This Fingerprint Scanner Can Count Your Hundreds of Sweat Pores

The Warwick Warp BioLog is faster and more accurate than other fingerprint scanners out there, especially ones that require a PIN number, card or perfect print. It's not because it's using some fancy new sensor, though. The real magic is in the approach.

To test their Warp scanning technology, researchers at the University of Warwick in the UK decided to give themselves a stiff challenge: construction sites. That means dirty fingers, smudges, torn skin and a lot of workers looking to get on and off a site quick—so no lingering, dainty finger presses. The Warp Biolog will take all comers, storing these low-quality prints instead of asking for a clean read. The system considers what it can and can't see, using its database to quickly extrapolate what the rest of the print should look like based on a mathematical model and match it to the finger's owner in the system.

The Warwick Warp tech is so accurate that it's won some high marks in a tough field. The UK's National Physical Laboratory ranked it first for overall accuracy, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology here in the US gave it third place.

[CNET]

I Hang My Flashlights from the Ceiling

What? Where do you keep your flashlight? These porcelain flashlight lamps come in all shapes and sizes for $42 a pop. A 12-inch cord comes included. Band-aids for when you bump your head do not.

[Fred Flare via Nerd Approved via Coolest Gadgets]

LHC Lives Again, Blasts Off at the Speed of Light

Particle beams are once again flowing through the bowels of CERN's Large Hadron Collider after a catastrophic helium leak caused all systems to stop last September. Don't start packing that bomb shelter, though. The LHC doesn't have a clean bill of health just yet. Scientists only put two of the facility's eight 2.2-mile-long sectors into action, leaving plenty of the 17-mile-long ring to test out before operations resume this November.

It's still a big step for the LHC, which was left with sub-performing magnets in the wake of the big leak. According to a CERN report, the magnets in the sectors tested are operating at full strength and the test is "a perfect functioning of the machine."

[CERN via PopSci]

Your Intel SSD May Be 40% Faster Today, if You're Lucky

We always hear about improvements that'll have drives performing better down the line, but Intel is releasing a firmware update that could have solid-state drives running faster today. 40% faster, in fact. If you're the owner of one of Intel's current-gen line of 34nm SSDs such as the X25-M series, then your drive should now support TRIM—otherwise known as the ATA Data Set Management Command—which will improve the way your SSD recognizes and handles unused blocks of data, improving disk and transfer speeds.

Mileage varies according to the size of your drive, of course, and Intel's first-gen 50nm SSDs don't support TRIM.

Here's where I tell you the catch. Mac users are out of luck as OS X doesn't yet support the command (the operative word there being yet), though TRIM is native to Windows 7. Windows XP and Vista users can also take advantage of the update through Intel's Solid-State Drive Toolbox.

[Electronista]

iPhone Moms, the New Frontier for App Developers

Despite what the success of apps such as iFart may have you thinking, there's a new (and big) demographic of users in town: iPhone moms. Research conducted by Greystripe—a mobile media advertiser—shows that moms with kids ranging from infants to 17-year-olds account for nearly a third of all iPhone users. What's more, the study found that 94% of mothers download apps and games, making programs that help with anything from daily productivity to raising kids all the more attractive for developers to pursue.

Andesigned is one such developer, with a Baby Tracker: Nursing app that allows iPhone moms to schedule nursing sessions, keep track of multiple babies and even record what was in each bottle a baby was fed. That's not all: there are white noise generating apps to help soothe infants, curfew monitors for parents of teens and apps that turn the iPhone into a baby monitor.

Just about the only app not offered is the one where the iPhone sprouts arms and legs and raises your kid for you.

[Fast Company]

Switched-On: Classic '60s Synthesized Bliptones for Your Phone

Moog. Korg. Gleeman. If you think I'm speaking in Klingon right now, then you've clearly lost touch with the '60s, man. Want to reconnect? The "Switched-On" ringtone pack by RCP Tones features 75 classic bleeps and boops, synthesized using anything from the venerable Roland SH-1000 to the portable Minimoog.

You get all 75 synthesized tones for $4, available through Amazon or iTunes for the iPhone and MP3-enabled phones. There's a preview of the package on RCP's site—I think I'd probably go with "Poly Fader," which sounds like a trippy, alien sonar pulse.

[RCP Tones via Design Milk]

Bubble-Like Workspace Cocoons You in Productivity

This here is the "Rewrite" workspace, which helps you get your work done by putting you in your own little bubble. Think blinders on a horse, or Shelob's silk for hobbits. The half-dome itself is upholstered to help it dull distracting noises, and the desk has a slit cut into it for you to run your cables through.

It's the work of Denmarkians Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi of GamFratesi and—if you happen to be anywhere near their native lands—will be shown off at a solo show at The Danish Museum of Art and Design.

[Dezeen via Boing Boing]

'Pie of Sauron' Pumpkin, Complete with Spinning Eye

If you're still looking for pumpkin carving ideas then you may want to check out this thread. It contains step-by-step directions on how to transform a pumpkin into one jack-o'-lantern to rule them all with a little whittle-work and a dekatron counting tube.

Hell, it even sounds angry:


[Vintage Tech Association via MAKE]