Mahdin Mahboob’s Articles

Entries from June 2008

Tech Wise [22nd June 2008]

June 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2008/06/04/tech.htm

Panasonic’s New HD Camcorders World’s First With 3-MOS Sensors

The all new HDC-SD100 and HDC-HS100 camcorders from Panasonic have a cool new MOS system. This makes them the world’s first AVCHD camcorders with “3MOS,” which has double the light-receiving area of the CCD version, better for low-light shooting. The HS100 model records to SD card and its 60GB HDD, while the SD100 just saves to SD but both have full HD resolution, a new Leica lens and optical image stabilization. It is due to come out in US markets in September for $1,299.95 (BDT 91,000 approx.) for the HS100 and $1,099.95 (BDT 77,000 approx.) for the HDC-HS100.


Speed Racing Motorcycle Inspired By Aliens

After one look at the Indian-branded “Speed Racer” motorcycle concept bike by Dan Bailey, it is easy to see how he incorporated the main characters in the Aliens movie into the aesthetics. Using the specs on the Kawasaki Ninja as his framework, Bailey sought to design a bike that was rugged but maintained a sleek looka mission he has certainly accomplished. It is not yet known know if the Speed Racer will ever go into production but it does look stylish! But how do you sit on it?


Ergonomic Workstation: The Ultimate in Geeky Gaming Comfort

The Ergonomic Workstation from Ergo Motions may look like a dentist’s chair, but I must say that if my dentist had this thing in his office, I would be in there for a root canal right away. Ergo Motions mission is to help gamers and heavy workstation users avoid the repetitive stress injuries and posture issues that often result from sitting and typing away on a computer all day. The Ergonomic Workstation Phase I prototype appears to do thatand much more.


Features include:

Industrial rack mounted hardened PC
Two 19” Digital monitors
7.1 surround sound system
Wireless network capability
Ergonomic keyboard and mouse
Video conferencing capability with a built-in camera
VOIP with full telephony features
Articulating calf support (programmable to reduce DVT)
Mechanically adjustable armrests
Mechanically adjustable headrest and monitors
Pneumatically inflatable lumbar and headrest bladders
Mechanically reclining motion to 38 degrees
Mechanically adjustable seat depth (knee to hip)
Mechanically retractable monitors
Swing away keyboard (manual)
Form fitting seatback, armrests and seat cushion
Memory chair presets via proprietary Motion Control Board/Software
Compact design using twelve square feet of floor space
The Ergonomic Workstation is currently in a prototype phase so the when, where and how much information is not yet known. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was far too expensive for the average lazy geek to afford.

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Tech Wise [15th June 2008]

June 15, 2008 · Leave a Comment

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2008/06/03/tech.htm

BMW’s concept car made out of cloth!!!

BMW has created a concept car called the GINA Light Visionary Model, which takes a seamless, plastic-coated lycra material, and stretches it over a metal frame with moving parts allowing for the car to have shape-shifting properties. The shape of the body can be changed without tearing or loosening the fabric, and the steering wheel, gauges and headrest all move into place after you sit down in the car.

The car is based off a 4.4-liter Z8 with a six-speed automatic transmission. The body is comprised of just four panels hood, sides and rear and the material is water resistant. As far as shape-shifting goes, the car can alter things like adding or removing a spoiler, or widening fenders. I’m not sure about you, but it sure looks mind blowing to me!


Sony Ericsson C905 a 8.1 Megapixel Cybershot?

According to the Unofficial Sony Ericsson blog, the upcoming C905 phone will be the flagship Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot phone. Here’s why it’s so good. There’s a 8.1-megapixel camera with “auto focus, face recognition, a new feature called Smart Contrast, image stabilization, BestPic, red-eye reduction, xenon flash as well as photoflash for both photos and videos.” There’s also location tagging with GPS, an accelerometer, 2.4-inch QVGA display, TV-out, Wi-Fi, DLNA support, Bluetooth and USB 2.0 transfers. It sure sounds too good to be true! Now it remains to be seen if this one turns out to be true and whether they can fit all of these features into that small body.


Disguised Lighting looks like Slits into Parallel LED Universe

Designer Billy May has come up with his Torn Lighting concept as a discreet way of adding some light to your apartment. The installations conceal LED lights, and look like you’ve got some kind of weird space-time holes torn into your walls and leaking light into your room. Pretty neat, and a nice way of getting mood light from LEDs without the risk of you being dazzled by their exposed faces. Now if only there was a way to animate the walls to get a proper rippling effect!


Gateway’s All-In-One PC Revealed

Gateway’s been acting all mysterious about its upcoming one-piece PC and now it has finally revealed the Gateway One, a 19-inch all-in-one desktop box that’s just 3.6 inches deep. The long-chinned PC will be available in three models, two of them retail versions and one available only online, and all of them carrying mildly respectable specs.

The low-end retail version starts out with a 1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor inside as well as 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive along with Intel X3100 graphics, and that’ll cost you $1300 (approx. BDT 91,000). The higher-end retail version bolsters the specs, raising that Core 2 Duo chip to 2GHz, adding an extra gig of RAM to 3GB and bumping up that hard disc to 500GB.

In between those two is the $1500(approx. BDT 105,000) online version, just like a low-end model except with a 400GB hard drive and a better Radeon HD 2600 graphics chipset. Does sound a good buy overall!

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Graduation Day of International School Dhaka

June 8, 2008 · Leave a Comment

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2008/06/02/feature_graduation.htm

THE International School Dhaka celebrated the graduation of its Grade-12 Class on 29th May 2008 at the Radisson Winter Garden Hotel in Dhaka. Thirty-six students have graduated from the second batch this year, the first batch graduating in 2007. The school opened its operations in 1999 with Nursery classes to Grade-5 and has grown a grade level each year, with the second batch of students now completing examinations for their International Baccalaureate Diploma. The focus of the IB Diploma is to create students who strive to be thinkers, communicators and risk takers, but who are balanced, caring, reflective, knowledgeable, principled and open minded at the same time.The IB Diploma is recognised as a valued, and prized entry qualification by universities and colleges around the world.

The Graduation Ceremony featured Mr. Richard Tangye, the Executive Director of the Council of International Schools, and advisory member to the ISD Board of Directors as the Chief Guest. He congratulated the parents and the students for their vision and courage in being the first school in Bangladesh to adopt the full IB curriculum programme for Primary & Middle Years and the IB Diploma curriculum and noted that many of the ISD students have already received offers of places at prestigious universities around the world.

The new ISD graduates have already received early offers of places and scholarship support at prestigious universities around the world, including McGill University, University of Toronto, Mt. Holyoke, Sara Lawrence College and University of Texas.

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[News Room] NSU Faculty chairs seminar on UWB in Malaysia

June 8, 2008 · Leave a Comment

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2008/06/02/newsroom.htm

Future generation communication system will require high mobility, flexibility and very high data-rate. In this context, broadband wireless digital communications will become prevalent. As the capacity of the channel is directly related to its bandwidth, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technologies are advantageous for use in a number of wireless communications applications, especially in short range high data rate networking. Impulse radio, a form of UWB spread-spectrum signaling, has properties that make it a viable candidate for short-range communications in dense multi-path environments.

Keeping this in mind, a seminar titled ‘Ultrawideband- A Booming Arena for Communication’ was recently held in UKM (National University Malaysia), Malaysia to provide an overview of UWB communication as well as to provide information about recent and promising new schemes in this field. Dr. Mohammad A Matin, Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of North South University was the chair of this seminar. Dr Matin has over 20 refereed journals and conference papers to his name and has received various international scholarships and awards in his academic life. His current research interests are in various aspects of digital communication.

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