Intel’s new 34nm SSDs cut prices by 60 percent, boost speed – “Intel has announced two new solid state disk drives made on its leading-edge 34nm process. The two new SSDs are X25M SATA parts weighing in at 80GB and 160GB, and they’re meant to replace Intel’s existing X25M drives in those capacities, but at 60 percent less cost and with better performance. The 80GB X25-M is $225 in lots of 1,000 (down from $595), and the 160GB is $440 (from $945). That’s some serious discounting, and it may well drive even more SSD uptake in the coming quarters despite the ongoing IT spending crunch…”

Doom to Dunia: A Visual History of 3D Game Engines – “Doom might arguably be the most memorable (or at least the most popular) PC game of all time, and with good reason. Prior to Doom’s release, programmers found themselves in the stone age of game development. For the most part, building a game meant starting from scratch and compiling all new code, but like the invention of the wheel, the advent of the game engine forever changed the PC gaming landscape…”

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About – “There are some things in this world that will never be forgotten, this week’s 40th anniversary of the moon landing for one. But Moore’s Law and our ever-increasing quest for simpler, smaller, faster and better widgets and thingamabobs will always ensure that some of the technology we grew up with will not be passed down the line to the next generation of geeks…”

No Wonder Fuel Economy is Stagnant, Cars Ballooned Up Since 1980 – “This isn’t exactly a secret, but it’s worth repeating: Our cars are getting more fuel efficient over time, the problem is that this improved efficiency is used to move around a bigger, heavier vehicle instead of being used to improve MPG. Cars keep the same nameplates, but they become completely different beasts over time…”

Power 7: Lots of Cores, Lots of Threads – “Today, Handy said that the Power7 chip, in fact, would come with variants that have four, six, or eight cores and that each core would have as many as four processor threads per core. So a single Power7 chip could have as many as 32 different processor threads, compared to four threads with the Power5 through Power6+ generations of chips. (The Power4 and Power4+ chips did not support simultaneous multithreading, but were the first chips in the world to have two cores on a die.) IBM has not said how far it will scale its Power7 servers, but if it does 32 sockets as it does today with the Power 595 (and given the statement above about upgrade paths, this stands to reason), then a future 595-class box will be able to support 256 processor cores and 1,024 threads…”

Apple to Release Subsidized Tablet Through Verizon Later This Year? – “The Street’s Scott Moritz reports that Apple is planning to release its long-rumored tablet computer “in time for the holidays” later this year. While Apple is reportedly still deciding on a sales model for the new device, Moritz’s source reports that initial plans include subsidies from Verizon in order to lock in users for multi-year wireless data contracts while bringing down the upfront cost to consumers for the device, which is expected to carry a premium price tag…”

5D Shutter in Slow Motion – “Here’s a vid of the 5D shutter in slow motion. Apparently shot at 2000fps using a Phantom HD…”

New Canon Hybrid IS world’s first Image Stabilizer to compensate for two types of camera shake – “Canon Inc. announced today the development of Hybrid Image Stabilizer (IS), the world’s first* optical Image Stabilizer which compensates for both angular camera shake and shift camera shake. The technology will be incorporated in an interchangeable single lens reflex (SLR) camera lens planned for commercial release before the end of 2009…”

Possible cure for radiation sickness discovered? – “According to a report in the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronoth, US and Israeli researchers have developed a drug that offers protection from the damaging effects of radiation sickness. The medication could not only provide effective protection in the event of a nuclear or “dirty bomb” attack, but it could also enable cancer patients to be treated with more powerful doses of radiation…”

My other car’s a jet… Or how to turn a garage door into a work of art – “At first glance, this looks like a very well-to-do neighbourhood. One in which Formula One racing cars, private jets, speedboats and the kind of equipment that any fledgling rock band would be proud of are left lying around in the garage. In fact, these utterly realistic images are printed on plastic sheets which are stuck on garage doors – the latest craze for home owners who want to not so much keep up with, as totally freak out, the Joneses…”

One Giant Leap to Nowhere – “The American space program, the greatest, grandest, most Promethean — O.K. if I add “godlike”? — quest in the history of the world, died in infancy at 10:56 p.m. New York time on July 20, 1969, the moment the foot of Apollo 11’s Commander Armstrong touched the surface of the Moon…”

New NASA Boss: Astronauts on Mars in His Lifetime – “NASA’s new boss said Tuesday he will be “incredibly disappointed” if people aren’t on Mars — or venturing somewhere beyond it — in his lifetime…”

Hope, caught up in a sea of obstruction – “HERE’S THE situation: President Obama maneuvered a stimulus package through Congress that, after being reduced to attract additional senators, has proven insufficient to stimulate the economy. Now, given the political calculus, it would be nearly impossible for him to introduce an additional boost. He also proposed a regulatory scheme for Wall Street that was so riddled with compromises and concessions that it was unlikely to prevent another economic meltdown. And he has pushed a national healthcare plan that is almost certain to be eviscerated, and that even in its disemboweled form may not pass Congress…”

July 22, 1962: Mariner 1 Done In by a Typo – “When The New York Times copy desk lets a typo slip through, it’s embarrassing but no one gets hurt. When NASA programmers screw up, the consequences are a tad more dramatic, not to mention expensive. In this case, a “missing hyphen” in code forces mission control to abort the launch of the unmanned Mariner 1 probe less than five minutes after liftoff…”

Submarines for Everyone! – “Seventy-one percent of the Earth’s surface is water, and the realms below it offer enormous possibilities for exploration, recreation and education. Yet those depths remain inaccessible to most people. A growing number of explorers and entrepreneurs hope to change that with personal submersibles, an emerging type of watercraft that carry two or three people and fly through our underwater world. Three companies have shown their craft in California, promising a new era of underwater exploration. Hawkes Ocean Technologies unveiled its latest winged sub and is offering “flights” in Monterey Bay this month. Super Aviator Systems and Seamagine recently demonstrated their watercraft in Lake Tahoe…”

Home Burials Offer an Intimate Alternative – “When Nathaniel Roe, 92, died at his 18th-century farmhouse here the morning of June 6, his family did not call a funeral home to handle the arrangements…”

‘Back to the Futures’ Finally Compared – “In the years between Back to the Future and Back to the Future II, Michael J. Fox visibly aged and the actress playing his girlfriend was replaced by Elizabeth Shue. Thus, to show the closing scene from the first film as the opening of the second, it was necessary to completely reshoot it. Dig?”

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