Advances in Computers thread

[ScienceRocks]

Google working on 3D motion-sensing tablet

Google on Thursday revealed that is working on a tablet computer with 3D and motion-sensing capabilities in an effort dubbed Project Tango.

"The goal of Project Tango is to give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion," team member Johnny Lee said at a website devoted to the endeavor.

"Our team has been working with universities, research labs, and industrial partners spanning nine countries around the world to build on the last decade of research in robotics and computer vision, concentrating that technology into a unique mobile device."

The curtain on the project was pulled back as Google put out word it will soon put prototypes powered by Nvidia chips in the hands of developers interested in creating applications that take advantage of innovations built into devices.

The development kits can be used to make "apps" that track full 3D motion and recognize surfaces of things nearby, according to Google.

Read more at: Google working on 3D motion-sensing tablet

 

[ScienceRocks]

Computer becomes first to pass Turing Test in artificial intelligence milestone,
Computer becomes first to pass Turing Test in artificial intelligence milestone, but academics warn of dangerous future - Gadgets and Tech - Life & Style - The Independent

The 65 year-old iconic Turing Test was passed for the very first time by supercomputer Eugene Goostman during Turing Test 2014 held at the renowned Royal Society in London on Saturday 7th June.

‘Eugene’, a computer programme that simulates a 13 year old boy, was developed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The development team includes Eugene’s creator Vladimir Veselov, who was born in Russia and now lives in the United States, and Ukrainian born Eugene Demchenko who now lives in Russia.

The Turing Test is based on 20th century mathematician and code-breaker Turing’s 1950 famous question and answer game, ‘Can Machines Think?’. The experiment investigates whether people can detect if they are talking to machines or humans. The event is particularly poignant as it took place on the 60th anniversary of Turing’s death, nearly six months after he was given a posthumous royal pardon.

If a computer is mistaken for a human more than 30% of the time during a series of five minute keyboard conversations it passes the test. No computer has ever achieved this, until now. Eugene managed to convince 33% of the human judges that it was human.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Overclockers push new Devil’s Canyon Haswell to 5.5GHz on air, 6.4GHz with LN2
Overclockers push new Devil?s Canyon Haswell to 5.5GHz on air, 6.4GHz with LN2 | ExtremeTech

Intel’s new Haswell refresh, the Core i7-4790K, is supposed to be hell on wheels for overclocking thanks to a new thermal interface material (TIM) and the addition of a number of capacitors to the bottom of the die to improve power characteristics. With its 4GHz base clock and 4.4GHz turbo, Intel has positioned the chip as the overclocker’s preferred solution — and a marked step up from the relatively anemic performance increases that Haswell offered in 2013. Now, at Computex 2014, a new team of overclocking enthusiasts have proven that the Devil’s Canyon core has legs with a 5.5GHz base overclock with air/water cooling, and a 6.4GHz overclock using LN2.

Between the two, it’s the air/liquid cooling that’s more interesting; using LN2 to hit high frequencies is a virtual given on any core. Here, the 5.5GHz hit implies that Intel has designed these chips with a new thermal interface that really does offer benefits over the old TIM material that choked off Haswell clocking by trapping too much heat on the die. It’s early days for Devil’s Canyon overclocking, but it does look good: With water cooling, the Core i7-4770K generally had a typical maximum overclock of around 5GHz. One enterprising soul pushed the core all the way to 5.6GHz, but it isn’t clear if that result was achieved by delidding the processor (removing the heat spreader and the poor-quality TIM).

 

[ScienceRocks]

Shatterproof screens that save smartphones

University of Akron polymer scientists have developed a transparent electrode that could change the face of smartphones, literally, by making their displays shatterproof. In a recently published scientific paper, researchers demonstrated how a transparent layer of electrodes on a polymer surface could be extraordinarily tough and flexible, withstanding repeated scotch tape peeling and bending tests. This could revolutionize and replace conventional touchscreens, according to Yu Zhu, UA assistant professor of polymer science. Currently used coatings made of indium tin oxide (ITO) are more brittle, most likely to shatter, and increasingly costly to manufacture.

Novel and cost-effective

"These two pronounced factors drive the need to substitute ITO with a cost-effective and flexible conductive transparent film," Zhu says, adding that the new film provides the same degree of transparency as ITO, yet offers greater conductivity. The novel film retains its shape and functionality after tests in which it has been bent 1,000 times. Due to its flexibility, the transparent electrode can be fabricated in economical, mass-quantity rolls.

Shatterproof screens that save smartphones | e! Science News

 

[ScienceRocks]

Volvo reveals its take on Apple CarPlay for new XC90

Volvo has shown how it will integrate Apple CarPlay into its future infotainment systems by releasing details of the upcoming XC90's Sensus touchscreen setup.

The new XC90, which is set for a full reveal later this year ahead of a 2015 release, features a large central touchscreen in the dashboard that takes the place of most buttons for the car's interior controls. This central screen interacts with what Volvo calls its "adaptive digital instrument cluster," which replaces a traditional speedometer and rev-counter. A head up display also projects key information onto the windscreen, and the touchscreen is supplemented by wheel-mounted buttons.

The XC90 will be Volvo's first car to take advantage of CarPlay, and brings the ability to mirror the display of lightning-equipped iOS devices directly onto the dashboard touchscreen, as well as joining the trend for integrating apps like Spotify.

The software allows drivers to control their phone and music through Apple's familiar layout on the dashboard, and Siri is able to read text messages aloud and reply to them, as well as acting as a form of voice control for phone functions. Volvo has not released details about how voice control will interact with the non-Apple aspects of their Sensus setup.

Volvo reveals its take on Apple CarPlay for new XC90

This is cool! I'd like to see voice activation for locking the doors, rolling up or down the windows and starting the car.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Toshiba’s new MRAM cache could reduce CPU power consumption by 60%

Toshiba?s new MRAM cache could reduce CPU power consumption by 60% | ExtremeTech

You probably don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how efficiently the CPUs in your devices are caching data, but it keeps computer science researchers up at night. Caching is one of the few places we can realize significant power savings with the right tweaks, and that’s increasingly important as mobile devices continue to demand more juice. Toshiba says it has taken a big step in that direction by coming up with a new design for STT-MRAM (spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory). By replacing the traditional SRAM-based L2 cache on a processor with STT-MRAM, Toshiba believes CPU power consumption can be reduced by a whopping 60%.

Your CPU’s cache is used to store bits of information for faster access, preventing the CPU from needing to reach out to the main system memory for every little thing. Most modern chips have multilevel caches (i.e. L1, L2, and L3), but Toshiba focused on replacing the L2 cache with this new type of MRAM. L2 was the best target because it’s large enough to make a difference in performance, but small enough to still be fast.

 

[ScienceRocks]

HP bets it all on The Machine, a new computer architecture based on memristors and silicon photonics

HP, one of the original 800lb Silicon Valley gorillas that has seen much happier days, is staking everything on a brand new computer architecture that it calls… The Machine. Judging by an early report from Bloomberg Businessweek, up to 75% of HP’s once fairly illustrious R&D division — HP Labs – are working on The Machine. As you would expect, details of what will actually make The Machine a unique proposition are hard to come by, but it sounds like HP’s groundbreaking work on memristors (pictured top) and silicon photonics will play a key role.

In the words of HP Labs, The Machine will be a complete replacement for current computer system architectures. There will be a new operating system, a new type of memory (memristors), and super-fast buses/peripheral interconnects (photonics). Speaking to Bloomberg, HP says it will commercialize The Machine within a few years, “or fall on its face trying.”

HP bets it all on The Machine, a new computer architecture based on memristors and silicon photonics | ExtremeTech

 

[ScienceRocks]

Review: Microsoft wants you to fire Siri

Watch out, Siri. Someone wants your job. Since it debuted on the iPhone 4S three years ago, Apple's Siri technology has been synonymous with the concept of a virtual personal assistant. But now comes Cortana, an intelligent assistant from Microsoft that's supposed to be much like Siri, only better.

Cortana is one of the key features of Windows Phone 8.1, the latest update to Microsoft's smartphone software that is beginning to show up in new devices. The feature is something like a combination of Siri and Google Now, the intelligent assistant technology built into Android.

Like Siri, Cortana can send text messages, search for information on the Web and launch applications in response to users' inquiries and statements. As with Siri, users generally don't need to use specific commands, but can talk naturally, as if they were speaking to a real person.

But unlike Siri, Cortana can also act like Google Now, providing information unprompted by a particular inquiry. Looking at your calendar, Cortana can tell you when you need to leave for a crosstown meeting in order to make it on time. And by knowing your favorite sports team, it can keep you updated on the results of its latest games without you asking for the score.

Microsoft has designed Cortana so that individual users can customize it to a much greater degree than they can Siri or Google Now. Inside a settings area, users can view and edit the information Cortana knows about them, such as the name of their spouse or their office address.

Read more at: Review: Microsoft wants you to fire Siri

 

[mamooth]

Heh. I like the nod to Halo. Cortana was the AI character in those games, and the phone-Cortana supposedly sounds a lot like Halo-Cortana.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Heh. I like the nod to Halo. Cortana was the AI character in those games, and the phone-Cortana supposedly sounds a lot like Halo-Cortana.

Hopefully it works a lot like the real Halo...Of course without hatred of humans


New computer program aims to teach itself everything about anything

Computer scientists from the University of Washington and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle have created the first fully automated computer program that teaches everything there is to know about any visual concept. Called Learning Everything about Anything, or LEVAN, the program searches millions of books and images on the Web to learn all possible variations of a concept, then displays the results to users as a comprehensive, browsable list of images, helping them explore and understand topics quickly in great detail.

New computer program aims to teach itself everything about anything


Starbucks to get wireless charging stations for your smartphone

http://www.dvice.com/2014-6-12/starbucks-get-wireless-charging-stations-your-smartphone

You go to Starbucks for two reasons: to buy coffee (the "freshly baked goods" are almost always stale) and to use the free Wi-Fi. But soon, you'll be able to add another reason to go visit Starbucks: to charge your gadgets.

Two years after an intial trial run in Boston, Starbucks is teaming up with Duracell Powermat to install wireless charging stations in its coffee shops. Instead of hunting for a free outlet (I've never seen one), customers will only have to find a table with an integrated charging station and then place their compatible device on it to recharge it.

It sounds like a fantastic idea, not just to get more foot traffic into its stores, but to push wireless charging further along. But there's just one problem that could screw up Starbucks' wireless charging ambitions.

The charging stations Starbucks plans to install on the west coast this year and in stores in major cities in 2015 use the PMA standard, short for Power Matters Alliance. While the wireless charging standard is supported by Samsung, LG, AT&T, BlackBerry, HTC and Huawei, it's not compatible with Qi, the other wireless charging standard that a lot of other smartphones use. PMA is also incompatible with a third standard called Rezence, which is backed by Qualcomm and Samsung (yeah, Samsung backs two different standards&#8230.

I consider labtops, desktops, smartphones and smart watches computers...Along with AI.

 

[ScienceRocks]

D-Wave confirmed as the first real quantum computer by new research

ExtremeTech

Ever since D-Wave arrived on the scene with a type of quantum computer capable of performing a problem-solving process called annealing, questions have flown thick and fast over whether or not the system really functioned — and, if it did function, whether it was actually performing quantum computing. A new paper by researchers who have spent time with the D-Wave system appears to virtually settle this question — the D-Wave system appears to actually perform quantum annealing. It would therefore be the first real quantum computer.

Up until now, it’s been theorized that D-Wave might be a simulator of a quantum computer based on some less-than-clear benchmark results. This new data seems to disprove that theory. Why? Because it shows evidence of entanglement. Quantum entanglement refers to a state in which two distinct qubits (two units of quantum information) become linked. If you measure the value of one entangled qubit as 0, its partner will also measure 0. Measure a 1 at the first qubit, and the second qubit will also contain a 1, with no evidence of communication between them.

Researchers working with a D-Wave system have now illustrated that D-Wave qubit pairs become entangled, as did an entire set of eight qubits.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Europe and South Korea will develop 5G together


Europe and South Korea will develop 5G together ? Tech News and Analysis

5G is coming — slowly and hazily — and, having been a leader in 3G but a follower in 4G, Europe wants to be back at the forefront this time. But if that happens, it won’t get there alone: on Monday, the European Commission revealed a “landmark” agreement with South Korea regarding 5G’s development.

Under this strategic cooperation deal, Europe and South Korea — the home of major phone manufacturers Samsung and LG — will “work towards a global definition of 5G”, which should please those who ache at the mobile industry’s abuse of the still-nebulous term. They will also try to use the same spectrum for 5G and hew to other shared standards.

The Europeans and the Koreans will also work together on cloud and internet-of-things research, which are subjects that are pretty tightly tied with 5G. After all, mobile networks are starting to move into the cloud, and 5G will need to be optimized for all those connected sensors that lie on the horizon.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Vivint Sky promises easy home automation

SAN FRANCISCO — Easy-to-use home automation that can become essential to our daily lives is fast-becoming a holy grail for tech companies from Apple and Google and beyond.

On Tuesday, a relatively quiet player in the space, Utah-based home security and automation company Vivint, launches Vivint Sky. It's an update on Vivint's smart home hub with a slick capacitive touchscreen control panel at its heart that lets you control lights, thermostats and door locks and monitor video feeds from mobile devices and PCs in a simple interface.

More than that, Vivint's system promises to get to know you so that, say, if you consistently leave the house at 8 a.m. it can make suggestions about heating or cooling. It pairs with a companion app for Android or iOS devices.

You can also: Stream live high-def video from installed home-monitoring video cameras, or watch recorded clips via a Wi-Fi based DVR tool.

The app promises nearly instantaneous updates to any change in your home: If a locked door is unlocked, the app updates instantly and can send you a notification.

Vivint Sky promises easy home automation

 

[ScienceRocks]

Domino's introduces a 'Siri' to take mobile orders
3 hours ago by Candice Choi

The Domino's pizza delivery chain on Monday plans to introduce a function on its mobile app that lets customers place orders by speaking with a computer-generated voice named "Dom," part of an ongoing to take business away from rivals and smaller pizza shops by offering more convenient ways to order.

The company, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, says the updated app for iPhones and Android devices will deliver a "human-like, conversational" experience, but notes that it will take some time to work out the kinks in the technology.

"It is not perfect," Domino's CEO Patrick Doyle said in an interview. "This is the sort of thing, like any other really new technology launch, you're going to learn, you're going to get better."

Read more at: Domino's introduces a 'Siri' to take mobile orders

 

[ScienceRocks]

Google's Project Loon edges closer to reality

The high-flying Wi-Fi balloons have gone from a far-fetched idea to delivering Internet access to a rural school in Brazil and tapping into LTE technology.

Campo Maior, like other small towns in rural Brazil, has little to no Internet access. The locals tend to roam around and even climb trees to hunt for mobile wireless signals. The search for Internet access at night is called "vaga-lume," or "fireflying," because the illumination of cell phones across the town looks like little blinking fireflies.

However, just a few weeks ago -- for the first time ever -- Campo Maior's local school had the Internet beamed directly into its classrooms. This immediate Web access wasn't due to new infrastructure or fiber-optic cables, rather it was coming from one of Google's high-elevation Wi-Fi balloons.

Google's Project Loon edges closer to reality - CNET

 

[ScienceRocks]

Twelve24 ClockONE tells the time with E-Ink

Twelve24 ClockONE tells the time with E-Ink

The Twelve24 ClockONE is the world's first E-Ink wall clock. E-Ink is normally used in eBook readers such as the Kindle, but Twelve24 has used it as the basis for the ClockONE ... and with good reason, as E-Ink offers some advantages over more traditional displays.

The ClockONE features a simple, elegant design comprising four large digits reminiscent of a digital wristwatch. It's a whopping one meter wide (39 inches) and 35 cm tall (14 inches) but only 4 mm thick, which is about the same as a piece of laminated paper. It also only weighs 3.3 lb (1.5 kg), despite its size.

A magnetic wall-mounting system means the ClockONE is easy to fit and can be adjusted simply by tilting, with no spirit level required. It can also be mounted on top of a bookcase or wall unit, though with this price tag you won't want to risk it falling over and getting damaged.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Amazon's 3D Fire Phone has a tricorder capable of ID'ing all kinds of stuff
Amazon's 3D Fire Phone has a tricorder capable of ID'ing all kinds of stuff | DVICE

Amazon, the company that stocks practically everything, has slowly moved into consumer electronics over the years, first with the Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets. Most recently, Amazon added the Fire TV set-top box to its army and now it's adding the Fire Phone, its own smartphone.

An Amazon smartphone may seem ridiculous at first, but it makes sense when you look at the rest of its hardware lineup. The Fire Phone is yet another portal device that Amazon hopes people will use to access its streaming music and video services. Fire Phone will also act as a springboard to get people to buy more things from Amazon.

Let's take a look at the Fire Phone's hardware. It's pretty standard stuff: 4.7-inch IPS HD screen (1280 x 720 resolution) made from Gorilla Glass, 2.2GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 32 or 64GB of internal storage, 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilization, 2.1-megapixel front selfie camera, stereo speakers and a 2400mAh battery. The OS is, of course, Amazon's FIre OS 3.5 which is built on Android.

Design-wise, the Fire Phone could be considered a "premium" device. Bezos spent a good chunk of his presentation fawning over the scratch-resistant glass display and rear, which are both made from super tough Gorilla Glass. Bezos also lauded Fire Phone's chamfered edges, and rubber bumper frame, which is supposed to absorb shock and shield against drops should you be clumsy enough to let it slip outta your hand.

 

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Graphene quantum dot flash memories look promising for data storage

(Phys.org) —Today's commercial flash memories usually store data as electric charge in polysilicon layers. Because polysilicon is a single continuous material, defects in the material can interfere with the desired charge movement, which can limit data retention and density.

To overcome this problem, researchers have recently been working on storing charge in discrete charge traps, such as nanocrystals, instead of polysilicon layers. Since discrete charge trap materials have the advantage of preventing unwanted charge movement as a result of their lower sensitivity to local defects, they offer the potential for high-density flash memories.

Now in a new study, scientists have used graphene quantum dots instead of nanocrystals as the discrete charge trap material. The researchers, Soong Sin Joo, et al., at Kyung Hee University and Samsung Electronics, both in Yongin, South Korea, have published their paper on graphene quantum dot flash memories in a recent issue of Nanotechnology.

Read more at: Graphene quantum dot flash memories look promising for data storage

 

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Crossbar on the way to delivery terabyte on a chip nonvolatile 3D RRAM technology

Crossbar on the way to delivery terabyte on a chip nonvolatile 3D RRAM technology

Crossbar announced it had demonstrated pre-production 1 megabyte arrays using its patented 1TnR (1 transistor driving n resistive memory cells) non-volatile resistive RAM (RRAM or ReRAM) for read/write operations. The company feels this is a major milestone toward commercializing terabyte-scale memory arrays on a postage-stamp-sized chip.

* 1 Terabyte of storage on a single chip
* 3D stacking on advanced nodes
* 20X faster write than NAND

The true transformation to next generation high capacity storage systems will require a revolutionary new approach to solid-state storage devices and their interconnected processors. This transformation will enable hundreds of terabytes, in a small form factor, to be accessed at high speed, high throughput and high IOPS (input/output operations per second), while consuming less power at lower cost. Many of these technical challenges have been overcome by Crossbar’s 3D RRAM technology, including:

* Cell physics – Traditional Flash memory materials wear out quickly after being accessed and rewritten too many times, leading to degrading performance, unrecoverable data loss and limited lifetime. RRAM solutions do not suffer similar wear-out issues due to the technology’s fundamental memory cell structure, based on metallic nano-filament in a non-conductive layer;

 

[ScienceRocks]

ADT Corporation Launches Voice Control for Smart Homes


ADT Corporation Launches Voice Control for Smart Homes - July 2, 2014 - Zacks.com

The ADT Corporation (ADT - Analyst Report), an electronic security provider, launched ADT Pulse Voice, a new application that integrates personal voice recognition into its existing home automation technology. This app provides greater safety and convenience to customers, as it can be programmed to respond only to select voices.

Home automation technology allows users to remotely control their home’s security, thermostat, lighting and appliances. The company’s innovative ADT Pulse Voice technology enables customers to log in and log out of the app using custom technology that recognizes unique voice signatures.

Users can log in verbally through an iOS or Android smartphone, and activate or deactivate their pulse security panel, control their home’s lighting, regulate thermostats, lock and unlock doors and check the status of their homes.

ADT Pulse Voice app uses a multi-layered identification process, which enhances security by permitting only registered members of a household to log in. Besides recognizing personal voice commands, the ADT Pulse Voice app also offers an auditory feedback feature to verify actions and system status for all of its connected devices.