TechRevu
© 2003 TechRevu/Ernest Lilley
| 04.05.04v2.08 ◄► |
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Tech Stories On The Web
review and comment on tech news around the web
Wired 04/05/04 Instant Supercomputer Event Works - Sort Of: "Can a bunch of people come together and connect their laptops to make a machine as fast as the fastest machines on the planet? " That's the question that FlashMob held an even this Saturday at the University of San Francisco to answer. Over 700 computers were brought by volunteers to a USF gym, where they were wired
together to attempt to build an instant supercomputer that could break
challenge the fastest supercomputer on the planet. They didn't quite make that, but they did manage to get 256 computers to run at a peak rate of 180 Gigaflops before it crashed, an impressive result for a first trial.
(image: ap)
PressRelease: 04/01/04 Public Sneak Preview - 2004 New York Auto Show:
Though it doesn't actually open to the public until Saturday, you can
get into a Sneak Preview of the 2004 New York International Automobile Show Friday,
afternoon (4/9/04 1:00-9:00 p.m.) We'll be back with full photo coverage
of the show next week.
CNET 03/30/04 Private space race nears finish line: It took the US less than a decade to put a man on the moon, but can private
citizens put a man in orbit in less time? The X-Prize, announced in 1996 offers $10 million to the first team to build a spacecraft capable of taking three
people 62.5 miles (101 kilometers) above the Earth, then make a second suborbital trip within two weeks. A number of teams have already test flown "serious hardware" and speculation is high that this might be the year for civilian spaceflight.
TechRevu 04/05/04
Metalstorm Handguns Set Weapons on Stun:
Somehow we stumbled across an old (2000) press release for Metalstorm's
prototype electronic handgun, with user id built in. They tell me that
they've moved on to other projects, like an upcoming UAV with their
weapons mounted, though they'd be happy to work with manufacturers on
smart guns. We still like the possibilities of smart weapons, even
though we understand the reluctance of officers to accept guns that
report back to HQ with every move they make. (In NJ a bill was passed in
Pravda 04/03/04 ISS Hear You Knocking, But You Can't Come In: Ever hear spooky noises when you know there's no one around? Does it creep you out? Imagine how Russian astronaut Alexander Kaleri felt last Friday morning, when he hear a metallic "flop" outside the International Space Station. No aliens were seen trying to dock, all systems were nominal and ground control doesn't have a clue what made the noise. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about, but I'm betting he comes back with more gray hairs than he left with.
Google:Jobs 04/01/03 Google Hiring for Lunar Staff Positions in late 2007: Sure, I know it's an April fools ad, or at least it is now, but at least it's a step in the right direction. The working conditions don't sound all that plush, as they'll be experimenting with de-oxygenated cubicle dwelling
and other stuff, but today's joke might be tomorrows job. After they've
finished setting up their moon(data)base maybe they can use their search
engine technology to find extra-terrestrial life.
Press Release 04/05/04 Sharp Ships
Industrial Strength Linux Zaurus PDA: Sharps new "corporate" Zaurus adds a 3 meter drop shockspec, and a full VGA screen to the already feature packed Zaurus 5600, introduced last November. The 6000 runs an embedded Linux 2 OS on top of an Intel® 400MHz Xscale™ processor1 It's got a cool sliding keyboard, a reflective TFT touchscreen display, buitle in Wi-Fi, 96 MB total memory, both compact flash and SD/MMC media storage, USB and IrDA, a stereo headphone jack and mono mic and speaker jacks.
CNET 03/30/04 Wal-Mart sells PCs with Sun's Linux: "We are seriously considering Wal-Mart to be the PC supplier for Sun Microsystems," said Sun's Jonathan Schwartz, Tuesday. The megastore chain has begun selling Linux OS computers ranging in price from $298 to $698 The computers are billed as "Java Desktop Systems", and the only mention you'll find of Linux in the online description of Wal-Mart's net Sun OS systems is the line: "Based on Linux operating system" far down the page. So far Wal-Mart only lists 5 software titles on its website for Linux systems, but we
can expect that to change rapidly.
Car & Driver April 2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5 Miata: Can a factory turbocharger add more zoom to Mazda's mini-motorer without making it heavy and un-fun? Absolutely says C&D's Barry Winfield, in his road test. For a little more money you get a well integrated turbo and a boost from 142 to 175 hp, along with a six speed gear box and 6.7 second sprint from 0-60. They tested a pre-production version they
had to promise not to break, so they expect that the final car get even
faster times when appropriately flogged.
Reuters/MSNBC 03/29/04 Camera phone sales skyrocketed in 2003: 84 million camera phones were sold last year, according to a US based market group that reported last Monday. That's only 16% of all handsets sold, but it's almost five times the number sold the year before. Some analysts are predicting growth to as much as nearly 6 million units by the end of this year, though adoption of the technology isn't being driven by consumer demand, rather by the hopes of carriers to sell more services.
Frank About Women 04/01/04 Study Shows Women Stay Wired as they Age: A new study, released by marketing consultancy Frank About Women shows that women over 40 are continuing adopters of big ticket tech gadgets, with cell phones leading the way, but followed
by digital cameras, DVD players and computers. It's all about using technology to remain independent yet connected. Will a bookshelf full of cell phones replace the closet full of shoes as essential accessories? Trust me. If you think that's funny, you don't get it.
CNET 03/29/04 Music sharing doesn't kill CD sales, study says: University researchers tracked downloads over a 17 week period in 2002 and found that there was no measurable impact on record sales by downloads. That's the good news. The bad news is that the downloaders weren't people who bought albums anyway. That could be even worse news for the record industry if it means that a whole new generation is growing up which has never bought an
RIM 04/02/04 RIM to offer BlackBerry over Siemens phones: Research in Motion, the makers of the Blackberry email device, announced that Siemens would be including their "always on" email technology in their phones. The RIM's BlackBerry Connect™ licensing program allows the cell phone manufacturer to
provide users with all the highly secure push-based wireless architecture Blackberry users are so fond of. What I'd like is for them to make a PC card for my laptop and PDA so I can get my blackberry mail though more than one device. 
Press Release 04/01/04 Down to a Science: Gateway and PASCO Join Forces to Provide Teachers With Complete Learning Solutions: Gateway and PASCO Scientific are now offering science tech
packages for schools. The two companies have joined their hardware and software products to create integrated computer-based science experiments into their for schools. While we don't always think computers enhance education, the use of digital data gathering in these experiments reflects the real world of science. Of course, it also keeps students from actually learning to use a stopwatch and pencil, so maybe it's not all good.
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