Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Now Available [Now Available]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/jm0JssjZJ2A/now-available

There are great data storage solutions shipping out today. Be sure to take a look at Netgear's new wireless-N router capable of providing access to USB connected hard drives anywhere on the home network.

• Netgear's RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router won the award for "Best of Innovations" at the 2009 CES, and is now set to win over your internet-loving heart. The RangeMax operates on the 2.4 and 5 GHz spectrum, effectively doubling the bandwidth while also avoiding some of the interference from other wireless devices.

One of the RangeMax's keenest features is ReadyServe which allows users to share and access their USB Hard Disks from anywhere on the network simply by plugging it in to one of several USB ports on the router. There is also a broadband monitoring feature that emits a warning if users are close to an ISP imposed data cap, useful for those who find themselves downloading a bit too much "media" every month. The router is capable of 500Mbps WAN to LAN and 350Mbps real-world max transfer rates, the RangeMax goes for $189.99. [PR Newswire]

• Reasonably priced 2TB hard disks have suffered from some awful read times due to the way data is spread out across the platters, but fret not—Western Digital is hoping to remedy the shortcomings with their new Caviar Black 7200RPM drive. The hard drive features a 64MB cache, dual processors and dual actuators to position the drive head more rapidly across four 500GB platters, and is compatible with both SATA I and II interfaces—the drive retails for $299. [Electronista]

According to These Photographs, Superheroes Exist [Photography]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0FfhuOkUZd8/according-to-these-photographs-superheroes-exist

Mark got some light art photographs before, but the new ones in this gallery are so spectacular that they look like frames from a sleekspanky superhero movie. Except that, instead of using computer effects, these are done in real time.

Like Picasso's light drawings, the photos by Lapp-Pro are created using a camera with an open shutter. But instead of just using a simple light, these people use a variety of lighting sources that make their photos look from another world. Another world where dorks fight with actual balls of plasma instead of just pretending to do it while making whishwhoosh sounds with their mouths. [Lapp-pro.de via Daily Mail]

Reality-Augmenting Terminator Vision Contact Lenses Nearly Here (They're in This Bunny's Eye) [Augmented Reality]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6XZrbT6k6UY/reality+augmenting-terminator-vision-contact-lenses-nearly-here-theyre-in-this-bunnys-eye

Amazing and terrifying all at once, reality augmenting contact lenses are nearly real. Like, they're almost here. Circuits and antennas and LEDs in a contact lens, generating virtual imagery, Predator style. In your eyeball. Or, this bunny's:

University of Washington Associate Professor of Biotechnology Babak A. Parviz describes the current state of the art, and it's pretty intense. They're trialing mockups of the lenses—which are sorta like older gas permeable lenses except with independently fabricated microcomponents like, biosensors and circuits—in bunnies' eyeballs right now, using lens with integrated metal circuits, with no problems for up to 20 minutes of wear. They're up to one LED for display now that's powered wirelessly by RF, but eventually, what's embedded in the lenses will include hundreds of LEDs to form images, and semi-transparent optoelectronics like antennas.

They've still got some challenges before they're embedded in everybody's eyeball, like the fact red LEDs contain toxic substances you don't want to shove in your eyeball. And figuring out whether to use an active display, like an array of LED pixels—which is the current main road forward—or a passive display using ambient light that would require less power. What's crazy is that for a truly vivid LED display, because of the way your eye focuses, they need t! o build another tiny array of lenses into the main lens so the virtual image would look visible a foot or so away. Or they use an array of microlasers. Power will come from RF or solar energy.

Bottom line says Parviz:

All the basic technologies needed to build functional contact lenses are in place. We've tested our first few prototypes on animals, proving that the platform can be safe. What we need to do now is show all the subsystems working together, shrink some of the components even more, and extend the RF power harvesting to higher efficiencies and to distances greater than the few centimeters we have now.

[IEEE Spectrum]

Hitachi ships 500GB Travelstar 7K500: 7200RPMs in a 2.5-inch form factor

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/hitachi-ships-500gb-travelstar-7k500-7200rpms-in-2-5-inch-form/

Itching for a speedy and spacious new upgrade for your laptop? Ain't got the cheddar required to pop in a 512GB SSD? Then have a look at Hitachi's latest, a half-terabyte drive that spins at 7200RPMs yet draws just 0.69 watts when idle and 1.8 watts during read / write operations. The Travelstar 7K500 plays nice with the SATA interface and promises 16 percent better application performance than its predecessor, and for the paranoid in attendance, you can rest easy knowing that a BDE (Bulk Data Encryption) option enables users to have each and every byte encrypted as it's written. As of now, it's only shipping in "limited quantities" to top tier OEMs, but whenever it strolls into retail it'll land for $159.99.

Continue reading Hitachi ships 500GB Travelstar 7K500: 7200RPMs in a 2.5-inch form factor

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Hitachi ships 500GB Travelstar 7K500: 7200RPMs in a 2.5-inch form factor originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon EOS 7D now official, coming end of September for $1,899

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/01/canon-eos-7d-now-official-is-exactly-what-you-expected/

Now everyone pretend to be surprised here. Canon's gone official with what everyone has already seen and read about in detail, the EOS 7D. Specs look to be exactly what we heard, too: 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with 8 frames per second continuous shooting, 1080p 24fps HD video with full manual control, a 3-inch LCD, 19-point AF system, and wireless flash control. Mum's still the word on pricing and availability, though. Hit up the read link for the full press release, as well as some hands-on impressions care of Digital Photography Review.

Update: Canon's press release has now gone live. Price is $1,699 body-only or $1,899 with an EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM zoom lens, and target launch is set for end of September.

Gallery: Canon EOS 7D now official, coming end of September for $1,899