As Published In July/August 2006

Sight, Storage, and Sound

Better bifocals, bigger flash drives, open source PBX

Dynamic Bifocals

For many of the 40 million Americans who wear bifocal eyeglasses, focusing through specific portions of a bifocal lens causes dizziness, disorientation, and eye fatigue. So researchers have developed a prototype that uses liquid crystals to change focus in an instant, preventing the eye strain caused by conventional bifocals.

The glasses change focus using a 5-micron-thick layer of nematic liquid crystal, sandwiched between two pieces of glass. Molecules of the liquid crystal reorient themselves when exposed to an electric field, enabling a type of dynamic Fresnel lens. In a Fresnel lens, concentric rings are carved into a piece of glass, causing light to become focused in a similar way to a conventional lens. Dynamic glasses mimic this effect using concentric circles of clear electrodes. Activating these electrodes causes the liquid crystal to align into rings and focus light passing through the lens.

PixelOptics plans to sell glasses containing dynamic lenses within two years. "The prototype is pretty bulky, but when these hit the streets they'll be virtually indistinguishable from other very stylish glasses," says CEO Ronald Blum.

Flash Drives Hit 64GB

Web Locator PixelOptics dynamic bifocals BUSlink flash drives Asterisk open source PBX

Today, most of us have more information to store—and more places to store it—than ever. DVDs and dual-layer DVDs offer the ability to store lots of data, but with limits. A DVD stores 4.7GB of data, while a dual-layer DVD gives us 8.7GB—and at a high price, at least for now. An alternative: the flash drive, a pen-size, featherweight USB device commonly found in 1GB or 2GB versions. The beauty of the flash drive is its simplicity and portability. You can quickly copy files from your computer to a flash drive, and you're ready to take documents, digital photos, presentations, and more with you. BUSlink is breaking barriers in storage capacity with its 64GB-capacity USB 2.0 Flash Drive Pro 2. Although currently pricey, at around US$5,000, this keychain flash drive represents a new dimension in portable storage and convenience that will appeal to anyone who needs to move or share files.

Open Source Powers PBX

Looking to cut telephony costs in your organization? Check out Asterisk—the open source private branch exchange (PBX), or private telephone exchange.

Asterisk is a complete software-based PBX. It runs on Linux, Berkeley Software Distribution, and Mac OS X and provides all of the features you would expect—and more. Asterisk does Voice over IP (VOIP) in many protocols and interoperates with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware. It provides voice mail services with directory, call conferencing, interactive voice response, and call queuing. It supports three-way calling, caller ID services, Analog Display Services Interface, Session Initiation Protocol, and the H.323 standard. Asterisk requires no additional hardware for VOIP and supports a number of hardware devices for interconnection with digital and analog telephony equipment, including that manufactured by its sponsors at Digium, Inc.

Digium's Mark Spencer was Asterisk's original author, and open source coders around the world have contributed to it, with testing and bug patches from the community further aiding in its development. Now for the best part: This mission-critical, powerful software is free.