The power of the Atom

Intel's new Atom processor has led to the development of some very cool new computing SDKs offering a tantalising glimpse in to the future of this tech. Due to their tiny size and power requirements, they can be built in to very small footprint pc's and other devices.

The ASUS EEE Box B202 is a lovely iteration - tiny footprint, low power, sleek form factor design and yet full Windows XP capabilities. Coupled with a home server or NAS device, this would make an ideal media centre pc due to it's silent running.

Hopefully, this will be just the start of a greater integration of pc functions in to smaller devices....roll on 2009!

The Cyborg Ninja...in action

An Uncrackable Lock?

Engineers have come up with a way of using light to encrypt data...very clever, high tech stuff...

Imagine an encrypted data chip so secure that even the greatest hackers in history would find impossible to crack. That chip is very much a reality thanks to the combined efforts of Siemens, Austrian Research Centers (ARC) and Graz University of Technology who have teamed up to create the first quantum cryptology chip for commercial use to ensure securer electronic communication.

The lock protects data using a random sequence of numbers from light particles. At the moment, data is protected using a key distribution system based on mathematical algorithms. But, with enough time and effort, those algorithms can be cracked. The quantum cryptographic light lock, on the other hand, takes advantage of the laws of nature by using photons--individual light particles--to create completely random codes through an optical array.

Siemens reckon the technology is 2 years away from mass production...

Metal Gear Solid 4 - Out now and outstanding!

Well it has finally landed....Metal Gear Solid 4 - Guns of The Patriots - the final installment of gaming's longest running story has hit the shops and is by all accounts the closest video gaming gets to an interactive movie. It has been very well received by reviewers (Gamespot gave it a rare 10/10)

Snake's last mission sees a number of loose story ends tied off nicely and continues its powerful themes of unnecessary war and the dangers of unrestricted technological advancement.

If ever you needed a reason/excuse to buy a PS3 - this is it...sneak out now!

Hard Drive - Data recovered from Columbia wreckage

In a pretty amazing feat of technology, data has been recovered from a DOS-based hard drive that crashed to Earth during the tragic loss of the Columbia space shuttle. The shuttle came apart on February 1st 2003 over Texas during re-entry and rained debris across a massive area.

Incredibly, several hard drives from on-board were recovered and one had survived intact enough to allow the data to be transferred. A 400 MB hard-disk drive manufactured by Seagate was recovered. According to sources, the drive was used for storing essential data regarding the CVX-2 (Critical Viscosity of Xenon) experiment.

The series of tests unveiled the way xenon gas flows in the absence of Earth's gravity, also known as microgravity state and whilst some of the test results were downloaded via space to Earth datalink, there were fears the bulk of the information was lost in the accident but Ontrack were able to save it. An incredible feat and a fitting testament to the astronauts who died...

For more on this, click here

Voice controlled gaming arrives...

The Cyborg Ninja is very excited about the upcoming real time strategy game from Ubisoft -'Tom Clancy's EndWar '. As the next in a long line of very successful Tom Clancy games from the French publisher, this one will feature as default an innovative voice control system delivered via a headset, however, the old keyboard and mouse option will still be available. It remains to be seen how effective this system will be in controlling things whilst you're in the middle of the carnage of a shooting war but it is designed to replicate the battlefield general based in his/her headquarters barking out orders to his forces. If it works, it will be almost revolutionary....if....

As the bar is very high after previous highly successful Clancy games including Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six, the hope is that the baton is passed to this next generation game with little fanfare but maximum impact!

Hydrogen-fuelled aircraft - the future of aviation?

Boeing have flown the world's first manned hydrogen fuelled aircraft showcasing the possible future of aviation travel in Spain on Friday the 4th of April. The small twin-seat aircraft was modified to include a hybrid battery and fuel cell system developed by UK firm Intelligent Energy and its only exhaust emissions were heat and water.

Despite the successful historic first test, Boeing did say they doubted the fuel cells' capacity to power larger civilian airliners. However, the hope is that the technology could be used as a secondary energy source, perhaps used to power auxiliary systems on board the plane.

Either way, this marks a very positive step in the development of lower emission aviation and something that a number of industry sectors (e.g. the military) will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on...

The best use of Solar Power Technology ever?

This image of the Fisker Karma electric car, clearly illustrates the solar panels ('photo voltaic technology' to give it its correct name) that are integrated beautifully in to the roof of the car. Fisker say that the cells will be used to augment the car's electric battery (replenishing used energy when necessary) and support its climate control systems (keep the interior cool whilst parked etc.). It will be coupled with the use of regenerative braking technology designed to salvage the energy lost whilst slowing down.

Their traditional use has been on the roofs of houses and Fisker will also offer their own range of domestic pv panels to allow owners to generate their own electricity during the day which can then be used to recharge the Karma at night.

The Cyborg Ninja reckons that this is unquestionably the most attractive utilisation of this technology ever seen!

Web creator wants online freedom

Sir Tim Berners-Lee has hinted that the proposed new online web monitoring
software, such as Open Internet Exchange from Phorm, which is ostensibly
aimed at providing better online advert targeting could be used to monitor
personal web use and potentially break privacy laws.

The Cyborg Ninja wholly agrees with Sir Tim...the internet should be free,
open and seen as a utility to the same extent as water, electricity and
gas...

10 years on and still the greatest...

On this day 10 years ago, the McLaren F1 supercar broke the 240mph barrier and became the fastest car ever made, a record held for 7 years. Despite it now having been overtaken by a number of cars (Veyron, Koenigsegg, Shelby etc.) in terms of top speed, it still reigns as the greatest supercar of them all, a feat of engineering that was simply mindblowing and so cutting edge, it bled.

The Cyborg Ninja salutes Gordon Murray and the McLaren team for their lasting achievement...

Flexible Silicon unlocks vast potential...

The breakthrough creation of flexible silicon chips could potentially unlock a number of radical uses, including wearable IT, brain implants and heart monitors. The uses are possibly limitless.

This could allow the integration of electronics in a variety of ways in the human body - but the human body does not have the shape of a silicon wafer. Completely integrated, extremely bendable circuits have been talked about for many years but have not been demonstrated before...until now.

The slim line circuits, like conventional chips, are made of sandwiches of multiple materials to form the wires and different components. The depth and relative position of the different layers, including chromium, gold and silicon, was crucial and the key to unlocking this technology.

No doubt commercial uses will begin to emerge in the coming years...subcutaneous mobile communications anyone? Embedded streaming mp3 via Wi-Fi? Web portal access projected internally on your retina? Cyborg Ninja indeed....

Cutting edge technology....in 1860

Whilst this blog focuses on cutting edge technology, the Cyborg Ninja couldn't overlook the following news...

Details have emerged of the discovery of the oldest recording of the human voice. The historic archive pre-dates Edison's phonograph experiments by 17 years. The ten second clip is a recording of the French rhyme "Au clair de la lune" and can be heard by clicking here.

It was made on April 9, 1860, by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville on a device called the phonautograph that scratched sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp.

The technology involved sounds simply incredible - paper! - but the story has been verified. Amazing to think that the sound was recorded at the time of the French Revolution!

Morgan to enter Electric Car market

Another major car company has announced plans for an electric vehicle and it looks a bit special! Morgan Motor Company, renowned for making modern yet old-fashioned looking cars in a distinctly British style have unveiled their ‘LifeCar’ – a fuel cell powered, lightweight roadster capable of 200 miles on one charge.

They have collaborated with a number of notable companies from a variety of sectors including RiverSimple, Cranfield University, QinetiQ, Oxford University and Linde AG to create this zero emissions machine. The objective of the project is to lower the entry barriers for a vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

Perhaps the impetus for electric vehicle adoption will need to come from smaller manufacturers such as Morgan and Tesla and the UK could stand to benefit thanks to its unique Single Vehicle Approval system, small car firms can bypass all the European Union regulations, and that’s why we have so many such firms in this country. This would help smaller firms establish their technologies without having to comply with often unnecessary safety regulations.

Either way, the Morgan looks like a perfect first step in to this market for the luxury car maker and hopefully more will follow…

Blu-Ray – Standards please!

Despite victory in the high definition ‘format war’, Blu-Ray has still to officially agree it’s own final internal technology standards. At present, the only Blu-Ray player capable of playing the current 1.1 and upcoming 2.0 standards is the Playstation 3.

Only when 2.0 goes live in June will full the internet, hard drive and wi-fi capabilities be unlocked. In addition, backwards-compatability for standard DVD is not mandatory in Blu–Ray players. This is one area where Blu-Ray lags behind the now defunct HD-DVD format.

However, one brighter development is the 200gig experimental Blu-Ray disc under development by TDK.

MGS 4 too big for Blu-Ray!

Apparently the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 video game for the PS3 is too big to fit on one 50 gig Blu-Ray disc!!!!

Evidently the foreign voices are to be left off the Japanese edition and the Japanese voices will be left of the European and US editions to ensure the game fits on one disc...

High-Def gaming truly has arrived!

Who is the Cyborg Ninja?

Electric cars - high end, high class!

Two companies have recently unveiled their planned electric cars and have stirred the market with their models being more supercar than slumbercar!

Tesla Cars have just delivered their first roadster, based on a Lotus framework, whilst Fisker Automotive have released images of their Karma model. Both run close to $100,000 to buy but the financial saving from fuel, road tax, congestion charges etc. soon adds up to make these cars a very smart ethical buy. Beyond these two supercars, Smart Cars, owned by Mercedes have unveiled their own electric version of the popular Smart ForTwo town car - Smart ed (electric drive).

However, the real sleeper amongst this growing market is the Chevrolet Volt (see photo above) - a luxury futuristic-looking saloon car that will sell for approximately £20,000! This car may help finally launch electric cars to the mass-market.

Neural gaming control – yes please!

Emotiv have announced the launch of a $299 headset that will allow gamers to control their games via neural activity using their thoughts and emotions. Anyone who has seen the movie (or better still read the book) of Firefox will know what I mean….

Imagine being able to interact in a MMORPG with your neural activity, displaying your real emotions as you meet people, battle orcs, celebrate a massive victory, take a blow from a sword etc.

This technology will help take immersive gaming to a whole new level if it can be implemented properly. It would make Over-G Fighters simply awesome!

Bring it on!

Goodbye HD-DVD - it was nice knowing you...

So HD-DVD has bought the farm and gone the way of Betamax, 8-Track, audio cassette and the floppy disc drive. Bit of a shame really as I quite liked the product and technically there is very little between the red laser HD-DVD format and its Blu-Ray cousin, at least in the consumers’ eyes.

With industry heavy weights like Michael Bay saying that, for film- makers, Blu-Ray is easier to work with and offers more scope for future developments, then maybe this ending of the ‘Format War’ is for the best. However, Sony, a key backer of Blu-Ray, have a pretty poor track record of late so hopefully the other backers including TDG fave Philips will counteract their influence. Microsoft have now joined the Blu-Ray alliance as well so I am looking forward to getting my Blu-Ray add-on for my 360 sometime soon.

Funny thing is….will anyone even notice? It is not as though the two technologies have been widely adopted as yet and with services like the Xbox Live marketplace offering movie downloads (including HD), the shift is likely to be away from physical delivery to download only. This will be cheaper, much more convenient, more economical for all parties and therefore help keep prices down. It might help the industry stem the piracy aspect as well.

Unfortunately, like any war, there will be casualties – namely those of us who have invested in HD-DVD technology already. Early adopters always play with fire in circumstances like these and it’s a shame that there will be so much technology and media out there that will become obsolete. Toshiba, the primary hardware manufacturer of HD-DVD have indicated that they will look at continuing to incorporate the technology in to pcs and laptops so maybe there is hope that those of us with kit already can expect to be able to keep using it beyond Christmas!