Saturday, October 27, 2007

Oh, Man…

I’m salivating. Yes, I know...that makes me a geek. Whatever.

Researchers have developed a low-cost, low-power computer memory that could put terabyte-sized thumb drives in consumers’ pockets within a few years.

Thanks to a new technique for manipulating charged copper particles at the molecular scale, researchers at Arizona State University say their memory is, bit-for-bit, one-tenth the cost of—and 1,000 times as energy-efficient as—flash memory, the predominant memory technology in iPhones and other mobile devices.

“A thumb drive using our memory could store a terabyte of information,” says Michael Kozicki, director of ASU’s Center for Applied Nanoionics, which developed the technology. “All the current limitations in portable electronic storage could go away. You could record video of every event in your life and store it.”

This means hard drives may go the way of the 8 track. Of course, solid state memory isn’t as fast as hard drives yet, but if they can make a terabyte thumb drive, they will fix that, too.

What I love about this is I will be able to back up my files more easily and take them anywhere. Right now I have a bunch of 1 gig thumb drives I use to transfer files between computers. But, oh to have something like this. I could store my music and video collection on them. I would be able to archive a lot more stuff like comic art.

Hurry up, guys!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Disturbing Picture Dujour

Is that some kind of fun house?

Sunday, September 23, 2007

20 Years Difference

One Gig 20 years ago and one Gigabyte now.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Desktopia

Lots of cool desktops here.

(for Macs only at present)

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Steampunk LCD Monitor

I have to say, what this guy did to his monitor is brilliant. I’m happy with my Samsung 22 inch widescreen the way it is, but I admire good craftsmanship. 

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

From Windows to “Surface”

Minority Report style computer monitors are just around the corner. And Microsoft’s got them.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Spray On Computers

Now this is an odd idea, but certainly something that would have happened eventuall with nano-tech.

SCOTTISH scientists have developed a computer the size of a matchstick head, thousands of which can be sprayed onto patients to give a comprehensive analysis of their condition.

Speckled computing - some of the most advanced computing technology in the world - is currently being researched and developed by a group of Scottish experts.

The individual appliances, or ‘specks’, will form networks that can be programmed like ordinary computers.

Spraying them directly onto a person creates the ability to carry out different tests at the same time, for example muscle movement and pulse rate. This allows a complete picture of the patient’s condition to be built up quickly.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Chips Ahoy

They’ve got a computer chip that’s designed to augment your memory. That’s one step closer to having extended memory. Imagine being able to recall facts and data instantly and accurately from a database in your head?

Of course, I wouldn’t want some clunking chips in my brain right now. But give them time and they will develop “wetware” that deos the same thing. Biological processors.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Computers

I went out and bought a new computer to tide me over until I get a custom one built later in the month. I couldn’t keep working off my laptop, so I bought something for $550. It’s an HP Pavilion with 2.0 ghz dual core AMD processors, 250 bg and 1 gig of ram. It’s also small enough to put on my desk. It comes with Vista Home Premium, but Vista seems to work better on this computer. My laptop is 3 years old.

Naturally, I spent all day loading software so I can work. Just finishing up now. Sheesh!

Monday, April 02, 2007

Holy Crap

Now this is impressive.

IBM trash-talks all those other chipsters with its latest breakthrough, an optical transceiver chipset that can accomplish the technological equivalent of cramming a basketball through a garden hose. The trick here is moving data through fiber optic cables at 160GB per second; that’s eight times faster than today’s optical components can do.

That means titanic files that take awhile to download, even with broadband, can come down in a second.

And check out the size of the chip. Wow.