Maybe the New iPad Is Hot Because Its Processor Is 310% Huger

 

Apple's unapologetically selling a new iPad that'll go up to 116 degrees in your hands while playing a game. Maybe they should have done something about that, yeah. But the tablet's new processor is so massive, we shouldn't be surprised.

Chipworks, which compared the new hotness (am I right?) on the right to the first iPad's A4 processor on left, has a pretty striking comparison on its hands:

The Apple A4, which by all accounts is still commercially viable given the price of used Apple products on craigslist, measured in at 53.3 mm². Only two (and a half?) generations later, we have the Apple A5X weighing in at 165 mm² – a whopping 310% larger.

It's worth noting that the A5X is still built using a 45 nm fabrication process—which in human English refers to the size of the tiniest parts each chip is made out of. The smaller the number, the more transistors can be packed onto a processor, which generally translates into a more efficient, cooler chip. Apple didn't make its CPU more sophisticated in order to crank out more retina display-filling power—it just made it humungous.

How a Man Survived Without Food For Two Months in a Snow-Buried Car

When a Swedish man drove down a deserted forest road near Umeaa, Sweden last December 19th, he was probably looking forward to Christmas. But that day, his car somehow became buried under a mountain of snow. He was trapped there for two months, suffering insanely low temperatures, with no access to food. Last Sunday, he was discovered. Alive. But how?

When police arrived at the snow-covered car, they found the 45-year-old man emaciated and too weak to say more than a few words. The man claimed to have been in the car since December 19th, and had eaten nothing since that day. Weather reports show that temperatures in the area dropped as low as minus 30C during the period.

The Swedish police believe his story. But he was hardly Captain America, so how the hell did he survive in temperatures as low as that, for two months, without food?

Coping without food

The body can survive without food for a respectable length of time. The upper limit does, however, seem to be about two months under normal conditions—and even then, the results aren't pretty. As an example, Barry Horne, a British animal rights protester, went on hunger strike whilst in prison. His experiences are well documented:

"On day 43 of his hunger strike he received the last rights and was placed in a "hunger strike cell", fitted with just a cardboard chair and table. By day 66 he was hallucinating, deaf in one ear and blind in one eye; he could no longer remember why he was on hunger strike. After 68 days without food he ended his ordeal."

But the Swedish dude isn't reported to have any of those problems: he's emaciated and malnourished, sure, but hasn't undergone that level of physical stress.

Slowing down in the cold

The key is the accompanying drop in temperature. When the body gets cold, its core temperature—right inside your torso, the temperature at which your vital organs operate—drops in order to slow your metabolism. If you get hypothermic, your heart rates slow, and your body uses less energy and oxygen.

There are some extreme examples of the phenomenon. A 7-year-old in Sweden who was found in freezing sea water made a full recovery, despite the fact that her core temperature had dropped to 13C and she was, for all intents and purposes, dead. That, however, was a much shorter time scale: hours, as opposed to months.

Fortunately, our Swedish guy in the car had warm clothes; he had a sleeping bag; he had shelter. Tucked up in the back of the car, his core temperature dropped to 31C. Fortunately for him, he hit a sweet spot. His body's metabolic rate dropped dramatically, meaning he used extremely little energy, but his body didn't shut down entirely. As one of his physicians has explained:

"A bit like a bear that hibernates. Humans can do that. He probably had a body temperature... which the body adjusted to. Due to the low temperature, not much energy was used up."

Crucially, he didn't get too cold: if temperatures were much lower, his breathing and heart rate would have slowed to the point that, over hours or days, his brain would have been starved of oxygen. On the flip side, he wasn't too hot: much warmer, and his body wouldn't have had the energy reveres to see him through the two months. He took on a death-defying balancing act, and won.

Ideas for a New Simpsons Movie!

The "Bart Knight", cool! 

Oh, so Disney will produce the new Simpsons movie? I don't think so! 

Good idea for a new Simpsons movie!

The Matrix, featuring Homer!

Pulp Simpsons, featuring Marge! 

The new Tron movie!

How One Man Made a Double-Lens Camera Out of LEGO and Old Binoculars

With the breakneck speed at which new DSLRs are released, photography seems to have traded a bit of its soul for the pursuit of ever more megapixels. So, Carl-Frederic Salicath of Norway has taken a step back from the digital revolution and has built his own working retro 120mm-film camera. Here's how.

Dubbed the LEGOflex B1, the camera mimics the style of classic style of the Rolleiflex designs. The exterior is fabricated exclusively from the brightly-colored building blocks. Its interior employs a few Technic pieces to secure the roll of film and prevent it from unwinding. He affixed a pair of binocular lenses and employs a separate Technic piece to act as the aperture. It even includes a viewfinder.

Focusing the camera can be a bit of a challenge, as he must shift the lens in and out of the housing to do so. Achieving the correct exposure is also a bit difficult as it's done by moving a slotted plate across the case to intercept the path of the light. If you're up for building your own, Salicath has posted very detailed instructions on his blog, The Darkroom.