Commercialization of carbon nanotubes is one of the holy grails of next-gen computing, and IBM thinks it’s made crucial steps toward making this a reality. This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard such a claim, of course, but IBM’s considerable resources will make this particularly interesting. The specific problem it’s been tackling is placing enough semiconducting nanotubes together to be useful in commercial chips, with current attempts being more in the hundreds, rather than billions that would be required. The new approach uses ion-exchange chemistry that allows controlled placement of nanotubes at two orders of magnitude greater than before, with a density of roughly a billion per square centimeter. To achieve this, the nanotubes are mixed with a soap-like substance that makes them water-soluble. Next, a substrate comprising two oxides and a hafnium oxide “trench” is immersed in the soap-solution, which results in the nanotubes attaching to the hafnium oxide canals with a chemical bond. Simple when you think about it! IBM hopes that as the materials and method are readily accessible now, that industry players will be able to experiment with nanotube technology at a much greater scale. Though, as we’ve become accustomed, there’s no solid timescales on when this might realistically unfold.
Continue reading IBM Labs develops ‘initial step’ towards commercial fabrication of carbon nanotubes
IBM Labs develops ‘initial step’ towards commercial fabrication of carbon nanotubes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google Tech Talks July 27, 2007 ABSTRACT The CREATE lab and the Global Connection Project have embarked on a series of public projects to try and understand how significant scaling may be feasible using robotics for technology empowerment and community-building. Our work is now hybridizing the Global Connection efforts together with our more traditional Telepresence Robot Kit and CMUcam educational tools, and we are carrying out experiments locally in Pittsburgh and internationally in collaboration with UNESCO. I will describe the current status of our community products, describing both our target communities spanning the cognitive pipeline, and the new technologies we are releasing this year (CMUcam3, a fully programmable, public-domain embedded computer vision system; TeRK, a single-box solution for complete I/O control of robots together with a Linux OS and connectivity to the iRobot Create and other robots; Canary, a new embedded environmental sensor and kinetic art controller; and Gigapan, a multi-billion pixel panoramic image capture, display and annotation system. I will end by describing the beginning of our unified effort at large-scale public, activist robotic art across Pittsburgh, called Robot 250, which is funded by a group of five corporations and foundations. Illah R. Nourbakhsh is an Associate Professor of Robotics and head of the Robotics Masters Program in The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He is co-founder of the Toy Robots … Video Rating: 0 / 5
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A browser-based version of Skype now seems inevitable as Microsoft has taken the first steps towards its support of the web Real Time Communication (WebRTC) HTML5 standard. GigaOm reports that Microsoft submitted its own proposal for WebRTC today, as Customizable, Ubiquitous Real Time Communication over the Web (CU-RTC-Web). The standard, essential to a plugin-free video and audio communications in HTML5, will likely be used in future browser-based versions of Skype — something we’ve seen hinted at previously in Skype job listings.
Although Microsoft will implement a browser-based version of Skype video calling in its Outlook.com webmail client soon, we understand this particular implementation will require a plugin and will not use…
Boeing could’ve aimed a little higher for the Phantom Eye’s first successful test flight. And by that, we mean the addition of one Billy Zane in a form-fitting purple leotard fending off baddies as the plane taxied the runway. None of that happened because, well, the aerospace brainiacs behind this unmanned bulbous beauty tend to err on the side of sense, not showy drama. Tant pis. Missed opportunity for ostentatious absurdity aside, the engineering outfit did manage to log in a near-perfect round trip for the hydrogen-powered spycraft, reaching an altitude of 4,080-ft after its early morning take off from Edwards Air Force Base on the first of the month. The still in-development vessel’s return to terra firma wasn’t without hiccups, as it did sustain minor damage to its landing gear. With further refinements, though, engineers hope to push the autonomous plane even further, prolonging the duration of the flight to an eventual four days and doing so without the need for refueling (or tending to humans). It’s an obvious leap forward for cloak-and-dagger government interests, but really, it’s all about the recovery of magic skulls. Right? Right. Check out the video after the break.
Continue reading Boeing Phantom Eye takes first flight towards unmanned marathon espionage (video)
Boeing Phantom Eye takes first flight towards unmanned marathon espionage (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The idea of a smaller iPad has been rattling around the tech rumor mill for many a month now, but the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen? That’s sacred surely? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, apparently not. It’s reporting that those ever-famous “people familiar with the situation” have told it that Apple has ordered screens that are larger that the ones used in the flagship phone so far. There’s no specifics on size, with the sources only going as far to say they are “at least” four inches. Apple, however, has declined to comment — no surprises there — but perhaps now is the time to start the office pool. Just hope you don’t land on the “4-inch iPad” square.
WSJ: Apple moving towards larger iPhone screens originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 07:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks probably aren’t the first two companies you think of when talking about cutting edge broadband, but they’re integral to Dish Network’s LTE plans. Both companies were in dire straights, with TerreStar declaring bankruptcy in 2010 and DBSD filing for Chapter 11 in 2009. But, Dish doesn’t want them for their customer base or portfolio of services — it wants their spectrum. The FCC approved the transfer of the spectrum last week, but did not grant the company a waiver to immediately start using its new radio real estate to start broadcasting LTE signals. Still, it was a good enough sign for the satellite company, which completed the purchase of the two properties. Now it just has to put those plans to expand into broadband and cellphone service into action.
Dish buys TerreStar and DBSD, inches towards LTE future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Even the British occasionally have to change with the times. Following a study stating that 80 percent of all web video is now compatible with HTML5, the BBC has formally adopted the standard for videos on the desktop and mobile versions of its website. The full roll-out across BBC.com follows a pilot program in which the broadcaster tested HTML5 on the the Health section of the site. According to Electronista, the BBC has been working with HTML5 delivery systems throughout 2011 to build its iPlayer apps for the iOS. In other news, the BBC has just texted Flash and said it’s totally open to staying friends and meeting up for coffee sometime.
BBC moves towards HTML5 for websites, tells Flash it’ll still be friends originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Question by zzzzgigi: Why does everyone seem to be so cynical towards the kinect recently? Recently I have been reading a lot of comments on videos about new kinect games announced at E3. A very large majority has been very negative towards these, even when the announced games seem like they could be really fun to play, such as the new fable, dance central 2, kinect star wars, rise of nightmares, and ryse.
I dont understand, i get that motion games always get some critism but it feels a lot more than normal, my question is why so much, am i just missing something?
Best answer:
Answer by G-nambecause the kinect doesn’t have all the favs like cod or battlefield.
What do you think? Answer below!
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Hey, look Engadgeteers! It’s another Kinect hack — except this one uses a real deal robot. Honda ushered ASIMO out to the crowds at IEEE’s 2011 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems to show off its newly acquired pop and lock skills. Alright, so the silicon-gutted fella can’t krump with the best of’em yet, but he can probably do the locomotion — it all depends on your dance repertoire. After toiling away in their mad scientist lairs, the researchers behind the bot have managed to devise a means of mimicking human movement that translates mapped points on a user’s upper body into real-time, robot-replicated motion. The devious among you are likely imagining left-of-center uses for the tech, but let us deflate that mischievous balloon; there’ll be no instances of “stop hitting yourself ASIMO” here, as engineers have built-in collision and stability safeguards. The so-lifelike-it’s-Uncanny advancements don’t end there either, as ASIMO now also contains a database of text-inspired gestures — giving our future robot friend a means of physically expressing his cold, “I hate you so much right now” robo-tone. Other than finding himself at home in Italy, these innovations are sure to put ASIMO on the other end of our remote-controlled behest. Click on past the break to see this automated mime drop it like it’s hot.
Continue reading ASIMO mimics your every move, edges closer towards Single White Robot territory (video)
ASIMO mimics your every move, edges closer towards Single White Robot territory (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Although the world is currently enamored of flash memory, today’s standard for solid-state storage, companies like IBM need to think a few years ahead. One of the technologies they’re looking at is called phase-change memory, in which a memory cell changes from a crystalline to amorphous phase, changing its resistance. Put a bunch of those together, and you’ve got yourself a binary storage system.
The trouble was that they couldn’t store more than one bit per cell, which means the tech couldn’t really scale. They’ve just figured that out, though: they assigned four discrete resistance levels (i.e. phase states) to represent “00,” “01,” “10,” and “11.” A clever and elegant solution that circumvents the problem completely. They also came up with a way of controlling for the fact that the resistance level tends to drift over time.
Interested? There’s much more to read over at IBM Zurich’s Research blog. You’re not going to be seeing this type of memory for a while, though; IBM puts “wide adoption” in 2016. We’ll update you then.
