What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
50 Comments
- ZenKai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+35"WARNING: Do NOT open battery enclosure. If battery enclosure is cracked, please contact the Center for Disease control IMMEDIATELY. Do NOT ingest. Keep away from eyes. Should product get into eyes, flush with antibiotics immediately."
This product brought to you by Umbrella Corp. Changing the world, one iPod at a time. - chaosmachine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24the unwritten rule of digg comment moderation:
if your comment has spammy link at the end of it, it's getting buried. - CatfishJones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16*imagines the difficulty of trying to explain to his mother that her new laptop is powered by viruses*
- blahblah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14He didn't even say anything! He might as well have said, "While there is a scientific consensus that the merits of cottage cheese hold only when one consumes it north of the Arctic Circle, one might wonder whether the role of platypi in reducing Amazon deforestation will be significant in twenty months."
-spamlink - solidcube, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13WELL I GUESS IT'S NOT UNWRITTEN ANYMORE.
Gee, thanks, Chaosmachine. Way to go dude. - ZenKai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I'm still trying to convince my parents that faxed transmissions don't actually involve sending paper through wires.
- msaleem, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Here's another post: http://digg.com/science/Battery_electrodes_self-assembled_by_viruses
Definitely worth a read. - lazyplayboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@Quactaur:
Gnnaaaarrr! Where the hell does 'virii' come from? Some kind of mutilated latin translation? If for a moment we were going to use a latin plural suffix, the correct spelling would be 'Viri'.
Viruses. At least the submitter got it right :-p - AngryPunk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Am I the only one who thinks that this might not be such a great idea... don't viruses in nature always like... mutate ?
- mushoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Joke's on you buddy. Their plan is pretty obvious; make lots of money off oblivious people such as yourself.
- nlogax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4powered by viruses? my windows laptop will run FOREVER!!
- warrenfalk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I imagine funny support calls ensuing when people disable their anti-viruses to prolong laptop battery life.
- lnxaddct, on 10/12/2007, -9/+13Typically in more mature forums, sigs are commonplace and welcome. Hell even at slashdot, where the audience is sometimes mature and sometimes not, sigs are common place. They add a piece of individualism or in this case a point of contact or a place to further read about the poster. If you like what the poster has said, then perhaps you would like his personal site or something to that affect. Putting one little link after your name is not spammy, and the link can be very relevant for some people. Yes you can always go to their profile and click it there, but putting it in the sig adds a bit of convenience to it without taking anything away from the post. I see nothing wrong with it, and claiming otherwise just seems immature. As far as Jeffeh's post goes though, yea there was no content in it, which is probably the reason he was dugg down. Hell, I'll probably get dugg down too, hopefully because I'm offtopic, not because of a dumb little link after my name.
-Steve
http://krenzel.info - puffarthur, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6haha yea Vista computers will be powered by the trillions of viruses that infect them
- ZenKai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm betting that Ebola and botulism probably aren't their first draft picks for conductors...
- solargroovy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3A much more interesting link is in the related stories below the article:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1438430.htm
3 words: urine powered cellphone
Best quote: "[For power on a large scale] you'd probably have to coat the whole of Australia in this paper-based electrode and wee on it." - mapkinase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Abstract from original Science paper:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1122716v1
Both materials selection and assembly are ongoing issues in the development of smaller, more flexible batteries. Cobalt oxide has shown excellent electrochemical cycling properties and it thus under consideration as an electrode for advanced lithium batteries. We use viruses to synthesize and assemble nanowires of cobalt oxide at room temperature. By incorporating gold binding peptides into the filament coat, we could form hybrid gold-cobalt oxide wires that improved battery capacity. Combining the virus templated synthesis at the peptide level and our methods for the control of two dimensional assembly of viruses on polyelectrolyte multilayers provides a systematic platform for integrating these nanomaterials to form thin, flexible lithium ion batteries. - thotpoizn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Quactaur: "Think of how many times you'vecaught common colds or eaten "friendly bacteria" in live yoghurt."
OK, I am thinking of the number, and it is "zero." Now what? Hint: Virus != Bacteria. As far as these boogers mutating into something harmful, the odds of the inside of a battery producing conditions likely to cause a mutation which favors infecting the human body - well, they are very nearly the same number as above.
On the other hand, I could see some interesting possibilities involving plastics and metals... - colebarnes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This seems cruel and inhumane, viruses are people too!!! What will the folks at P.E.T.V. say?
- Eraserhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3damn I screwed up and submitted it twice.
I stand ready to be humiliated :( - Quactaur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yes, but they're much more likely to die. Think of how many times you've caught common colds or eaten "friendly bacteria" in live yoghurt. How many of those have spontaneously mutated into HIV or Ecoli?
- docburn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Actually, viruses (or virii, it doesn't matter) aren't alive. The scientific community (i.e., the world) has agreed upon certain criteria which must be met before something is labelled "alive."
- radu79, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ok, the question is, are they rechargeable? If not, they won't be very useful, as in the long run rechargeable batteries are much cheaper than any conventional battery, and their enviroment toll is much smaller as well.
- Quactaur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Maybe not. They may seem cheaper when you recharge them instead of buying new ones, but at the power station where the electricity you're pushing into the battery comes from, it's almost as wastefull as the intial charging of disposeables. Rechargeables are also less efficient than use-once batteries so you'll probably end up using more power (and money) in the process.
- deadfones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The viruses will eventually take the red pill and kill us all.
- swax, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5If I want your website, I'll look at your profile. ;)
- ZenKai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I stand corrected. ^_^ Thanks for the heads-up; good to know.
- solidcube, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why the heck not?
Botulism, by the way, is an anaerobic bacterium, not a virus. - elmigs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why stop in batteries? Could this be a sustainable source of energy?
I mean if it can power cars, then it can power a house, a building, a city...
WOW. - Eraserhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as:
virusIn the English language, the standard plural of virus is viruses. This is the most frequently occurring form of the plural, both when referring to a biological virus and when referring to a computer virus.
The less frequent variations viri and virii are virtually unknown in edited prose, and no major dictionary recognizes them as alternative forms. Their occurrence can be variously attributed to hypercorrection formed by analogy to Latin plurals such as radii; idiosyncratic use as jargon among a group, such as computer hackers; the incorrect assumption that the word is of Greek origin, requiring an -i plural; and deliberate word play, such as on BBSs (see, e.g.: leet).
To complicate matters further, viri is already used in Latin as the plural of vir, meaning "man" (thus making viri mean "men")[1]. - HereComeTheBugs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1P.E.T.V joke already been used... -1 dig for you
- Burgerman851, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Dugg lnxaddct's comment for the link at the end.
- Eraserhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wiktionary - In the English language, the standard plural of virus is viruses. This is the most frequently occurring form of the plural, both when referring to a biological virus and when referring to a computer virus.
The less frequent variations viri and virii are virtually unknown in edited prose, and no major dictionary recognizes them as alternative forms. Their occurrence can be variously attributed to hypercorrection formed by analogy to Latin plurals such as radii; idiosyncratic use as jargon among a group, such as computer hackers; the incorrect assumption that the word is of Greek origin, requiring an -i plural; and deliberate word play, such as on BBSs (see, e.g.: leet).
To complicate matters further, viri is already used in Latin as the plural of vir, meaning "man" (thus making viri mean "men") - tidejwe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Quactaur does have a point regardless of his spelling. 99% of viruses are entirely benign to humans (we're talking about how out of BILLIONS of viruses, there are only a couple handfuls of them that are even compatible with humans). Most of them aren't even ABLE to use humans as a host. Any virus used for this would be genetically engineered for this purpose and be intentionally engineered to be incompatible with humans or it would never be approved for mass production.
My question is...if they last the same amount of time as traditional batteries then why make a change? I could understand if they were "rechargable" (how would you recharge the undead?) or if they lasted longer. But supposedly they don't. I suppose there is the possibility they can be made smaller, and MAYBE they will cost less. They may also be a little better for the environment when disposing of them. Who knows. :) - Quactaur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well comon colds are caused by virii and again, we don't see it becoming anything worse (just different, so it can't be treated).
Also, while it may mutate, you have to keep in mind that the virus will be made to be useless. The chances of it adapting to invade humans, and to cause any damage to humans (keeping in mind that it will be lab-made to have no special abilties or invasive adaptations) will be incredibly small; especially as inside a battery there will be no oppurtunity for adapted virii to "prove" themselves and do any better than the harmless ones. In the off chance they did manage to invade a person, it would at worse cause a bit of inflamation in the area they got to before the immune system destroys them: probably less damage than swallowing a nicadium battery's contents! - JasonPrini, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6So that's Microsoft's plan!!!
- thashiz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2[[Rechargeables are also less efficient than use-once batteries so you'll probably end up using more power (and money) in the process.]]
However, the ecologically-friendly aspect would still be significant. - thotpoizn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Quactaur: My bad, I just re-read your original, thought you said "caught common colds from eating"...
/me slaps forehead...
The edit feature would have been neat-o except for the &^$%^ long ass telephone call interruption... *sheepish grin!* - radu79, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2A 1.2V 2.5 Amp rechargeable battery has more power than a disposable battery. The cost is only 10 times more (or less than that, depending which brands you buy), but they can be reused more than 200 times.
As for the electricity you put in them, from the power station, the price is pretty much 0. Assuming a 50% loss while you recharge them, with 1Kwh of power, which is what, 15 cents?, you can charge such a battery 200 times. - Quactaur, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Zenkai: What have you got against virii? If they did use them for batteries, you can be pretty sure that they'd use some harmless virus or one that has been especially bred in the lab. They're not really going to be putting pathogens into home-products!
- cannada, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0about peptide synthesis http://www.peptide-synthesis.net/peptide_synthesis_methods/
- smackfumaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I wonder if we'll see a P.E.T.V. I mean c'mon, these are living things too!
- solidcube, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This invention sounds great, but don't puncture it or everyone in your city will slough their bowels and turn into pools of sneezing black goo within the hour.
- goffy59, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2this seems kewl!
- Jrr6415sun, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1it's a terrorist's plan
- FishyJoe, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1What could go wrong???
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Microsoft having a plan haha....
- northerncomfort, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Cue the terse philosphical nonsense of the Matrix...
- phpirate, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2I better upgrade my ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE! :P
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -46/+6Its awesome to see all this new technology coming up in the future but what is really going to be amazing is when it actually arrives and we advance that much more... very cool!
Jeff - http://jeffeh.com
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is