heat

IBM has come up with a technology that could one day let different cores on a processor exchange signals with pulses of light, rather than electrons, a change that could lead to faster and far more energy efficient chips.

The device, known as a silicon Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator--converts electrical signals into pulses of light. The trick is that IBM's modulator is 100 or more times smaller than other small modulators produced by other labs. Eventually, IBM hopes the modulator could be integrated into chips.

Here's how it works. Electric pulses, the yellow dots, hit the modulator, which is … Read more

There are a lot of sites to scan if you're looking for real estate (a house to buy, or a rental), but one of the most useful, I think, is HotPads. The site was started as a rentals locator, but it has recently expanded to include homes for sale as well.

Like other sites, HotPads displays properties on a zoomable and movable map. But where HotPads shines is its display of additional data. It will overlay heat maps showing data like household income and average rental price, and pop schools and transit stops on to the map as well. … Read more

Around this time of year even the most cold-hearted gadget freaks could use a little warming up, but we'd rather freeze than wear a pair of USB Warmer Gloves, and we think you know our position on a Hello Kitty heating pad. There are a variety of heated mice on the market that could provide warmth surreptitiously, but only for one palm at a time.

There may, however, be a solution--in the keys themselves. The appropriately named "Warmkeyboard" claims to have "heating elements" built directly into its keys to "gently radiate heat into your … Read more

The makers of the massage mouse and the MP3 player that does facials have got some competition for the USB port. Another so-called pain reliever that attaches to the computer comes from USB Fever, this one offering to soothe sore muscles with an infrared heat pad.

Although Everything USB says it's light enough that "you should barely know you are using it," we think it looks like a giant suction pad--a large version of the kind they stick to your chest for electrocardiograms. And that may be no idle coincidence: It comes with a disclaimer suggesting that … Read more

As fond as we are of massage chairs--and even more of massage beds--we'd be somewhat reluctant to surrender our bodies to this personal sauna for fear that we'd be entering an MRI scan.

The "Solo System Sauna" uses infrared heat and electromagnetic waves that are concentrated on the parts of the body "where you need it most," according to its product literature. That sounds kind of frightening, especially when trapped in its "double dome" compartment that also resembles an iron lung.

On the other hand, maybe we're the ones … Read more

In its quest to develop laser weapons, the Pentagon is aiming both high and low.

The sky-high plans for the Airborne Laser call for a squadron of 747s that would train chemically generated laser beams on ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) to knock out those missiles long before they become a threat to targets in the United States. A "lethality" test of that system is scheduled for 2009, though if past delays are any indication of future performance...

For a more down-to-earth system, look no further than a truck-mounted solid-state laser now in the early stages of development. Rather … Read more

Researchers at Intel this week are showing off an silicon modulator that can pass 40 gigabits of data in a second, a new record that indicates that fiber-inside-computers is really coming.

A modulator is an component from the fiber optic industry. It essentially chops up light from a laser into blips that ultimately will be understood as 1s and 0s by a computer. Right now, computers (and chips) pass signals via electrons traveling along metal wires. Metal wires give off heat, which has created an energy crisis inside computer.

By contrast, fiber optics transmit data with photons, which are faster … Read more

Trulia is a real estate search and information service. Users can search for real estate by zip code, or by filling in various search parameters like size, cost, and building type. Trulia also integrates several social features like a way to track buying trends, and a real-estate focused question and answer service.

Today, they've teamed up with Stamen Design, the same folks who do the eye candy for Digg Labs, to create a really neat way to look at housing trends called HindSight. Their new tool is a mix between historical real estate data, and a heat map to … Read more

If there's one thing we learned this last winter, people get cold while sitting at their computers. Very cold. And the gadget industry jumped into action and responded with heated products ranging from mice to mittens, throwing in an occastional lap or knee warmer for good measure.

But honestly, given how much heat emanates from a computer, why should there be a need for something that produces additional BTUs? The cleverly named WK001 keyboard from V8, for example, is powered by a USB connection that generates two levels of toastiness--"normal hand temperature" and "normal body … Read more