lasers

The Dell 1250c is a suitable match for single users hunting for a single-function laser printer that can output black and color documents in a light-duty printing environment. Its $150 retail price puts it in the same price category as all-in-one multifunction inkjet printers that can fax, copy, and scan along with printing. But if you can't stand waiting for ink to dry, and don't mind a slight drop-off in image print quality, the Dell 1250c's quick output and crisp laser text and graphics earn our endorsement.

There isn't much to speak of in terms of … Read more

How often do you see guitars equipped with lasers?

M3i Technologies has come up with a guitar that uses lasers to record chords even before your fingers touch the strings. Talk about enhanced precision.

The instrument makes use of Laser Pitch Detection (LPD) technology. A set of laser diodes are placed on the bridge of the guitar and each string has its own laser beam extending across the frets. Once your finger passes through the light, the system in the guitar takes note of the laser beam's length and calculates the string's pitch.

Theoretically, these signals could be used to control just about anything (Pac Man, anyone?) or used as a controller for music-based games such as Harmonix's Rock Band.

Watch this video for more: … Read more

Boeing is formally joining an effort to give directed-energy capabilities to U.S. Navy machine guns through a BAE Systems effort to develop the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System.

The technology will unite a solid-state, high-energy laser weapon module with BAE's Mk 38 Mod 2 gun system. It will add adjustable levels of laser energy to counter threats such as small boats and UAVs.

"This is revolutionary--to combine kinetic and directed energy weapons capability into one system," says Boeing spokesperson Elizabeth Merida. "Adding the laser system provides extremely precise targeting ability."

The tie-up … Read more

I own two printers. One's a laser, which I use for most of my everyday document printing. The other is a multifunction, which handles photos, copies, scanning, the rare items I need to print in color, and so on. I even send the occasional fax from it.

Like that setup? Then here's a pair of deals you'll love: Best Buy has the Brother MFC-J270w wireless multifunction printer for $49.99, while OfficeMax has the Samsung ML-1865W wireless laser printer for $49.99. You're on the hook for sales tax for both models.

As for shipping, Best … Read more

When people go to the movie theaters, they seem delighted when lasers are able to blow things up all over expansive galaxies. Then they go home and wonder why this doesn't seem to be all that possible in real life.

The answer is that lasers are not so efficient when taken into this mundane world. They need to be vast, suck up huge amounts of power, and enjoy perfect atmospheric conditions in order to effect due damage on, say, architecture from the Communist era.

However, some very clever people at a company called TeraDiode believe they might have taken … Read more

Boeing recently built key parts of a truck-mounted laser weapon for the U.S. Army that will shoot down short-range projectiles and UAVs and it's set to test it later this year, according to a company release.

Important components of the Army's High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) were installed on an eight-wheel Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck.

It's scheduled to be tested at low power at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in the fourth quarter of 2011. … Read more

100 Years of IBM milestones, scientists combine a human cell and a jellyfish into a living laser and Facebook is armed wih HTML5 and going after Apple.

This is an update of a deal from a few months ago.

Inkjet printers are all well and good, but if you mostly print black-and-white documents, nothing beats a laser.

Newegg has the Samsung ML-2525 laser printer for $44.99, plus a mere $2.99 for shipping. That's the lowest price I've seen (or can recall, at least) on this or any other laser.

The ML-2525 is your basic personal printer, one that comes with a 250-sheet paper tray, an 80-sheet output tray, a 1,500-page toner cartridge, and a USB interface. (If you want the wireless version, … Read more

The most common iPhone passcodes are revealed on today's show (no, not by LulzSec), but Tong has a pager-callback suggestion for all of us. A proposal in Congress would force U.S. companies to actually tell us when they're hacked and our data is stolen (yes, please), and Rojadirecta becomes the people's hero in challenging the government's domain-name seizures. Go, Rojadirecta, go!