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Monday, March 24, 2008

Amazing Tidal Waves Photos

http://cubeme.com/blog/2008/03/17/amazing-tidal-waves-photos/#more-4447

March 17th, 2008 by Phil

Some people claim that these are pictures of water that instantly froze when it came in contact with the air. Well, I know it's cold in Antartica but the day a tidal wave or a tsunami wave will instantly freeze while breaking has not come yet. You can rest assured Armageddon is not for tomorrow.

These photos are nonetheless fantastic. You'll notice that there is blue ice, which is created as the ice is compressed and trapped air bubbles are squeezed out. The ice looks blue because, when light passes through thick ice, blue light is transmitted back out but red light is absorbed. I didn't figure that out by myself of course, but I did some research. Now enjoy the pictures and thank the mighty internet for providing more info about those so-called "frozen waves"!

CarLoft Designs Apartments with Car Parkings on Balcony

Source: http://cubeme.com/blog/2008/03/18/carloft-designs-apartments-with-car-parkings-on-balcony/

Why park you car in the underground or in a garage when you can park it on the balcony of your high-rise condo? That’s exactly what German company Car Loft thought, as they are building a residential project in Berlin that will allow its residents to park their cars on the balcony of their apartments. I’m not kidding: each resident will be able to use his garden as a car-parking space, which will be called CarLoggia. To access their condo, the lucky owners will use the CarLift, which will bring them and their car right on their floor. The prices of the luxury flats start at 450,600 euros. You better be quick if you want one, because the penthouse, the fifth floor and the ground-floor are already sold.

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Sun aims to speed up data by swapping wires for frickin' laser beams

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/257096037/

Filed under: Desktops, Misc. Gadgets, Laptops

It's far from the first time we've seen lasers touted as a means of boosting data speeds exponentially, but Sun seems to think it has a better chance than most of making it a reality, thanks in no small part to $44 million in funding from DARPA. As The New York Times reports, that cash haul will be put to use to "explore the high-risk idea of replacing the wires between computer chips with laser beams," which would not only allow for computers to be smaller, but as much as a thousand times faster as well. Needless to say, however, there's quite a few significant hurdles to overcome before that happens, and even Sun itself admits that there's a "50 percent chance of failure." They also say, of course, that the potential benefits are worth the risks, with them even going so far as to boast that the technology would be a way of "breaking Moore's Law."

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Ultra-Basic Flip Video Camera Steals 13 Percent of Camcorder Market With Its Amazing Low-Light Performance? [Whoa]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/256635832/ultra+basic-flip-video-camera-steals-13-percent-of-camcorder-market-with-its-amazing-low+light-performance

flip%20ultra.jpg The Flip camcorder is about as far from a pro camera as Mario is from an actual plumber. In his (mostly fawning) review of the latest version, David Pogue says that the camera's major "shocker" is that its low-light capabilities "trump even $1,000 camcorders." But there's another one buried in there: It has snagged a whopping 13 percent of the camcorder market. Are there untold armies of soccer moms running around with the Flip? Or is its super simple operation (and functionality) a quiet gadget revolution? [NYT]

ASUS releases Splendid HD1 video card, sure does have a way with names

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/256589384/

Filed under: Peripherals

We're still a little hazy as to exactly what ASUS's new Splendid HD1 "video enhance card" actually does differently than most other 2D-enhanced devices, but the company claims it ratchets up 1080p video quality on both digital and analog outputs, and it'll fit in right along side those Splendid-based Xondar cards. Of course, it's also got HDCP (which is a start), but it's starting to smell a little gimmicky around here, splendid or not.

[Via Far East Gizmos]

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