Filed under: Household
Given how large the green bandwagon has become, it’s no real shock to see an energy-saving concept from the 1930s being exhumed and investigated further. Scientists at Oxford University have begun to take a closer look at an early invention from the great Albert Einstein in order to hopefully create refrigerators (and appliances in general) that could be used completely without electricity. Back in the day, Sir Albert created a mechanism that had no moving parts and used only pressurized gases to keep things chilly. Once compressors became more efficient in the 50s, however, the idea was tossed aside. Now, the idea obviously has greater appeal, and if things keep humming along nicely, a completed prototype should be erected by the year’s end.
[Via Physorg]
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Filed under: Robots
Leaps and bounds have been made with Sylvain Calinon’s robotic portrait artist since we first caught a glimpse of this amazing AI being — and no, we’re not just referring to the stylish beret and mustache. Now dubbed “Salvador DaBot”, the portraitist has developed far more advanced conversation skills, along with a voice that sounds a lot less like Steven Hawking. We kinda miss that feather pen he was sporting before, but his movement’s a lot more natural now and his new marker seems to have helped his drawing style — similar to old-school comic art. See this awesome little guy in action after the break.
[Via Sylvain Calinon]
Continue reading Salvador DaBot: robot portraitist extraordinaire
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Filed under: Laptops
We knew the ASUS N10 was a burly fellow when we took some street corner shots of it earlier this month, but we never even thought to toss Call of Duty 4 on there and waste away a solid 12 hours in online war zones. Thankfully, the blokes over at Mobile Computer did think to try that, and the results weren’t half bad. ‘Course, that discrete NVIDIA GeForce 9300M graphics set didn’t hurt, and if you’re sick enough to really buy a netbook for gaming, this one should probably be atop your list. At any rate, a rather in-depth hands-on video awaits you in the read link — go in expecting keyboard impressions, disappointment with the glare, and a few good minutes with an FPS and you’ll leave happy.
[Thanks, Rex]
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Filed under: Handhelds
We haven’t heard from Clarion since June, and as fate would have it, it was then when the company told us to expect a GPS-equipped MiND in the foreseeable future. Fast forward a few months, and here we have the formal (re)introduction of the ClarionMiND. Definitely dubbed a MID, this Atom-powered handheld is currently scheduled for release in US / Canada this November, while Europeans will have to wait until January 2009. Outside of the oh-so-fresh CPU, you’ll find a 4.8-inch (800 x 480 resolution) display, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a SiRFstarIII GPS module and a rechargeable Li-ion good for two hours (four hours with the optional extended cell). You’ll also get a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a microSD card slot and optional real-time traffic support. The just described “standard” model will demand $649.99; the way-more-delicious Premium version doesn’t yet have a price, but it should be out next Spring with integrated 3G.
[Via Pocketables]
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Filed under: Storage
A month after German researchers announced
their latest breakthrough in
MRAM design, physicists at Japan’s Tohoku University now say that it is possible to use an electric field to manipulate the magnetic domains in a semiconductor — eliminating moving magnets from MRAM completely. MRAM designed using the electric field method would be faster — and would use less energy — than earlier variations on the technology, thus making our lives easier and generally more awesome. Of course, none of this stuff actually exists yet, and it’s still got fierce competition from competing ideas (like IBM’s
racetrack memory), so for now we’ll just have to stay content with the four 128k chips we scraped out of our old XT.
[Via MRAM Info]
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