Archive for February, 2008

Battlefield robots have been in use for a while now proving their worth in many situations. But no matter how good they may perform it will never stop researchers looking for new ways to improve the robots for optimal use on the battlefield.

The HARV - Head-Aimed Remote Viewer - is a new development by Chatten Associates which promises to do just that, claiming to improve mission performance by 300% to 400%.Check Out The Video After The Jump

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I’m sure that most of you stationed overseas will have noticed the different techniques other countries have for counting their money. We are not sure about the origin of these differing techniques but we did find a great little video that runs you through each one. They all seem rather practical - some slightly more than others - with the exception of the technique used in Turkmenistan, Kazakistan, Pakistan and some parts of Turkey, what exactly is going on there?

A joint project is developing the Cell Chip from the PS3 to help improve medical Imaging

IBM has recently teamed up with the Mayo Clinic to develop a research facility aimed at advancing medical imaging.The joint venture into improving the way we view medical images is developing the cell chip from the PS3 to hopefully enable doctors and radiologists to track patients’ health and treatment more effectively.

Bradley Erickson, chairman of radiology at the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic said that researchers are specifically looking at how the PS3 Cell chip - which was collaboratively developed by Sony Corp., IBM and Toshiba Corp. - could speed up the imaging process.

“It changes how we think about things…..We are facing significant problems in medical imaging because the number of images produced in CT scanners basically tracks Moore’s Law. My eyes and brain can’t keep up. I see more and more images I have to interpret….

Erickson said,

“The innovation here is to take computer chips and extract the information in these increasing number of images and help present it usefully to the radiologist.”

With the computer the Mayo Clinic is now using, it would take a few minutes to run the algorithm and get the new and old images lined up successfully. Using the PS3 Cell chip, which is extremely efficient at doing raw computations, the process could be done in a second.

This time saved can mean a great deal when it comes to treating patients with life threatening conditions.

“This is focusing on the quality of the medicine” Erickson explains,

“We might take an image of someone’s brain tumor to see if it’s getting better or worse or staying the same. We’re looking for really subtle changes. You might find out after two months of radiation that it’s not working, and you want to switch their treatment. If you have a human interpret that image, they may not see any difference, and the doctor will have them keep on with that same treatment, which in reality is not helping. … We can have a computer take that image and focus more quickly on what areas need attention.”

He added that it’s not unusual to be thinking about using a gaming processor in a medical imaging machine. He noted that a lot of high-powered graphics cards and other gaming technologies are have previously been used in medical imaging.

When it comes to racing simulators the VRX Mach 4 wins hands down. Power by 4 Xbox 360’s – one for each of the 3 Sharp Aquos LCDs, and one for the 7″ LCD rear view mirror – There are hands-on (and feet) controls to mimic the driving experience, a Harmon Kardon surround sound receiver with 10 Bose Acoustimass speakers. There is even a “Virtual Wind System”, consisting of 2 dual Honeywell fans and Tactile Vibration Feedback System for extra realism.

More Pictures And Full Technical Specifications After The Jump!

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Scientists believe to have made a break through discovery that could one day allow us to charge or power electrical devices such as cell phones, by converting body heat to electricity.

A team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley have been working with silicon nanowire-based converters and recently announced that they may have found a way to use to increase the conversion efficiency by a factor of 100.Using a process called “electroless etching” the scientist are able synthesize silicon nanowires in an aqueous solution on the surfaces of wafers. The “technique involves the galvanic displacement of silicon through the reduction of silver ions on a wafer’s surface” the team explain in their paper.

This technique of creating the nanowires results in vertically aligned wires that feature a rougher surface than normal nanowires. It is believed that the rough surface of the nanowires is to account for the high thermoelectric efficiency.

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Following on from our previous post about Datamancer’s custom laptops, PC’s and steampunk devices, we’ve come across another handmade custom mod we thought was worth a mention.

Ukrainian, Valerie Beetle has spent countless hours’ hand carving this Gothic looking PC Tower. No word on what exactly was his inspiration but it seems like this guy must have some dark thoughts! Click On Image To Enlarge

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This intricate - perhaps impractical - five shot revolver apparently does work.

Produced in the 1800, the (probably French made) ring pistol is a perfect example of what was known as “la petite protectors”. The ring pistol once was one of the smallest killing devices ever developed.There doesn’t seem to be much info around regarding the practicality of the finger mounted firearm however, after a long search it appears some believe that,

“If it were fired, the smoke, flames, and noise would be considerable. The muzzle velocity would probably be so low that the powder burn would be worse than the bullet”

So may be it doesn’t classify as the most efficient killing device but considering when it was made and the craftsmanship it took to make, it certainly is an exceptional one off antique firearm. Hat’s off to the unknown creator.

More Pictures After The Jump

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The Pentagon announced last Thursday that a Navy warship has been tasked with shooting down a failing United States spy satellite that is expected to hit Earth within weeks.

In a joint news conference, NASA administrator Michael Griffin and Gen. James Cartwright, the No. 2 officer at the Defense Department, told reporters that an SM-3 missile – originally designed to inbound ballistic missiles - will be fired from a Navy cruiser during the next month to obliterate the inbound spacecraft.

The idea is to break apart the satellite to rid it of toxic fuels which are stored in its tank.The USS Shiloh will be one of three warships that will use the system to target the defunct satellite. Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, did not say when the attempted interception would be conducted, but the satellite is expected to hit Earth somewhere in the Pacific Ocean during the first week of March.

Although Cartwright would not comment on the odds of success it is true that several successful anti-ballistic mile tests have been already conducted from the cruisers, most frequently from the USS Shiloh, but no test has the urgency or high profile as the impending satellite shoot-down.

The Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) can target an object as high as 310 miles when fired vertically. After the third stage of the rocket is spent, the kill vehicle finds the satellite with infrared sensors and then steers towards the target.

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Corner shot is a high-tech weapon support system that provides the ability to observe, acquire and engage targets from “around the corner”.

Designed to enable military, law enforcement and security operators to effectively observe and engage targets without being exposed, Corner Shot consists of a segmented, assault rifle-type folding stock - complete with a high-resolution video camera and color display - onto which a pistol of choice can be attached. A lateral left and right swinging hinge mechanism and a remote trigger control allow the user to squeeze the trigger from behind the safety and comfort of any suitable structure

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Tired of getting out of the lazy boy to change games in your PS2? Well now you might not have to……A new firmware update for Memor32 – the PS2 modchip on a memory card – promises to allow your none chipped Playstation to play an entire library of games direct from the comforts of your own USB hard drive.

A group of Russian hackers named Memento are responsible for the firmware handiwork. The memory card chip mod couldn’t be simpler to use, now all that’s left is to get our hands on one to see how well it actually performs.

For those of you who own an older PS2 (the bulky version), there is another equally simple hack. HD Loader comes in the form of a DVD and can also hack your Playstation without the need for a chip mod. Using the PS2’s 3.5″ IDE slot and a network adapter, simply hook up your hard drive and run HD Loader in PS2.The HD loader has been around for some two years now but it may not have gained great popularity due to reports of compatibility issues; let’s hope the new update from the Russians will run a little smoother.

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Benjamin Heckendorn aka Ben Heck is known for modifying gaming consoles into custom laptops, some of his previous creations include various portable Xbox 360’s, a portable Atari 2600, a Commodore 64 laptop and numerous other modified devices. Mr. Heck seems to be at it again with yet another portable Xbox 360 Elite, this time with a Halo 3 theme.

The modded Xbox comes complete with the new 65nm CPU, a 120 GB Elite Hard Drive, HDMI-to-DVI video connection for digital picture, Xbox Live Vision camera and a 17 inch widescreen Gateway LCD with a 1280×720 pixel resolution (this allows a pixel-perfect ratio when using the 720p HDMI connection).

Some more pictures and a video after the jump!

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The Navy is hoping that their latest project, a 10 megajoule railgun, will replace the standard 5-inch guns on most of their ships. Currently in testing phase, this awesome weapon uses a magnetic field to fire projectiles at a speed of approx 5,600 mph. But the Navy is not stopping there; they hope to create a 64 megajoule system capable of shooting at over 13,000 mph and hitting 5 meter targets from 200 nautical miles.

Check out two videos of the Railgun in action after the jump>>

“If you’ve got a little over 10 megajoules as with this demonstration model, you’re looking at 5,600 mph. When the system is completed, it’ll be firing shells with over six times that energy (well over 13,000 mph) using 64 megajoules of energy”

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In the world of custom laptops and PC’s, steampunk specialist Richard R. Nagy aka Datamancer is on a level of his very own…… Know for creating some of the most original steampunk modifications his newest creation, the steampunk laptop is no exception.

Based on a Victorian music box made from brass copper and wood, the design is extremely intricate. Inside the elaborate display of clockworks under glass, engraved brass accents and antiqued copper keyboard and mouse lies a Hewlett-Packard ZT1000 laptop. Other features include leather wrist pads, a customized network card, a power on switch that works by winding an antique key and a hidden power down switch.

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Defragmentation of your hard disk is a necessary task that should be done regularly to ensure the efficiency of your PC.

It is extremely common and almost certain that over time your PC will slow down. This is caused by the way files are stored on a hard disk and is directly related to the amount of files you manage.When you save data on your hard drive the file is split up and stored in sections which are adjacent to each other. Small files are easy to store because they can be placed efficiently next to each other.

As you continue to use your computer performing tasks such as editing, adding and deleting files, changes occur in these sections of data and some areas will become empty pockets. These areas are referred to as fragmentation.

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