world's densest memory circuit !!!

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) said that they have created the world's densest memory circuit, one that's about 100 times denser than today's (28Jan2007) standard memory circuits, while remaining as small as a human white blood cell.

The circuit has 160,000 bits of capacity, compared with previous generations of molecular circuits that were demonstrated at 64 bits. But researchers point to the circuit's density as the real breakthrough: 100 billion bits per square centimeter, which the researchers said is about 100 times more tightly packed than current memory circuits.

I was amazed when I came to know that technology is advancing more quickly than Moore's Law, the 1965 observation by Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years. I remember, during my undergrad years, when my prof (A.Madhiazhagan [A.M. for short]) said that Moore's Law will be broken someday...& YES...Today is the day!

The researchers described the 160,000 memory bits as being arranged like a large tic-tac-toe board, with 400 silicon wires crossed by 400 titanium wires and a layer of molecular switches in between. Each bit is just 15 nanometers wide, compared with the most dense memory devices currently available that measure 140 nanometers in width. FYI - A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

The latest development shows development progressing from research into something manufacturable. It's the sort of device that a semiconductor company like Intel Corp. would contemplate making in 2020.

"This shows it is possible to manufacture really high-fidelity circuits at a density that is more molecular in scale than the way things have been done traditionally," Caltech chemistry professor James Heath said. "That's what we were really after. The memory is just a demonstration of that."

I love u technology...



Courtesy: CNN

Eight technologies to save the world...

Well as the name of the topic indicates...
check this link out

Smart Homes

Bill Gates's 'smart home' cost $113M. Now you can have the same kind of remote control over your dwelling for as little as $10 a month.

Bill and Melinda Gates's "smart home" in Medina, Wash., cost an estimated $113 million to build - but that's pennies compared with what consumers are starting to spend every year on making their homes smarter.

Thanks to a host of new, lower-cost home automation technologies, cable operators and telecoms are targeting the average homeowner with cheap bundled subscription services, often controlled from their cell phones.

Some of the "Genius" home's spectacular features:

Analysts have high hopes for the burgeoning smart home market: Now an estimated $1.3 billion, it's expected to balloon to nearly $10 billion worldwide by 2010, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan.

Of course, some of this stuff has been around since the 1970s in the form of X10, the industry standard for TV remote controls. But new wireless standards (like Insteon, ZigBee, and Z-Wave) and cheaper chipsets have enabled two-way, low-cost communication between devices.

Some firms like Control4, Cortexa Technology, and Exceptional Innovation are targeting real estate developers. The aim is to make an automation system - set-top box, central touchscreen, wireless cameras, and sensors - standard in new homes.

Partnering with communications companies
New York City-based Xanboo, whose technology powers AT&T's new service, also got $20 million in funding from strategic investors including Motorola (Charts). In 2005, Motorola partnered with Xanboo on a product called Homesite, which cost $220 and let users monitor their homes on cell phones.

Now, with AT&T's service, users buy Xanboo's starter kit - including IP camera and wireless door or window sensor - for $200. Xanboo president Bill Diamond says the company is in talks with about 20 other mobile operators in Europe and North America.

Conclusion
Before the average homeowner opts for such a service, however, he'll need a little convincing. "It all still seems kind of Star Trek to most people," says an SmartHome Analyst. "But is home automation going to grow and become more mainstream? Yes on both counts."

What do think folks???

Columnist Art Buchwald dead at 81

Art Buchwald, who took humorous jabs at Washington politicians in syndicated columns for decades, died on Jan-18-2007.















About Mr.Buchwald
Buchwald launched his career as a columnist in 1949 in Paris, where he wrote about the light side of Paris nightlife in the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune. He returned to the United States around 1962 and moved to Washington, where he began writing columns filled with political satire for The Washington Post.

Some of Buchwald's Achievements/observations:
0)Buchwald won a Pulitzer Prize for outstanding commentary in 1982, and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

1)During the Watergate scandal, Buchwald explained that the sound in the 18 1/2-minute gap in the White House tapes actually was Nixon humming.

2)"Just when you think there's nothing to write about, Nixon says, 'I am not a crook.' Jimmy Carter says, 'I have lusted after women in my heart.' President Reagan says, 'I have just taken a urinalysis test, and I am not on dope.'"

3)"Have you ever seen a candidate talking to a rich person on television?"

4)"Every time you think television has hit its lowest ebb, a new program comes along to make you wonder where you thought the ebb was."

....
Mr.Buchwald has always been humble and accessible. He's listed in the phone directory and always has been. People see his name and can't believe it's the real Art Buchwald

Dumbest Moment for Kazakhstan

Amid efforts by Kazakhstan to prove it's not the backward land portrayed in the movie Borat, the nation's central bank misspells the Kazakh word for "bank" on its 2,000- and 5,000-tenge notes.

Courtesy: CNN

Domino Effect...

You folks might have been aware of Coke & Mentos videos...
BUT NOT THIS ONE!!! Check it out: