One third of the volume of the device is fuel; if you doubled the volume, you'd get 4x the life. ---- TOKYO -- Toshiba Corp. has developed a matchbox-sized direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) with no moving parts.
The prototype measures 22 x 56 mm with a thickness of 4.5 mm and includes a 2-cc capacity fuel tank. The fuel cell weighs 8.5 grams, and has an output power of 100 mW. Using a 99.5-percent concentration of methanol, the fuel cell can power low-power consumption devices such as MP3 audio players for about 20 hours, Toshiba said. Toshiba divides its DMFC development into two types, "active" and "passive." The new passive fuel cell aims for higher power -- more than 10 W at 10-20V generated by active systems, which use a pump and fan to feed methanol and oxygen into a cell stack where oxygen reacts with the methanol to produce electricity.
Toshiba unveiled an active prototype to power notePCs last spring, and plans to introduce a product later this year.
The passive model features a simpler structure, making use of the concentration gradient to feed methanol and oxygen to the cell stack. "We eliminated mechanical components such as a fan and fuel pump used in active-type DMFCs. Instead, we devised a way to supply fuel and air uniformly," said Fumio Ueno, a technology executive at Toshiba Display Device & Components Control Center.
Toshiba engineers reduced catalyst particles nanometer size. The electrodes measure 2 x 3 cm, but deliver the same output power as Toshiba's conventional DMFC using electrodes five times larger.
Toshiba plans to introduce the small DMFC with an output power of about 100 mW sometime next year.
Toshiba engineers said the fuel cell can power some portable devices such audio players. "We'll work on improving the output, then the fuel cell can power cellular phones," said Kazunori Fukuma, managing director of Toshiba Display Devices & Components Control Center.
For cellphone applications, Toshiba is targeting an output level of 2W at 4V. "More functions are implemented in a cellular phone, such as TV reception. This will increase the need for fuel cells," Fukuma said.
Initially, it will be difficult to replace current lithium ion batteries with DMFCs, and a hybrid configuration may make the most sense. The fuel cell could charge the lithium ion battery when the phone is idle.
I took greyhound for one-way trip to the car factory to pick up a new car. I sat within earshot of three people who had just been released from prison... they were talking about how much a hot Escalade went for on the street, and comparing prison ID photos. I did not pull out my laptop to get some work done.
Security was funny. Only one leg of about 4 had any, and it consisted of wanding the people. I was wearing my backpack with a laptop and tons of stuff in it, but when it set off the metal dtetector they didn't do anything (not even open it). They didn't really check anyone else's bag, either. That's because they know real bus terrorists aren't foolish enough to ride in the bus.
they may be, but they still coform to the I-bus protocol. It links everything, not just the radio, so it BMW would demand it from their suppliers. The radio actually requires the IBUS as part of its security protocol - if it doesn't see the odometer on the bus, it'll think it has been stolen and put into another car.
It's the unusally low "wear-out" portion of the curve that people are complaining about -- and that seems to be a year into the life. So, unless I planned on selling it before then, I'd still worry.
I was hoping that, along with the 60GB ipod, apple would release a bluetooth or 802.11 compatible ipod - it would dovetail perfectly with Airtunes, and bmw already has a (very costly) bluetooth/cellphone car kit.
Functionally similar, but different. The bmw uses the I-BUS for communications, while Alpine uses its own Ai-Net. I know a bit about this since I'm building such an interface from scratch, except it won't emulate the cd changer (it'll use the AUX input instead). I'd love to know what new output the ipod uses to indicate the current track.
Cool. I worked on it too. I designed some of the most kick-a$$ cables especially for it:
040-681-3925, Serial Port Converter Cable, 9-Pin to 25-Pin. $22.50 Converts signals both ways, handles voltages up to 100 volts! Necessary for syncing your Palm.
7040-681-3125, Serial to Serial Port Cable for Rack/Rack. $72.00 Flexible, with two connectors, one at each end. No cheap $50 serial cables for you -- this computer demands the best! Doubles as a tie-down strap when transporting your p690.
I just loaded my server (like the stock version of this case) and my 21" trinitron into the car. The CRT gets a belt, the server is held in place by reclining the passenger seat. As long as I stay horizontal, I think I'll be fine in an accident.
Reminds me of the time I went to the RV show. They had the front of the RV pulled out and you could see the engine. I thought, wow, that's only a little bigger than my car engine... but I don't see the driveshaft and the ability to pull it out on rails is a neat trick for easy servicing - I'd like to see how it's done. Then I see the monster cables in the back and realize that the generator for this vehicle is bigger than my engine.
yeah, but those won't keep it from falling over when making a quick left turn. Maybe the trunk-area lid would help, but I doubt it would be strong enough to cope with the weight of that server.
The size of the E450 would cut deeply into the space for bodies....especially in an accident! The thing not only isn't secured, but its on wheels!
p.s. I'm smelling a hoax. Not that it's impossible, but I was looking for photographic proof beyond what it would look like when you're just merely transporting an old server and though it would be funny if...
Also, some of the code doesn't look too much of a test of the language, but more of a test of the libraries. Both versions of hash rely on the library implementations, and it looks like hash.cpp does an extra strdup that the java version doesn't. I don't know either of the hash libraries well enough, but I don't see why this significant slowdown would be necessary in the gcc version.
An alternative is to do what Conner did a while back... use double the number of heads. Basically the head and actuater was duplicated, one set on the left, and one set 180 degrees away on the right. This cut the speed-induced-latency by half and doubled the thoroughput, all without going to a denser substrate or doubling the drive speed. But, the linked article gives a good reason noone has tried this since... it was costly (the doubled parts weren't cheap) and competed too closely with RAIDs.
Hopefully a chip would have some sort of CAM to help it do its search in a massively-parallel fashion, but hard drives are a whole 'nother ball game because of the latencies involved.
Searching the cache must be much faster than actually accessing the desired memory (a cache miss). In SDRAM, you've only got to be much faster than 100 nSec. With a drive you've got more like 5 mSec (5000000 nSec) - practially an eternity, even if you do it without a hardware assist.
What I'm getting at is that the ratio of HardDriveAccess:SdramAccess >> SdramAccess:Sram access, but I don't have good numbers to back that up with.
Today UNIVAC is only 0x63b21e80 seconds young. Get ready for July 2nd, 2019, when it turns the big 0x80000000 ! It'll be a party unlike any seen since June 22nd, 1985 (0x40000000 seconds)
(p.s. old age officially begins at 33 bits - July 20, 2087)
Innodesign korea does the design of most of iRiver's products (warning: Flash site). They also do some samsung products, but the bulk of the work looks like outside styling and not actual operation design. One exception is a laptop designed for presenting: the main screen swivels around to point to the audience, while a smaller screen is on the backside for the presenter.
Slashdot Mirror
More info from . If that link doesn't work (it has a session ID I couldn't remove), try looking at the EE Times front page
One third of the volume of the device is fuel; if you doubled the volume, you'd get 4x the life.
----
TOKYO -- Toshiba Corp. has developed a matchbox-sized direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) with no moving parts.
The prototype measures 22 x 56 mm with a thickness of 4.5 mm and includes a 2-cc capacity fuel tank. The fuel cell weighs 8.5 grams, and has an output power of 100 mW. Using a 99.5-percent concentration of methanol, the fuel cell can power low-power consumption devices such as MP3 audio players for about 20 hours, Toshiba said. Toshiba divides its DMFC development into two types, "active" and "passive." The new passive fuel cell aims for higher power -- more than 10 W at 10-20V generated by active systems, which use a pump and fan to feed methanol and oxygen into a cell stack where oxygen reacts with the methanol to produce electricity.
Toshiba unveiled an active prototype to power notePCs last spring, and plans to introduce a product later this year.
The passive model features a simpler structure, making use of the concentration gradient to feed methanol and oxygen to the cell stack. "We eliminated mechanical components such as a fan and fuel pump used in active-type DMFCs. Instead, we devised a way to supply fuel and air uniformly," said Fumio Ueno, a technology executive at Toshiba Display Device & Components Control Center.
Toshiba engineers reduced catalyst particles nanometer size. The electrodes measure 2 x 3 cm, but deliver the same output power as Toshiba's conventional DMFC using electrodes five times larger.
Toshiba plans to introduce the small DMFC with an output power of about 100 mW sometime next year.
Toshiba engineers said the fuel cell can power some portable devices such audio players. "We'll work on improving the output, then the fuel cell can power cellular phones," said Kazunori Fukuma, managing director of Toshiba Display Devices & Components Control Center.
For cellphone applications, Toshiba is targeting an output level of 2W at 4V. "More functions are implemented in a cellular phone, such as TV reception. This will increase the need for fuel cells," Fukuma said.
Initially, it will be difficult to replace current lithium ion batteries with DMFCs, and a hybrid configuration may make the most sense. The fuel cell could charge the lithium ion battery when the phone is idle.
For a board that concentrates on being thin, I find it surprising that that dimension isn't listed. It's not on Via's product listing for this board and it's not in the user's manual (pdf).
Visually, i'm guessing that it is thicker than the 0.75" base of my PowerBook, but I'd like to know the real size...
I've decided that one pound of my crap is worth a couple of thousand dollars.
Don't sell yourself short!! A guy got $52,000 for 30 grams of his crap - about the price of gold. Don't settle for anything less than $28,000.
Don't forget, a 1000MW coal plant releases 88 lbs of radioactive stuff every day.
.03 mrem .009 mrem
Coal plant, living within 50 miles:
Nuclear plant, living within 50 miles:
(Both figures are considered extremely low levels.)
Prosthetic foot vs. prosthetic butt. Hard choice, I guess. The butt would be easier to replace.
No, seriously, why would he ever remove the blade guard?
soundclip
You cannot use that phrase without posting the soundclip!
... from The daily feed
I took greyhound for one-way trip to the car factory to pick up a new car. I sat within earshot of three people who had just been released from prison... they were talking about how much a hot Escalade went for on the street, and comparing prison ID photos. I did not pull out my laptop to get some work done.
Security was funny. Only one leg of about 4 had any, and it consisted of wanding the people. I was wearing my backpack with a laptop and tons of stuff in it, but when it set off the metal dtetector they didn't do anything (not even open it). They didn't really check anyone else's bag, either. That's because they know real bus terrorists aren't foolish enough to ride in the bus.
they may be, but they still coform to the I-bus protocol. It links everything, not just the radio, so it BMW would demand it from their suppliers. The radio actually requires the IBUS as part of its security protocol - if it doesn't see the odometer on the bus, it'll think it has been stolen and put into another car.
It's the unusally low "wear-out" portion of the curve that people are complaining about -- and that seems to be a year into the life. So, unless I planned on selling it before then, I'd still worry.
I was hoping that, along with the 60GB ipod, apple would release a bluetooth or 802.11 compatible ipod - it would dovetail perfectly with Airtunes, and bmw already has a (very costly) bluetooth/cellphone car kit.
Functionally similar, but different. The bmw uses the I-BUS for communications, while Alpine uses its own Ai-Net. I know a bit about this since I'm building such an interface from scratch, except it won't emulate the cd changer (it'll use the AUX input instead). I'd love to know what new output the ipod uses to indicate the current track.
Interesting video: Armadillo Aerospace test of pouring the h2o2 on various materials ... shirts, shoes, etc. to see what the effect was.
Cool. I worked on it too. I designed some of the most kick-a$$ cables especially for it:
040-681-3925, Serial Port Converter Cable, 9-Pin to 25-Pin. $22.50
Converts signals both ways, handles voltages up to 100 volts! Necessary for syncing your Palm.
7040-681-3125, Serial to Serial Port Cable for Rack/Rack. $72.00
Flexible, with two connectors, one at each end. No cheap $50 serial cables for you -- this computer demands the best! Doubles as a tie-down strap when transporting your p690.
I just loaded my server (like the stock version of this case) and my 21" trinitron into the car. The CRT gets a belt, the server is held in place by reclining the passenger seat. As long as I stay horizontal, I think I'll be fine in an accident.
Reminds me of the time I went to the RV show. They had the front of the RV pulled out and you could see the engine. I thought, wow, that's only a little bigger than my car engine... but I don't see the driveshaft and the ability to pull it out on rails is a neat trick for easy servicing - I'd like to see how it's done. Then I see the monster cables in the back and realize that the generator for this vehicle is bigger than my engine.
yeah, but those won't keep it from falling over when making a quick left turn. Maybe the trunk-area lid would help, but I doubt it would be strong enough to cope with the weight of that server.
of the two pages, only this one shows evidence... of something. I'd love to see more details, or how he keeps it from rolling around.
The size of the E450 would cut deeply into the space for bodies. ...especially in an accident! The thing not only isn't secured, but its on wheels!
p.s. I'm smelling a hoax. Not that it's impossible, but I was looking for photographic proof beyond what it would look like when you're just merely transporting an old server and though it would be funny if...
Why did he use only -O2?
-O3 adds function inlining and register renaming.
Also, some of the code doesn't look too much of a test of the language, but more of a test of the libraries. Both versions of hash rely on the library implementations, and it looks like hash.cpp does an extra strdup that the java version doesn't. I don't know either of the hash libraries well enough, but I don't see why this significant slowdown would be necessary in the gcc version.
An alternative is to do what Conner did a while back... use double the number of heads. Basically the head and actuater was duplicated, one set on the left, and one set 180 degrees away on the right. This cut the speed-induced-latency by half and doubled the thoroughput, all without going to a denser substrate or doubling the drive speed. But, the linked article gives a good reason noone has tried this since... it was costly (the doubled parts weren't cheap) and competed too closely with RAIDs.
Hopefully a chip would have some sort of CAM to help it do its search in a massively-parallel fashion, but hard drives are a whole 'nother ball game because of the latencies involved.
Searching the cache must be much faster than actually accessing the desired memory (a cache miss). In SDRAM, you've only got to be much faster than 100 nSec. With a drive you've got more like 5 mSec (5000000 nSec) - practially an eternity, even if you do it without a hardware assist.
What I'm getting at is that the ratio of HardDriveAccess:SdramAccess >> SdramAccess:Sram access, but I don't have good numbers to back that up with.
Today UNIVAC is only 0x63b21e80 seconds young. Get ready for July 2nd, 2019, when it turns the big 0x80000000 ! It'll be a party unlike any seen since June 22nd, 1985 (0x40000000 seconds)
(p.s. old age officially begins at 33 bits - July 20, 2087)
You're right... I thought I wove Apple into that paragraph, but not. I loved their //c design with a built-in handle.
Innodesign korea does the design of most of iRiver's products (warning: Flash site). They also do some samsung products, but the bulk of the work looks like outside styling and not actual operation design. One exception is a laptop designed for presenting: the main screen swivels around to point to the audience, while a smaller screen is on the backside for the presenter.
Contrast this with frogdesign, which seems more innovative. (or maybe their clients give them a longer leash)