Author Archive
Touch screens are now everywhere
The Samsung Omnia smartphone uses a touch screen
The technology for touch screens comes in a variety of different forms. There is resistive, surface acoustic wave, capacitive which includes surface capacitance and projected capacitance touch (PCT), infrared, strain gauge, optical imaging, dispersive signal technology, and acoustic pulse recognition. PCT touchscreen technology is used in a wide range of applications including smart phones, kiosk, and point-of-sale systems.
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Toshiba to start selling portable hard drives
Toshiba 200GB Portable HDD
Toshiba is going to start selling portable hard drives in addition to laptops and DVD players. The USB 2.0 external hard disk will be available in capacities ranging from 100 GB to 200 GB – the largest capacity yet available in a portable, compact form factor.
The device itself is less than 2.5 cm thick and smaller than a 10×15cm photo. It is designed to be used as a back up for computer documents, photos, videos, and music files. With its size, it is also rugged enough to be able to carry on business or leisure trips.
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Mayan Civilization Math
Mayan numbers and math
The Mayan civilization’s mathematics were one of the most advanced of the ancient Americas. Rather than using a base 10 system as we use (1, 10, 100, 1,000, etc.) they used a base 20 system (1, 20, 400, 8,000, etc.) One of the most fascinating facts about their mathematical system was that their counting system used only 3 symbols – a “shell”, dot, and line. The shell represented 0, the dot represented 1, and the line represented 5.
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Einstein’s Riddle Solution Explained
Albert Einstein "So have you worked it out yet? Who owns ze fish, ja!"
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Albert Einstein’s Riddle – With Solution Explained
Albert Einstein has a riddle to share
According to Einstein, roughly 98% of the world’s population cannot solve this riddle. It is one that uses pure logic – no fancy math is required.
1. In a street there are five houses, painted five different colours.
2. In each house lives a person of different nationality
3. These five homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke different brand of cigar and keep a different pet.
The Question: Who owns the fish?
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Why Is Albert Einstein Famous?
Albert Einstein is not famous just for riding his bike
Albert Einstein is famous for a number of reasons (two theories of relativity, nobel prize), but perhaps his most well known accomplishment is a very simple mathematical equation: e=mc^2. This is probably the most famous math equation ever written (except maybe 2+2=4); it is extremely simple to understand, yet the implications of it led directly to the atomic bomb and nuclear power.
The equation is actually energy = mass times the speed of light (c) squared. Since the speed of light is constant, and an extremely large number, this implies that a *vast* amount of energy can be created from very very little matter. In other words, you could power New York City for months from a gallon of water.
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Inventions of Ancient Greece – The Catapult
Palintonon stone throwing Greek catapult
The Greek catapult was developed by Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse around 350 BC. Dionysius actually called the machine Katapaltai, and they are mentioned in the Siegecraft (Poliorkētika) treatise of Aeneas Tacticus. Originally, because of their large bulk and problems with portability, they were used mainly in seige warfare. Alexander the Great is thought to be the first to use them for cover fire for ground troops in addition to seige warfare, essentially introducing artillary to the military world.
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6 Inventions That Changed The World – And What You Can Learn From Them
Young inventor Thomas Edison lost in thought
Throughout history, people have made inventions that changed the world. Some got lucky and stumbled on something, some actually set out to make something, and still others improved upon existing technology to create something revolutionary. We’re going to show what we consider the top 6 world changing inventions, from how they were found, to how they ended up being used.
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Will The World End In 2012? According To The Mayan Calendar, Yes
2012 Doomsday, coming soon.
There is a somewhat wideheld belief that the end of the Mayan Calendar – December 21, 2012 – will be the end of the world as well. Sure, it could be just another “doomsday” prophesy tossed out there, but there are quite a few interesting coincidences.
First, December 21, 2012 is the winter solstice. It is well known that the Mayans were advanced mathematicians and astronmers, so this might not be quite so coincidental. It should also be noted that there is an eclipse of the sun scheduled for November of 2012 – while not matching up exactly, the timing of celestial events with the ending of the calendar can be considered interesting. Some scientists also believe that when the Mayan Calendar finishes, it will simply start again for its second cycle with no apocalyptic ending to the world.
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Has Mathematics Discovered The Fundamentals Of The Cosmos?
Mathematics and the fundamentals of the Cosmos
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