Industry News
Low-Cost RF Vector Signal Generation for Wireless Communications Test
April 15, 2013 9:50 am | by Agilent Technologies | News | CommentsDigitally modulated signals fill space and travel through almost every wired and optical network. Today, almost all wireless services use a plethora of complex carrier modulation schemes. The continuous improvement in modulation technologies, components, and advancements ...
Biological Transistor Enables Computing within Living Cells
April 15, 2013 9:24 am | by Andrew Myers is Associate Director of Communications, Stanford University School of Engineering. | Articles | CommentsWhen Charles Babbage prototyped the first computing machine in the 19th century, he imagined using mechanical gears and latches to control information. ENIAC, the first modern computer developed in the 1940s, used vacuum tubes and electricity.
Diamond as a Building Material for Optical Circuits
April 12, 2013 10:08 am | by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) | News | CommentsThe application of light for information processing opens up a multitude of possibilities. However, to be able to adequately use photons in circuits and sensors, materials need to have particular optical and mechanical properties. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)...
New Software Alleviates Wireless Traffic
April 12, 2013 10:00 am | by University of Michigan | News | CommentsThe software, GapSense, lets these devices that can't normally talk to one another exchange simple stop and warning messages so their communications collide less often. GapSense creates a common language of energy pulses and gaps. The length of the gaps conveys the stop or warning message.
Facebook's Zuckerberg Launches Political Group
April 12, 2013 9:55 am | by BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsZuckerberg announced the formation of Fwd.us (pronounced "forward us") in an op-ed article in The Washington Post late Wednesday night. In it, he said the U.S. needs a new approach to these issues if it is to get ahead economically. This includes offering a path to citizenship...
Investors Dump Microsoft, PC Stocks on Bleak News
April 12, 2013 9:48 am | by MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsThat logic ruled Thursday as Wall Street reacted to fresh evidence that PCs are turning into a dying breed of technology as consumers and businesses embrace smartphones and tablet computers as their preferred computing devices. That logic ruled Thursday as Wall Street reacted to fresh evidenc...
Review: Home Shields You from Non-Facebook Tasks
April 12, 2013 9:43 am | by ANICK JESDANUN, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsWhen I got my first smartphone in 2010, I checked Facebook obsessively. But over time, the novelty wore off and opening Facebook's app to check photos, links and posts from friends turned into a chore. In a sense, I'm the ideal target for Facebook's new Home app ...
NYC Students, Hackers Train for Cybersecurity Jobs
April 12, 2013 9:37 am | by JAKE PEARSON, Associated Press | News | CommentsEvery week, a group of teenagers and 20-somethings dressed in hoodies gets together in a tiny room on a college campus and plug in their laptops. They turn up pulsing electronic funk music, order pizza and begin furiously hacking into computer networks.
Coding Boot Camps Promise to Launch Tech Careers
April 12, 2013 9:28 am | by TERENCE CHEA, Associated Press | News | CommentsInstead, he quit his job and spent his savings to enroll at Dev Bootcamp, a new San Francisco school that teaches students how to write software in nine weeks. The $11,000 gamble paid off: A week after he finished the program last summer, he landed an engineering job that paid more than twice his previous salary.
Engineering Newswire 33: Boston Dynamics Tests Mustard Gas & Sarin on PETMAN
April 11, 2013 2:03 pm | by Eric Sorensen, Coordinator of Multimedia Development | Videos | CommentsToday on Engineering Newswire, brought to you by PD&D TV, we're building a bionic dragonfly, fishing with the FrankenDrone, and testing mustard gas on PETMAN. To help test the durability of hazmat suits, Boston Dynamics has unveiled its PETMAN...
Engineering Update #8: Glasses-Free 3D & a Near Replacement For Knight Rider
April 11, 2013 1:50 pm | by Eric Sorensen, Coordinator of Multimedia Development | Videos | CommentsThis week on Engineering Update from ECN, brought to you by Mouser Electronics, Mobile 3-D, Without the Glasses; Capturing Energy From Waste Heat; New Lightweight Electric Car; and Longer-Lasting Batteries, and Charging Phones Without Electricity ...
Aircraft Sensors without Batteries or Cables
April 11, 2013 1:22 pm | by Vienna University of Technology, TU Vienna | News | CommentsAn idea from EADS and Vienna University of Technology is taking off: in a joint project, Energy Harvester Modules suitable for aircrafts have been tested, which should supply sensor nodes with electrical power in the future.
Wild, Unregulated Hacker Currency Gains Following
April 11, 2013 10:55 am | by RAPHAEL SATTER, Associated Press | News | CommentsWith $600 stuffed in one pocket and a smartphone tucked in the other, Patricio Fink recently struck the kind of deal that's feeding the rise of a new kind of money — a virtual currency whose oscillations have pulled geeks and speculators alike through stomach-churning highs and lows.
Banks Rethink the Branch, but Will it Work?
April 11, 2013 10:44 am | by CHRISTINA REXRODE, AP Business Writer | News | CommentsIn an age when checks can be deposited by smartphone and almost everyone retrieves cash from ATMs, the corner bank can seem a relic, with its paper deposit slips, marble countertops and human tellers behind glass partitions. But some banking executives say the brick-and-mortar...
House Committee Approves Pro-Business Cyber Bill
April 11, 2013 10:35 am | by ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press | News | CommentsA House panel voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of a new data-sharing program that would give the federal government a broader role in helping banks, manufacturers and other businesses protect themselves against cyberattacks. The bill, approved 18-2 by the House Intelligence Committee...
Satellite Shelved after 2000 Election to Now Fly
April 11, 2013 10:17 am | by SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsObama proposed Wednesday spending nearly $35 million in his 2014 budget to refurbish a satellite, nicknamed GoreSat by critics, that's been sitting in storage after it was shelved in 2001, months after Bush took office. It cost about $100 million by then with NASA's internal auditors faulting its cost increases.
Broadcasters Display Mobile TV Dongles at NAB Show
April 11, 2013 10:17 am | by RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer | News | Comments"If you're at a ball game or a Starbucks and everyone's trying to access the news, you're not going to get (video stoppages)," says Karen McCall, a marketing representative with Dyle Mobile TV, the venture backing the devices. The dongles are on display at the annual gathering of broadcasters...
VC Firms Team Up to Invest in Google Glass Ideas
April 11, 2013 10:17 am | by Associated Press | News | CommentsThree influential venture capital firms are teaming to find and finance entrepreneurs who want to create applications and other accessories for Google Glass. That's an Internet-connected device that is setting out to turn wearable computing into the latest fashion trend.
PC Outlook Darkens as Sales Slump Deepens in 1Q
April 11, 2013 10:17 am | by MICHAEL LIEDTKE, PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writers | News | CommentsNo matter how things are parsed, the PC market is in the worst shape since IBM Corp. released a desktop machine in 1981. PC sales have now fallen from their year-ago levels in four consecutive quarters, a slide that has been accelerating even amid signs that the overall economy is getting healthier.
Bitcoin Economics: A Primer on a Volatile Currency
April 11, 2013 9:50 am | by PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsBitcoin, the virtual currency composed of digital bits, is based on cutting-edge mathematical schemes that guard against counterfeiting. But it's also based on an old idea, now dismissed by mainstream economists, about how a currency should operate — an idea that could be setting bitcoins up for an abrupt plunge.
A Mini Robot – Powered by Your Phone
April 10, 2013 2:17 pm | by TED Talk | Videos | CommentsYour smartphone may feel like a friend -- but a true friend would give you a smile once in a while. At TED2013, Keller Rinaudo demos Romo, the smartphone-powered mini robot who can motor along with you on a walk, slide you a cup of coffee across the table, and react to you with programmable expressions.
Ingram Micro Teams with SAP to Expand Market Reach of Managed Mobility Solutions
April 10, 2013 1:37 pm | by Ingram Micro Inc. | News | CommentsIngram Micro Inc. has announced it has teamed with SAP AG to help expand the market reach of SAP’s enterprise mobility solutions. Working closely with SAP, Ingram Micro Mobility expects to leverage its broad and deep...
Dragonfly Inspires BionicOpter Flight
April 10, 2013 10:50 am | by Melissa Fassbender, Associate Editor, PD&D | News | CommentsInspired by the flight of the Dragonfly, the BionicOpter is ultra-light and can fly in all directions. With the ability to move each of its wings separately, it can also slow down, turn quickly, accelerate, and fly backwards. For the first time, a single aircraft can achieve the motion of the helicopter, plane, and glider.
Major Dell Shareholder Favors Recent Buyout Offers
April 10, 2013 10:31 am | by MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsDell's largest independent shareholder is leaning toward supporting one of the two bidders trying to scuttle the slumping personal computer maker's proposed $24.4 billion sale to a group including CEO Michael Dell. Southeastern Asset Management expressed its preliminary...
Orders of Keyboard BlackBerry Start in Canada
April 10, 2013 10:29 am | by BY ROB GILLIES, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe maker of the BlackBerry phone said Tuesday that a modern smartphone with a physical keyboard will be available in Canada in the coming weeks as major wireless companies started taking advance orders. Details on when the BlackBerry Q10 will go on sale elsewhere will be announced soon...
