June 10th, 2004
By GadgetManiac
The 2005 edition of the Guinness World Records Book will recognize Toshiba’s 0.85-inch HDD as the world’s smallest disk drive. The unit is the first hard disk drive to deliver multi-gigabyte data storage in a sub-one-inch form factor. The drive has a capacity of up to 4 gigabytes, and is intended for use in mobile phones, digital camcorders and PDA’s. First announced earlier in the year, it will be available in autumn 2004.
A close second is the just-announced 1-inch ST1 from Seagate. The ST1 has a capacity of 2.5 or 5 GB and will be available in 3Q2004.
The 1-inch measurement refers to the diameter of the disk itself, as opposed to the size of the case.
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June 9th, 2004
By GadgetManiac
Pilkington has developed a glass for windows that effectively cleans itself of organic dirt. Called Pilkington Activ, the glass is coated with a very thin layer of titanium dioxide. The UV rays in sunlight react with the titanium dioxide coating to produce a photocatalytic reaction. This reaction breaks down any organic compounds adhering to the surface. These residues are then washed away by rain water.
This is a good idea and a great labor-saving invention. Costs range about 15-20% more than conventional glass.
An interesting side benefit is that titanium dioxide films are also effective at breaking down ozone and formaldehyde, and so these coated windows have a positive (albeit small) environmental impact by reducing ground level pollutants.
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June 8th, 2004
By GadgetManiac
BBN Technologies announced on June 3 that it has built the world’s first quantum cryptography network. The network is now operational in Cambridge MA, has 6 nodes and a number of optical switches and cryptographic key relays.
Called the DARPA Quantum Network, it generates photonic qubits for transmission through either fiber optic cable or the atmosphere, to distribute cryptographic keys that are used to encrypt and decrypt messages.
This method of securing information relys on quantum entanglement. Because quantum particles are changed by the act of observation or measurement, no tapping of the qubits is possible without being detectable. These secure keys can be used with a one-time pad cipher, which makes the entire communication absolutely secure.
Pairs of entangled photons can be created by aiming a laser through a special crystal which splits single photons into two entangled ones. One photon from each entangled pair is then sent along the comm link. When received, the photon’s polarisation is recorded, thus providing both ends of the link with the same encryption key data.
For further information, see here, or here.
Next stop, quantum computing.
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June 7th, 2004
By GadgetManiac
Segway today announced a new model Human Transporter called the HTi170.
The price for this new model is $4,495. The HTi170 differs from the earlier i-series model mainly in color scheme (Midnight Blue). The base features stay the same: top speed of 12.5 mph, eight to 12 mile battery range and a total payload of 260 pounds …for an effective 450 miles per gallon.
Despite the standard “64-bit security id” unique to each Segway, I can’t imagine leaving one of these parked outside the corner store. At a mere 83 lbs (38 Kg), it would be gone in a flash.
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June 3rd, 2004
By GadgetManiac
The PhotoVu PV1900 allows one to wirelessly transfer images for display in a wall-mounted LCD picture frame.
The display is 1280×960, 24bit color, and viewable from wide angles. Custom frames available. Priced at $1549.
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June 1st, 2004
By GadgetManiac
Pretec announced their new range of high capacity Compact Flash cards. These new cards (marked as ‘80x’) will be available as 3 GB, 4 GB, 6 GB and 12 GB. The first three cards (3, 4 & 6 GB) are available in Japan as of today, the larger 12 GB card by the end of the year. Despite lower NAND flash prices these cards are still unbelievably expensive, the 3 GB card is 166,000 YEN ($1,490), the 4 GB card is 207,00 YEN ($1,860), the 6 GB card is 525,000 YEN ($4,700), the 12 GB card is expected to be 1,659,000 YEN ($14,900). Once you get over the price the next question must be would you be willing to put so much data in the trust of one card?
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June 1st, 2004
By GadgetManiac
At Computex Taipei today Pretec demonstrated a new 2 GB card which conforms to the new MMC 4 standard and which Pretec are calling the ‘World’s Fastest Flash Memory Card’. Thanks to the fact that MMC 4 allows for transfer of 4-bits of data in parallel this new card has a quoted write speed of around 18 MB/sec (120X) and a read speed of around 22.5 MB/sec (150X). If verified this card would indeed be far faster than any current flash memory card. The new card is also backwardly compatible with standard SD / MMC devices.
The press release:
Taipei, Taiwan, June 1, 2004 – Pretec Electronics Corp., the 2nd company in the world offering CompactFlash memory card (CF) card since 1995, is demonstrating the world’s first MMC 4.0 flash memory card with Read speed about 150X (22.5MB/s) and Write speed greater than 120X (18MB/s), which is the highest speed small form factor flash memory card in the world today, at COMPUTEX TAIPEI Pretec Booth Hall 4, # 101A here at World Trade Center.
Compatible with most Secure Digital (SD) slots used by mobile phones, digital cameras, and other portable digital devices, MMC (MultiMediaCard) is one of the most popular memory cards in the world today. Version 4.0 is the most recent release of MMCA (http://www.mmca.org/), with maximum transfer speed up to 20 times of today’s MMC, and 4 times faster than today’s SD card without any royalties for the high-speed interface. The speed of Pretec MMC 4.0 is about 200% faster than the fastest SD card available in the market and about 800% faster than Pretec MMC (V3.2) 1GB, which is the fastest and highest capacity in the market today.
Support dual-voltage operation of 3V/1.8V, Pretec MMC 4.0 is the lowest power consumption flash memory card in the world when operated at 1.8V. Pretec also offers Reduced-Size (RS) MMC 4.0, measured at only 18mmX24mmX1.4mm, which is 44% smaller area than SD card and 62% smaller volume than SD card, Pretec RS-MMC 4.0 is one of the smallest flash memory card in the world.
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