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CES 2008 Hall of Shame

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the natural-financial-selection dept.

Romana Reynolds writes "The CES 2008 Innovations Design and Engineering Awards Showcase honored the Atom Chip Corporation, which was exhibiting the same 100GB, 500GB, and 1TB 'quantum optical' memory chips back in 2006. We actually wandered by, but long gone are the 'SolarMemory' chips, and he didn't know anything about Duke Nuk'em Forever. A little easy digging shows that they'd been making the same extraordinary claims and exhibiting prototypes at CES during the past three years, long enough to make 'atom chip hoax' the fourth suggestion on typing 'atom chip' into Google. I'm amused that the 'preeminent' panel of judges failed their vetting and gatekeeping functions. But I fear that Atom Chip will gather investors based on their recognition at CES, and continue in the game for many years to come, while honors at CES become a Hall of Shame."

42 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. The "atom chip" Huh? by AltGrendel · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aren't they going to use that in the Phantom console?

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    - Douglas Adams

  2. 'Quantum optical'??? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Quantum optical? C'mon, is it just me or doesn't that just sound like they made that up after watching a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon on Spike?

    --
    My blog
    1. Re:'Quantum optical'??? by operagost · · Score: 3, Funny

      This company is clearly a hoax. Everyone knows you have to divert your quantum interconnects through the main deflector to avoid overloading the holographic matrix.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    2. Re:'Quantum optical'??? by jaxtherat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Surely an Oscar being one of the awards won in Europe would indicate that this is a very clever hoax:

      page: http://atomchip.com/_wsn/page7.html
      image: http://atomchip.com/db4/00366/atomchip.com/_uimages/IMAGE043.jpg

      Gentlemen, I think we've found the Borat of CES :)

      --
      http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
  3. No! I won't belive it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I well expect to get that $10k I invested into atom chip back, with excellent interest.

    Yes, I know that my $10k investment is only worth $5 now, but that's just the cost of R&D, it'll come back! ...
    It's not coming back, is it?

  4. Corporate Image by FalconZero · · Score: 5, Informative
    Wow, with a website as slick as theirs, I wonder if they made their show posters with crayons?

    Seriously though, if their intention is to promote snake oil in the hopes of attracting investors then the least they could do is put more than an hour of effort into what is pretty much (at least in this industry) the primary corporate representation.

    At least they didn't create it in Word. Now that would have really irked me....

    Incidentally, I did a little digging on this, and it seems its owned by a Russin Scientist called Shimon Gendlin (based out of Long Island), who as per information here in 1997 owned two companies both pitching along a simmilar theme :
    • SVG Israel New Technology, Ltd. (President)
    • Compu-Technics (Chairman of the board)
    --
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    1. Re:Corporate Image by yakumo.unr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I particularly like the way they've photographed an SD card and GIMPed it into their 'product' but not mentioned anything about it being concept art or anything too.

    2. Re:Corporate Image by I8TheWorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It seems they've removed the following line from their page source

      <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">

      Only more laughable is their "Stationary adapter, which is connected to the optical fiber and electrical cables" shown here

      http://atomchip.com/db4/00366/atomchip.com/_uimages/256Mx61.jpg

      which looks deceptively like an 1/8" stereo connector.

      --
      Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
    3. Re:Corporate Image by FalconZero · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I just found my favourite part. This page has details of their "NvIOpRAM 24GB-128GB" (whatever that is), however the key to the diagram states that part 2 (as indicated several times on the diagram) is an 'optical lens' when it is quite clearly the end (and third contact) of a 3.5mm audio jack (as should be obvious to anyone who has ever used any form of personal audio).

      --
      Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
    4. Re:Corporate Image by king-manic · · Score: 4, Funny

      PATENT PANDING, it's nto a typo. They are pandering for a patent.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    5. Re:Corporate Image by pete-classic · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The whole site is a lot of bullshit, but that connector isn't the best example. There is a Toslink connector that is socket-compatible with the old 3.5mm headphone jack (images).

      Hybrid female connectors are common on Apple products that support both Toslink and analog audio. I've never seen a hybrid male, but it only stands to reason that someone would make one.

      -Peter

    6. Re:Corporate Image by Rogerborg · · Score: 2, Funny

      Urgh, now that I've actually looked through them, I'd prefer a -1, Skankathon. I know there's a recession on, but damn it, you don't cut your Booth Babe budget, ever.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    7. Re:Corporate Image by marcansoft · · Score: 2, Informative

      So it's a hybrid mini TOSLINK + audio jack. Those things exist.

    8. Re:Corporate Image by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And the storage devices with built-in LCD display that shows how much space they have left. I sure hope that display can interpret file systems besides FAR32 and NTFS There is a real product that does this, and I spent far too much time figuring out how to make an E Ink fuel gauge work on all know file systems -

      http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=417786&cid=22048494

      That said if I were making a flash drive with a fuel gauge, I'd only support the FAT variant it was pre-formatted with. Anything else will lead to ruinous support costs. There's a subtle device cost issue too - if you hardwire it to only support FAT you can reduce the amount of Ram the code in the flash disk controller needs.
      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  5. Re:Worst Website Ever! by Phisbut · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Can we send them the Worst Website Ever award from Slashdot?

    Nope... that award still goes to the Time Cube for use of an ugly background, random font sizes and random font colors, as well as the layout (centered text in a narrow column spanning well over 25 pages), and I'm not even talking about the content of the site here...

    --
    After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
    - The Tao of Programming
  6. Re:Do the dew? by Codifex+Maximus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sounds like something made with the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator. (With apologies to Dilbert and his assistant Scott Adams)

    Codifex

    --
    Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
  7. Re:what by east+coast · · Score: 3, Funny

    Quick! Hire him as an editor!

    --
    Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
  8. Panel of Judges by WyrdOne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hmm lets see, about 1/2 the Panel is made up of CEO's and Prisident/Founders of various businesses. People so far removed from the technology they work in they probably couldn't tell you how their own products actually work.

    Most of the other half are made up of Salesmen, Journalists, Evangelists and Marketing agents. People who don't know the right end of a lightbulb usually.

    I saw maybe 2-3 people in that whole list that *might* have a clue about how technology works.

    CES needs to get a new panel of judges who know their stuff. Maybe get some leading professors in the field to come judge? How about senior product "Engineers", you know the people actually making the stuff that ends up in CES?

  9. Re:Worst Website Ever! by FalconZero · · Score: 2, Funny

    Argggg! That nearly made my eyes bleed.

    --
    Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
  10. Mmm... Atom Chips... by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Funny

    Atom chips go great with quarkamole.



    Thank you, I'll be here all week! Support your bartender!

    --
    http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
    1. Re:Mmm... Atom Chips... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, but to make really good quarkamole, you need 6.022x10^23 avogadros.

  11. Re:No way this is real by JMLang · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, the patent grab claim is unlikely. All but one of the US patents listed in the photographed flyer have been abandoned according to the US Patent office (failure to pay maintenance fees). Looks like they don't have much in the way of patent rights now, and they probably won't have much more in ten years time if they can't come up with the cash to pay maintenance fees now. Caveat Investor...

  12. Re:No way this is real by shawnce · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not that I believe any of their website ... but some vendors (Apple comes to mind) provide TOSLINK optical connections using a 1/8" combo audio jack.

  13. [OT] Re:Worst Website Ever! by FalconZero · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hahaha. Even more humorous is the link at the bottom of the page "Next Page", which should really read, "YES! Please give my brain another good kicking". Whoever wrote this page is the internet version of a crazy old guy eating out of bins, mumbling and throwing cats at people who come too close.

    --
    Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
  14. A display on a memory chip? by fuocoZERO · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This page suggests that the memory devices they are creating have a small display to show the free space on the chip. Wouldn't this suggest that they are making these chips filesystem aware and able to read free space? Adds to the bogus factor... not to mention the 3rd grade quality of their site...

    1. Re:A display on a memory chip? by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 3, Funny

      This page suggests that the memory devices they are creating have a small display to show the free space on the chip. Wouldn't this suggest that they are making these chips filesystem aware and able to read free space?

      Nah, they just treat every memory cell storing a 1 as "used", and every cell storing a 0 as "free".

      That calculation's much easier to do with the modest computing power of a USB stick than actual filesystem awareness would be.

  15. [OT] Re:A display on a memory chip? by FalconZero · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's not file system aware.

    When you run the file system on your pc computer, it opens the quantum disk and reads to the LCD on the side for automatic update! Thank you. [Buy Now]

    --
    Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
  16. Re:what by superskippy · · Score: 4, Informative

    The fact this has only got 25 comments several hours later means that nobody has got a clue what this story is about. This summary is made of fail.

  17. Re:And now they seem like they're short of money by cheese-cube · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You know that by linking to them you are only increasing their profits.

  18. Re:Worst Website Ever! by CrazedWalrus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, the web site "design" was a treat compared to the insanity written on it. Did that guy skip his meds or something? Wow.

  19. Re:Best Website Ever! by Michael+O-P · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow. That is quite an eye-opener. My favorite page is "Greenwich Time Debunked," which states:

    "Old Hold For New Construction."

    Absolutely brilliant.

    --
    I'm Peggy.
  20. WHOIS Record by computer_guy57 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Their WHOIS record shows the registrant as "Domain Discreet," and their contact email as random-jumble-of-letters@domaindiscreet.com. If that doesn't scream "hoax" (kinda like everything else about them), then I don't know what does.

  21. No real surprise here. by Telecommando · · Score: 2, Interesting

    CES is and always has been more about marketing and hype than any actual innovation.

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  22. Re:Worst Website Ever! by thomas.galvin · · Score: 5, Funny
    From the Time Cube site:

    This site is a collection of data for a coming book Please, let this be true.
    --
    Thomas Galvin
  23. Re:Welcome! by PitaBred · · Score: 2, Funny

    Klaatu! Verata! N... necktie? nickle? I'm sure it was an N word...

    --
    My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
  24. Blocked AtomChip.com by StickyWidget · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It's gotta be a hoax, Websense is blocking it.

    Or porn. Or Liberal Propaganda. I'm just not sure these days.

    ~Sticky

  25. Not just Panding! Grantid, too. by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They appear to have actually achieved at least one patent. Their news page contains a link to a description of "quantum technology" Which appears to be an abstract consisting of a jumble of barely related words, a reference to an otherwise unknown "Gendlin effect." and a child's sketch of a design for magnetic core memory.

    However a google patents search uncovers an actual patent! Which is basically the same, but with more child's sketches, such as one of a transistor, and a page that appears to be practice isometric drawings, and several pages of black & white photoshop cloud noise renderings.

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  26. Re:Worst Website Ever! by shrikel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Holy stinking cow. I sure hope that site was generated by a semi-random-text generator (it reads like it was), because if not... well, let's just say that if the author wasn't crazy before he started he would have DRIVEN himself crazy just coming up with that much and that quality of bunk.

    --
    Any sufficiently simple magic can be passed off as mere advanced technology.
  27. Re:Worst Website Ever! by kalel666 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Awesome, from the website: "I HAVE CUBIC WISDOM THAT TRANSCENDS AND
    CONTRADICTS ONE DAY GODS"

    That is my new answer to anything my wife and/or boss asks me. Fuck it, thats my new sig, too.

    --
    I HAVE CUBIC WISDOM THAT TRANSCENDS AND CONTRADICTS ONE DAY GODS
  28. What a bunch of idiots by blind+biker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Check this out on their website:
    http://atomchip.com/_wsn/page4.html
    Welcome to the World of Nanomicrons and Beyond!

    wtf is a nanomicron?

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  29. Re:Worst Website Ever! by noamsml · · Score: 3, Funny

    Timecube: the goatse of the thinking man.

    --
    My new blog
  30. Re:Wow... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 3, Interesting
    For around $25K, you too can have your own CES Innovations award! Having exhibited my own products at CES for many years, I can tell you that you:

    1. Pony up around $2,500 to "submit" your product for evaluation
    2. Pony up another $5,000 when your product is chosen to be a "semi-finalist"
    3. Pony up another $7,500 when your product is chosen to be a "finalist"
    4. Pony up another $10,000 when you are chosen a winner, to cover "marketing expenses"
    5. Profit (for CES and, presumably, you via marketing)

    Inside most of the CE industries, CES Innovations awards are ignored - they mean nothing because everyone knows you can buy one. Just if you want the press or marketing exposure (so the BB/CC sales drone can move your product - it's an Award Winner!) it's worth the $$$. If you don't need it, don't pay.

    That said, traffic at CES was noticeably down this year. LV wasn't as crowded, the floors were more open, and many areas - like the Venetian and Hilton - had a LOT of empty space. Lots of companies are dropping out of attending CES simply because it's gotten way too expensive to show at, and it simply has lost focus on what made it big back in the day - entertainment CE products.

    --
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