Giz reader Nicholas Buechi created this real liquid display that really doesn’t display anything but bubbles. And that’s enough, because it is mesmerizing enough as it is. The liquid display is driven by an Arduino processor, and the events are triggered by a water keyboard. Sounds crazy, but in action it looks very pretty and soothing:

Nicholas explains how it works:

It’s based on an Arduino processor and a board I did myself. There are 16 valves controlled by transistors. The interface [where you put your fingers to trigger events] uses 3 Q-Prox QT110E chips. With them I measure the voltage in the water. If anyone touches the water, electrons flow to the person, which gives the system feedback.

The whole effect is quite relaxing and cool. I need this as a Mac OS X screensaver. Pronto. [The Liquid Display]

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For the DIY DVR enthusiast, Hitachi just announced their new CinemaStar 7K1000.B. Coming in sizes up to 1 terabyte, the 7,200 RPM drives promise to be the “industry’s quietest, most energy-efficient 3.5-inch hard drives.” But what can a 1TB CinemaStar actually do? It can store 247 hours of HD MPEG4 and handle 10 streams of data simultaneously (as usual, your tuners are the main limiting factor). Hitachi also promises that the CinemaStars are designed for operation 24/7, so hopefully you won’t lose about 45 episodes of No Reservations like I just did. There are no prices yet, but look for the new CinemaStar 7K1000.B this August.

Hitachi Delivers High-Capacity, Low-Power Digital Video Storage For the Tera Era

Hitachi CoolSpin Technology Delivers Low Power and Quiet Acoustics for Digital Video Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif. – July 30, 2008 – Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) today introduced two new CinemaStar™ hard drives optimized for use in digital video recorders (DVRs) and set-top boxes. The CinemaStar™ 7K1000.B is available in a broad range of capacities up to one terabyte (1TB) and the CinemaStar 5K320 delivers up to 320GB of capacity and incorporates innovative Hitachi CoolSpin™ technology.

CoolSpin drives use a motor speed optimized for low power and acoustics, enabling Hitachi to deliver the industry’s quietest, most energy-efficient 3.5-inch hard drives. Hitachi CoolSpin enables a new generation of DVRs and set-top boxes that store more hours of video, run more quietly and use less power.

The new Hitachi CinemaStar drives include the following:

Drive mechanics designed for continuous 24×7 operation

Silent-seek acoustics for nearly inaudible operation

Three low-power idle modes for best-in-class power utilization and heat emission

Smart Command Transport (SCT) and SmoothStream technology optimizes the drive for uninterrupted audio and video streaming

Expanded temperature range to enable fan-free DVR designs

Ramp load/unload design to increase shock protection and power savings

Thermal monitoring and fly-height control to enhance drive reliability during lengthy video encoding/decoding sessions

Optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) for increased protection against data loss

Proven perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology helps to ensure maximum stability, reliability and data integrity

CinemaStar 7K1000.B

The CinemaStar 7K1000.B is based on the recently-introduced, second-generation Hitachi 7,200 RPM terabyte hard drive family. The new 3.5-inch drives, available in capacities ranging from 160GB to 1TB, leverage seven generations of power management technology to deliver best-in-class low power and thermal emissions. Hitachi used HiVERT technology, first pioneered on 2.5-inch Travelstar drives, to increase the power efficiency characteristics of the drive. The CinemaStar 7K1000.B enables device manufacturers to develop DVRs that run cooler and require less power, which ultimately leads to longer product life.

All CinemaStar products are enhanced with silent-seek acoustics to deliver bedroom-quiet operation, and a Hitachi patented load/unload ramp mechanism that helps prevent disk wear and protects the disk during non-operation. The CinemaStar 7K1000.B is also built using the industry’s most reliable perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology for maximum stability, reliability and data integrity.

1TB CinemaStar hard drives can hold up to 247 hours of MPEG-4 encoded high definition video1 and can support more than 10 simultaneous data streams.

CinemaStar 5K320

The CinemaStar 5K320 provides up to 320GB capacity and features innovative CoolSpin technology to deliver a new level of power efficiency and quiet operation for digital video applications. Key to CoolSpin technology is an optimization of motor speed to provide an ideal balance of performance, power utilization and acoustics.

Both CinemaStar drives announced today combine a targeted 1.2M hour Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)3 and extended operating temperature range to maximize DVR lifespan. At 3.1W idle power, the CinemaStar 5K320 helps meet low power compliance targets for consumer electronics devices and allow consumers to save on their energy costs.

The digital video recorder market continues to experience robust growth. IDC estimates that shipments of hard drives for personal video recording applications will grow at a 14% annual growth rate between 2007-20122.

“Hitachi has been making dramatic improvements in power savings generation to generation and our CoolSpin product line in particular, sets new standards for power-efficient audio/visual hard drives,” said Larry Swezey, director, Consumer and Commercial HDD Marketing and Strategy, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. “The Hitachi CinemaStar drives are designed to excel in DVR and set-top box applications, where cool operation, quiet acoustics and overall power efficiency are of critical importance.”

Availability

The CinemaStar 7K1000.B will begin shipping to customers worldwide in August and the CinemaStar 5K320 is expected to ship in September, 2008.

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Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio based near Chicago, makes toy rockets that are powered by burning hydrogen, allowing them to travel at various speeds. Now the company is being funded by the US army to adapt that technology to fire bullets which can be set to kill, wound, or just inflict a bruise instead. This technology could help the US Army which is interested in arming soldiers with weapons that can be switched between lethal and non-lethal modes.

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Section: Computers, Desktops

Here’s another entrant to the expanding “nettop” or mini desktop PC market, the Shuttle KPC 4800 which is very similar to the KPC 4500 which was announced by Shuttle last year. This affordable mini desktop PC runs on Foresight Linux but users can choose to upgrade to the 32-bit Windows Vista.

In addition, the KPC 4800 features Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium or even Core 2 Duo processor, 512MB up to 2GB RAM, 80 to 160GB hard drive with provision for dual hard drives, optical drive, several ports for PS/2 keyboard and mouse, Gigabit LAN port, VGA output, D-sub port, serial port, front out connector, real surround out connector, center/base connector, and wireless port perforation.

Pricing for the Shuttle KPC 4800 can go as low as $279 for the basic Linux model and $479 for the Vista-powered units. Of course, you still have to consider the costs of keyboard, mouse and other peripherals that you need to buy to use the mini desktop.

Product [Shuttle] Via [Crave]

Full Story » | Written by Arnold Zafra for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia’s doing far better than rivals like Sony Ericsson and Motorola, but it’s not going to let up while it’s ahead — the cellphone maker is reportedly cutting prices across the board in order to increase pressure on the competition. The biggest cuts are on the 5310/ 5610 music phones and the 8GB N81, but most other handsets have seen price decreases of up to 10 percent as well. The move is something of a surprise, with one analyst calling it a “Crazy Ivan,” which is probably the first time The Hunt For Red October has ever been employed to describe the actions of a multinational corporation. So, Espoo — does this mean the Tube is going to be crazy cheap, or what?

[Via Phone Scoop]

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