Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Storage

Last we heard, IBM was busy extending optical lithography down to 30-nanometers in order to keep Moore’s Law intact, and some two years later, the process is still being honed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley. Reportedly, gurus there with IQs far greater than ours have developed a new patterning technique (plasmonic nanolithography) that could make “current microprocessors more than 10 times smaller, but far more powerful.” Additionally, professor Xiang Zhang asserts that this same technology could eventually “lead to ultra-high density disks that could hold 10 to 100 times more data than disks today.” The secret to the madness is a flying plasmonic head, which is compared to the arm and stylus of an LP turntable; the setup enables researchers to “create line patterns only 80-nanometers wide at speeds up to 12-meters per second, with the potential for higher resolution detail in the near future.” In layman’s terms? That CPU you purchased last month will, in fact, be old hat in due time.

[Via Slashdot]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Huge shocker here: removing your shoes at airport security causes massive headaches and makes the wait longer for everyone. Now that we’re all good with Captain Obvious’ latest headline, let us point you to one prototype that’s looking to solve said dilemma. SecuriScan, which has been developed by Professor Wuqiang Yang at the University of Manchester, would theoretically be able to “detect and pinpoint suspicious objects instantly,” all without requiring passengers to remove their kicks. Better still, the system uses electric and magnetic sensing instead of a radiation source, which could also address safety concerns while helping you get where you’re going more quickly. Moving forward, Yang hopes to develop a more advanced and realistic prototype for testing, and just in case you were doubting this guy’s determination, he’s also investigating a handheld version that could hastily screen abandoned luggage or packages.

[Via Physorg, image courtesy of ChangeAirportSecurity]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

Assistive technologies are old hat, but a team of researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington (among other institutions) is working to provide a more robust, all-inclusive option for elderly individuals who’d prefer to age gracefully within their own domiciles. In theory, sensors could be embedded throughout seniors’ homes in order to “detect when the residents have sleepless nights or forget to take their medication.” From there, caregivers would be alerted and could react remotely via a web-based communications portal. The UTA lab that’s perfecting the idea currently utilizes a single room equipped with cameras, motion detectors and robots, and professors / students keep a close eye on any movement that gets recorded and transferring to computers for processing. If all goes well, a collaboratively built “home of the future” will actually be on display at CES 2009, likely showcasing some of these very advancements.

[Image courtesy of Michael Mulvey / DMN, thanks Travis]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Call us devilish, but we just can’t help but love these types of stories. Here we have yet another overly confident group of researchers grossly underestimating the collective power of the hacking underground, as gurus from all across Europe have joined together to announce “the first commercial communication network using unbreakable encryption based on quantum cryptography.” Interestingly enough, quantum cryptography has already been cracked in a kinda-sorta way, but that’s not stopping these folks from pushing this claim hard to government agencies, financial institutions and companies with distributed subsidiaries. We’ve no doubt this stuff is pretty secure, but the last time we heard someone utter a claim similar to this, we saw him uncomfortably chowing down on those very words merely months later.

[Via Physorg]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Household

Given how large the green bandwagon has become, it’s no real shock to see an energy-saving concept from the 1930s being exhumed and investigated further. Scientists at Oxford University have begun to take a closer look at an early invention from the great Albert Einstein in order to hopefully create refrigerators (and appliances in general) that could be used completely without electricity. Back in the day, Sir Albert created a mechanism that had no moving parts and used only pressurized gases to keep things chilly. Once compressors became more efficient in the 50s, however, the idea was tossed aside. Now, the idea obviously has greater appeal, and if things keep humming along nicely, a completed prototype should be erected by the year’s end.

[Via Physorg]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Thanks, MIT. Why don’t you just make the rest of the world feel a little more useless. Every week or so, we’re forced to stare at yet another amazing invention coming from your doors; to be frank, it’s just downright unfair. All childish angst aside, the latest idea to come from the institution is one that could certainly be put to good use: a self-sustaining sensor network that taps into trees for power in order to continuously monitor forests for threats of fire. Moreover, the concept could be applied in other scenarios as well — to detect potential threats such as smuggled contraband along a nation’s borders, perhaps. Testing of the wireless sensor network (developed by the appropriately named Voltree Power) is scheduled to begin next spring, and we’re hearing that pot-sniffing turtles may even be brought in to create a completely natural self-policing environment.

[Via Inhabitat]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Transportation

Oh MIT, do the wonders that come from your halls ever cease? Yet another remarkable development is emerging from the fabled institution, and this time it’s an autonomous wheelchair that can remember important places in a given building (read: the hospital ward, your house, the local arcade, etc.) and then take you there on command. In other words, the voice recognizing chair could understand phrases of direction, such as “head to the kitchen,” and it would take on the burden of navigating the halls while letting the rider chill. The researchers are implementing a system that can learn and adapt to the individual user, and in the future, they’d like to add in a collision-avoidance system and mechanical arms to help patients lift and move objects. Say, can regular joes / janes buy these? We’re totally feeling this over the Segway.

[Via medGadget]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Oh sure, we’ve known that mice were going the way of the Dodo for eons now, but a nice compilation over at Wired details just how close we are to relying on brain scanners and fingercams (among other unorthodox input methods) to do everything from play games to flip through photo albums. For instance, at Drexel University’s RePlay Lab, students are currently “trying to measure the level of neurotransmitters in a subject’s brain to create games where mere thought controls gameplay.” Another example of how fingers are better used away from the left / right click is FingerSight, a technology that would enable cursor inputs to be, um, inputted by simply waving one’s hand around. Unfortunately, the reality of all of this fantastic research is that we’re still years away from pushing the fabled keyboard / mouse combo aside, but you aren’t apt to find any FPS fanatics kvetching about that.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

While the scientists that developed these newfangled ingestible microgrippers call them minimally invasive, we’re not so sure that swallowing minuscule devices that can cut and grab tissue when chemically activated fits our definition of keyhole surgery. Nevertheless, tiny “handlike grippers” are currently being shown off to highly intelligent professionals in the medical realm, and if proven feasible, they could one day be used to perform biopsies from within. More specifically, the devices could reportedly “react to the biochemicals released by infected tissue by closing around the tissue, so that pieces can be removed for analysis.” Yeah, we reckon this is a bit less painful than actually going under the knife, but the mere thought of having blade-wielding microorganisms floating around our innards spooks us just a wee bit. Go on, fling your “pansies!” this way — we can take it.

[Via medGadget]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets

It’s hard to say when we, the consumers, will actually see any real benefit from the latest noteworthy discovery from Northeastern University, but we can only imagine that Srinivas Sridhar and team aren’t wasting any time moving things forward. Said crew has recently created a “new microlens that focuses infrared light at telecommunication frequencies,” and if you’re looking for specifics, it can focus an infrared beam to a spot just 12-micrometers away from the surface. The science behind the discovery is probably only digestible by those that understand rocket science, but the long of short of it is this: the “research shows that it is possible to create smaller, ultra-compact infrared optical components that can be integrated into existing semiconductor technologies while not sacrificing image quality.” Now that’s something even the layman can appreciate.

[Via Physorg]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Just last month we heard that Amazon could be cooking up a new pair of Kindles for the future, and now we’re seeing another report that adds a bit of legitimacy to the claim. According to McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Tim Bueneman, “there are already several new, improved versions of the Kindle in the works,” and while an MP3 version (saywha?) isn’t in the cards, one with an “improved interface” is. Furthermore, Amazon could be aiming at least one of the new Kindle(s) at college students, though no details were given on what exactly that meant. Wait, do university attendees even read anymore?

[Via CNET]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

In the never-ending quest to make even the smallest devices on Earth a touch smaller, a talented team of MIT engineers have developed a method for creating and installing microbatteries, which could eventually power a plethora of diminutive devices including “labs-on-a-chip and implantable medical sensors.” It’s bruited that this is the first time in which “microcontact printing has been used to fabricate and position microbattery electrodes and the first use of virus-based assembly in such a process,” and while you’d likely have to be a colleague to even digest that, the take away is that these gurus are one step closer to generating battery-powered Scrubbing Bubbles. And your shower could use ‘em.

[Via PCMag]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

No surprise here, but the kids from MIT were (presumably) right all along. The three students who were muffled just before presenting their case at Defcon have finally been freed; the now-revoked gag order had prevented them from exposing insecurities in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ticket system, but during the same court setting, the MBTA fessed up and admitted that its current system was indeed vulnerable. Of note, it only confessed that its CharlieTicket system was susceptible to fraud, while simply not acknowledging any flaws in the more popular CharlieCard option. Pish posh — who here believes it doesn’t have dutiful employees working up a fix as we speak?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Storage

Most folks up in Madison are readying their face paint and stocking up on tailgating supplies, but the geeks among us (bless ‘em!) are focusing their attention on something much more relevant to your future RAID array. A team from UW-Madison (along with partners from Hitachi) is getting set to publish a report that details a patterning technology that could offer performance gains over current methods while reducing time and cost of manufacturing. The process builds on existing approaches by “combining the lithography techniques traditionally used to pattern microelectronics with novel self-assembling materials called block copolymers.” So, what does all this technobabble mean for you? Huge gains in density on patterned media, or if that’s still not straightforward enough, ginormous HDDs in the near future.

[Via Protein OS]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Hard to say if this solution will be cheaper than the bordering-on-free LifeStraw, but a team at the University of South Australia has developed a low-cost method for removing bacteria and other contaminants from water “using tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active nano-material.” Professor Peter Majewski is pretty proud of the all new system, stating that it can “remove bacteria, chemicals, viruses and other contaminants from water much more effectively than conventional water purification methods.” Due to its ability to function sans additional energy and its low overall cost, the team is hoping to see the creation bring clean water to developing countries. The best part? It should be available within two years.

[Via Protein OS]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The latest in nanowire research has a crew at the University of California, Berkeley creating the very first integrated circuit “that uses nanowires as both sensors and electronic components.” By utilizing a so-called “simple” printing technique, the researchers were able to create a batch of uniform circuits that could one day serve as image sensors. According to Ali Javey, an electrical-engineering professor at the institution, the goal is to “develop all-nanowire sensors” which could be used in a wide array of applications, and the benefit of using ‘em is their exceptionally high level of sensitivity. In due time, the gurus would like to make everything on the circuit printable, though we have this strange feeling we won’t be seeing any actual results from all of this for years to come.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation, Wireless

Defcon already delivered by exposing California’s FasTrak toll system for the security hole that it is, but that’s not nearly all that’s emerging from the Las Vegas exploitation conference. For starters, a plethora of medical device security researchers have purportedly figured out a way to wirelessly control pacemakers, theoretically allowing those with the proper equipment to “induce the test mode, drain the device battery and turn off therapies.” Of course, it’s not (quite) as simple as just buzzing a remote and putting someone six feet under, but it’s a threat worth paying attention to. In related news, a trio of MIT students who were scheduled to give a speech on how to hack CharlieCards to get free rides on Boston’s T subway were stifled by a temporary restraining order that the university snagged just before the expo. Don’t lie, you’re intrigued — hit up the links below for all the nitty-gritty.

Read - Pacemaker hack
Read - Massachusetts Transit Authority sues MIT hackers
Read - Restraining order on said hackers

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

2008 has been somewhat of a banner year for 3D, but the brilliant minds at MIT are already working up a system that’ll put U23D to shame. Hailed as a “super-realistic image system,” the invention produces “6D” images that not only have a full three-dimensional appearance, but also “respond to their environment, producing natural shadows and highlights depending on the direction and intensity of the illumination around them.” Without relying on electronics or active control, the process could be used to produce images with an “unprecedented degree of realism” — resulting in something associate professor Ramesh Raskar calls the “ultimate synthetic display.” As expected, initial applications for the ultra-pricey ($30 per pixel, currently) system revolve around digital signage / advertising, but it’s really just a matter of time before Six Dimensions of The Jonas Brothers hits a cinema near you. Save us.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: GPS, Wearables

In no way are we insinuating that farming is ever “easy,” but a new headset designed for cows could make cattle herding a much less stressful experience. The Ear-A-Round headsets are the product of a project involving the USDA and MIT, and essentially, the GPS-infused devices would transmit stereo sounds directly in a bovine’s ears in order to guide and direct his / her movements. Strange though the head-worn gizmos may look, the built-in solar panel should keep it juiced up and ready to dictate on command, giving farmers the ability to track and herd from the comfort of their computer desks. The overriding goal here is to “improve animal distribution on the landscape,” though we can think of quite a few other positives to having such a robust virtual fencing system.

[Via Core77]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Wearables

Far from the first circuit-laden contact lens we’ve laid eyes on (ahem), researchers at UC Davis have more than bragging rights in mind with their “smart” contacts. The devices are infused with a “pattern of conductive silver wires, which could be used to measure pressure inside the eye.” The material, dubbed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), would boast antimicrobial properties and could enable scientists to better study glaucoma. How so? By sending pressure data to computers sans wires. Better still, the contacts also include the ability to automatically dispense medication into the eye, making this beneficial in more ways than one. The creators are expected to apply for approval to begin testing the lenses in humans here shortly, and barring any unforeseen (sorry, totally unintentional there) setbacks, we would hope these could be put to use within the next few years.

[Via medGadget]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments