dracodraconis | Jan. 26th, 2007

Jan. 26th, 2007

According to a Nature article, the debris from China's test of an anti-sattelite missile could remain in orbit for more than 10 years, wreaking havoc on nearby weather satellites owned by other countries. The US had abandoned their own anti-satellite experiments for fear of seriously debris damaging their own satellites.

Source: Daily Tech

Phillips recently demonstrated it's Lumalive fabric LED technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The fabric consists of 20-cm square arrays of 14 by 14 pixels that can operate for about 3 hours. The LEDs are embedded in a fabric matrix that is machine-washable. A Windows interface is also available to allow the user to customize the display. No word yet on cost.

Source: Technology Review

A new radar-imaging system analyzes the walking gate of people to determine the likelihood that they are carrying an explosive. The system also detects objects carried by the person that could be a weapon or explosive. More work is needed to "perfect" the gate analysis system before it can be deployed in places like airports.

Source: Technology Review

Apple may have been one of the first to announce a product using a multi-touch screen, but a host of applications are expected to follow it into the marketplace. Researchers at New York University are designing large display systems that will track more than 20 simultaneous "touches", allowing for a more complex and intuitive interface than possible with mouse and keyboard alone. Tracking multiple touches on a large screen could open the door to more interactive systems. A cool video of the multi-touch system can be found at YouTube.

Source: Engadget

More on the single-photon storage system: The technique involves firing a single photon through a grating, the structure of the grating is stored in the diffraction pattern. The light is then slowing down using cesium gas. They are hoping to almost completely stop the light, allowing the image to be stored "permanently" (or long enough to be considered permanent). Don't expect to see this outside the lab for quite a while.

Source: Gizmodo

The number of heating apparati (apparatuses?) powered by USB, you'd think we never had a wall socket before. This one is a USB-powered heating blanket for those cold nights huddled over the computer. Actually, some might find this rather useful (my wife being one).

Source: Gizmodo

Never let it be said bad taste was sexist. For your enjoyment, the USB Party Boy.

Source: Gizmodo

This is a combination USB drink heater/cooler. At the flip of the switch it goes from heating things up to 50C to cool it down to 11C. Not bad for $24(US).

Source: ThinkGeek

This $170(US) USB turntable can give you the ability to finally convert all that old vinyl to MP3s.

Source: i Want One of These

This is too cute (thanks to

ironphoenix). The faster you type, the faster the little USB-controlled rodent spins.

I checked my list of "to be posted" tech posts and have 7 more sitting in the queue. They've been accumulating while I was working at home so I will need to temporarily increase the frequency with which they will be posted to catch up. For reference, the most recent post was created on 21-January so you can see that I'm a few days behind.

Much thanks to all those people alerting me to interesting stuff. Keep it coming and I'll give credit where possible. Nice to see some good debate going on, as well as the occasional bit of debunking and fact-checking to catch me when I slip, particularly in areas in which I lack familiarity.

Source: Slate

Slate Magazine calls Windows Vista"...the Canada of operating systems.". Ummm, thanks?

Source: San Francisco Chronicle
The US Department of Homeland ~~compliance~~ Security is working with a consortium of universities to develop software that monitors the negative opinions of other countries towards the United States. This is, apparently preferable to an aggressive "me first/screw you" foreign policy.

Source: EurekAlert!
Wind power is often touted as a great source of clean energy; however, recent research has shown that airborne particulate matter (such as from automobiles and other consumers of fossil fuels) scatters or absorbs solar energy that drives daytime air convection, the source of wind energy. This reduces the amount of wind on average and so, reduces the amount of energy that can be obtained from wind power.

Source: PhysOrg
It's a sign that the environment has become a major issue when corporate leaders (from companies like DuPont and General Electric) are requesting that the US President to establish pollution reduction targets and begin enforcing mandatory compliance.

Source: New Scientist
New Scientist reports on a new technique for coating devices in a thin coating of a diamond-like material. The device is surrounded by graphite through which a charge is passed. The charged graphite adheres to the plastic surface of the device and bonds with it to form diamond-like coating that is scratch and static-resistant, as well as being biodegradable.