N Y B B L E M O N T H L Y N E W S L E T T E R
A Free Ezine about Anything Tech and Everything Else
2006.10.08 Issue No. 181
I've only had my Xbox for only a couple of months, but strangely
enough, I don't seem to be spending much time with it. I myself am
surprised because that Xbox is not an impulse purchase. And the reason
I bought it is because of it's "hackability" compared to the PS2. As
the gamers out there would probably know, an Xbox works best when
modded. I'm too lazy (and cheap) to bring it to a shop to have it
modded, so I spent quite a few long nights browsing different forums
trying to learn how to do a purely software mod. After verifying
kernel versions and dashboard versions and downloading all the
necessary hacking tools and exploits, it took me half a day taking
apart the Xbox, hot-swapping hard disks with a desktop PC (at the
right moment, which is always tricky, not to mention dangerous), and
finally soft-modding it properly. After that I spent a few weeks
installing XBMC, some Xbox games, various emulators and ROMS, a
portion of my photo, mp3, and movie collection, etc. At the end of the
day, I was able to watch DVDs and DivX/Xvid AVIs, do slideshows of my
photos (complete with background music), and play my mp3/ogg files
(complete with random visualizations). And play games, too. Then I got
bored, or maybe I was busy with something else, and lost my momentum.
If and when I get the urge back, I might connect it to the Internet
and do some Web browsing or audio streaming or a bit of online gaming.
We'll see.
Have an answer, comment, suggestion, or violent reaction? Send them my
way by clicking on Reply or join nybbletalk@yahoogroups.com to discuss
a topic. If you think Nybble is good enough, do tell the bored geeks
about it. Thanks.
P.S. I'm creating a new section called Nybblets. Don't ask me how many
bits that is.
_________TABLE OF CONTENTS_________
* Samsung Trials 4G
* Garbage Cans with RFID
* Robo-Transport in Europe
* IBM to Build Fastest Supercomputer
* Google to Sell Old News
* Plasma Arcs to Eliminate Landfills
* Toshiba Creates Three-Layered Disc
* Software Gives Sentence in Chinese Courts
* Nybblets
* Likeable Links
* Questionable Question
* Quotable Quote
* Trivial Trivia
* Laughable Laugh
_________SAMSUNG TRIALS 4G_________
http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/007741.html
While we're just starting to have a taste of 3G, Samsung is already
trialing their 4G solution to the general public. If you were in Jeju
Island, Korea recently, you could have hopped on board a specially
designed bus at Samsung's 4G Forum, in which the company presented the
world premier of 4G WiBro (Wireless Broadband) technology. The bus
stunt was an effort to prove the stability of 4G technology by
demonstrating a multi-cell handover with data speeds of 100Mbps,
simultaneously offering delegates a live broadcast of the forum,
Internet access, and video on demand. Additionally, the company showed
off 4G's nomadic speed of 1Gbps data transmissions inside the forum
venue with simultaneous 32HD channel broadcast (20Mpbs) downloads,
Internet access, and video telephony. Furthermore, a 3.5Gbps data
transfer demonstration using 8x8 MIMO (multi-input multi-output) was
part of the display.
A speedy cousin to WiMax, WiBro's nomadic speed of 1Gbps is 50 times
faster than 3G, according to Samsung. With speeds of 1Gpbs, it would
take about 2.4 seconds to transfer 100 MP3 files (300MB), and 5.6
seconds to transfer one 800MB movie, to put things in perspective.
WiBro is based on the IEEE 802.16.e-2005 standard. The 4G mobile
communications format is expected to become commercially available
around 2010. Samsung already holds more than 220 patents related to 4G
mobile communications.
_________GARBAGE CANS WITH RFID_________
http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/060831_technovelgy.html
At least half a million "wheelie bins" across England now come with
RFID tags. The electronic devices (passive RFID tags) about the size
of a one-pence piece are screwed into a hole in the lip of the bin. As
the bin is hoisted up for emptying, an RFID reader on the refuse truck
interrogates the chip, which divulges a serial number identifying the
property owner. The weight of the bin is recorded by the truck's
sensors and is registered in a database entry along with the serial
number.
The database entries for the day are downloaded at the dump and stored
in a vast central databank of property owner behavior. What that
information is used for, we can only guess. A new "garbage tax" on
people with overly-heavy cans maybe? With more and more items having
RFID tags detailing the items'brand names and product names, it's
possible to use similar equipment to quickly scan your can to uncover
your purchasing habits.
_________ROBO-TRANSPORT IN EUROPE________
http://www.spiegel.de/international/1,1518,435805,00.html
Under the auspices of the European Union's "Citymobil" project, which
was launched on August 28, companies and research institutes
representing 10 countries have come together to develop small
automatic transportation systems. Currently, three model projects are
planned with funding of about €40 million.
The first is being built at London's Heathrow Airport where, starting
in summer of 2008, 19-computer steered electric cars will go into
operation. The automated taxis will be used to connect Heathrow's
Terminal 5 with a parking lot. The technology, which has been named
"Ultra," has been developed by the British firm ATS and is already
being tested. The driverless vehicles pick up passengers after they
are ordered and deliver them to their destination. Magnets or sensors
on the ground direct the vehicles along their route. In Rome,
driverless "cyber cars" will pick up visitors at a parking lot or the
nearby train station and take them to a new exhibition center. And in
the Spanish city of Castellón, a new driverless bus will be tested
that can travel through the city center on a specially designated
lane. Automation has long existed on some subway trains, monorails and
airport transport vehicles, but these would count among the first
major projects of smaller "peoplemover" systems.
_________IBM TO BUILD FASTEST SUPERCOMPUTER_________
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5322704.stm
Codenamed Roadrunner, the new supercomputer IBM plans to build could
be four times more potent than the current fastest machine,
BlueGene/L, also built by IBM.
The new computer is a "hybrid" design, containing 16,000 standard
processors working alongside 16,000 "cell" processors, designed for
the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Each cell chip consists of eight processors
controlled by a master unit that can assign tasks to each member of
the processing team. Each cell is capable of 256 billion calculations
per second. The power of the cell chip means Roadrunner needs far
fewer processors than its predecessors. The new machine will be able
to achieve "petaflop speeds," said IBM. One petaflop is the equivalent
of 1,000 trillion calculations per second. Running at peak speed, it
will be able to crunch through 1.6 thousand trillion calculations per
second. By comparison, BlueGene/L is capable of mere "teraflop"
(trillion calculations per second) speeds.
Roadrunner will be installed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory,
New Mexico. The laboratory is owned by the US Department of Energy
(DOE). Eventually the machine could be used for a programme that
ensures the US nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe and reliable.
_________GOOGLE TO SELL OLD NEWS_________
http://snipurl.com/yftz
Now who would buy that?! A new product being released by Google called
Google News Archive Search will make more than 200 years of news
content searchable to all users. The content will come from publishers
and aggregators such as The New York Times, Time magazine, The
Guardian, LexisNexis, and Factiva, many of which charge fees for
archived content.
Clicking on a search result will yield a summary and—here's the part
online publishers are sure to love—give users the option to buy the
full article. Contrary to the idea that Google devalues paid content,
the search engine could increase the value of content and subscription
services that users previously didn't know existed. What's more,
publishers don't have to share the wealth with Google. The
search-engine company will receive no payment from publishers' content
fees, advertising, or supplying traffic. Search results will be ranked
by relevance, without any influence from publishers. The results
initially will be served without Google's customary sponsored links on
the right side of the page, and at the outset, Google won't make money
directly from the service.
Doesn't really matter to Google, since its mission is to make all the
world's information available. The more information the company
offers, the more people may use its search engine. In addition, small
publishers that participate in the service may choose to use Google's
fee-based Checkout payment service to collect payments.
_________PLASMA ARCS TO ELIMINATE LANDFILLS_________
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-09-fla-county-trash_x.htm
St. Lucie County on central Florida's Atlantic Coast is planning to
build a $425 million plasma-arc gasification facility that will use
lightning-like plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like
material. It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on
such a massive scale and the largest in the world. The
100,000-square-foot plasma plant, slated to be operational in two
years, is expected to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day using up to
eight plasma arc-equipped cupolas. County officials estimate their
entire landfill — 4.3 million tons of trash collected since 1978 —
will be gone in 18 years.
No byproduct will go unused, according to Geoplasma, the Atlanta-based
company building and paying for the plant. Synthetic, combustible gas
produced in the process will be used to run turbines to create about
120 megawatts of electricity that will be sold back to the grid. About
80,000 pounds of steam per day will be sold to a neighboring Tropicana
Products Inc. facility to power the juice plant's turbines. Sludge
from the county's wastewater treatment plant will be vaporized, and a
material created from melted organic matter — up to 600 tons a day —
will be hardened into slag, and sold for use in road and construction
projects.
Geoplasma expects to recoup its $425 million investment, funded by
bonds, within 20 years through the sale of electricity and slag.
_________TOSHIBA CREATES THREE-LAYERED DISC_________
http://snipurl.com/yfu2
Toshiba has been tinkering with the HD DVD and DVD disc formats,
putting together a hybrid format with three layers that contain both
formats.
So it looks like we'll be seeing either a single-layer 4.7GB DVD along
with a dual layer 30GB HD DVD, or conversely, a dual-layer 8.5GB DVD
and a single-layer 15GB HD DVD, all together on one disc. The DVD
section will be playable on conventional DVD players, and with a
firmware update, standard HD DVD players can play both formats. This
idea could add more capacity to those already-existing single-layer
hybrid discs, where a movie is offered on DVD for use today and also
includes a high-def HD DVD copy on the same disc for those who think
someday they may be suckered into buying an HD DVD player. Then again,
the big studios would rather sell us the same content over and over again.
_________SOFTWARE GIVES SENTENCE IN CHINESE COURTS_________
http://snipurl.com/yfu5
Apparently, a court in China has been using a software program to help
decide prison sentences in more than 1,500 criminal cases. The
software, tested for two years in a court in Zibo, a city in the
eastern coastal province of Shandong, covered about 100 different
crimes, including robbery, rape, murder and state security offenses.
According to the software's developer, Qin Ye, "The software is aimed
at ensuring standardized decisions on prison terms. Our programs set
standard terms for any subtle distinctions in different cases of the
same crime." Judges enter details of a case and the system produces a
sentence.
With the software, abuseof discretionary power of judges as a result
of corruption or insufficient training can be avoided. But some
Chinese newspapers criticized the move as a farce that highlighted the
"laziness of the court" and that would not curb judicial corruption as
touted. The software would be adopted by more courts in Shandong province.
_________NYBBLETS_________
* The GIMPS project has found a new record prime. 2 ^ 32,582,657 - 1
weighs in at over 9 million digits. Try memorizing that.
* The Nintendo Wii will go on sale on November 19th in North and South
America, at a cost of $250.
* Larry Sanger, first editor-in-chief of Wikipedia, forks the project
into Citizendium - a citizens' compendium of everything.
* Toshiba Corp. has offered to exchange 340,000 laptop computer
batteries made by Sony.
* Motorola unveils phone vending machines called Instamoto at 20 malls
and airports across the US.
* YouTube has informed potential buyers such as Viacom, Disney, AOL,
eBay and News Corp. that it won't be sold for anything less than
$1.5billion.
* Seitz announces a 160MP digital camera - almost 20" long, costs
about US$36,000, and with on-board gigabit Ethernet.
* Intel has developed an 80 core processor with claims 'that can
perform a trillion floating point operations per second.'
* IBM and Lenovo are recalling 168,500 ThinkPad notebook battery packs
in the United States and another 357,000 worldwide.
* Alan Watts, a British businessman, converts his 2,000,000 frequent
flyer miles for a ticket aboard a 2009 Virgin Galactic space flight.
* Microsoft's iPod-killer Zune to sell for US$249.99 starting November 14.
_________LIKEABLE LINKS_________
The Rasterbator
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
Learn Chinese
http://www.chinesepod.com/
Google Image Labeler
http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/
FreeDOS 1.0
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=608122
Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide
http://www.travelpost.com/airport-wireless-internet.aspx
_________QUESTIONABLE QUESTION_________
If you had no choice but to choose, which would you give up: access to
e-mail or the Web? Both still exist, just not for you.
_________QUOTABLE QUOTE_________
A diplomat... is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way
that you actually look forward to the trip.
~ Caskie Stinnett, Out of the Red (1960) ~
_________TRIVIAL TRIVIA_________
Why do magicians say hocus pocus?
The magician's words "hocus-pocus" were taken from the name of a
mythological sorcerer, Ochus Bochus, who appeared in Norse folktales
and legends.
Source: Arcamax Trivia
_________LAUGHABLE LAUGH_________
I watched an ant climb a blade of grass this morning. When he reached
the top, his weight bent the blade down to the ground. Then, twisting
his thorax with insectile precision, he grabbed a hold of the next blade.
In this manner, he traveled across the lawn, covering as much distance
vertically as he did horizontally, which both amused and delighted me.
And then, all at once, I had what is sometimes called an "epiphany"; a
moment of heightened awareness in which everything becomes crystal clear.
Yes, hunched over that ant on my hands and knees, I suddenly knew what
I had to do... Quit drinking before noon.
That's all for this week. Nybble is and will always be a work in
progress. Please do send me your comments and suggestions on how to
improve Nybble. Just hit the reply button to you know, reply.
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Nybble 2006.11.07
N Y B B L E M O N T H L Y N E W S L E T T E R
A Free Ezine about Anything Tech and Everything Else
2006.11.07 Issue No. 182
Lyrics search and display have definitely come a long way. I remember
the good old days of Winamp and searching far and wide for a lyrics
plug-in. Managed to find a few, but they don't work all the time. When
they work, all they do is display lyrics. You still have to supply the
lyrics yourself. If the timings don't match? You have to twiddle with
the time markers via a text editor, or by clicking on the displayed
lines. Since then I have moved on to foobar2000, the audio player of
choice by geeks. A few days ago that I started looking for some
lyrics-related plugins for it. A few plugins came up, but there's no
single one that can do everything - search, edit, display. If you
don't mind having an external application, you can try MiniLyrics and
EvilLyrics. I've tried EvilLyrics before, but for now I'm sticking
with MiniLyrics, as it's good enough for me. (Gone are the days when I
would download and install multiple applications to test which one is
the best.)
MiniLyrics is pretty good. As soon as a song is played in foobar2000,
it reads the relevant tags and goes to the Internet searching for the
lyrics. Usually, it'll decide on the best one, and immediately display
it on a separate window. If multiple entries come up, it'll open a
window and let you choose which one matches the song best. Select an
LRC file and you'll get scrolling lyrics in synch with the audio file.
Now all you need is a karaoke plugin that can eliminate the vocals,
and just leave you with a minus one. So long, MagicSing and Singstar.
Have an answer, comment, suggestion, or violent reaction? Send them my
way by clicking on Reply or join nybbletalk@yahoogroups.com to discuss
a topic. If you think Nybble is good enough, do tell the wannabe
singers about it. Thanks.
_________TABLE OF CONTENTS_________
* Single-Pixel Camera
* Cloak of Invisibility Closer to Reality
* Robot Swarm Carries Heavy Load
* CDs and DVDs with Smart Card and USB
* Yahoo's Digital Time Capsule
* Sewer Gas Induces Suspended Animation
* Virus-Infested Memory Chips
* Protein Gels Stops Bleeding Instantly
* Nybblets
* Likeable Links
* Questionable Question
* Quotable Quote
* Trivial Trivia
* Laughable Laugh
_________SINGLE-PIXEL CAMERA_________
http://physicsbuzz.blogspot.com/2006/10/single-pixel-camera.html
Scientists at Rice University in Houston have developed a one-pixel
camera. Yup, you read that right, one pixel. The camera produces
images by recording thousands of single-pixel images one after the
other, rather than simultaneously recording millions of pixels. As
such, it takes 15 minutes for this camera to take a picture.
What good is it then? Well, the primary benefit is that it needs much
less information to assemble an image. It compresses the image data
via its hardware before the pixels are recorded. As a result, it's
able to capture an image with only thousands of pieces of information
rather than millions. The compression is achieved with an array of
tiny, movable mirrors. Various mirror arrangements encode information
about the photographic subject as a whole, in lieu of the
point-by-point image recording in a normal camera.
The technology could make cameras much cheaper by letting us get by
with fewer pixels, or perhaps lead (some day) to gigapixel resolution
from megapixel cameras.
_________CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY CLOSER TO REALITY_________
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_sc/cloak_of_invisibility_1
A team of American and British researchers has developed a cloak of
invisibility. Technically, it's more a cloaking device than a cloak of
invisibility. Cloaking differs from stealth technology, which doesn't
make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to
radar, making it hard to track. Cloaking simply passes the radar or
other waves around the object as if it weren't there, like water
flowing around a smooth rock in a stream.
In an experiment, scientists used microwaves to try and detect a
cloaked copper cylinder. The two-dimensional cloak worked fine, but
did cast a small shadow. The ideal cloak would have nearly negligible
reflection and virtually no shadowing. Looking at a cloaked item, one
would see whatever is behind the cloak. That is, the cloak is,
ideally, transparent. The next step is to cloak objects from visible
light. In addition to hiding things, redirecting electromagnetic waves
could prove useful in protecting sensitive electronics from harmful
radiation. In another speculative application, one could imagine
'cloaking' acoustic waves, so as to shield a region from vibration or
seismic activity.
_________ROBOT SWARM CARRIES HEAVY LOAD________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10319-robot-swarm-works-together-to-shift-heavy-objects.html
Marco Dorigo at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, along with
colleagues at the Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology in
Italy and the Autonomous Systems Laboratory and Dalle Molle Institute
for the Study of Artificial Intelligence, developed a swarm of robots
that works collaboratively to achieve a common goal. Called a
Swarm-bot, each of them is 19 centimetres high, has a rotating turret,
a claw-like gripper and moves using a combination of caterpillar
tracks and wheels. Each also has a basic computer and is loaded with
the same software. For the Swarm-bots to accomplish a particular task,
a set of simple rules are "evolved" to suit the particular task, and
loaded onto the robots. The robots cannot communicate and must act
only on what they can see around them. They follow simple rules to
fulfill their task - mimicking the way insects work together in a swarm.
In experiments, six of the cylindrical robots were able to drag an
object across the floor of a room. Working autonomously, they locate
and assemble around the object and either grab hold of it directly or
of another robot nearby, before slowly dragging it towards a target.
The robots can adjust their caterpillar tracks, to ensure they are all
pulling in the right direction. Each robot also uses its sensor to
identify any conflicting forces, and then changes direction
accordingly. Dorigo is now working on a swarm of robots that could
operate in a human environment.
I'd hate to think what happens when things go wrong. See Michael
Crichton's Prey.
_________CDS AND DVDS WITH SMART CARD AND USB_________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10306-invention-smartcard-dvds.html
The many things you can do with a CD. American-Israeli company Aladdin
think it can breathe new life into the CD and DVD formats by creating
a new disc that combines optical storage capacity with an embedded
electronic smart card chip and USB interface.
The irregularly-shaped "XCD" is the thickness of a normal optical disc
and can still play in any CD or DVD drive. But it also has a smart
card, with its own memory and processing components, embedded in the
plastic. The embedded chip is connected to a line of electrodes on the
surface of one side of the disc. The outer edge of the disc is cut
away so that the electrodes protrude and can plug straight into a USB
socket.
But why bother inserting a chip into a DVD or CD in the first place?
Aladdin thinks it could provide a clever way to digitally lock content
sold on optical discs. Music, video or data can be stored optically
and read by computer's CD or DVD player, while encryption keys can be
stored on the embedded chip and read by USB. The encryption keys could
be used to lock information so that it can only be played having
plugged the original disc in to the USB.
_________YAHOO'S DIGITAL TIME CAPSULE_________
http://snipurl.com/11eqi
For 30 days, from October 10 to November 8, Yahoo is inviting
donations from anyone and everyone for a time capsule project in
collaboration with Internet artist Jonathan Harris. This is by no
means an ordinary time capsule though. The final time capsule will be
digitized then beamed with a laser to outer space in a bid to contact
extraterrestrial life. The time capsule is organized into ten themes:
Love, Sorrow, Anger, Faith, Beauty, Fun, Past, Hope, Now, and You -
chosen to encompass the human experience. Contributions can be text,
images, audio and video that reflect these themes.
To make the project more exciting, the digitized time capsule will be
beamed from the ancient Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico
(formerly known as the City of the Gods). Hurry up, one day left to go.
_________SEWER GAS INDUCES SUSPENDED ANIMATION_________
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5412824.stm
In a study carried out recently at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston, scientists discovered that hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that
smells of rotten eggs and naturally occurring in swamps, springs and
volcanoes, can induce 'suspended animation' in mice. The mice were
administered the gas at a concentration of 80 parts per million - a
tenth of the dose which is lethal in humans. The researchers reported
that the heart rate fell from 500 to 200 beats per minute and
respiration fell from 120 to 25 breaths per minute. Core body
temperature also fell from 39 to 30 degrees C. Despite the reduction
in heart rate the blood pressure of the mice did not drop, which tends
to happen with other techniques such as lowering body temperature. The
effects of the gas seemed to be reversible with the mice returning to
normal two hours after the mice started to breathe normal air again.
Dr. Fumito Ichinose, assistant professor of anaesthesia at Harvard
Medical School said that if the effects of hydrogen sulfide was
confirmed in larger mammals it could be useful in helping to sustain
the functionality of organs in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or
in patients with severe trauma. Currently, the only way to protect
other organs is to cool the body and induce hypothermia. The problem
with hypothermia is it's not that easy to cool down the human body.
Dr. Ichinose added that the findings would need to be replicated in
larger animals such as pigs as mice may be more susceptible to induced
hibernation.
_________VIRUS-INFESTED MEMORY CHIPS_________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10228-happy-snaps-from-a-virusinfested-chip.html
A team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles
discovered that by coating 30-nanometre-long chunks of tobacco mosaic
virus with platinum nanoparticles, it's possible to create a
transistor with a very fast switching speed. The team built a
transistor by embedding the coated virus strips in a polymer matrix,
sandwiched between two electrodes much like a standard transistor.
Apply a voltage to the transistor, and the platinum nanoparticles –
roughly 16 per virus – each donate an electron to proteins on the
surface of the virus, moving the device to an ON state. When the
voltage dips below a certain threshold, the electrons jump back to the
nanoparticle, switching the transistor to an OFF state.
The switching speed takes just 100 microseconds because the charge
only has to travel 10 nanometres between each nanoparticle and the
surface of the virus. In flash memory chips, a capacitor is used as a
control gate, building up charge to a certain level before current is
able to flow to a second gate. Millions of these transistors could
eventually be used in a memory chip to replace flash memory in mp3
players and digital cameras, for example. The team hopes to build a
prototype packed with millions of single-virus transistors within four
years.
_________PROTEIN GEL STOPS BLEEDING INSTANTLY_________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn10265&feedId=online-news_rss20
An international team of researchers has developed a solution of
protein molecules that self-organise on the nanoscale into a
biodegradable gel that stops bleeding in seconds. If the material
works as well in humans, it could save thousands of lives and make
surgery far easier in many cases.
Molecular biologist Shuguang Zhang, at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in the US, began experimenting with peptides in 1991. Zhang
and colleagues at MIT and the University of Hong Kong in China went on
to design several materials that self-assemble into novel
nano-structures, including a molecular scaffold that helps the
regrowth of severed nerve cells in hamsters. Their work exploits the
way certain peptide sequences can be made to self-assemble into
mesh-like sheets of "nanofibres" when immersed in salt solutions. In
the course of that research they discovered one material's dramatic
ability to stop bleeding in the brain and began testing it on a
variety of other organs and tissues. When applied to a wound, the
peptides form a gel that seals over the wound, without causing harm to
any nearby cells.
Still, they caution that extensive clinical trials are needed to make
sure the materials work properly and are safe. The MIT researchers
hope to see those crucial human trials within three to five years.
_________NYBBLETS_________
* NASA Announces Record Ozone Hole (Now at 10.6 Million Square Miles)
* Bacteria Found 2.8kms beneath the Earth Process Radioactive Water
for Food
* Coke and Nestle to Introduce Drink Called Enviga that Burns Calories
* Cornell University Report Shows Statistically-Significant
Relationship between Autism and TV-Watching
* Google's Silicon Valley HQ to Become the Largest U.S. Solar-Powered
Corporate Office Complex
* Two Russian Companies to Build World's First 120-Megawatt Floating
Nuclear Power Plant for $200M
_________LIKEABLE LINKS_________
Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/index.htm
Wikipedia in Your Laptop
http://www.webaroo.com/rooWebPacks.html#wikipedia
Encyclopedia in Your iPod
http://encyclopodia.sourceforge.net/en/index.html
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
http://docs.google.com
Yahoo Time Capsule by Jonathan Harris
http://timecapsule.yahoo.com/capsule.php
_________QUESTIONABLE QUESTION_________
When squirrels rush in front of my car, are they doing it because they
get some kind of adrenaline rush?
_________QUOTABLE QUOTE_________
Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once.
~ Robert Browning ~
_________TRIVIAL TRIVIA_________
Do buffaloes have wings?
Buffalo chicken wings were so named for their city of origin in New
York state, where they were created at The Anchor Bar.
Source: Arcamax Trivia
_________LAUGHABLE LAUGH_________
A few years ago a refugee from Laos came to the US in one of the
resettlement influxes. He had been an announcer in radio back in Laos,
and he wanted to get into the same line of work here. The first thing
he did was join AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio
Announcers). He tried to pursue a job, but of course, he had problems
with the English language, being a new resident. In order to keep body
and soul together while going to English classes, he took up
barbering. Soon, he became a very good barber, giving haircuts,
stylings, and shaves. He seemed to be an artist with the straight
razor. In fact, the shop where he worked made him specialize in giving
shaves.
Thus, he became known as an AFTRA shave Laotian.
That's all for this week. Nybble is and will always be a work in
progress. Please do send me your comments and suggestions on how to
improve Nybble. Just hit the reply button to you know, reply.
A Free Ezine about Anything Tech and Everything Else
2006.11.07 Issue No. 182
Lyrics search and display have definitely come a long way. I remember
the good old days of Winamp and searching far and wide for a lyrics
plug-in. Managed to find a few, but they don't work all the time. When
they work, all they do is display lyrics. You still have to supply the
lyrics yourself. If the timings don't match? You have to twiddle with
the time markers via a text editor, or by clicking on the displayed
lines. Since then I have moved on to foobar2000, the audio player of
choice by geeks. A few days ago that I started looking for some
lyrics-related plugins for it. A few plugins came up, but there's no
single one that can do everything - search, edit, display. If you
don't mind having an external application, you can try MiniLyrics and
EvilLyrics. I've tried EvilLyrics before, but for now I'm sticking
with MiniLyrics, as it's good enough for me. (Gone are the days when I
would download and install multiple applications to test which one is
the best.)
MiniLyrics is pretty good. As soon as a song is played in foobar2000,
it reads the relevant tags and goes to the Internet searching for the
lyrics. Usually, it'll decide on the best one, and immediately display
it on a separate window. If multiple entries come up, it'll open a
window and let you choose which one matches the song best. Select an
LRC file and you'll get scrolling lyrics in synch with the audio file.
Now all you need is a karaoke plugin that can eliminate the vocals,
and just leave you with a minus one. So long, MagicSing and Singstar.
Have an answer, comment, suggestion, or violent reaction? Send them my
way by clicking on Reply or join nybbletalk@yahoogroups.com to discuss
a topic. If you think Nybble is good enough, do tell the wannabe
singers about it. Thanks.
_________TABLE OF CONTENTS_________
* Single-Pixel Camera
* Cloak of Invisibility Closer to Reality
* Robot Swarm Carries Heavy Load
* CDs and DVDs with Smart Card and USB
* Yahoo's Digital Time Capsule
* Sewer Gas Induces Suspended Animation
* Virus-Infested Memory Chips
* Protein Gels Stops Bleeding Instantly
* Nybblets
* Likeable Links
* Questionable Question
* Quotable Quote
* Trivial Trivia
* Laughable Laugh
_________SINGLE-PIXEL CAMERA_________
http://physicsbuzz.blogspot.com/2006/10/single-pixel-camera.html
Scientists at Rice University in Houston have developed a one-pixel
camera. Yup, you read that right, one pixel. The camera produces
images by recording thousands of single-pixel images one after the
other, rather than simultaneously recording millions of pixels. As
such, it takes 15 minutes for this camera to take a picture.
What good is it then? Well, the primary benefit is that it needs much
less information to assemble an image. It compresses the image data
via its hardware before the pixels are recorded. As a result, it's
able to capture an image with only thousands of pieces of information
rather than millions. The compression is achieved with an array of
tiny, movable mirrors. Various mirror arrangements encode information
about the photographic subject as a whole, in lieu of the
point-by-point image recording in a normal camera.
The technology could make cameras much cheaper by letting us get by
with fewer pixels, or perhaps lead (some day) to gigapixel resolution
from megapixel cameras.
_________CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY CLOSER TO REALITY_________
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_sc/cloak_of_invisibility_1
A team of American and British researchers has developed a cloak of
invisibility. Technically, it's more a cloaking device than a cloak of
invisibility. Cloaking differs from stealth technology, which doesn't
make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to
radar, making it hard to track. Cloaking simply passes the radar or
other waves around the object as if it weren't there, like water
flowing around a smooth rock in a stream.
In an experiment, scientists used microwaves to try and detect a
cloaked copper cylinder. The two-dimensional cloak worked fine, but
did cast a small shadow. The ideal cloak would have nearly negligible
reflection and virtually no shadowing. Looking at a cloaked item, one
would see whatever is behind the cloak. That is, the cloak is,
ideally, transparent. The next step is to cloak objects from visible
light. In addition to hiding things, redirecting electromagnetic waves
could prove useful in protecting sensitive electronics from harmful
radiation. In another speculative application, one could imagine
'cloaking' acoustic waves, so as to shield a region from vibration or
seismic activity.
_________ROBOT SWARM CARRIES HEAVY LOAD________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10319-robot-swarm-works-together-to-shift-heavy-objects.html
Marco Dorigo at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, along with
colleagues at the Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology in
Italy and the Autonomous Systems Laboratory and Dalle Molle Institute
for the Study of Artificial Intelligence, developed a swarm of robots
that works collaboratively to achieve a common goal. Called a
Swarm-bot, each of them is 19 centimetres high, has a rotating turret,
a claw-like gripper and moves using a combination of caterpillar
tracks and wheels. Each also has a basic computer and is loaded with
the same software. For the Swarm-bots to accomplish a particular task,
a set of simple rules are "evolved" to suit the particular task, and
loaded onto the robots. The robots cannot communicate and must act
only on what they can see around them. They follow simple rules to
fulfill their task - mimicking the way insects work together in a swarm.
In experiments, six of the cylindrical robots were able to drag an
object across the floor of a room. Working autonomously, they locate
and assemble around the object and either grab hold of it directly or
of another robot nearby, before slowly dragging it towards a target.
The robots can adjust their caterpillar tracks, to ensure they are all
pulling in the right direction. Each robot also uses its sensor to
identify any conflicting forces, and then changes direction
accordingly. Dorigo is now working on a swarm of robots that could
operate in a human environment.
I'd hate to think what happens when things go wrong. See Michael
Crichton's Prey.
_________CDS AND DVDS WITH SMART CARD AND USB_________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10306-invention-smartcard-dvds.html
The many things you can do with a CD. American-Israeli company Aladdin
think it can breathe new life into the CD and DVD formats by creating
a new disc that combines optical storage capacity with an embedded
electronic smart card chip and USB interface.
The irregularly-shaped "XCD" is the thickness of a normal optical disc
and can still play in any CD or DVD drive. But it also has a smart
card, with its own memory and processing components, embedded in the
plastic. The embedded chip is connected to a line of electrodes on the
surface of one side of the disc. The outer edge of the disc is cut
away so that the electrodes protrude and can plug straight into a USB
socket.
But why bother inserting a chip into a DVD or CD in the first place?
Aladdin thinks it could provide a clever way to digitally lock content
sold on optical discs. Music, video or data can be stored optically
and read by computer's CD or DVD player, while encryption keys can be
stored on the embedded chip and read by USB. The encryption keys could
be used to lock information so that it can only be played having
plugged the original disc in to the USB.
_________YAHOO'S DIGITAL TIME CAPSULE_________
http://snipurl.com/11eqi
For 30 days, from October 10 to November 8, Yahoo is inviting
donations from anyone and everyone for a time capsule project in
collaboration with Internet artist Jonathan Harris. This is by no
means an ordinary time capsule though. The final time capsule will be
digitized then beamed with a laser to outer space in a bid to contact
extraterrestrial life. The time capsule is organized into ten themes:
Love, Sorrow, Anger, Faith, Beauty, Fun, Past, Hope, Now, and You -
chosen to encompass the human experience. Contributions can be text,
images, audio and video that reflect these themes.
To make the project more exciting, the digitized time capsule will be
beamed from the ancient Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico
(formerly known as the City of the Gods). Hurry up, one day left to go.
_________SEWER GAS INDUCES SUSPENDED ANIMATION_________
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5412824.stm
In a study carried out recently at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston, scientists discovered that hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that
smells of rotten eggs and naturally occurring in swamps, springs and
volcanoes, can induce 'suspended animation' in mice. The mice were
administered the gas at a concentration of 80 parts per million - a
tenth of the dose which is lethal in humans. The researchers reported
that the heart rate fell from 500 to 200 beats per minute and
respiration fell from 120 to 25 breaths per minute. Core body
temperature also fell from 39 to 30 degrees C. Despite the reduction
in heart rate the blood pressure of the mice did not drop, which tends
to happen with other techniques such as lowering body temperature. The
effects of the gas seemed to be reversible with the mice returning to
normal two hours after the mice started to breathe normal air again.
Dr. Fumito Ichinose, assistant professor of anaesthesia at Harvard
Medical School said that if the effects of hydrogen sulfide was
confirmed in larger mammals it could be useful in helping to sustain
the functionality of organs in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or
in patients with severe trauma. Currently, the only way to protect
other organs is to cool the body and induce hypothermia. The problem
with hypothermia is it's not that easy to cool down the human body.
Dr. Ichinose added that the findings would need to be replicated in
larger animals such as pigs as mice may be more susceptible to induced
hibernation.
_________VIRUS-INFESTED MEMORY CHIPS_________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10228-happy-snaps-from-a-virusinfested-chip.html
A team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles
discovered that by coating 30-nanometre-long chunks of tobacco mosaic
virus with platinum nanoparticles, it's possible to create a
transistor with a very fast switching speed. The team built a
transistor by embedding the coated virus strips in a polymer matrix,
sandwiched between two electrodes much like a standard transistor.
Apply a voltage to the transistor, and the platinum nanoparticles –
roughly 16 per virus – each donate an electron to proteins on the
surface of the virus, moving the device to an ON state. When the
voltage dips below a certain threshold, the electrons jump back to the
nanoparticle, switching the transistor to an OFF state.
The switching speed takes just 100 microseconds because the charge
only has to travel 10 nanometres between each nanoparticle and the
surface of the virus. In flash memory chips, a capacitor is used as a
control gate, building up charge to a certain level before current is
able to flow to a second gate. Millions of these transistors could
eventually be used in a memory chip to replace flash memory in mp3
players and digital cameras, for example. The team hopes to build a
prototype packed with millions of single-virus transistors within four
years.
_________PROTEIN GEL STOPS BLEEDING INSTANTLY_________
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn10265&feedId=online-news_rss20
An international team of researchers has developed a solution of
protein molecules that self-organise on the nanoscale into a
biodegradable gel that stops bleeding in seconds. If the material
works as well in humans, it could save thousands of lives and make
surgery far easier in many cases.
Molecular biologist Shuguang Zhang, at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in the US, began experimenting with peptides in 1991. Zhang
and colleagues at MIT and the University of Hong Kong in China went on
to design several materials that self-assemble into novel
nano-structures, including a molecular scaffold that helps the
regrowth of severed nerve cells in hamsters. Their work exploits the
way certain peptide sequences can be made to self-assemble into
mesh-like sheets of "nanofibres" when immersed in salt solutions. In
the course of that research they discovered one material's dramatic
ability to stop bleeding in the brain and began testing it on a
variety of other organs and tissues. When applied to a wound, the
peptides form a gel that seals over the wound, without causing harm to
any nearby cells.
Still, they caution that extensive clinical trials are needed to make
sure the materials work properly and are safe. The MIT researchers
hope to see those crucial human trials within three to five years.
_________NYBBLETS_________
* NASA Announces Record Ozone Hole (Now at 10.6 Million Square Miles)
* Bacteria Found 2.8kms beneath the Earth Process Radioactive Water
for Food
* Coke and Nestle to Introduce Drink Called Enviga that Burns Calories
* Cornell University Report Shows Statistically-Significant
Relationship between Autism and TV-Watching
* Google's Silicon Valley HQ to Become the Largest U.S. Solar-Powered
Corporate Office Complex
* Two Russian Companies to Build World's First 120-Megawatt Floating
Nuclear Power Plant for $200M
_________LIKEABLE LINKS_________
Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/index.htm
Wikipedia in Your Laptop
http://www.webaroo.com/rooWebPacks.html#wikipedia
Encyclopedia in Your iPod
http://encyclopodia.sourceforge.net/en/index.html
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
http://docs.google.com
Yahoo Time Capsule by Jonathan Harris
http://timecapsule.yahoo.com/capsule.php
_________QUESTIONABLE QUESTION_________
When squirrels rush in front of my car, are they doing it because they
get some kind of adrenaline rush?
_________QUOTABLE QUOTE_________
Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once.
~ Robert Browning ~
_________TRIVIAL TRIVIA_________
Do buffaloes have wings?
Buffalo chicken wings were so named for their city of origin in New
York state, where they were created at The Anchor Bar.
Source: Arcamax Trivia
_________LAUGHABLE LAUGH_________
A few years ago a refugee from Laos came to the US in one of the
resettlement influxes. He had been an announcer in radio back in Laos,
and he wanted to get into the same line of work here. The first thing
he did was join AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio
Announcers). He tried to pursue a job, but of course, he had problems
with the English language, being a new resident. In order to keep body
and soul together while going to English classes, he took up
barbering. Soon, he became a very good barber, giving haircuts,
stylings, and shaves. He seemed to be an artist with the straight
razor. In fact, the shop where he worked made him specialize in giving
shaves.
Thus, he became known as an AFTRA shave Laotian.
That's all for this week. Nybble is and will always be a work in
progress. Please do send me your comments and suggestions on how to
improve Nybble. Just hit the reply button to you know, reply.
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