January 11, 2004

Presumably NASA is now checking the warranty on the windows in the International Space Station. 11:26:47 PM

Quaking Cellphones Before it imploded due to its inability to produce a graphics chip that could compete with Nvidia’s GeForce line, 3dfx executives suggested one area of growth was making graphics chips for PDAs and cellphones. While 3dfx did not survive long enough to bring any designs to market both major players in the graphics chip market, Nvidia and ATI technologies have now introduced such designs. ExtremeTech reports that Nvidia plans for the GoForce line that will support digital camera phones with resolutions up to 1.3 megapixels. ATI in turn has introduced the IMAGEON 2300 chip with similar 1.3 megapixel support and support for 3D and 2D graphics. 11:09:21 PM

Bruce R’s Flit blog links to a paper on behalf an American Congressman Jim Saxton of New Jersey that takes a critical view of the Stryker wheeled armored vehicle. The report calls it too heavy, too big; lacking in mobility poorly armoured and states it uses too much full. It also claims the Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS) variant, which is armed with a 105mm gun, is defective since firing the gun causes too much recoil for the vehicle’s chassis to absorb. The author of the report calls for the use of existing tracked vehicles such as the M-2 Bradley and newer vehicles such as the M8 Armored Gun System. It also suggests that heavy tanks such as the M1 Abrams should continue to be the mainstay of the US Army. A report in the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies notes the Congressman’s concerns and states that since Canada plans to replace its outdated Leopard I tanks with the Stryker Mobile Gun System version if these concerns bear out then Canada should examine these issues before proceeding. 10:53:09 PM