Postings? As any blogger can attest, the toughest part of having a blog is making regularly scheduled entries. The fact that I haven't made a single entry in almost two months is a clear sign that I'm part of this group. Despite all the technology at my disposal, the main challenge is having to read through all my RSS feeds, pick out two or three interesting bits, and then post these at quantumBlog.com. I use Google Reader so I can get my reading from anywhere. In concept, posting is relatively easy; but in the reality of having a regularly paying day-job, the blogging process takes a lot of time and effort. While I don't generally provide a full commentary, only a link in many cases, I still need to properly format the entry before posting.

Solution? On the home computer, I use the BlogJet weblog client for posting entries. It's an easy to use application designed especially for bloggers; however, this is limiting because I'm stuck in one location. One of my favorite online applications is Google Notebooks. It has all the makings of a blog, only without date-stamping, commenting or feed updates. It also allows me to 'post' entries from any internet-connected computer. I know the presentation format isn't pretty, but hey, you're really interested in what's new anyway, right?

What now? My Notebook is divided into the following sections: all things (announcements, changes, etc.), latest (most recent postings), science, technology and gadgets. The most-recent posting will always be at the top from each section, and each section will have five of the most recent postings. The overflow from each will be moved their respective sections via a link that's located at the top-left corner. For the moment, this will be an experiment. Checkout my Notebook.

First Cordless Phones for Skype that Do Not Require a Computer

This new class of phone enables Skype(TM) users to make and receive both Skype calls over the Internet and traditional landline calls, without a computer, and offers the added convenience of a cordless phone. The first series of products to be launched in this class are the Philips VOIP841 cordless phone and NETGEAR's cordless phone for Skype.

"We are broadening our reach to mass consumers by offering them the opportunity to communicate via Skype without having to be tied to the computer," said Stefan Oberg, general manager, desktop and hardware at Skype. "Skype has already introduced Wi-Fi phones and Skype for PocketPC wireless. Now Skype is taking the next step and working together with Philips and NETGEAR, to introduce PC-free cordless phones. The cordless phones for Skype launched today, give Skype users the flexibility to enjoy free Skype to Skype calls and inexpensive calls to ordinary and mobile phones anywhere in the house, at any time without a running computer."

Now this makes having Skype worthwhile.  Hmmm, Christmas is just around the corner…

Deblurring Flutter Shutter Camera from Digital Camera Info

The flutter shutter camera is a modified camera that can capture moving objects at an exposure time of over 50 milliseconds, like high speed motion cameras. Using a coded exposure sequence, the new flutter shutter camera could recover text from a speeding car and sharpen images, according to the researchers.

Introduced in early August, three Mitsubishi Electric researchers presented the abstract, “Coded Exposure Photography: Motion Deblurring using Fluttered Shutter” at the largest computer and graphics conference, Siggraph. After one year of research development, Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab (MERL) senior researcher Ramesh Raskar, MERL visiting researcher Amit Agrawal, and Northwestern University computer science assistant professor Jack Tumblin launched the new prototype with the goal of deblurring photos.

The prototype is made with an 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot Pro1, although it could be applied to any camera. Instead of leaving the shutter open during one exposure duration, the camera’s attached lens filter flutters the shutter multiple times during a single exposure, based on a carefully chosen binary sequence.

It’s so simple (relatively speaking), it’s mind-boggling!

2.5 inch HDD featuring perpendicular magnetic recording from gizmag

The burgeoning popularity of audiovisual-oriented PCs and increasing use of HDDs in various consumer electronics products is expected to drive further growth in the HDD market along with demand for ever-larger capacity. Continuing to cater for the world’s thirst for storage, Fujitsu has announced a new series of hard disk drives (HDDs) for mobile PCs, its first 2.5" HDD offerings to incorporate advanced perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology for enhanced storage capacity. Two new models, the 160GB MHW2160BH (which boasts the industry's highest storage capacity for a 5,400 rpm HDD), and the 80GB MHW2080BH, will go on sale worldwide from October.

Fujitsu has been an industry leader in the research and development of PMR technology to support capacity expansion. Valuing the reputation for high quality that Fujitsu HDDs have earned to date from many customers, the company has successfully developed PMR products that maintain the same high quality standards, and going forward it plans to steadily expand and enhance its lineup of high-quality, large-capacity PMR HDDs.

And October is just around the corner!

Entertaible - First integrated, electronic multi-touch tabletop

Philips Entertaible is revealing its fully integrated tabletop gaming platform ‘Entertaible’ at this year’s Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin. The multi-purpose platform enables a new class of gaming that combines the excitement of electronic games with the fun and social interaction of board games. Entertaible is based on revolutionary new technologies enabling simultaneous multi-user interaction, object detection and recognition.

Entertaible uses proprietary digital shape recognition and multi-touch sensing (patent pending) to interpret the moves of several players simultaneously. This generates a highly interactive, intense gaming experience where speed and clever tactics are essential to win. The simultaneous tracking encourages players to make their moves in real-time by dispensing with the need to wait for their turn, and allows participants – with practice - to plan moves in advance and react immediately to the actions of the other players. The use of physical objects like pawns and bats to directly manipulate the virtual world enhances the sense of magic.

Let’s play a little Monopoly; no, chess; no, checkers; no, Stratego; no, Chutes and Ladders…

Widescreen entertainment on the move

Experience 16:9 widescreen entertainment on the move. Enjoy your favorite blockbuster movies in superior spectrum of sight and sound. The ZEN Vision W is in a league of its own with powerful multimedia features to support popular formats of movies, music, photos and includes FM radio.

Available in both sleek 30GB and heavy-duty 60GB models, you will never run out of space for the moments you cherish. That's tens of thousands of photos, up to 240 hours of movies, or even 15,000 songs all stored in your pocket. Tune in to the radio, or make personal voice memos. Take a closer look at the ZEN Vision W, and see how it lets you live your life your way.

Wow, that is nice!

Linspire - The World's Easiest Desktop Linux

CNR stands for "click and run". It is a FREE software delivery service designed for Linspire users that makes it easy to install Linux software. With the CNR Service you can install more than 2,000 FREE Linux software titles direct from the CNR Warehouse - all with just a single click. In fact, the CNR Service is the easiest way to install Linux software. Simply click the software you want and it installs on your computer and is ready to run. And the CNR Service gives you more than just one-click access to tons of free software. You also get a powerful, easy way to manage your entire software library. Like customizable aisles where you can install entire groups of software with a single click. Perfect for setting up a new computer!

Hate Windows?  Well, what are you waiting for?  This is your chance!  Move!

Foveon Camera Picture Leaked? from Gizmodo

If you're not familiar with Sigma, it's the company that developed the Foveon X3, whose newest iteration is now called the Full Color Capture Direct Image Sensor. First introduced in its SD9 digital SLR in 2002, the groundbreaking sensor uses a special layered-grid technology that separates the three primary colors, offering significantly higher resolution and color clarity.

Finally!  I thought that technology had gone by the wayside.

Gearing Up for Next-Generation DVD Market from Akihabara News

LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics and mobile communications, has launched Blu-ray compatible Full HD desktop PCs and a Blu-ray super-multi DVD writer. The company also plans to release a Blu-ray DVD player and a Blu-ray disc by the end of the year, aiming the Audio/ Video and storage market.

Hooray for Blu-ray!!

Longhorns unveil 'Godzillatron' from SI.com

Its nickname is Godzillatron.

Frankly, no other word would do justice to the monstrous new football stadium scoreboard at Texas. Towering over the south end zone at 55 feet tall and 134 feet wide, it is more than just a Texas-sized upgrade of the scoreboard at Royal-Memorial Stadium, home of the defending national champions. It is nearly as wide as the field itself and will be, for a short time at least, the largest high-definition video display board in the world, school officials say.

Ginormous!!  Ahh, the warm glow should be a welcome feeling on those cool Texas nights!

Home VoIP Router/Cellphone from Gizmodo

Remember the T-Mobile At Home VoIP service we told you about a few weeks ago? Looks like T-Mobile has rolled out the limited-edition beta deployment, and one such user sent in these pictures of his box that came with a router and a cellphone.

With T-mobile At Home and the included Samsung dual-mode phone (WiFi + Cellular), you can switch back and forth between the cellular network and any WiFi access point. We're not sure how well it works, but we'll post updates we have them.

This would be a cool concept.  Just imagine.  You’re chatting away on your T-Mobile-enabled handset when you step into a Starbucks.  The phone automagically switches to making a VoIP call once you’re inside and re-routes all calls.  Nice!  I think that’s how it may work…  We’ll see.

DDR 2 DIMMs with clip-on fan from Reg Hardware

Memory maker Corsair has launched a pair of high-performance memory modules that not only ship with a specially design heat sink but can also be supplied with a clip-on cooling fan. The DDR 2 DIMMs run at 1,111MHz. Dubbed the XMS 2 Dominator, the Corsair product line comprises two 2GB modules, one clocked at 1,111MHz, the other at 1,066MHz. The higher-speed version has a latency rating of 4-4-4-12-2T, while the other DIMM is rated at 5-5-5-15-2T, Corsair said.

Let’s see, in a typical desktop computer, there’s a fan for cooling the power supply.  Then there’s a fan for cooling the main CPU.  In some gaming configurations, there’s a fan for the high-end video card.  Then there’s the case fan.  That’s already four fans!  Now there’s a need for cooling the RAM with another fan!  That’s one noisy box!

The Firefox Extension that Combines Gmail with Getting Things Done

Have a Gmail account, a curiousity about the Getting Things Done (GtD) method, a Firefox browser user, and the willingness to get organized; and who doesn’t?  Well, you’re in luck.  More here.

'See-through' silver could boost LEDs from optics.org

Ian Hooper and colleagues at the University of Exeter say that the light passes through the silver in a similar way to how particles can tunnel through barrriers. The work could help to improve the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes and enable a new generation of semiconductor devices. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 053902).

It is well known that light travelling through a solid block will undergo total internal reflection if it strikes the surface at a very shallow angle. Some of the electromagnetic field, however, strays into the air -- a so-called evanescent wave.

This can form a beam of lower intensity if it passes into another solid block placed nearby. Hooper and colleagues then wondered what happens if each block is coated with another material. According to their calculations, light should be transmitted with perfect efficiency.

To find out what happens in practice, the researchers coated the surface of a silica prism with a film of zinc sulphide just 200 nm thick. They then clamped two such prisms together, leaving a very thin air gap sandwiched between them. When light of the correct wavelength was used, it was found to pass through the sandwich with about 85% efficiency. This was not quite perfect transmission because the zinc sulphide absorbs some light.

The physicists then replaced the air gap with a 40-nm thick layer of silver. On its own, silver of this thickness is almost opaque to light. But when sandwiched between the two coated prisms in this way, it was found to transmit light with an efficiency as high as 35% at certain wavelengths.

Better, more efficient OLEDs.  That’s always a good thing.

14.1-inch WXGA flexible E-book from AVING USA

LG Philips LCD presented prototype of 14.1-inch WXGA flexible E-book at IMID 2006 under cooperation with E-ink. Unlike conventional LCD TVs, it needs power when it turns pages.

A researcher at LG Philips LCD said that it is possible to produce any slim E-book with this flexible display depending on the thickness of stainless steel. However, due to relatively slow response time (300ms), it can be good for making E-book whereas it would not be appropriate for playing video files.

Oooo…! *slobber*

The snuggly bedside computer from Engadget

If Chumby, maker of this rugby ball-sized computer by the same name, has its way, then it will replace all of our bedside digital clocks with a stripped-down computer stuffed in a cuddly exterior case. Apparently the Chumby is designed to be a little hackable nugget that will play Flash applications (known in Chumby-speak as "widgets") that can do various other things like (you guessed it): play music, check your RSS feeds, and display your photos. Inside this little furball is a 266 MHz CPU, 32MB SDRAM, 64MB Flash RAM, 320 x 240 3-inch screen, two USB ports, 2W speakers, and WiFi. Basically, it does everything that your regular computer does (except smaller and a little slower), but it comes in a fuzzy little self-contained box so you can snuggle up to it at night and have it try to read Engadget quietly to you while you sleep. That is, when they're actually available to the public.

Hmmm, this looks like we’re going back to the era of computer appliances.  My bedside clock is now an endangered device!

Ditch your fat wallet from SCI FI Tech

As George Costanza can tell you, having a giant wallet can result in disaster, and it usually isn't of the hilarious nature that you find on sitcoms. No, a slim wallet makes for a happy ass, and your ass would love you if you picked up this Visa Money Clip. A brilliant combination of a money clip and a credit card, it allows you to carry around your plastic and a wad of cash without any extra bulk at all. While still a concept at the moment, this entry in a Visa design competition by Roger Arquer is so simple and would be such a cinch to make we can't imagine it not becoming a reality. And yeah, it might not be as slick as the C'ALL Future Phone, but it does have the benefit of being, you know, technologically possible to create rather than just a sweet photoshop, so we give it a leg up.

Nice idea in concept, but that flimsy chip providing all that holding power is just asking for it!

The world's first designer garage (with six figure price tag) from gizmag

Citroen has unveiled the world’s first ‘designer garage’ for its new executive model, the C6. Penned exclusively by acclaimed architects, Neutral, the unique structure comes with a UKP112,330 price tag – three times the cost of Citroen’s range-topping C6. Drawing inspiration from the pronounced architectural forms of the Citroën C6 itself, the garage is formed by three solid strands, which create the ‘skeleton’ of the main building that stands 3m tall and covers 50 square metres.

Constructed out of light transmitting concrete with transparent sliding ‘doors’ to the sides, which allow the vehicle to enter from either the front or the rear, the building securely encloses the C6 in the traditional sense of a garage, but at the same time allows it to be displayed to the passer-by.

The transparent sliding plates have been constructed of reinforced, environmentally friendly polycarbonate sheets with coloured LCD layers in the sheets allowing for opacity when the car owner switches on the privacy mode.

That car better be worth it!

Pluto Downgraded To 'Dwarf Planet' Status from ScienceDaily

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) today downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a "dwarf planet," a designation that will also be applied to the spherical body discovered last year by California Institute of Technology planetary scientist Mike Brown and his colleagues. The decision means that only the rocky worlds of the inner solar system and the gas giants of the outer system will hereafter be designated as planets.

Pluto was discovered in 1930. Because of its size and distance from Earth, astronomers had no idea of its composition or other characteristics at the time. But having no reason to think that many other similar bodies would eventually be found in the outer reaches of the solar system--or that a new type of body even existed in the region--they assumed that designating the new discover as the ninth planet was a scientifically accurate decision.

Now we’ll have to call our niece and nephew back to let them know that there’re now only eight instead of nine planets in our solar system.

Self Destructing Spy Paper

This "spy paper" looks like ordinary paper, but is unique in that it dissolves in just seconds when contacted with liquid, resulting in a useless, non- reconstructible mulch which is far more secured than the output of any standard shredder. You can write on this paper normally, but contact it with any liquid, even saliva, and it transforms into a secure mulch. It's ideal for those confidential notes that may have to "disappear" quickly with little advance notice. It comes in one pad of 32 sheets, each sheet is 2.75" x 4.25" in a sealable storage bag.

These should be offered in various palatable flavors.