Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Absurd Liquid-Cooled Desk Computer Is a Tribute to Mod Excess [Mods]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/k4ysbhZP2yo/absurd-liquid+cooled-desk-computer-is-a-tribute-to-mod-excess

One year ago, some Popular Mechanics editors set out with the broad goal of building the most ridiculously extravagant PC mod they could. This is what they came up with.

PopMech's quad-core beast is loaded with just the kind of pricey hardware you'd expect from such a flamboyant mod—4 GB of Kingston HyperX DDR3 RAM, a GeForce GTX 280 graphics card, two 300GB, 10,000RPM VelociRaptor HDDs, and an Antex kilowatt power supply—all centered around an 3.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor. It's the case, though, that's the star of the show.

The main structure of the desk is made up of two massive panels of acrylic, bolted to a custom-built aluminum frame. A glycol liquid cooling system snakes through the whole of the machine, stopping off to suck heat away from both the main processor and the graphics card. Built into the top is a custom-built Synaptics touchpad—a mostly useless but nonetheless cool design flourish.

PopMech has included a short how-to with their story, but it's less of an instructional guide than a point-by-point summary of why you can't build one of these yourself. [PopMech]



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Dragonfly Skyscraper Farm Will Give Pigs the Best Views of Manhattan [Architecture]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/o1FJO8Tg8XE/dragonfly-skyscraper-farm-will-give-pigs-the-best-views-of-manhattan

First they launched the Swine Flu attack at a global scale, and now they are opening their headquarters in New York. This is the Dragonfly Vertical Farm, a skyscraper designed for animals and agricultural production.

Sitting on the southern part of Roosevelt Island—on the East River—the building is based on the shape of a dragonfly's wings. It extends 132 floors 600 meters up in the air, totalling 360,000 square meters.

The Dragonfly Vertical Farm is designed to produce fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy. It will also include public spaces, so people can visit the animals as they get ready to first take over Manhattan, and then take over Berlin. It will probably also result in the most expensive milk and bacon in the planet, which is probably why it is never going to be built.


Yes, the end is near. [Design Boom]



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Video: Tele Atlas' photorealistic city models to aid navigation, terrorism

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/20/video-tele-atlas-photorealistic-city-models-to-aid-navigation/

Navigation devices are everywhere and just keep getting better and better thanks to the 3D maps provided by the likes of Tele Atlas (owned by TomTom) and NAVTEQ (owned by Nokia). Now Tele Atlas is announcing its photorealistic "Advanced City Models" destined for in-car and portable navigation systems and mobile devices. In June, Tele Atlas will release 40 maps based on BLOM arial imagery for cities across Europe -- hundreds more cities, including those in North America and Asia, will be available in 2010. Remember, Google already has laid ink to paper to give it rights to Tele Atlas maps for use in Google's mobile, desktop, and on-line offerings. And with Tele Atlas maps loaded on PSPs and navigators from Pioneer, Mio, and of course TomTom, just think of this as a hint of what's to come.

Continue reading Video: Tele Atlas' photorealistic city models to aid navigation, terrorism

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Video: Tele Atlas' photorealistic city models to aid navigation, terrorism originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 06:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google announces first PowerMeter partners, we beg for more

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/20/google-announces-first-powermeter-partners-we-beg-for-more/

At last, we have the first partners in Google's quest to make your personal power consumption visible on your home computer. As the thinking goes, if you can't measure it, you can't improve it. So Google wants to give consumers near real-time visibility to their consumption and usage patterns via Google's PowerMeter software and utility-supplied "smart meters." The hope here, is that those aware of their energy consumption habits will change them to save money, and in turn, the planet. The initial list of partner utilities represent millions of homes spread across cities and country-sides in the US, Canada, and India:
  • San Diego Gas & Electric(R) (California)
  • TXU Energy (Texas) JEA (Florida)
  • Reliance Energy (India)
  • Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin)
  • White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri)
  • Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited (Canada)
  • Glasgow EPB (Kentucky)
Google has also partnered with Itron to embed its PowerMeter software into Itron smart meters. While we applaud the effort, seeing energy consumption for the entire house, only, is far too macro (though a good first step). What we're waiting for is the marriage of this with home automation and monitoring solutions based on Z-Wave and ZigbBee, for example, so we can gain visibility and control down to the device level. Imagine a single software view that lets you drill all the way down to see how much energy your computer, lights, or home theater projector is consuming and then shut 'em down when not in use or to avoid vampire drain. Hey Nokia, you're working on a Home Control Center... you reading this? Google's looking for partners.

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Google announces first PowerMeter partners, we beg for more originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 03:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

E&S' 8K Laser Projectors Also Display 3D Content in HD [Projectors]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Pk3XwK_VNnA/es-8k-laser-projectors-also-display-3d-content-in-hd

Fresh off of JVC's 8K projectors announcement, Evans & Sutherland's newest laser projector, the ESLP 8K, not only displays a resolution of 8K in 2D, but also projects visuals in 3D as well.

Different from other lamp-drive projectors, the ESLP 8K laser projector displays quality that is apparently sixteen times 1080p HD resolution, with a 200% wider color spectrum, smoother playback and a miniscule environmental footprint. This laser projector is also the first one to display 3D content in 4K x 4K resolution, using only a single projector.

For those interested in checking out these high definition projectors for themselves, the ESLP 8K will be demonstrated at InfoComm this year, and will also be available on the market sometime during the second half of 2009. [E&S]



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