General

A computer system that can carry on a discussion with a human being by reacting to signals such as tone of voice and facial expression, is being developed by an international team including Queen’s University Belfast.
Known as SEMAINE, the project will build a Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) system, which will perceive a human user’s facial [...]

University of Utah engineers took an early step toward building superfast computers that run on far-infrared light instead of electricity: They made the equivalent of wires that carried and bent this form of light, also known as terahertz radiation, which is the last unexploited portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
“We have taken a first step to [...]

I purchased a Prius earlier in the year, and I went in with my eyes wide open. I knew it would cost more than say, a Corolla (which I already had), get probably 15 mpg more than the 30 mpg I was getting, and get me in the car pool lane. I also knew about [...]

Nanotechnology could improve the life of the lithium batteries used in portable devices, including laptop computers, mp3 players, and mobile phones. Research to be published in the Inderscience publication — International Journal of Nanomanufacturing — demonstrates that carbon nanotubes can prevent such batteries from losing their charge capacity over time.
Researchers at the Shenyang National Laboratory [...]

A modern computer contains two different types of components: magnetic components, which perform memory functions, and semiconductor components, which perform logic operations. A University of Missouri researcher, as part of a multi-university research team, is working to combine these two functions in a single hybrid material. This new material would allow seamless integration of memory [...]

Scientists have developed a new form of stretchable silicon integrated circuit that can wrap around complex shapes such as spheres, body parts and aircraft wings, and can operate during stretching, compressing, folding and other types of extreme mechanical deformations, without a reduction in electrical performance.
“The notion that silicon cannot be used in such applications because [...]

A collaboration between the Universities of Leeds and Harvard has turned the heat up on terahertz technology, bringing a handheld terahertz device a step closer to reality.
The Leeds team, led by Professors Edmund Linfield and Giles Davies from the Faculty of Engineering, has recorded the highest operating temperature for a terahertz quantum cascade laser — [...]

The future of computing was under the spotlight at the Institute of Physics’ Condensed Matter and Materials Physics conference at the Royal Holloway College of the University of London on 26-28 March.
The end of the silicon chip
The silicon chip, which has supplied several decades’ worth of remarkable increases in computing power and speed, looks unlikely [...]

A team of physicists and engineers has demonstrated exquisite control of single particles of light — photons — on a silicon chip to make a major advance towards the long sought after goal of a super-powerful quantum computer.
Dr Jeremy O’Brien, his PhD student Alberto Politi, and their colleagues at Bristol University have demonstrated the world’s [...]

Research results from University of Maryland physicists show that graphene, a new material that combines aspects of semiconductors and metals, could be a leading candidate to replace silicon in applications ranging from high-speed computer chips to biochemical sensors.
The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and published online in the journal Nature Nanotechnolgy, reveals [...]

New technology at Tufts University’s Center for Scientific Visualization is enabling researchers to translate the most abstract, complex scientific concepts into clearer, more precise 3-dimensional images than conventional visualization systems can create.
Funded by a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Tufts’ new 14-foot by 8-foot visualization display offers a combination of advanced features found [...]

Plustek Technology Inc., a manufacturer of consumer, prosumer and professional imaging devices, today announced an extension to their award-winning OpticFilm line of scanners. The new models include the OpticFilm 7300, the OpticFilm 7500i SE and the OpticFilm 7500i AI. These consumer scanners are designed to take existing slides and convert them (using professional-grade resolution) into [...]

The camera you own has one main lens and produces a flat, two-dimensional photograph, whether you hold it in your hand or view it on your computer screen. On the other hand, a camera with two lenses (or two cameras placed apart from each other) can take more interesting 3-D photos.
But what if your digital [...]

Silent, microchip-sized “fan” has no moving parts, yet produces enough wind to cool a laptop.
Engineers harnessing the same physical property that drives silent household air purifiers have created a miniaturized device that is now ready for testing as a silent, ultra-thin, low-power and low maintenance cooling system for laptop computers and other electronic devices.
The compact, [...]

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign today announced a joint research endeavor with Microsoft Corporation and Intel Corporation that aims to enable commodity systems to make use of parallel computing techniques previously relegated to the realm of supercomputers. As a pioneer in parallel computing advances, Illinois is uniquely positioned to help usher in a new [...]

Pirated microchips — chips stolen from legitimate factories or made from stolen blueprints — account for billions of dollars in annual losses to chipmakers.
But a series of novel techniques developed at Rice University over the past year could stop pirates by allowing chip designers to lock and remotely activate chips with a unique ID tag. [...]

An unusual observation in a University of Central Florida physics lab may lead to a new generation of “quantum computers” that will render today’s computer and credit card encryption technology obsolete.
The observations are documented this week in the online version of Nature Physics under Advance Online Publication. The title of UCF Professor Enrique del Barco’s [...]

Computers, long used as tools to design and manipulate three-dimensional objects, may soon provide people with a way to sense the texture of those objects or feel how they fit together, thanks to a haptic, or touch-based, interface developed at Carnegie Mellon University.
Unlike most other haptic interfaces that rely on motors and mechanical linkages to [...]

Naval warships might look like all-powerful vessels but they are also highly vulnerable to being spotted by the enemy. That fear of being detected has led the military to develop new stealth technologies that allow ships to be virtually invisible to the human eye, to dodge roaming radars, put heat-seeking missiles off the scent, disguise [...]

University of Missouri scientist Kattesh Katti recently discovered how to make gold nanoparticles using gold salts, soybeans and water. Katti’s research has garnered attention worldwide and the environmentally-friendly discovery could have major applications in several disciplines.
Gold nanoparticles are tiny pieces of gold, so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye. Researchers believe gold [...]