Rumor: Apple MacBook Event on Oct. 14 [Rumor]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389006266/rumor-apple-macbook-event-on-oct-14

Yesterday's new iPods were lovely and all, but if you're like me, you wanted something more. Like some notebooks. Not to worry, Daring Fireball's John Gruber says according to the standard "sources familiar with Apple's hardware plans" that its "Let's MacBook" event will happen on Oct. 14.

While he doesn't get specific what the new hardware will be, the heavily favored are new MacBooks clad in aluminum (peace out white), and new MacBook Pros, both long overdue for an overhaul. Also likely is a gut refresh of the MacBook Air, with a faster processor, and as MacRumors points out, the iPod classic's new 120GB HDD is the same kind used in the Air.

An October event also matches up with the date floated for the most pipe dreamy of all MacBook rumors, a MacBook Touch, and Apple's recent warning to retailers to stock up on current inventory. What are you hoping for? [Daring Fireball via MacRumors]

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TEAM 0.5 Microsope Takes Closest Look Ever at Graphene, the World's Strongest Known Material [Powerful Microscopes]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389035648/team-05-microsope-takes-closest-look-ever-at-graphene-the-worlds-strongest-known-material

Graphene is getting a lot of publicity these days. It is being hailed as the future of the electronics industry—the material that will eventually replace silicon. It has also recently been confirmed as the world's strongest known material. Now, researchers at the Berkeley Lab have thrust graphene into the spotlight once again thanks to the TEAM 0.5: the world's most powerful transmission electron microscope. It has produced the first "stunning" images of graphene's individual carbon atoms.

Now, I'm no scientist, but apparently this sort of image gives even the most seasoned electron microscopist a raging science boner. But it is not so much about the graphene as it is about the potential of the TEAM 0.5. One researcher noted that it "allows for the detection of every single atom from the Periodic Table provided that the sample under investigation can stand the radiation damage." Basically, it can study individual atoms in real time and produce high-resolution images of its subject. That will allow researchers to fully realize the potential of graphene by understanding how defects in the crystal structure can effect its properties. And they claim this is only the tip of the iceberg. Noooow I feel a science boner coming on. [Nanowerk and Science Daily]

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Leica's $11,000 Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 Lens Is a Nightvision Owl Eye For Your Camera [Cameras]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389058581/leicas-11000-noctilux-50mm-f095-lens-is-a-nightvision-owl-eye-for-your-camera

Yeah, you read that right: f/ zero point nine five. As in less than f/1, which was where Leica's legendary Noctilux was positioned before and as low as Canon goes with their 50mm f/1.0L glass, making it the world's fastest major consumer lens on the market today (f-numbers are logarithmic, so that's over a full exposure stop lower for over double the light of an f/1.4 lens). The new Noctilux was leaked by a French magazine with details of a Photokina release later this month, and it looks like it'll use Leica's standard M mount, so it will work with your M8 digital or any other M-mount camera (Epson RD-1s owners, all five of you!) to let you take pictures like this:

Yeah, that's candlelight only. Taken with the previous f/1.0 Noctilux, natch, so you could even swap it for an even smaller candle and still pull off the same shot, or try some insane depth-of-field bokeh effects. Awesome stuff, all for €8,000 ($11,260).

And now that you're in a tizzy about super-fast, super-expensive lenses, take a look at the incredible story of the custom Zeiss lens Stanley Kubrick demanded for candle-lit scenes in Barry Lyndon. It opened up to a crazy f/0.7. Well worth the read.

[Leica Rumors via Gadget Lab, Photo: lylevincent]

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Google and Friends to Bring Satellite Internets To 3 Billion People in Africa and Other Developing Markets [Google]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389128343/google-and-friends-to-bring-satellite-internets-to-3-billion-people-in-africa-and-other-developing-markets

Today Google, along with HSBC and a few other investors, helped place an order for 16 low-orbit Thales Alenia satellites to begin the push for a massive broadband deployment in Africa and beyond that it hopes will help connect the 3 billion people in the world who are currently webless. It's a noble plan, with quite a long ways to go.

Google and their partners threw in $60 million out of the required $150-$180m into the kitty of O3b Networks (the other 3 billion, get it?), the firm established to launch the satellites and manage the initiative. A satellite downlink is of course only the first step in setting up a fresh broadband network, but the company also has plans to convert mobile phone towers into multipurpose high-speed network nodes, which when complete is estimated to cost $750m all told. Google says it will help drop the price of broadband by up to 95% in some places where it's a rare commodity. When the satellites are launched in 2010, that's one step closer to 3 billion more new Googlers, looking at AdSense ads all the way, of course. [Financial Times via /.]

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Crysis Warhead Ultra Optimized PC Comes with Face-Melting Specs... for $700? [PCs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389163372/crysis-warhead-ultra-optimized-pc-comes-with-face+melting-specs-for-700

The guys at GameCyte are keyed up to try out Crysis Warhead on the Optimized PC, a Core 2 Duo E7300, GeForce 9800GT system built by Ultra and vetted by game developer Crytek to bring the game fully to life (and death). The clincher: It only costs $700. Since the GameCyte guys thought this was too good to be true, they started asking Ultra some uncomfortable questions.

Fearing that the system came as a bag of components, they were relieved to hear that it was actually a fully built and tested system. Fearing a white-box scenario where you have to add on your own OS, they again were happy to hear it comes with Windows XP Pro installed with the latest service pack—though it doesn't appear the game comes in the bundle. Ultra claims that the Optimized PC will run Crysis Warhead at the highest DX9 setting, at 30 frames per second, and that the game was actually "fine tuned" to work with Nvidia 9800 GT video card.

Pre-orders at TigerDirect.com start next week. Sounds like a sweet deal to me—even if you still have to buy the game and a monitor and speakers—but give me your thoughts... You buyin' this? [GameCyte]

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