Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts

2012-05-28

ZeroN - Levitated Interaction Element

LabCAST - The MIT Media Lab Video Podcast » Archive » #61 ZeroN

What if materials could defy gravity, so that we could leave them suspended in mid-air? ZeroN is a physical and digital interaction element that floats and moves in space by computer-controlled magnetic levitation.


ZeroN - Jinha Lee MIT Media Lab


From Levitating Point to Levitating Space

To realize such interactions, we developed a magnetic control system that can levitate and actuate a permanent magnet in a pre- defined 3D volume. This is combined with an optical tracking and display system that projects images on the levitating object. Conventional levitation is for levitating an object at one point. In ZeroN Project, users can move a levitated object to anywhere in a predefined 3D space and leave it there without dropping it since the system constantly readjusts both magnetically and mechanically. It is about turning 3D space into levitating space.



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2012-02-26

OLPC's XO 3 a $100 Solar-Powered Tablet

The Next List: Yves Behar wants design to change the world - Feb. 24, 2012

A $100 solar-powered tablet is coming soon

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- You may not have heard of Yves Behar, but chances are you've seen his designs.

He's the visionary behind the popular Jawbone Jambox sound system, Herman Miller's Sayl chairs, Swarovski chandeliers, and even New York City's free condoms.

The Swiss designer, now based in San Francisco, has plenty of commercial hits. That gives him the financial freedom to pursue his belief that design can change the world. It's a passion he put to work on his most famous project, One Laptop Per Child, better known as "the $100 laptop."

Now he's nearing completion of the sequel: A $100 tablet. It's rugged, solar-powered, and designed for children in the world's poorest countries.




Gizmo - OLPC XO 3.0 Tablet - YouTube

The first tablet from One Laptop Per Child gets unveiled! It is a pretty nice device and should cost $100. It features a very low power consuming Marvell ARM processor, up to 1GHz speed, 500MB of RAM, USB ports, 4GB of storage. It can also run Android, Sugar OS, even Linux.



OLPC's XO 3 tablet uses 1GHz ARM SoC to run Sugar Linux or Android - News - Linux for Devices


One Laptop per Child (OLPC) demonstrated a "fully functional" version of its long-delayed XO 3.0 tablet, equipped with a 1GHz Marvell Armada PXA618 processor running Sugar Linux or Android 3.x. Like OLPC's XO 2 laptop, the eight-inch tablet is aimed at educational systems in developing nations, and it will feature an optional sunlight-readable Pixel Qi touchscreen plus the ability to draw power from an optional solar panel or crank charger.
[...]
The XO 3.0 tablet will feature the 1GHz Marvell Armada PXA618 SoC, a member of Marvell's PXA610 line of ARMv7 processors, and will also include an Avastar Wi-Fi SoC, say Marvell and OLPC. The XO 3 ships with a standard LCD touchscreen or an optional Pixel Qi low-power, sunlight-readable display, say the partners. Other features are said to include a "unique" charging circuitry that can be charged directly by solar panels, hand cranks, and other alternative power sources. Alternative power has been a longtime goal of OLPC that wasn't implemented in earlier XO designs.

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2011-11-19

Cotton Candy: FXI's USB Stick-Sized Portable Computer


Cotton Candy takes the guts of an Android phone and crunches them down into a USB stick, essentially acting as a computer you can plug into anything with an HDMI or USB input.
Source: Cotton Candy

FXI Demonstrates Any Screen Connected Computing « FXITech

New York, NY and Trondheim, Norway – November 17, 2011 - FXI Technologies, a hardware and software startup based in Trondheim Norway, demonstrated today the world’s first any screen, connected computing USB device.  Codenamed “Cotton Candy”, this sweet little device serves as a technology bridge between any display, the Cloud, and any input peripheral.

The vision for Cotton Candy is to allow users a single, secure point of access to all personal Cloud services and apps through their favorite operating system, while delivering a consistent experience on any screen.  The device will serve as a companion to smartphones, tablets, notebook PC and Macs, as well add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set top boxes and game consoles.


USB Stick Contains Dual-Core Computer, Turns Any Screen Into an Android Station


The Cotton Candy has a USB 2.0 connector on one end and an HDMI jack on the other. When connected to an HDTV, it uses the HDMI port for video, the USB for power, and Bluetooth to connect to a keyboard, mouse, or tablet for controlling the operating system. The device can output up to 1080p so even a full HD screen can display the Candy’s preloaded Android 2.3 operating system at its native resolution. The dual core CPU is powerful enough to play local 1080p video or stream HD clips from the Web.
HDTVs, monitors, and computers are just the tip of the iceberg for the Cotton Candy. Borgar told us the device will be able to connect to tablets, smartphones, and even set top boxes via USB or Bluetooth. He says that he expects the device to be able to turn even an iPhone or an iPad into a terminal for its environment. Imagine an iPhone running Android!




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2011-11-12

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime Quad-Core Android Tablet

Asus unveils Eee Pad Transformer Prime | Mobile Devices | ZDNet UK

The next model in Asus's Eee Pad Transfomer line of docking tablets will come with a Tegra 3 quad-core chip, plus the promise of longer battery life, when it arrives in the UK

The device made its debut in Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday. It will be priced around £499 when it goes on sale in the UK in January, the company said. It will go up against rivals such as Lenovo's ThinkPad tablet.



ASUS Transformer Prime


Extremely Slim Profile
  • Metallic spun finished design with ultra-slim features. Measurements: 8.3mm (0.33”) thin and 586g (1.29lbs) light
Superior Performance and Long Battery Life
  • NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 – The world’s first quad-core mobile processor – for fast apps, immersive gaming, HD video, and low power
Unrivaled Visual Acuity
  • Super IPS+ panel in 178° wide-view angle with 600 nits brilliant luminance
  • 8MP rear auto-focus camera with flash and 1.2MP front camera
Supreme Sound
  • SonicMaster technology and built-in subwoofer for a superior sound range
Unlimited Productivity
  • Up to 18 hours of battery life when docked and charged
  • Mobile Dock with full QWERTY keyboard and touchpad for productivity and mobile flexibility
  • Endless expansion with USB and SD card ports
Friendly and Convenient User Interface, Software, and Service
  • Upgradable Google Android OS and updated user interface and software

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Nov. launch a no-go - The Washington Post

Obviously, the biggest change comes on the inside. The tablet is the first to have Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor (formerly known as Kal El), and while we have tons of details on that right here, the most important thing you need to know is that it promises five times the performance of Tegra 2. But that extra power doesn't mean extra weight or a hit on battery life, in fact it means the opposite. The tablet has been significantly slimmed down to .33 inches (8.3mm) and it's said to last 12 hours on a charge. Not to mention, with the keyboard dock's 22Wh battery attached, Asus is claiming 18 hours.

NVIDIA Tegra 3: Tablet Chip With A Twist - Hardware - Processors - Informationweek

NVIDIA's truly unique twist in the Tegra 3 is the addition of a fifth CPU core that runs transparently to the OS. In NVIDIA's new architecture, the fifth core is identical to the four main cores--they're all ARM Cortex A9 CPUs. However, the added core is built to consume less power in standby mode and run at a lower clock speeds. The four main cores remain off while the device is in active standby mode (say sitting in your pocket or briefcase,) or while playing back music.



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2011-09-04

MeeGo: A Linux Platform for the Next Generation of Computing Devices

About | MeeGo
  • The MeeGo project provides a Linux-based, open source software platform for the next generation of computing devices. The MeeGo software platform is designed to give developers the broadest range of device segments to target for their applications, including netbooks, handheld computing and communications devices, in-vehicle infotainment devices, smart TVs, tablets and more – all using a uniform set of APIs based on Qt. For consumers, MeeGo will offer innovative application experiences that they can take from device to device.
  • The MeeGo project is hosted by The Linux Foundation

MeeGo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Overview

  • MeeGo is intended to run on a variety of hardware platforms including handhelds, in-car devices, netbooks and televisions.[10] All platforms share the MeeGo core, with different “User Experience” (“UX”) layers for each type of device.

System requirements

User interfaces



Screenshot of MeeGo’s Netbook UX


The Linux Foundation Video Site:: MeeGo - YouTube




Devices | MeeGo

MeeGo's common core supports development for a variety of devices.
Netbook
Handset
In-Vehicle
Smart TV
Media phone



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2011-05-23

The Google Chrome Desktop Xi3 ChromiumPC

Xi3 ChromiumPC: First desktop PC to run Google Chrome OS due in July | ZDNet



Xi3 had designed a modular architecture for the ChromiumPC, which means that it consists of processor and I/O modules rather than a traditional motherboard. Further, the I/O modules — one for communications ports and the second for other connectivity — are swappable. Though few specs are known for the ChromiumPC, it will use an x86-based processor — either single or dual-core — and be released in several color choices. Xi3 says third parties are interested in creating their own modules, and flavors of ChromiumPC running other operating systems will also be available.

Xi3 | Xi3 News

News Release: Xi3 Corporation Announces its ChromiumPC Modular Computer – the World’s First Desktop Computer Running Google’s Chrome Operating System

SALT LAKE CITY--Xi3® Corporation today announced its ChromiumPC™ modular computer, the world's first desktop computer designed to run Google's Chrome operating system.

[...]

"The Xi3 Computer Architecture is designed to support any x86-based operating system, including Windows, Linux, Unix, and other open source-based operating systems," said Jason A. Sullivan, president and CEO of Xi3 Corp. "Although we've been promoting, discussing and working on modular computers for some time, we feel the market is now ready for a desktop computer with a cloud-based operating system like the one offered by Google. If someone chooses to switch their ChromiumPC to run a different operating system, it's as easy as swapping out one of the three boards inside the computer.

[...]

Each Xi3 Modular Computer, including the ChromiumPC, is housed in an aluminum chassis that holds three small but interconnected boards (or modules), namely
  • The Processor Module™,
  • The Primary I/O Module™, and
  • The Secondary I/O Module™.
Taken in concert these three modules form the basis of what has been the classic motherboard, with the Processor Module housing the microprocessor and RAM, the Primary I/O Module typically housing the majority of the external communications ports, and the Secondary I/O Module typically housing Ethernet, video and power connections.

Unlike traditional computers, however, the Xi3 Computer Architecture makes it possible to change the so-called personality and/or functionality of an Xi3 Modular Computer, including the ChromiumPC. [...]
Collected from: Xi3 | Xi3 News


The design of the Xi3 PCU from ISYS Technologies is one of the most unique and stunning features of the product. Check out how the Xi3's design differs from that of traditional personal computers.



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2011-05-14

Raspberry Pi -- The USB computer

Raspberry Pi: Computer on a stick for only $25 | Crave - CNET

A British nonprofit has a novel idea for getting kids interested in computer programming--a computer that fits in a pocket and costs less than the latest video game.

It's called Raspberry Pi, and the prototype isn't pretty--it looks like a leftover scrap from electronics recycling day. But it's a working computer that game developer David Braben and his Cambridge-connected colleagues expect to make available for only $25 for a fully configured system.



Ï€ Raspberry Pi Foundation
Provisional specification:
  • 700MHz ARM11
  • 128MB of SDRAM
  • OpenGL ES 2.0
  • 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
  • Composite and HDMI video output
  • USB 2.0
  • SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot
  • General-purpose I/O
  • Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)

Raspberry Pi device running Ubuntu 9.04
Raspberry Pi device with attached 12MPixel camera module

Collected from: Raspberry Pi Foundation

BBC - dot.Rory: A 15 pound computer to inspire young programmers



They believe that what today's schoolchildren learn in ICT classes leaves them uninspired and ignorant about the way computers work. David Braben says the way the subject is taught today reminds him of typing lessons when he was at school - useful perhaps in preparing pupils for office jobs, but no way to encourage creativity.


Raspberry Pi is a non-profit venture, whose founders are mostly part of Cambridge's thriving technology sector. Their hope is that teachers, developers and the government will come together to get the device into the hands of children who may not have access to a computer at home or would not be allowed by parents to "muck about with it".


In some ways, the project resembles the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) scheme, which sought to create a laptop for children in the developing world at a cost of $100. OLPC was successful in promoting the idea of cheap computing, spawning lots of netbook imitators, but has struggled to get the price as low as they promised and to convince governments to back the idea.

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2011-03-07

Fujitsu Shows World’s First Truly Wireless Display

Fujitsu Press Office on ITWeb

Breaking news

Fujitsu shows world's first truly wireless display at CeBIT

[Munich/Hanover, 3 March 2011] - Fujitsu today announces that it is showing a working design study of the world's first truly wireless PC display at CeBIT 2011, which takes place in Hanover, Germany, from 1-5 March. The leading European IT infrastructure provider expects that commercial wireless display models, featuring the breakthrough innovation SUPA (Smart Universal Power Access) technology will go into production within the next year.


Incorporating wireless power technology developed by The Fraunhofer Institute and partners within a German research project funded by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Fujitsu proof-of-concept display is completely portable, cable-free, and the world’s first display using wireless to provide both the power and the signal for the screen. The technology paves the way for “park and play” computing, where displays are powered simply by being placed on a desktop or conference table hot-spot.
 
Wireless 22-inch Fujitsu displays are powered by SUPA technology (Smart Universal Power Antenna), drawing power via magneto-induction from transmitter antenna that can be built-in to desks or office panels. The smart-power antenna is concentrated on a hot-spot and the technology is completely safe, just like induction-based kitchen hobs and electric toothbrush chargers. The display receives picture images via wireless USB from a desktop or notebook, with a range of up to 10 meters.
 

Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits

Energy Management and Micro Energy Technology

Wireless Energy Transmission

Mobile terminal devices usually have rechargeable batteries to supply power to the different electronic circuits. In order to be recharged the battery must be cable-connected to a charger and the mains power supply. Charger, wiring and connectors are often sources of error. Moreover the charger and connectors are not always compatible with different terminal devices, making it necessary for each device type to have its own customized battery-charging solution.

Wireless power transmission eliminates the need for wiring and connectors in mobile terminal equipment



Fujitsu and partners show off cord-free display using SUPA wireless power (video) -- Engadget


The demo we saw was a little glitchy; the first time we visited the booth, Fujitsu was having a hard time getting the WUSB connection to light up, but it was up and running the second time we dropped by. [...]
All told, we're excited about this technology, assuming SUPA can gain enough critical mass in the marketplace to be relevant. They're expecting the first commercial applications next year... so in the meantime, enjoy our pictures and videos while you plan how you're going to rearrange your workspace once you don't have to worry about power cords.



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2011-01-04

Living Earth Simulator will Simulate the Entire Planet



Largest Supercomputers to Simulate Life on Earth, Including Economies and Whole Societies

Scientists are planning to use the largest supercomputers to simulate life on Earth, including the financial system, economies and whole societies. The project is called "Living Earth Simulator" and part of a huge EU research initiative named FuturIcT.





Europe's Plan to Simulate the Entire Planet

The 'Living Earth Simulator' will mine economic, environmental and health data to create a model of the entire planet in real time.


Think of it as a kind of Google Earth for society. We've all played with Google's 3D map of the Earth that uses real data to reveal not only the town where you live and work but your home and back garden too.

Imagine a similar model that uses in real time things like financial transactions, health records, travel details, carbon dioxide emissions and so on to build a model of not just the planet but the entire society that populates it. Helbing calls it 'reality mining'.

This model will be capable not only modelling the planet in real time but of simulating the future, rather in the manner of weather forecasters.



FuturICT: Unleash the Power of Information


The FuturICT Knowledge Accelerator is a previously unseen multidisciplinary international scientific endeavour with focus on techno-socio-economic-environmental systems. The three main achievements of the FuturICT flagship will be the establishment of

  1. a Living Earth Simulator (global-scale simulation of techno-socio-economic systems),
  2. Crisis Observatories (for financial instabilities, scarcity of resources, emerging risks and conflicts, epidemics, etc.), and
  3. an Innovation Accelerator (identifying innovations early on, evaluating them across disciplines and supporting co-creation projects between different scientific disciplines, business, and governance).

Collected from: FuturICT: FuturIcT

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2010-12-31

IBM Racetrack Memory

Super Memory Breakthrough: Store Every Movie Made This Year on Your Phone (With Room to Spare)

Racetrack memory works by storing data as magnetic regions (also called domains), which would be transported along nanowire "racetracks." Instead of forcing a computer to seek out the data it needs, as traditional computing systems do, the information would automatically slide along the racetrack to where it could be used. The result: powerful and efficient computing.

The concept of storing bits of data in the region between two magnetic domains (the domain wall) has been around for nearly a half century. However, manipulating domain walls was an expensive and power-needy endeavor. The new finding published in the current issue of the journal Science shows how engineers at IBM's Racetrack Memory Project were able to precisely and efficiently control the placement of these magnetic domains within a racetrack system. By controlling electrical pulses along the track, researchers were able to move these domains at hundreds of miles per hour and then stop them precisely at the position needed, allowing massive amounts of stored data to be accessed in a billionth of a second.

IBM’s Racetrack Storage Under Starter’s Order

IBM has been working on a new storage technology that could allow a mobile device to store the annual output of the worldwide movie industry with room to spare, running on a single battery for weeks at time. IBM’s Almeda Lab reckons that these devices could appear on the market in two to five years time.

The system is known as Racetrack memory because the data moves along a nanowire like cars parading at high speed along a road. The best way to visualise the process is to imagine a magnetic tape recorder where the tape is motionless and the data moves along it to cross the record/playback head.

Racetrack memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Racetrack memory is an experimental non-volatile memory device under development at IBM's Almaden Research Center by a team led by Stuart Parkin.[1] In early 2008, a 3-bit version was successfully demonstrated.[2] If it is developed successfully, racetrack would offer storage density higher than comparable solid-state memory devices like flash memory and similar to conventional disk drives, and also have much higher read/write performance. It is one of a number of new technologies trying to become a universal memory in the future.


IBM®

SpinAps
IBM Research

Spintronics Devices Research


Racetrack Memory, Spin Injectors, Magnetic Tunnel Transistors, and a host of more exotic spintronic designs take us beyond the realm of the simple GMR spinvalve.








Collected from: Racetrack

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2010-12-16

Problem-solving Ants

Ants lead way to speedier computer networks : Nature News





A problem-solving tactic used by insects looks set to help engineers.

An analysis of how ants quickly find new routes in a changing maze reveals techniques that could be useful to systems engineers.


Problem-solving ants inspire next generation of algorithms - News and Events - University of Sydney


An ant colony is probably the last place you'd expect to find a maths whiz, but researchers from the University of Sydney have shown that the humble ant is not only capable of solving difficult mathematical problems, but is even able to do what few computer algorithms can - adapt the optimal solution to fit a changing problem.

These findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, deepen our understanding of how even simple animals can overcome complex and dynamic problems in nature, and will help computer scientists develop even better software to solve logistical problems and maximise efficiency in many human industries.



The ants were able to find the shortest route from one end of the maze to the other in under an hour, then were able to adapt and find the second shortest route when obstacles were put in their path.


Ants lay trail to complex problem-solving › News in Science (ABC Science)


Towers of Hanoi

In the study, Argentine ants were collected in the grounds of University of Sydney were introduced to a specially designed maze modelled on the 'Towers of Hanoi' puzzle.

The puzzle, also called 'Towers of Brahma', consists of three rods and a number of different-sized discs which have to be moved from one rod to the next without placing a larger disc on top of a smaller one. In legend, Brahmin priests are working to solve such a puzzle comprising 64 discs. When the puzzle is complete, the legend says, the world will end.

The rules for solving the problem with the minimum number of steps is called an algorithm.

Lead author Chris Reid, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, says that the best known nature inspired algorithm of this type is 'ant colony optimisation'. This involves finding the optimal path based on the behaviour of foraging ants.
Because the pheromones that ants use to mark their pathways are volatile and gradually evaporate, over time the colony selects the shortest path so that the signal remains stronger for longer.

The researchers say that most nature-inspired algorithms take only superficial inspiration from nature, and little is known about how real biological systems solve difficult problems.


Ant colony optimization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


In computer science and operations research, the ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO) is a probabilistic technique for solving computational problems which can be reduced to finding good paths through graphs.

This algorithm is a member of ant colony algorithms family, in swarm intelligence methods, and it constitutes some metaheuristic optimizations. Initially proposed by Marco Dorigo in 1992 in his PhD thesis,[1][2] the first algorithm was aiming to search for an optimal path in a graph, based on the behavior of ants seeking a path between their colony and a source of food. The original idea has since diversified to solve a wider class of numerical problems, and as a result, several problems have emerged, drawing on various aspects of the behavior of ants.


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2010-10-27

Bees Solve Travelling Salesman Problem

Fox News - Fair & Balanced

Tiny Bee Brains Beat Computers at Complex Math Problems - FoxNews.com





While they seem to wander leisurely from flower to flower foraging for pollen, bees are actually solving complex mathematical problems that take computers days to computer, studies found.

Researchers at Queen Mark, the University of London, and Royal Holloway have discovered that in their meandering, bees find the shortest possible route between the flowers they randomly discover. By doing so, the honey-lovin' insects are essentially solving the "Traveling Salesman Problem" -- despite having brains the size of a pinhead.

The classic mathematical problem, first formulated in 1930, involves a traveling salesman who must find the most efficient itinerary that allows him to visit all locations on his route. It is one of the most intensively studied problems in optimization.


Tiny brained bees solve a complex mathematical problem

The Travelling Salesman must find the shortest route that allows him to visit all locations on his route. Computers solve it by comparing the length of all possible routes and choosing the shortest. However, bees solve it without computer assistance using a brain the size of grass seed.

 Dr Nigel Raine, from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway explains: "Foraging bees solve travelling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and, because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum.”

The team used computer controlled artificial flowers to test whether bees would follow a route defined by the order in which they discovered the flowers or if they would find the shortest route. After exploring the location of the flowers, bees quickly learned to fly the shortest route.

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