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Wednesday, December 25, 2002 |
Wood Paneling for Cell Phone Jamming. A Japanese researcher reportedly has come up with a way to passively block cell phone signals from such venues as movie theaters and restaurants without having to use electronic jamming, which is illegal in the United States. [osOpinion]
7:18:51 AM 
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Plumbing the Personal Data Depths. In Part 1 of this two-part series on mining the deep Web, NewsFactor looked at a new approach to accessing vast amounts of data "hidden in plain sight" on the Internet. The deep Web is a 500-times-bigger data repository than the area of the Internet that is targeted by typical search-engine queries. [osOpinion]
7:16:45 AM
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Microtechnology To Chill Clothes, Cars. Researchers who have received a $6 million grant to develop personalized, mobile cooling systems for soldiers said their microtechnology approach might eventually keep civilians or automobiles comfortably chilled. The process -- which uses microtechnology to achieve a heat-actuated, heat-absorption pump -- runs on small amounts of diesel fuel and requires no electricity. [osOpinion]
7:16:17 AM
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Mobile Tech To Drive Micro Fuel Cell Adoption. Because of the space limitations in handheld computers and PDAs, manufacturers are struggling to find innovative ways to reduce battery cell size to meet shrinking device specifications. In fact, increasing demand for next-generation mobile technologies is driving the micro fuel-cell market -- even before the new battery products become commercially available, according to research from Frost & Sullivan. [osOpinion]
7:15:53 AM
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Tight Light May Improve Nanotech Sight. Researchers have created a device that emits a laser-like beam of ultraviolet light that allows them to see and manipulate objects previously too small to view reliably. The device is small enough to sit on a dining table and uses extreme ultraviolet light to see objects on the scale of a few nanometers or billionths of a meter. [osOpinion]
7:15:39 AM
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New Material Mines Gold Nanoparticles. Researchers at North Carolina State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory are using gold nanoparticles in an innovative way that may have applications for both quantum computing and DNA screening. [osOpinion]
7:15:11 AM
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Tiny Device Traps Electrons for Quantum Computing. A semiconductor-based device capable of trapping individual electrons and lining them up could bring quantum computing closer to reality, according to the University of Wisconsin researchers who designed it. The tiny device –- a single electron transistor -– serves as a source of electrons for tiny semiconductors known as quantum dots. [osOpinion]
7:14:17 AM
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Arguing the Case for a Smarter Disk Drive. If "wise drives" were built to perform a number of tasks that traditionally have been the work of central processing units, substantial low-cost improvements could be made in everything from laptops to massive storage networks, contends Gordon Hughes of the Center for Magnetic Recording Research, in a report to be published in the August edition of IEEE Spectrum. [osOpinion]
7:13:42 AM
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Powering Tiny Devices with Protein. In search of a protein-powered motor for tiny devices that may travel through the human body and a nanoscale biosensor to detect dangerous substances in the bloodstream or in the air, researchers at Florida State University are hoping to reap big results from small technology, with the ultimate goal of incorporating biological matter into nanoscale machines. [osOpinion]
7:12:54 AM
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Breakthrough Technique Promises More Complex Chips. Researchers with IBM and electron-optics specialist Nion announced that they have developed the most precise electron microscope to date -– capable of producing detailed, atomic-scale views of materials used for semiconductors and nanostructures. [osOpinion]
7:04:26 AM
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Nuclear Research Supercomputer 'Q' To Get Bigger, Faster. A newly constructed simulation facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is putting $93 million and 30 teraOps –- 30 trillion floating point operations per second –- to work for nuclear and other research. The Nicholas C. Metropolis Center for Modeling and Simulation houses "Q," one of the world's largest and fastest supercomputers. [osOpinion]
7:04:04 AM
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New Ways To Power Hungry Mobile Devices. Companies large and small are looking to serve the growing ranks of mobile device users anxious to declare their independence from the electric socket. The competition is likely to heat up. [osOpinion]
7:03:11 AM
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Wearable Security Locks Laptop Data. A new wearable system aims to simplify computer security and put an end to data breaches that occur when laptops are lost. Zero-Interaction Authentication, or ZIA, relies on advanced encryption to keep data on mobile computers available only to their rightful users. [osOpinion]
7:02:55 AM
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'Bell Telegraph' May Enable Cosmic Communications. The future of telecommunications may hinge on a clever new version of a device from its past, physicists claim. What the Bell telephone is to communication across town or overseas, the Bell telegraph -- named for British physicist J.S. Bell -- may become to communication across the solar system or even the Milky Way. [osOpinion]
7:02:15 AM
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Researchers Turn Scrap to Strength with Nanocrystals. Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a process that utilizes common metal scrap to achieve strong, metal nanocrystals in an inexpensive way. Nanocrystal applications include super strong levers and pulleys in nanodevices. Because of their ability to change state, nanocrystals also have applications in computer memory development. [osOpinion]
7:01:49 AM
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IT's Alive: Chips and Circuits That Mimic Cells. Computers that evolve and come alive with self-replicating chips and self-healing circuits may represent the future of information technology. "Borrowing from biology -- learning from it to advance computer science -- is one of the most exciting and promising areas of exploration going on today," IBM senior vice president Nick Donofrio told NewsFactor. [osOpinion]
6:51:45 AM
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Supersize IT: From Megabytes to Petabytes. A deluge of digital data in life sciences and astronomy has scientists at Johns Hopkins University and Microsoft concluding that the titan of supersized data storage, the petabyte, may be as commonplace as the megabyte in less than a decade. [osOpinion]
6:51:32 AM
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Cells Light Way for Flat-Panel Displays. Penn State University researchers working on an alternative to LED use in flat-panel color displays claim that polymer cells -- like the ones they have produced -- may be the basis for flat displays of the future. [osOpinion]
6:49:37 AM
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Scientists Advance Search for New Semiconductor Insulators. Confronting the limits of insulators as chips become ever smaller, researchers at the National Institute for Standards and Technology have developed new methods to study porous films that may be used in tomorrow's semiconductors. Their goal is to create insulators for the ultrathin wires that connect the millions of devices on microprocessors. [osOpinion]
6:48:03 AM
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Internet2 Creates Incredible Virtual Classroom. Virginia Tech associate professor of engineering Ron Kriz likens being immersed in the school's Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) to the fictional Holodeck on Star Trek -- but in unlike the TV version, the objects cannot be physically handled. "The effects are all visual," Kriz explained. [osOpinion]
6:47:49 AM
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Tiny Silicon Spies To Sniff Terror. Bunker bombs, battleships, and B-2 bombers step aside -- the next hero in the war on terror may soon be a brain that is smaller than the grains of desert sand in Afghanistan. Smart, covert "silicon dust chips" can detect the tools of terror before they have a chance to ply the deeds of evildoers. [osOpinion]
6:47:34 AM
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Quantum Transistor May Put a New Spin on Spintronics. The ubiquitous transistor may go from common to quantum sooner than later if physicists in China and Canada succeed with a design that puts a whole new spin on spintronics -- the burgeoning application of an electron's spin to chips, circuits and, eventually, a revolutionary line of consumer electronics. [osOpinion]
6:47:12 AM
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New Wearable Computer Helps Blind Navigate. A University of Florida master's degree student has combined a wearable computer, speech recognition software and satellite positioning technology to create a navigational aid for the blind. The system can take requests by voice to determine a blind person's location and can offer audible directions to the user's destination of choice. [osOpinion]
6:46:57 AM
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Nimble Nanoswitch May Win Info Relay Race. Nanosize devices may be getting their own ultra-small version of a component that few electronic gadgets can function without: the switch. In a new paper, Swedish researchers Tomas Nord, Susanne Viefers and Jari Kinaret provide the first-ever blueprint for a nanorelay made from microscopic carbon tubules. [osOpinion]
6:46:41 AM
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Scientists Prove Atomic Memory Concept. University of Wisconsin scientists have proven that atomic-scale memory is possible by using silicon atoms in place of the 1s and 0s of traditional computing. A practical application of the proof of concept is years away, but the work is a first step toward developing storage density a million times greater than a CD-ROM. [osOpinion]
6:46:19 AM
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Computer Signals Size Up Earth. Miles of fiber-optic cable -- recently the bane of troubled companies, such as Global Crossing -- may have a clever new use for high school and college science students struggling to answer a question first tackled by the ancient Greeks: How big is the Earth? [osOpinion]
6:45:50 AM
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Computer Pings May Measure Light Speed. A centuries-old endeavor has leapt into the computer age with a novel new method to measure the speed of light proposed by physics educators at Youngstown State University. Their approach is to reflect ping signals between two computers connected with Ethernet cards and cables, and record the round-trip time. [osOpinion]
6:26:40 AM
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Sounds Could Make Smart Devices Smarter. Drawing on the expertise of the blind, University of Toronto professor Parham Aarabi is "teaching" electronic devices how to navigate using surrounding sounds. He told NewsFactor that his system fits such devices as cell phones and handheld computers with microphones that use sounds for orientation, the same way an animal uses ears. [osOpinion]
6:26:31 AM
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Quantum Leaps May Solve Impossible Problems. Alan Turing, a troubled young Princeton genius, published "On the Computability of Numbers" in the 1950s, and over the years, his definition of "computability" has stood unchanged. Now, an Australian mathematician has made a discovery that could turn the last century of mathematics and all of computer science on its head. [osOpinion]
6:26:01 AM
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New Markup Language Challenges Rich-Media Leaders. A digital artist has created a Web-authoring tool that he thinks may reflect the spirit of artists everywhere. Inventor and Netomat chief scientist Maciej Wisniewski is becoming known as a rebel in the fold that includes HTML, Flash, XML and a host of techno-friendly languages that do not always speak to the artists who use them. [osOpinion]
6:25:44 AM
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IBM Creates Molecular Computer Circuit. IBM scientists have built a computer circuit that is a quantum leap smaller than any yet created, using a technique they call "molecule cascade." The company's scientists claim this technique enables them to make computer logic elements 260,000 times smaller than those in today's silicon semiconductor chips. [osOpinion]
6:25:05 AM
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Chipmaker Speeds Up Silicon with New Technique. Researchers at the third largest chipmaker, STMicroelectronics, have developed a technique to increase the efficiency of light-emitting silicon to 100 times its previous level. Chips using this new technology could be used to create more powerful computer processors and faster optical data transmission networks. [osOpinion]
6:24:51 AM
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Bell Labs BLASTs New High-Speed Wireless Chips. Bell Labs, the research arm of Lucent Technologies, unveiled new chips that promise to deliver eye-popping Internet connection speeds over next-generation wireless networks. The new processors have applications for cell phones and other mobile devices. [osOpinion]
6:24:18 AM
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Tricky Wireless 'Keyboard' Allows Light Typing. Can a no-strings-attached keyboard alternative win over users of handheld computers and other wireless devices? Chipmaker Canesta is counting on it, as a number of device makers mull incorporating its three-dimensional perception technology into their products. The technology could let users type on a projected image of a full-size keyboard on any flat surface. [osOpinion]
6:23:43 AM
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New Tech Taps Solar Power To Deliver Broadband. Broad strokes of sunlight are bringing broadband to remote areas without electricity. University of California, San Diego researchers have established solar-power stations that allow broadband microwave antennas to penetrate otherwise unreachable rural locations. [osOpinion]
6:23:26 AM
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New FlatStack Offers Internet Remote-Control. If Hungarian startup Timothy Technologies has its way, the Internet is about to take a giant leap forward, off the pages of the user's Web browser and right into every home appliance, from toaster ovens to air conditioners. With an innovative new device known as the FlatStack, a user can log on to a Web page and operate home appliances with commands issued through an ordinary Web browser, with point-and-click ease. [osOpinion]
6:21:23 AM
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Microsoft Creating Virtual Brain. Researchers at Microsoft's Media Presence Lab are developing a "virtual brain," a PC-based database that holds a record of an individual's complete life experience. The database would be searchable in many ways, including by date, effectively allowing a user to run a search on his or her life. [osOpinion]
6:15:46 AM
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Spy-Sized Gizmos Built Into Clothes And Glasses. How would it feel to wear a computer? What if you could roll up a computer keyboard and stick it in your pocket? How about being able to pinpoint the exact locations of your friends and family whenever you wish? All of that's coming, say people who get paid by businesses and the government to predict what the years ahead will hold. [osOpinion]
6:11:47 AM
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Carbon Chip Breakthrough May Crush Silicon. Xerox researchers in Canada claim they have stabilized polythiophene, a normally unstable, yet highly flexible, semiconducting polymer that can be etched with electronic circuits in place of rigid silicon chips, promising newspaper-thin computer monitors and televisions you can pin to your wall. [osOpinion]
6:11:28 AM
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Fractal Magnets May Fracture Old Technologies. Scientists have announced a precocious new offspring of magnets and plastic -- conveniently embedded in every card with a magnetic strip -- that could reinvent smart card technology and yield a dazzling new array of high-tech gadgets. [osOpinion]
6:10:48 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Mark Oeltjenbruns.
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