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The new Sony DSC-P150 camera has an image resolution of 3072 x 2304 pixels. This degree of image quality confers a status of near-professional quality. When combined with its compact design, the product looks like a winner.

With an MSX-1G memory stick you can also record about 12 minutes of 640 x 480 video at “Fine” quality (30fps)… more at smaller res and with lower quality.

Sony performed a good feat of engineering to squeeze 7.2 megapixels into a CCD image sensor that is only 7.176 x 5.319 mm in size. With so many pixels in such a small space, hopefully the image stabilization system is up to the task.

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The Book Machine is an automated device that can produce a bound soft-cover, standard-format book on demand within about 3 to 5 minutes.

The user-selected book content is downloaded by satellite, made print-ready and rendered via laser printer. Payment is via credit card.

Seems like a good idea. The books that I typically buy are usually not in stock at the local book store.

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Shape of a Song is a Java app that reads MIDI files, and then draws a pictoral representation of that song.

The diagrams display musical form as a sequence of translucent arches. Each arch connects two repeated, identical passages of a composition. By using repeated passages as signposts, the diagram illustrates the deep structure of the composition.

The diagram above illustrates the complexity of part of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

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Artificial Development is a research company specializing in artificial intelligence, based in Palo Alto, CA. They have just built the largest neural network ever created.

The neural network, called CCortex, runs on a high-performance, parallel supercomputer, a Linux cluster with up to 500 nodes and 1,000 processors, 1 terabyte of RAM, and 200 terabytes of storage.

With 20 billion neurons and 20 trillion connections, CCortex is up to 10,000 times larger than any previous attempt to replicate, partially or completely, primary characteristics of human intelligence, and is the first neural system to achieve a level of complexity rivaling that of the mammalian brain.

From a quantitative perspective, the number of neurons and interconnections in the CCortex represents about 20% of a human brain, and approximately 60% of a chimpanzee brain … this is an astonishing accomplishment, given that just a few years ago, artificial neural nets had at most 10,000 to 100,000 neurons.

The neural networks in CCortex are currently being trained, much like ‘real’ neurons are trained to recognize a cat or a dog or the letter “A”.

Aside from providing insights into the operation of the human cortex, CCortex may find uses in data mining, network security, search engine technologies and natural language processing.

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The Qualia 004 SXRD video projector is Sony’s entry into the high-end multimedia projector market. At a price of about $30,000, it certainly seems to qualify for that market segment.

In one of the most detailed reviews that I have seen, Thomas J. Norton of UltimateAVMag.com describes a 10-day encounter with a Sony Qualia 004 in about 6,400 words. That article is available at this link.

Its difficult to summarize such a nuanced review, but to net it out :

The author feels that the Qualia 004 comes “awfully close” to the quality of the best nine-inch CRT projectors that he has seen, lacking only in the rendering of blacks and the darkest grays. Other small negatives include a color shift from the left side of the screen to the right, and a few small scaling artifacts … however, he leaves open the possibility that these could either be calibrated away, or be due to the source material. Of course, the author makes note of the rather large cost of the Qualia 004 itself, and the $3,000 price tag on the replacement Xenon lamp, which is rated at a life of 1500 to 2200 hours.

One the plus side, and as a possible paean to Sony, the reviewer describes the Qualia 004 as a “breakthrough product” and “one impressive machine”.

Would he buy one? No. He’s waiting for the technology to jump to a cheaper offering.

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24th Century Interior Design offers a number of designs for your home, inspired by themes from science fiction, such as Star Trek.

Definitely not cheap, but it’s ultra-cool.

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A very interesting book for Gadgetmaniacs like us. The explanion below is taken from the book’s website.

“Our current body of scientific knowledge, known as Standard Theory, is a patchwork of ideas handed down from a much simpler time. These ideas have survived, not because they give us a deep understanding of our world, but because they at least give us reasonable, functional models. But we have now moved beyond the point where mere models are enough — we want answers and understanding. The Final Theory now has these answers — for the first time in human history. It is the embodiment of a famous theory, known as the Theory Of Everything, sometimes referred to as the Unified Field Theory, which has been sought for centuries but has eluded all efforts until now. Finally we have true scientific explanations for everything, and not just simplistic working models.”

You can read more here.

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New Porsche Design multi-function knife/toolset.

15 tools, including – Needle-nose pliers & wire cutter.
Detachable set of 6 screwdriver bits.
Tire tread gauge.
Metal file & saw.

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Sony today announced some Qualia-branded earbud-style earphones to be called the MDR-EXQ1. These are the earphones from the previously-released minidisk player Sony Qualia 017..see this announcement.

The brass housing, gold-plating and high-energy neodymium magnets support an output of 101dB/mW at a frequency response of 5Hz – 24kHz.

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