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TSMC will fab them for you.

Western Digital plans to use RISC-V processors in their storage products starting next year. Most likely they will be fabbed by TSMC.

It is not clear if these RISC-V chips will be available to other companies or to the general public.

But it did. Further, WD has plans to use RISC-V cores in future products.

Storage is going to be getting more expensive as batteries get bigger and materials become more scarce. Your phone battery degrades, so will your community-sized battery pack. R&D will help things - it usually does, but supply and demand is going to be a killer.

Probably not. Actually there is a very good chance that they are going to get a lot cheaper as they stop using relatively scarce materials. At least if you believe any reasonable fraction of what is being reported in various media, such as:

https://www.designnews.com/ele...

Bill Joy is in the category of folks I'd generally classify as Not An Idiot, so this -- among many other threads and research avenues -- are likely to drop the cost of batteries to roughly 1/10th of what they are now, with better operational characteristics to boot.

Interesting, because the attraction was reported, at least when it originally opened, to be running Windows XP.

Not just rods and rails, also longer, by 5x(?) position sensors (optical strips?) and also the required rods and rails will need to be held to tighter tolerances as deviations that are passable at shorter lengths are magnified at longer lengths and thus no longer acceptable. It takes larger machines to make larger parts with tighter absolute tolerances and so the cost of the parts increases. I argue it increases by a lot.
Here in the comments section of the article about the Objet1000 (1000 mm x 800 mm x 500 mm) it mentions the price at $675,000. The article states $40,000 but that's probably wrong.
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&doc_id=256319&dfpPParams=ind_186,industry_auto,industry_gov,industry_medical,bid_26,aid_256319&dfpLayout=blog
Here is one that mentions the price as 500,000 Pounds:
http://3dprintingindustry.com/2012/11/30/objet1000-connex-platform-launched-at-euromold/
So even if the hobbyist can reduce the price to 1/10, it is still $67,500.

So, I respectfully disagree unless you can show where the larger envelope sizes have been achieved for much lower cost. Note even that this printer does not meet the wished for 1m x 1m x1m of the parent post achieving in fact, only 40% of the wish.

I did a load of background reading on this yesterday so here's some interesting related material. One interesting source is the NASA guidelines for li-ion use in space :
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090023862_2009023573.pdf

Now NASA I think have a pretty good track record of thinking technologies through carefully... (By the by, did you know that GS Yuasa also have a contract to supply their li-ion batteries to NASA for use in the ISS?)

Also, did you know that prior to the 787 the Cessna CJ4 was the first civili aircraft to utilise li-ion batteries (supplied by a123). In 2011 there was a fire onboard one whilst it was connected to a ground power unit. As a result the FAA ordered all 42 in operation to be changed to conventional ni-cd or lead acid.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-11-01/html/2011-27596.htm

This is interesting as it's similar i.e. on the ground. This of course *could* be coincidental.

Next up are lots of interesting pictures from the NTSB investigation. Much as I HATE to link to the Daily Mail (normally a pretty retarded publication) I couldn't find any other pic sources. Bizarre :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268152/Boeing-787-Dreamliners-burnt-battery-spewed-molten-electrolytes-reveal-investigators.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

And some great source material from the NTSB themselves :
http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/2013/boeing_787/boeing_787.html

And the NTSB update on the investigation (including some samples of their cell CT scans) :
http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/2013/boeing_787/JAL_B-787_1-24-13.pdf

NTSB Primer on li-ion battery tech :
http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/2013/boeing_787/Primer_LIB_Technology.pdf

One of the theories being talked about are the fact that the li-ion batteries that Boieng (via Thales) decided on are based on a lithium cobalt oxide cathode which is old tech and regarded as not exactly the safest variant of li-ion technology out there :
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=257987
and via a translation :
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tu.no%2Findustri%2F2013%2F01%2F17%2Fher-er-dreamliner-problemet

This EEtimes article has some interesting comments :
http://cdn.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4405441/787-Dreamliner-investigation-probes-battery-charging-electronic

And some info from GS Yuasa :
http://www.s399157097.onlinehome.us/SpecSheets/LVP10-65.pdf

All interesting stuff. Personally I think they shouldn't have been allowed to 'trial' li-ion on such a big aircraft especially after the cessna incident. Trying so many new tricks at once isn't wise - as engineers always say, just change one thing at a time...

This supposes the issue might be thermal management: http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=257987&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&dfpPParams=ind_184,industry_aero,aid_257987&dfpLayout=article

FFT process gain to the rescue. Detecting a narrowband pure tone buried well beneath the noise floor of an A/D converter is not all that hard. Don't forget those generating plants have mechanical time constants. They generate pretty damn narrowband signals.

Looking at the first google result for "2009 Design News 'Golden Mousetrap' Awards" I can safely say that while I have no idea what any of that crap is, I'm doubting that the products are sold with hipster TV ads or big tittied blonde comfort girls.

while searching for another version of the slashdotted article, i found this http://www.designnews.com/blog/320000232/post/2900 08429.html/. its dated april 2006 and appears to be about the same product, running the same demo. dunno if its just an incorrect timestamp, or if this is just really old news.

Also see InfoWorld.

And see Tech Republic.

Then go read everything written by Norman Matloff.

John Dodge at Design News takes issue with one of his edtiors on the whole notion of the electric, gas-powered car. He seems pretty enthused about Chevy's Volt Electric Concept Car. He has a pretty interesting opinion. Check it out at: http://www.designnews.com/index.asp?layout=blogPre view&blog_id=130000213&blog_post_id=820006282

With these schematics, will the 4004 be a good test case for the proposed circuit printers?

Apparently the Segway company has developed a new steering system to make the it easier for riders to maneuver. Check it out at: http://www.designnews.com/article/CA6368834.html

Design News has a great story on its website today, which discusses the issue of checking your laptop and offers insights from engineers, laptop manufacturers and even laptop case makers. Check it out at: http://www.designnews.com/article/CA6363075.html

Looks like Design News not only updated this story, but created a microsite on the Big Dig for even further discussion. Check it out - http://www.designnews.com/article/CA6361529.html

You can download the survey from here instead.

http://designnews.com/article/CA6286283.html

Heat in the form of engine exhaust, and in the form of friction braking are two major areas of energy loss for a vehicle as well, but only recently has capturing this lost energy been a potentially desirable goal.

This BMW heat capture system seems like a great idea. Ford also has a regenerative braking system called Hydraulic Launch Assist which could capture much of the energy lost in braking as well. Electrics and hybrids already reclaim some of this energy by using it to generate electricity to charge the storage batteries.

It will be interesting to see if the ultra efficient cars of the future use any or all of these technologies.

Not unless it's a spankin' new 42V DC automotive system...

http://www.designnews.com/article/CA187806.html

Or a custom job...

http://nyserda.org/programs/transportation/TransPr oj_6641.asp ...but personally I think switching electrical loads to thermoelectric waste-heat recovery systems is a better option overall:

http://www.autoindustry.co.uk/news/industry_news/0 7-09-05_7

Fun fact: At $3 per gallon gasoline, with current ICE and alternator efficiencies, electricity onboard a moving car costs 55 cents per kWh.

have you heard or seen of this??? http://www.designnews.com/article/CA328002.html

"Silicon Graphics."

SGI tried this. They built Windows NT PCs, in attractive custom cases, with workstation-derived interconnects and graphics. Basically all the hardware advantages of an SGI workstation with the software base of a Windows OS.

Sounds great, right?

Not only did they flop in the market, but it basically destroyed SGI. The PC people thought they were too expensive compared to Dells, and the SGI-IRIX loyalists felt abandoned.

I think we probably agree more than disagree - any turbofan for high speed applications will be a low bypass setup. At the moment though, I don't know of any flying aircraft that cruise at Mach 2+, turbojet or turbofan. I think the noise issues from a "pure" turbojet tend to push it out of the running (for civillian applications).

This isn't something I've looked into much lately, but did some reading - interestingly enough NASA was (is?) pushing a mixed-flow turbofan for supersonic (Mach 2+) cruise.

Some good diagrams for recent ideas on supersonic airliner propulsion can be found in [PDF file]. Most of these are centered around a low-bypass turbofan, although tweaked around to deal with the issues of high-speed flight and low-speed noise.

Personally, I don't think the engine type is the main issue to this type of aircraft - I suspect the environmental issues will be more critical (not just talking about sonic booms, but the exhaust products from the engines and the takeoff noise).

The SGI boxes were not "just another PC". They had a lot of custom engineered components including the entire memory and graphics subsystem.
Take a look at the information in this article from 1999 for diagrams showing SGI's architecture.
While they did run Windows NT, the hardware was custom, not off the shelf x86.

Here's a proud engineer with his hoverboard and details on materials/construction: http://www.designnews.com/article/CA414124.html

When SGI added BX2 nodes to NASA's Columbia system, the standard air cooling was inadequate. They were forced to do a quick cooling change that added water cooling. Some would call the change a kludge.

More detail on the change, and cooling in general, can be found in this interview with the SGI designers who dealt with the problem.

When SGI added BX2 nodes to NASA's Columbia system, the standard air cooling was inadequate. They were forced to do a quick cooling change that added water cooling. Some would call the change a kludge.

More detail on the change, and cooling in general, can be found in this interview with the SGI designers who dealt with the problem.

... Dan O'Dowd says it's not secure enough.

And shouldn't he know? I mean, he sells an OS that is designed for military use, so obviously he's an expert. And unbiased, too!

Sorry, Dan. Looks like your FUD didn't work.

Last time I heard anything about OSes in Rutan craft, it was Apple(scroll down to 'General Aviation's golden years').

More info here.

I was watching Motorweek the other day on PBS, and they were running a segment on hybrids. Several companies were designing heavy trucks (think diesel platforms for garbage trucks and buses) that used high and low pressure hydraulic tanks to store and then release energy generated by the engine during operation. This enables the truck to avoid idling the engine at stops (similar to an electric hybrid) and allows the truck to get up to speed (hydraulic launch assist) based on the hydraulic pump (which is coupled to the driveshaft, similar to a motor) before kicking in the diesel engine. When operating or braking, fluid stored in the low pressure tank is pumped back into the high pressure tank (each tank is filled with nitrogen gas - that's what is being compressed to store energy.) When starting up from a stop or accelerating, the gas is used to shunt hydraulic fluid through the pump to spin the driveshaft.

Hydraulic hybrids.

Design News had an article about this type of car in January. You can find it here.

Ok First off this mother board is ment to be mounted in a backplane chassis for industrial application such as motion control for CNC machines (but usually FANUC controlers are used) or robotics setups, as well as data aquisition. Look in the back of any Design News magazine and youll see all of thoes cards that are supposed to be shoved into the backplanes. As far as being used in servers, they were never ment for such use. They are basicly for industrial embedded systems running QNX perhaps to run a machine shop or plant. Another thing that simply isnt possible to do with these bords it to issert them into other computers as an upgrade or put multiple cards in one unit for sort of super computer because youll just fry the card and computer. The card is a mother board and can you take the pci bus of one mother board and lets say pulg it directly into anothers? That would easily spell disaster. If you want to see other good industrial and embedded computers and solid state disks go here to Advantech , they have a great line of sold state disks that range from 3.5" solid state IDE disks to a little 32MB solid disk that plugs right into the motherboards ide port and just sticks out about an inch from the connector. great for building embedded Linux, BeIA , or QNX devices. Hey anyone here ever think of a pocket sized linux server check out this Advantech device :) Holds 144MB flash cards for bootstrap has 10/100 ethernet, 32 MB ram and 4MB vga and ide in a 2.5 hdd form factor. Definaly some awesome linux potential as a micro server that can whoop ass!