Nybble Issue No. 207

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
2009.01.20 Issue No. 207

Back from China, WHQ's sister tells me that 512GB USB sticks are
already out on the market. That's GB and not MB! Imagine that, my
Lenovo T61 has only 100GB. The highest-capacity USB sticks I've
seen/heard so far is only 32GB. Quite hard to believe capacities can
jump that fast.

So how do they do it? Stack the flash chips on top of each other? Make
the USB sticks 16x as long? Built-in extreme compression? Wrong. It's
simple - just fake it. Get some cheapo low-capacity thumbdrives, and
hack the controller such that it thinks it has a high-capacity memory
chip, hence the OS will report a higher value. When the user tries to
fill up the USB key beyond its real capacity, some of it just
disappears into the void. As a consequence, the user ends up with
either missing or corrupted files.

Remember, boys and girls, if something sounds too good to be true,
then it probably is.

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 napping
drivers about it. Thanks.

_________TABLE OF CONTENTS_________
* Injectable Liquid Bone
* Computer Font with Holes
* Graphite-Based Memory
* Random Numbers from Lasers
* Coffee Grounds as Biodiesel Fuel
* Jamming Cellphones while Driving
* Likeable Links
* Questionable Question
* Quotable Quote
* Trivial Trivia
* Laughable Laugh

_________INJECTABLE LIQUID BONE_________
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/injectable-liquid-bone-developed/

British scientists have invented artificial 'injectable bone' that
flows like toothpaste, and hardens in the body. This new regenerative
medicine technology provides a scaffold for the formation of blood
vessels and bone tissue, and can also deliver stem cells directly to
the site of bone repair. Not only does the technique reduce the need
for dangerous surgery, it also avoids damaging neighbouring areas.
While other older alternatives heat up as they harden, killing
surrounding cells, this new 'injectable bone' hardens at body
temperature – without generating heat – making a very porous,
biodegradable structure.

The invention emerged from a combination of research into implant able
scaffolds that encourage new bone to grow and new techniques to
deliver stem cells and drugs to specific sites. These studies spawned
the new concept of an injectable matrix as the building block for
tissue regeneration. The next generation of technologies based on this
method will focus more on the therapeutic drugs and growth factors
that can be delivered alongside the injectable bone to stimulate
tissue repair.

The British team behind the injectable bone won the Medical Futures
Innovation Award recently and are now working towards clinical trials.
They expect the product to be available in the U.S. within 18 months.

_________COMPUTER FONT WITH HOLES_________
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/91392,new-font-uses-holes-to-cut-ink-use.aspx

Dutch marketing and communications company Spranq has come up with a
novel and free way of slashing printer ink costs by developing a font
with holes in it. The creators of Ecofont took their inspiration from
the holes in Dutch cheese, and aim to cut down on the amount of ink
used when printing documents for daily use.

The font is based on the standard Sans Serif typeface, but has a
number of small circles removed from each letter. The company spent a
long time experimenting with different shapes and sizes to cut down on
the amount of ink used while still maintaining readability. Spranq
eckons that the result is still perfectly readable, but can cut the
amount of ink used by up to 20 per cent.

The Ecofont can be downloaded free
(http://www.ecofont.eu/downloads_en.html) although donations are
requested.

_________GRAPHITE-BASED MEMORY________
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9123838/Researchers_create_graphite_memory_only_10_atoms_thick

Researchers at Rice University have demonstrated a new data storage
medium made out of a layer of graphite only 10 atoms thick. The
technology could potentially provide many times the capacity of
current flash memory and withstand temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius
and radiation that would make solid-state disk memory disintegrate.
The researchers were able to grow graphene, which technically is 10 or
fewer layers of graphite, atop silicon and use it to store a bit of
data. The sheets were roughly 5 nanometers in diameter. The new
solid-state memory is one of many next-generation technologies that
could someday replace NAND flash memory at the 20 nanometer (nm) node
size. Others include race track memory and phase-change memory.
Currently, NAND flash memory can be as small as 45nm in size, but
projections show the technology will reach its limit of 20nm by around
2012. By using graphene, bits could be made smaller than 10nm in size.
Unlike NAND flash memory, which is controlled by three terminals or
wires, the graphene memory requires two terminals, making it more
viable for three-dimensional or stacked graphene arrays -- multiplying
a chip's capacity with every layer, according to Tour. But like flash
memory, chips made with graphene will consume virtually no power while
keeping data intact. Graphene generates little heat, making it more
suitable to three-dimensional or stacked memory.

_________RANDOM NUMBERS FROM LASERS_________
http://www.physorg.com/news148660964.html

Scientists from Takushoku University, Saitama University, and NTT
Corporation have discovered a way to generate good-quality random
number sequences at very high rates. Random numbers -- numbers without
any pattern -- are vital to many applications, such as computer
simulations, statistics, and cryptography. There are many ways to
generate them using unpredictable physical processes, including
electric-signal noise and radioactive decay, but these methods cannot
produce the quantities of numbers needed to keep up with the high
data-processing rates of today's computers. By taking advantage of the
physical chaos present in semiconductor lasers, the researchers
achieved random number rates of up to 1.7 gigabits per second (Gbps),
which is about 10 times higher than the second-best rate, produced
using a physical phenomenon.

The scientists reflected part of the laser light back into the laser
using an external reflector. This induces chaos, causing the light
intensity to oscillate wildly. As a result, the light's
electromagnetic signals are highly complex and cover a wide frequency
range. Then, by using a photodetector connected to an
analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the light signals are converted
into random binary numbers suitable for computing and other high-speed
data manipulation.

The group achieved a bit rate of 1.7 Gbps, although future work may
center on devising laser schemes that can achieving rates as high as
10 Gbps.

_________COFFEE GROUNDS AS BIODIESEL FUEL_________
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/acs-wcg121008.php

Researchers in Nevada have discovered that waste coffee grounds can
provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of
biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks.

Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world
each year. The used or "spent" grounds remaining from production of
espresso, cappuccino, and plain old-fashioned cups of java, often wind
up in the trash or find use as soil conditioner. The scientists
estimated, however, that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340
million gallons of biodiesel to the world's fuel supply. Spent coffee
grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight. That's about
as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm,
and soybean oil.

In their experiment, the scientists collected spent coffee grounds
from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil. They
then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 percent of the oil
into biodiesel. The resulting coffee-based fuel — which actually
smells like java — had a major advantage in being more stable than
traditional biodiesel due to coffee's high antioxidant content. Solids
left over from the conversion can be converted to ethanol or used as
compost. The scientists estimate that the process could make a profit
of more than $8 million a year in the U.S. alone. They plan to develop
a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within
the next six to eight months.

_________JAMMING CELLPHONES WHILE DRIVING_________
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/36272

Xuesong Zhou and Wally Curry at the University of Utah have invented
technology that aims to prevent teenagers from using their mobile
while driving. Called Key2SafeDriving, it uses RFID or Bluetooth
wireless capabilities to issue signals from car keys to cell phones to
prevent drivers from talking on their phones or texting while behind
the wheel. Research shows that as many as 1 in 10 teen drivers are
talking on cell phones or texting while driving at any time, and the
possible consequences of such ill-advised multitasking have grabbed
many a headline in recent years.

The system involves a device that envelops a car key and that signals
the cell phone to prevent calls and texting when the key is removed
from it. The cell phone would automatically steer callers into a voice
mail system alerting them that the intended call recipient is driving
and will return the call later (the system does enable 911 calling).
A company called Accendo LC of Kaysville, Utah has licensed the
technology and is working to build it into commercial devices that
could be on the market this year. The company is sorting out how to
bring the technology to market, but one possibility is that it would
be made available through cell phone service companies and could also
be tied in with insurance companies, which might offer discounts for
users.

_________LIKEABLE LINKS_________
Small Basic
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.aspx

NoDevice.com
http://www.nodevice.com/
Drivers and manuals for download.

Foxtel TV Guide
https://www.foxtel.com.au/EPG/EPG.aspx

RadioBeta
http://www.radiobeta.com/

_________QUESTIONABLE QUESTION_________
With all the rivers running into the ocean, why doesn't it get any fuller?

_________QUOTABLE QUOTE_________
Marriage is a school in which the pupil learns too late.

_________TRIVIAL TRIVIA_________
Where did the name 'Revlon' come from?

Nail polish distributors Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along
with nail polish supplier Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in
the Revlon name, gave birth to the Revlon cosmetics company in 1932.
Starting with just one nail product a nail enamel unlike any before it
the three men pooled their paltry resources and developed a unique
manufacturing process. Using pigments instead of dyes, Revlon was able
to offer to women rich-looking, opaque nail enamel in a wide variety
of shades never before available. In only six years, the company
became a multimillion dollar organization, launching one of the most
recognized cosmetics names in the world.

Source: Arcamax Trivia

_________LAUGHABLE LAUGH_________
A southern belle was looking to buy a house. The seller said, "This
house hasn't got a flaw in it!"

The southern belle replied, "My lands! What do y'all walk on?"

_________DOWNLOADABLE DOWNLOAD_________
ZScreen
http://www.brandonz.net/projects/zscreen/
Open-source screen capture program

WinWorkBar PIM
http://vetch.magot.pl/

Q-Dir
http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/Q-Dir&language=english

Ecofont
http://www.ecofont.eu/downloads_en.html

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.