "offering unsurpassed performance, exceptional value and, most importantly, an extraordinary experience for discerning clientele the world over" -- though considering the company's first product has yet to be released, that statement may be a bit bold. The product in question is the so-called Model-D music system which will include a full set of speakers and receiver featuring Lyngdorf's RoomPerfect automatic acoustic calibration system. Sadly for big spenders, less than 100 Model-D's will be available when they hit undisclosed sales channels this fall, so you might want to put down your $150,000 in advance if you hope to grab one.

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