Slashdot Mirror
Nanosecrets of Everyday Things
prostoalex writes "A recent issue of Berkeley Lab Research Review discusses the nanosecrets of everyday things. The article talks about common everyday applications of nanotechnology advances, as well as takes a look at tools used to manipulate itty-bitty widgets."
Remember Newton? F=ma ring a bell? To find the acceleration of a nanobot, a = F/m where F is the thrust of the propellant and m the mass of the nanobot. The thrust can be calculated by multiplying the mass of the propellent by its acceleration which in turn equals 2v/d (v = the final velocity and d the atomic radius).
Plug these numbers in and you'll find that even if the propellant consists of a single atom the forward velocity of the nanobot will be somewhere in the region of 1/100th of the speed of light. That may not sound like much, but even 1/1000 * 3e8 m/s = 3e5 m/s = 300 km/s = 1080000 km/h!
There's no way I'm letting one of these babies into my body...
AMD Barton core to the rescue?
Posted 9/4/2002 - 12:05PM, by Caesar
While many wait with bated breath to see the silky moves of Hammer (uh-huh, you might not be able to touch this!), the fact of the matter is that AMD needs more life out of the Athlon XP line in order to stave off a complete performance spanking from Intel, who will no doubt have a 3.0 GHz hyper-threading CPU out before snow falls (at least in my area). October 7 will see the launch of the T-bred 2700+ CPU on a 333MHz FSB, but DigiTimes is reporting that this same month will see the launch of the Barton-core Athlon XP, which will offer higher clock speeds (2800+ for launch, I'm told), a 333MHz FSB, and a 512K cache built on a 0.13-micron process.
According to AMD's original roadmap, the Barton-core processors were positioned to target the low to medium-range market, accompanying the new-generation K8-core products. However, as the K8 processors will not hit the market until sometime later, AMD has seemed to try to maintain its momentum by strengthening specifications of its current K7 platform. Besides introducing the Barton core, the company earlier upgraded the FSB standard of its Athlon XP processors from 266MHz to 333MHz.
I could be wrong, but with the 2700+ T-bred hitting the scene in early October, I can't see the Barton launch as being anything but another paper launch, as we had with the 2600+. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
[Discussion]
More on Freestyle (Including the ever-so-fun DRM)
Posted 9/3/2002 - 11:46PM, by Kurt
Yes, Freestyle has been renamed "Windows XP Media Center Edition", but Microsoft's code names are always so much cooler than their final product names (Whistler, Blackcomb, etc.). The latest round of news indicates that the media capabilities of the Freestyle based systems are somewhat restricted by digital rights management "features". While everyone has their own opinions on the implications of the "feature", I'm inclined to see just how Microsoft approaches the implementation. MS (like SonicBlue and TiVo) is caught in between their customers and the collective meanness of the various lobbying groups. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I hope there's a somewhat non-obvious way of disabling the DRM like you can in Media player. *crosses fingers*
All "moral" issues aside, I'm quite interested to see how MS is marketing this system. Their first attempts (as evidenced by HP's implementation) seem to be aimed squarely at the rich new college student demographic. They're positioning these systems as a Computer/TV/DVD/Kitchen Sink for the space constrained dorm room resident. While the $1500 price point may be rather high, a shiny new computer system seems to be standard fare for incoming freshmen these days. Unfortunately, they're not marketing it to people like me, who want an easy to setup Home Theater PC with a very sexy TV interface. Perhaps future products (or even the OS by itself) will position things more to my liking, but we'll have to wait and see.
[Discussion]
Electronic gaming is not for oi polloi
Posted 9/3/2002 - 11:41PM, by Caesar
This story has been percolating for awhile, but until just now I haven't been able to find the real data to confirm it (PDF is in modern Greek). According to several sites, a recent Greek law outlaws electronic gaming inside Greece! Yep, even playing Solitaire on your cellphone is now illegal.
The Greek government introduced the law in an attempt to prevent illegal gambling. According to a report in the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Greek police will be responsible for catching offenders, who will face fines of 5,000 to 75,000 euros (about $4,980 to $74,650) and imprisonment of one to 12 months. "The blanket ban was decided in February after the government admitted it was incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines," the report said.
In other words, the home of the Olympic Games is flippin' the bird to today's electronic gamers because they can't be bothered to try and differentiate between "good" and "bad" games. You gotta love that strategy. An English translation of the law can be found here. The Greek gaming site Gameland is sponsoring a petition, so add your support if you think it will help. Chances are, if the prosecution of the first alleged violator is successful, the European Court will over turn it, and Greece will have to go back to the inscription boards.
[Discussion]
Britain to ban laptop use on planes?
Posted 9/3/2002 - 11:14PM, by zAmboni
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is pondering a ban on in flight laptop use due to possible interference caused by Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology. Both ZDNet UK and The Register are both reporting NASA and United Airlines tests with UWB may affect an airplane's electronics.
NASA detected interference with the instrument landing system after applying frequency modulation to the UWB chip. Interference with the traffic-alert collision avoidance systems also occurred after the power output of the chip has been boosted to some 100 times greater that its usual level.
"Our primary concern is safety, and it's possible that we may have to make a ruling about UWB in the future," the Civil Aviation Authority spokeswoman said.
More extensive testing may clarify any possible problems with UWB and electronic equipment, and talks about banning of laptops is definitely premature since laptop UWB devices are not expected to go on sale until 2003. The ban would be extended to all laptops due to the inability to differentiate between UWB and non UWB enabled devices. UWB technology in the US only recently has been given a cautious go ahead. Since the technology is quite young, manufacturers would most likely modify UWB output to avoid possible conflicts which could lead to such bans.
[Discussion]
Please try to keep posts on topic.
Soon we shall be able to build nanobots that can attack inferior races like the niggers and the arabs. They can cleanse the human race from within.
Imagine, a cloud of these nanobots sweeping the country. Everywhere there is terror; Where filthy islamic nigger slime infests the streets; Wherever whites, the rightful masters of this planet are afraid to walk; the cloud will eradicate the filth by converting their cellular structure into mush. Mush that can be used to feed whites that have been forced into poverty by political correct "positive discrimination" employment schemes.
So yes, we as a technologically superior species should have an interest in this story.
And if you're afraid of killing niggers and islamites, then you have NO place posting on a popular technology journal website.