Rural access to high-speed broadband is generally a problem. And most of us living in a major metro leaning hard on the internet to get through the day don’t feel the pain unless we’re on a pastoral vacation or visiting relatives for what turns out to be a low-speed holiday. If you’ve had the experience, it…
Opto 22 announces relationship with Dell to develop and deploy Internet of Things (IoT) applications
Industrial automation manufacturer and Internet of Things (IoT) application toolset provider Opto 22 announces that it has joined the Dell IoT Solutions Partner Program. This relationship provides a product and solution ecosystem for connecting real-world signals and industrial “things” to the digital world of information technology, mobile, and cloud computing. A technology revolution is gaining […]
Deep-Learning Algorithm Creates Short Videos from Still Photos
Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory developed a deep-learning algorithm that can take a still image from a scene and create a brief video that simulates the future of that scene. The researchers used 2 million unlabeled videos that comprise a year’s worth of footage. The algorithm they developed…
UK Bill Requiring Firms To Store Web Histories Becomes Law
A contentious internet surveillance bill that creates databases of Britons’ online activity has become law—though the government says some of its provisions still need “extensive testing” before taking effect. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Investigatory Powers Bill had received royal assent, the last formality to becoming law. It…
DARPA Creating Industry/Government Group For Safe Operation Of Space Robotics
Recent technological advances have made the longstanding dream of on-orbit robotic servicing of satellites a near-term possibility. The potential advantages of that unprecedented capability are enormous. Instead of designing their satellites to accommodate the harsh reality that, once launched, their investments could never be repaired or upgraded, satellite owners could use robotic vehicles to physically…
The World’s Largest Particle Accelerator Is Inspected By Robots
In the depths of Switzerland, the CERN physics laboratory has the equipment necessary to make The Flash universe a reality. Inside the CERN facility exists the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle accelerator. The underground tunnel is a 17-mile long circle responsible for colliding particles together at the speed of light (and creating metahumans).…
Team Develops Thin Foam That Keeps Vehicles, Buildings Cooler, Quieter
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has developed a new material that will make vehicles and buildings cooler and quieter compared to current insulation materials in the market. Known as aerogel composites, this new foam insulates against heat 2.6 times better than conventional insulation foam. When compared to traditional materials used in soundproofing, it can…
Ready For Takeoff: Blues Skies Thinking To Improve Aircraft Safety
Nervous flyers and crew alike would prefer jet airliners not to vibrate so much at take off. Research published in the International Journal of Aerodynamics points to blue skies thinking that might explain the phenomenon and find ways to reduce the safety and image problems associated with this troubling aircraft noise. Engineer Stanislaw Raczynski of the Universidad…
U.K. Regulator Orders a Openreach/BT Split
Ofcom, which is the communications regulator in the United Kingdom, reported on Tuesday that it was making a formal notification to require the legal separation of Openreach from BT. It says BT fell well short when the regulator asked for voluntary proposals to address competition concerns. The core of the Ofcom proposal is a requirement…
MEMS Microphone Employs Energy Harvesting
At the MEMS & Sensors Group Executive Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, Matt Crowley, the CEO of Vesper Technologies, demonstrates his company’s wake on sound MEMS microphone. The VM1010 prototype uses the piezoelectric MEMS microphone as a piezoelectric energy harvester for saving power with an always on voice mode. For more information, click here.
France is Building a Human-Powered Gym Boat – and Other Around-the-World Tech Stories You Might Have Missed
Canada is Testing its First Autonomous RV Our Neighbors up North have finally entered the race to develop self-driving cars. The decade-long project, costing almost $3 million, involves three vehicles: a Lincoln MKZ hybrid sedan (adorably dubbed, “Autonomoose”), developed by the University of Waterloo; a 2017 Lincoln, developed by software company, BlackBerry QNX; and a…
Squeezed States of Light Can Improve Feedback Cooling Significantly
How does the tightrope walker manage to maintain her balance and avoid that fatal drop from the sky? She carefully senses the motion of her body and vibrations of the rope and accordingly compensates any deviation from equilibrium by shifting her center of gravity. In a thermally excited system, the amplitude of the mechanical vibrations…
FirstNews Briefs: Nokia, Altair, Cricket, PayByPhone
Nokia said it has teamed up with Finnish operator Elisa to deliver the first cloud-based Voice-over-LTE and Voice-over-Wi-Fi service in that country. As a result of Elisa’s nationwide launch of the VoLTE service, Nokia said customers will be able to experience faster call connectivity while enjoying high 4G data speeds. The addition of Voice-over-Wi-Fi will…
Novel Silicon Etching Technique Crafts 3-D Gradient Refractive Index Micro-optics
A multi-institutional research collaboration has created a novel approach for fabricating three-dimensional micro-optics through the shape-defined formation of porous silicon (PSi), with broad impacts in integrated optoelectronics, imaging, and photovoltaics. Working with colleagues at Stanford and The Dow Chemical Company, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign fabricated 3-D birefringent gradient refractive index (GRIN)…
Trump Picks Price As HHS Secretary; Democrats Blast Choice
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Georgia Rep. Tom Price, a leading critic of President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care law, to head the Department of Health and Human Services. A key Senate Democrat immediately criticized the choice. If confirmed by the Senate, Price would play a central role in Republican efforts to repeal and replace…
NASA’s ISS-RapidScat Earth Science Mission Ends
NASA’s International Space Station Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScat) Earth science instrument has ended operations following a successful two-year mission aboard the space station. The mission launched Sept. 21, 2014, and had recently passed its original decommissioning date. ISS-RapidScat used the unique vantage point of the space station to provide near-real-time monitoring of ocean winds, which are…
Can Drone Technology Save the Sumatran Elephant?
Fauna & Flora International has acquired two quadcopter drones to help reduce incidents of conflict between humans and wild elephants in Sumatra, Indonesia. The acquisition of two quadcopter drones is helping Fauna & Flora International’s (FFI) Aceh team to monitor the location of Sumatran elephants in Aceh, Indonesia, and respond quickly when elephants are approaching…
Metallic Glass Gears Make For Graceful Robots
Throw a baseball, and you might say it’s all in the wrist. For robots, it’s all in the gears. Gears are essential for precision robotics. They allow limbs to turn smoothly and stop on command; low-quality gears cause limbs to jerk or shake. If you’re designing a robot to scoop samples or grip a ledge,…
New Kendall Wi-Fi Supports Kendall Square and Nearby Residential Areas
Through a unique collaboration among MIT, Google, Boston Properties, the City of Cambridge, and the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA), an open and free-of-charge Wi-Fi network is now available in the Kendall Square area and the Newtowne Court and Washington Elms public housing neighborhoods. The idea, originally brought to MIT and others by Google, took three…
Opto 22 announces relationship with Dell to develop and deploy Internet of Things (IoT) applications
Industrial automation manufacturer and Internet of Things (IoT) application toolset provider Opto 22 announces that it has joined the Dell IoT Solutions Partner Program. This relationship provides a product and solution ecosystem for connecting real-world signals and industrial “things” to the digital world of information technology, mobile, and cloud computing. A technology revolution is gaining…
PMMI releases newly revised B155.1-2016 packaging machinery standard
PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, is pleased to announce the approval of its ANSI/B155.1-2016 Safety Requirements for Packaging and Processing Machinery standard as an American National Standard by the American National Standards Institute by the Board of Standards Review. The objective of the ANSI/PMMI B155.1-2016 standard is to improve the safety of […]
Overload protection for hard to access drives
EAS-reverse – the disengaging torque limiter with automatic re-engagement With their EAS-reverse, mayr power transmission has developed a new, disengaging torque limiter on which all functional processes can be automated through the drive. It is easy to handle, permits long run-out times and re-engages again through slow backwards rotation. A housing also makes the clutch […]
Digital positioners for fluid-power actuators
Pneumatic and hydraulic actuators routinely operate damper drives, flow valves, vacuum controls and other devices in countless process applications. However, there can be a sizeable performance gap between conventional open-loop positioners and closed-loop digital positioners used in such tasks. The problem, explained Ed Steutermann, president of KyTronics, Prospect, Ky., is that open-loop controllers apply a […]
Getting Sensor Products to Market Faster
At the MEMS & Sensors Group Executive Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, Paul Meissner, founder and President of i-BLADES explains how his company’s i-BLADES Smartcase platform helps other companies get their sensor products to market faster. For more information about i-Blades, click here.
Demonstrating Sonar on a Chip
At the MEMS & Sensors Group Executive Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, Dave Horsley, Co-Founder and CTO at Chirp Microsystems demonstrates the capabilities of his company’s sonar on a chip (an ultrasound transceiver and microprocessor in a single 8-pin LGA package). The chip uses time of flight measurements for accurately detecting gesture recognition and proximity while […]