On January 4, 2005, the GlobalFlyer will attempt to make the first solo, nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world.
The GlobalFlyer is from the same cast of characters (Scaled Composites) that brought us Voyager – the two-seat propeller-driven plane that went nonstop and unrefueled around the world in 1986 – and SpaceShipOne.
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According to the New York Times, the top 10 games of 2004 are as follows:
1. Burnout 3: Takedown
2. The Sims 2
3. City of Heroes
4. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
5. Myst IV: Revelation
6. Full Spectrum Warrior
7. Far Cry
8. Astro Boy: Omega Factor
9. Thief: Deadly Shadows
10. Katamari Damacy
Details, comments and justification here.
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Sony, Toshiba and IBM (STI) said today that IBM is ready to begin pilot production in 2005 on their jointly-designed “Cell” processor.
The Cell consortium was formed in 2001. The Cell is a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design with an architecture that will be able to use ultra high-speed broadband connectivity to interoperate with one another as one complete system.
The first product to use the Cell will be a workstation PC jointly developed by Sony and IBM and set to go on sale in 2005. Sony also confirmed the Cell will power the next version of its market-leading PlayStation game console. Both Sony and Toshiba expect to begin selling high-definition TV sets powered by the Cell in 2006
By David Becker
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
The IBM announcement says in part:
Specifically, the companies confirmed that Cell is a multicore chip comprising a 64-bit Power processor core and multiple synergistic processor cores capable of massive floating point processing. Cell is optimized for compute-intensive workloads and broadband rich media applications, including computer entertainment, movies and other forms of digital content.
The current PS2 operates at 6.2 GFLOPS and 75 million plygons per second (max).
The specs for a Cell-based PS3 are anyone’s guess. Those guesses range from 256 GFLOPS & 6 billion polygons per second, ranging to the PS3 being 1,000x as powerful as the PS2…which would put the PS3 in the class of “supercomputer”.
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Thanks to Thanko, we now have the USB powered humidifier.
About $50.
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The Mobile Data Association (MDA) was established in 1994 to increase awareness of mobile data amongst users and their advisers. The MDA recently handed out some awards on the occasion of their 10th anniversary.
The MDA’s winner in the category of best hardware product of the decade was the Microsoft Pocket PC. They described the winner in these words:
Windows Mobile based Pocket PC platform: first launched in April 2000, Pocket PC has risen from a starting point of under 10% market share to over 50% in Western Europe, in the space of 4 years. The product is now synonymous with mobile computing and has revolutionised what we think of when it comes to a PDA.
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Samsung recently released the Model SCH-S250, the highest resolution camera phone available in the market today, at 5 megapixels.
Not content to rest on their laurels, Samsung is aiming for a 6 or 7 megapixel camera phone some time next year.
According to Telecoms Korea:
LG Electronics’ spokesman comfirmed Thursday (Nov 25), “LG is considering the development of 6- or 7 -megapixel camera phone with Japanese companies including Canon.”
The Ni3 is a wearable device that exchanges data by wireless with micro sensors located in its vicinity.
The watch is intended to form part of a ubiquitous sensor network. The network consists of modules that detect various events such as environmental or health conditions, and then communicate with other network modules for resolution or response.
A new version of a wearable sensor module named Ni3 is presented which consists of a sensor, analog/digital signal processing circuits, and an RF transceiver. Ni3 communicates with a network module which has an RF transceiver, digital signal processing circuits and an interface with a computer which is linked to the Internet through public wireless communication infrastructure. An MPU with nonvolatile programmability is used in both types of modules. Only a minimal set of instruction in the MPU is used in the digital signal processing without using any operation system. This allows flexible configuration of communication protocol. Ni3 enables digital signal processing and wireless communication protocols which are flexibly configured for numerous different applications.
The Ni3 conforms to IEEE 802.15.4 standards for wireless personal area networks and works with ZigBee compliant products that are just now becoming available.
So if you come within range of a temperature (or light, door status, vibration, radiation or badge recognition) sensor, you could for example, program your watch to respond with a request to lower the temperature to more comfortable setting.
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Imagine this scenario: robots defeat humans in the 2050 World Cup.
I was surprised to find that there is an organization dedicated to just that objective, namely: RoboCup.org
RoboCup is an international joint project to promote AI, robotics, and related fields. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined. RoboCup chose to use soccer game as a central topic of research, aiming at innovations to be applied for socially significant problems and industries. The ultimate goal of the RoboCup project is By 2050, develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human world champion team in soccer.
The RoboCup initiative is a fascinating confluence of various disciplines that will accelerate evolutionary robotics and the development of personal robotic servants.
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$3,349.00 buys you this recessed bathroom mirror with a built-in 15 inch LCD TV.
Available here; shipping is extra.
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