Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, March 22, 2010

MIT Student Invention Deployed in Haiti to Save Lives

Source: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/mit-student-invents-life-altering-medical-pump

Hand-powered negative-pressure pump is designed to speed wound healing

While many MIT students busily build break-dancing robots or websites that let your pets network better at doggie daycare, PhD candidate Danielle Zurovcik has designed a $3 pump to drastically speed up the healing of countless patients in the aftermath of Haiti's recent earthquake.

The device simplifies and lightens a common piece of medical equipment called a negative-pressure pump. Used to accelerate wound healing and reduce the frequency that bandages need to be changed, even the most portable of these pumps costs $100 a day to rent, and weighs 10 pounds with batteries. The pump Zurovcik invented costs $3 total, weighs less than half a pound, uses only 14 microwatts of power, and can be charged with a hand pump.

The pump works by sucking bacteria and rancid fluids out of a wound, and by encouraging healing blood flow. Inspired by a toilet plunger, Zurovcik's device consists of nothing more than a bellows pump, a plastic tube, and a fitting that covers the wound or amputation site.

Zurovcik originally intended to test the device in Rwanda, but when the Haitian earthquake hit, she joined up with a wound-care team, and deployed her new invention. It may not be the most mysterious quantum doodad or augmented-reality monocle, but Zurovcik's pump proves that sometimes the most useful futuristic technology is actually just simpler, cheaper, easier, and fills a proven need.

[Technology Review]

MakeMKV Rips DVDs and Blu-Rays With Just Two Clicks [Downloads]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5498519/makemkv-rips-dvds-and-blu+rays-with-just-two-clicks

MakeMKV Rips DVDs and Blu-Rays With Just Two Clicks Windows/Mac/Linux: It's still slim pickings when it comes to finding a good freeware application for ripping Blu-Ray discs, but ripping and converting tool MakeMKV is free for as long as it's in beta—and it's undoubtedly the simplest ripper around.

Those of you with large Blu-Ray collections have probably already invested in a good ripping tool, but those running a bit behind on the format changes (or that don't have the space on your HTPC to hold all those 50 GB files) should take advantage of this limited time opportunity. MakeMKV is a two-click decrypting, ripping and converting tool for DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. Literally all you do is pop in the disc, click the DVD or Blu-Ray icon, and then hit Make MKV—30 minutes later, you've got yourself a high-definition MKV file that can be played in most media players (like Lifehacker favorites VLC or XBMC). You can opt to rip only certain chapters, as well as edit a few advanced preferences, but the default settings work just fine for those not well versed in DVD ripping lingo.

MakeMKV is a free download for all operating systems. DVD ripping will always be free, but Blu-Ray ripping is only free as long as it's in beta, after which it will go to a to-be-determined price, so get ripping now!

MakeMKV [via AddictiveTips]

The iPad Kindle App Is a Peek at Kindle's Full Color Future [Kindle]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5498724/the-ipad-kindle-app-is-a-peek-at-kindles-full-color-future

The Kindle iPad app's more than an upscaled iPhone port, with a new "tablet-based interface that redesigns the core screen and the reading experience," says Kindle VP Ian Freed. In other words, it's a peek at the future of Kindle.

Here's how the NYT describes it (the pic above is of Apple's iBooks app):

The Kindle app for the iPad, which Amazon demonstrated to a reporter last week, allows readers to slowly turn pages with their fingers. It also presents two new ways for people to view their entire e-book collection, including one view where large images of book covers are set against a backdrop of a silhouetted figure reading under a tree. The sun's position in that image varies with the time of day.

It's hard to tell from that whether it's going to be more like Cover Flow, or like the iPad's kinda cheesy wood bookshelves. But, it's likely our first taste of the Kindle interface for the new, super Kindles being developed with full color multitouch displays and Wi-Fi. Or at least, it's practice for Amazon. (Granted, those super Kindles at least a year away, unless Amazon had been working everything but the touchscreen before they bought Touchco, the company supplying their quite cool-sounding multitouch display tech.)

The reason Amazon and Barnes & Noble need apps to get their books onto your iPad, even though Steve Jobs touted the iPad's format of choice, epub, for its popularity and openness, is that they each use their own crazy formats and DRM (particularly Amazon). Amazon's books won't work at all, and the only B&N books that'll work are DRM-free epub files. Obviously, the apps offer other benefits, like syncing, but format compatibility is a huge reason.

The question, really, is whether or not Apple's going to let them build their own ebook stores into the apps, now that they'd be competing with Apple's own iBooks store. B&N's iPhone app, for instance, lets you buy books directly through the app, but iBooks wasn't an issue at the time.

The best thing Apple could do? Let them be. The easiest way to convert a Kindle customer into an iBooks customer is to let them seamlessly move to the iPad, bringing all their old books and their Kindle account with them. Then, if the iBooks experience is better than Kindle's or B&N's, for the same price, they'll switch. If people can't bring their old books along for the ride, they're less likely to hop on, plus if Apple gimps or bans Amazon or B&N's apps, they'll just look like callow dicks, afraid of the competition. If the competition makes everybody's ebook apps better, then everybody wins. Then again, if Apple's selling tons of iPads, making lots of money, I guess they win either way. [NYT]

(P.S. If you want to send us photos of the Kindle iPad app, that would be dandy.)

MSI's 15.6-inch P600 gives a Core i5 to those 'business folks'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/22/msis-15-6-inch-p600-gives-a-core-i5-to-those-business-folks/

MSI may still be struggling for respect here in America, but one thing's for sure: it's got you covered on all bases. From netbooks to entertainment rigs to this here business machine, MSI's got a lappie for just about every possible type of user. The understated 15.6-incher sports a fancy new Core i5 processor, the company's own ECO Engine (for saving power when you're not taxing the system), a battery good for eight hours, biometric fingerprint reader for keeping those top secret company documents under wraps and a multitouch trackpad to boot. Since it's meant for business, you'll only get an integrated graphics set, but you will find up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 1,366 x 768 resolution panel, a 250/320/500GB hard drive, SD / SDHC / MMC card reader, HDMI / VGA outputs, a pair of USB 2.0 sockets, eSATA, audio in / out, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Per usual, MSI's not dishing details on pricing and availability, but we're sure it'll be ready for the taking here soon.

MSI's 15.6-inch P600 gives a Core i5 to those 'business folks' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Hot Hardware | source

MSI | Email this | Comments

Infinite USB plug is a big idea for small conveniences

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/22/infinite-usb-plug-is-a-big-idea-for-small-conveniences/

In a classic case of "why didn't we think of this first," Chinese design student Gonglue Jiang has shown us a new way for overcoming the limitations imposed by the scarcity of USB ports on some computers. Instead of forcing you to constantly hot swap devices into that one port, Gonglue's Infinite USB plugs keep all your cables connected, thereby facilitating those smartphone syncs, spy camera recharges, and -- for the ultimate irony -- maybe even a USB hub. If you're thinking this would be brought down by a bout of bandwidth starvation once you start some USB multitasking, you're probably right, but power shortages shouldn't be an issue as the author has also come up with an external power connector that joins into his Infinite queue of connectivity. If only this wasn't just a concept.

Infinite USB plug is a big idea for small conveniences originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Yanko Design | source

Gonglue Jiang | Email this | Comments