Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, October 01, 2007

NetBank Joins The Deadpool

from Techcrunch by Duncan Riley

NetBank, one of the first online banking startups and a survivor of the first web bubble, was closed Friday after intervention from the US Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

NetBank had been in trouble for some time with failed mortgages and serious operating deficiencies. The service, which floated at $12 a share in 1997 hit a high of $249/ share in April 1999 until settling to a price of $15 a share in mid 2004. The company was delisted from the NASDAQ on August 3 this year and last traded at $0.068 on the OTC board on Friday.

An interesting comparison can be drawn between NetBank's model and a number of verticals being targeted by startups today. In 96 internet banking was new and the big players were only just starting to roll out internet banking services, and even then they weren't very exciting. Services such as NetBank offered a product suite that was innovative at the time; however the major players saw a demand for online services and eventually caught up. It's not too dissimilar today to the various Google Maps mashup services that have launched, only to find Google 6 months later offering the same features themselves. We've seen it a little bit with MySpace add-ons and I suspect we'll see it with Facebook in the months to come as well.

Existing NetBank accounts have been acquired by ING Direct. NetBank joins the veiled halls of the TechCrunch Deadpool.

Water bridge created with high voltage

from Boing Boing by David Pescovitz

Physicist Elmar Fuchs and his colleagues from Graz University of Technology are investigating why water, when exposed to high voltages, forms this strange liquid bridge as the liquid moves from one beaker to another. They published their research in the Jouranl of Physics D: Applied Physics. The water bridge was cylindrical with a diameter of 1 to 3 mm and spanned as much as 25 mm. From PhysOrg.com:

The group's analyses have shown that the explanation may lie within the nature of the water's structure. Initially, the bridge forms due to electrostatic charges on the surface of the water. The electric field then concentrates inside the water, arranging the water molecules to form a highly ordered microstructure. This microstructure remains stable, keeping the bridge intact.

Link to Physorg article, Link to the scientific paper (Thanks, Sean Ness!)

Firefox: Run Faster Without Rebooting Reinstalling

from Lifehacker by Wendy Boswell

If Firefox has a flaw to get bummed about, it's that it slows down your machine after a few hours of steady computing. Digital Inspiration has a workaround for this that (yay!) does not include any sort of ~~restart~~ reinstalling:

Start Firefox and export your bookmarks as a file on your hard-drive (we'll need them later).
Type firefox.exe - P in the Run box of Windows.
Click the Create Profile button without making any modifications to your existing profile (which is normally called "default")

That should do it; now, when you start Firefox in your new profile, you should be up to speed (get it?). Sure, it won't have all the tweaks of your old profile, but if you're just looking for a CPU break, this might be the way to go. Note: Be sure to check out Gina's post on managing multiple Firefox profiles for further info.

Firefox Running Slow? Make It Fast Again Without Re-Installation [Digital Inspiration]

Image Editing: Resize Images without Sacrificing Content with GIMP or Rsizr

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

Popout Ever have to crop or resize a picture to fit it better on a web site but end up disappointed with the content you have to lose from the photo? Using a method called liquid rescaling, your pics can be rescaled while retaining almost all of the pertinent content, so you can get the best of both worlds—a smaller image that retains everything you want. If it still sounds a little unclear, check out the video to see this brilliant idea in action.

If you're a fan of the open source image editor GIMP, you can download and install the Liquid Rescale GIMP plug-in to get liquid rescaling results (after you install it by moving the downloaded files into your GIMP directory, you'll see the Liquid Rescale option under the Layer menu). If you don't feel like installing anything, you should try out the Rsizr webapp, which does the rescaling from the comfort of your browser. Both tools are a good deal slower than what you see in the very cool video above, and neither are implemented to the full extent of what you're seeing in the video, but the results are still promising.

Liquid Rescale GIMP plugin Rsizr [via Photojojo]

Clocks: CB2's World Panel Clock is Sci-Fi Sexy

from Gizmodo by Haroon Malik

Our desks are so cluttered we have given up the fight for organization, and that is exactly why we are tempted by CB2's World Panel Clock. The transparent LCD display looks Star Trek awesome and has all sorts of useless information we would otherwise have on our desktops, including time and calendar functions.

As you well know, we are suckers for cool, as you can tell from our fantastic fashion sense...well, CB2's World Panel Clock certainly does have ample flair, with a brushed aluminum base and a slanted transparent display. The timepiece is battery powered, which will saves you adding to your wired disorganization and is available for a reasonable $24.95. The fight against unneeded, largely pointless gizmos is futile—we'll have one over here, please. [Product Page via Technabob]

Mansion: Jelly-fish 45 Habitat Won't Sting Your Pocket Too Much

from Gizmodo by Haroon Malik

If you have fallen a little short of the $50 million price tag for a Poseidon 180, fret not, the Jelly-fish 45 Habitat will set you back only a mere $2.5 million. Bargain! Designed by Giancarlo Zema, the "floating dwelling" comprises five separate levels all connected by a snazzy spiral staircase.

The floors are split into cheesy zone-titled areas including study, night, day, guest and viewing quarters. Though, if you purchase the floating mansion, you may abide by whichever nomenclature you wish. The viewpoint stretches 3m below the surface and looks jellyfish-like fantastic. The colossal seat-in-the-sea stands 10m high and 15m wide. Now, if I manage to roll out one hundred posts in 24 hours, Blam promises me a tour of his Jelly-fish 45 Habitat—game on! [Product Page via Ballers Guide]

Speechless: AT&T Lets You Talk, But Limits What You Say

from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

AT&T has revised their Terms of Service in a manner that should horrify the consumer public. Usually such updates screw the customer subtly, but AT&T's new adjustment ironically pulls freedom of speech directly from those using AT&T's service to speak. In short, if you slam AT&T, they can pull your service:

AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes...(c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.

Of course, AT&T has overlooked one important fact about their TOS: they can't cancel a customer's service who will no longer do business with them anyway. Changes in TOS are often a loophole out of your contract. And if I were an AT&T customer, my choice would be pretty clear. [TOS via morningpaper]

Intel fleshes out 45nm Yorkfield launch details

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

It's been quite a while since we've heard anything from Intel on the Yorkfield front, but that looks to have changed in a hurry, with the company now busting out a whole slew of specifics on the forthcoming processors. First up is news that Intel will be releasing an "Extreme Edition" of the 45nm quad-core processor on November 12th, well ahead of the January 2008 launch for its decidedly less-extreme counterparts. Helping the processor (dubbed the QX9650) earn that designation is its top of the crop 3.0GHz clock speed, along with 12MB of L2 cache, and an extremely hot 130W TDP rating, not to mention a price just shy of $1,000. If that's all a bit too extreme for you, you'll also be able to get your choice of 2.5GHz, 2.66GHz, or 2.88GHz models, each of which scale the TDP rating down to a more manageable 95W, with prices running $266, $316, and $530, respectively. Even further on down the line, Intel's announced details on three dual-core Wolfdale desktop processors, which clock in at 2.66GHz, 3.0GHz, and 3.16GHz. No word on a price for the low-end model just yet, but the 3.0GHz and 3.16GHz are apparently set to run $183 and $266, respectively, with a mid-range 2.83 GHz version expected to eventually round out the lot, according to DailyTech. As if that wasn't enough, Intel's will also apparently be slippig out a 65nm 2.4 GHz dual-core Conroe processor dubbed the E4600 on October 21st, although there's no word on what it'll cost.

iPhone 1.1.1 "bug" unleashes music over Bluetooth

from Engadget by Paul Miller

The iPhone 1.1.1 update has a hidden little surprise for y'all: Bluetooth audio streaming is now available off of your iPhone for whatever you darn please, meaning you can finally listen to music from the phone wirelessly. Oddly enough, this "function" has been unleashed by a Visual Voicemail bug that leaves Bluetooth audio on even after you've left the Voicemail interface. Of course, it's only mono audio, and the audio keeps playing out of your built-in speaker -- if you plug in headphones to cut off the speaker you'll lose Bluetooth streaming as well -- but it's nice to see Apple forking over some "should have been there in the first place" functionality accidentally to go along with all that stuff of the same ilk 1.1.1 took away from us.

Sony Drive XEL-1 OLED TV

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

It's here friends, Sony's Drive teaser is none other than their 3-mm thin, 1,000,000:1 OLED TV, just announced official with a December 1st Japanese retail date. The 11-inch SonyDrive XEL-1 set features a 960 x 540 pixel resolution, terrestrial digital tuner, 2x 1W speaker, and HDMI, USB, and Ethernet jacks in a package measuring 287 x 140 x 253-mm and 2-kg (3.3-pounds). How much? Well, ¥200,000 or about $1,740 -- That's about $160 per inch of OLED. Rich indeed, but so it goes for first generation technology.

Gallery: The SonyDrive XEL-1 OLED TV: 1,000,000:1 contrast starting December 1st

[Via Impress]

Friday, September 28, 2007

In the Lab: Beetle Juice

from Earth2Tech by Georgia Flight

We know you're busy, so we'll forgive you for overlooking this week's announcement that researchers at England's University of Leeds have discovered a way to mimic the toxic defensive spray of the bombardier beetle. But you'll want to sit up and pay attention when you find out why: to create a new water-based compression technology called µMist that's being touted as the key to everything from improved fuel efficiency to next generation fire suppression to chemical-free drug delivery.

The lead researcher, Professor Andy McIntosh, describes the beetle's abilities as a type of complex pressure cooker. "Essentially it's a high-force steam cavitation explosion," he says in the release , "Using a chamber less than one millimeter long, this amazing creature has the ability to change the rapidity of what comes out, its direction and its consistency."

The µMist spray technology represents a huge potential leap forward for the precision control of droplet size, velocity and consistency, which in turn could have a massive impact on the efficiency of any system that uses mist as a delivery system–namely fire suppression, medical drug delivery and of course, fuel injection. The team has built a 2-cm chamber that can deliver mists up to 13 feet away, or produce a mist as fine as two microns. Hmm, imagine a fire extinguisher that fits in your pocket…

Say it with us now: Beetle juice, beetle juice, beetle juice. Biotech startup Swedish Biomimetics 3000, a self-described "V2PIO" (that's virtual venture philanthropic intersectional organization), found the research so promising that the company has inked a worldwide exclusive development and marketing deal for the µMist technology. No word yet on when these beetles will make their U.S. invasion.

Jajah Now Does Click To Call For Anyone

from TechCrunch by Nick Gonzalez

Jajah will be officially announcing their click-to-call buttons on Monday. The buttons, which let people call the owner for free and anonymously, have been quietly in private beta over the past year. They are also taking on international calling card services and Jaxtr and Jangl, who already have click-to-call offerings on social networks and dating sites.

The call buttons are available to registered Jajah users and come as a bit of embed code you can put on your web page or at the end of an email. They come with several customizations. You can adjust the CSS styling, adjust the number it calls, and restrict which countries can try to call you.

When users click the button, the caller enters their phone number and Jajah connects the two parties over a VOIP line. The callee is then told who called and asked if they want to accept the call, say they're busy, or blacklist the number. If they accept the call, the minutes are charged to their Jajah account, like an "800 number". At two to three cents per minute, it can be used for some cheap long distance calling. For the cost conscious, Jaxtr and Jangl are still free, however.

Fusion-io's ioDrive puts power of a SAN on a PCIe card

from Engadget by Darren Murph

In a recent demonstration at DEMOFall '07, Fusion-io showed off its newest PCIe device, which reportedly "places the power of a SAN (storage area network) in the palm of your hand." Essentially, this single device boasts up to 640GB of storage capacity, delivers 100,000 IOPS (input / output per second) and can achieve sustained data rates of 800Mb/sec (read) and 600Mb/sec (write)." In marketing terms, the ioDrive can perform "nearly a thousand times faster than any existing disk drive," and it can reportedly be integrated into existing data centers or workstations without any alterations to your infrastructure. Next quarter, the outfit will begin shipping the card in 40GB, 80GB, 160GB and 320GB configurations (with the 640GB flavor to follow suit), but unfortunately, official prices have not yet been divulged. Oh, and be sure to check out a video of the ioDrive's unveiling here. [Via TGDaily]

Thursday, September 27, 2007

MAGNETIC REFRIGERATOR NEEDS NO ELECTRICITY

Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark have created a refrigerator that cools using magnets instead of electricity

A group of researchers at the Technical University of Denmark's project laboratory in Risø have discovered a cooling method that uses magnetic materials instead of electricity, reported daily free newspaper Nyhedsavisen.

The invention will allow for refrigerators to replace existing electric refrigerators in homes and businesses with a fully environmentally friendly power source. Although the first prototype will not be ready until 2010, the project's researchers say the appliance's cooling cycle efficiency will be 60 percent greater than that of conventional refrigerators.

The new method uses opposing magnetic fields to increase the temperature of the materials employed. The heat energy is transported through a non-volatile fluid, such as water, and then thermodynamically reversed to a cold temperature. The scientists have already been able to cool a 20° C room to 11°C using the new technology.

'It probably isn't realistic to believe that magnetic cooling technology will be immediately available for consumer use, especially as refrigerator manufacturers have brought prices down so much in the past few years,' said Christian Bahl, one of DTU's project researchers.

But Bahl said another of the magnetic refrigerator's advantages is that it is silent.

'So it will likely be first used in various niche areas, such as places where a quiet environment is an important factor.'

Although magnetic cooling is not in itself a new research field, the DTU scientists were the first to use the technology in an actual physical setting to cool room temperatures.

The Copenhagen Post

Edited September 17, 2007

Utilities: Automatically Refresh Any Web Page with Page Reboot

from Lifehacker by Gina Trapani

Keep an eye on that eBay auction in its closing minutes automatically with Page Reboot, a web service that refreshes a given web site every 30 seconds (or any interval you set). Similar to the ReloadEvery Firefox extension, drop the URL into Page Reboot's refresh box, set the refresh interval (in seconds) and go. A bookmarklet version is also available.

PAGE REBOOT [via Micro Persuasion]

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