Dream Labs

ES&H Manual, SLAC

2007-06-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this SLAC Environment, Safety, and Health Manual is to provide managers, supervisors, and personnel with the detailed information necessary to implement the following policy documents:

lover's cups...!!

2006-03-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

Lover's Cups explore the idea of sharing feelings of drinking between two people in different places by using cups as communication interfaces of drinking. Two cups are wireless connected to each other with sip sensors and LED illumination. The Lover's cups will glow when your lover is drinking. When both of you are drinking at the same time, both of the Lover's Cups glow and celebrate this virtual kiss.

Scenarios

Following scenarios show how Lover's Cups can promote emotional interaction, health care, family care, and social activities.

For Lovers

The Lover's Cups connect a couple through drinking behaviors while they are working. A pair of Lover's Cups is owned by a couple working in different offices. Each of them had brought his/her Lover's Cup to work. Due to the magical connectivity of this pair of cups, the wife sees her cup is glowing which represents her husband's cup is in used for drinking. She picks up the Lover's Cup and takes a sip. At the same time, the other Lover's Cup held in her husband's hand starts glowing for the celebration of drinking together.

For Nurse, Family , and Patient

The Lover's Cups can be also extended to health care applications. Patients always need extra care from their families. The Lover's Cups are able to connect the patients to someone who cares about their water drinking behavior. While a patient is drinking water, the paired Lover's Cup reflects to someone related to him/her. If the patient did not drink enough water, through the physical illumination of cups, patients might be motivated to drink water or being taken care.

With Other Communication Channels

The Lover's Cups can enhance the traditional communications. Julie and her best friend Ann live in different states. When Julie got tired or stressed, she had a conversation with Ann through the internet messenger program. However, the text-only communication limited their sympathy and emotional interactions. Today, Julie and Ann use their Lover's Cups. Julie suggests to Ann to have a coffee break by shaking her cup. While talking through the messenger, they have a feeling of that they are drinking coffee together, and it makes them feel more relaxed and connected.

For Mom and Child

Mom's love water bottle is another Lover's Cup extension for parents and children. Parents are willing to give young children extra care in every possible way. A family-connected water bottle may create emotional linkage between parents and children. During the lunch time of the child's school, his parents could shake their Lover's Cup to make the child's water bottle vibrate or take a sip to make it glow in order to express their care and motivate their child to drink water.

For a Social Event

Lover's Cups can be distributed in a social party where everyone uses Lover's Cups to drink. When one's Lover's Cup meets with another cup by toasting, two of them will become a pair of Lover's Cups until one of them toasts with other cups. For example, in the Lover's Cup social event, Jackie is holding a Lover's Cup and meeting with Anny who holds another Lover's Cup. They toast for good luck and their cups remember each other by the action of toasting. Whenever Anny takes a sip, Jackie's cup glows to motivate him to take a sip at the same time. When Jackie shakes his cup, Anny can feel that her cup is vibrating. Using the cups, they have a new way of interacting with each other while drinking. After a while, four of Anny's friends arrive. Anny and her friends hold their cups together. At this moment, their cups become a group of Lover's Cups. Whenever one is in use for drinking, the other cups will also glow and celebrate this moment of drinking.

Excerpted: Jackie Lee | more... | Drinking Interfaces as New Communication Channels (pdf)

'Einstein's Dreams'

2006-03-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

Adaptation by David Alford and Brian Niece of the best-selling novel "Einstein's Dreams" by author and physicist Alan Lightman, Adjunct Professor of the Humanities at MIT.

Directed by Jon Lipsky, the event is a fundraiser for the Catalyst Collaborative at MIT (CCMIT), a collaboration between MIT and the Underground Railway Theater, aimed at developing new plays about science to provide the public with a better understanding of our increasingly scientific and technological world.

Excerpted: MIT Newsoffice | contd...| more1...| more2...

Mission

2006-02-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

Rg DETSY is a concept for integrating young minds and serve as a common platform for them to share, develop, and improve upon their 'happening ideas' and turn them into real world projects under professional guidance and support. It is a place for both encouragement and opportunity besides collective work. And I must say, "an ideal destination for people who like to think and act..."

Well, first of all I would like to resolve your biggest question... What Does Rg DETSY actually stand for?

Hmmm...Rg you can say is a Code Word... and as far as DETSY is concerned it just came to my mind while my grey matter was at work for a Science Project so as to participate in the Intel STDF 2002... though weird... DEaTh SpY...

What I personally feel is that, "In today's competitive world arena, there is very little space left for developing/working on ideas etc. with the ever increasing pressure of studies and thus very little and often no weight-age is given to these projects/ideas... We should encourage the youth to go beyond and explore, discover, invent,... encourage them to pursue their ideas... and most of all actively support them in all their endeavors... It not only serves as a boost to self-confidence and self-esteem but also prepares them to think on scientific terms, and apply the knowledge gained effectively... the development of the logical and analytical sections of the brain is usually noticeable... And thru my own experience in life (to which some of you may even disagree) these projects serve a boost to understanding of concepts (and thus in studies) besides an all-round development of the individual and an overall increase in performance..."

Bendable Color Electronic Paper, Fujitsu

2005-07-16T04:14:00.000-07:00

Fujitsu Develops World's First File Substrate-based Bendable Color Electronic Paper featuring Image Memory Function

Japanese researchers develop a bendable electronic paper that uses negligible power while displaying images, making it useful for advertising.

Electronics maker Fujitsu said, "the paper was the first that can preserve images in vivid colour and without distortion when it is folded or bent. The paper has an image memory function, which means that it has no need for electricity other than a minimal amount when changing the pciture."

Thus, the product is very well suited for advertisements and like as it can be updated.

Click --> Reference

Sony DCR-DVD300, DVD Handycam Camcorder

2005-07-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

Why use tape when you can record straight to DVD? Hitachi had this bright idea three years ago with the first DVD camcorder, and now you can get one with no size penalty. This year, Hitachi, Panasonic and Sony all came out with palm-size models using 3-inch DVDs that store an hour of video.

Featured: Sony's DCR-DVD300 for its 3.5-inch display, 1MP sensor and easy-to-use software.

Click --> More Info.

Kirtas APT BookScan 1200

2005-07-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

This ingenious device uses a four-step process to scan a book from cover to cover. (1) A vacuum arm gently lifts and turns each page. (2) Once a page has been turned, clips flip out to hold it in place. (3) A mirror rotates back and forth to expose the appropriate page to the scanner. This mirror flips the reversed image of the fixed mirror, so the scanned text won't be read backward. (4) The scanner captures an image of each page and writes it to a file.

The Internet can make vast libraries accessible to everyone, but only if the books sitting on shelves can be translated into digital form. That process got a lot easier this year with the introduction of the Kirtas APT Bookscan 1200, which automatically digitizes up to 1,200 pages per hour. The $150,000 scanner uses a vacuum arm to lift and turn book pages, so there's no need to take books apart at their bindings, or to have a dedicated operator set up each page for scanning. A tilting mirror system allows the stationary scanner to image both pages from the correct angle.

Click --> More Info.

Blue-ray Disc, Capacity: 50 GB (double-layer)

2005-07-11T04:10:00.000-07:00

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format. Obviously, it is the most advanced optical storage standard that will satisfy all next-generation requirements in terms of storage capacity, data speeds, copy protection, interactivity, convenience and off-course cost.

As consumers worldwide gain access to high-definition TV (HDTV) through cable, satellite and terrestrial channels, they are not going to be satisfied with less than equal quality in their video recordings. Blu-ray Disc is the only format with the capacity of 25 Gbytes on a single-layer disc and 50 Gbytes on a dual layer disc, to offer full-length feature movie playback using high-definition MPEG2 encoding - the native compression technique for HDTV broadcasts - or even more with advanced codecs, like AVC.

In addition, for pre-recorded packaged media, Blu-ray Disc has sufficient capacity to include bonus materials and interactive sessions for an unparalleled entertainment experience. For PC users archiving photographs or video and other data on the hard disk, Blu-ray Disc is the only recordable/re-writable format that provides such a quantum leap in optical storage capacity and gives a seamless experience between PC and CE environments.

Click --> Blu-ray

Click --> Blu-ray Disc Association
Click --> SONY BDZ-S77 Recorder Review

Philips: SolidBurn | Optimal DVD Writing

2005-07-08T03:45:00.000-07:00

Philips introduces SolidBurn, a new self-learning feature that will ensure optimal writing conditions for any recordable DVD media. This advanced writer feature executes a series of tests on an ‘unknown’ DVD media to determine the optimal writing strategy. Without SolidBurn, new DVD media and media that are not in the media list of the drive, are written using a less optimal standard write strategy. This could result in lower recording speeds than specified or lower quality recordings jeopardizing disc playability or lifetime.

The write strategy of a DVD drive is the way in which it writes to a blank DVD media. Normally these write strategies are determined by extensive media tests at the drive manufacturer and listed in the firmware of the drive. But unfortunately these media lists are not complete. And with new DVD media regularly coming to market, consumers need to update their DVD writers with the latest firmware to ensure an up-to-date media list for best recording quality.

Nevertheless, statistics indicate that only a limited number of consumers update their DVD burners and most never upgrade the firmware at all. Now with SolidBurn the drive automatically determines the optimal writing strategy for specific DVD media and stores this information in the drive. So there is no need for the consumer to update the media list in their DVD drive or worry about in-complete media lists. SolidBurn enables the drive to keep itself up-to-date and ensures best writing quality on all recordable DVD media.

When a new disc is inserted into the drive, SolidBurn executes automatically a series of tests on the ‘unknown’ DVD media. Based on the DVD writer’s measurements capabilities such as jitter and PiSum-8, the SolidBurn algorithm delivers a multiple of unique parameter settings that control the drive during the normal writing process. Measurements at Philips Standards & Format Verification Laboratories showed a dramatic improvement in write quality of the new discs written with SolidBurn. These recorded discs had an average lowest jitter, best PiSum-8 results and the least uncorrectable errors compared to the same discs written with a standard writing strategy of the drive. Moreover, on average the discs were recorded with the SolidBurn drive at higher recording speed than drives without the SolidBurn feature.

Philips will introduce SolidBurn in its new DVDR1648 and DVDR1628 drives, available in August 2005.

Mercedes 7-Speed Transmission

2005-07-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

1. Oil pump; 2. With shift actuators multiplate clutches and three planetary gear assemblies; 3. Parking lock to drive wheels; 4. To shift lever; 5. Control unit with solenoid valves, electronics and sensors built in to the sump; 6. Electronics for demand-dependent control of shifting action; 7. High-speed solenoid valves for shift actuators control; 8. Torque converter; 9. From engine; 10. Torque converter lock-up clutch with damping elements.

The extra gears in the seven-speed automatic on all 2004 5.0 litre V8-equipped Mercedes allow the engine to run at the proper speed at the proper times: low-rpm for efficient cruising, higher revs when you need the power. Plus it provides flexibilitythat rivals continuously variable transmissions, without their power limitations.

Frontier Sci. & Cutting Edge Tech.

2004-12-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

Science and technology are but two sides of the same coin and, in fact, science has been the impetus for technological growth and development. Science has fostered a great number of innovative technologies - which have in turn improved human living conditions. By laying the foundations for the food security, environmental integrity, production of goods, contributing to public health, providing energy and new information channels, and through a myriad of other innovations, modern technology has lived up to many of the expectations of people. Today, technology is seen to hold the key to prosperity. In the drive to provide basic needs and to raise the quality of life of our people; create wealth and to be globally competitive in an increasingly technologically sophisticated world; harness our natural resources and protect the environment in a sustainable manner we recognize the central role of science and technology. In fact, the investments in science today will pay back for our technology needs tomorrow.

Today, whilst unprecedented advances in the sciences are foreseen, there is a need for the nation to revitalize the scientific enterprise in the country. The need of the hour is a vigorous and informed democratic debate on the production and use of scientific knowledge. The scientific community and decision-makers should seek the strengthening of public trust and support for science through such a debate. We need to raise the standards of science and technology in the country and make it more focused to the technological needs of the country and also face the challenges of a technologically sophisticated world. Science teaching needs a great impetus to bring back students to the realm of science and enable science career opportunities. Research laboratories need to be invigorated with upgradation of technologies and re-investment to upgrade their infrastructure. India today needs anew generation of scientists working on key research and science problems. The nation also needs to integrate science and technology with all spheres of national activity in order to enhance India's global competitiveness, to ensure continued development of national infrastructure and to safeguard national security.

[Science Journal Excerpt]

NEC's World’s Fastest Vector Supercomputer

2004-11-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

NEC Corporation today announced the worldwide launch and availability of the SX series model “SX-8,” the world’s most powerful vector supercomputer with a peak processing performance of 65TFLOPS (TFLOPS: one trillion floating point operations per second).

Inheriting vector architecture, whose excellent sustained performance has been demonstrated by the Earth Simulator, the new product combines enhanced CPUs, and memory and I/O processing performance. A further-enhanced, single-chip, vector processor, realized by the SX-6, also contributes to the greatly improved price performance and space saving offered by the SX-8.

The SX-8, with its dedicated CPUs, large-scale memory, and high data transfer rate between memory and CPUs, delivers much higher sustained performance than scalar supercomputers with a number of general-purpose CPUs. This is particularly effective in fields that require large-scale and ultra high-speed computing of massive data, such as meteorological forecasting, environmental simulations and automotive crash analysis.

Features of the new product are described below.

1. World’s highest computing performance of 65TFLOPS The single-node model (includes up to 8 CPUs) achieves a peak vector performance of 128GFLOPS (GFLOPS: one billion floating point operations per second), while the multi-node model achieves the world’s fastest peak vector performance of 65TFLOPS when configured with 512 nodes. In addition, a 262TB/s (36.8TB/s in SX-6) high peak data transfer rate between CPU(s) and memory is realized, and it also boasts an enlarged memory capacity of up to 64TB (16TB in SX-6).

2. Further-enhanced single-chip, vector processor The vector processor (vector and scalar units) is integrated into a single chip by applying leading-edge CMOS technology with 90-nanometer (nanometer: 10-9 meter) copper interconnects and the most advanced LSI design technology. Pipelines of the vector unit, the central part of a vector processor, operate at a 2GHz clock frequency, which is double the speed of the SX-6, and realize a peak vector performance of 16GFLOPS per CPU. Moreover, hardware support of the vector square root operation achieves a sustained performance six times higher than that of the SX-6.

3. Excellent space-saving and power-saving The SX-8 achieves a reduction in space by 25% and power consumption by 50% as compared with conventional models. This was achieved by applying high-density packaging technology in which processor(s) and memory are implemented on a single module.

4. Software environment suitable for large-scale, multi-node system The basic software, “SUPER-UX,” maintains upward compatibility with the existing SX series, and achieves further scalability expansion due to enhanced I/O processing and MPI. Global File System (GFS), a high-speed, file sharing system among multiple nodes on a system or among different systems, has also been enhanced. By utilizing GFS, users can access the shared files with a high performance close to that of a local disc, and can also take advantage of the high performance functions of GFS from third party platforms such as SUN and HP as they do with NFS (Network File System).

A little about myself...

2004-11-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

It was this Project which changed me altogether, it brought the real essence and vigour to my life, I began to think about things from a different perspective etc. and after this I took part in almost ever activity and often excelled…I began to become famous and life started becoming interesting. That’s when ‘I realized the benefit of such things and their potential long lasting impact on my life’.

Do you know about which Project am I talking about? Well, click the following link to find out: The Revolutionizing Project.

Space an Integrating Technology

2004-11-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

Space is an integrating technology and its applications transcend boundaries and bring benefit to almost every individual. Human-kind has been driven by the quest for knowledge of our planetary system, galaxies and stars and space evokes a challenge and adventure to humankind. The world community must be prepared to the future challenges and excitement of space technology and also the increasing benefit to society from its applications.

Technology Advancement ~

2004-10-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

Did You Know? The Itanium 2 processor architecture is evolving at >2x Moore's Law, and projected to exceed 1 billion transistors in 2005!

Philips: '1x-16x All Speed' DVD+R Disc

2004-10-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

Philips is the first to introduce 16x DVD+R disc that can be recorded at all speeds.

'1x-16x All Speed' DVD+R medium the first to be approved and ready for mass volume shipments.

Philips Electronics announced that its new 'All Speed' DVD+R blank medium is the first to be approved for 1´ up to 16´ recording speeds. This allows consumers to use this single disc at all recording speeds - from real-time 1´ video recording speed up to the maximum achievable 16´ speeds. A 16´ DVD drive writes the full 4.7 GB DVD+R disc in about 5 minutes.

The new 1´-16´ DVD+R disc was co-developed by Philips Optical Storage and CMC of Taiwan, the world no. 1 manufacturer of recordable DVD media. The disc uses a new Oxonol dye developed by FujiFilm, containing no heavy metals/banned substances conform Philips' strive to relieve the environment. The developments are based on the results of Philips Research's innovations in optical-storage technologies, which include the development of a new write strategy for high-speed writing.

"Using Philips' latest 1´-16´ DVD+R medium, they can record their precious video memories or data files with any DVD+R recorder, no matter if this is one of the latest 16´ DVD writers or a legacy DVD+R writer."

The ability to create your own DVD is very popular and sales of recordable DVD discs are approaching CD-R volume levels. Last year the market for recordable DVD grew by over 300% and it is expected that 1.3 billion DVD discs will be sold in 2004. With the increase of DVD writers in the PC, the annual market for DVD recordable media is projected to reach 5.1 billion discs by 2007.

Philips new DVD+R disc was the first 16x media to be approved by the DVD+R/+RW Verification Laboratories Group (DVLG). The format verification laboratories test newly developed DVD+R, DVD+R DL and DVD+RW discs from media manufacturers to verify that read and write performance comply with the standard specifications to ensure optimal recording on discs.

DDR2-400

2004-09-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

Did You Know? Intel's DDR2-400 memory provides a 20% increase in bandwidth and 40% lower power consumption compared to DDR-333!

Model Scenarios, The Origin of CHESS!

2004-08-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Most of us trust our mathematical instincts, at least a little bit. (If you have 100 apples and Billy takes 98, how many apples do you have left?) But there are famous cases where lack of mathematical intuition (or basic analysis) has led to erroneous conclusions. A classic story concerns the origins of the game of chess. A king announced to his kingdom that he was bored and wanted something new and clever to amuse him. The smartest person in the kingdom presented what we now know as the game of chess. The king played the game and was greatly amused. The king asked the inventor, "Tell me what I can give you from my kingdom as a reward." The inventor replied, "I do not ask for much, just place one grain of rice on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, until all 64 squares are filled." "It shall be so!" said the king, much to his regret, because he spent the rest of his days trying to grow enough rice to meet the promise (2^64 is a really large number).

Energy Saving in Buildings...!

2004-07-30T02:10:00.000-07:00

Researchers at BASF, Germany, have developed a new type of thermal insulator-NEOPOR-consisting of 2Ocm thick panels which are used for facade of buildings. They have proved that it is possible to build environmentally friendly homes for about the same price as conventional residences.

Renewable-energy devices and energy-saving features have to be introduced at every decision in the design process rather than bolt them on as an expensive afterthought. BASF have developed detailed designs, tracked down high-quality building materials and tested them in existing energy-saving buildings, thereby reducing the cost of future developments. The existing insulation in the roof, ceiling and cellar of the building has been replaced with NEOPOR. The interior walls of the building are coated with a special plaster that helps to keep rooms cool in summer without air-conditioning. About 10 litres of crude oil are needed to produce a NEOPOR panel with an area of 1 m2 and a thickness of 20 cm. Apart from good insulation in the buildings, the designers have also reduced the influence of "thermal bridges", such as thick bolts and screws that can conduct heat past the insulation. To minimize heat losses from thermal bridges, the apartment balconies are built as separate freestanding structures and the windows are tripleglazed to cut the heat loss.

First Gas Powered Air-Conditioner!

2004-06-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

Changhsha-based Broad Air Conditioning Co Ltd has developed a new type of gas-powered airconditioner for household use in China's Hunan province. The new air-conditioner has been designed to be powered by natural gas, coal gas or liquefied petroleum gas. The airconditioner was developed after a research for three years. About 2000 engineers and mechanics have participated in the research project. The company has invested about 13.3 million US dollars in developing the product. The new air-conditioner would use lithium bromide as coolant while the traditional one uses electricity. It would be economical compared to the traditional one as the operating cost would be about 59 percent of the electricity system. The new airconditioner is more environment friendly, and has an operational life of 15 years and also serves as water heater. The company has applied for a dozen of national patents for the new product, many of which have been approved.

(People's Daily, March 2003)

Hmmm...Rg DETSY?

2004-05-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Well, first of all I would like to resolve your biggest question ...What Does Rg DETSY actually stand for?

Hmmm...Rg you can say is a Code Word...and as far as DETSY is concerned it just came to my mind while I was raking my brain for a Science Project to participate in the Intel STDF 2002...something weird but of the sort of which one can say...'DEaTh SpY'...I'll disclose you the details of the same later...