Technabob » salt

The Secret to Multiplying Hard Drive Capacity is Salt, Not Pepper

Conner Flynn — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:00:53 +0000

We all love salt on our food, even though too much is not good for you. Salt makes everything better. Even hard drives apparently. And that’s good news given all of the things we are storing on our devices.

Scientists in Singapore are looking at a way to increase hard drive capacity by using salt. Plain old table salt in fact. Right now your hard drive works by spinning magnetic platters covered in random nanoscopic grains, which come in disorganized clumps of tens to form one bit of data. The latest drives hold up to 500 gigabits of data in every square inch. That’s not bad, but there may be a better way.

This latest idea gets rid of those random clumps and decides to instead make larger grains (ten nanometers, up from seven to eight nanometers), in regular patterns, which each store one bit. A spokesperson from Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering likens it to packing your clothes in a suitcase. The neater you pack it all in, the more it can carry.

They use an e-beam lithography process that produces fine nano-scale structures for the discs and when sodium chloride is added to the developer solution, they found that they could create nanostructures with a higher resolution: down to 4.5 nanometers half pitch, without overly expensive equipment. In the end, this salty process could allow for anywhere from 1.9TB to 3.3TB per square-inch, a substantial increase from today’s capacities.

[via Wired]

Salt and Pepper Bots for Lazy Condiment Passers

Hazel Chua — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:30:34 +0000

The lines I hate hearing when I’m sitting down at the dining table about to dig in on my meal when I’m particularly famished are:

Can you please pass the salt?
Can you please sprinkle a little bit of pepper in my soup?
Can you please hand me the salt and pepper shakers?

Of course, I would oblige, since it would be rude not to. But sometimes, I just wish I could just wind them up and send them off their merry way across the table so I can enjoy my food in peace. And that’s exactly what you can do with these Salt & Pepper Bots.

These quirky salt and pepper shakers literally shake as they sashay across your dining table to the person who wants ‘em. Just wind them up, point them in the right direction, and dig in.

Don’t let those condiment passers walk all over you when you’re having dinner. Instead, let these little critters waddle over to them.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

These little bots are available from Amazon for around $12(USD) a pair.

I-Block Pepper Grinder Fits Right Into This Salt Shaker [Tetris]

Alisha K. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:58:48 +0000

Pepper grinders are, by their very nature, kind of cool. Gives you an active role in the spicing of your food, at least. But this particular pepper grinder is in a whole different realm of cool, being that it’s shaped like a tetromino.

Shown here are Flickr user thinkchildthink’s Tetris-inspired pepper grinder, salt shaker, and… uh, that extra piece. Actually, the extra bit makes the set; you can set them all together in the middle of the counter or table and watch people look around in confusion for the salt.

The wooden set was a project for an industrial design class. Kinda makes me want to go sign up for one, except I would probably cut my thumb off or something.

[via Walyou]

Saltside Out Salt Shaker Puts the Salt on the Wrong Side of the Shaker

Technabob — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:05:59 +0000

I know, I know, what the hell does a salt shaker have to do with technabob? Nothing, really. I normally wouldn’t write about such a dull, utilitarian thing, but this one deserves a mention for its sheer design and wit.

Fred & Friend’s wonderful Saltside Out salt shaker does the seemingly impossible by placing the salt OUTSIDE of the shaker. A clever handblown glass design by Jason Amendolara puts a glass void where the salt shaker would normally go, and the salt in the glass cylinder on the outside of the shaker.

I know this is a shaker is designed for salt, but I’d get two and put finely ground pepper in one, just to complete the look. The Saltside Out shaker is available over at the Neatorama Shop for $13.95 (USD).

Antrepo’S D Battery Salt and Pepper Shakers Generate Zero-Point-Zero Volts of Power

Technabob — Sat, 23 May 2009 13:33:29 +0000

These whimsical salt and pepper shakers get their inspiration from a couple of good old D-cell batteries.

The guys over at Antrepo Design Industry created these prototype battery-sized Salt & Pepper Cells out of stainless steel and glass. You can even tell how much salt and pepper you have remaining thanks to a see through “power indicator” window.

As Antrepo is still looking for a manufacturer for these, there’s no word on when and where you’ll be able to buy these yet, but you can check for the latest over at the Antrepo Design website. I’d like some 9-volts filled with sugar to go with these.

LEGO Salt and Pepper Shakers

Technabob — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 02:53:38 +0000

While these LEGO salt and pepper shakers don’t necessarily belong on my tech blog, I just thought they were too cool to not feature them.

Just $4.99 (USD) buys you this pair of shakers that resemble the classic LEGO heads. They’re available directly from LEGO’s online shop.