Your daily connection to science & technology
Here are the latest videos of NVIDIA Tegra…
NVIDIA Tegra 3D UI Demo - Watch video
NVIDIA Tegra HD Video Demo - Watch video
NVIDIA Tegra 3D Gaming Demo - Watch Video
“Audeo has just demonstrated their subvocal speech input device in a new context; a neckband that translates thought into speech by interpreting signals sent from the brain to the vocal chords. Audeo used it in their Thinking Man’s Wheelchair for quadraplegics demonstrated last September.”
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via livescience
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“Researchers have created the world’s thinnest sheet - a single atom thick - and used it to create the world’s smallest transistor, marking a breakthrough that could spark the development of super-fast computer chips.
This innovation will allow ultra small electronics to take over when the current silicon-based technology runs out of steam, according to Prof Andre Geim and Dr Kostya Novoselov from the University of Manchester.”
via telegraph
Boston Dynamics keeps working on their BigDog quadruped robot, which will probably grow to be the future AT-AT of the Pentagon.
The new version of the robot can now carry 340 pounds, which is almost triple the previous weight. It looks to me that that $10 million funding they got from Darpa has been put to good use. [IEEE]
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“Morph, a joint nanotechnology concept developed by Nokia Research Center and the University of Cambridge, has gone on display as part of the “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The concept demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform the gadget into radically different shapes. Nanotechnology would enable the ultimate functionality delivering flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces.”
Check out this cool video…
via telecoms.com
Samsung is readying not one, but two separate Android-based phones, one of which is due in September, with another model following around Christmas. These phones will not be labeled Samsung, rather they will be released as Google-branded gPhones. The model released in the Fall will be a “higher-end” model which apparently looks “somewhat like a Blackberry Pearl” but with a screen that flips and “a keyboard for texting” (though to be honest, that description makes little sense, as the Pearl has a keyboard). The second device will be a cheaper model (under $100), and will likely be released after the holidays. Of course, right now this is just speculation — given the large gap of time between now and September, these plans could be completely rearranged or nixed altogether… even if they are accurate.
via Engadget
“Ubuntu Mobile is an Ubuntu edition that targets an exciting new class of computers called Mobile Internet Devices.
Ubuntu Mobile, based on the world’s most popular Linux distribution, and MID hardware from OEMs and ODMs, are redefining what can be done in mobile computing.
Ubuntu Mobile, a fully open source project, gives full Internet, with no compromise. Custom options may include licensed codecs and popular third-party applications.
The product of Canonical collaboration with Intel® and the open source community, Ubuntu Mobile is the software that makes it all possible.”
via ubuntu.com
Modeling Surprise - Combining massive quantities of data, insights into human psychology, and machine learning can help humans manage surprising events, says Eric Horvitz. Much of modern life depends on forecasts: where the next hurricane will make landfall, how the stock market will react to falling home prices, who will win the next primary. While existing computer models predict many things fairly accurately, surprises still crop up, and we probably can’t eliminate them.
Probabilistic Chips - Krishna Palem thinks introducing a little uncertainty into computer chips could extend battery life in mobile devices–and maybe the duration of Moore’s Law, too.
NanoRadio - Alex Zettl’s tiny radios, built from nanotubes, could improve everything from cell phones to medical diagnostics.
Wireless Power - Physicist Marin Soljacic is working toward a world of wireless electricity.
Atomic Magnetometers - John Kitching’s tiny magnetic-field sensors will take MRI where it’s never gone before.
Offline Web Applications - Kevin Lynch believes that computing applications will become more powerful when they take advantage of both the browser and the desktop.
Graphene Transistors - A new form of carbon being pioneered by Walter de Heer could lead to speedy, compact computer processors.
Connectomics - Jeff Lichtman hopes to elucidate brain development and disease with new technologies that illuminate the tangled web of neural circuits.
Reality Mining - Sandy Pentland is using data gathered by cell phones to learn about human behavior.
Cellulolytic Enzymes - Frances Arnold is designing better enzymes for making biofuels from cellulose.
“Researchers at UC Riverside have found a way to get into your body and your bloodstream. No, they’re not spiritual gurus or B-movie mad scientists. Nathaniel G. Portney, Yonghui Wu, Stefano Lonardi, and Mihri Ozkan from UCR’s departments of Bioengineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Biochemistry, and Electrical Engineering, and the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, are just talented when it comes to manipulating DNA.
In their paper, “Length-based Encoding of Binary Data in DNA,” which was published by the American Chemical Society last month, the researchers discovered a system to encode digital information within DNA. This method relies on the length of the fragments obtained by the partial restriction digest rather than the actual content of the nucleotide sequence. As a result, the technology eliminates the need to use expensive sequencing machinery.”
via ucr.edu