(247)Buy new: $499.99 $216.87
232 days in the top 100 (297)Buy new: $699.99 $178.00
Can't wait to see what a Spinduino could do...
To sum up the to main point, right now computers can only get so much information at a time: the electron is there or the electron isn't there. 1 or 0. If you can see the spin of the electron, its orientation in 3-D space, then you basically have as much information as you can fit on a surface of a sphere in one place all at once, and mathematically, that's A LOT. Moore's Law would basically become irrelevant. As Dr. David Awschalom says though, they need some time.
A key step forward toward quantum computing
From UCSB
Let's see: the time span involved is in the area of a billionth of a second. The affected stuff? Electrons trapped on individual defects in diamond crystals. And just what's going on? Well, researchers say they can electrically manipulate the quantum states of the subatomic particles. It's a key move forward in a rapidly developing but still far off hope for quantum computers, which would take advantage of the spin of electrons for computational and operational activities of the machines rather than relying on transistors or semiconductors. The new such computers, if the research under way now comes to fruition, would be capable of unprecedented speed and greater storage capacity than current models. And if the theory, much less the practice,seems fuzzy, here's a top scientist in the area with a crisp explanation for physicsworld.com of what's up in Santa Barbara.
Electrical manipulation of electrons' quantum state demonstrated to be feasible at blink speeds
Amazon is running some amazing specials right now on all kinds of electronics. You can check them out right now by clicking on an item in the slideshow below. Many of the items also have additional special offers to help you get even more for your dollar.
Here are a few especially good deals that you might want to check out right away as the special offers are expiring soon (some expire today).
Amazon.com Widgets
Sony Reader tops list of 10 Holiday Gift Ideas
In time for holiday shopping, Sony Canada today unveiled 10 innovative and stylish gift ideas with a range of prices and features. Topping the list are the new Sony Reader digital book models. According to an independent report from Forrester Research, eReaders will be one category that’s a breakout success this holiday season.
Sony’s Pocket Edition™ Reader and Touch Edition™ Reader Digital Books
Take up to 350 of your favorite books to go with the Pocket Edition™ Reader and Touch Edition™ Reader digital books. A Sony Reader is small enough to slip into a purse or jacket pocket, and features an E-Ink® paper-like screen technology for easy reading. Access books from a wide number of online bookstores. http://j.mp/58DhVD
“I’m attached to my Sony Reader and won’t leave home without it. The digital reader has no rivals when it comes to portability and flexibility.”
- Ellen Roseman, Toronto Star columnist, as written in Writer’s Union magazine
Sony’s VAIO® L Touch HD PC/TV
VAIO notebooks have become synonymous with style. New on the scene is the L series with touchscreen operation that’s both a PC and HDTV.” ($1,699.99)
“This sleek system, both a computer and a television, is perfect for the bedroom or kitchen. With 1080p resolution and Blu-ray Disc player, the VAIO® L delivers crisp, high-definition viewing at the touch of the screen.”
- Blaine Kyllo, technology columnist
Sony's A500 a™ Digital SLR Camera with DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM Lens
With Quick AF Live View and the new in-camera auto High Dynamic Range feature for capturing highlights and shadows. The feature handles high-contrast scenes like looking out a window into bright daylight, and allows for shooting two photos at different exposure levels. Within 2 seconds, the BIONZ processor combines the two shots into a single image with maximum highlight and shadow detail. ($899.99)“The A500 would be a fine choice for DSLR novices thanks to the many digicam-style features, but the great versatility and advanced functions make it just as suitable for photo enthusiasts”
- Photographer and journalist, Peter K. Burian
See the complete list of Sony gift ideas at http://j.mp/61M5oN
Next time you compliment a woman at a party that’s she glowing, it may literally be so. Two London-based designers have created a dress embroidered with 24,000 full color LEDs.
The ‘Galaxy Dress’ claims to be the largest wearable display in the world and it will be the centerpiece of an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
“We used the smallest full-color LEDs, flat like paper, and measuring only 2 by 2 mm,” say designers Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz in an e-mail. “The circuits are extra-thin, flexible and hand-embroidered on a layer of silk in a way that gives it stretch so the LED fabric can move like normal fabric with lightness and fluidity.” The duo run an interactive clothing company called CuteCircuit.
Beyond the LEDs themselves, the Galaxy Dress is crafted in a way that should make the pickiest seamstresses proud.
To diffuse the LED light, the dress has four layers of silk chiffon and a pleated silk organza crinoline skirt. The extra-thin electronics allow the dress to follow the body shape closely like normal fabric.
Instead of having one large and heavy battery, the dress is designed to run on many tiny iPod batteries hiding in the crinoline, says Rosella. “They are not visible or uncomfortable,” she says.
With the batteries, the Galaxy Dress wearer can walk around — all lit up — for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
The areas without LEDs are decorated with more than 4,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals that range in color from clear to bright pink. “The dress looks good even when it is switched off,” say the designers.
So far, the dress hasn’t been worn by any real woman. It went straight from the fitting model to the museum.
See a video of the LED Dress that, according to the designers, consumes about the same electricity as two household bulbs.
Photos: J.B. Spector/the Museum of Science and Industry
Nick Weldin has been teaching our workshops in the UK since we met him in 2007 and even back then, we wanted to allow him to share his passion and skills with a broader audience. We decided to make a book, and not only that but a book on the internet! No official publishing company, all creative commons images from the community and many many contributors. A true team effort that has been 2 years in the making.
We had the great pleasure of having Crystal Campbell join us for a few months in the autumn of 2008 and help make this a truly visual piece of work and Ben Barker took over this summer to tweak it, help with the editing yet again and with the intricacies of Lulu and now , right on time for Christmas, it’s out!
Tinkering with Arduino is a cousin of Getting Started with Arduino, inspired by the pdf Massimo wrote some years ago, going through the basics of how to use Arduino, but from Nick’s perspective, adding details about how electricity works, how programming works all in a beautiful visual package we are extremely proud of. 90 pages of beautifully illustrated works from Crystal but also with some of the original drawings from Elisa Canducci.
A part of what we’re trying to work out with our work in education since 2007 and hand in hand with the development of the TinkerKit is the language of technology and how it can be opened up to a broader audience and be presented in a friendly way that isn’t off putting. We think that Tinkering with Arduino is a step in that direction along with the great books like Making Things Talk, and other more advanced books like Programming for Interactivity.
If you’re out of ideas for this Christmas, well then give it a go!
About a year and a half ago (sometime in July 2008) I designed and built a 32-LED scanner that was about eight inches long. I called it the "Cylon32". I made a short video and posted it on YouTube:
I got a really good response to this video. Several people approached me to build variations of this circuit and it was a lot of fun. That's when I learned that the moving "eye" needs to actually go off the ends to be "cinematically accurate", at least as far as replicating a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica. So I made some changes to the software and made another video: It's a very simple design. I used an Atmel AVR microcontroller, the ATmega8515. It has 35 programmable I/O lines that can drive the LEDs directly. I've worked with AVRs before so I had all the development tools in place. What I needed was a printed circuit board (PCB). I learned to design PCBs when I was a young man, which was a long time ago. My father worked with PCBs and showed me the basics and then I got a job as a Gerber photoplotter operator so I learned much more about the process. Starting in around 1996 I started designing PCBs for commercial projects. I used CAM350, an advanced Gerber file editor available free for small projects. Later I found the EAGLE package from CADsoft which combined schematic capture and PCB layout. EAGLE did not support a lot of the "fancy" things I liked to do with PCB design so I still relied on CAM350 to tweak the final production files. EAGLE has advanced over the years but I still rely on CAM350 for the finishing touches. EAGLE is available for free for non-commercial use. Since my plans were mostly commercial, I have a paid-for license to use the EAGLE software. I still use the free version of the CAM350 software. Unfortunately, the CAM350 software has changed hands several times and the latest version is no longer available for free use. All of these factors prompt me to write my own design software. I hope to get around to doing just that Real Soon Now. About two years ago I started looking for new PCB design tools. I tried the gEDA suite, PCB, DipTrace and a few others whose names I forget. I saw a lot of things that I liked but none that had everything I wanted. One promising candidate was PCB Artist from Advanced Circuits in Colorado. They are a PCB fabrication house and license the software from an English company. Advanced Circuits has done several PCB jobs for me and always do a great job. The only real downside of the free (as in beer) PCB Artist software is that it does not directly export the necessary Gerber format files to have a PCB house (besides Advanced Circuits) build the boards. They'll give you the Gerber files after they make a batch of boards for you. So, in summary, it's a nice program but tied to a single vendor. One thing you can do with PCB Artist is design a board and then print out a local copy of the artwork on your computer printer. That's exactly the process I use to make PCBs here in the lab, using "toner transfer" paper and a modified badge laminator. I sketched out the simple PCB pattern using PCB Artist and printed it on my HP LaserJet 1200. I've included a PDF version of the artwork in case you'd like to make one of your own. Sorry, but there's not an actual schematic to go along with it. It was a prototype; what can I say? I've also included the PCB Artist file in case you want to monkey around with the PCB design. The original source code, written in C is also attached. (Um, no it's not. Sorry about that. Please see next post.) I sold the prototype a few months back to a customer. I have no immediate plans to produce these, unless I hear of a public outcry otherwise. I'd like to make a variety of these LED scanners in different sizes as they are fun to build and a good way to teach people about electronics and computers. Enjoy! (download)
Or - why yes you can solder with your hair down standing in heels while drinking red wine with PremaSoul preforming live in the background... but you might put an LED in backwards! (Don't worry, it works now)
This cute little owl circuit was from the speed soldering station run by by Pelle Henke and Clay Chaplin. I wonder if they used Eagle to design it (haha). You can buy your own from the Machine Project store for $12.00 Gold panning, a pizza oven, slime mold racing & more... Great night!
