PHOTO COURTES Y OF FERMILAB.
■ Cables in Fermilab’s Grid
Computing Center.
than 15 million GB of LHC data
annually, and “when the LHC starts
running at full speed, it will produce
enough data to fill about six CDs per
second.” The grid allows domestic
and foreign research groups to “sift
through the LHC data torrent in
search of tiny signals that will lead to
discoveries about the nature of the
physical universe.”
As one researcher observed,
“We’ve spent years ramping up to
this point, and now, we’re excited to
help uncover some of the numerous
secrets nature is still hiding from us.”
Watch out Mother Nature. The little
carbon-based bugs are tugging at
your skirt again.
SHARPER EYE IN THE
SKY
■ Satellite view of Kutztown
University, Pennsylvania.
PHOTO COUR TES Y OF GEO EYE.
If you think the images you get on
Google Earth are amazing, wait
until you tap into the resources of
GeoEye, Inc. ( www.geoeye.com),
which on September 6th launched
a new imaging satellite, GeoEye-1.
Shown in the photo is a shot of
Kutztown University, located
between Reading and Allentown, PA.
The 1856 x 1404 color image would
pretty much allow you to count the
number of football players on the
field and tell a Jeep from a Hummer,
which is pretty impressive given that
the satellite was moving north to
south in a 423 mile high (681 km)
orbit at a speed of 4. 5 mps when it
took the photo. Not so coincidentally,
Google ( www.google.com) has its
finger in the pie and reportedly will
be adding GeoEye to Google Maps
and Google Earth, perhaps by the
time you read this. For the record,
the satellite was build by General
Dynamics, and the imaging system
was provided by ITT.
SBC DESIGNED FOR
RUGGED
ENVIRONMENTS
The Rhodeus, from Diamond
Systems Corp. (www.diamond
systems.com), is a fanless PC/104
single-board computer (SBC) that
features a 500 MHz AMD Geode
LX800 low power consumption
processor and up to 1 GB of high
speed DDR SDRAM. It is designed to
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIAMOND SYSTEMS CORP.
■ The Rhodeus single-board computer.
operate in harsh environments
where airflow for heat dissipation is
restricted and heatsinks and fans are
unacceptable. It is also intended to
perform around-the-clock unattended.
Other features include 10/100
Ethernet, two serial ports, two USB
2.0 ports, one parallel port, 1 ATA- 33
channel, and a variety of interfaces. It
supports Windows 2000, XP, CE 5.0,
and Linux. No price was given, but
quotes are available online.
CIRCUITS AND
DEVICES
THE ST- 70 STILL LIVES
■ Decades after its birth, the Dynaco
ST- 70 lives on.
If you’re a stereophile beyond the
age of 40, you likely remember the
Dynaco ST- 70, one of the world’s
most popular stereo amps. The
tube-driven device was known for
excellent sound quality at a
reasonable price and was available in
both kit and factory wired versions.
Produced in the 1960s and 1970s,
Dynaco sold something more than
300,000 of them. The strange thing is
that you can still buy a new one, with
all new parts, from tubes 4 hi-fi —
also known as Vacuum Tube Audio
( www.tubes4hifi.com).
The company is the brainchild of
Roy Mottram and has been around
since 1988. Roy still has a day job
after 20 years of selling these things,
so there apparently isn’t a gold mine
in reproducing vintage audio
equipment. But, hey, Christmas is
coming up; this would make a great
gift for someone who is tired of
projects in the digital world.
The stainless steel chassis is
identical in size to the original, and
December 2008 13