Ali Kuru » News

To keep pace with Moore’s Law, IBM studying ‘DNA origami’ to build next-gen microchips

Ali — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:47:03 +0000

Moore’s Law assumes that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double every two years, which means chip makers have to squeeze an increasing number of transistors onto every chip. According to Wired Gadgets, IBM is experimenting DNA Origami to create smaller chips;

Researchers at IBM have made a significant breakthrough in their quest to combine DNA strands with conventional lithographic techniques to create tiny circuit boards. The breakthrough, which allows for the DNA structures to be positioned precisely on substrates, could help shrink computer chips to about a 6-nanometer scale. Intel’s latest chips, by comparison, are on a 32-nanometer scale.

“The idea is to combine leading edge lithography that can offer feature size of 25 nanometers with some chemical magic to access much smaller dimensions,” says Robert Allen, senior manager of chemistry and materials at IBM Almaden Research. “This allows us to place nano objects with 6-nanometer resolution. You don’t have a hope of doing that with lithography today.”

Giving DNA to our computers? I guess we can start counting down for Skynet after that :)

Prezi will launch at 5th of April

Ali — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:49:59 +0000

Good news first; according to VentureBeat, Prezi will open its gates to the masses next month, at 5^th of April. You can check my prezi review if you want an early look of the upcoming service.

Here comes the bad news; pricing scheme seem to be surfaced with the launch plan and there will be three plans available to the users. Which are; Free (on-line only, all information shared), Enjoy ($57 per year, only works online) and Pro ($160/year, on-line and down-loadable).

Sharing what you’ve created might not be problem for most of the users ~~but being not able to download and use your presentations offline will definitely hurt free users~~. Anyways, Prezi is a really innovative tool for creating slick presentations and definitely worth a try.

Update: It looks like its not the presentations that free users are not able to download, but the new “offline editor”. See comments for details.

Google Calendar is supporting offline mode

Ali — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 07:52:56 +0000

Apparently, Google Calendar has an offline mode just like Gmail. Although I didn’t like the way Gmail handles your offline data, since it dumps every mail and attachments’ to your hard disk in an un-encrypted fashion, I like the idea of always accessible Google Calendar.

As always, you’ll need Google Gears to be installed in the first place.

How far will Microsoft go with their Surface technology?

Ali — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:53:31 +0000

It is obvious that the “Surface” will be the next big thing not only for Microsoft, but for all of us. The clip below was shown at Wharton Business Technology Conference, and it’s called 2019, is showing how far will Microsoft is planning to go with its interactive surfaces. They are planning to embed this technology from your walls to your electronic newspaper, your table to your remote, to your cell phone, simply every surface you encounter in your life.

Give your 5 minutes to see this teaser of future, it is impressive!

[via gizmodo]

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X: Usage of satellite imagery for creating more accurate maps

Ali — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:03:24 +0000

I don’t know if this is the first time of using satellite images for creating more realistic maps with detailed 3D terrains in games, but it sure is a good idea. And, it looks like team behind the Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X did create the “real sense of authenticity”, as they call it.

Game will be available next week, enjoy the trailer.

[via VentureBeat]

Bespin: browser based collaborative code editor from Mozilla

Ali — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:53:35 +0000

Just noticed Bespin, a collaborative browser based code editor from Mozilla Labs, which announced last week. The idea of an online editor is not new, but this one looks pretty cool even in its very early 0.1 version. It has those must have features like code highlighting, and you can access your whole codebase wherever you want, share and work with whoever you want. I strongly suggest watching the screencast below to understand its features and discover its cleverly designed user interface.

[via: siberkültür]

Google My Tracks for Android

Ali — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:50:23 +0000

Google released an application called My Tracks for its mobile platform, Android. It simply record tracks of your outdoor activities via built-in GPS functionality. The application is also allowing you to share your activities with the rest of the world via Google Maps, and build a history via Google Docs. Best part is; according to FAQ, you don’t need a data or cell connection while recording your track;

A cell signal or data connection is not required to record GPS tracks. However, if there is no data connection, you will not be able to see satellite imagery or a map. Instead, you will see a grey screen or partial map. Tracks, represented as simple lines, can still be recorded even if there is no data connection.

I hope this application will be available to other platforms soon. The only similar thing I’ve been able to found for Windows Mobile platform was MyMotion, which is able to use downloaded maps (from Google Maps) offline. Never tried it after I’ve read that it is problematic in HTC Touch Diamond though.

Microsoft MyPhone is accepting pre-registrations

Ali — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:33:31 +0000

Microsoft MyPhone beta (a.k.a. SkyBox) is open for pre-registration right now and you can get yourself an early position in the wait list with your live.com credentials.

If you haven’t heard of MS MyPhone before, it will be something similar to Apple’s MobileMe in the end, a place where you can backup & sync your contacts, mail, calendar events and documents on your Windows Mobile operated phone. Although details are not clear at the moment, it is expected to be a free service in the beginning.

[via Engadget Mobile]

[Update: Gizmodo; No MobileMe, It's a Fancy Backup service]

Twitter is testing AJAX updates

Ali — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:18:09 +0000

Twitter is testing a new AJAX-based interface which updates users’ time-line automatically, according to a post at RWW.

Although two places differ from each other distinctly, there is obviously a competition between Facebook and Twitter, and this competition probably increased after a recent buying offer came from Facebook.

I don’t think Twitter actually worried about Facebook. Since this attempt of adding features to its interface came after their rumored fund raising effort, they might up for creating a monetization method after almost 3 years of existence without a proper business model.

[via digg]

New in Gmail Labs: Location based signatures

Ali — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:41:24 +0000

I love Gmail, it simply gets more useful every day.

If you have Labs enabled in your Gmail account, you can now display your location information at your signature. You’ll probably find this useful if you are a frequent traveler.

First, you have to enable the “Location in Signature” feature in Labs, and then you have to enable signatures under settings and check the box in front of the “Append your location to the signature” option. After these steps, Gmail will use your public IP to locate where you are.

It says on the Gmail blog that using Google Gears with location module brings more accurate results with Wi-Fi triangulation.

[via Gizmodo]