20-Gigabit Wireless Data Achieved By Crossing Laser Beams [Wireless]

How do you make a wireless transmission that is as fast or even faster than most fiber-optic data passages? With laser beams of course! According to a Technology Review piece, super smart people at Battelle research in Columbus, OH figured out a way, using millimeter wave technology, to send data at speeds up to 20 gigabits per second. They even field tested 10 Gbps at up to 800 meters. Even accounting for Ohio’s unnervingly flat terrain, this is several hundred times farther than a wireless transmission of that bandwidth had ever reached before.

Rather than dick around in the 10-gigahertz frequency space—higher than most of today’s phones and wireless data products, but still in the realm of conventional radio—the Battelle team figured out how to create a 100GHz frequency by “modulat[ing] data on two low-frequency laser beams, then combin[ing] the two.” I knew crossing the streams of a proton gun could be bad; I did not know crossing laser beams modulated with data signal could be this good. I suppose the breakthrough does bode well for wireless devices, but I can’t imagine how any of this could run off of a lithium-ion battery. And, hey, wouldn’t laser phones make us all go blind? OK, smart people, please start talking, cuz I’m definitely over my head on this one. [MIT Tech Review via KurzweilAI.Net]

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BALLS 17 Experimental Rocket Competition, In Photographs [Rockets]

“BALLS 17 is a venue for projects that should NOT be flown publicly due to safety and legal restrictions. This may include, but is not limited to, LARGE rockets, complex staging or clustering, metal rockets, self designed and/or fabricated rocket motors and new technologies being developed or proven.”

That’s the disclaimer on the BALLS Experimental Rocket Launch website. Their 17th annual meeting just concluded in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where at least one rocket cracked 70,000 feet. Many others had successful flights. And some just blew up. Photography by Erik Charlton. See more of his fantastic shots from the event here. [via MAKE]

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Toshiba’s MacBook Pro-esque Satellite E105 arrives at Best Buy

Filed under: Laptops

The Toshiba E105 has been sneaking around the fringes for a few days now, but apparently it’s not just announced — it’s available for purchase. That’s right, the oddly familiar looking 14.1-incher can be had at Best Buy for the totally reasonable price of $1,199.99, packing a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, a 1280 x 800 TruBrite LCD display, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and an Intel 4500MHD integrated GPU. The Satellite also sports 802.11a/b/g/n, an HDMI out, Vista Home Premium, and that all-important fingerprint reader (just remember, this increases the odds of someone cutting off your finger). The laptop is available right now online, no word if it’s on store shelves yet.

[Via LogicBUY]

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Sony’s 18.4-inch VAIO VGN-AW190 gets reviewed

Filed under: Laptops

Time to face the music, folks — 18.4-inches is the new 17-inch. Sony’s recently unveiled VAIO AW is undoubtedly going toe-to-toe with HP’s new HDX 18t, and while both will garner all sorts of stares from onlookers, it appears that the VGN-AW190 may have an edge in terms of extras. For starters, this unit’s Adobe RGB-compatible display will be mighty impressive to those who dabble in photos to make ends meet, and the included RAM, CPU and Blu-ray drive were all smiled upon. Strangely enough, Sony tossed in a pathetically slow 4,200RPM hard drive to put a damper on overall performance, but that — along with the $3k+ sticker — was the only real weak spot. Overall, critics found that this machine would likely suit graphic designers and photographers quite well, but the average joe / jane may not appreciate the pricey extras enough to make it worthwhile.

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JM Billiard Round Pool Table Has a Stripper Pole Attachment [Balls Deep]

Rectangular pool tables? Sounds great, gramps, but why don’t you come join us ballers in the 21rst century and have a little fun? Today it’s all about round tables with custom add-ons, like stripper poles, which is exactly what California-based JM Billiards is doing with their one-of-a-kind models. When the balls aren’t sinking your way, toss ‘em aside and take out the ones, because the night’s going to get interesting. Just don’t try to do both activities at the same time, because eight-inch heels and 8-balls just don’t go well together. And yeah, I’m still talking about playing pool. Deviants.

[JM Billiard Co. via Born Rich]

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Fake Electronic Components Cause Military Malfunctions, Possibly International Espionage [This Week In Fear-mongering]

BusinessWeek reports that counterfeit hardware has been found to be the cause of several malfunctions in high-level military machinery. The phony infiltration has a distinct possibility of leading to espionage or sabotage. In other words, move over, Meizu M8: you’re not the biggest faker in town anymore.

Several crashes of military aircraft can be attributed to knockoff chips, but more insidiously, internal military data might be at risk. Melissa E. Hathaway, a head of cybersecurity at the FBI, says, “Counterfeit products have been linked to the crash of mission-critical networks, and may also contain hidden ‘back doors’ enabling network security to be bypassed and sensitive data accessed [by hackers, thieves, and spies].” Robert P. Ernst, who investigates counterfeiting for the U.S. Navy, estimates that 15% of the spare or replacement microchips bought by the Pentagon are fake. Where do these parts actually come from?

Made in, as BusinessWeek colorfully puts it, the “Chinese hinterland,” a lot of these components are made on the cheap and sold to the government for much less than name-brands can offer. To be fair, no evidence of terrifying espionage has been found; all of the problems are due to crappy chips failing to work at the worst times, which really should have been expected, since the military has been paying half the price for the same product.

But you can start to take off that tin foil hat, because steps are being taken. After the inquiries the military has decided to effect a rule requiring the source of all chips be ascertained before they place a bid. I’m satisfied, aren’t you? [BusinessWeek]

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Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Cleared by FCC [Xperia X1]

The highly-anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 smartphone has been approved by the FCC and helpfully posted on their website so I can spend my Saturday mornings combing through confusingly bureaucratic PDF files looking for announcements like this. The specific model vetted by the fatcats in Washington probably isn’t the one we’ll be seeing here in North America: it’s referred to as the X1i, which in Sony terms means Europe, and it’s not yet equipped with 3G. Still, this is a good indication that we will be getting the X1 before 2009, though it’ll still be after those shifty Europeans. [Crave]

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Filed under: Robots

WowWee goes out of its way to make one thing very clear about the Rovio: “this is not a toy.” That being said, it doesn’t make the patrolling sentry any less fantastic, as critics over at Robots-Dreams proclaimed that it was “intuitive and a pleasure to use from the moment you first open the box.” From the painless setup process to the unparalleled mobility, reviewers sounded like they were grinning from ear-to-ear during the entire writeup process. It performed its robotic sentry duties with vigor and valor, and the review crew couldn’t help but note that this bugger was “positioned to be the hottest robot for the upcoming holiday season, and for a long time to come.” In other words, if you’ve been on the fence about dropping three bills on this thing, all your worries about it potentially sucking just got thrashed.

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Via [Engadget]

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Filed under: Robots

WowWee goes out of its way to make one thing very clear about the Rovio: “this is not a toy.” That being said, it doesn’t make the patrolling sentry any less fantastic, as critics over at Robots-Dreams proclaimed that it was “intuitive and a pleasure to use from the moment you first open the box.” From the painless setup process to the unparalleled mobility, reviewers sounded like they were grinning from ear-to-ear during the entire writeup process. It performed its robotic sentry duties with vigor and valor, and the review crew couldn’t help but note that this bugger was “positioned to be the hottest robot for the upcoming holiday season, and for a long time to come.” In other words, if you’ve been on the fence about dropping three bills on this thing, all your worries about it potentially sucking just got thrashed.

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Via [Engadget]

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Blackberry Bold’s US Debut Delayed Yet Again [BlackBerry]

Say it ain’t so, Joe AT&T. According to RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis, the communications giant has delayed the release of the Bold on their network due to testing, possibly to safely avoid epic, bug-related fails. AT&T did go on record, only saying the phone is still scheduled to drop this year. But the longer you keep the BB faithful from the Bold, the more time they have to consider that other phone on AT&T. [AP via Phonescoop]

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