October, 2006

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"Backward sunspots" may herald start of Solar Cycle 24
The recent appearance on the sun of two so-called "backward sunspots" may mean solar Cycle 23 is drawing to a close and Cycle 24 now is under way or soon will be. At least that's the thinking of some scientists. "We've beenwaiting for this," said Solar Physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, after the first backward spot showed up. "A backward sunspot is a sign that the next solar cycle is beginning." The term "backward" refers to the sunspots' magnetic polarity. One such sunspot appeared briefly July 31, then disappeared, but its significance was that its magnetic polarity was just the opposite of current Cycle 23 spots. Another more robust spot, Sunspot 905, appeared earlier this month -- although it subsequently began to dissipate -- and some sungazers are saying Cycle 24 already has begun. ARRL propagation guru Tad Cook, K7RA, has been a bit more cautious. "As time goes on, there will be more Cycle 24 spots and fewer Cycle 23 spots," he said in a recent "Solar Update." In any event, radio conditions will not improve any time soon but over a period of several years of the course of the 11-year cycle, perhaps peaking around 2010.

Samsung Develops New Memory Chip
Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday unveiled a new type of memory chip that it said will allow digital devices to work faster by saving new data more quickly. The phase-change random access memory, or PRAM, chip is nonvolatile, meaning it will retain data even when an electronic device is turned off, and is about 30 times faster than conventional flash memory, Samsung said. It is expected to be available in 2008, Samsung said. A 512-megabit prototype PRAM device was unveiled at a news conference in Seoul on Monday. Currently, two types of nonvolatile flash memory chips _ NOR and NAND _ are widely used in electronic devices. NOR chips are suitable for running software directly, but are slower and are more expensive to manufacture, while NAND chips are easier to make in larger capacities but are more suitable for large data files, such as MP3 music. Samsung said the PRAM chips use vertical diodes and a three-dimensional transistor structure to create a small cell size. Unlike NOR and NAND chips, they don't need to first erase any old data in a separate step before storing any new data, it said. Samsung also unveiled on Monday a 32-gigabit NAND flash memory chip based on finer 40-nanometer process technology _ the size of the smallest circuit elements on the chip. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. Currently, the bulk of Samsung's flash memory chips are produced using 70-nanometer process technology. Using finer process technology allows more to be fit on a semiconductor chip and reduces power requirements. Flash memory chips are used extensively in digital music devices, digital cameras and mobile phones. Samsung is the world's largest memory chip maker and a top producer of consumer electronics, including flat-screen televisions, mobile phones, MP3 players and laptop computers. The company, based in Suwon, South Korea, recorded a net profit of 7.64 trillion won ($8 billion) on sales of 57.46 trillion won ($60 billion) in 2005.

$299 will get you into the 'mile-high club'
One of the day’s more unique stories comes from USA TODAY, where Kitty Bean Yancey sits down for a Q&A session with a Georgia corporate pilot who helps couples join the "mile-high club." Yancey writes that "for $299, he'll take a frisky twosome above 5,280 feet in a Piper Cherokee 6 fitted with a mattress. The hour-long flights out of Carrollton, Ga., have lured couples from as far as New York." The pilot, 51-year-old Bob Smith, says he’s taken between 75 and 100 couples over the past five years who have ranged in age "from 18 and 19 up to their 60s." He also says that about 75% of those flights have been booked by women. "I've tried to figure that out, and I guess if the guy suggested it to a woman, he would be afraid she'd think he was some kind of pervert," Smith says. "But if the woman suggests it, the man thinks she's hot." In case you wanted to check it out, Smith's "Mile High Atlanta" service is on the Web.

October, 2006

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