::: I Think Therefore I Ambient :::

April 27th, 2009 . 09:04 am by Brian Lawrence in Holographic Data Storage

Another big step forward in GE’s holographic data storage program

 If you have read the Technology section of today’s NY Times,  or visited GE Reports or Engadget, you will see that we are off to  a pretty exciting start to 2009 on the Holographic Storage project so far.  Earlier in 2008, we had demonstrated the threshold recording behavior in the new materials we are developing and we ended 2008 having demonstrated these materials using 405 nm blue lasers (the same wavelength used in Blu-ray Disc players).  Now in 2009, we have taken yet another big step.

You may be asking, “what is threshold recording behavior?”  Well, it is a fancy way of saying that we are looking to develop a material that records data in a way that is similar to how other optical disc technologies (CD, DVD, or BD) record data.  That is, when the optical drive is reading a disc, the laser power is turned down to relatively low levels.  To record data the laser power inside the drive will be turned up to high power.  This high power enables the laser to create changes in the recording layer of the disc.  For example, a laser power of 1 mW might be used to read a CD or DVD, which is less than most laser pointers generate, but a laser power of 10 to 50 mW might be used to record.  So to put it simply, threshold behavior refers to the low-power readout and high-power recording process.  However, this is where the similarities between the previous generations of optical storage and holographic storage end.  In CDs, DVDs, or BDs, the recording is done by making marks (or changes) in a thin recording layer in the disc.  These marks are typically made by changing the reflectivity of the recording layer - think of it as making microscopic damage spots in a mirror.  In the case of holographic storage, we are creating chemical changes in microscopic patterns that will generate higher reflectivity when read by a low power laser - this is a more complicated process and requires that we create a material in which the refractive index can be changed when exposed to high laser power.

So returning to 2009, we started the year with materials in which we could write holograms using 405 nm blue lasers that gave at most 0.005% to 0.01% reflectivity.  These materials demonstrated the high-power record and low-power readout behavior we were trying to create, but the patterns reflected too little light to enable high capacity on a disc.  However, very recently, the team at GE has made dramatic improvements in the materials enabling significant increases in the amount of light that can be reflected by the holograms.  In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we demonstrated reflectivities as high as 1% in our materials using our holographic recording test setups.  This represents a 100x to 200x improvement in performance.  More importantly, the higher reflectivity indicates that when we scale the holograms down in size to those that would correspond to the marks created using standard DVD or Blu-ray optics, the reflectivities will be sufficient to enable the storage of up to 500 GB of data in a single CD-size disc.  This is truly a breakthrough in the development of the materials that are so critical to ultimately bringing holographic storage to the everyday consumer.

Noticed that the Spacemusic RSS feed was only displaying 10 most recent items, meaning: when new subscribers added the Spacemusic feed to their aggregator they would only see the 10 most recent podcasts….. bad thing! Obviously nobody ever noticed so our guess is we are dealing with our loyal ever-subscribed listeners. All fixed now. New subscribers will find all shows in the Season 4 feed as we entered the correct data in the Wordpress settings.

Audio Terror?

Excuse us for telling you about a low frequency zoooommmmm (Senseo® Sunday april 19th 2009) ; the Mosquito is about a high-frequency tone! Sorry. Here’s more:

The Mosquito or Mosquito alarm (marketed as the Beethoven in France and the Swiss-Mosquito in Switzerland) is an electronic device, used for solving loitering problems, which emits an annoying sound with a high frequency. The newest version of the device, launched late in 2008, has two frequency settings, one of approximately 17.4 kHz that can generally be heard only by people under the age of 25, and another at 8 kHz that can be heard by most people. The sound pressure ranges from 85 to 94 decibels (dB). The sound can typically only be heard by people below 25 years of age, as the ability to hear high frequencies deteriorates in humans with age (a phenomenon known as presbycusis).

The device is marketed as a safety and security tool for preventing youths from congregating in specific areas. As such, it is promoted to reduce anti-social behaviour such as loitering, graffiti, vandalism, drug abuse, drug distribution, and violence. In the UK, over 3,000 have been sold, mainly for use outside shops and near transport hubs. The device is also sold in Australia, France, The Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Canada and the USA.

The Mosquito has attracted controversy on the basis of human rights. Critics say that it discriminates against young people and infringes their human rights, while supporters argue that making the Mosquito illegal would infringe the human rights of shopkeepers who suffer business losses when “unruly teenagers” drive away their customers. Mosquito distributors have said that they keep standards to ensure that the device is not abused, and Howard Stapleton who invented the device has asked European governments to legislate guidelines governing its use.

Health effects

The German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health stated in a report on The Mosquito, entitled “Use of ultrasonic noise channels not entirely safe”: The results of the examination are now available. The auditors were not able to certify this device as completely safe. The risk to the target group of teenagers and young adults is relatively low. They can leave the area when they hear the sound. On the other hand small children and infants are especially at risk, due to lengthy exposure to the sound, because the adults themselves do not perceive the noise. Moreover, the ultrasound affects not only hearing. Disruption of the equilibrium senses, as well as other extra-aural effects are well known. With the sound levels that can be reached by the device, the onset of dizziness, headache and impairment is to be expected. This is not the limit of the total risks to safety and health.

Have a great day outside!

The beautiful weather hits the country…. Its green wherever you go, its blue sky wherever you look. April goes into the books as a fine spring in 2009 !!!

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Spotten van vliegtuigen, kijkt  maar uit!
Het is gedoogd maar ook tóch weer niet. Ofzoiets….

Picture this: via afslag Aalsmeer, via Schiphol Rijk, kun je komen op de nieuwe spotters-plek om vliegtuigjes op de Kaagbaan te fotograferen. Als je de auto neerzet en even een stukje loopt kom je gemakkelijk te voet op een braakliggend veldje. (Zie punt A. op de foto). Dit veldje is vrij toegankelijk, geen bord te bekennen, gewoon een vrije wandeling dus. Met de HD-videocamera nèt een eerste opname van een landing gemaakt….. “Goeiedag meneer!” met strak wit gestreken overhemden, volledig in kostuum, twee man sterk staat de politie achter me. “Zou u zo vriendelijk willen zijn om een stuk terug te lopen en hier verder niet te vertoeven?” Ik zeg: “Hoe weet ik dat ik hier niet mag zitten dan?”. Waarop ze antwoordden: “…dat weet u inderdaad niet maar daarom vragen wij het u “. Wat is er aan de hand: het terrein is een soorte van ‘grijs gebied’. Er staan geen borden. Vrije toegang, het wordt gedoogd maar ook weer niet. Letterijk de woorden van de politieagent: “het wordt gedoogd”, “wilt u wel een stukje terug gaan want u bevindt zich op land waar de eigenaar u liever niet ziet”.

De agent gaat verder: ”En wat doet u eigenlijk met al die spullen”? Ik zeg: “foto’s maken en mooie HD filmopnamen voor eigen gebruik”. Waarop de agent zegt:”…en dan zeker op Youtube zetten “? Ik zeg: “Neen, da’s nou net een site waar ik geen klap aan vindt, maar vanwaar uw vraag?”. Waarop de agent zegt: “oh nee zomaar hoor, gewoon interesse, je ziet dit niet veel hier dat je van links naar rechts een opname staat te maken, de meeste staan met de tele-lens in de aanslag en maken een kiekje”, “u stond net helemaal van links naar rechts een opname te maken, dat vond ik merkwaardig”.

Deze jongen heeft maar meegewerkt. Wel met de woorden “ik krijg een beetje opgejaagd gevoel hierbij heren, er mag tegenwoordig niet veel meer”, “de goeien lijden onder de kwaden of zoiets”? , “ik doe hier geen vlieg kwaad en bevind me niet op verboden terrein of iets dergelijks”, “wel een beetje jammer zo vind u niet”?

Of ik nou de werkelijke reden gehoord heb weet ik niet. Het verhaal klopte namelijk niet helemaal lekker. De agent zegt dat het gedoogd wordt voor de spotters op deze plek te zijn, maar dan weer net niet als je  25 meter te ver doorloopt…. zonder dat er ook maar iets staat aangegeven. Zou het mijn enthousiaste camera-zwiep van links naar rechts geweest zijn? Die kerel in het autootje die rond de landingsbaan altijd surveilleert, hield ook al gas in en keek uit zijn raampje….

“Het spijt ons dat we uw feestje hebben gestaakt, nog een prettige dag”. Wat een vrij land hè? Op de Polderbaan had ik gelukkig meer succes en heb vrij bewogen, van rechts naar links, was het gedoogd, heb ik me gedragen, ik heb zelfs mijn lege boterhamzakjes keurig terug in de tas gedaan. 

-TC

This year I will visit London for a couple of days again - part of the longer UK tour,  enjoying  the wonderful country and people. Of course I do hope the weather has something nice for me on the menu….. “all blue sky and sunshine” sounds great to me. We’ll see. During the days in London there’s time for HD video recording, meeting with musicians and friends, relaxation and who knows some unexpected LIVE events. Extra tips and suggestions are always welcome! If you happen to be around during the second week of June and feel you have something valuable to share with the Spacemusic audience, true spacemusic or lounge music, drop a line please, perhaps we can schedule a meeting/interview. Post a comment or send an e-mail, that would be awesome! 

Also in June: the spacemusic.nl website will get it’s extra membership area (if there’s enough time left besides editing video and sorting out audio recordings made in the UK …) . The members area is exclusive: one can access only via subscription. More information will be posted about it when ready. The Spacemusic members area will offer exclusive audio and video content; it will be about streaming HD video content and downloading hi-quality spacemusic mixes, soundseeing tours, and previously unposted music and very rare instrumental versions of shows.

Let’s safe you from all technical details… but once you know about the size of HD video files…. it’s a matter of extreme and intense searching for the right host out there!! We wanted to combine HD video and audio into one simple and easy to access web address. Fingers crossed: I really hope the results will be satisfactory when we do final tests in June.

One more thing: a BIG thanks to our sponsors for supporting our projects. The Canon HD camcorder is in the house. In fact the overall HD video project is making more and more progress; The Stamford Photo Express in the UK for instance has supported us with the directional stereo microphone for our Canon HD camcorder, fantastic!!! The thing is blocking the wind noise and that’s absolutely necessary when visiting a country surrounded by big seas and winds….

What we plan to add to our video recording equipment is a wide converter lens so we can actually capture the complete scene in the heart of London - costs for this lense app. € 200,- Maybe we’ll get lucky and find ourselves another sponsor willing to take care of these lasts bits and bytes so everything fits the canvas!

~TC

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Spacemusic UK tour 2009 - London: June 7th till 11th

Meet us? Send your e-mail to spacemusic.nl@gmail.com
Demo album / biography? spacemusic.nl@gmail.com / postal.

Due to server issues we are experiencing problems with two shows: the Senseo® Sundays Glen Darcey and Schiller are temporarily unavailable. Our partner in hosting is diving into this matter. If you wanna download the shows please do come back later and try again.

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April 15th 2009 - update: the shows mentioned are back online. Please take care of empty your cache memory while attempting to download the files.

Time for some shooting again; this afternoon i was @ schiphol area to capture planes and stuff - sunshone, beuatiful weather. I decoded to go there after visiting Scheveningen, The Hague which was 100% in the mist!!

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Angry. That’s the problem @ this moment. More and more people around me are getting angry one way or another. Why exactly? Don’t know. It’s just a fact. One can smell it. It’s when there’s too much of fish per square mile sort of speak. Irritation. Unhappy. Stress. Daily Life.  And then they go shopping…. So what will be the effect? What happens when angry people go shopping? Indeed. Not listening well, a must-buy situation, quick decisions, go home fast…go home and forget about being angry. At least they try….

What happens when angry people unpack their goodies and find out something isn’t working as they might have expected? Or when they find out they were not listening during the shop lessons and demonstrations? Something the salesman told them all about, however, there was this so called ‘anger’ in the way. Voila! They are getting more angry! And then they return to the shop. I repeat: far more angry. What do you think will be the effect? What happens when double angry people come back to a shop and wanna tell how they feel….? Indeed! The salesman will get shot. Freeze! Shouting will be the theme. Double angry people will get triple angry during this final decompression. 

Anger. Technology. Stress. Personal bag with stuff. People are people. But please…. if you are angry or not feeling well, would you consider NOT go shopping and stay @ home or go for a long walk on the beach? Heal some anger. It’s better that way. Let’s meet when things are cool again so we can focus 100% on the products and you’ll be able to make the right decision and buy the right thing…. sure thing! Thank you!

Sales.