Best New Technology

James Watt (I like his surname as it has something to do with power) has created a truly amazing tiny electronic insect robot that is powered by the sun instead of relying on batteries. The best part is, his project comes in the form of a dragonfly that isn’t too far away from its real world counterpart at first glance, and is capable of flapping its wings thanks to simple electronics and a pager motor. If only this puppy will be able to master flight.

Posted Feb 25th 2008 6:52AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. gadgets

We’ll be honest with you — IDL Motors’ installation at Toy Fair 2008 was a bit short on details, but we’re certainly digging what we saw. Apparently, both the Bullet Train & Cars and Z-drive creations were on display, and while the former used linear propulsion to whiz magnet-laden “cars” around a track, the latter enabled similar vehicles to climb steeper slopes than their previous prototypes. Still, we know what you’re here for, so click on through to take a peek at the video.

[Via MAKE]

Posted Feb 25th 2008 11:40AM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Storage

We’ve already heard a little bit about about the new and improved CFast CompactFlash card standard developed by the CompactFlash Association, but it looks like things are now starting to firm up, including word as to when the cards might actually be available. As CNET’s Underexposed blog reports, a Lexar rep says he “predicts” that the cards should start showing up in “18 to 24 months,” and that companies will “want to start working on prototype samples as soon as the specification is finalized.” The big advantage to the cards, as we’ve mentioned, is their use of an SATA interface, which not only boosts the transfer rate to a speedy 375MB/sec but, of course, also makes them incompatible with current CompactFlash-based cameras. And you thought that 55-in-1 memory card reader was future proof.

Posted Feb 25th 2008 2:13PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Displays

Sometimes one display isn’t enough. Sometimes you need two. Sometimes you need eight. When you need eight, you’ll probably want to contact the folks over at Humanscale — an ironically named company that creates mounts that are decidedly inhuman. Take the Paramount Parabolic Multi-Monitor Display, for instance: a rack for your bank of eight monitors that’s a guaranteed must-have for your elaborate array of “stalking” screens in the basement of your creepy estate. We’re sure there are uses for this beyond tracking the every movement of your house-guests, but we don’t want to know what they are.

[Via Crave]

You know kids and their boundless energy. Most of them love to run up and down staircases, but doing so with poor lighting can be dangerous - hence the Sound-Activated LED Spotlights.

Mount these battery-operated lights along a stairwell, in a closet, outside your side door…wherever you need some light but don’t need the hassle of electrical work. Loud or sharp sound will turn the four bright LED lights on; they’ll turn off automatically 10 seconds after last sound heard. Manual on/off option. Pivoting bracket directs the light where you need it. Weather-resistant for outdoor use.

These babies will cost $9.99 for a set of two. Pretty cheap considering the potential pitfalls you can avoid.

I discussed LG Voyager before, and I had a chance to try it out as a user last weekend. What I found was the LG Voyager could easily be my next cell phone.

The first thing you should know about the LG Voyager is that it is the first phone on the market with a touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard. The touchscreen works just like the iphone, but the Voyager has a vibrating touch system so the user has some tactile feedback.

The phone then opens for a second screen with the QWERTY keyboard. This comes in handy when you surf the Internet with the HTML browser, and you can even flip it to the touchscreen for some net-surfing with just your finger. Surfing the net on this gadget takes some getting used to, but it is worth it for the convenience.

Not only does the Voyager do Internet well, but it has an excellent 2.0 Megapixel camera with both video and still capability. The Voyager can also do Bluetooth as well as music.

Other features include the V CAST Mobile TV, and the Voyager has an extendable antenna for it. This service costs a little more in the subscription, as does the Navigator function.

I think the LG phone could easily make a splash in today’s market, and it is available now off the LG website from Verizon.

Product Page

Researchers at Princeton University have demonstrated a technique that can beat most current disk encryption software. The technique stems from the fact that the encryption key used to secure the data on a disk is stored in RAM while the computer is in use.

Many people believe that when a computer is shut down the contents of RAM is lost immediately. This is actually false with the information only disappearing slowly over time and dependent on what RAM chips are in the machine. It can take a few seconds to several minutes for the information to be wiped, and this time can be extended by cooling the chips with something as simple as an air spray can usually used for cleaning dust out of machines.

The researchers created a tool called BitUnlocker in order to read the contents of a machine’s RAM. All they had to do was gain access to a machine that was in use so that the encryption key was held in RAM. They then removed the battery to shut down the machine and then attached an external USB hard drive or thumbstick. The battery is reconnected and the attached storage is set as the boot device, which then runs the tool. As the contents of RAM will likely not have disappeared yet, the software picks up the encryption key that is then used to unlock the disk.

This technique has been tested and works with Windows Vista’s BitLocker, Apple’s FileVault, Linux’s dm-crypt and the Open Source TrueCrypt. The vulnerability of your machine is dependent on the state it is left in when an attacker gains access and the type of encryption you are using.

Read more at PC Pro and the Center for Information Technology Policy

Matthew’s Opinion

I am hearing a lot lately about laptops being stolen with important details on them, and that disk encryption is being seen as the answer. As this research shows, you can’t rely on a single type of security to ensure the data on your hard drive is safe.

So, what affect will this news have on the disk encryption market? That will depend partly on how much coverage this research gets, but it will also be interesting to hear how the different vendors for these encryption solutions react.

There is also a marketing opportunity to come out of this on both the hardware and software fronts. For providers of the encryption software, they may implement a new feature that removes the encryption key from RAM as a machine shuts down. On the other hand, memory manufacturers could release fast release RAM (if this is possible?) that ensures that the RAM is cleared of data in seconds when power to them is lost.

Retro Sweet Hamper

You can have this for ?29.99

Remember the Six Million Dollar Man TV series many years ago? That dude was fitted with all sorts of bionic stuff, and he really had it going on with bionic woman. I wonder whether they share oil instead of spit while engaged in some hot tongue action, but I digress. Six million bucks doesn’t really amount up to much these days no thanks to inflation and a rapidly falling dollar - and many people are already decked out in jewelry and other accessories that cost way more than that amount. Still, it would be nice to see humans being fitted with bionic body parts which feel just like the real thing, offering superior athletic performance minus the side effect of steroids. This bionic arm is currently in development at the John Hopkins University courtesy of a contract offered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

As we know, such research will be very costly - which is why DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program has received additional funding apart from the initial amount required. These extra funds will target the most advanced medical and rehabilitative technologies for military personnel injured in the line of duty. So far, two prototypes were unveiled in Phase 1 where the fully integrated prosthetic arm could be controlled naturally while offering sensory feedback and allowing for eight degrees of freedom. This is already a quantum leap as the level of control provided is beyond that of the current state of the art for prosthetic limbs which have less than half the amount of degrees of freedom of movement. Each Proto 1 limb system also comes with a virtual environment used for patient training, clinical configuration, and to record limb movements and control signals during clinical investigations.

As for the second prototype which was unveiled in August last year, it was a vast improvement, featuring 25 individual joints which come close to emulating the natural speed and range of motion of the human limb. I can’t wait for future iterations to be used in real life.

Source: Gizmag

Hot on the heels of Havoc announcing a free version of its physics engine and animation offering, game developer Insomniac Games is initiating a similar scheme.

The tech sharing the company will be offering is called the Nocturnal Initiative and aims to offer developers around the world access to useful bits of code and presentations covering a range of subjects relating to the development of games. Speaking of the initiative, Mike Action, engineer director at Insomniac, said:

The Nocturnal initiative is designed to encourage greater communication and information sharing among the development community because it will ultimately enable us all to create better games at a lower development cost …

We see Nocturnal as a long-term project that may be valuable for those who want to develop similar technology as us, but without the same effort we needed … We also believe Nocturnal may be valuable for our fans to gain insight to our production processes, while communicating our ideas with a larger group gives us the opportunity to generate feedback on our approaches and ultimately improve them.

Insomniac has the presentations part of the offering already in place through the R&D section of its website, which has been active since August last year. That is set to continue alongside a new Nocturnal Wiki page that will offer access to the code the company releases for public consumption.

Insomniac is probably best known for its Ratchet & Clank series of games and the first 3 Spyro titles, but has also diversified recently on playstation 3 with the release of Resistance: Fall of Man. The independent studio is currently hard at work on Resistance 2.

Read more at GameSpot and the Insomniac Games press release.