Recent Comments:
Segway hits car at full speed, results unsurprisingly painful looking {Engadget}
Aug 16th 2008 6:26AM So, no crash testing on vehicles you like?
World's fastest: IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer breaks petaflop barrier using Cell and Opteron processors {Engadget}
Jun 9th 2008 7:47AM "Roadrunner is for military use only"
So, does playing Doom qualify as "military use"?
Cheap sensors could enable next-gen mo-cap games {Engadget}
Nov 27th 2007 2:35PM This is everything but stupid. This isn't just gaming gear, although of course that would be Engadget's angle to this, but a system for motion capture in general. The authors themselves envisage this to be used as a controller, but also see other potential uses. There's a lot of research in this field, everything from basic research in body dynamics to sports and music research.
One big problem is that the equipment is very expensive, one MoCap camera costs thousands of dollars and you usually need about 8-16 of them. And then you need to bolt them to the walls, so you can only study motion that can be produced in that space. This setting is portable (although that also creates a problem, it doesn't have a fixed reference point in space) so it can be used to study motion in everyday situations, such a driving a car, and in settings where MoCap usually is impossibe, such as skiing down a slope.
Also, as data collection with this system isn't tied to the lab, it allows new kinds of longitudinal designs and just collecting massive amounts of data. And all this for a few thousand bucks, I'd say that's very smart.
Researchers develop artificial nerve {Engadget}
Oct 19th 2007 5:24AM I always thought John McEnroe would be more in need of artificial nerves.
Apple's new iMac and keyboard: first hands-on {Engadget}
Aug 7th 2007 3:09PM And they found yet another place to hide the on/off button, probably just to keep the uninitiated from using them... It's actually quite hilarious to observe non-mac users in computer rooms trying to switch on an iMac (any generation, really). No wonder many people still think they "can't use macs" even though for the basic user macs and pcs aren't that different anymore.
I think these little features form a big part of the mac-appeal, and I like them, too, but they have an air of exclusivity and even smugness to them.
Researchers develop nanochip based on Babbage's difference engine {Engadget}
Jul 26th 2007 7:40AM Although I suppose you could harness steam to turn the crank of the machine, which I think he had planned to do. (Not sure, though, and the replica in London is hand-operated). But you're right, the actual operation was mechanical. Not to mention that Babbage never built full versions of any of his designs. The Science Museum in London has built a replica based on Babbage's drawings, though, and Babbage had a smaller "demo" version made of his first difference engine.
Also, I wouldn't call difference engine a computer, as it was only doing one thing. Babbage had plans for an "analytical engine" which would have been partly programmable general-purpose machine, thus meriting the title of a predecessor of a computer.
Steorn's Orbo device exploded -- for dissection, not the apocalypse {Engadget}
Jul 11th 2007 8:14AM I find it amazing that at this day and age, these kinds of obviously impossible machines still get this much publicity, and that people take this seriously enough to turn up to the demo or write rebukes to papers etc.
Orbo does make a point. It's not about physics, though, but about the human nature.
Type N700 bullet train is Japan's fastest yet {Engadget}
Jul 3rd 2007 11:53AM Yeah, these are so-called "conventional trains", and not MAGLEV. Of course for a connection to be run at these speeds, the track needs to be top grade as well. They often run in concrete canyons (to prevent the above mentioned deer or anything else from coming to the tracks), have no level crossings and no slower (freight or passenger) traffic. In some places they use these tracks for freight traffic during night time, which you of course can't do with MAGLEV at all.
For most train connections the limitations in speed don't actually come from the engine, they come from other traffic and of course track conditions - for high speeds the curves must be tilted (although some fast trains have tilting bodies so that they can run faster on older tracks, and so that the track can be used on slow speeds for freight trains, that can't take too much tilt) and not too tight. In many places the main obstacle for faster train traffic are level crossings - substituting them with bridges or underpasses is costly and often impractical, yet they are a safety risk and a limiting factor to train speeds.
Type N700 bullet train is Japan's fastest yet {Engadget}
Jul 3rd 2007 9:34AM Paul's right, it adds up.
And the essential thing here is that they've introduced new technology and pushed the envelope a bit. And about the French: while they are doing a great job with their TGV:s, and I definitely wouldn't belittle their achievement in getting that speed record, we have to remember that it was a one-off stunt with a specially modified train - the improvements we see from the Japanese here are measured from actual train in regular passenger service, on the maiden voyage it carried 1300(!) passengers.
For comparison, while the experimental TGV managed 357 mph top speed, their fastest scheduled service (Lyon - Aix-en-Provence) reached a record in 2005, running at an average speed of 163 mph and reaching a top speed of 198 mph.
BTW, still waiting for the Americans to get on board the train of fast trains....
NASA turns to competition to find a better astronaut glove {Engadget}
May 1st 2007 5:28AM The problem with Darwin's design (if I understood it correctly) is that we have very little strength in the muscles that open the fist, but significantly more power is available for squeezing. Therefore having auxiliary power to squeeze your fist shut would make the system quite difficult to operate, releasing your grip would be very demanding, for instance. I would assume there are other challenges and specifications for this glove than just holding a ball under pressure, and therefore I guess it's back to the drawing board for Darwin...
