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
2008.09.22 Issue No. 204
Everyone knows the importance of doing regular backups, but how many people actually do it? Last weekend, our IT guys started migrating our Outlook mailboxes to another server. They sent a mail out telling people not to use Outlook during a certain time period. By the time we come back to office on Monday, everything should be there. No emails will be lost, the whole migration will be transparent to us.
Guess what? Come Monday, I can't connect to the Exchange server. The status bar would say "Trying...", and eventually end up with "Disconnected". I rebooted my PC. This time it asks for a password. I type it in, Outlook says it's wrong. I press ESC, and Outlook goes into Offline mode. I restarted Outlook. Lucky for me, this time it didn't ask for a password and connected straightaway. Unfortunately, my mailbox was totally empty. Everything in my Inbox was wiped clean. A few of my colleagues were smart enough to either archive their old mails or backup the whole mailbox prior to the migration. The last time I allowed the automated backup software to do its work? May.
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_________1 MILLION IOPS FLASH STORAGE_________
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/082808-ibm-flash-memory-million-iops.html?hpg1=bn
IBM reveals a research project that's delivering data transfer speeds of more than 1 million input/output operations per second, two and a half times faster than the industry's fastest disk storage.
According to IBM, its
Project Quicksilver improved performance by 250% at less than 1/20th the response time, took up 1/5th the floor space and required only 55% of the power and cooling. It is also two and a half times faster than its own SAN Volume Controller coupled with IBM's DS4700 storage. It would also be two and a half times faster than technology from
Texas Memory Systems, which says it has the world's fastest storage with an IOPS rate of 400,000.
IBM said it has been selling solid-state drives in some BladeCenter servers since June 2007, but didn't say when Project Quicksilver might result in a marketable product.
_________CELL-SIZED MICROBATTERIES_________
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/virus-battery-0820.html
MIT engineers have developed a way to at once create and install tiny microbatteries about half the size of a human cell and built with viruses -- by stamping them onto a variety of surfaces. The technique itself does not involve any expensive equipment, and is done at room temperature.
Batteries consist of two opposite electrodes -- an anode and cathode -- separated by an electrolyte. In the current work, the MIT team created both the anode and the electrolyte. First, on a clear, rubbery material the MIT team used soft lithography to create a pattern of tiny posts either four or eight millionths of a meter in diameter. On top of these posts, they then deposited several layers of two polymers that together act as the solid electrolyte and battery separator. Next came viruses that preferentially self-assemble atop the polymer layers on the posts, ultimately forming the anode. The final result: a stamp of tiny posts, each covered with layers of electrolyte and the cobalt oxide anode. Then they turn the stamp over and transfer the electrolyte and anode to a platinum structure that, together with lithium foil, is used for testing.
The team reports that the resulting electrode arrays exhibit full electrochemical functionality.
_________EXOSKELETON LETS PARAPLEGICS WALK AGAIN________
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1049215/Paralysed-man-walks-thanks-Robocop-style-exoskeleton.html?printingPage=true
Something of a mix between the exoskeleton of a crustacean and the suit worn by Robocop, the revolutionary device called
ReWalk helps paraplegics - people paralysed below the waist - to stand, walk and climb stairs.
The device is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of
Argo Medical Technologies, a small Israeli high-tech company. Goffer himself was paralysed in an accident in 1997 but he cannot use his own invention because he does not have full function of his arms. The system, which requires crutches to help with balance, consists of motorized leg supports, body sensors and a back pack containing a computerized control box and rechargeable batteries. The user picks a setting with a remote control wrist band - stand, sit, walk, descend or climb - and then leans forward, activating the body sensors and setting the robotic legs in motion.
Kate Parkin, director of physical and occupational therapy at NYU Medical Centre, said it has the potential to improve a user's health in two ways. Physically, the body works differently when upright. You can challenge different muscles and allow full expansion of the lungs. Psychologically, it lets people live at the upright level and make eye contact.
The ReWalk is now in clinical trials in Tel Aviv's
Sheba Medical Centre. It is due to go on sale to the public in 2010 and will cost around £10,000.
_________NEW ROAD CONCRETE FIGHTS POLLUTION_________
http://www.physorg.com/news137230645.html
Experts from the University of Twente have developed and tested special concrete paving stones that have the ability of purifying air. The paving stones contain a titanium dioxide-based additive, which under the influence of sunlight, binds the nitrogen oxide particles emitted by car exhausts and turns them into harmless nitrates. When the rains come, everything is washed clean. Nitrogen oxides, produced by industry and motor vehicles, are among the main air pollutants that lead to acid rain and smog.
Developed from a Japanese invention, the bricks are now being put to the test in Hengelo in the eastern Dutch province of Overijssel. One half of a road under reconstruction is being paved with the new, green bricks, and the other half with the ordinary variety. Air quality in both areas will be measured to show the efficacy of the bricks. The road iss expected to be finished by year-end. The first air measurements will be taken early next year, with the first results expected next summer.
_________NEW CONTACT LENSES TESTS FOR GLAUCOMA_________
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/1278/smart-contact-lenses.html
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have recently designed a contact lens prototype with a built-in pressure sensor to measure glaucoma in patients. Currently the only way for patients with glaucoma to keep tabs on the disease is by visiting a clinician who administers one of several tests to measure intraocular pressure (IOP). However, these visits occur usually two or three times a year, and there is no way to monitor pressure spikes between visits. In glaucoma, drainage of the fluid that normally delivers nutrients to and removes metabolic waste from the eye is blocked. Elevated pressure in the eye ultimately presses on the retina, compromising neural activity and damaging the optic nerve, resulting in loss of vision.
Designed by Tingrui Pan, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, the lens may eventually be fashioned into disposable contact lenses, enabling patients to continuously monitor glaucoma at home. The contact-lens prototype is made from PDMS, an organic polymer commonly used to make contact lenses and breast implants. A negative cutout of a circuit is placed on top of th polymer, and UV light is used to "etch" the pattern. Afterwards Pan filled the pattern with a solution of powdered silver, which is a nontoxic metal conductor. After polymerization, the silver formed a continuous circuit within the soft polymer.
During initial laboratory tests, it was found that when pressure within the eye increases the shape of the contact lens will distort, causing a change in voltage within the wires. This voltage change is measured and could be a good indicator of IOP. Although the prototype seems promising, several hurdles remain before it can be practically used as a contact lens. In the current version, the silver circuit is opaque and would obviously obstruct vision. Pan says that such a visible circuit could still be used for short-term, sit-down tests in the clinic, but nevertheless he looks for materials that could be made into transparent circuits for longer-term use.
_________SPECIAL EU RADIO SPECTRUM FOR CAR TALK_________
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/1280/cars-that-talk.html
The European Commission has recently decided to reserve, across Europe, part of the radio spectrum for smart vehicle communications systems. The decision is part of the commission’s overall fight against road accidents and traffic jams, and the hope is that vehicles’ developers will create wireless communication technology that will allow cars to “talk” to other cars and to the road infrastructure providers.
Using wireless communication cars could, for example, warn other drivers of slippery roads or of a crash which just happened. Smart vehicle communication systems have the potential to make the lives of Europe's drivers safer and easier; according to the European Commission, in 2006 more than 42,000 people died in road accidents in the European Union and more than 1.6 million were injured. The decision made is to provide a single EU-wide frequency band that can be used for immediate and reliable communication between cars and between cars and the roadside infrastructure. It is 30MHz of spectrum in the 5.9 Gigahertz (GHz) band which will be allocated within the next six months by national authorities across Europe, improving road safety applications without barring other services already in place (such as amateur radio services).
_________LIKEABLE LINKS_________
SoundUnwound
http://www.soundunwound.com/
Amazon's new music site
QuarkBase
http://www.quarkbase.com/
Everything about a website
Timeline of Internet Memes
http://www.dipity.com/user/tatercakes/timeline/Internet_Memes
Don't try this at work. Very addictive.
_________QUESTIONABLE QUESTION_________
I just learned to knit, and my sister wants to learn, too. I know it's not right to share needles, but do you think it would be okay just this once?
_________QUOTABLE QUOTE_________
Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you.
~ William Arthur Ward ~
_________TRIVIAL TRIVIA_________
What do you call a group of felines?
Some names for groups of animals... a bale of turtles, a clowder of cats, a charm of goldfinches, a gam of whales, a knot of toads, a streak of tigers.
Source: Arcamax Trivia
_________LAUGHABLE LAUGH_________
Five Jewish men who influenced the history of Western civilization.
Moses said the law is everything.
Jesus said love is everything.
Marx said capital is everything.
Freud said sex is everything.
Einstein said everything is relative.
_________DOWNLOADABLE DOWNLOAD_________
Google Chrome for Windows
http://www.google.com/chrome/
Google browser
PureText
http://stevemiller.net/puretext/
Paste text to any application without formatting
BurnAware Free
http://www.burnaware.com/burnaware_free.html
Ultimate disc-burning freeware
Free Starbucks Coffee Recipe E-Book
http://www.coffeefair.com/free-coffee-recipes-ebook.htm
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.
Went to the Strathfield Spring Fair with GF. This is what's on hand:
Spent a couple of hours going through the stalls. We found this stall selling discount items. GF got a 16CD case for only $3. Me, I bought two 512MB JNC SSF-F10mp3 players at $8 each. Pretty good value for that price - FM radio, FM radio recording, direct mp3 encoding, voice recording, dual 3.5mm earphone jacks, external SD memory card support, upgradeable firmware, etc. The stall was also selling mobile phones from Sagem, Philips, Siemens and Nokia for only $5 each. Didn't get those anymore.
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