New SanDisk SSD G3 is as fast as a 40,000rpm HDD

Designed as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives (HDDs) in notebook PCs, the initial members in the SanDisk G3 family are SSD C25-G3 and SSD C18-G3 in the standard 2.5" and 1.8" form factors respectively, each available with a SATA-II interface. Available in capacities of 60, 120 and 240GB, the unit MSRPs are $149, $249 and $499, respectively.

The SanDisk G3 SSDs are more than five times faster than the fastest 7,200 RPM HDDs and more than twice as fast as SSDs shipping in 2008, clocking in at 40,000 RPM and anticipated sequential performance of 200MB/s read and 140MB/s write.
The G3 SSDs provide a Longterm Data Endurance (LDE) of 160 terabytes written (TBW) for the 240GB version, sufficient for over 100 years of typical user usage.

The SanDisk G3 SSD 120GB is selling for less than $250 and the 60GB SSD is has a price of $149.

More at i4u

IBM to Launch Notebook with Integrated Dual Screen, Tablet and More

Read about it from ecoustics.

Happy Computer

Swipe: The Future of Text Input

Absolutely brilliant!

Swype provides a faster and easier way to input text on any screen. With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard, the patented technology enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods—at over 50 words per minute. The application is designed to work across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, game consoles, kiosks, televisions, virtual screens and more.



Simply Trace a Path

The word “quick” was generated from tracing the path shown above in a fraction of a second, by roughly aiming to pass through the letters of the word. A key advantage to Swype is that there is no need to be very accurate, enabling very rapid text entry.

More.

HP Discovers Potential "God Particle" of Electronics

Silicon Valley is mostly a world of practical technology—applying principles from pure science to create handy gadgets. But today, Hewlett Packard announced a new electrical component born of theoretical physics. The device, a nanoscale component called a "memristor," requires no power to retain data, which it can store more densely than a hard drive and access about as fast as a computer’s RAM memory—potentially allowing it to replace both components in the future.

Memristors can function in either a digital mode, in which a memory cell is “on” or “off,” or in analog mode, in which each cell holds some value in between. These values grow every time the cell receives an electrical signal, mimicking the way neurons in the brain build stronger memories the more they are stimulated.

The memristor was theorized in the early seventies by an electrical engineer name Leon Chua, but it took decades before anyone could prove it exists. The process was similar to particle physics, in which mathematicians first propose a particle and then experimenters eventually find it—or don’t. (The hottest current example is the search for the theoretical Higgs boson, aka the “god particle.”) Chua’s mythical electrical component didn’t show up until recently when HP researchers were studying the electrical properties of nanoscale materials and came upon a few that acted suspiciously like the memristor. After some refinements, they invented exactly what Chua theorized.

More.

Heliodisplay - Floating Screenless Projector

$20K...

OLPC - Designer Talks About the $100 Laptop

From here.

World Map Adjusted

By Area

By Population

More.

It's all about perspective.

The Terrorrism Conspiracy vs The Global Warming Conspiracy

After hearing about this:

Computerised speech capable of mimicking any human voice is in danger of unleashing a form of "vocal terrorism", where disinformation is spread by hacking into telephone networks, British scientists warned today.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

The researchers believe that advances in synthetic voices, made by recreating digital versions of people's vocal tracts, will make them indistinguishable from real human speech within 15 years.

"We'll be able to synthesize the voice of anybody saying anything, based on hearing just a sentence or two of them speaking," he said. "This gives rise to a notion of what I call vocal terrorism as a possible scenario in the future and we should be thinking about that now."

(...) it could be that I've taken over a communications network for a country and I broadcast the sound of a leader to the people," he added.

I find it interesting that the same people that often "claim that the theory that global warming is caused by humans is a conscious fraud, perpetuated for financial or ideological reasons" [more here], are usually in support of the exact same reasoning as far as Terrorrism is concerned.

Woz, Jobs and Apple ][... Legos!

Awesome!

More.

Line Rider - an Etch-a-Sketch for the Youtube Generation?

More.

Will Flash Solid State Replace Hard Drives?

Will your next laptop lack a hard drive?

Yes, if Samsung has anything to say about it. The electronics maker is looking to kick off an era of flash-based solid state drives (SDD) that approach usable capacities. That is, they can store enough for an OS and a healthy batch of applications, with some room left over for assorted files.

The company today announced a 1.8-inch, 64 gigabyte (GB) flash hard drive replacement that offers twice the capacity of the SSD Samsung debuted last year.

Samsung's drive is built using 8 Gb single-level-cell (SLC) NAND technology, which the company credits for the drive's improved performance, not only over traditional disk-based storage, but over its predecessor as well. Samsung's 64 GB SSD can achieve read speeds of 64 MB per second and write speeds of 45 MB per second while drawing half a watt of power during drive activity. The unit draws just 0.1 watts at idle, or 1/15th the power required for a conventional 80 GB hard drive.

Mass production of the Samsung 64 GB SSD is scheduled for 2Q 2007.

More.

Ergonomically-correct-politically-incorrect mousepads

Nice. More.

Multi-Touch Screens - Video

More.

Windows Vista - DOA?

This is about as funny as the Bill Gates interview at the Daily Show (no PC guy cameo?) --except the very last second when Bill Gates just awkwardly left the stage...

...It's just that most of the security enhancements touted in Windows Vista don't appear in the Home Premium and Basic editions, and what's there, what's not already available within windows XP, could have fit into a free Windows XP service pack instead of requiring a $200 upgrade.

...a dozen bulleted security enhancements within Windows Vista, such as Enhanced Authentication Model, User Account Control (UAC), BitLocker Drive Encryption, Encrypting File System (EFS), Protected Mode for IE 7, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, Enhanced Firewall Management, Group Policy for Device Lockdown, Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Kernel Patch Protection, and Network Access Protection. That's 12 enhancements that sound really thorough, if you get them.

However, because there are six different editions of Windows Vista, with varying features in each (...) home users will see fewer than half [of the security enhancements]. I spoke with Pete McKiernan, a senior product manager for Windows at Microsoft, who said that BitLocker hard drive encryption wasn't included in the Home editions because Microsoft feared home users would lock themselves out of their systems. He agreed that another feature, Device Lockdown, required a group policy, and therefore wouldn't be in the Home edition, nor would Network Access Protection, Enhanced Authentication Model, or Encrypting File System (EFS). That's 5 out of 12 security enhancements that you won't find in the Home editions of Windows Vista.

More from CNET.

Moreover, if you're not a hard-core gamer your current PC is probably not powerful enough to run all the new eye-candy Aero interface... so add the price of a computer upgrade to that $200 service pack...

Fight Like a Rabbi

In this graphical adventure game [The Shivah], Russell Stone works as a Jewish Rabbi at a poor synagogue in New York City. He is a devout man with a problem. Membership is way down and he lacks the funds to keep his synagogue open. Things are looking very bleak, and he has grown progressively more cynical and bitter with the passage of time.

Just as he is on the verge of packing it all in, he receives some interesting news. A former member of his congregation has died and left the Rabbi a significant amount of money.

A blessing? Or the start of something far more sinister? Can Rabbi Stone just accept the money and move on? His conscience says no. Step into his shoes as he travels all over Manhattan in his attempt to uncover the truth.

Features rabbinical conversation methods, a unique method of fighting, an original score, and three different endings!

More. Free demo available, or buy for $5.