Courtesy PowerLabs.org

In any case, a recent experiment theorizes that spinning a CD way faster than 56 times a second (or 56x, I assume) carries its own set of dangers. According to the experimenter, going above that speed magnifies the tiniest imperfection on a CD, potentially causing enough wobbling to damage the rotating mechanism. So of course he decided to test a CD with a Dremel, running it at over 35000 RPM. At those speeds, the edge of CD moves at nearly 800 kilometers per hour! (Or 792 kph, to be exact).

So what happened when a Dremel took a CD for a spin? Well, “the CD hummed and whined in a very menacing manner”. Scary, but it still took “quick jerk at the tool” to make the CD a projectile. Experimenting dude recounts what came next:

…the CD slid out of the holder and contacted the carpet whilst spinning at ungodly speeds. It peeled out a bit in front of me and proceeded to make its way to the door at a very high speed. On contacting the closed door, the CD did a most unexpected thing: it first bounced back a few inches, and then, when it hit the door again, it jumped straight up the door and struck the ceiling, exploding into thousands of fragments which rained down on the entire room. This first experiment was unfortunately not videoed, but it served to get everyone in the room to put glasses on and cower away behind pieces of furniture, whilst people in the hall corridor quickly made their way to my door to ask what was going on.

In other words, spin a CD-ROM really really quickly, launch into a hard surface, and you’ll get a pretty wicked disc that potentially creates deadly shrapnel. The experiment page (link below) contains multiple videos for download, if only to satisfy your visual curiosity and help you resist the temptation to try this at home.

PowerLabs High Speed CD-Rom Experiments

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Testfreaks recently reviewed the Lexar Shoot-n-Sync Wi-Fi Memory Card, detailing the set-up process and how the peripheral works. After setting up the software on a PC or Mac, the Shoot-n-Sync goes into a camera that accepts SD cards, drawing power from the camera’s battery to send photos via WiFi. Other than that, the Shoot-n-Sync is a normal 2GB SD card.

A great, geek setup, and as Testfreaks asserts, it all “works exactly as advertised”. Firmware updates are thankfully available, and upload speeds were apparently a non-issue. The only problem I can see with the Shoot-n-Sync is it may be a needless novelty for those who are used to uploading their photos via their trusty card reader or USB cable.

(Images and source: testfreaks.com)

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Test Freaks recently played around with a Samsung SH-S223Q, a burner that promise DVD write speeds of 22x. While that may be too fast for now (the review writer admits that “there is no media capable of that yet that I know of”), the Super-Writemaster may actually represent a long-term fixture on your constantly updated desktop. The money quote:

There’s no doubt the Samsung Super Write-Master is most likely the fastest drive out there today, it’s quiet and from my testing results you can see it burns media pretty fast. The drive is also fairly quiet, which is very nice as some drives are very loud, I also had no problems with any media compatibilities either, it played every disc I put in just fine.

Speed comparison graphs and more pictures available from image source.

(image by Test Freaks)

Post from: The Gadget Blog