Hardware Beyond the Hype
Scientists believe that a fireball generated inside of a particle accelerator in New York (the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) may actually be a black hole, or something like it. The researchers believe that the particles in the generated ball of plasma are disappearing into its core and reappearing as thermal radiation, just as matter is now thought to collapse into black holes and re-emerge as “Hawking” radiation.
Brief story here.
The Mod Gods have a nifty little how-to on doing iPod-to-iPod file transferring.
Okay, THIS might be the geekiest project ever. Some guy has built a kitty security door on his home that uses facial recognition software to identify, and admit, his cat Flo, while locking out all other animal undesirables.
The first issue of MAKE had a much easier, more lo-tek, approach. A crafty pet owner built a little touchplate platform inside the kitty door which was rigged with a big capacitor and buzzer. If a cat lingered on the platform (as a reluctantly entereing non-resident cat would), it would discharge the capacitor and set off the alarm. The home owner, apparently permamently fixed to his easy chair nearby in the den, could then blast the intruding feline with a squirt gun.
[Say that title too many times and you could get yourself in trouble] Since Pringles cans may be feeling a bit devalued after the recent posting of the parabolic reflector antenna hack (which is easier to cobble together than the common Pringles can WiFi antenna), we thought we’d boost its hackability esteem again by posting this link to a cool pinhole camera made from the popular clone-chips container.
As most gamers here likely know already, the Game Developers Conference 2005 happened last week. GameSpot has some excellent coverage on their site, including interviews with developers, game trailers, and some juicy rumors on the Xbox 2.
Dear Streettech:
I’m going on a long trip with my family this summer, and miraculously, my wife has agreed that we can buy a portable DVD player for around US$200. In your opinion, should I just get an Xbox or other console system that plays DVDs and connect it to an inverter, for double the fun? And yes, I anticipate modding the Xbox at some future date, although probably not before the trip.
And if we do end up getting a portable DVD, do you have any recommendations?
The good folks at Extremetech have a story about a cylindrical PC case called the Piston, built by Taiwanese company First International Computer Inc (FIC). It supports an Intel Prescott series P4 processor up to 3.8 GHz, has a pair of DDR 333/400 DIMM slots, and can take a mini-PCI card. Stereo speakers are built into the case, which should retail for about $400.
Sometimes mice don’t work; it just happens sometimes. What’s unusual is when the mouse doesn’t work because the ball is so completely coated with a uniform layer of sludge that it stops functioning. Here tiny spots of crap have been cleaned off so the actual mouse ball (gray & white) is visible. It’s sitting in the middle of a CD to steady it for the photo shoot…
You really have to admire the guy who made his own wood and leather laptop out of an old Dell unit. Inspired by Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash”, he spent 4 months making it.