I’ve already got more flash drives than I know what to do with, but every once in a while I’ll see some that I need to add to my seemingly endless collection anyway. With these cool flash drives made out of old vacuum tubes, you’ll be able to send your data back in time.
They’re made by Latvian steampunk artist Slava Tech, and use old Pentode tubes as containers for USB flash memory. The coolest part is how they glow from the red, green or blue LED inside. It would be really cool if he made one with an orange LED for a more authentic look, though the red one is pretty close.
Each one is based on a high quality SanDisk flash drive, set into an old Russian vacuum tube from the 1980s, and accented with copper details.
Prices for the vacuum tube flash drives range from $69 to $79(USD), and they’re currently available in either 8GB or 16GB storage options.
This week we’re getting extra pumped up for Mobile World Congress as the big events start at the end of it – it’s a 7 day count-down for some, but a 5 day count-down for your humble narrator! Before we get in to all that though, time marches on – with Destiny we’ve got a game that’s set to take place in a post-apocalyptic future with the Xbox 720, PlayStation 4, and PC set to take on the brunt of this next-generation beast. You’ll also want to see the very first-ever car backflip as made real by the Mini Countryman. Also remember that Russian meteorite? You can buy bits of it if you’re feeling like money is burning a hole in your pocket – and you’d rather that fire come from space.
The PlayStation 4 has been tipped to bring on a new Sony price slash strategy for the PlayStation 3. Might be time to get on-board with the previous generation! There’s an Obama Brain Activity Map project going on right now that you’ll be surprised isn’t actually mapping the brain of the President himself. The ISS astronaut Chris Hadfield has spoken this week about a variety of topics – fears, dangers, and advice included.
Network logs have tipped off a brand new Nokia Lumia 520 for the masses – without a doubt headed for Mobile World Congress 2013. A new interactive map of the world is showing Apple’s supply chains in detail. That same Russian meteor has been shown to blast some rather strange damage across the landscape. A new Systemic computer has been revealed with the ability to rebuild corrupted data while never, ever crashing.
A rather odd Accel Telecom smartphone has been revealed with in-car connectivity galore – Voyager Connected Car Smartphone it’s called, and you will… maybe want it? The LG Optimus G Pro will be coming to the USA in the second quarter of 2013 with a bit more of a traditional approach – giant displays and high power! Those of you on BlackBerry 7 or 7.1 will be sad to find that YouTube no longer works – the universe has left you behind!
If you’ve heard anything about the upcoming “game changer” title set to be produced by Bungie over the next 10 years in installments with Activision, you know that it certainly wouldn’t make sense for the whole series to be appearing on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In fact the first installment will be on those two consoles, but essentially everything afterward has been confirmed in legal documents to be hitting no less than the PlayStation 4, the Xbox 720, and the PC. The information that reveals said bits and pieces comes from a Call of Duty legal dispute where the contract between Activision and Bungie had to be unsealed.
The full document comes from The LA Times but the important section is right here. You’ll find “Destiny Game #2″ to be the subject of production on the PlayStation 4 and Personal Computer, while the Xbox 720, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 are being set for the Destiny Game #1 release. This means – it would seem – that the PlayStation 4 won’t be ready for action in time for the release of the first Destiny Game.
The folks at Bungie have been longtime Xbox developers having made one of the most successful gaming franchises in the history of the world with Halo, so it’s not out of the question that they’re simply going to hit the Xbox 720 first even if the PlayStation 4 will be out “in time” for one of the first Destiny installments. The fact that the first release is set for pre-order right this minute for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 has us wondering, on the other hand, how this contract figures in with the PlayStation event occurring this week – could it be that no PlayStation 4 will be shown?
Have a peek at the Destiny trailer above and see how the PC and mobile platforms – like the iPhone, in this case – will very obviously be taking part in the overall structure of Destiny and its many tendrils. This game will not be limited to one platform, nor will it be dependent on one piece of hardware for you to be able to play it. This is the next generation in gaming made real – anywhere, anytime. We wouldn’t be surprised if this game were playable on NVIDIA’s Project SHIELD before all is said and done.
The thought of a computer that never crashes is incredibly appealing to anyone who has ever used a computer. Researchers from the University College London have created a computer system that they call a “systemic” computer that is able to self-repair and instantly recover from crashes. The researchers believe that their systemic computer could have many uses including the ability to help military drones reprogram themselves to cope with damage sustained in combat.
The researchers also believe that their systemic computer could help create more realistic models of the human brain. Computers today work through a list of instructions one at a time in sequential order. Instructions are extracted from the memory, executed, and the result is again placed into memory. The computer creation that researchers Peter Bentley and Christos Sakellariou have created that combines the data and the instructions on what to do with the data into systems.
The researchers give the example of the computer being able to monitor the temperature outside along with instructions on what to do if the temperature falls outside of a specific range. Each of the systems contains context sensitive data allowing the data to only interact with other similar systems. Unlike traditional computers that use a program counter, the systems in the systemic computer are executed at times chosen by a pseudorandom number generator designed to mimic the randomness in nature.
This means that the system is able to carry out instructions simultaneously with no one system taking precedence over the others. In the system, the researchers say that the results of a computation emerges from the interaction between systems that interact in parallel and randomly. The system also contains multiple copies of its instructions distributed across the many systems so if one system is corrupted the computer is able to access another clean copy to repair its code eliminating operating system crashes because a single bit of memory can’t be accessed.
The Mailbox app has finally launched on iOS, but before you start jubilating about how clean your email box will finally be, you’d better download it and start waiting, because the wait to use will be long. Currently, there are over 800,000 users waiting to start using the app. The app provides a new way to access your Gmail on your iPhone.
The Mailbox app uses gestures to make quick work of incoming mail, allowing you to clear out your inbox in a jiffy. This is one of the reasons why I like this app, because if you use the Inbox Zero discipline, you’ll be able to browse through your incoming mail very quickly. The one negative thing is that Mailbox doesn’t support Gmail labels.
The good thing about this staggered release is that instead of costing money, the Mailbox app is free. However you’ll be waiting for a while before you can use it. Cult of Mac has got some estimates on how long the wait will be:
This week we’re seeing the second in a series of retro-documentary trailers made for the upcoming game BioShock Infinite going by the name “Columbia: a Modern Day Icarus?” The actual content of the game becomes more enticing each moment one watches each of the two trailers that have been released thus far, so much so that I’ve passed these video spots on to friends and colleagues even when they’re not the type of people who would ever end up playing the final product. This sharing is important in and of itself, as the medium almost becomes the message itself with such zeal as we’d only otherwise find in an art film meant for a gallery.
What you’ll see here is a set of information about Columbia, a flying city, and a man by the name of Zachary Comstock. Interesting still is the fact that the presentation of this video is such that the picture works just as well in low definition as it does in high. This is more of a filmstrip than it is a web video.
This video was released near the end of January, then another appeared here in the middle of February. This Part 2 video spot is once again narrated by the enigmatic Alistar Bloom and surrounds the mystery of the “Songbird”. It also once again makes the case for the flying city of Columbia and its mysterious disappearance being the central point of the game that’ll be released this year.
This video again mixes animation, photography, and design elements that make this presentation both “retro” and timeless at once. Of course you and I being part of a timeline that places the filmstrip video presentation from grade school squarely in our minds will be reminded of educational oddities from the 1950s, with a few 1980s video swoops in for good measure. The end result is, again, a wholly enticing prospect: jumping in to a world that’s real in a video game that’ll be released this year.
Many people have a home theater PC sitting right next to their HDTVs. It’s not always the best-looking solution to manage your media, but oftentimes it’s the most functional. There’s no reason why your HTPC should look ugly. Check out this awesome design that Jeffrey Stephenson came up with.
Project Ayr is a fanless home theater PC that’s encased in an Art Deco-inspired mahogany shell. It’s definitely a nice retro style case and would look great sitting in your living room. Inside the wooden case, which has an aluminum frame, there’s an Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, an Intel Cherryville SSD, 150W Pico PSU and an illuminated Silverstone HE02 passive heatsink, which occupies the majority of the case, and is cleverly integrated into the design.
Jeffery states that his custom design is “a solid state, fanless, no-moving-parts, dead silent home theater PC,” cutting down on the drone of fans while Jeff watches his favorite movies.
This morning it’s time to get legal with the Livescribe and Sky battle leading to a newly rebranded wifi pen. There’s a group by the name of AutoCyb out there that’s capitalizing on the black box data privacy you didn’t know you could have. Have a peek at the Scosche lineup of Lightning connectors just released this week – so much power your head will burst!
With the fiasco that was the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s melting lithium-ion batteries, it would appear that new Airbus models will be skipping inclusion entirely. Microsoft has begun detailing Messenger to Skype transitioning as the final cuts are made. Don’t miss out on the Bigfoot Genome paper published this week – grab on tight! We’ve reviewed a brand new external battery device you’ll see above called the PowerSkin PoP’n – a must see!
The folks at Opera have acquired no less than Skyfire Labs for a fabulous $155 million USD. NVIDIA and Elemental have made a team-up their own with enhanced video processing solutions galore! You’ll want to dive in deep with what very much appears to be a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S IV benchmark before the device is confirmed.
This week we’re hearing several accounts on the iPhone Brazil case in which the group by the name of Gradiente trademarked the word way back in the year 2000. The team at Vimeo have acquired a gif app by the name of Echograph, likely to compete with the likes of Vine. Be sure to check out our feature interview with the makers of the new DIE HARD game for mobile devices – it’s an Endless Shooter, a brand new genre for mobile games!
There’s a brand new Wacom display in town, this one coming with pen action for your future drawing needs. Apple has confirmed that they will be squashing the iOS 6.1 Exchange bug rather quickly – right away! Watch out for the Sony PlayStation EyePad in the near future – that’s 3D control for the next-generation PlayStation 4!
NASA has let it be known that they’re working on Orion with parachutes and rocket engines – things are coming along nicely! Biometrics scanning is now a new focus of the US Defense Department – expect to be scanned soon and very soon. The folks at Tesla have decided to destroy the New York Times’ review of the Model S using the car’s own recorded logs. How about that?
The folks at ThinkGeek have created some fabulous geeky scented candles just in time for a late Valentine’s Day gift. Wahoo Fitness is breaking out a fabulous RFLKT iPhone-powered bicycle computer that you’ll be able to get your hands on soon. There’s a new Logitech Webcam C930e out there this week with business users in mind – check it out!
This year’s State of the Union address included no less than a shout out by President Obama to Apple for bringing manufacturing jobs back to the USA. In addition to speaking about several other big companies that will be doing similar things in the near future, Obama noted the positive influence Apple’s move will have on the United States. Apple CEO Tim Cook sat in the First Lady’s box for the speech, a traditional area in which guests mentioned in the address are invited to sit.
In December of 2012 Cook confirmed that Apple would be bringing Apple product manufacturing back to the USA in 2013. One of the earlier mentions of this move was made in May of 2012 where Cook made mention of “things we can do” in the future – and here it is. Parts of the newest iMac have already bore the “Assembled in USA” mark and the Mac Mini has been tipped to be coming to the USA for manufacturing as well.
The State of the Union address spoken by President Obama noted that “after shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three.” He went on to list groups like Caterpillar, Ford, and Intel who have moved (or will move soon) sets of jobs to the USA from overseas. Obama made the final mention appear most important: “And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.”
According to MacRumors, the Apple CEO was seated just one seat away diagonally from the First Lady Michelle Obama and one seat behind the Second Lady Jill Biden. UPDATE: maybe he moved seats? See image 7 of the box. You can also see the full list of seats in the box at The White House website – note also that Bobak Ferdowsi was there: you’ll remember him from the NASA Mars landing last year without a doubt!
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