Interesting, especially for those who work in audio-related fields: Laser-Accurate microphone captures 'pure sound'

There are good microphones, and there are bad microphones, but pretty much all of them are limited by the nature of the technology — specifically, the diaphragm that moves in response to air. The structure of that diaphragm will affect the sound that's recorded, even if that influence is minute. There's simply no way around it.

Or is there? David Schwartz at the Rochester Institute of Technology says his Laser-Accurate micorphone is capable of recording "pure sound." Instead of conventional transducers, Schwartz's mike uses lasers to scan an air chamber filled with microscopic particles (read: smoke). When the particles move in response to sound, the laser detects the motion without disturbing the air (at least not in any acoustic way), so the vibration — and thus the recording — should be as close to acoustically perfect as possible. In theory.

The laser mike looks like a promising new technology, but it's clearly in the infant stages. If you check out the second vid through the Continue link below, you can see Schwartz has to shout to get the smoke microphone to get a decent recording. If he can somehow get a working product, though, it would certainly quickly become the go-to mike for the recording industry.

that is neat, but ugggggg his video had the WORST sound. Especially the second video. For an AES guy, you'd think he would have better sound. :: cringes ::

Typo Boy, are you looking for something stand alone? Or something to patch into a sound system? If you want wireless, that will jack the price up a LOT, and make it that much more complex to deal with. Anchor Audio has some interesting products in a few price ranges: [link]

I think most not all of the places I go have sound systems. Wired is fine if wireless is expensive. It must be very portable, so if stand alone is either heavy, then patch in only. It is one of those things that would be nice, but that I should forget if it is expensive.

OK - related question. I guess I thought a microphone would be cheap, because microphones for recording and speakers for playback are so cheap. But it occurs to me: I can record with a cheap mike on my PC now, then play it back loudly. For that Skype and other computer telephony can do the same less loudly with no delay. How hard would it be turn that same hardware into the kind of setup I'm looking for just with software?

Aha - all I need is the receiver? [link]

Or it seems that with the right settings, just a computer, mike and speakers will do it. [link] I note that in this last case no one mentions trying it.

SGI 80-core Personal Supercomputer packs a punch on the cheap

You'd be forgiven if you thought former computer giant SGI (Silicon Graphics, Inc.) had gone extinct. But the California company responsible for the computing engines behind such special effects flicks as Jurassic Park and other 90s blockbusters is still alive and kicking, and proves it's still a T-Rex with its Octane III Personal Supercomputer.

You can stuff 80 cores' worth of Intel quad-core Xeon processor goodness into this beast, accompanied by advanced NVIDIA graphics and nearly a terabyte of memory. For more efficiency, you can slip 19 of those tiny, low-power single-socket dual-core Intel Atom processors inside. This 1x2-foot deskside workstation is said to be ultraquiet, too.

That $100,000-and-up pricing of the old SGI has also gone the way of the dinosaur — this hot box's pricing starts at $7995. Sure, the 80-core version will cost a lot more than that, but it'll still be a far cry from 100 grand. And it puts even the most powerful PC workstations to shame. Could this mean the old SGI is back?

I want one. Now I'm trying to thing of something to do that would actually require this much computing power....

But do they have Guitar Hero?

I had thought it was TiVo's competition, but no, it was Netflix offering a payout for a better "If you like this..." algorithm, and they've paid out. Submitted just half an hour before the deadline, too.

Ooh baby!

Microsoft Courier: First Details Of Secret Tablet Computer Leaked (PHOTOS)

Microsoft has had the development of a tablet computer under wraps, with nary a peep from the lab, but details have just gotten out about the the company's secret project.

The Microsoft Courier is a booklet computer and is already in the "late prototype" stage of development--apparently far enough along that Microsoft's been showing the design concept to outside agencies.

It includes two, multi-touch 7-inch screens that can be used for writing, flicking, and drawing with a stylus pen, or navigated with your fingers.

::pokes head into thread::

Hello! I got an iPhone about a month ago and for some reason it is slow as shit at my house. Much faster at my boyfriend's house. It is slow as shit when it *says* it is on full wifi signal. Last night I noticed it wasn't registering my network for some reason, and was actually downloading much faster via 3G.

And when I say slow, I mean sometimes it won't update the weather and I get "server connection failed" type messages. Takes me five minutes and multiple refreshes just to get Facebook to update.

Any clue what the issue might be?

eta several things:

Amyth noted that her computer was very slow when she lived with me. The router frequently needs to be rebooted. So I'm aware that this is some kind of network problem. I guess what I'm asking is if there's anything I can do or do I just need to bug the cable company for new equipment?