Have you played your video games today?

Video games can help cut surgical errors
Wed May 24, 2006 7:39 AM BST167
By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A new study suggests that people preparing for surgery ask their doctor: "Have you played your video games today?"

Surgeons who warmed up by playing video games like "Super Monkey Ball" for 20 minutes immediately prior to performing surgical drills were faster and made fewer errors than those who did not, said Dr. James "Butch" Rosser, lead investigator on the study slated for release on Wednesday.

Full article here...

Hybrid HDD Anyone?

Samsung goes commercial with hybrid hard drive
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: May 15, 2006, 4:50 PM PDT


Samsung Electronics says notebook users will get an extra half hour of battery life and be able to boot up their computers faster using its hybrid hard drive, which will come out in PCs in 2007.

A hybrid hard drive is a hard drive that contains a flash memory chip that stores data and applications. Because the processor can retrieve data from flash, the drive--which spins constantly in an ordinary computer--can stay asleep most of the time.

Spinning drives are one of the most power-hungry components in a computer, so allowing it to idle will lead to about an extra half-hour of battery life on a notebook, said Don Barnetson, director of flash memory at Samsung Semiconductor. "We can cut about 70 to 90 percent of the power consumption" of hard drives, he said.

Full article here...

Sweet. I could do with one of those in my laptop whose battery barely last long enough for me to boot up and check my mail....

Aaawww, cute

'Baby' Robot Learns Like a Human

A robot that learns to interact with the world in a similar way to a human baby could provide researchers with fresh insights into biological intelligence.

Created by roboticists from Italy, France and Switzerland, "Babybot" automatically experiments with objects nearby and learns how best to make use of them. This gives the robot an ability to develop motor skills in the same way as a human infant.

The robot consists of a one-armed torso with a pair of cameras for eyes and a grasping hand. It has an in-built desire to physically experiment with objects on the table in front of it and an ability to assess different forms of interaction and learn from mistakes. If the robot fails to grasp an object securely, for example, it remembers and tries a differently strategy next time. One unbidden skill developed by Babybot was the ability to roll a bottle across its table.

Full article...

Up and running... sort of..

Well, everything is back together on my machine, just some cabling to neaten up. The blocks seem to be doing the job...

There's just one little snag (as usual)... the fans on my radiator don't clear the cards anymore so I'll need to find 120mm fans that are only 10mm deep... if any exist.

New Kit

New bits for my PC arrived today.

I'm replacing the stock pump and acrylic resevoir with a Swiftech MCRES1000P Resevoir & Pump. The lid of the Cape Coolplex 25 reservoir that I'm using at the moment has started to crack and is loosing liquid after three months. I hope that this one lasts a little longer.

The waterblocks for my graphics cards have arrived as well... I wanted to get the Danger Den - Tyee waterblocks but DD don't deliver outside of the US and no one in Europe seems to have any in stock. I then tried to get hold of the EK-FCX1800 which supposedly work with the X1900 cards but they only accept payment by PayPal who were taking too long to validate my account. So I'm trying the Innovatec Cool Matic instead. I'll see how that goes.

...and finally, I'm replacing my 480W power supply with a Epsilon FX700-GLN that should be able to handle all the crap I have drawing power in my case...

Now I'm torn between after work pints or putting it all together... I wonder if I can manage both.

Feds ready to send robotic car army to the streets

Grand Challenge goes urban
By Ashlee Vance in Austin

We may all soon long for the days when a driver distracted by a cell phone or even a few pints was the most dangerous thing on the road. That's because the US government plans to let an army of unmanned vehicles loose in a city next year.

Last year's successful run of the $2m Grand Challenge robotic race has DARPA wanting more. The US research agency has offered up another $2m prize for the first robotic vehicle that can traverse a 60-mile urban course in less than six hours. The city test will take place in November 2007 and marks the third time DARPA has held such a race.

More here...

I wonder how long before they make the first robotic Vespa?