While we maintain that Blu-ray represents the end of the optical disk for media storage, there are signs that we might be wrong. Professor Min Gu of Swinburne University of Technology has a group of scienticians working on a new optical disk with 20,000 times the capacity of a Blu-ray disk. You could, in effect, […]

While we maintain that Blu-ray represents the end of the optical disk for media storage, there are signs that we might be wrong. Professor Min Gu of Swinburne University of Technology has a group of scienticians working on a new optical disk with 20,000 times the capacity of a Blu-ray disk. You could, in effect, have an entire video store, every song ever recorded, and my vast collection of exotic pornography on one disk.

The technology is only about five years off, but that’s really not a long time. This would mean optical technology would vastly outpace magnetic technology, meaning the future DVD would hold much more than an equivalent hard drive.

It’ll work through utilizing layers in the disk using new forms of nanotechnology and even quantum theory. It sounds sci-fi, but it’s real, and I can’t wait.

Via [crunchgear]

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Epic and Intel have announced a contest for the more talent modders among us. They’ve put up $1 million in the “Make Something Unreal Contest,” which invites modders to use the Unreal Tournament 3 (PC version_ engine to create something as special as 2006’s Red Orchestra. There’s a number of different categories to selected from, […]

Epic and Intel have announced a contest for the more talent modders among us. They’ve put up $1 million in the “Make Something Unreal Contest,” which invites modders to use the Unreal Tournament 3 (PC version_ engine to create something as special as 2006’s Red Orchestra. There’s a number of different categories to selected from, from best graphics in a map to ideal machinima. You can find all of those here.

And it’s not just money that’s up for grabs. Since Intel is part sponsor, you’ll also be working toward an Unreal Engine 3 license and Intel Core 2 Extreme-based PCs, among other things.

Since I have zero modding/programming capability, I won’t be able to participate. Guess no lucrative license for me.

via Next-Generation

Via [crunchgear]

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A strange quote from Bill Gates this day as he claims the next version of Windows, code-named Windows 7, is going to be released “sometime in the next year or so.” That’s way ahead of the previous estimates, which claimed Windows 7 wasn’t going to be released in 2009 at all, but somewhere in 2010 or 2011.

A Microsoft flack covered for Bill by saying that a 2009 “release” was in line with their development cycle, and that test versions are usually put out before the actual release—which is absolutely not what we think Bill meant when he said “release”. What you should take away from this whole mess is that a development release is coming in 2009 (or so), and Bill Gates probably shouldn’t be making statements without checking with his people. [Reuters]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Originally set to get the axe at the end of June, XP Home got a call from the brass at Microsoft, delaying its demise for at least another 2-3 years. Not surprisingly, the reason was the increasing popularity of budget laptops like the Asus Eee Computer and Intel’s Classmate Personal computer. Microsoft has vowed to keep XP on the market until one year after the next version of Windows is released, so it is conceivable that it could live on beyond 2011. [AP via Ars Technica]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Here’s something that excites me greatly. It’s a prototype of a tiny projector that fits inside of a cell phone. Jim Hallas of Texas Instruments’ DLP group gave me a brief overview of the chipset and here’s some brief information along with my thoughts; The chipset is ready to go. It’s up to device manufacturers to […]

Here’s something that excites me greatly. It’s a prototype of a little projector that fits inside of a cell phone. Jim Hallas of Texas Instruments’ DLP group gave me a brief overview of the chipset and here’s some brief information along with my thoughts;

The chipset is ready to go. It’s up to device manufacturers to integrate it into their products. I’d think that we’d see these things popping up pretty soon. The chipset is designed to be very low power but TI can’t comment on how much extra power you’d need because it’ll vary depending on which types of devices are used.

In a well lit room, the projected images and videos can be blown up to about the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. In a darkened room, it can do between 30 and 60 inches. The implications of this type of chipset extend far beyond cell phones. I lustfully imagine a “headless” laptop that projects the screen onto your wall. Very nice.

Via [crunchgear]

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You’d think that if you stole a car in Canada you’d probably want to head for the border and avoid flashing your disfigured hand at people who might be able to recognize you. A thief they called the Claw stole a Nissan Skyline GT-R from a man in Calgary during a test-drive. The owner, Shaun […]

You’d think that if you stole a automobile in Canada you’d probably want to head for the border and avoid flashing your disfigured hand at people who might be able to recognize you. A thief they called the Claw stole a Nissan Skyline GT-R from a man in Calgary during a test-drive. The owner, Shaun Ironside, posted to an online vehicle forum, asking folks to keep an eye out for the vehicle. A few days later some members of the forum saw the vehicle and, interestingly enough, a young man with the middle and ring fingers missing on his left hand — hence the name the claw.

The posse began hunting down the kid and finally caught him one morning. The 18-year-old is now in Canadian jail where he’ll have to eat normal bacon, not rich, delicious Canadian bacon.

Via [crunchgear]

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TiVo HD is pretty awesome, but there’s still a nagging issue of lag, particularly when doing more complicated things like changing Season Pass priorities. Our source at TiVo tells us that the latest firmware update, 9.3, has seriously juiced the system in terms of response time. Compared to the last significant upgrade, 9.1, here’s a list of common features and how much they’ve been sped up:

Live TV to Tivo Central - around 1 sec faster
Now Playing Scrolling - around 1 sec faster
Channel Change Up - around 1 sec faster
Confirm recording-> Confirm - around 3-5 sec faster
Create Season Pass - around 5-10 sec faster
Season Pass Manager - Priority - around 30 sec faster

The upgrade will roll out nationwide in the weeks to come, but soon you’ll be able to get on a priority update list (you know, for people who pay attention to this kind of thing) on tivo.com. Check back here later this day, cuz we’re trying to get the direct URL for you. [TiVo]

Via [Gizmodo]

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