TI's Chips Will Make 2012's Tablets Real-Time 3-D Supercomputers
Texas Instruments has just outed a chip well ahead of its 2012 availability date, but it's such a hot ticket item it's worth knowing about--because it may enable your tablet PCs of next year to surpass your laptops of this year, with whizbang features like real-time 3-D video. The OMAP 5 chip packs two ARM Cortex A15 cores inside (a tech we've covered before) running at up to 2GHz. So right from the start it'll outperform the single-core 1GHz chips inside the current crop of tablet PCs--including the Cortex A8-based iPad--as well being twice as fast as upcoming A9-based tablets, which may include the iPad 2. But enough about the tech. TI also notes the chip enables "24-megapixel imaging" which would (shoved into a big smartphone or pocket tablet, along with the right lens technology) deal a serious death-blow to the compact digital camera market.
Un bras bionique connecté au système nerveux
Un bras bionique connecté au système nerveux Todd Kuiken est un ingénieur et chirurgien de talent qui a mis au point une prothèse de bras robotisée capable de se connecter avec le système nerveux humain. Cela permet au porteur de la diriger dans des mouvements souples et précis et même de ressentir les choses (au touché). Il est passé chez TED avec sa patiente Amanda Kitts qui est équipée de ce bras bionique et c'est franchement très impressionnant. Merci à Yoann pour le partage. Vous avez aimé cet article ?
Caltech scientists first to trap light and sound vibrations together in nano...
PASADENA, Calif.—Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a nanoscale crystal device that, for the first time, allows scientists to confine both light and sound vibrations in the same tiny space. "This is a whole new concept," notes Oskar Painter, associate professor of applied physics at Caltech. Painter is the principal investigator on the paper describing the work, which was published this week in the online edition of the journal Nature. "People have known how to manipulate light, and they've known how to manipulate sound. But they hadn't realized that we can manipulate both at the same time, and that the waves will interact very strongly within this single structure." Indeed, Painter points out, the interactions between sound and light in this device—dubbed an optomechanical crystal—can result in mechanical vibrations with frequencies as high as tens of gigahertz, or 10 billion cycles per second. (Photo Credit: M.
Light Touch projector makes any surface a touchscreen
A previously little-known company from the UK called Light Blue Optics has demoed a projector at CES which allows users to interact with the light image as if it were a touchscreen. The Light Touch throws a 10-inch image at WVGA resolution at incredibly short distances thanks to the holographic projection technology involved. At the same time the infra-red touch sensitive system allows users to interact with social networks, multimedia sharing and any other applications that can use the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth support in the device to connect to the Internet. It comes with 2GB of onboard flash memory, a microSD card slot for expanding the storage and the battery life will last 2 hours. Expect to hear more from this one on the OEM front as interest grows. UPDATE: Two years on and although Light Blue Optics doesn't seem to have come up with the goods, others have. - Prodigy projection keyboard iPhone case turns any surface into a keyboard
Les dents de l’aster
Les dents de l’aster Des scientifiques ont mis au point des micro robots (ou microbots) baptisés les "asters", capables de nager dans un environnement liquide et d'attraper des "objets" pesant plusieurs fois leur poids, en utlisant leurs machoires ou en les emprisonnant. Ne dépassant pas le millimétre, ces robots sont aussi capables de se reconstituer s'ils perdent des morceaux d'eux-même. Les Asters sont constitués de petites particules qui s'assemblent et se déplacent grâce à l'application de champs magnétiques. Voici 2 vidéos tournées sous un microscope : Ce genre de robots pourront aider en science, en médecine ou pourquoi pas déboucher ces cartouches d'encre bas de gamme que vous utilisez une fois par an et qui vous coûtent presque aussi cher qu'une imprimante neuve. [Source] Vous avez aimé cet article ?
Extraordinary lightning sprites discovered striking other planets, not just...
By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 17:29 GMT, 22 November 2011 It was only a couple of decades ago scientists discovered the existence of upwards lightning or ‘sprites’ 30 to 55 miles above the surface of the Earth. And now researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered 'sprites' are not a phenomenon specific to our planet. Jupiter and Saturn experience lightning storms with flashes 1,000 or more times more powerful than those on Earth, says researcher Daria Dubrovin. Extraordinary: This sprite, or upwards lightening, was created in a bottle after recreating the conditions of Jupiter As offshoots of electric discharges caused by lightning storms, sprites are a valuable window into the composition of our atmosphere. Researchers are keen to know more about the possibility of lightning on other planets, explains Dubrovin, not only because it impacts the technological equipment used by space programs, but because it is another clue that could indicate the presence of extra-terrestrial life.
3D holograms enter the fourth dimension - tech - 03 November 2010
Video: Holograms go 4D Holography has just gained a fourth dimension, bringing the prospect of Star Wars-style holographic telepresence into the real world. Ever since Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks made the first laser holograms in 1963, holography has been the future of three-dimensional imaging. Once created, a hologram can be illuminated to create a pattern of light waves that replicates the light reflected by the original object, generating a 3D image without the need for special glasses. As such, holography seems an ideal medium for three-dimensional telepresence, like the famous "hologram" of Princess Leia in the first Star Wars movie. By election night 2020 the pair might be able to have that face-to-face conversation, though, according to Nasser Peyghambarian at the University of Arizona in Tuscon. Plastic pictures The key is a complex new plastic material the researchers have developed, which changes its refractive index when illuminated by laser light. Better to come
RAY KURZWEIL - That Singularity Guy - Vice Magazine
In the year 2050, if Ray Kurzweil is right, nanoscopic robots will be zooming throughout our capillaries, transforming us into nonbiological humans. We will be able to absorb and retain the entirety of the universe’s knowledge, eat as much as we want without gaining weight, shape-shift into just about any physical form imaginable, live free from disease, and die at the time of our choosing. All of this will be thrust on us by something that Kurzweil calls the Singularity, a theorized point in time in the not-so-distant future when machines become vastly superior to humans in every way, aka the emergence of true artificial intelligence. These grand-scale premonitions are largely based on Kurzweil’s law of accelerating returns, which states that the development of technology has been increasing exponentially since the beginning of time. Sure, but most of the folks I know who’ve been laid off in the past six months won’t be able to afford the next iPhone. Creepy.
