by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 23rd 2008 at 4:24AM
While we patiently wait 18 to 24 months for the CFast CompactFlash cards to arrive, there’s always this: the DIY Century Compact Flash to SATA adatper. We’ve seen these adapters before of course, but this is the first we recall supporting 3x cards. That’s a quickie 96GB SSD for about $450 (plus $192.57 for the adapter plus shipping) given current on-line prices. Not bad when you consider the $1,000+ price tag for a smaller 64GB SSD. Better yet, performance should be rock solid based on earlier reviews. In stock with RAID 0 / 5 support starting May 1st.

[Via Akihabara News]

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Filed under: Storage

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The newest energy effectual OLED lampApr 23, 2008
Finally, OLED technologies become a part of design of our homes. It is important that the designers have realized their profit, effectiveness, because this is one of the most inexpensive ways both to decorate and illuminate a house. Ingo Maurer’s Early Future lamp looks like a small tree with lucent leaves. This is world’s first device that packs energy efficient OLED lighting and creates a nice tabletop lamp.

Thanks to newest OLED printing system organic light emitting diodes are very effectual and long lasting. Moreover, there is no need for many inputs to produce them. Why is this solution perfect for interior lighting applications? The answer is that the two-dimensional panels give off broad swathes of diffuse light.

You shouldn’t be afraid that these gadgets don’t look traditionally. They neither demand reflectors directing the light into the right direction nor large sockets. It is a kind of handy long-standing lighting.

The device has a fashionable set of ten small (132 x 33 mm) OLED panels. This modern lamp shows the transformation from abstract object to functional designer lighting. The price is not going to be law. But this conceptual idea has just recently been realized. It is one more stage of the latest developments when we get both style and effectiveness. This is a brilliant use of new technology, combined with a stunning form.

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Did you know that handheld lie detectors were sent to the US Army this month to be used in Iraq?

Called the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System or PCASS, the handheld flashes red whenever the subject says something they know deviates from the truth. In short, the device flashes red lights whenever a subject lies. Asked about PCASS, however, Stephen E. Fienberg, a statistic professor and lead researcher of lie detectors says:

“I don’t understand how anybody could think that this is ready for deployment. Sending these instruments into the field in Iraq and Afghanistan without serious scientific assessment, and for use by untrained personnel, is a mockery of what we advocated in our report.”

Yes, the government admits the PCASS is nowheere near perfect. Nevertheless, they believe that it can save a lot of lives in the field, as it can scan groups of people which spies always seem to blend into. Let’s just hope it doesn’t cause any innocent man to be suspected of anything.

via

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Microsoft says the third and final service pack for the aging Windows XP will be available for download on April 29th while manufacturers and larger customers currently have SP3 in house. SP3 will include all updates released since 2004 when SP2 was released. Here are some added features in SP3:

A feature called Network Access Protection
that’s borrowed from the newer Windows Vista operating system. NAP
automatically validates a computer’s health, ensuring that it’s free of
bugs and viruses before allowing it access to a network.

Windows XP SP3 also includes improved “black hole” router
detection — a feature that automatically detects routers that are
silently discarding packets. In XP SP3, the feature is turned on by
default, according to Microsoft.

Windows XP SP3 also steals a page from Vista’s product
activation model, meaning that product keys for each copy of the
operating system don’t need to be entered during setup. The feature
should prove popular with corporate IT managers, who often need to
oversee hundreds, or even thousands, of operating system installations.

When a Microsoft spokesperson was asked for the number of fixes in XP SP3, they responded “one billion fixes” while resting the pinky finger aside the mouth.

Source: Information Week

Posted in Software

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Dealing with a cold (man flu my partner calls it) is not the sort of virus I was planning to write about in a technology review but it has that knack of impacting on most aspects of every day life especially as it dulls the reflexes somewhat. This is what happened when I heard about the Live Mesh Technical Preview beta (Live Mesh - are we finally breaking free from the desk?) - by the time I got my lethargic mind round to signing up - the preview program was full. But if like me you want to be added to the waiting list then head on over to https://www.mesh.com.

Interest in Live Mesh follows on from recent interest in all things Web 2.0 and in particular the idea of what is Web 2.0 in 2008. I just hope that with all this additional bandwidth - my Internet broadband connection will remain up to the job - especially as I am so far from the local exchange - that last mile seems somewhat longer than a mile these days. Even Blog posting is taking much longer than it used to.

If you run a Blog and use ranking or comparison sites to assess your audience reach you may have been wondering Why your Alexa ranking has changed dramatically. It seems the people over at Alexa have been busy rethinking their strategy and are now taking into account more information than the merry band of Alexa toolbar users activities alone.

On a lighter note, our new Daily Notion micro-blog is really taking off with some highlights being you will not believe what happened to me … and when nothing makes sense.

Posted in Networking & Internet

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