Advances in Computers thread

[ScienceRocks]

Quantum hard drive breakthrough
11 hours ago

Writing quantum information onto a europium ion embedded in a crystal. Image Solid State Spectroscopy Group, ANU

Physicists developing a prototype quantum hard drive have improved storage time by a factor of more than 100.

The team's record storage time of six hours is a major step towards a secure worldwide data encryption network based on quantum information, which could be used for banking transactions and personal emails.

"We believe it will soon be possible to distribute quantum information between any two points on the globe," said lead author Manjin Zhong, from the Research School of Physics and Engineering (RSPE).

"Quantum states are very fragile and normally collapse in milliseconds. Our long storage times have the potential to revolutionise the transmission of quantum information."

Read more at: Quantum hard drive breakthrough

 

[ScienceRocks]

Google's translation app will soon turn speech into text on the fly

by Jon Fingas | @jonfingas | 3 mins ago
Google s translation app will soon turn speech into text on the fly

Converting unfamiliar speech to text in Google Translate is currently an awkward affair: you have to start a recording and wait until a moment after you're done to find out what the other person said. That's not exactly living up to the dream of a Star Trek-like universal translator, folks. However, the New York Times understands that Translate is about to get considerably smarter. Reportedly, an updated version of the mobile app (coming "soon") will automatically detect speech and translate it right away. All you'd really have to do is hold your phone up with the app running -- important if you'd rather not go through a song-and-dance routine just to find out where the washrooms are.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Restaurants will soon take any mobile payment at the table

by Jon Fingas | @jonfingas | 18hrs ago

Sure, your local drug store or theme park may let you buy things with your phone at the counter, but what about paying at the table in your favorite restaurant? Never fear, as Verifone will soon have you covered. Its upcoming Payware Mobile e355 wireless terminal lets stores accept any mobile payment you have, wherever you happen to be. It'll take Apple Pay, Google Wallet and other NFC tap-to-pay transactions, and the design is meant to accommodate as many device shapes and operating systems as possible. You may never have to break out your credit card just because the shop can't handle your new phone.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Toshiba introduces Encore 2 Windows 8 write-on tablets
By Chris Wood
January 12, 2015

Toshiba’s new Encore 2 Write tablets are designed to provide high-precision, digitizer pen input without breaking the bank. There are two sizes of the Windows-based device available, which offer mid to low-range specs across the board.

 

[ScienceRocks]

QBee smart home system combines home entertainment, monitoring and more
By Chris Wood
January 12, 2015
5 Pictures

QBee, from Taiwan-based company Askey, is an all-inclusive connected home package that offers both a central, connected media hub alongside a sensor-packed camera and numerous smart switches. It’s capable of everything from remotely switching on an appliance to monitoring the temperature and light levels in your living room.

 

[Steven_R]

Google's translation app will soon turn speech into text on the fly

by Jon Fingas | @jonfingas | 3 mins ago
Google s translation app will soon turn speech into text on the fly

Converting unfamiliar speech to text in Google Translate is currently an awkward affair: you have to start a recording and wait until a moment after you're done to find out what the other person said. That's not exactly living up to the dream of a Star Trek-like universal translator, folks. However, the New York Times understands that Translate is about to get considerably smarter. Reportedly, an updated version of the mobile app (coming "soon") will automatically detect speech and translate it right away. All you'd really have to do is hold your phone up with the app running -- important if you'd rather not go through a song-and-dance routine just to find out where the washrooms are.

I wonder just how well this technology will deal with dialects or even just regional slang. Castillian Spanish versus Cuban Spanish for instance, or English to French to Quebecois to Haitian patois newspaper articles. I also wonder if something like this will mean fewer people in business bother learning a foreign language if a "universal translator" is available.

 

[longknife]

Microsoft ends free support for Windows 7

Today is the day that Microsoft ends free support for its ageing Windows 7 operating system, despite the majority of PCs around the world still running it.


Glad my new one has 8.1. But, the question is, how long will MS give free support for that?


Story @ Microsoft ends free support for Windows 7 - Telegraph

 

[ScienceRocks]

Nest adds integration with Automatic connected car adapter
By Nick Lavars

Nest Labs has added integrated support for Automatic's Connected Car Adapter to its smart thermostat. The partnership will enable those that own both devices to program the climate of their home based on the location of their vehicle.

 

[ScienceRocks]

http://www.militarya...telligence.html

U.S. intelligence experts are trying to reverse-engineer the algorithms of the human brain by blending data science and neuro science in attempts to make rapid advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Officials of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) in Washington issued a broad agency announcement for the Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS) program to advance theories of neural computation.

 

[ScienceRocks]

5G could be used for real-time holographic video, says UK’s Ofcom

Seeing as we barely know what 5G is supposed to be just yet, spelling out its use cases is a bit of a rocky job. According to Ofcom:

The spectrum… could support a variety of uses, ranging from financial trading and entertainment to gaming and holographic projections, with the potential to support very high demand users in busy areas, like city centres.

A picture on that page depicts a vision of real-time holographic video communications. Well, this is five years into the future after all, and whatever 5G is, it will likely have a lot of bandwidth to play with.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Prototype system paves way for huge, glasses-free 3D displays
By Colin Jeffrey
January 19, 2015
5 Pictures

Using red/blue filters (anaglyph), polarized (passive) or LED shutter (active) glasses are relatively simple ways of creating a 3D effect. Creating 3D pictures without viewers having to don any form of eyewear is a little trickier and is made even more so if you want really big 3D effects for a sports stadium or a billboard. To help address this, Austrian scientists working at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) and the company TriLite Technologies have developed a new kind of display just for this purpose that sends beams of light directly to the viewers’ eyes via a laser and a sophisticated mirror system.

 

[ScienceRocks]

HTC's M9 flagship phone reportedly coming in March alongside smartwatch

HTC has already begun the hype cycle for its next flagship smartphone by teasing its March 1st Mobile World Congress event, and now Bloomberg has some more details on what might be in store. The follow-up to the HTC One M8 is indeed codenamed M9, the news service reports, and features a similar design to its predecessor with gold, gray, and silver color options.

The rear-facing camera is said to weigh in at a hefty 20 megapixels, but that doesn't mean HTC is abandoning its UltraPixel concept entirely; the front-facing camera will reportedly use the larger pixels, which should make for better low-light selfies. The M9 will run on an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor; includes Dolby 5.1 audio technology; and comes with Sense 7, HTC's latest Android skin, according to Bloomberg.

http://www.theverge....twatch-mwc-2015

 

[ScienceRocks]

Germanium ferroelectric gate could extend Moore's law past 2028

Universal memory replacing DRAM, SRAM, flash and nearly every transistor in a computer may result from their successful fabrication of a ferroelectric gate over germanium channel material, according to researchers at the University of Texas (Austin). Their successful ferroelectric gate stack holds the hope of extending Moore's Law beyond...
Read more »

 

[ScienceRocks]

Google aboard as Musk's SpaceX gets $1 bn in funding
1 hour ago

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is pictured just prior to being released by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm on May 31 to allow it to head toward a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Credit: NASA

The private space exploration firm SpaceX said Tuesday it had secured a $1 billion investment that could help founder Elon Musk's plan to build a satellite Internet network.

The latest round of funding comes from Google and the financial firm Fidelity, which will own some 10 percent of the company.

The statement offered no details on plans for the funds, but Musk has said he wants to build a network of satellites to deliver the Internet around the globe.

The plan could conceivably tie in with Google's efforts to bring the Internet to underserved parts of the world.

In November, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Tesla Motors and other ventures confirmed that he is working on a web of small, low-cost satellites that could provide wireless Internet around the world.

Musk said in a message last year on Twitter that SpaceX "is still in the early stages of developing advanced micro-satellites operating in large formations."

 

[ScienceRocks]

Watch Live: Microsoft's Windows 10 Event

After a business-centric sneak peek at Windows 10 last fall, Microsoft today will show off the consumer-focused features expected in its new operating system.

Microsoft execs like CEO Satya Nadella are expected to take the stage in Redmond to demo features from the consumer version of Windows 10. Things kick off at 9 a.m. PT/noon E.T.; watch the event live in the video above or on Microsoft's website.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Microsoft HoloLens: An AR headset that makes you see 3D holograms in your living room
By Will Shanklin
January 21, 2015
5 Pictures

With virtual reality capturing imaginations during the last couple of years, it's easy to forget about augmented reality. But Microsoft has spent years cooking up its own take on AR, and it's ready to bake the technology into Windows 10. Much like how the Surface was introduced alongside Windows 8, Microsoft has its own holographic AR headset to launch with the new Windows.

 

[ScienceRocks]

First germanium-tin semiconductor laser directly compatible with silicon chips
By Colin Jeffrey
January 22, 2015
2 Pictures

Swiss scientists have created the first semiconductor laser consisting solely of elements of main group IV (the carbon group) on the periodic table. Simply, this means that the new device is directly compatible with other elements in that group – such as silicon, carbon, and lead – and so can be directly incorporated in a silicon chip as it is manufactured. This presents new possibilities for transmitting data around computer chips using light, which could result in potential transfer speeds logarithmically faster than possible with copper wire and using only a fraction of the energy of today’s integrated circuits.

 

[longknife]

Lenovo's Horizon 2s: A real advance in portable, tabletop computing

This it it! No tower. A laptop/desktop!


What do you call a tablet that’s large enough to serve as your desktop computer? A Lenovo Horizon 2s. What do you call a battery-powered all-in-one that’s small enough to carry? A Lenovo Horizon 2s. What do you call a computer that lies on the table and offers an engaging experience for two or more people? Atari Pong! Or, the Lenovo Horizon 2s, of course.


Read more @ Lenovo s Horizon 2s A real advance in portable tabletop computing PCWorld

 

[ScienceRocks]

Fully transparent, rollable electronics built with a graphene/carbon nanotube backbone

The coming age of wearable, highly flexible and transparent electronic devices will rely on essentially invisible electronic and optoelectronic circuits. In order to have close to invisible circuitry, one must have optically transparent thin-film transistors (TFTs). In order to have flexibility, one needs bendable substrates.
Both flexible electronics and transparent electronics have been demonstrated before, but never rollable electronics that are also fully transparent at the same time.
This has now been achieved by a team of researchers in Korea, who have successfully built rollable and transparent electronic devices that are not only lightweight, but also don't break easily.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Google to launch wireless service this year

The Wall Street Journal is corroborating this story with a report that makes this sound like a done deal. The Journal mostly focuses on the Sprint side of things, saying the MVNO agreement with Google went all the way up to the Sprint and Softbank CEOs. Apparently Sprint was worried it would be "letting a rival into the gates" by dealing with Google, but a clause limiting Google's customer base calmed the company's fears.

Reports about a rumored Google wireless service are cropping up again. The Information(subscription required) is reporting that Google plans to resell Sprint and T-Mobile services as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).