Ok, this is kinda scary in a way, but rather interesting nevertheless. A company called "Vitae LLC" from Madison, Wisconsin has developed an "Automated In Vitro Fertilization System." What this system allows is a much faster and more efficient way to do those "test tube babies." Eggs cultured in this system (which looks like a big microscope slide with a tub on one end and a connection for a tube on the other) developed into embryos three times faster than eggs cultured in petri dishes. The conditions of the female reproductive tract are re-created on the three slides used in the system.
On the cooler tech side of things, a few groups are developing ways to visualize sound. Lucent Technologies' Bell labs, Berkeley University's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, and a group of students and faculty at the University of British Columbia, have each developed ways to visualize sound. These systems take into account all of the properties of sound, including refraction around objects, reflection off certain materials, and absorption. I wish it was easy to sum up this 4-page article, but suffice it to say, you can now see sound.... kinda. (Computer Graphics World, August 2001, page 35.)
OK, the usual disclaimer:
WARNING: Some of these prices may shock you, leave you breathless, make you sick, get out your wallet, or something else dangerous or drastic in some way. The Junkyard is not responsible for your actions.
| Memory (256MB) | |||
| Type | Price | from last week | Retailer |
| PC-100 | $17 | -$1 | 1st Choice Memory |
| PC-133 | $16 | $0 | 1st Choice Memory |
| PC-150 | $24 | -$2 | NeutronUSA |
| PC-1600 | $35 | $0 | Connect Computers (must mention pricewatch) |
| PC-2100 | $31 | -$3 | 1st Choice Memory |
| PC-2400 | $69 | -$1 | BayAds.com |
| PC-800 RDRAM | $76 | -$10 | googlegear.com |
| CPUs | |||
| AMD Athlon 1.4GHz (200MHz FSB) | $116 | -$29 | Accubyte (phone orders only, must mention pricewatch) |
| AMD Athlon 1.4GHz (266MHz FSB) | $106 | -$15 | EconoPC (phone orders only, must mention pricewatch) |
| Intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz | $194 | -$104 | EconoPC (phone orders only, must mention pricewatch) |
| AMD Duron 950MHz | $55 | -$3 | EconoPC (phone orders only, must mention pricewatch) |
| Intel Celeron 850MHz | $58 | -$5 | Krex Direct (down toward the bottom) |
Please note that the Pentium 4 and Celeron processors are available at slightly higher speeds. I will not be adding those new speeds this week. Please also note that the Athlon "MP" (the mutiprocessor version) is available at 1 and 1.2 GHz. I will consider adding them at community request.
| 40GB 7200RPM EIDE Hard Disk Drives (5 choice manufacturers) | |||
| Maxtor | $99 | $4 | Park PC (part# HDMX4072, must mention pricewatch) |
| Seagate | $100 | -$19 | House of Computers (must mention pricewatch) |
| IBM | $101 | -$14 | House of Computers (must mention pricewatch) |
| Quantum | $118 | $0 | Essential Computer, Inc. |
| Western Digital | $101 | $0 | House of Computers (must mention pricewatch) |
