tunnel

Filmmaking at the atomic level? IBM nets Guinness world record

If you're looking to attract attention, setting a Guinness World Record is probably a good way to start.

That was the goal -- attracting attention, that is -- for a group of IBM Research scientists who recently set out to make what turned out be the Guinness World Record-certified smallest stop-motion film ever.

Called "A Boy and His Atom," the animated film features a small boy having a good old time as he bounces around, playing catch, and dancing. The twist? The film was shot at the atomic level and features 130 atoms that were painstakingly placed, atom by atom, as the researchers shot 250 individual frames. The images were created at a temperature of negative 268 degrees Celsius and were magnified 100 million times. … Read more

IPv6 tunneling broken with latest AirPort updates

9to5Mac is reporting an issue involving Apple's AirPort utility and Time Capsule updates released last week. A number of Mac users who use IPv6-based tunneling to connect to their devices have found they can no longer do so after installing the latest firmware and updates to their AirPort and Time Capsule devices.

This problem mirrors similar past issues with firmware updates on Apple's router devices, and is likely from a small configuration bug in the firmware. Unfortunately the issue likely can only be fixed with a supplemental update. In the meantime, if you use IPv6 tunneling and are … Read more

Cat Tunnel Sofa like a giant Habitrail for your furniture

My sofa has seen better days thanks to the hundreds of tiny claw pricks left by three cats. When I finally get around to replacing it, I would sure like to pick up a Cat Tunnel Sofa.

The Cat Tunnel Sofa incorporates a place for humans to sit, but it also features a bending tube for cats to play in. This means you're not likely to get much relaxing done as Toehawks and Ms. Floofer scurry around like hamsters right behind your head.

Korean designer Seungji Mun was inspired by the concept of pets as companions and the growing market for pet products.… Read more

This Day in Tech: Twitter adds link shortening; iOS 5 beta jailbroken in a day

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Tuesday, June 7.

Twitter launches automatic link shortening New service will automatically abbreviate URLs of any length to 19 characters when users compose tweets in the Tweet box. More

Hands-on with Wii successor The new Wii U console, which will debut in 2012, combines motion control with a touch-screen game controller. Nintendo says "it will change the way we play games." Get all the details

iOS 5 beta jailbroken in less than 24 hours A group of hackers … Read more

Deep inside the world's longest tunnel

SEDRUN, Switzerland--I'm a kilometer inside one of the Alps and nearly 800 meters below the surface, and it's pitch black. And I'm falling at 14 meters a second.

But this isn't a story of fire and brimstone. It's a story of the construction of the world's longest tunnel, a new 57 kilometer all-flat rail line deep under the Swiss Alps that is planned to open in 2017 and which is hoped to double the capacity of cargo along the crucial Zurich to Milan line. It's also Switzerland's largest-ever ecological project.

This is … Read more

Intel's 'Tunnel Creek' chip aimed at home tablets

Intel on Wednesday in Beijing is debuting an Atom processor designed for home tablets and announcing a partnership with China Mobile.

Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum 2010 Beijing, Doug Davis, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel's embedded and communications group, disclosed a future Atom processor code-named "Tunnel Creek" that is targeted at home-use tablets and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

Intel describes always-on tablet devices for the home as "media phones," which can serve as a digital photo frame, MP3 player, a standard Web browsing device, a home command center, and, of course, a phone. (OpenPeak bases its tablet design on Intel's Atom processor.)

Tunnel Creek is based on Intel's Moorestown system-on-a-chip Atom design and combines an Atom core, the memory controller, graphics engine, and video engine. The chip is designed to work with a variety of devices that don't necessarily use accompanying Intel silicon, called chipsets.

The new Atom chip also features enhanced graphics capabilities. So, for example, with in-vehicle infotainment systems, the front seat display could have 3D mapping while the back seat simultaneously displays improved gaming graphics, according to Intel.

On a separate front, Intel Chief Technology Officer Intel Labs Director Justin Rattner showed a concept device for managing energy consumption powered by an Atom processor. The demonstration showed how a homeowner could use the intelligent electronic dashboard to provide ongoing information and suggestions on energy use, thereby reducing power costs.

Partnerships with China Mobile and HawTai Automobile Intel also announced… Read more

The 404 542: Where the babysitter's on fire (podcast)

A lot of critics accuse The 404 of resorting to juvenile humor for cheap laughs, and even if that's absolutely true, we've never had an actual 14 year old call us out on it...until this morning, when young Daniel showed up at the CNET office! Dedicated 404 listeners will remember Daniel as the kid who got robbed for his iPhone, so he joins us on today's episode as a junior podcaster to tell his story. And don't worry--his mother is fully aware of his location.

Daniel is visibly excited about the first topic of discussion, … Read more

Teen gets carpal tunnel from texting, wants iPhone

A 100-a-day habit isn't good for you. Everyone knows that. It's just hard, sometimes, to explain it to kids who think it's so cool.

Cigarettes? Lord, no, those things smell. We're talking texting.

According to ABC News, 16-year-old Annie Levitz from Mundelein, Ill., began to sense a little disharmony in her hands. They would feel tingly, numb, or merely hurt like hell. Had she been practicing her free throws in preparation for March Madness? Had she been attempting to become Mundelein's Chopin? If only. Levitz had merely been texting her friends up to 100 times a day.

Finally, she went to the doctor, who diagnosed her not with text dependency, but with carpal tunnel syndrome.… Read more

Devices under testing at NASA may save trucking billions

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--The American trucking industry could save as much as $10 billion, or 3.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel, a year if devices being tested in a joint public-private initiative at the world's-largest wind tunnel here are rolled out nationally.

Over the last few weeks, a partnership between the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, the U.S. Air Force, the NASA Ames Research Center, and the conglomerate, Navistar, has been conducting tests on the aerodynamics of tractor-trailer trucks. The findings indicate that new devices could be added onto the nation's thousands of trucks that could increase … Read more

The computer engineer who thinks we're doomed

It was a fullish moon when I picked up a new book called "The Lights in the Tunnel," thinking that the title was sure to lift my spirits on All Souls Day.

Perhaps I should have picked me up some Dostoyevsky.

It's not that "The Lights in the Tunnel" isn't thoughtful or interesting. The author, Martin Ford, is a computer engineer who has clearly spent many hours considering the true effects of technology on society.

It's just that a rough summation of those effects might be described as "really bloody terrible." … Read more