Levitation of small animals achieved
From the article:
Scientists working on behalf of NASA built a device to simulate variable levels of gravity. It consists of a superconducting magnet that generates a field powerful enough to levitate the water inside living animals, with a space inside warm enough at room temperature and large enough at 2.6 inches wide (6.6 cm) for tiny creatures to float comfortably in during experiments.
The researchers first levitated a young mouse, just three-week-old and weighing 10 grams. It appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something.
"It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented," said researcher Yuanming Liu, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating.
More at http://www.livescience.com/animals/090909-mouse-levitation.html
AMD preping new multi-monitor technology
AMD is developing a new technology/feature for release. If your a fan of multi-monitor setups your going to love this. Using next-gen GPU's and the DisplayPort specification, a single GPU will drive many displays. Now your thinking that this isn't that impressive, I can do that with my video card now! What is impressive is that it can currently drive up to six displays with resolutions in the 2560x1600 range. AMD is demoing the setup using 6, 30" monitors pushing 2560x1600. Now I just need to buy a bunch of monitors with DisplayPort.
Pics at The Tech Report: Eyefinity pushes over 24 million pixels with one next-gen Radeon.
TomTom Launches Open Source Navigation Project
from article:
"This technological development is being introduced to the open source community to assist in delivering location based services to customers. TomTom will use this technology for its own services too, allowing us to transmit content like HD Traffic to connected devices and improve service quality and coverage," Mark Gretton, TomTom's Director of Product Engineering, said In a prepared statement.
A knew that buying that GPS module for my laptop would pay off sooner or later...
Swine Flu @ PAX
There's been a confirmed outbreak of Swine Flu at PAX. Those who attended and are feeling under-the-weather after the con should not write it off as a typical convention cold and go see a doctor to make sure, just in case.
Straight from PA: http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/9/7/feeling-sick/
Hobbitses are returning!
From the article:
The suit claimed the US company failed to pay royalties due after the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Its settlement, for an undisclosed sum, paves the way for director Guillermo del Toro's two films based on the book.
New Line plans to release The Hobbit in 2011, followed by another movie drawing from other Tolkien works.
*Marks calendar*
Cyborg Exoskeletons for sale or rent!
From the article:
"Cyberdyne’s HAL isn’t quite ready for great grandma just yet. But until it is, Toyota researchers in Japan have built a brain/machine interface (BMI) that has been demonstrated to control a wheelchair using a person's thoughts. The wheelchair enables a person to make it turn left or right or to move forward simply by thinking the commands –- and it has a 125 millisecond response time."
So the question is, when can I get one?