Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Nokia 6650 flip coming to AT&T to redeem the N75

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/375823005/

Well, here's one we didn't see coming: it seems that AT&T has wised up to the fact that Americans like their Symbian (well, at least a few of 'em do, anyway) and wants to keep S60-equipped options on the table. Yes, granted, AT&T is a founding member of the Symbian Foundation, but the proof is in the pudding, and the last Nokia smartphone to land there was the N75 in May of last year -- an eternity by mobile standards. More recently, the N75 grew up, got sexy, picked up some brushed metal, and emerged in Europe as the 6550; now, it's surprisingly and unexpectedly been retooled as the 6650 for North American 3G spectrum. It's got a 2.2-inch QVGA primary display, 160 x 128 secondary, 2-megapixel cam, AT&T Navigator (which means GPS), push-to-talk support, and HSDPA 850 / 1900 to compliment quadband EDGE. We don't know exactly when it's coming, but for S60 fans who cringe at the thought of having to blow several hundred on an unlocked set every time they want some fresh hardware, this should be welcome news.

[Thanks, Al and Oscar M.]

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

photo tagging game

Homemade Experiments with Aerogel, the World's Lightest Solid [Aerogel]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/375693689/homemade-experiments-with-aerogel-the-worlds-lightest-solid

Jason Wells got to toy around with a few blocks of Aerogel, the fantastically light (and fantastically expensive) material made famous by its use as insulation in NASA spacecraft like the Mars Rover. Using just everyday materials from his house, he managed to test the futuristic product's strength, optical properties, reaction to different liquids and temperatures, and electrical conductivity.

He concludes from the experiments that it should work really well as a fire retardant or insulation, as well as pulling moisture out of pretty much anything (including his finger!). Aerogel weighs only three times as much as air, but is even more effective than your everyday pink insulation. It may only be the world's coolest insulation material, but are you the world's coolest anything? Didn't think so. [Jason Wells via Crunchgear]

Draganfly X6 UAV: UFO Thingy Packed With Carbon Fiber, HD/Night Cameras and GPS [Helicopter]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/375786540/draganfly-x6-uav-ufo-thingy-packed-with-carbon-fiber-hdnight-cameras-and-gps

The Draganfly series of heli cams have been impressive, but the just announced X6 is freaking amazing. The triple-tipped carbon fiber body has two carbon rotors on each end. The design allows it to move in all directions rapidly, provide enough control to zip around indoors yet resist up to 18 miles per hour of wind.

The oil-dampening vibration-killing mount can be loaded with an HD camera, night vision camera, still camera, low light camera or thermal imaging camera. The machine also has GPS, which feeds positioning data into the remote control's LCD. The X6 can even maintain flight if one of its 6 motors stops working. The battery can be charged in 30 minutes, yet can supply the device with 450 watts of power, which allows the machine to climb 23 feet per second, turn 90 degrees in the same time or do fly-bys at 30 MPH. I don't know how much these cost, but I'm getting enough enjoyment out of watching the videos at Dragonfly's site. [Draganfly]

Samsung Tweaks SSD Design for Low-Cost, Low Density Drives for Netbooks [Ssds]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/376040008/samsung-tweaks-ssd-design-for-low+cost-low-density-drives-for-netbooks

Samsung came up with news that it was going to make 128GB SSDs cheaper last month, and now its saying that it's adjusted its production to also give low-cost, low-density 32GB drives. The SATA II drives will be just 30% of the size of 2.5-inch SSDs, based on the same muti-level cell technology as the earlier 128GB devices, and will come in 8, 16 and 32GB versions. The 32GB version will even have pretty good access speeds: 90MBps to read data (sequentially) and 70MBps to write. Since the devices are "highly cost-efficient to manufacture" you should expect the pricing to be attractive—just the thing for your cheap netbook, perhaps—when they go in to mass production next month. Press release below.

Samsung Introduces High-Performance, Low-Density SATA II SSDs for Low-Priced PC Market
SEOUL, South Korea —(Business Wire)— Aug. 26, 2008 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun sampling low-density, higher-performance solid state drives (SSDs) that are only 30 percent of the size of 2.5-inch SSDs and highly cost-efficient to manufacture. With the introduction of these smaller, low-capacity SSDs, Samsung now offers an attractive replacement for existing hard drives used in low-cost PCs. Available in densities of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB, the new multi-level-cell SSDs will be mass produced beginning next month.

"We've refined our manufacturing techniques and redesigned our low-density SSDs to get what the low-priced PC market is looking for in the way of improved cost, performance and availability," said Jim Elliott, Vice President, Memory Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

The low-density Samsu! ng SSDs use the same high-performance SATA II controller technology as that being used on Samsung's just-introduced MLC-based 128GB SSD.

Samsung's new MLC-based SSD at 32GB capacity will read data (sequentially) at 90MB/s and write it (sequentially) at 70MB/s - performance levels much greater than low-density SSDs on the market today. The 16GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 45MB/s, while the 8GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 25MB/s.

Samsung incorporates four individual 16 gigabit (Gb) MLC NAND chips in its 8GB SSD, as well as four dual-die packages and four quad-die packages of 16Gb NAND for its 16GB and 32GB SSDs respectively. Furthermore, by including a 32MB DRAM as the buffer and four-channel system for the new low-density SSDs, these solutions are better suited for high-speed reading environments.

Samsung has expanded its SSD market offerings since it introduced its first SSD in 2006 in 16GB and 32GB capacities targeted at the Ultra Mobile PC market. This was followed by the announcement of the 64GB SSD in 2007, a 128GB SSD in 2008, and sampling of a 256GB SSD in the second half of 2008.

With increased sales of low-cost PCs and recent efforts by most major PC manufacturers to develop their own low-cost PC offerings, the market for lower density SSDs has been experiencing explosive growth. By unit sales, the low-density SSD market is expected to increase annually by 57% until 2011, with SSDs for low-priced PCs being the main driver of market demand.

[Samsung]