2010-03-31

Collective Intelligence (CI)

Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. Collective intelligence appears in a wide variety of forms of consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans, and computer networks. The study of collective intelligence may properly be considered a subfield of sociology, of business, of computer science, of mass communications and of mass behavior—a field that studies collective behavior from the level of quarks to the level of bacterial, plant, animal, and human societies. The concept also frequently appears in science fiction as telepathically linked species and cyborgs.

[...]

According to Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, collective intelligence is mass collaboration. In order for this concept to happen, four principles need to exist. These are openness, peering, sharing and acting globally.
Openness
In the early stage of communications technology, people and companies are reluctant to share ideas, intellectual property and encourage self-motivation because these resources provide the edge over competitors. However, in time people and companies began to loosen hold over these resources as they reap more benefits in doing so. Allowing others to share ideas and bid for franchising will enable products to gain significant improvement and scrutiny through collaboration.
Peering
This is a form of horizontal organization with the capacity to create information technology and physical products. One example is the ‘opening up’ of the Linux program where users are free to modify and develop it provided that they made it available for others. Participants in this form of collective intelligence have different motivations for contributing, but the results achieved are for the improvement of a product or service. As quoted, “Peering succeeds because it leverages self-organization – a style of production that works more effectively than hierarchical management for certain tasks.”
Sharing
This principle has been controversial with the question being “Should there be a law against the distribution of intellectual property?” Research has shown that more and more companies have started to share some, while maintaining some degree of control over others, like potential and critical patent rights. This is because companies have realized that by limiting all their intellectual property, they are shutting out all possible opportunities. Sharing some has allowed them to expand their market and bring out products faster.
Acting Globally
The advancements in communication technology has prompted the rise of global companies, or e-Commerce that has allowed individuals to set up businesses at low to almost no overhead costs. The influence of the Internet is widespread, therefore a globally integrated company would have no geographical boundaries but have global connections, allowing them to gain access to new markets, ideas and technology. Therefore it is important for firms to get updated and remain globally competitive or they will face a declining rate of clientèle.

Kevin Kelly: Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web

http://www.ted.com At the 2007 EG conference, Kevin Kelly shares a fun stat: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what's coming in the next 5,000 days?



Davos 2010 - IdeasLab with MIT - Thomas Malone

deasLab with MIT
Join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the IdeasLab to discover the latest insights and perspectives on the nature of intelligence




MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

While people have talked about collective intelligence for decades, new communication technologies—especially the Internet—now allow huge numbers of people all over the planet to work together in new ways.  The recent successes of systems like Google and Wikipedia suggest that the time is now ripe for many more such systems, and the goal of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence is to understand how to take advantage of these possibilities.



Collective intelligence has existed for at least as long as humans have. Tribes of hunter-gatherers, nations, and modern corporations all act collectively with varying degrees of intelligence. But this ancient phenomenon is now occurring in dramatically new forms. For example:
  • Google uses the knowledge millions of people have stored in the World Wide Web to provide remarkably useful answers to users' questions
  • Wikipedia motivates thousands of volunteers around the world to create the world's largest encyclopedia
  • Innocentive lets companies easily tap the talents of the global scientific community for innovative solutions to tough R&D problems
With new communication technologies-especially the Internet-huge numbers of people all over the planet can now work together in ways that were never before possible in the history of humanity. It is thus more important than ever for us to understand collective intelligence at a deep level so we can create and take advantage of these new possibilities.

Sources:
  1. Collective intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. YouTube - Kevin Kelly: Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web
  3. YouTube - Davos 2010 - IdeasLab with MIT - Thomas Malone
  4. MIT Center for Collective Intelligence
  5. MIT Center for Collective Intelligence
Related:
  1. Handbook of Collective Intelligence
  2. Forget IQ, Collective Intelligence is the New Measure of Smart (video) | Singularity Hub
  3. Artificial Intelligence: CI AND AI, open source software development, collective intelligence
  4. Blog of Collective Intelligence
  5. Is Collective Intelligence (CI) The Future?
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2010-03-30

Shelley, Stanford's Autonomous Car

Shelley, Stanford's robotic car, goes before the cameras

Stanford's automous car Shelley did a workout at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose on Thursday, and members of the media were there to watch.


FOX News.com

VW, Stanford Build High Performance Robot Racecar

It takes a certain kind of driver with skilled hands to brave the bumpy flats and sharp turns that mark Colorado's Pikes Peak Hill Climb...a 12-mile stretch of mountain switchbacks, rough terrain, and steep curves bordered by sheer drop-offs. But engineers from Stanford University and Volkswagen Group will soon attempt the feat with no hands on the wheel at all, in an effort to improve vehicle safety.


Their unique racecar is a modified Audi TTS coupe called "Shelley." Standard equipment on this autonomous coupe includes GPS sensors, a digital roadmap, and an array of computers that control the navigation and steering. Shelley is also linked to base stations that emit radio signals to improve the accuracy of the GPS. In most tests, the prototype has managed to stay on course to within a few inches.




Shelley - Vehicle Dynamics Control at the Handling Limits




How the car drives herself

Shelley knows exactly where she is on the road by using a differential GPS. Unlike a standard GPS system, hers corrects for interference in the atmosphere, showing the car's position on the Earth with an accuracy of about 2 centimeters. Shelley measures her speed and acceleration with wheel-speed sensors and an accelerometer, and gets her bearings from gyroscopes, which control equilibrium and direction.

"The computer puts all this information together and then compares it to a digital map to figure out how close the car is to the path that we want it to take up Pikes Peak," Gerdes said.

Many control features already exist on the stock Audi. For example, the computers in Shelley's trunk will plug into the car's existing electric steering system. The car moves into action with stock automatic gear shifting and brakes with an active vacuum booster, a feature that normal cars use for emergency braking.

The researchers have programmed Shelley to handle like a racecar by using a set of computer calculations called algorithms. For example, as the car approaches a turn, it calculates a best guess on steering and acceleration. Audi's steering system normally responds to the steering wheel, but since there is no driver, it responds to algorithms that combine information such as the GPS path and inertial movement picked up from its sensors.

As the car approaches a corner, another set of calculations corrects the handling through the turn and prepares for what might happen next.

Sources:
  1. Shelley, Stanford's robotic car, goes before the cameras
  2. FOXNews.com - VW, Stanford Build High Performance Robot Racecar
  3. Mechanical Engineering
  4. YouTube - Stanford's Autonomous Car Gets A Workout
  5. Stanford's robotic Audi to brave Pikes Peak without a driver
Related:
  1. Driverless car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. Shelley, Stanford's robotic car, goes before the cameras (w/ Video)
  3. Stanford Automotive
  4. IEEE Spectrum: Stanford and Volkswagen Unveil An Autonomous Race Car
  5. A robotic car goes for a spin (Video) - SmartPlanet
  6. YouTube - DARPA Grand Challenge: Stanford
  7. YouTube - Stanford teams wins robot car race
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2010-03-29

Making Car Fuel from Air

Making Fuel From Air: Three British Universities Team to Develop Nanomaterials to Capture CO2 and Transform It to Fuel and Plastics


Funding of $2.08 million (£1.4 million) to develop porous nanomaterials that absorb CO2 and convert it into new products such as car fuel and plastics has been awarded to three universities in the South West of Britain.  The research, led by the University of Bath, will also involve scientists and engineers from the Universities of Bristol and the West of England

The researchers will be developing Metal Organic Frameworks (MOF) which can store gases like CO2 and use catalysts to convert them into fuel or plastics. 




Making Car Fuel from Thin Air

[...]
The project aims to develop porous materials that can absorb the gas that causes global warming and convert it into chemicals that can be used to make car fuel or plastics in a process powered by renewable solar energy.

The researchers hope that in the future the porous materials could be used to line factory chimneys to take carbon dioxide pollutants from the air, reducing the effects of climate change.

Clipped from: I-SEE

University of Bath

I-SEE: Institute for sustainable energy and the environment

Sustainable energy and the environment

The University of Bath across the range of its academic interests possesses high-level interdisciplinary research expertise in relation to energy, sustainability and the environment. This is reflected in the involvement of Bath researchers in many of the major environment and energy research council programmes resulting in a considerable portfolio of research expertise and current projects spread across the University.


£1.4 million to make car fuel from thin air


 Press release issued 23 March 2010

[...]
Dr. David Fermin, from the University of Bristol, said: "Currently, there are no large-scale technologies available for capturing and processing CO2 from air. The fact is that CO2 is rather diluted in the atmosphere and its chemical reactivity is very low. By combining clever material design with heterogeneous catalysis, electrocatalysis and biocatalysis, we aim to develop an effective carbon neutral technology."

The Bath-Bristol collaboration brings together scientists from a range of disciplines, with researchers from Bath’s Institute for Sustainable Energy & the Environment (I-SEE), the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, and the School of Life Sciences at the University of the West of England.


School of Life Sciences
Home page of UWE Bristol

The School of Life Sciences supports a diversity of teaching, research and knowledge exchange activity with a focus on the applications of science and its impact on real world problems.
Find out more about Life Sciences


Sources:
  1. Making Fuel From Air: Three British Universities Team to Develop Nanomaterials to Capture CO2 and Transform It to Fuel and Plastics - Renewable Energy - Zimbio
  2. Making car fuel from thin air
  3. I-SEE
  4. Bristol University | News from the University | Carbon capture
  5. School of Life Sciences - UWE Bristol
Related:
  1. Research to make car fuel from thin air
  2. Homepage | University of Bath
  3. I-SEE: Research Themes
  4. Bristol University homepage - a place for learning, discovery and enterprise
  5. Electrochemistry Group - School of Chemistry - Bristol University
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2010-03-27

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)



NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.

 Scope It Out Game



Technology 
 
The James Webb Space Telescope will have a unique and profound role in transforming our understanding of astrophysics and the origins of galaxies, stars, and planetary systems.  In order to carry out its mission, several innovative and powerful new technologies ranging from optics to detectors to thermal control systems are being developed.
observatory The Observatory
(What are the different parts of this Observatory?)
instruments The Instruments
(What instruments are on the telescope?)
instruments Innovations
(What are the new and innovative technologies are being used?)






Sources:
  1. James Webb Space Telescope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. The James Webb Space Telescope
  3. The James Webb Space Telescope
  4. The James Webb Space Telescope
Related:
  1. 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show]: Scientific American Slideshows
  2. ESA - Space Science - JWST
  3. The James Webb Space Telescope Special Exhibit
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2010-03-26

GM's EN-V Pride -- Electric Concept Car For Urban Mobility

GM unveils electric concept car for mega-cities



(Reuters) - General Motors unveiled a new electric concept car in China on Wednesday , aiming to burnish its image as a supplier of non-polluting cars tailored to the crowded mega-cities of the future.


General Motors Unveils Concept Electric Car in Shanghai: Video




Clipped from: EN-V - China - NEWS


GM Unveils EN-V Concept: A Vision for Future Urban Mobility

2010-03-24
Shanghai – By 2030, urban areas will be home to more than 60 percent of the world’s 8 billion people. This will put tremendous pressure on a public infrastructure that is already struggling to meet the growing demand for transportation and basic services.
Read Full Article


Clipped from: EN-V - China - NEWS

        Vehicle

o   EN-V is short for Electric Networked Vehicle

o   Leverages electrification and connectivity, creating a new class of personal urban mobility

o   Connectivity separates EN-V from other electric vehicles

o   Autonomous driving, parking and retrieval with advanced sensors and drive-by-wire systems

o   Uses electricity supplied by a lithium-ion phosphate battery and can be recharged using ordinary outlets

o   Maximum speed of 40 kph and range of 40 kilometers, which is more than required by the average urban commuter

o   One-sixth the size of a regular passenger car and a 1.74-meter turning radius

o   Two-wheel drive, accommodates two passengers


Sources:
  1. GM unveils electric concept car for mega-cities | Reuters
  2. YouTube - General Motors Unveils Concept Electric Car in Shanghai: Video
  3. EN-V - China - NEWS
  4. EN-V - China - NEWS
Related:
  1. G.M. EN-V: Sharpening the Focus of Future Urban Mobility - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com
  2. GM Media - United States - News
  3. GM EN-V Concepts - 2010 Shanghai World's Fair Concepts - Automobile Magazine
  4. GM to showcase electronic concept car that can drive itself, EN-V, at 2010 World Expo
  5. GM's Car Of The Future - Forbes.com
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2010-03-25

Self-assembling Computer Chips

Self-assembling computer chips

Molecules that arrange themselves into predictable patterns on silicon chips could lead to microprocessors with much smaller circuit elements.

The features on computer chips are getting so small that soon the process used to make them, which has hardly changed in the last 50 years, won’t work anymore. One of the alternatives that academic researchers have been exploring is to create tiny circuits using molecules that automatically arrange themselves into useful patterns. In a paper that appeared Monday in Nature Nanotechnology, MIT researchers have taken an important step toward making that approach practical.


MIT researchers coaxed tiny, chainlike molecules to arrange themselves into complex patterns, like this one, on a silicon chip. Previously, self-assembling molecules have required some kind of template on the chip surface — either a trench etched into the chip, or a pattern created through chemical modification. But the MIT technique instead uses sparse silicon “hitching posts.” The molecules attach themselves to the posts and spontaneously assume the desired patterns.
Image: Yeon Sik Jung and Joel Yang




Research Areas:

Prof. Ross’s group research is directed towards the following areas:
  • Fabrication of magnetic films, multilayers and small magnetic structures, with applications in magnetic logic, magnetic random access memory, hard disks, and bit-patterned media
  • Magnetooptical oxides including perovskites and other oxides for use in integrated optical components such as magnetooptical isolators
  • Self-assembly of block copolymers, with particular application to nanolithography, and in other self-assembling systems such as dewetting of thin metal films and porous alumina formation.

Clipped from: Thomas Research Group


MISSION

Our research is focused on the development of novel polymers and polymer-based composite materials with unusual optical, mechanical, and electronic properties. The research is very interdisciplinary with members having backgrounds in materials science, chemistry, physics and mechanical engineering. The main areas of current interest include photonics, phononics, mechanical properties of complex materials, and polymer structure and morphology.


Molecules could create tiny circuits on computer chips

With its minor reliance on electron-beam lithography, the new method could offer cost-effective fabrication in areas besides . For example, the technique could be used to produce stamps for creating magnetic patterns on hard disks, which are currently produced with electron-beam lithography. However, more research is required before manufacturing individual computer chips with self-assembling molecules, such as getting the molecules to form the exact patterns needed to produce functioning circuits.

More information: Joel K. W. Yang, Yeon Sik Jung, Jae-Byum Chang, R. A. Mickiewicz, A. Alexander-Katz, C. A. Ross & Karl K. Berggren. “Complex self-assembled patterns using sparse commensurate templates with locally varying motifs.” Nature Nanotechnology. Doi:10.1038/nnano.2010.30.
via: MIT News


Sources:
  1. Self-assembling computer chips
  2. Magnetic Materials and Devices Group - MIT
  3. Thomas Research Group
  4. Thomas Group Research
  5. Molecules could create tiny circuits on computer chips
Related:
  1. Building microchips from the bottom up (8/16/2008)
  2. MIT building self-assembling computer chips | Crave - CNET
  3. Microsoft Word - chuang_tsa.doc - Powered by Google Docs
  4. Molecules arrange themselves into predictable patterns
  5. Building microchips from the bottom up
  6. DMSE - Faculty - Caroline A. Ross
  7. Complex self-assembled patterns using sparse commensurate templates with locally varying motifs : Abstract : Nature Nanotechnology
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2010-03-22

Loading and Selective Release of Cargo in DNA Nanotubes


DNA Nanotechnology Breakthrough Offers Promising Applications in Medicine


ScienceDaily (Mar. 17, 2010) — A team of McGill Chemistry Department researchers led by Dr. Hanadi Sleiman has achieved a major breakthrough in the development of nanotubes -- tiny "magic bullets" that could one day deliver drugs to specific diseased cells. Sleiman explains that the research involves taking DNA out of its biological context. So rather than being used as the genetic code for life, it becomes a kind of building block for tiny nanometre-scale objects.


DNA nanotubes

DNA nanotubes can carry and release cargo on demand



DNA nanotechnology

DNA nanotechnology is a branch of nanotechnology which uses the unique molecular recognition properties of DNA and other nucleic acids to create designed, controllable structures out of DNA. This has possible applications in molecular self-assembly and in DNA computing. In this field, DNA is used as a structural material rather than as a carrier of genetic information, making it an example of bionanotechnology.



Clipped from: Hanadi Sleiman


Welcome to the Sleiman Research Group


Click here to read about our research 
(link 1, link 2, link 3 )


Our research group focuses on developing the supramolecular chemistry of DNA, to address problems in both biology and nanoscience. We use this approach to design new materials for drug delivery, diagnostic tools, antitumor therapeutics, and higher-order DNA structures for the fine organization of materials on the nanometer scale.


All aboard the DNA nanotube

Sleiman's nanotubes comprise triangular DNA 'rungs' in which the corner units are rigid organic molecules.   These triangles are connected vertically using DNA strands, thus creating a nanotube structure with evenly spaced, alternating triangular 3D capsules of two different sizes (approximately 7nm and 14nm along one edge).
When the team assembled double stranded nanotubes in the presence of different sized gold nanoparticles, the particles became trapped inside their respective sized capsules like peas in a pod. 'In effect the nanotubes act like sieves, and select the correct sizes to encapsulate,' says Sleiman.

To release the cargo, the team added specific strands of DNA that are complementary to the DNA strands that close-in the particles. This causes the nanotubes to become single stranded, thus opening up the capsules and allowing the gold nanoparticles to escape.

Sources:
  1. DNA nanotechnology breakthrough offers promising applications in medicine
  2. YouTube - DNA nanotubes
  3. DNA nanotechnology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  4. Hanadi Sleiman
  5. All aboard the DNA nanotube
Related:
  1. Loading and selective release of cargo in DNA nanotubes with longitudinal variation : Abstract : Nature Chemistry
  2. Teaching an old DNA new tricks
  3. News: DNA nanotechnology breakthrough offers promising applications in medicine
  4. DNA nanotechnology breakthrough offers promising applications in medicine
  5. Breakthrough in DNA Nanotube Research
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2010-03-21

Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) Simulating Real and Imaginary Worlds

Digital Molecular Matter

Digital Molecular Matter, better known as simply DMM, is a middleware physics engine developed by Pixelux. It is designed for computer, video games, and other simulation needs by attempting to simulate physical real-world systems. Unlike traditional realtime simulation engines which tend to be based on rigid body kinematics, the use of soft body dynamics via FEA allows for DMM to simulate a more general set of properties. Developers assign physical properties to a given object (or portion of an object) and then at runtime they behave as they would in the real world (e.g. ice, gummy bear, etc.) In addition the properties of objects (or even just parts of objects) can be changed at runtime allowing for additional interesting effects.


LucasArts: Digital Molecular Matter Tech Demo




outerbox



How it Works
 
DMM handles the simulation of diverse materials by using an advanced method from scientific computing called finite element modeling (FEM). Materials are represented in FEM by a set of "material parameters" that the simulation takes into account. A DMM content creator has complete control over these parameters to tune an object's material, being able to adjust, for example, how soft or rigid an object is and how easily it may fracture. Side effects such as having objects weaken and break after repeated bending occur naturally as an artifact of material settings. The DMM collision system is very robust and handles the collision of the complex shapes that arise from deformation and fracture.




These demos show what can be done with the DMM Plug-in for Maya. They were created entirely with DMM Plug-in for Maya, no other physics system was used.

Cliff House

A wooden shack on a cliff gets destroyed by boulders.
Spaceship

A spaceship gets destroyed by asteroids.
Crash

A heavy soft body falls onto a wooden beam destroying it. An animated object further destroys the beam, shattering it to tiny pieces.

Twist

Only the two red items attached to the wooden bar are animated. Because of the stress caused by the torsion, the wood brakes and shatters the glass box.
Rubber Car

A rubber car is thrown onto a circuit. Nothing is animated.
Trestle

A boulder is given an initial velocity. It then falls on a wooden trestle with metal railways. The resulting destruction is entirely simulated by DMM.





Sources:
  1. Digital Molecular Matter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. YouTube - LucasArts: Digital Molecular Matter Tech Demo
  3. Pixelux Entertainment SA - DMM Technology
  4. Pixelux Entertainment SA - Movies
  5. YouTube - DMM(Digital Molecular Matter) Cliff House
  6. YouTube - Rubber Car Pixelux Demo
  7. YouTube - Twist Pixelux Demo
Related:
  1. Digital Molecular Matter: Realistic material damage for military training simulations using real-time Finite Element Analysis - By Steve Griffith (Objective Interface Systems)
  2. Pixelux releases DMM plug-in for Autodesk Maya 2010 (physics simulation) - Software News for Maya News
  3. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself (Playlist).
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2010-03-20

Memristor Device Mimics Brain Synapse

Clipped from: Memristor: A Device That Mimics The Brain’s Synaptic Action - PSFK

Memristor: A Device That Mimics The Brain’s Synaptic Action


A US military-funded project used memristors, a device whose resistance at any moment depends on the last voltage it experienced, to attempt building brain-like computers.


Clipped from: Silver sputtered nano chips mimic brain synapse

RSC - Advancing the Chemical Sciences



Silver sputtered nano chips mimic brain synapse

The two-terminal electronic device, known as a memristor ('memory' + 'resistor'), is similar to a biological synapse in that its conductance can be precisely changed by controlling the charge running through it. The researchers found that changing the way they embedded silver ions in the silicon-based devices improved their performance.

A memristor's resistance is controlled by its 'memory' of the currents and voltages it has been exposed to. 'It can be employed to build a computer in the way that nature builds brains,' explained Wei Lu of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.


How memristors can act as synapses between neurons, with schematics of the memristor structure and the two-terminal device in the insets.


Clipped from: Lu Nanoelectronics Group » Projects

Neuromorphic Circuits Based on Memristor Synapses
(Sung Hyun Jo and Ting Chang)



A synapse is essentially a two-terminal device and bears striking resemblance to an electrical device termed memristor (memory + resistor). Similar to a biological synapse, the conductance of a memristor can be incrementally modified by controlling charge flown through it. This project aims to build computers following the approach nature builds brains. In the proposed memristor-based neuromorphic system, CMOS computing units will serve as neurons and a crossbar array of memristors will serve as synapses, as shown in the image above. This hybrid CMOS/memristor circuit that can potentially offer connectivity and function density comparable to those of biological systems. In particular, we have developed nanoscale Si-based memristors and verified that Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP), an important synaptic modification rule for competitive Hebbian learning, can be achieved in the hybrid CMOS/memristor system.

Clipped from: Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: "Wei Lu Receives CAREER Award"

Wei Lu Receives CAREER Award



Prof. Wei Lu, assistant professor in division of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recently awarded an NSF CAREER grant for his research project, "Understanding, Development and Applications of Nanoscale Memristor Devices."

Sources:
  1. Memristor: A Device That Mimics The Brain’s Synaptic Action - PSFK
  2. Silver sputtered nano chips mimic brain synapse
  3. Lu Nanoelectronics Group » Projects
  4. Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: "Wei Lu Receives CAREER Award"
Related:
  1. Engineer's memristor chip could lead to faster, cheaper computers
  2. Wei Lu: EECS Faculty, Nanoelectronics
  3. Brain-Like Computer Closer to Realization
  4. Electronics 'missing link' brings neural computing closer - tech - 15 March 2010 - New Scientist
  5. Nanoscale Memristor Device as Synapse in Neuromorphic Systems - Nano Letters (ACS Publications)
  6. Memristor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  7. Memristor found: HP Labs proves fourth integrated circuit element
  8. MEMRISTOR- A groundbreaking breakthrough in fundamental electronics!!
Labels: , , ,

2010-03-18

The Internet of Things

Clipped from:YouTube - The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things

Video featuring, from IBM: Mike Wing, Andy Stanford-Clark and John Tolva.

Over the past century but accelerating over the past couple of decades, we have seen the emergence of a kind of global data field. The planet itself - natural systems, human systems, physical objects - have always generated an enormous amount of data, but we didnt used to be able to hear it, to see it, to capture it. Now we can because all of this stuff is now instrumented. And its all interconnected, so now we can actually have access to it. So, in effect, the planet has grown a central nervous system.



Clipped from:The Internet of Things | A Smarter Planet Blog

Although Internet of Things and System of Systems are not IBM-bred concepts, they help to explain a great deal about what is happening now where the digital world meets the physical and intellectual



Sources:
  1. YouTube - The Internet of Things
  2. IBM - Smarter Planet - United States
  3. IBM - A Smarter Planet - Overview - United States
Related:
  1. System of systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. Internet of Things - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. The Internet of Things | A Smarter Planet Blog
  4. Internet of Things Explained (Video)
  5. Are Modern Web Apps Killjoys?
  6. Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: Internet of Things
Labels: ,

2010-03-16

Bump iPhones to Exchange Money with PayPal iPhone App

Clipped from: Owe Someone Money? Just Bump Your Phones - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com



Owe Someone Money? Just Bump Your Phones

People have predicted the death of cash and checks for a long time. But there are certain transactions — like paying a friend back for dinner or buying vegetables at the farmers’ market — for which they remain essential.

PayPal’s new iPhone application could finally change that. It promises to let you quickly divide a restaurant bill and send a friend the portion you owe just by bumping your iPhones together.


Clipped from: PayPal for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
PayPal

PayPal

By PayPal, an eBay Company


Description

PayPal’s mobile money application is the faster way to send money with your iPhone® to friends and family anytime, anywhere. It’s much easier than going to the ATM to withdraw cash, writing checks, and sending gifts the traditional way. And you can manage your PayPal account right from your mobile device. All of this with the security and protection you get from PayPal.



Clipped from: YouTube - The New PayPal iPhone App

The New PayPal iPhone App




Clipped from: Bump Technologies, Inc.





Bump is a quick and easy way to connect two phones by simply bumping them together. Exchange your phone number, photos, or compare friends with just a bump.
Sources:
  1. Owe Someone Money? Just Bump Your Phones - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
  2. PayPal for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
  3. YouTube - The New PayPal iPhone App
  4. Bump Technologies, Inc.
Related:
  1. PayPal Launches Revamped iPhone App, Teams With Bump For Phone-Tapping Money Transfers
  2. PayPal Bumps iPhone Payments to New Level - Digits - WSJ
  3. Cash Is So Twentieth Century: Bump iPhones to Exchange Money Instead | Dan's FC Blog | Fast Company
  4. PayPal Launches New Send Money App for iPhone(R) - MarketWatch
  5. ‘Bump to Send Money’ with PayPall iPhone App - The iPhone app PayPal has been updated with a set of new features and the “Bump to Send Money” one is, by far, the most important ingredient - Softpedia
Labels: , ,

2010-03-15

The Bloom Box Energy Server

Clipped from: YouTube - Bloom Box Revealed

Bloom Box Revealed

The energy machine known as the "Bloom Box" was formally introduced to the public at eBay's headquarters in San Jose, Calif. Founder and CEO K.R. Sridhar addressed the audience.



Clipped from: Bloom Energy Server - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bloom Energy Server


The Bloom Energy Server is a solid oxide fuel cell made by Bloom Energy, of Sunnyvale, California, that uses liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons (such as gasoline, diesel or propane produced from fossil or bio sources) to generate electricity on the site where it will be used; Bloom Energy representatives assert that it is at least as efficient as a traditional large-scale coal power station. According to the company, a single cell (one 100mm × 100mm metal alloy plate between two ceramic layers) generates 25 watts.


Clipped from: The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough? - 60 Minutes - CBS News

The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?

(CBS)  In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard.

You'll generate your own electricity with the box and it'll be wireless. The idea is to one day replace the big power plants and transmission line grid, the way the laptop moved in on the desktop and cell phones supplanted landlines.

It has a lot of smart people believing and buzzing, even though the company has been unusually secretive - until now. 

Clipped from: YouTube - A Peek Inside the Bloom Box

A Peek Inside the Bloom Box

In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean. Lesley Stahl gets an inside look at one inventor's "energy machine." 60 Minutes, Sunday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. ET/PT.




Clipped from: Bloom Energy | Be The Solution | Products - What is an Energy Server?

What is an Energy Server?

Built with our patented solid oxide fuel cell technology, Bloom's Energy Server™ is a new class of distributed power generator, producing clean, reliable, affordable electricity at the customer site.
Fuel cells are devices that convert fuel into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process rather than dirty combustion. They are like batteries except that they always run. Our particular type of fuel cell technology is different than legacy "hydrogen" fuel cells in four main ways:
  1. Low cost materials – our cells use a common sand-like powder instead of precious
    metals like platinum or corrosive materials like acids.
  2. High electrical efficiency – we can convert fuel into electricity at nearly twice the
    rate of some legacy technologies
  3. Fuel flexibility – our systems are capable of using either renewable or fossil fuels
  4. Reversible – our technology is capable of both energy generation and storage
Each Bloom Energy Server provides 100kW of power, enough to meet the baseload needs of 100 average homes or a small office building... day and night, in roughly the footprint of a standard parking space. For more power simply add more energy servers.


Clipped from: Bloom Energy | Be The Solution | Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells 

Fuel cells were invented over a century ago and have been used in practically every NASA mission since the 1960's, but until now, they have not gained widespread adoption because of their inherently high costs.
 

Click here to see how a SOFC works.



Clipped from: Bloom's power plant in a box? (FAQ) | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News

Bloom's power plant in a box? (FAQ)

What is the Bloom box?
How much does it cost to "save" money?
What kind of fuel does it use?
Who is using Bloom boxes right now?

And subsidies or tax breaks?
Who is investing in Bloom Energy?
How economically feasible can it be?
 

Sources:
  1. YouTube - Bloom Box Revealed
  2. Bloom Energy Server - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough? - 60 Minutes - CBS News
  4. YouTube - A Peek Inside the Bloom Box
  5. Bloom Energy | Be The Solution
  6. Bloom Energy | Be The Solution | Products - What is an Energy Server?
  7. Bloom Energy | Be The Solution | Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
  8. Bloom's power plant in a box? (FAQ) | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News
Related:
  1. All eyes on Bloom Box fuel cell launch | Environment | guardian.co.uk
  2. Bloom Energy Unveils Its Ultra-Secretive Bloom Box Fuel Cell | Sustainability | Fast Company
  3. How Does the Bloom Box Energy Server Work? | Sustainability | Fast Company
  4. The Bloom Box: a power plant for the home (video) -- Engadget
  5. Is K.R. Sridhar’s 'magic box' ready for prime time? - Fortune Brainstorm Tech
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