"...If someone doesn't produce a competitor to nvidia it just a matter of time before nvidia becomes the Microsoft [of] 3d card."
nVidia's not going to become a Microsoft, they're going to join 'em. As one the stronger supporters of D3D in its earlier days, nVidia's been sucking up since Day 1. Just recently, Microsoft awarded nVidia a contract to develop the X-box graphics chip, together with a $200 million investment.
"Why is it that ppl are commending 3dfx for delaying their product for better quality, but when an intel release gets delayed for the same thing, we laugh?"
Probably because Intel screwed up while they were trying to shove Rambus down everybody's throats, and their attempt at backfired.
As numerous other posters have mentioned, the little cube is a Qube, by Cobalt Networks. It turns out there's a little coincidence with the topic of the previous story on the Voodoo5.
The Chairman of the Board at Cobalt -- Gordon Campbell -- was also the Chairman of the Board at 3dfx. He's not too popular with investors right now. TDFX has been gradually sliding down from its all time high of around 35 to 8 or so, with Campbell busy selling shares all the way down. Since it's IPO, COBT stock has also plunged, from a post-IPO high of 172 down to 28.
Thresh's Firingsquad has an excellent (and lengthy) article in which they test the visual quality of the Voodoo5 vs. the GeForce2 in FSAA mode. A quote from the article explains the basic difference between the two different ways the cards perform FSAA:
...3dfx uses a method called RGSS or JGSS (Rotated Grid Super Sampling, Jittered Grid Super Sampling). NVIDIA uses another method called OGSS (Ordered Grid Super Sampling).
The OG! OGSS is exactly what it sounds like. Ordered grid means that the image is processed in an ordered fashion. Cut the screen up into nice little blocks and you have an ordered grid. Now we have super-sampling. This means, in really dumb downed terms; that the picture is processed except with a bit more data in it. Mind you, this is all going on within a pixel, thus creating a much more detailed image. The image that is represented at 640x480 is actually processed with as much detail as would be present in something that has, as an arbitrary number, 1.5 times as much detail. So in order for the GeForce2 to display a scene with FSAA at 640x480 it must do the work required for displaying an image at 960x720 and then some. Other stuff like color blending goes on to smooth out the image also. So all in all a considerable amount is going on to create the effect that FSAA delivers.
Voodooss The 3dfx card does another variation of FSAA called jittered grid super-sampling. JGSS is a derivative of RGSS. RGSS, as opposed to OGSS, takes the image that is going to be represented and processes all data at a slight tilt. Jittered grid has the tilted data set, but it has a randomizing factor thrown in to make it seem more natural. If all the data was rotated at the same angle it wouldn't make too much of a difference in comparison to OGSS. This is because our eyes tend to pick up on patterns relatively easily. The random patterns make sure your eyes don't catch on to what is going on. Following this, all the other color blending and hoo-haa takes place to spruce up the image.
As you can see here, it's already up on Ebay as well. The guy claims he's selling an OEM version -- I'm guessing it's either an engineering sample or a card that was given to a reviewer.
Mr. Bughunter was talking about the Mac market, where nVidia does not currently have any options. nVidia has said they may offer Mac cards in the future, but nVidia has already stated that the NV15 (GeForce 2) will not be one of them -- so Apple users will probably have to wait until at least early 2001.
"...nVidia in the GeForce GTS at least uses a form of antialiasing similar to Photoshop's bicubic filtering which is computationally FAR more expensive than 3Dfx's pseudo-nearest-neighbor anti-aliasing approach..."
Thresh's Firingsquad recently performed a side-by-side visual quality comparision of the V5 vs. GeForce GTS FSAA. According to the testers, the Voodoo5 had the best picture quality when in 4x mode, while the GeForce was better than the V5's 2x mode in some games. Both cards seemed to have a few glitches in FSAA mode--the V5 had a "bleeding" problem at 1600x1200, while the GeForce wouldn't work with D3D games.
From their conclusion: "The results from this set of tests were considerably different from that of last time. Seeing the games in motion side by side is truly the only way to compare the two cards. 2x FSAA comparisons yielded mixed results. The quality difference between the two cards was exceedingly close. We tended to like the GF2 FSAA when compared to the Voodoo 2x. However, if we take into account performance figures, the Voodoo is the clear choice. With 2x FSAA, the Voodoo performs considerably better than the GeForce2 FSAA. When it comes to 4x, the Voodoo has no competition in terms of FSAA quality."
According to an EBNews article, "...A board using a single VSA-100 chip -- branded under the Voodoo4 name -- is functioning normally."
The V4 (Which has not yet shipped), is basically meant to be a rival for the TNT-Ultra. According to Anandtech's 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 & Voodoo5 5500 Preview, the V4 (with Beta drivers) does pretty good against the TNT-Ultra. It's a little slower at 640x480, a little faster at higher resolutions. At the same time, it offers some extra goodies like 2x FSAA, improved 16-bit color quality, and (possibly) a lower price.
*Sigh*... Once upon a time, "Rocket Science" referred to complex feats of science and engineering, while trivial matters were colloquially known as as "Mickey Mouse" stuff. But now, they have become one and the same.
OT: China [PRC] blocked Taiwan's entry into WHO
on
Censorship In China
·
· Score: 2
I doubt it, China very much opposes any sort of recognition of Taiwan, however minor. Just recently, the PRC killed Taiwan's attempt to enter the World Health Organization. See this Taipei Times article for more info. A quote from the article, concerning the recent Taiwan earthquake:
"...This is what happened. On September 21, the UN consulted with the Security Council about providing Taiwan with rescue and relief aid. A UN official then reported that China refused to respond to the issue positively, preventing the UN from providing timely assistance. Published reports later also revealed that China demanded that any UN or Red Cross aid for Taiwan must first be approved by Beijing."
"It is terribly unfortunate that Taiwan, with 23 million people, a population larger than three-quarters of the UN member-states, is not allowed to receive immediate and timely humanitarian assistance from the international community..."
There have been a number of really acrimonious fights over the patenting of organisms lately (Even outside the emotionally charged field of human genetics). In particular is the issue of "Biopiracy", the patenting of organisms that have been in use for ages by indigenous peoples in far-flung parts of the world. Some recent examples include acrimonious fights over the Neem Tree, Basmati Rice, and Tumeric. Here's a Link to an article on this, any search engine can give you dozens more.
I don't know about you, but I'd actually pay extra for a burger that was prepared "untouched by human hands". I once walked into fast food place (that shall remain nameless) during a slow part of the day, when I was the only customer. Right in front of me, two employees were flinging burgers at each other. The manager stood just a few feet away, watching the pair and laughing.
You'll never have to worry if the machine has hepatitis, or maybe forgot to wash it's hands after going to the bathroom.
"I can't get to the site right now, but why couldn't the company make just layers of LCD screens?"
I imagine this may have something to do with pixel aperture ratios. An active-matrix LCD panel isn't completely transparent--the transistors and other components take up space and occlude part of each pixel. A high-aperture LCD might have as much as 70-80% of each pixel open, but even so you'll eventually loose too much light as you stack up more and more layers.
Lawyers can be a powerful force for both good and evil. It all depends on the choice of the one who wields them. In enlightened hands, they are indispensable for maintaining order and harmony in society. But woe if a lawyer should ever fall into the clutches of Evil.
"I think that while these low powered CPU's are great, the real solution will be better batteries."
Better batteries would be great for extending running time, but as processor speeds increase, at some point you'll run into a fundamental problem. With such small form factors, these devices are going to have problems dissipating heat.
You could put in a small fan, but the fan takes up space and consumes part of your power budget. Heat pipes are compact and passive, but the heat still has to go somewhere, so they're only good up until the power dissipation is enough to make the case uncomfortably hot. At that point you must reduce power consumption.
[MOFF KURT, a tall, confident technocrat, strides through the assembled geeks to the base of the shuttle ramp. The geeks snap to attention; many are uneasy about the new arrival. But Moff Kurt stands arrogantly tall.]
[The exit hatch of the shuttle opens with a WHOOSH, revealing only darkness. Then, heavy FOOTSTEPS AND MECHANICAL BREATHING. From this black void appears DARTH TACO, LORD OF THE SITH. Taco looks over the assemblage as he walks down the ramp.]
MOFF KURT: "Lord Taco, this is an unexpected pleasure. We're honored by your presence."
DARTH TACO: "You may dispense with the pleasantries, Commander. I'm here to put you back on schedule."
[The commander turns ashen and begins to shake.]
MOFF KURT: "I assure you, Lord Taco, my men are working as fast as they can."
DARTH TACO: "Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them."
MOFF KURT: "I assure you, this station will be operational as planned."
DARTH TACO: "Andover does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation."
MOFF KURT: "But he asks the impossible. I need more geeks."
DARTH TACO: "Then perhaps you can tell them when they arrive."
MOFF KURT: [aghast] Andover's coming here?
DARTH TACO: "That is correct, Commander. And they are most displeased with your apparent lack of progress."
MOFF KURT: "We shall double our efforts."
DARTH TACO: "I hope so, Commander, for your sake. Andover is not as forgiving as I am."
"This server is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it!"
So, to get the bounty--do we need to turn in just the ears, or does the government want to see the whole carcass? It'd be mighty nice if I could keep the pelts to sell on the market.
They've announced that they're shifting their business to "Wireless Multimedia Communications". NeoMagic used to be in a relatively uncrowded market niche, but they recently have come under heavy pressure as other companies introduced mobile video chipsets (ATI in particular). NeoMagic chips will still turn up for a while, but there won't be much further development.
http://www.neomagic.com/press1.html "NeoMagic will shift its focus to developing 'Wireless Multimedia Communications' technologies, based on our vision to provide semiconductor solutions for mobile Internet appliances and digital imaging products for the Internet..."
"You can never be sure you have really a cancer with these tests. For ex with PSA, some people do produce PSA more than the average, and there's no dosage 100% efficient."
Whoops, didn't elaborate enough in my original post. I lumped those cases in the "false positives" category.
PS: Why not log in? Slashdot could benefit from an MD's opinion.
OK, after taking a look around the company's website, I can tell Michael is not a bio-geek. This is just a quickie post, so please excuse the spelling and details. Anyway:
"...Well, I believe this works by detecting certain antibodies produced under certain circumstances rather than analyzing your genes..."
Just about the only thing Michael gets correct is that the product does not analyze your genes in any way, so the GATTACA comment is way off-base. (OT Rant--Imagine if the media constantly made references to "evil malicious hackers" like in the movie "The Net", every time the Internet was mentioned. Yes, it's *that* annoying to geneticists).
What the test does is detect this "DR-70" (Apparently a proprietary name, BTW) antigen released by certain types of cancers, not an antibody. Antibodies are involved, but this is because the kit itself is an ELISA-based test. ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) is a well-established technique that uses antibodies to detect said antigen. See AMDL's product info page for pretty pictures on how this works.
"...but this is another step forward to the big privacy debate..."
Suppose your doctor has ordered this test. You've got a lot more problems than privacy. A positive result (barring false positives) doesn't say that you have a genetic suceptibility to a certain type of cancer. It says that you *have* a certain type of cancer.
Tests for cancer-related antigens have been in use for some time. For instance, the PSA test, which measure the elevated levels of Prostate Specific Antigen released by some ~80% of Prostate tumors. Now, this test is still quite interesting in the variety of cancers it claims to be capable of detecting. I wouldn't consider it an earth-shattering breakthrough, though.
You can find the the company's website at www.amdl.com, and more detailed information on the DR-70 test here.
BTW, I'm curious why Michael linked to a medical site whose contents are in French. The test is developed and marketed by a US company based in California.
At the end of the article, you'll find a few paragraphs that talk about a professor who had apparently done crucial work on the sequencer, yet was not named as an inventor on the patent (thus depriving him of royalties and recognition).
...Asked why he had not pursued the issue of his omission from the patent, Huang said that he cared more about the science than about matters of ownership and money.
"If I opened the door for someone else to go through, that's enough. You have to decide where you get your gratification."
After reading of all the ongoing legal manuevering and spinning, this made me stop for a moment. There are still scientists out there who are dedicated to higher goals, thank god.
Someone already brought this up earlier, but even more promising than the Magsail is the M2P2. There are are problems with the Magsail, especially with the size of the superconducting loop--the needed diameter of which has been estimated from kilometers to hundreds of kilometers.
The material requirements for the M2P2 are more modest. The M2P2 uses a magnetic field generated by a solenoid. This field is then "inflated" with plasma. According to Dr. Winglee:
"...a 200-kilogram probe could deploy a magnetic sail of perhaps 20 kilometers' breadth and attain a velocity of nearly 100 kilometers per second using 50 kilograms of gas and about 1,000 watts of power to keep the plasma envelope filled. Making way at that clip, a craft could reach from Earth to Saturn in less than six months. The Cassini probe now on route to the ringed planet, by comparison, will take seven years..."
Slashdot Mirror
"...If someone doesn't produce a competitor to nvidia it just a matter of time before nvidia becomes the Microsoft [of] 3d card."
nVidia's not going to become a Microsoft, they're going to join 'em. As one the stronger supporters of D3D in its earlier days, nVidia's been sucking up since Day 1. Just recently, Microsoft awarded nVidia a contract to develop the X-box graphics chip, together with a $200 million investment.
"Why is it that ppl are commending 3dfx for delaying their product for better quality, but when an intel release gets delayed for the same thing, we laugh?"
Probably because Intel screwed up while they were trying to shove Rambus down everybody's throats, and their attempt at backfired.
As numerous other posters have mentioned, the little cube is a Qube, by Cobalt Networks. It turns out there's a little coincidence with the topic of the previous story on the Voodoo5.
The Chairman of the Board at Cobalt -- Gordon Campbell -- was also the Chairman of the Board at 3dfx. He's not too popular with investors right now. TDFX has been gradually sliding down from its all time high of around 35 to 8 or so, with Campbell busy selling shares all the way down. Since it's IPO, COBT stock has also plunged, from a post-IPO high of 172 down to 28.
Thresh's Firingsquad has an excellent (and lengthy) article in which they test the visual quality of the Voodoo5 vs. the GeForce2 in FSAA mode. A quote from the article explains the basic difference between the two different ways the cards perform FSAA:
...3dfx uses a method called RGSS or JGSS (Rotated Grid Super Sampling, Jittered Grid Super Sampling). NVIDIA uses another method called OGSS (Ordered Grid Super Sampling).
The OG!
OGSS is exactly what it sounds like. Ordered grid means that the image is processed in an ordered fashion. Cut the screen up into nice little blocks and you have an ordered grid. Now we have super-sampling. This means, in really dumb downed terms; that the picture is processed except with a bit more data in it. Mind you, this is all going on within a pixel, thus creating a much more detailed image. The image that is represented at 640x480 is actually processed with as much detail as would be present in something that has, as an arbitrary number, 1.5 times as much detail. So in order for the GeForce2 to display a scene with FSAA at 640x480 it must do the work required for displaying an image at 960x720 and then some. Other stuff like color blending goes on to smooth out the image also. So all in all a considerable amount is going on to create the effect that FSAA delivers.
Voodooss
The 3dfx card does another variation of FSAA called jittered grid super-sampling. JGSS is a derivative of RGSS. RGSS, as opposed to OGSS, takes the image that is going to be represented and processes all data at a slight tilt. Jittered grid has the tilted data set, but it has a randomizing factor thrown in to make it seem more natural. If all the data was rotated at the same angle it wouldn't make too much of a difference in comparison to OGSS. This is because our eyes tend to pick up on patterns relatively easily. The random patterns make sure your eyes don't catch on to what is going on. Following this, all the other color blending and hoo-haa takes place to spruce up the image.
As you can see here, it's already up on Ebay as well. The guy claims he's selling an OEM version -- I'm guessing it's either an engineering sample or a card that was given to a reviewer.
"Did you forget Nvidia?"
Mr. Bughunter was talking about the Mac market, where nVidia does not currently have any options. nVidia has said they may offer Mac cards in the future, but nVidia has already stated that the NV15 (GeForce 2) will not be one of them -- so Apple users will probably have to wait until at least early 2001.
"...nVidia in the GeForce GTS at least uses a form of antialiasing similar to Photoshop's bicubic filtering which is computationally FAR more expensive than 3Dfx's pseudo-nearest-neighbor anti-aliasing approach..."
Thresh's Firingsquad recently performed a side-by-side visual quality comparision of the V5 vs. GeForce GTS FSAA. According to the testers, the Voodoo5 had the best picture quality when in 4x mode, while the GeForce was better than the V5's 2x mode in some games. Both cards seemed to have a few glitches in FSAA mode--the V5 had a "bleeding" problem at 1600x1200, while the GeForce wouldn't work with D3D games.
From their conclusion:
"The results from this set of tests were considerably different from that of last time. Seeing the games in motion side by side is truly the only way to compare the two cards. 2x FSAA comparisons yielded mixed results. The quality difference between the two cards was exceedingly close. We tended to like the GF2 FSAA when compared to the Voodoo 2x. However, if we take into account performance figures, the Voodoo is the clear choice. With 2x FSAA, the Voodoo performs considerably better than the GeForce2 FSAA. When it comes to 4x, the Voodoo has no competition in terms of FSAA quality."
According to an EBNews article, "...A board using a single VSA-100 chip -- branded under the Voodoo4 name -- is functioning normally."
The V4 (Which has not yet shipped), is basically meant to be a rival for the TNT-Ultra. According to Anandtech's 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 & Voodoo5 5500 Preview, the V4 (with Beta drivers) does pretty good against the TNT-Ultra. It's a little slower at 640x480, a little faster at higher resolutions. At the same time, it offers some extra goodies like 2x FSAA, improved 16-bit color quality, and (possibly) a lower price.
*Sigh*... Once upon a time, "Rocket Science" referred to complex feats of science and engineering, while trivial matters were colloquially known as as "Mickey Mouse" stuff. But now, they have become one and the same.
I doubt it, China very much opposes any sort of recognition of Taiwan, however minor. Just recently, the PRC killed Taiwan's attempt to enter the World Health Organization. See this Taipei Times article for more info. A quote from the article, concerning the recent Taiwan earthquake:
"...This is what happened. On September 21, the UN consulted with the Security Council about providing Taiwan with rescue and relief aid. A UN official then reported that China refused to respond to the issue positively, preventing the UN from providing timely assistance. Published reports later also revealed that China demanded that any UN or Red Cross aid for Taiwan must first be approved by Beijing."
"It is terribly unfortunate that Taiwan, with 23 million people, a population larger than three-quarters of the UN member-states, is not allowed to receive immediate and timely humanitarian assistance from the international community..."
There have been a number of really acrimonious fights over the patenting of organisms lately (Even outside the emotionally charged field of human genetics). In particular is the issue of "Biopiracy", the patenting of organisms that have been in use for ages by indigenous peoples in far-flung parts of the world. Some recent examples include acrimonious fights over the Neem Tree, Basmati Rice, and Tumeric. Here's a Link to an article on this, any search engine can give you dozens more.
I don't know about you, but I'd actually pay extra for a burger that was prepared "untouched by human hands". I once walked into fast food place (that shall remain nameless) during a slow part of the day, when I was the only customer. Right in front of me, two employees were flinging burgers at each other. The manager stood just a few feet away, watching the pair and laughing.
You'll never have to worry if the machine has hepatitis, or maybe forgot to wash it's hands after going to the bathroom.
Whoa... what if someone made a Beowulf cluster of these? Just imagine geeks walking around with a dozen of these things strapped to their bodies.
...Or would it be better to assign one node per person, and then strap the geeks together?
"I can't get to the site right now, but why couldn't the company make just layers of LCD screens?"
I imagine this may have something to do with pixel aperture ratios. An active-matrix LCD panel isn't completely transparent--the transistors and other components take up space and occlude part of each pixel. A high-aperture LCD might have as much as 70-80% of each pixel open, but even so you'll eventually loose too much light as you stack up more and more layers.
Lawyers can be a powerful force for both good and evil. It all depends on the choice of the one who wields them. In enlightened hands, they are indispensable for maintaining order and harmony in society. But woe if a lawyer should ever fall into the clutches of Evil.
:P
In other words...
Lawyers are tools.
"I think that while these low powered CPU's are great, the real solution will be better batteries."
Better batteries would be great for extending running time, but as processor speeds increase, at some point you'll run into a fundamental problem. With such small form factors, these devices are going to have problems dissipating heat.
You could put in a small fan, but the fan takes up space and consumes part of your power budget. Heat pipes are compact and passive, but the heat still has to go somewhere, so they're only good up until the power dissipation is enough to make the case uncomfortably hot. At that point you must reduce power consumption.
INT EXODUS - MAIN SERVER ROOM
[MOFF KURT, a tall, confident technocrat, strides through the assembled geeks to the base of the shuttle ramp. The geeks snap to attention; many are uneasy about the new arrival. But Moff Kurt stands arrogantly tall.]
[The exit hatch of the shuttle opens with a WHOOSH, revealing only darkness. Then, heavy FOOTSTEPS AND MECHANICAL BREATHING. From this black void appears DARTH TACO, LORD OF THE SITH. Taco looks over the assemblage as he walks down the ramp.]
MOFF KURT:
"Lord Taco, this is an unexpected pleasure.
We're honored by your presence."
DARTH TACO:
"You may dispense with the pleasantries, Commander. I'm here to put you back on schedule."
[The commander turns ashen and begins to shake.]
MOFF KURT:
"I assure you, Lord Taco, my men are working as fast as they can."
DARTH TACO:
"Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them."
MOFF KURT:
"I assure you, this station will be operational
as planned."
DARTH TACO:
"Andover does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation."
MOFF KURT:
"But he asks the impossible. I need more geeks."
DARTH TACO:
"Then perhaps you can tell them when they arrive."
MOFF KURT: [aghast]
Andover's coming here?
DARTH TACO:
"That is correct, Commander. And they are most displeased with your apparent lack of progress."
MOFF KURT:
"We shall double our efforts."
DARTH TACO:
"I hope so, Commander, for your sake. Andover is not as forgiving as I am."
"This server is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it!"
So, to get the bounty--do we need to turn in just the ears, or does the government want to see the whole carcass? It'd be mighty nice if I could keep the pelts to sell on the market.
They've announced that they're shifting their business to "Wireless Multimedia Communications". NeoMagic used to be in a relatively uncrowded market niche, but they recently have come under heavy pressure as other companies introduced mobile video chipsets (ATI in particular). NeoMagic chips will still turn up for a while, but there won't be much further development.
http://www.neomagic.com/press1.html
"NeoMagic will shift its focus to developing 'Wireless Multimedia Communications' technologies, based on our vision to provide semiconductor solutions for mobile Internet appliances and digital imaging products for the Internet..."
As someone posted on TMF's message board:
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one's gone
And another one's gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Just look at all the companies that have either gone under, left the graphics ring, or were bought out...
Hercules, Tseng Labs, Cirrus, NeoMagic, Oak Technologies, Paradise, Chips and Technologies, Real3D, etc...
So who's next? The investor linked above suggests 3D Labs, as it's burning cash at an alarming rate. Trident hasn't been doing too well lately either.
"You can never be sure you have really a cancer with these tests.
For ex with PSA, some people do produce PSA more than the average, and there's no dosage 100% efficient."
Whoops, didn't elaborate enough in my original post. I lumped those cases in the "false positives" category.
PS: Why not log in? Slashdot could benefit from an MD's opinion.
OK, after taking a look around the company's website, I can tell Michael is not a bio-geek. This is just a quickie post, so please excuse the spelling and details. Anyway:
"...Well, I believe this works by detecting certain antibodies produced under certain circumstances rather than analyzing your genes..."
Just about the only thing Michael gets correct is that the product does not analyze your genes in any way, so the GATTACA comment is way off-base. (OT Rant--Imagine if the media constantly made references to "evil malicious hackers" like in the movie "The Net", every time the Internet was mentioned. Yes, it's *that* annoying to geneticists).
What the test does is detect this "DR-70" (Apparently a proprietary name, BTW) antigen released by certain types of cancers, not an antibody. Antibodies are involved, but this is because the kit itself is an ELISA-based test. ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) is a well-established technique that uses antibodies to detect said antigen. See AMDL's product info page for pretty pictures on how this works.
"...but this is another step forward to the big privacy debate..."
Suppose your doctor has ordered this test. You've got a lot more problems than privacy. A positive result (barring false positives) doesn't say that you have a genetic suceptibility to a certain type of cancer. It says that you *have* a certain type of cancer.
Tests for cancer-related antigens have been in use for some time. For instance, the PSA test, which measure the elevated levels of Prostate Specific Antigen released by some ~80% of Prostate tumors. Now, this test is still quite interesting in the variety of cancers it claims to be capable of detecting. I wouldn't consider it an earth-shattering breakthrough, though.
You can find the the company's website at www.amdl.com, and more detailed information on the DR-70 test here.
BTW, I'm curious why Michael linked to a medical site whose contents are in French. The test is developed and marketed by a US company based in California.
At the end of the article, you'll find a few paragraphs that talk about a professor who had apparently done crucial work on the sequencer, yet was not named as an inventor on the patent (thus depriving him of royalties and recognition).
...Asked why he had not pursued the issue of his omission from the patent, Huang said that he cared more about the science than about matters of ownership and money.
"If I opened the door for someone else to go through, that's enough. You have to decide where you get your gratification."
After reading of all the ongoing legal manuevering and spinning, this made me stop for a moment. There are still scientists out there who are dedicated to higher goals, thank god.
Someone already brought this up earlier, but even more promising than the Magsail is the M2P2. There are are problems with the Magsail, especially with the size of the superconducting loop--the needed diameter of which has been estimated from kilometers to hundreds of kilometers.
The material requirements for the M2P2 are more modest. The M2P2 uses a magnetic field generated by a solenoid. This field is then "inflated" with plasma. According to Dr. Winglee:
"...a 200-kilogram probe could deploy a magnetic sail of perhaps 20 kilometers' breadth and attain a velocity of nearly 100 kilometers per second using 50 kilograms of gas and about 1,000 watts of power to keep the plasma envelope filled. Making way at that clip, a craft could reach from Earth to Saturn in less than six months. The Cassini probe now on route to the ringed planet, by comparison, will take seven years..."
For more information, take a look at this article from American Scientist, or try this page at the University of Washington.