Industry News
UCSB Scientists Synthesize First Genetically Evolved Semiconductor Material
June 15, 2012 10:37 am | News | CommentsIn the not-too-distant future, scientists may be able to use DNA to grow their own specialized materials, thanks to the concept of directed evolution. UC Santa Barbara scientists have, for the first time, used genetic engineering and molecular evolution to develop the enzymatic synthesis of a semiconductor.
'No-sleep Energy Bugs' Drain Smartphone Batteries
June 15, 2012 10:34 am | News | CommentsResearchers have proposed a method to automatically detect a new class of software glitches in smartphones called "no-sleep energy bugs," which can entirely drain batteries while the phones are not in use. "These energy bugs are a silent battery killer," said Y. Charlie Hu, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Ace Your Workout With This Bluetooth Wristband [REVIEW]
June 15, 2012 10:09 am | by Amy-Mae Elliott | News | CommentsIn addition to Nike’s ever-popular “+” system, numerous accessories are available for iOS and Android device owners who want to monitor their exercise. Specifically, Scosche Industries’ myTREK offers a particularly interesting feature set. The myTREK is a Bluetooth-enabled wireless, real-time pulse monitor, so its main focus is your heart rate.
Unlock Your Passwords by Just Standing Next to Your Computer
June 15, 2012 10:04 am | by Emma Hutchings for PSFK | News | CommentsOgilvy Paris has developed a new app inspired by Ford’s key-free technology for unlocking and locking cars. KeyFree Login logs you in to all of your Internet accounts (Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.) by unlocking your passwords when your mobile device is close to your computer. When you move away, it locks them again by logging you out.
The Surprising Reason Your Phone’s Battery Life Drains
June 15, 2012 10:01 am | News | CommentsSick of watching your battery icon seemingly go as fast as a stoplight from green to yellow to red? It could well be all the apps you have installed — even the ones you aren’t using. A team of researchers at Purdue University released a study to TechNewsDaily that thoroughly examines what dozens of popular apps are doing on Android phones, and what many of them are doing wrong.
The Future is Calling: NFC Technology Turns Smart Phones Into Secure Credentials
June 13, 2012 11:28 am | News | CommentsWhat : HID Global's live webinar, entitled "The Future is Calling: NFC Technology Turns Smart Phones into Secure Credentials" Who : HID Global in partnership with ASIS International and Security Management Magazine Why : Near Field Communications (NFC) technology is about to revolutionize the access control industry.
E.T. International to Present Tutorial and Birds of a Feather at ISC'12
June 13, 2012 8:35 am | News | CommentsETI’s Rishi Khan to Join Thomas Sterling for Presentations on Performance Acceleration for Extreme-Scale Computing in Tutorial and BoF Sessions WHO: E.T. International, Inc . (ETI), a provider of high-performance system software solutions and performance acceleration services for heterogeneous and multi-core/many-core hardware architectures, will present on runtime systems for exascale development in tutorial and Birds-of-a-Feather sessions at ISC’12 .
DIY Wi-Fi Antenna
June 12, 2012 11:00 am | News | CommentsMake your own Wi-Fi antenna from an empty pringles can. Keep in mind that this won’t provide you with a free connection — just a stronger signal. In fact, DIY blogger John Graham-Cumming found 97 networks pointing the can in one direction, compared to only 58 networks using a standard antenna. From start to finish, the entire project will cost about $5 to $10, versus upward of $100 for a brand-new commercial Wi-Fi antenna.
Spin Structure Reveals Key to New Forms of Digital Storage
June 12, 2012 8:26 am | News | CommentsA synthetic compound long known to exhibit interesting transition properties may hold the key to new, non-magnetic forms of information storage, say researchers at the RIKEN SPring-8 Center and their collaborators. The team's latest findings shed light on the complex relationship between a compound's electron spin arrangement and its transport properties, an area researchers have long struggled to understand.
A 'Dirt Cheap' Magnetic Field Sensor from 'Plastic Paint'
June 12, 2012 7:56 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Utah physicists developed an inexpensive, highly accurate magnetic field sensor for scientific and possibly consumer uses based on a "spintronic" organic thin-film semiconductor that basically is "plastic paint." The new kind of magnetic-resonance magnetometer also resists heat and degradation, works at room temperature and never needs to be calibrated, physicists Christoph Boehme, Will Baker and colleagues report online in the Tuesday, June 12 edition of the journal Nature Communications.
Collaboration on Nano-Engineered Synthetic Diamond Sets a New Quantum Information Record
June 12, 2012 7:42 am | News | CommentsElement Six, working in partnership with academics in Harvard University, California Institute of Technology and Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, has used its Element Six single crystal synthetic diamond grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) to demonstrate the capability of quantum bit memory to exceed one second at room temperature.
Rice, UCLA Slash Energy Needs for Next-Generation Memory
June 12, 2012 7:35 am | by The breakthrough was presented at the IEEE/ACM Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco by researchers from Rice University’s Adaptive Computing and Embedded Systems (ACES) Laboratory. | News | CommentsResearchers from Rice University and UCLA unveiled a new data-encoding scheme this week that slashes more than 30 percent of the energy needed to write data onto new memory cards that use “phase-change memory” (PCM) — a competitor to flash memory that has big backing from industry heavyweights. PCM uses the same type of materials as those used in rewritable CDs and DVDs, and it does the same job as flash memory — the mainstay technology in USB thumb drives and memory cards for cameras and other devices.
SFU Helps Quantum Computers Move Closer
June 12, 2012 7:22 am | News | CommentsThe quantum computer is a futuristic machine that could operate at speeds even more mind-boggling than the world’s fastest super-computers. Research involving physicist Mike Thewalt of Simon Fraser University offers a new step towards making quantum computing a reality, through the unique properties of highly enriched and highly purified silicon.
Treating Childhood Anxiety with Computers, Not Drugs
June 11, 2012 11:25 am | News | CommentsAccording to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, one in eight children suffers from an anxiety disorder. And because many anxious children turn into severely anxious adults, early intervention can have a major impact on a patient's life trajectory. The understandable reluctance to use psychiatric medications when it comes to children means child psychologists are always searching for viable therapeutic alternatives.
Researchers Use Flexible Channel Width To Improve User Experience On Wireless Systems
June 11, 2012 11:23 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have developed a technique to efficiently divide the bandwidth of the wireless spectrum in multi-hop wireless networks to improve operation and provide all users in the network with the best possible performance. “Our objective is to maximize throughput while ensuring that all users get similar ‘quality of experience’ from the wireless system, meaning that users get similar levels of satisfaction from the performance they experience from whatever applications they’re running,” says Parth Pathak, a Ph.
More People Staying Connected On Vacation
June 11, 2012 11:21 am | News | CommentsScanning smartphones, tablets and laptops is as much a part of vacations as slathering on sunscreen, according to a Michigan State University study. The results, which will appear in the forthcoming issue of Annals of Tourism Research, show that easy online access and ubiquitous personal devices have made the digital divide disappear, even for folks on holiday.
Strategic Partnership Announced Between M2M Antennas and Janus Remote Communications
June 11, 2012 6:10 am | News | CommentsM2M Antennas of San Diego, California, and Janus Remote Communications of Aurora, Illinois announced that they have entered into a strategic agreement that will allow Janus and M2M Antennas to coordinate in the design of leading-edge products and services for the global M2M marketplace. “Janus Remote Communications and M2M Antennas each provide a wealth of knowledge and experience in our particular M2M application areas - making us ideal partners,” said, Dave Jahr, General Manager of Janus.
Doctors: Process Payments, Check Insurance Instantly With drchrono App
June 7, 2012 7:03 am | News | Comments“Hey Doc — Is this covered by my insurance?” The answer to this question is now readily found on iOS devices using the latest version of drchrono and its Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform for healthcare professionals. On Thursday, startup drchrono announced a major update to its app that will improve how payments for medical services are processed as well as provide instant access to patient insurance eligibility.
This App Will Revolutionize the NYC Taxi Experience
June 7, 2012 6:58 am | News | CommentsCity dwellers, we’ve all been there: It’s the after-work rush hour, the heavens have opened up in a torrential downpour and all you want is a taxi, but there’s none to be found. Good news: A revolutionary digital service called GetTaxi, which has hit it big in Russia, Israel and the U.K., aims to make sure that never happens again.
VATN Displays Offer Key Advantages as Medical LCD Displays
June 6, 2012 8:42 am | News | CommentsThe medical industry continues to grow at a very fast pace. This is creating a greater demand for new medical equipment that requires an LCD display module. Medical equipment needs to operate in a variety of environmental conditions. VATN looks to meet the needs of these environments. A V ATN (Vertically Aligned Twisted Nem atic) display is a new display technology that offers the brightness of an LED (light-emitting diode), a viewing angle that exceeds FSTN (Film compensated Super Twisted Nematic) and a life time that is 20x longer than EL (Electro Luminescent) or the blue color found in a OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode).
Software Helps Strengthen Security of Mobile Devices in the Workplace
June 6, 2012 7:43 am | News | CommentsIBM announced new software to help organizations develop mobile applications that are more secure by design. Now, clients can build security into the initial design of their mobile applications so that vulnerabilities will be detected early in the development process. Today's announcement further expands IBM's strategy to provide clients with a mobile platform that spans application development, integration, security and management.
Help the Homeless? There's an App for That
June 6, 2012 6:11 am | News | CommentsJust over a decade ago, Boston doctors began monitoring a population of 119 homeless people with health problems. The subjects’ average age was 47. Today roughly half of them are dead. That toll is not atypical: a homeless person of any medical background is roughly four times more likely to die than a housed person of the same age.
A Motorcyle-Car Hybrid Wants to Be Urban Transit's Next Big Thing
June 6, 2012 5:43 am | News | CommentsIn the effort to revolutionize modern transportation, there are those who put their eggs in the low-tech basket, advocating for ways to make cities more friendly to biking and walking. And then there are the visionaries dreaming up the next big idea in transit, like Google with its self-driving cars.
Big Banks Fear Losing Consumers to Mobile Wallets
June 5, 2012 8:01 am | News | CommentsThere’s more bad news for the beleaguered banking industry, and it has nothing to do with regulatory scrutiny or shareholder displeasure: Consumers who are interested in mobile wallets would consider using alternative players to their primary bank for both mobile wallets and banking. Mobile wallets are smartphones or tablet apps that store a consumer’s payment details on his or her devices or online to fund digital and in-store purchases.
Thinfilm Extends Relationship with PARC to Accelerate Delivery of Integrated Printed Electronic Systems
June 5, 2012 6:59 am | News | CommentsThin Film Electronics ASA today announced it has extended its relationship with PARC for the delivery of integrated printed electronic systems. The two companies are now working together on the physical prototypes of a fully printed temperature sensor. The project begins extending Thinfilm’s Addressable Memory™ to support the integration of sensors and batteries.
