The folks out at UNSW have developed a repeatable technique for assembling a single-atom transistor.

As Martin LaMonica wrote in the article: “The lab members used a scanning tunnelling microscope to manipulate atoms at the surface of a silicon crystal. Then with a lithographic process, they laid phosphorous atoms onto the silicon substrate.”

It will be interesting to see how easily this technique can be used to create proper circuits and if it can be applied in quantum computing as the UNSW team hopes.

Do you have a stash of Commodore 64, Amstrads or IBM PCs lying around that a telemovie can use? Janie Parker, an art director for a movie about hackers called Underground, is seeking ’80s era equipment.

“To help tell the story, we need to accurately replicate the equipment that was used. We are searching for people that may collect this equipment to loan, sell or hire to us,” Parker said.

When television and computer usage get together, it tends to disregard much of the authenticity department. Exhibit A is below:

Hopefully this film will care a little more about reality.

And over the weekend, Microsoft revealed its logo for Windows 8. I’ll just leave it here for you to make your own conclusions about it.


(Credit: Microsoft)