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Software

Submission + - Google Glass could be the virtual dieting pill of the future (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "In a year or two, augmented reality (AR) headsets such as Google Glass may double up as a virtual dieting pill. New research from the University of Tokyo shows that a very simple AR trick can reduce the amount that you eat by 10% — and yes, the same trick, used in the inverse, can be used to increase food consumption by 15%, too. The AR trick is very simple: By donning the glasses, the University of Tokyo’s special software “seamlessly” scales up the size of your food. You pick up an Oreo cookie, and then the software automatically scales it up to 1.5 times its natural size. Using a deformation algorithm, the person’s hand is manipulated so that the giant Oreo appears (somewhat) natural. In testing, this simple trick was enough to reduce the amount of food eaten by 10%. The inverse is also true: shrinking the Oreo down to two-thirds its natural size increased food consumption by 15%. This new research dovetails neatly with an area of nutritional science that has received a lot of attention in the United States of Obesity recently: That the size of the serving/plate/cup/receptacle directly affects your intake. The fact is, there’s a lot more to dieting than simply reducing your calorific intake and exercising regularly. Your state of mind as you sit down to eat, and your perception of what you’re eating, are just as important — which is exciting news, because both of those factors can be hacked."
NASA

Submission + - The downside of warp drives: Annihilating whole star systems when you arrive (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "The dream of faster-than-light travel has been on the mind of humanity for generations. Until recently, though, it was restricted to the realm of pure science fiction. Theoretical mechanisms for warp drives have been posited by science, some of which actually jive quite nicely with what we know of physics. Of course, that doesn't mean they’re actually going to work, though. NASA researchers recently revisited the Alcubierre warp drive and concluded that its power requirements were not as impossible as once thought. However, a new analysis from the University of Sydney claims that using a warp drive of this design comes with a drawback. Specifically, it could cause cataclysmic explosions at your destination."
Network

Submission + - New WiFi protocol boosts congested wireless network throughput by 700% (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Engineers at NC State University (NCSU) have discovered a way of boosting the throughput of busy WiFi networks by up to 700%. Perhaps most importantly, the breakthrough is purely software-based, meaning it could be rolled out to existing WiFi networks relatively easily — instantly improving the throughput and latency of the network. As wireless networking becomes ever more prevalent, you may have noticed that your home network is much faster than the WiFi network at the airport or a busy conference center. The primary reason for this is that a WiFi access point, along with every device connected to it, operates on the same wireless channel. This single-channel problem is also compounded by the fact that it isn't just one-way; the access point also needs to send data back to every connected device. To solve this problem, NC State University has devised a scheme called WiFox. In essence, WiFox is some software that runs on a WiFi access point (i.e. it’s part of the firmware) and keeps track of the congestion level. If WiFox detects a backlog of data due to congestion, it kicks in and enables high-priority mode. In this mode, the access point gains complete control of the wireless network channel, allowing it to clear its backlog of data. Then, with the backlog clear, the network returns to normal. We don’t have the exact details of the WiFox scheme/protocol (it’s being presented at the ACM CoNEXT conference in December), but apparently it increased the throughput of a 45-device WiFi network by 700%, and reduced latency by 30-40%."
Data Storage

Submission + - Everspin launches non-volatile MRAM that's 500 times faster than NAND (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Alternative memory standards have been kicking around for decades as researchers have struggled to find the hypothetical holy grail — a non-volatile, low-latency, low-cost product that could scale from hard drives to conventional RAM. NAND flash has become the high-speed, non-volatile darling of the storage industry, but if you follow the evolution of the standard, you’ll know that NAND is far from perfect. The total number of read/write cycles and data duration if the drive isn’t kept powered are both significant problems as process shrinks continue scaling downward. Thus far, this holy grail remains elusive, but a practical MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) solution took a step towards fruition this week. Everspin has announced that it’s shipping the first 64Mb ST-MRAM in a DDR3-compatible module. These modules transfer data at DDR3-1600 clock rates, but access latencies are much lower than flash RAM, promising an overall 500x performance increase over conventional NAND."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Duke University creates perfect, centimeter-scale invisibility cloak (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Scientists at Duke University have created the first invisibility cloak that perfectly hides centimeter-scale objects. While invisibility cloaks have been created before, they have all reflected some of the incident light, ruining the illusion. In this case, the incident light is perfectly channeled around the object, creating perfect invisibility. There are some caveats, of course. You didn’t really think you’d soon be sneaking away with Ron or Hermione (delete as applicable) into the woods, did you? For now, the Duke invisibility cloak only works with microwave radiation — and perhaps more importantly, the cloak is unidirectional (it only provides invisibility from one very specific direction). The big news here, though, is that it is even possible to create an invisibility cloak of any description. It is now just a matter of time before visible-light, omnidirectional invisibility cloaks are created."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft demos English-to-Chinese translator that keeps your voice and accent (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "At an event in China, Microsoft Research chief Rick Rashid has demonstrated a real-time English-to-Mandarin speech-to-speech translation engine. Not only is the translation very accurate, but the software also preserves the user’s accent and intonation. We’re not just talking about a digitized, robotic translator here — this is firmly within the realms of Doctor Who or Star Trek universal translation. There is, of course, a lot of technological wizardry occurring behind the scenes. For a start, the software needs to be trained — both with a few hours of native, spoken Chinese, and an hour of Rick Rashid’s spoken English. From this, the software essentially breaks your speech down into the smallest components (phonemes), and then mushes them together with the Chinese equivalent, creating a big map of English to Mandarin sounds. Then, during the actual on-stage presentation, the software converts his speech into text, his text into Mandarin text, and then the Rashid/Chinese mash-up created during the training process is used to turn that text into spoken words. The end result definitely has a strong hint of digitized, robotic Microsoft Sam, but it’s surprising just how much of Rashid’s accent, timbre, and intonation is preserved."
Power

Submission + - Quantum entangled batteries could be the perfect power source (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Two European theoretical physicists have shown that it may be possible to build a near-perfect, entangled quantum battery. In the future, such quantum batteries might power the tiniest of devices — or provide power storage that is much more efficient than state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery packs. In a quantum system, some quantum states have energy that can be extracted, reducing the system to a passive, neutral energy state. Robert Alicki of the University of Gdansk in Poland, and Mark Fannes of the University of Leuven in Belgium, theorize that it should be possible to build a quantum battery that is full of energy-rich quantum states — and then, somehow, recharge it when you run out of juice. Better yet, the physicists also theorize that quantum entanglement could be used to create an even more efficient quantum battery. In essence, Alicki and Fannes say that you can link together any number of quantum batteries, allowing you to extract all of the stored energy in one big gulp. Their research paper goes on to say that with enough entanglement, these batteries would be perfect — with no energy lost/wasted during charge or discharge."
Security

Submission + - Why e-voting sounds cool, but will never replace paper ballots (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "It’s election day in the United States. As I write this, thousands of Americans are lining up at polling stations around the country to decide the outcome of numerous political races — and, of course, whether Barrack Obama will remain the 44th president of the United States of America, or if Mitt Romney will supplant him to become the 45th. In the majority of cases, your vote will be cast by secret ballot — stepping into a booth and marking a piece of paper, or pushing a button on a machine — but many will also vote by absentee ballot. Absentee voting in the US ranges from paper ballots mailed in by voters, all the way through to email voting for overseas citizens and military. This year, New Jersey has opened up email voting to those who have been displaced by Hurricane Sandy. This has led many to ask a rather interesting question: Why not just allow everyone to vote via email? Heck, let’s go one better: Why can’t Americans vote via the internet? The United States, with an average turnout of 48%, has one of the worst voter turnouts in the world. The general consensus is that e-voting (internet voting, email voting, SMS voting, telephone voting) would lower the barrier to entry, thus increasing turnout. Suddenly, all of those people without a car, on holiday, or too busy at work, would be able to cast their vote. Viva la democracy, right? Wrong. For political, democratic, and security reasons, e-voting will almost certainly never take off in the US."
Medicine

Submission + - A piezoelectric pacemaker that is powered by your heartbeat (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "It sounds like the theoretical impossibility of perpetual motion, but engineers at the University of Michigan have created a pacemaker that is powered by the beating of your heart — no batteries required. The technology behind this new infinite-duration pacemaker is piezoelectricity. Piezoelectricity is is literally “pressure electricity,” and it relates to certain materials that generate tiny amounts of electricity when deformed by an external force — which, in the case of the perpetual pacemaker, the vibrations in your chest as your heart pumps blood around your body. Piezoelectric devices generate very small amounts of power — on the order of tens of milliwatts — but it turns out that pacemakers require very power, too. In testing, the researchers’ energy harvester generated 10 times the required the power to keep a pacemaker firing. Currently, pacemakers are battery powered — and the battery generally need to be replaced every few years, which requires surgery. According M. Amin Karami, the lead researcher, “Many of the patients are children who live with pacemakers for many years,” he said. “You can imagine how many operations they are spared if this new technology is implemented.” This piezoelectric energy harvester is about half the size of a conventional battery, too, which is presumably a good thing."
Power

Submission + - How to prepare your gadgets and electronic lifelines, for the next hurricane (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "With the incessant warnings to stock water and food for Hurricane Sandy, little was said about caring for what has become an essential part of nearly everyone’s lives — personal technology. Smartphones and computers are as much of a lifeline for most of us as land lines and light bulbs. A depressing number of people found themselves with dead cellphones and unusable computers within hours of the storm reaching their area, while in most cases a few simple precautions would have saved the day. ExtremeTech runs through some easy and fairly cheap tips, to keep your smartphone, internet connection, and other electronic lifelines up and running during a disaster, such as Hurricane Sandy."
Apple

Submission + - iPad Mini: Apple's beautiful but compromised cash-in (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Early this morning, right on schedule and in perfect synchronicity, the first hands-on reviews of Apple’s iPad Mini hit the web. In a rather refreshing and pleasant twist, the reviews aren’t universally positive. In fact, it looks like Apple may have finally released a non-perfect mobile device — the perfect accompaniment to the rushed, botched release of Apple’s own Maps app in iOS 6 earlier this year. From the two-year-old A5 SoC, to the low-res 1024x768 screen, one has to wonder why Apple knowingly released a device that is two years behind the curve. For a few cents more, Apple could’ve put an A5X, A6, or A6X inside the iPad Mini, ameliorating any performance issues and instantly making it the fastest tablet on the market. For a few dollars more, Apple could’ve sourced a high-res display. But it didn’t — why? The only explanation that fits is that Apple is intentionally low-balling the consumer, just to make more money. By making the iPad Mini beautiful, and cheaper than the real iPad, Apple guarantees millions of sales — even if the hardware spec isn’t up to scratch, or there are a few rough usability edges. Then, in six months, Apple can release the iPad Mini 2, with a faster processor, more RAM, and perhaps a Retina display — and boom, another billion dollars of profit."
Google

Submission + - Google's Nexus 4, 7, 10 strategy: Openness at all costs (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "There have been plenty of rumors about how the Nexus program was going to grow and change with this year’s announcement. Now that we have all the details, it looks like almost none of them were right. There is no Nexus certification program, and the dream of multiple Nexus phones seems well and truly dead. What we do have is a range of device sizes with the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. However, the Nexus program has been altered in one important way: we know what Nexus means now. There can no longer be any doubt: a Nexus device is about openness first and foremost. Last year the technology sphere was busily discussing whether or not the Verizon Galaxy Nexus was a “true” Nexus device. This year we have an answer: a Nexus controlled by a carrier is no Nexus. Rather than get in bed with Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T to produce an LTE version of the Nexus 4, we have HSPA+ only. Even the new Nexus 7 with mobile data is limited to this enhanced 3G standard. And then there's the pricing: The super high-resolution (2560×1600) Nexus 10 tablet starts at just $399; The Nexus 7 is dropping in price to $199 for a 16GB tablet; The Nexus 4 with 16GB of storage is going to sell for $349, exactly the same as the old Galaxy Nexus was until yesterday. To put this into perspective, the LG Optimus G, which the Nexus 4 is based on, sells for $550 without subsidy. Google is pushing the idea of openness with the Nexus devices, but it’s not an entirely altruistic endeavor. By giving us cheap and open devices, Google is making sure it’s in control — not the carriers. That’s better for the consumers, but it’s also better for Google."
Network

Submission + - Increasing wireless network speed by 1000%, by replacing packets with algebra (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "A team of researchers from MIT, Caltech, Harvard, and other universities in Europe, have devised a way of boosting the performance of wireless networks by up to 10 times — without increasing transmission power, adding more base stations, or using more wireless spectrum. The researchers’ creation, coded TCP, is a novel way of transmitting data so that lost packets don’t result in higher latency or re-sent data. With coded TCP, blocks of packets are clumped together and then transformed into algebraic equations that describe the packets. If part of the message is lost, the receiver can solve the equation to derive the missing data. The process of solving the equations is simple and linear, meaning it doesn’t require much processing on behalf of the router/smartphone/laptop. In testing, the coded TCP resulted in some dramatic improvements. MIT found that campus WiFi (2% packet loss) jumped from 1Mbps to 16Mbps. On a fast-moving train (5% packet loss), the connection speed jumped from 0.5Mbps to 13.5Mbps. Moving forward, coded TCP is expected to have huge repercussions on the performance of LTE and WiFi networks — and the technology has already been commercially licensed to several hardware makers."
AMD

Submission + - AMD's FX-8350 analyzed: Does Piledriver deliver where Bulldozer fell short? (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "It’s been a rocky year for AMD. In retrospect, Bulldozer’s disappointing performance was the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Since it launched, Sunnyvale has laid off thousands, is preparing to lay off thousands more, cancelled its first set of 28nm chips based on the Bobcat architecture, and has lost ground overall in the PC market. Multiple executives have fled the company, margins have tumbled, and long-term prospects are dim, at best. In the midst of all this chaos, AMD’s engineers have plugged away at refining Bulldozer. The first APU based on Piledriver, codenamed Trinity, debuted last spring; the desktop variant hit shelves at the beginning of this month. Today, AMD is rolling out the Piledriver core to Socket AM3+ motherboards as well. These new chips, codenamed Vishera, are supposed to deliver a bevy of improvements that address some of Bulldozer’s weakest areas. The FX-8350 is AMD's new flagship CPU based on Vishera — but it's priced at just $195, and thus goes head to head against Intel's Ivy Bridge i5-3550. Here, ExtremeTech puts the FX-8350 through its paces and finds the chip to be a solid improvement over Bulldozer and Thuban. With Intel's Haswell bearing down on Sunnyvale, though, it still looks like a sad case of too little too late."
Space

Submission + - The tech behind Felix Baumgartner's stratospheric skydive (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Felix Baumgartner has successfully completed his stratospheric skydive from 128,000 feet (39km), breaking a record that was set 52 years ago by Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger — that much we know. From the balloon, to the capsule, to the gear that Baumgartner wore during his 730 mph (1174 kph) free fall, the technology behind the scenes is impressive, and in some cases bleeding edge. ExtremeTech takes a deep dive into the tech that kept Baumgartner alive during the three-hour ascent and (much shorter) descent — and the tech that allowed us to watch every moment of the Red Bull Stratos mission live, as captured by no less than 15 digital cameras and numerous other scientific instruments."

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