Industry News
Invisible QR Codes Tackle Counterfeit Bank Notes
September 12, 2012 5:11 am | News | CommentsAn invisible quick response (QR) code has been created by researchers in an attempt to increase security on printed documents and reduce the possibility of counterfeiting, a problem which costs governments and private industries billions of pounds each year. Publishing their research today, 12 September, in IOP Publishing's journal Nanotechnology , the researchers from the University of South Dakota and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology believe the new style of QR code could also be used to authenticate virtually any solid object.
Perfecting Email Security
September 12, 2012 4:58 am | News | CommentsMillions of us send billions of emails back and forth each day without much concern for their security. On the whole, security is not a primary concern for most day-to-day emails, but some emails do contain personal, proprietary and sensitive information, documents, media, photos, videos and sound files.
Less Wear, Longer Life for Memory Storage Device
September 12, 2012 4:57 am | News | CommentsProbe storage devices read and write data by making nanoscale marks on a surface through physical contact. The technology may one day extend the data density limits of conventional magnetic and optical storage, but current probes have limited lifespans due to mechanical wear. A research team, led by Intel Corp.
Wattvision Is the Speedometer of Your Home Energy Usage
September 10, 2012 6:09 am | News | CommentsWattvision 2 links directly to your power meter – analog or digital – and sends your home’s energy data straight to its servers. The company’s open API allows for direct access through a smartphone app or on your laptop through the Internet. Sorted into real-time charts, the data will allow users to monitor their power usage by honing in on specific appliances to see how much energy they use.
Apple Working On Pandora-Like Service
September 10, 2012 5:58 am | by The music service from Apple would supposedly work with all Apple’s existing products. It would operate similarly to Pandora in that users could select a musician they like and a station would play songs by similar artists. | News | CommentsWe know Apple is vehemently against being copied, but the iPhone maker might be taking a page out of Pandora ‘s playbook. It may be, according to a report on the Wall Street Journal , creating a similar service. The WSJ article says Apple is attempting to negotiate its own licensing deals with record companies as opposed to the government-set rates paid by Pandora.
Tracking School Children With RFID Tags? It’s All About the Benjamins
September 10, 2012 5:51 am | News | CommentsStudent body ID cards with RFID-embedded chips. Image: Northside Independent School District Just as the U.S. Department of Agriculture mandates Radio Frequency Identification Device chips to monitor livestock , a Texas school district just begun implanting the devices on student identification cards to monitor pupils’ movements on campus, and to track them as they come and go from school.
Energy Efficient Designs Made Simple with the Rich Enablement of Kinetis L Series Microcontrollers
September 7, 2012 11:06 am | News | Commentselement14 , the first collaborative community and electronics store for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts and a part of global electronics distributor Premier Farnell [LON:PFL], announced today that it is co-sponsoring two free 1-hour webinar s with Freescale Semiconductor entitled, “ Energy efficient designs made simple with the rich enablement of Kinetis L series microcontrollers” on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 12 noon CDT and on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 12 noon CDT.
This Amazing Startup Turns Your iPad Into A Robot
September 7, 2012 6:03 am | News | CommentsMost startups today are building some kind of app or software—like the next big-time photo-sharing app. Double Robotics is the rare startup that's actually building a solid piece of hardware that you can actually see in action, in the real world. Right now, Double is building motorized mounts for your iPad .
Celeno Wi-Fi to Wirelessly Enable After-Market IPTV/OTT Set-Top Boxes
September 6, 2012 12:07 pm | News | CommentsAmino Communications and Celeno Communications announced that Amino’s A140/A540 set-top boxes (STBs) will now be complemented by a Wi-Fi USB solution using Celeno’s video-grade Wi-Fi technology. The Amino Wi-Fi USB dongle enables service providers to offer a video-grade Wi-Fi solution that accelerates the adoption of IP-based video services by enabling after-market IP STBs to wirelessly receive HD content.
Sorry, Your Phone Won't Replace Your Wallet For At Least Another Decade
September 6, 2012 12:00 pm | News | CommentsDespite the slew of mobile payment products that have launched, we're at least another decade away from replacing wallets altogether , says Wired . Currently, mobile payment solutions only replace parts of the physical wallet. And until all stores accept smart phone payments, we won't be able to ditch the leather.
Accelerometers Are The Most Under-Appreciated Technological Innovation
September 6, 2012 11:58 am | News | CommentsFor every well-branded Retina Display or PureView camera , there are dozens of smart technologies in mobile devices that go entirely unrecognised for their impact on this world. Somewhere in the middle sits the humble accelerometer -- the tiny component that detects which way up you're holding your phone, or how you're swinging your games console controller.
Waste Not, Power Up
September 6, 2012 11:07 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Rice University and the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, have developed a way to make flexible components for rechargeable lithium-ion (LI) batteries from discarded silicon. The Rice lab of materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan created forests of nanowires from high-value but hard-to-recycle silicon.
Stanford Researchers Discover the 'Anternet'
September 6, 2012 11:05 am | News | CommentsOn the surface, ants and the Internet don't seem to have much in common. But two Stanford researchers have discovered that a species of harvester ants determine how many foragers to send out of the nest in much the same way that Internet protocols discover how much bandwidth is available for the transfer of data.
Mining the Blogosphere
September 6, 2012 11:01 am | News | CommentsCan a computer "read" an online blog and understand it? Several Concordia computer scientists are helping to get closer to that goal. Leila Kosseim, associate professor in Concordia's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, and a recently-graduated doctoral student, Shamima Mithun, have developed a system called BlogSum that has potentially vast applications.
UCF Researchers Record World Record Laser Pulse
September 6, 2012 10:59 am | News | CommentsA University of Central Florida research team has created the world's shortest laser pulse and in the process may have given scientists a new tool to watch quantum mechanics in action – something that has been hidden from view until now. A photo of Dr. Chang, who accomplished his work at the Florida Atto Science &Technology (FAST) lab in UCF’s Physical Sciences building.
'Nano Machine Shop' Shapes Nanowires, Ultrathin Films
September 6, 2012 10:56 am | News | CommentsA new "nano machine shop" that shapes nanowires and ultrathin films could represent a future manufacturing method for tiny structures with potentially revolutionary properties. This illustration depicts a new nano machine shop's ability to shape tiny wires, an advance that represents a possible future manufacturing method for applications ranging from high-speed electronics to solar cells.
LEDs Winning Light Race to Save Energy, The Environment
September 6, 2012 10:52 am | News | CommentsToday's light-emitting diode light bulbs have a slight environmental edge over compact fluorescent lamps. And that gap is expected to grow significantly as technology and manufacturing methods improve in the next five years, according to a new report from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and UK-based N14 Energy Limited.
Using Magnetism To Understand Superconductivity
September 6, 2012 10:50 am | News | CommentsMight it one day be possible to transmit electricity from an offshore wind turbine to land-based users without any loss of current? Materials known as "high temperature" superconductors (even though they must be maintained at -140°C!), which can conduct electricity without any losses, were supposed to make this dream a reality.
Spinach Power Gets A Big Boost
September 6, 2012 10:49 am | by This is a biohybrid solar cell that uses the photosynthetic protein from spinach made by Vanderbilt students based on a previous design. | News | CommentsAn interdisciplinary team of researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a way to combine the photosynthetic protein that converts light into electrochemical energy in spinach with silicon, the material used in solar cells, in a fashion that produces substantially more electrical current than has been reported by previous "biohybrid" solar cells.
'Magic Carpet' Could Help Prevent Falls
September 6, 2012 9:29 am | News | CommentsPlastic optical fibres, laid on the underlay of a carpet, can bend when anyone treads on it and map, in real-time, their walking patterns. Tiny electronics at the edges act as sensors and relay signals to a computer. These signals can then be analysed to show the image of the footprint and identify gradual changes in walking behaviour or a sudden incident such as a fall or trip.
A Millimeter-Scale, Wirelessly Powered Cardiac Device
September 6, 2012 7:41 am | News | CommentsStanford electrical engineers overturn existing models to demonstrate the feasibility of a millimeter-sized, wirelessly powered cardiac device A team of engineers at Stanford has demonstrated the feasibility of a super-small, implantable cardiac device that gets its power not from batteries, but from radio waves transmitted from outside the body.
Wireless Window Sentinel
September 6, 2012 5:56 am | News | CommentsA bad weather front is fast approaching and a cloudburst is imminent. If you happen to be away from home, but have left a window open, either deliberately or because you forgot to check one room, you may be in for a wet surprise when you come home. However, it does not have to be like that: Thanks to a new sensor system, such situations can now be avoided.
Seattle Seahawks Embrace Digital Future With Tablet-based Playbooks
September 5, 2012 11:40 am | News | CommentsFor years, professional football players have been forced to lug around hefty playbooks. But the three-ring binders — stuffed with dozens of offensive plays and defensive schemes — are going the way of leather football helmets. The Seattle Seahawks are now converting plays to PDFs and uploading to tablets, with the players using the devices not only to study plays but also to watch video highlights of games and practices.
As a Taxi-Hailing App Comes to New York, Its Legality Is Questioned
September 5, 2012 11:12 am | News | CommentsNew Yorkers have long adopted their own techniques in the fine art of hailing a taxicab, a theatrical, frustrating, competitive ritual of the city. There is the high-pitched whistle, the two-handed gesticulation, the rapid snapping of fingers. Many favor the classic wave — an open palm raised high, stretching into coming traffic.
Trio of Antenna Circuit Materials at Mobile Antenna Systems 2012
September 5, 2012 10:30 am | News | CommentsRogers Corporation will be displaying three of their leading high-performance circuit materials for mobile and fixed-site antennas at the upcoming Mobile Antenna Systems 2012 conference and exhibition. This key event for designers and specifiers of antennas for a wide range of fixed and mobile applications is scheduled for September 18-19, 2012 at the Hyatt Denver Tech Center (Denver, CO).
