Researches at Osaka University have been doing some really tiny writing lately, using their newly-invented atomic pen, which can draw atom by atom. The resulting letters, the words “Si” for silicon or “Yes” in Spanish, measure only 2 x 2 nanometers, roughly 40,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. According to Masayuki Abe, one of the project scientists, they have reached a limit impossible to surpass:
Nippon Signal has revealed its new entrant into the colour projector size war, showing off a SVGA 800 x 600 resolution colour projector that’s roughly the size of a cigarette case at a recent micromachines exhibition. The prototype, which measures a tiny 90 x 55 x 20mm, uses a MEMS scanner to project images, rather than the more traditional LED.
Freecom’s just taken the portable hard drive crown with what they’re claiming to be the smallest and lightest 2.5-inch USB drive on the market now. Their Mobile Drive XXS comes in 160GB, 250GB and 320GB sizes, and is bus-powered for one less thing you have to carry around. It seems like the race to having the smallest 2.5-inch hard drive is kind of ridiculous. The lowest you can go is down to the bare drive, which is exactly what someone should release (complete with USB adaptor cable) and call themselves the ultimate victor in this competition no one cares about. [Reg Hardware]
AreoVironment is building the world’s smallest UAV, called the Nano Air Vehicle, that has moving wings instead of a propeller or engine. DARPA has given the company US$636,000 and six months to demonstrate an ultra-small UAV that will be under 7.5cm long and under 10 grams.
Demonstrating that fab things come in small packages is this Sony lay-dee, who’s proffering one of the five golf ball-sized speakers of the HT-IS100 home theatre sound system for your loving eyes to inspect. It’s a 5.1-channel, three-HDMI input system and will be released in Japan on July 15 at a cost of around US$870. Full details and a couple more pics below. AU: This is getting a July release in Oz for $1199 RRP
20% smaller than the previous generation, Samsung is claiming their new CLP-315K is actually the World’s smallest colour laser printer. It’s got a resolution of 2,400 x 600 dpi and can spit out four letter-sized pages per minute in colour and 17 in black, and apparently it has improved photo quality output. There’s also another small all-in-one edition, the CLX-3175FNK, which has a scanner built in and can scan to and print from USB memory sticks so it can operate PC-free if you need it to. There’s no word on release date or price yet, sorry. [Akihabaranews]
Scientists have developed a pair of robotic hands that are both strong and sensitive. The tweezers can guide themselves to pick up and move individual cells without damaging them, and have a grip that can be as slight as 20 nanoNewtons of force. In fact, so advanced are the little grippers, that they can be hitched up to a microscope and, with the right software, function without human control. More below.
I’m not sure there’s room enough to install one of these bad boys, but Asus’ new little desktop is supposedly the world’s smallest PC that can still support a fully embedded discrete graphics card for gaming and high-def video. With HDMI and 7.1 audio output, it could make a nice Blu-ray player. Because of a thermal cooling module that “insulates heat from the cooling fan,” it manages to idle at a relatively low 24dB noise level. Still, it’s not super small, at 11 inches wide by 3 inches tall, and besides that, sources don’t say exactly what graphics card Asus chose to fully embed. We do like that satin-finish codex design, though. [Fareastgizmos.com]
The chaps at Super Talent are not only incredibly modest, talented and super, but they must also be fantastically tiny to have put together the world’s smallest 8GB flash drive. (Flawless logic, I’m sure you’ll agree.) Retailing at US$35, the price is pretty reasonable, at least until you drop it into your chest hair and lose it forever.
