PC WORLD
US Court Rejects IBM Appeal in Executive's Move to Dell
3 Jul 2009 at 5:40pm
A US appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that permits a former IBM executive to take on his full duties at rival Dell.
Brushing up With Brush Pilot
3 Jul 2009 at 5:40pm
If you use Adobe Photoshop for design work, you've no doubt used a custom brush at one time or another. Experienced designers probably have a handful of custom...
Gunfire at Apple Store in D.C. Suburb Leaves One Injured
3 Jul 2009 at 4:50pm
Armed robbery attempt near Washington, D.C., ends in gunshot injury and sets off police search for the bandit, who was seen wearing a fake beard.
WIRED
Packing It In: Why the Foam Noodle Couldn't Cut It in the Protection Racket
by Cliff Kuang
1 Jul 2009 at 12:00am
Materials engineer Edgar Burchard has been watching packing materials fail for his entire career. In 1964, when he was a recent hire at BASF, the conglomerate narrowly escaped a public scandal. It had been crowing about the quality of its foam shells—brand-new tech at the time—so the PR guys dreamed up a brilliant publicity stunt: They would ship Michelangelo's La Pietà from the Vatican to the World's Fair in New York. Packed, of course, in their product.
But when expo workers in Queens pried open the wooden crate, they found the massive marble masterpiece listing dangerously to one side, just a bump away from catastrophe. Vatican staff chalked up the barely averted disaster to their excellent relations with God. But Burchard knew that divine intervention would never have been necessary if BASF's product were better designed.
Fast forward 30 years, to 1995. While Burchard was experimenting with refrigerator insulation, he came up with a novel way of molding low-density foam. The foam wasn't a very good insulator (in other words, not useful to him at the time), but he was impressed by how light and strong it was. He realized that he could use it to improve upon the packing peanut. Burchard shaped the new material into rough- textured lightning bolts of foam that locked together to stay put under the weight of heavy, priceless objects. He christened his creation Expans O Fill and in 1998 sent it to Michigan State University's School of Packaging for independent testing. It trounced all seven competitive products, transmitting up to 90 percent less shock and cushioning four times better than the packing peanut. Five years later, 3M bought the design, renamed it the Packing Noodle, and rolled it out in 2004.
Even though the Noodle was a vast improvement over the peanut, "they didn't sell well," says Carter Swift, a brand manager at 3M. "They were just too different." The Noodles came fitted together in compact, shrink-wrapped blocks. Retailers loved them because they took up such little shelf space. But consumers didn't understand that the blocks broke apart into hundreds of Noodles. In June, Burchard's brilliant idea was discontinued, and once again we're left with only God (and a few lesser earthly products) to protect our precious cargo.
Congratulations Human, You've Been Accepted to Singularity University
by Chris Hardwick
1 Jul 2009 at 12:00am
Tech luminaries Ray Kurzweil (The Singularity Is Near) and Peter Diamandis (X Prize) recently opened Singularity University, which offers an interdisciplinary "graduate studies program" combining genetics, artificial intelligence, and engineering. It's nine weeks of deep thought with eminent theorists and business leaders. Just getting accepted would be... something.
Great Geek Debates: Kirk vs. Picard
by Matt Blum
30 Jun 2009 at 9:24am
If you?re a Star Trek fan, you?ve surely considered the differences between the captains in the various series, even if you don?t have a favorite. And, while Sisko, Janeway, and even Archer have their fans, the quintessential Star Trek debate has been, since TNG premiered nearly 22 years ago, who?s the better captain: Kirk or Picard?
THE INQUIRER
More AMD RS880 details tip up
3 Jul 2009 at 5:43pm
Sylvie Barak THE INQUIRER
Chip, set and match
Next-gen superdesktops: Nehalem-EX or EP
3 Jul 2009 at 5:23pm
Nebojsa Novakovic THE INQUIRER
16 cores, 32 threads, 48MB cache and lotsa cash
Google doesn’t recognise independence
3 Jul 2009 at 11:50am
Rob Kerr THE INQUIRER
Gmail glitch, or 4th of July prank?
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