The LIFE Project to Create a Mini Star on Earth with 192 Lasers [Science]

Well, this is crazy. The LIFE project at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has plans to create a mini sun in the lab, one that could create more energy than it takes to create.


Yes, we're talking about fusion here. By focusing 192 huge laser beams at one 2mm ball of frozen hydrogen gas, they hope to create nearly limitless free energy. Oh, and it gets better:

In addition, the LIFE engine design can be 'charged' with fission fuel. The resulting fission reactions will produce additional energy that can be harvested for electricity production. Moreover, by using depleted uranium or spent nuclear fuel from existing nuclear power plants in the blanket, a LIFE engine will be capable of burning the by-products of the current nuclear fuel cycle. Because the fusion neutrons are produced independently of the fission process, the fission fuel could be used without reprocessing. In this way, LIFE may be able to consume nuclear waste as fuel, mitigate against further nuclear proliferation, and provide long-term sustainability of carbon-free energy. A LIFE engine, via pure fusion or through the combination of fusion and fission, will generate the steady heat required to drive turbines for generating from 1,000 to 2,500 MW of safe, environmentally attractive electric power 24 hours a day for decades.

So wait, not only will it create free, limitless energy, but it will also do so while getting rid of harmful nuclear waste? OK, I guess I'm on board.


[Gizmodo via The LIFE Project via Kottke]

Suck It, Street View, Navteq Maps the World in 3D... With Lasers [GPS]

Google's Street View team famously photographs all kinds of weird stuff as they drive the world, but Navteq, who basically invented this stuff, just built a mount with seven cameras and 64 lasers to see everything better, in 3D.
Mounted atop a VW Jetta wagon is this crazy apparatus with a 12-megapixel panoramic camera on top and six more cameras pointed in specific directions to pick up signs and other data points. But the best gadgetry—the laser array—is housed inside a rapidly spinning barrel positioned at an angle. By using LIDAR, basically radar but with lasers, they scan everything within view, capturing 1.2 million points of data every second. The result is all kinds of terrain data that is not possible using just cameras.

The goal is "high accuracy maps," a deliberately vague notion that ranges from additional information—bridge underpass clearance heights, multilayer cloverleaf navigation and other obvious issues—to super rich 3D environments like the ones you see below. Those aren't CG renderings, in the traditional sense, it's laser-enriched photography.

Navteq, a Chicago company owned by Nokia who has been driving around making maps since the first GPS satellites were hurled into orbit, still provides a massive share of map data for web and devices, so the fruits of this tech might get to you sooner than you know.
As for your own personal rig, I sure want one, and my guess is that Google wants one too—if they don't have it already.
[Gizmodo via Navteq]

Pico Projector From Light Blue Optics Throws Up a 10-inch Touchscreen Laser Projection [Projector]

Light Blue Optics has been showing off their cool projection wares since 2004, so it's great to hear they're close to turning that 'holographic laser projection technology' into a viable product, albeit as an OEM.
The Light Touch pico projector throws a laser WVGA image out to the size of 10-inches, turning any available surface into a touchscreen. The angle is a pretty decent wide throw, which means the projector can be quite close to the surface.
Running on Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, the Light Touch projector has 2GB of flash memory and a microSD card slot (with support up to 32GB) for storing media on, and also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for hooking up with a laptop or device. It supposedly has a 2 hour battery life, which unfortunately seems to be the norm with these little projectors, though kudos to Light Blue Optics for throwing in a bunch of other features that could make this actually useful, for consumers as well as businesses (as the pic below shows).

[Gizmodo via Light Blue Optics via BusinessWire]

Spacy ZScanner Shoots Lasers, Just Not of the Pew-Pew Variety [3D]

Z Corporation's Z-Scanner looks like a 23rd century View-Master, and in some ways it is. This scanner uses lasers to capture complex forms in 3D, with resolution up to 40 microns. Set shields to full for the hands-on video below!

Autodesk University 2009: Z Corp from Core77 on Vimeo.

[Gizmodo via Core77]

Electromagnetic Pulses Cut Through Steel in Milliseconds [Emp]

You need to cut up some chunks of steel. Mechanical tools are prone to wearing out and lasers are just too expensive, so what do you use? Fast-cutting electromagnetic pulses, what else.
Researchers have figured out that they can modify existing electromagnetic pulse technology and use it to cut hard steels about seven times faster than with a laser and at only a fraction of the cost of other methods. That's not even the crazy part though:

The impact pressure [of the pulse] on the steel is approximately 3,500 bar, which equates to the weight of three small cars on a single fingernail.

Three cars on a single fingernail. Three cars. One fingernail. Forget cool buzzing sounds from mechanical tools and the pewpewpew of lasers. That description alone makes this the coolest cutting method I've heard of today.
[Gizmodo via Phys Org]
Photo by Current

Holographic laser head-up display, small enough for side mirror

Increasingly popular head-up displays aren't only for BMWs, Corvettes , Cadillacs, and F-16 jets. Light Blue Optics is making the tech more practical, creating a new projection device that's so small, it'll fit in a car's side mirror. It shows you an image that looks like it's about 6 feet behind you, superimposed over the road.

This trickery is possible because of a miniaturized holographic laser projector that's about a tenth the size of the head-up display system in the BMW 5 Series. It's small enough to install in a variety of configurations, and will work equally well on the windshield, or rearview mirrors and side mirrors.

These displays will be safer, too. The data appears to your eyes to be the same distance as other objects on the road, making it so you don't need to waste time focusing. Says Light Blue Optics head of business development Edward Buckley, 'At speeds of 100 kilometers an hour, this can cost you 22 meters in stopping distance.' Too bad Buckley says we won't see this technology in vehicles for four more years.
[DVICE via Technology Review]

alessi laser shot watch projects time on your wrist, won’t burn holes in your skin

This offbeat watch design is merely a concept at this point, but I actually kind of like the idea. The Alessi Laser Shot watch is supposed to project the current time on your wrist using (frickin’) laser beams.

Designer Andy Kurovets envisioned this über-modern watch concept that uses a modulated laser scanner to projects the time onto the surface of your wrist. And he promises it won’t give you skin cancer. At least that’s what I heard – somewhere.

The design features a unique broken “o”-ring band that is slightly elevated from your wrist in order to provide sufficient projection throw distance.

Cool, no? Unfortunately, the design is only conceptual at this point, so if Alessi happens to be reading this blog – make these. People will buy them… so long as the laser doesn’t set your skin on fire.

[Gizmodo via Yanko Design via Ubergizmo]

Billionaire's yacht uses lasers to thwart paparazzi

Apparently, what the man who has everything really wants above all else is privacy. And with enough money, he can even buy that.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's new $2 billion yacht is equipped with something you won't find on any other boats: an anti-photo shield. When turned on, it uses lasers to sweep for camera sensors. When they detect one, they blast it with light, making any photo taken pointed at the boat not come out. Not a bad little trick, eh?
Times Online via Gadget Lab

Boeing kills things on the ground with lasers

Well, it’s not exactly a surprise, as they’ve been working on it for years, but Boeing just had a successful firing of their aircraft based military laser. So successful in fact, they managed to blow something up.
While not exactly portable (it’s mounted in a C-130) the laser certainly is powerful. The chemical laser consumes as much energy in a 5 second burst as is needed to power an american household for an hour. That’s a whole lot of pew-pew. The system has been in development since 2008, at a cost of approximately $30 million. Good to see that it’s finally been successful.
I wonder if you can use it to make popcorn.

אינטל במהירות האור

אינטל בדיוק שיחררה חדשה על מעבד הסיליקון (צורן) הפוטוני החדש שלה והמהיר ביותר עד כה. לדעתי הוא גם היפה ביותר מבין המעבדים הקיימים היום.

המעבד החדש יכול לקודד 200 גיגה ביט של מידע בשניה על קרן או לעומת המעבד המהיר (והעלוב) ביותר של היום שמסוגל לעבד רק 100 גיגה ביט ולא עשוי מצורן. המעבד הזה הוא רק הצצה למעבד שצפוי להגיע לפס ייצור תוך 3-5 שנים שיוכל לקודד טרה-ביט מידע בשניה ויהיה בגודל של ציפורן.

איך זה פועל? המעבד של אינטל לוכד קרן אור ומפרק אותה ל-8 ערוצים, כשכל ערוץ עובר דרך מודולטור (אפנן) אשר מקודד מידע על גבי אור. הקרניים עם המידע משולבות בחזרה לקרן יחידה ו...וואלה. כל זה קורה בקצב של 25 גב"ש לכל אפנן. אלו הם אבני היסוד למחשבי העתיד בהם נחושת תוחלף בקרני אור. לפני שזה יקרה אינטל מעוניינת לדחוס 25 אפננים כאלה על מעבד יחיד כאשר כל אחד מהם יעבוד בקצב של 40 גב"ש, אולי בשילוב של לייזר היברידי על-גבי המעבד שיכוון את קרני האור לאפננים במקום סיבים אופטיים.

קדימה אינטל, אני ממתין לתוצאות.

[דרך גיזמודו דרך MIT Tech Review]