Art Lebedev's Matryoshkus redefines Babushka dolls

Just in case you forgot which was larger -- a byte or a terabye -- Art Lebedev just released his, um, unique take on Russian nesting dolls. Wow, made from real Russian linden wood, but we're totally bummed there's no petabyte, exabyte, or zettabyte, you know?

[Dan @ Aug 8th 2007 3:30PM]

Whats it...do?

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Aug 9th 2007 3:48AM]

These would make excellent educational tools for teach computers to senior citizens and young children.

[Ant @ Aug 8th 2007 3:32PM]

what happened to the other bits?

[jaapv @ Aug 9th 2007 5:15AM]

Nottin, it is design, it's not suppose to do anything.

What are Russian nesting dolls suppose to do anyway? And think about it, they must have solled millions (Mega# ?) of these.

[matryoshkastore @ Aug 11th 2007 11:47PM]

The Russian nesting dolls started as toys for kids over a century ago. Some of the matryoshkas (this is how they are called in Russia) had very elaborate painting and became collector items. I have a few in my store: http://matryoshkastore.com/ The novelties like the terabyte appeared much later. It should really have a sort of USB storage built in to be complete :))

[muaddib420 @ Aug 8th 2007 3:35PM]

this is stupid. art lebedev is the Ron Paul of tech forums.

[Jons @ Aug 8th 2007 3:36PM]

Id rather have him working on the price of his OLED keyboard.

This kinda... boring

[wako @ Aug 8th 2007 3:52PM]

my thoughts exactly

[Crazylink @ Aug 8th 2007 3:36PM]

They should be ralative size. Bit would be smaller than a micron.

[Chuckles McGee @ Aug 8th 2007 5:02PM]

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD. CONTAINS SMALL PARTS.

[Owen V @ Aug 8th 2007 7:37PM]

yeah, pretty close to a micron.

Since they are 3 dimensional, each step (assume its 1000x for simple calculations) would only be 10 times larger (or smaller) in each dimension. so if the terabyte is 0.1 of a meter tall, the gig would be 1cm, the meg would be 1mm, kilobyte is 100 microns, byte is 10 microns, but the last step is 8x (1/2 in each direction) so it would be about 5 microns.

I say start by making the bit 1cc then build relatve sizes up from there.

[Owen V @ Aug 8th 2007 7:40PM]

yeah, pretty close to a micron.

Since they are 3 dimensional, each step (assume its 1000x for simple calculations) would only be 10 times larger (or smaller) in each dimension. so if the terabyte is 0.1 of a meter tall, the gig would be 1cm, the meg would be 1mm, kilobyte is 100 microns, byte is 10 microns, but the last step is 8x (1/2 in each direction) so it would be about 5 microns.

I say start by making the bit 1cc then build relatve sizes up from there.

[Wolfticket @ Aug 8th 2007 3:37PM]

*preemptive volume is wrong, logarithmic or something or other comment*

[Wolfticket @ Aug 8th 2007 3:38PM]

Damn, to late.

[AC @ Aug 8th 2007 3:40PM]

Great, so they cover all the ones most of us know, but forget about the ones we might actually get confused about.

[visionep @ Aug 9th 2007 1:01PM]

He forgot a few steps.



bit
nibble
byte
word
double word (dword)
quad word (qword)
kilobyte
kibibyte
megabyte
mebibyte
gigabyte
gibibyte
terabyte
tebibyte
petabyte
exabyte
exbibyte
zettabyte
zebibyte
yottabyte



If you aren't familiar with some of these, look them up on Wikipedia.

[omf @ Aug 8th 2007 4:23PM]

Don't forget 'page'.

[TS @ Aug 8th 2007 4:56PM]

Actually, when you get into the mega- vs. mebi-, tera- vs. tebi-, etc. discussion, it should be pointed out that these are not steps in the same order, but rather are alternate hierarchies of magnitude. In truth, megabyte would be 1,000 kilobytes (how HDD makers size things), while a mebibyte would be 1,024 kibibytes.

So we actually use the wrong terms for the sizes we commonly reference (1,024). If you want to show all options, you could also add kilobit, megabit, terabit, etc. (factor of 8) to the list and do the same for kibibit, mebibit, tebibit, etc.

:)

[Mile @ Aug 8th 2007 3:53PM]

They're the same color as the new imacs!

[kp* @ Aug 8th 2007 3:57PM]

Will they blend? That is the question...

[tekdroid @ Aug 8th 2007 8:28PM]

Likely

...and they really need to, that's for sure.

[randy @ Aug 8th 2007 3:55PM]

I don't get it. What's the take?

[Rex @ Aug 9th 2007 1:08AM]

I like the idea, but I don't like the font

[PJ @ Aug 8th 2007 3:56PM]

They should be proportional in size, that is, each one should be 1000 times larger than the previous one. Ha!

[Steve Hall @ Aug 8th 2007 5:19PM]

A byte = 1000 bits? :O

[SammyEt @ Aug 8th 2007 4:04PM]

Just buy these. :)

http://blog.stylehive.com/index.php/weblog/entry/hot-product-blank-babushka-dolls/

10 pieces, can't be hard to add the writing yourself.

[Liam Gladdy @ Aug 8th 2007 4:06PM]

Hum. Definately not going to get 8 of those bits in that byte.

[Cae Vesaw @ Aug 21st 2007 9:29AM]

This is a brilliant take on design! A few steps are missing but we get the point..

Circuit Board Labels

[Pasha @ Aug 9th 2007 8:27AM]

Awesome idea, but needs to go a few steps beyond gigabyte. Just add Terabyte, Petabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte and Yottabyte, and make it cost less then $40. There's a lot of people i know who would love it as a gift.

And i am all for minimalism, but this taking it WAAAY too far.

[rudebo @ Aug 8th 2007 4:35PM]

Nice design but i feel its too minimalist especially giving the ussual decoration the traditional dolls have ... i would also love a version with nice computer related illustrations instead of just words.

[Fafnir_Lux @ Aug 9th 2007 11:23AM]

In Soviet Russia, Babushka redefine YOU.

[Adam Rice @ Aug 8th 2007 4:55PM]

It's called a matroshka doll, not babushka doll. Babushka means "rain hat."

[NiL^ @ Aug 8th 2007 5:29PM]

not true. Babushka (бабушка) means grandmother

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 8th 2007 4:51PM]

Sorry folks these are just prototypes.

The real ones are scheduled for December of 2008

-maybe.

[Ellianth @ Aug 8th 2007 4:58PM]

aww man.. you beat me to it :(

[spyboy @ Aug 10th 2007 6:44AM]

Should 8 of those nest inside the next next size?

It'd be better to just build an inverted pyramid, then you'll have a better understanding of the size

[robogeek @ Aug 12th 2007 7:48PM]

This idea is almost as bad as "My Therapy buddy" from American inventor.

[berkut @ Aug 8th 2007 10:40PM]

They are called Matroshka dolls, not Babushka...
Babushka means grandma..

[Michael I @ Aug 8th 2007 10:54PM]

Man no
pettabyte
exa""
zetta""
yott""
When will they ever get it right

[NewJohnny @ Aug 14th 2007 6:50AM]

I'm buying one for sure. Then I'm giving it to my friends and family who boast about their hard drives with 'tons of megabytes'.