Jake Easton's blog

The "Squeeze" miniature track robot fits in tight spaces, and can be used for everything from running network cables - to security applications.Read More

First 3-Axis Digital Gyroscope In A Single Sensor Package

A gyroscope senses any change in an object’s axis of rotation. Up until now, gyroscopes measured movement around the three axes with three sensors—one for pitch, one for yaw, and another for roll. At most, two of these sensors would be combined on a single die. STMicroelectronics unveiled a 4mm x 4mm x 1mm (slightly over 1/4" square) gyroscope whose single sensing structure tracks all three angular motions. It’s a triumph of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) engineering.Read More

Build It Or Buy It? A Practical Guide for an i7-920 Computer with 12GB Memory and Windows 7 for under $1,000

The Core i7 is Intel's monster processor that everybody seems to be talking about, but is the Ferrari of processors really worth the price?

We wanted to see what all the i7 excitement was about, so we decided to take the plunge based on the following criteria: It had to be screaming fast, upgrade compatible (1366 socket), and relatively low cost. After some research, we learned that an i7-920 would be the best i7 computer to meet our requirements - and to our surprise - could be built OR purchased on a budget of less than $1,000.

Make sure you start with a Core i7-9xx series (1366 socket) processor. Other i7s like the i7-860/870 use the 1156 socket and are not upgrade compatible.

An i7 computer needs three essential ingredients that generally aren't lying around in the garage: (1) an i7-900 series processor (like the entry-level i7-920); (2) an Intel X58 chipset-compatible motherboard, and (3) lots of DDR3 memory. Knowing what we needed, we then had to decide whether to build it - or buy one off the shelf.

The decision turned out to be an easy one after we found a Core i7-920 workstation at Costco loaded with a jaw-dropping 12GB of DDR3 memory, 1TB SATA hard drive, and Windows 7 - all for $999 delivered.Read More

CMU Biorobotics Lab Shows Off Its “Unified Snake” Robot Sidewiding, Climbing Up A Pole, and Rolling

Carnegie Mellon University’s Biorobotics Lab shows off their new modular snake robot, Unified Snake. It climbs up a pole, performs rolls, and sidewinds.Read More

The $83 million F-35B supersonic stealth jumpjet has achieved its first hover flight test in Maryland

The F-35B VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) is now in flight testing at the Patuxent River naval air station in Maryland. The radical hover-jet also achieved another first yesterday, making its first short-roll takeoff assisted by its vertical-thrust equipment.Read More

Helicopter with Rocket-Powered Rotors [Video]

The Dragonfly helicopter uses two small rocket engines on the rotor tips, replacing the conventional engine-powered rotor. The rocket-powered helicopter is made by Swisscopter USA in Tucson, with plans to bring it to the market later this year.Read More

IBM replaces signals that communicate via copper wires with pulses of light - creating the world's fastest transfer

IBM scientists unveiled a significant step towards replacing electrical signals that communicate via copper wires between computer chips with tiny silicon circuits that communicate using pulses of light. As reported in the recent issue of the scientific journal Nature, this is an important advancement in changing the way computer chips talk to each other.Read More

Record And Play Your Own Records With Gakken's Gramophone Kit

Gakken's Gramophone kit can play records of any size, using a bamboo needle to belch crackling analog goodness out of its nickel-plated iron horn. Playback speed and tone are adjustable, and the player is powered by a hand crank.

But the most fun part of the Gramophone kit is the ability to record your own music directly to vinyl.Read More

Dubbed the PropEtcher, this Etch-a-Sketch is powered by a Parallax Propeller chip with dual stepper motors controlling the Etch-a-Sketch knobs.Read More

IBM Develops Higher-Efficiency Solar Cells Using Non-Rare Materials

IBM researchers have created a high-efficiency solar cell that is 40 percent more efficient than any similar cells, and is made of earth abundant materials.Read More