MIT's handheld FAR-NDT device sees cracks in structures

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

We've already seen radars come in handy when dodging impending attacks and avoiding accidents, but researchers at MIT are utilizing the technology to make sure our roadways and structures aren't pushed beyond their limits. A newfangled handheld device uses FAR-NDT (far-field airborne radar nondestructive testing) in order to "see through the fiberglass-polymer wrapping often used to strengthen aging concrete columns to detect damage behind the wrapping not visible to the naked eye." Furthermore, the technique can be executed from about 30 feet away and "requires no dismantling or obstruction of the infrastructure" in order to provide instant feedback. Unsurprisingly, creators are suggesting that it will be best used on bridges and piers which are typically difficult to carefully inspect, and while there's no word on when this stuff will hit DOT offices nationwide, current prototypes are panning out quite well. [Via Physorg]

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Intel's P35 "Bearlake" chipset gets benchmarked, reviewed

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

Those of you that have been itching to see just how well the first batch of Intel P35 "Bearlake" motherboards perform can now rest a bit easier, as the first reviews and benchmarks are finally starting to trickle in. From the looks of it, HotHardware is among the first to do the honors, getting their hands on Asus's new P5K3 Deluxe motherboard and some Corsair XMS3 DDR3 memory to go along with it. According to their findings, that combination delivered 2 to 5% boost in performance over its 965 counterpart across a range of applications, with the mobo also delivering some modest gains when loaded up with DDR2 memory. While that may seem like a relatively small bump in performance, HotHardware sees plenty more room for the chipset to grow, most notably with the addition of 1733MHz DDR3 memory. About the only downsides they could find are the DDR3 RAM's somewhat high latency and the high cost of the hardware for early adopters, although that's hardly a surprise. Those still craving some more details can hit up the link below for the complete rundown.

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Dell XPS 720 H2C gets official

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

We already knew it was coming and knew what it'd look like, but we've now got the official word from Dell on its new high-end XPS 720 H2C Edition, which is sure to delight those with big pocketbooks and a penchant for slanted boxes. Boasting a starting price in the neighborhood of $6,000, this mammoth rig comes equipped with your choice of factory overclocked QX6700 or QX6800 Core 2 Extreme processors, dual GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards, a pair of 160GB SATA hard drives, some overclocked Corsair Dominator DDR2 memory, a Blu-ray drive, and, of course, Dell's trademark H2C thermo-electric/liquid cooling system. As of yet, there's no word on a non-H2C model. Those in the U.S. can get their orders in now, while those in Europe will have to wait a few more weeks.

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Medical records of Colorado residents compromised

from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin

Jon Gordon from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) says,

On MPR's wavLength blog and American Public Media's Future Tense program, there's a story about how we came across personally identifiable medical records for thousands of residents of Colorado (and some from Illinois) on an FTP server that required no username/password to view the data. Data was sensitive, and some records included SSNs.

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Why English is Hard

Big difference between "attendee" and "attendant" -- one attends, the other attends to. :-)

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