Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary set to mass produce 39.2 percent efficient solar cells

Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary set to mass produce 39.2 percent efficient solar cells:

Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary has been working on making solar cells more and more efficient for years now, and it looks like it's now set to put its latest record-breaking cells into mass production. Those come in the form of the company's new C3MJ+ solar cells, which boast an average conversion efficiency of 39.2 percent, making them the most efficient mass produced cells to date. What's more, Spectrolab says that since the new cells are so similar to its current C3MJ production cells, it should be relatively easy for customers already using those to upgrade to the new cells. Still no word on a price, it seems, but the new cells should be available in January. And, yes, Spectrolab is also hard at work on breaking its own record -- it hopes to crack the 40 percent mark later in 2011.

Kingston unveils HyperX Max 3.0, a SuperSpeed SSD for your pocket, we tear it down (video)

Kingston unveils HyperX Max 3.0, a SuperSpeed SSD for your pocket, we tear it down (video):

USB 3.0 and SSDs, they were just made for each other, don't you think? Kingston certainly seems to agree, as it's now rolled out its first SuperSpeed portable solid state drive, giving it the catchy title of HyperX Max 3.0. It fits within the dimensions of a conventional 2.5-inch hard drive, but differs in being able to pump 195MB of data per second when reading or 160MBps when writing. Although pricing and availability details aren't yet available, we can expect 64GB, 128GB and 256GB varieties to crop up some time soonish. Until then, can we interest you in some unboxing and teardown action, courtesy of our brethren over at Engadget Spanish? You'll find it on video just past the break.

SteelSeries Shift MMO Keyset comes optimized for online questing

SteelSeries Shift MMO Keyset comes optimized for online questing:

Outside of Word documents and IM clients, one of the most intensive uses of keyboards nowadays is in massively multiplayer online games. But, gaze upon the button array before you and you'll notice that there's nary a single concession to your ten-hours-a-day WoW habit. SteelSeries is today looking to rectify that situation with its all-new MMO Keyset, which you can see above, attached to the company's already available Shift gaming keyboard. This assortment of oddly titled keys comes with an exhaustive set of customization and macro options, so even the most hardcore of online raiders should be able to extract some added value from it. We're not sure that utility will ever add up to the $25 (€25 in Europe) asking price, but then we've never managed to get our Night Elf Mohawk to Level 80, either.

AMD's Bobcat APU benchmarked: the age of the Atom is at an end

AMD's Bobcat APU benchmarked: the age of the Atom is at an end:

So small, and yet potentially so disruptive. AMD's 1.6GHz Zacate chip, bearing a pair of Bobcat modules, has been taken off the leash today, resulting in a torrent of benchmarks pouring down onto the internet. While perusing the sources below, you might think to yourself that it's not exactly a world beater, sitting somewhere in the middle of the pack on most tests, but compare it to Intel's dual-core Atom D510 -- its most immediate competition in the target sub-$500 laptop price range -- and you'll find a thoroughgoing whooping in progress. The highlight of these new Fusion APUs is that they integrate graphics processing within the CPU chip, and Zacate didn't disappoint on that front either, with marked improvements over anything else available in its class. The resulting chips might still not have quite enough grunt to earn a place in your daily workhorse mobile computer, but their power efficiency and netbook-level pricing goals sure do look delightful. Or dangerous, if you're Intel.


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Dell Inspiron Duo tablet could be with us next week

Dell Inspiron Duo tablet could be with us next week:

Alright, we know AMD's busy showing off its Atom killer, but there's still a little life left in Intel's netbook stalwart, which has been harnessed to its fullest in Dell's screen-flipping Duo tablet / netbook. And the good news is that we apparently won't have to wait too long to see that zany concoction out in the real world. Well placed sources have informed CNET that Dell intends to release the Inspiron Duo at some point next week, potentially on November 23rd, while pre-sale information should be dished out later this week, alongside Microsoft's announcement of a new store opening. Things are moving along nice and swiftly, it would seem.

Update: And just to fan those flames of desire a little more, the Duo has shown up in Microsoft's latest cloud computing advert. See it after the break.

Mimo announces iMo eye9 USB touchscreen with built-in webcam

Mimo announces iMo eye9 USB touchscreen with built-in webcam:

Mimo Monitors isn't exactly short on small USB monitors these days, but that hasn't stopped it from rolling out yet another new model: the 9-inch iMo eye9. As with some of the company's recent models, this one is a touchscreen monitor (resistive, as you might expect), but it takes things one step further than the rest by adding a less-than-discreet 1.3 megapixel webcam. Otherwise, you'll get a basic 1,024 x 600 resolution, plus full Mac and PC compatibility, a detachable base that allows for both portrait and landscape viewing, and a built-in stylus that will also double as a stand. Look for this one to start shipping on November 20th, and you can get youpre-order in now for $229.99.

Viewsonic rolls out 3DV5 pocket camcorder, other gadgets of 2D and 3D varieties

Viewsonic rolls out 3DV5 pocket camcorder, other gadgets of 2D and 3D varieties:

Viewsonic has been touting a whole range of 3D gadgets since IFA this summer, and it's now finally brought a few of them to North America. That includes the $180 3DV5 pocket camcorder, which was already released in Europe and does 720p video along with 5 megapixel stills (in both 3D and 2D), and the also-$180 3DPF8 8-inch digital photo frame, which will let you view 3D videos and photos without the need for 3D glasses. Joining those are the $330 DVP5 pocket camcorder, which isn't 3D but does pack a built-in projector, and the $150 DPF8-CAM Digital Photo Copier, which is actually an 8-inch digital photo frame with a built-in scanner to let you easily convert your snapshots to digital copies. Head on past the break for the complete press release, and hit up the gallery below for a closer look at the whole lot.

Search Engine Friendly URLs with .htaccess and mod_rewrite

Search Engine Friendly URLs with .htaccess and mod_rewrite:

I was recently developing a PHP website that used mod_rewrite to make its URLs search engine friendly. Websites have been using mod_rewrite and .htaccess strategies to do this for years now and there are a 100 ways to accomplish the task. One issue that was occurring with this site was URLs without the a trailing slash would work, but URLs with a trailing slash would break (trigger a 404 error):

//works

http://mydomain.com/my-page

//breaks

http://mydomain.com/my-page/

The original .htaccess source was:

#adds '.php' to a URL that isn't a directory or a file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(\.[^./]+)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_fileNAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_fileNAME} !-f
RewriteRule (.*) $1.php [L]

The solution was simple: an extra statement to accommodate for the trailing slash:

#removes trailing slash if not a directory
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.+)/$ /$1 [R=301,L]

#adds '.php' to a URL that isn't a directory or a file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(\.[^./]+)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_fileNAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_fileNAME} !-f
RewriteRule (.*) $1.php [L]

This method may be a bit inefficient as there are two redirects but it does the job. Do you have a better solution? If so, share it!