Invisibility Cloak Project Becomes More Realistic [Science]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5497136/invisibility-cloak-project-becomes-more-realistic

Invisibility cloak project is back on! It's from a different team of scientists that were using silver-plated nanoparticles in water though, with these latest Harry Potter enthusiasts using photonic metamaterials to change light rays.

The idea is to cloak an object and disguise it with the use of light rays, like a "carpet mirror", as described in the Science publication by Tolga Ergin, a scientist from the German Karlsruhe Institute of Technology working on the project.

Using polymer crystals with minuscule rods, Ergin found success with his "invisible cloak," making it invisible to light wavelengths:

"By changing the thickness of the rods, you can change the ratio of air to polymer.

Since the refractive index of air is about one and the refractive index of the polymer is about 1.52, in principle, we can get any refractive index between those two numbers"

Anyone looking at the object assumes the area is flat, and that there's nothing hidden there—and it could theoretically hide any object, even a house. There are obviously limitations involved with the science, not least the length of time it takes to create the 3D cloaking structure. [BBC]

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Dell rolls out Vostro 230 Slim Tower, Mini Tower desktops

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/18/dell-rolls-out-vostro-230-slim-tower-mini-tower-desktops/

They may not be quite as sleek as their latest laptop counterpart, but Dell's two new Vostro 230 desktops are both at least fairly compact and, most importantly, cheap. Available in both Slim Tower or Mini Tower form factors, the desktops start at just $389 or $299, respectively, but can of course be upgraded significantly from there, including processors up to a 3.0GHz Core 2 Quad Q9650, a maximum 4GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage (from two 1TB drives), and your choice of NVIDIA GeForce G310 or GeForce GT220 graphics (in addition to the standard integrated option). Hit up the link below to configure one for yourself.

Dell rolls out Vostro 230 Slim Tower, Mini Tower desktops originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia's Design by Community makes smartphone concepting a multiplayer game, with limits

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/18/nokias-design-by-community-makes-smartphone-concepting-a-multip/

Nokia's community blog has opened up the crowdsourcing floodgates, at least in theory. For "Design by Community," users will be able to vote on smartphone features via a series of sliders, although within an arbitrary point allotment system. A new poll opens next week for size and shape, followed by materials, operating system (Symbian or MeeGo being the only choices, unsurprisingly), and so on in the weeks that follow, with the last poll starting April 26th. After that, a concept sketch will be voted on and later rendered -- but no plans to ever have it made into an actual retail product (boo). We can't exactly say we understand all the selections here: why is a touchscreen keyboard less ambitious than T9 text entry? Does saying capacitive is more ambitious than resistive serve as a subtle hint of trends to come? What in the world is the difference between hot key and one touch? It's interesting to see how X6, N900, N97 all come out as a Perfect Mixes, while last year's E75 and the more recent C5 all straddle the "less than ambitious" line. Oh, and just so we're clear... a 5-inch, 21:9 ratio display without touchscreen but with a touchscreen keyboard is a perfect mix. Go figure.

[Thanks, Pratik V]

Nokia's Design by Community makes smartphone concepting a multiplayer game, with limits originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marvell pitches $99 Moby Tablet as textbook alternative

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/19/marvell-pitches-99-moby-tablet-as-textbook-alternative/

When chipmaker Marvell told us its technology would power $99 smartphones, we took the company at its word. We weren't expecting a sub-$100, 10-inch tablet PC, however -- and we definitely weren't expecting Marvell itself to build it. Marketed at students looking to lighten their textbook load, the Marvell Moby will be an "always-on, high performance multimedia tablet" capable of full Flash support and 1080p HD playback -- thanks to those nifty Armada 600 series processors -- and supporting WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS and both Android and Windows Mobile platforms for maximum flexibility. No release date has yet been announced; like the OLPC, Marvell will introduce the Moby in pilot programs at participating at-risk schools. While it's far too early to say if the Moby will be the universal educational e-reader Marvell hopes (that depends on software), it's certainly an intriguing device for the price, and we'll admit we're a touch jealous of those kids who'll first get to try one.

Marvell pitches $99 Moby Tablet as textbook alternative originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 and 470 specs and pricing emerge

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-480-and-470-specs-and-pricing-emerge/

We're only a week away from their grand unveiling, but already we've got word of the specs for NVIDIA's high end GTX 480 and GTX 470 cards. Priced at $499, the 480 will offer 480 shader processors, a 384-bit interface to 1.5GB of onboard GDDR5 RAM, and clock speeds of 700MHz, 1,401MHz, and 1,848MHz for the core, shaders and memory, respectively. The 470 makes do with 446 SPs, slower clocks, and a 320-bit memory interface, but it's also priced at a more sensible $349. The TDPs of these cards are pretty spectacular too, with 225W for the junior model and 295W for the full-fat card. Sourced by VR Zone, these numbers are still unofficial, but they do look to mesh well with what we already know of the hardware, including a purported 5-10 percent benchmarking advantage for the GTX 480 over ATI's HD 5870. Whether the price and power premium is worth it will be up to you and the inevitable slew of reviews to decide.

[Thanks, Sean]

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 and 470 specs and pricing emerge originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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