Typical high-end HD camcorders have 2.1M pixel sensors and record with 3:1:1 color subsampled video at up to 30fps. We deliver 12M pixels at up to 60fps and record RAW, or 2x over-sampled HD in 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 -- your choice. That's more than 5 times the amount of information available every second and a vastly superior recording quality.

Don't need all that data for your workflow? Dial it back, and keep all the other advantages of the Mysterium Super 35mm cine sized (24.4 x 13.7mm) sensor. You get the same breathtaking Depth of Field and selective focus as found in film cameras. Mysterium boasts a greater than 66db Signal to Noise Ratio thanks to its large 29 sq. micron pixels. And 12,065,000 pixels deliver resolution that can only be called Ultra High Definition.

Only $17,500.

Also, I wonder how much red.com cost him?

To get around those limitations, Micromat has started packaging TechTool Pro with a 1GB Firewire flash drive — the TechTool Protege. Pure genius. With TechTool Protege you can boot into a workable operating system to run TechTool Pro (or any other utility you can fit into the drive), back up files over the network, or whatever.

Lots of people who support Macs have been doing something like this since... forever. When I started working with Macs in 1995, I kept a floppy disk with a system folder & a few tools on it that could boot and fix anything from an SE to the mighty Quadra 950. That eventually morphed into a spare SCSI drive in an external case, then various CD's with the current version of Dave's Essentials Toolkit. These days I keep a Firewire case with a spare 20GB laptop drive loaded with a current OS install and a bevy of diagnostic & repair tools. It has enough space to back up most user's files in case a wipe & reinstall is needed (can't say I've ever had to resort to that.)

While Micromat's idea is neither cheap ($229) nor unique in the Macintosh world, it is unique in the market; all the other Mac disk utilities that I know of use a bootable CD. Hats off to them for listening to their users & making a truly useful tool.

The crew of a cruise ship attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia used a sonic weapon to help ward off the attackers [...]

The device blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam.

The sonic device, known as a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, is a so-called "non-lethal weapon" developed for the military after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen as a way to keep operators of small boats from approaching U.S. warships.

That article has a picture of the pirates shot by a passenger. I guess "pirate" is code for "idiot in a shrimp boat with a crappy gun."

Some guy tore apart a perfectly good iPod Nano and connected a 200GB Maxtor hard drive to it. Amazingly, it worked. The capacity increased by 50x, but battery life dropped to about 6 minutes.

Somehow that doesn't seem like a good tradeoff for a portable.

On the other hand, if you were to do this hack & hook the Nano up to a set of Logitech X-230's, or maybe one of those spiffy $30 Sonic Impact T-Amps and a good set of Bose speakers... That just might work out as a nice desktop stereo!

The $29.99 pocket-sized digital video cameras are able to capture up to 20 minutes of video and sound.

CVS Corp. stores, which has exclusive rights to sell them, will process the camera for $12.99 and return a DVD; users also can e-mail video and video greeting cards.

(Twenty minutes for $43... there's a joke in there somewhere.)

Digital images featuring someone in mid-blink could be banished forever using an image-analysis system for cameras developed in Japan.

The system developed by Kaneko's team gets around the problem by snapping 15 frames in 0.5 seconds after the shutter button is clicked. A computer then rapidly analyses these image, discarding those in which the subject is blinking, leaving photographer with a better final snap.

Via New Scientist.

So, what do you do when you and some friends are all getting iPod Shuffles? You make a RAID array out of them, of course! Follow along as we explore new depths of geekery...

Basically, they took four 1GB iPod Shuffles, plugged them into a USB hub, and used Apple's Disk Utility to make a 4GB striped RAID from it. It actually worked.

Then I found PQI's Intelligent Stick online. They're what might happen if a secure digital card and a USB stick had a baby.

The thing is only about the thickness of one penny and the length of two pennies side-by-side. There's no metal shield around the USB contacts on the business end, further reducing the size. You just wedge it into a USB slot.

It comes with a holder that fits in your wallet, and it's no thicker than three or four credit cards. No forgotten USB sticks.

It looks like PQI is trying to market these as an alternative to the current flash memory formats used by cameras and MP3 players. So I can just pull the memory out of the camera, jam the business end into the USB port on my computer, and off I go? Sounds like a great idea to me.

The only downside I've found is that they appear to be pretty power-hungry (which may kill the whole camera/MP3 player idea). If I put it in the unpowered USB hub built into my keyboard (as I've always done without issue using my Kingston stick), Windows complains and it's a no-go. Works fine in the port on the PC, though, and I'm sure it would be OK with a powered hub.

This is the only working Star trek communicator in existence.

It's a one of a kind prototype.

You can use it to make and recieve calls with any bluetooth 1.1 compatible mobile phone.

What better accoutrement for your Official Star Trek uniform; just whip this puppy out and snap the cover open, and you'll be the envy of everyone at the next Trekkie convention.

via Gizmodo.

According to an article in Technology Review, the uber-geeks at MIT are working on turbines the size of a dime, spin at over a million RPM's, and may one day provide power for the gadgets you use.

A micro gas turbine engine... could run for ten or more hours on a container of diesel fuel slightly larger than a D battery; when the fuel cartridge ran out, a new one could be easily swapped in. Each disposable cartridge would pack as much energy as a few heavy handfuls of lithium-ion batteries. As a result, a small pack of the cheap and light cartridges could power a PDA or cell phone through several days of heavy usage, no wall-outlet recharging required — a highly attractive feature for soldiers in remote locations or travelers. What's more, the miniature turbine takes up about a quarter of the volume of a typical cell-phone battery.

I would think that these mini jet engines could use just about anything for fuel; JP-4, diesel, kerosene, biodiesel, alcohol, etc... One of the big hurdles to overcome — aside from just getting parts that small to spin that fast without self-destructing — is going to be waste heat. Imagine carrying a tiny little furnace around in your pocket... Maybe a teeny tiny air conditioner?

If you want to snoop on some real geek conversation, don't miss the discussion page for the article.