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     holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 819
Registered: 08-2004Rating: 
Votes: 1
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| | Monday, February 07, 2005 - 07:20 pm: |  
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ZigBee for the new world...
ZigBee allows small, low-cost devices to quickly transmit small amounts of data such as temperature readings for thermostats, on/off requests for light switches, or keystrokes for a wireless keyboard. Based on a recently approved international packet radio standard, ZigBee uses the same unlicensed 900MHz and 2.4GHz frequencies as many cordless telephones to send data over distances up to 20 meters. ZigBee devices, typically battery-powered, can actually transmit information much farther than 20 meters because each device within listening distance passes the message along to any other device within range. Only the intended device acts upon the message.
Given enough devices spread around a house, this multi-hop “mesh networking” approach can use redundant pathways to make sure the message gets through even if one of the devices is out of order. For example, if you were sitting in bed and flipped a portable switch to preheat the hot tub in the back yard, the message might normally pass through a node in the kitchen. However, if your kitchen ZigBee’s battery died, the message could still get through in a wireless version of an end-around play. By simultaneously transmitting the message to the den, your tub switch could bypass the kitchen transmitter, still getting the “on” message to the tub. But because another major ZigBee innovation is power efficiency, the kitchen battery is not likely to go dead in the first place. By instructing nodes to wake up only for those split second intervals when they’re needed, ZigBee is so chintzy with electricity that batteries might last for years.
While the technology could well emerge as a bedrock wireless automation standard for transmitting status messages in sensor networks for manufacturing, health care, shipping, homeland defense, and more, the ZigBee Alliance is initially keeping its focus small. “The Alliance would love to have ZigBee in every widget in the world,” says Jon Adams, director of radio technology and strategy for Freescale Semiconductor, a Motorola spinoff that recently released the first ZigBee development kit. The challenge, he says, is drawing attention to ZigBee in an era of proliferating wireless standards—and at a time when manufacturers and consumers have learned to distrust any technology billed as a panacea. “So, we’ve chosen to limit our reach,” Adams says.
ZigBee’s first applications will be in professional installation kits for lighting controls, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and security. According to Adams, huge cost savings will be found in both new construction and in redesigning commercial spaces. “The cost of laying cable ranges between $20 and $200 a foot, and you have to move a lot of conduits in order to get the light controls and other mechanisms into the right spots,” says Adams. “The advantage of a wireless, peel-and-stick light switch is very powerful.”
Here is the full report.
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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chance
Member
Username: chance
Post Number: 469
Registered: 09-2002Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Tuesday, February 08, 2005 - 09:24 am: |
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I've fitted a few alarm systems HC and I know that the most time consuming aspect is running the cables.
What a boon this will be in industries that currently ('scuse the pun) use cables to transmit signals.
Cables will only be required to transfer power.
This has enormous potential, thanks for the article.
chance
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 822
Registered: 08-2004Rating:
Votes: 1
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| | Tuesday, February 08, 2005 - 10:46 am: |
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New 'Supercomputer on a Chip' Makes Debut
35 minutes ago
By Daniel Sorid
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The highly anticipated microchip that will power the Sony PlayStation 3 game system made its debut on Monday, as IBM (NYSE:IBM - news), Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T) and Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) showed off the inner workings of a chip intended to run a new generation of electronics.
Dubbed a "supercomputer on a chip," the Cell microprocessor has until now been long on ambition but short on specifics. At a technical conference in San Francisco, the three electronics giants described a chip that could provide ten times the performance of the latest PC chips and churn through many tasks at once.
Aimed squarely at the "digital home" market highly sought-after by Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), the Cell initiative, which has been in development since 2001, is viewed by some as a formidable, if fledgling, competitor to the world's largest chip maker. more.
~~~~`
Chance,
I just love new/hi tech stuffs and gadgets... I simply can't wait for all these technologies becoming cheap and readily available!
Cheers.
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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kapok776
Member
Username: kapok776
Post Number: 3
Registered: 01-2004Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 04:26 pm: |
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Bear in mind there's a supercomputer-based web-accessible piece of software for risk optimization at http://www.anadare.com
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 873
Registered: 08-2004Rating:
Votes: 1
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| | Wednesday, March 02, 2005 - 08:35 am: |
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WIMAX
WiMax May Pose Fresh Challenge to Broadband
Sun Feb 27, 2005 11:32 AM ET
By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Imagine a wireless hotspot the size of Philadelphia or a rural community in the American heartland.
U.S. cities and companies are eyeing an emerging technology known as WiMax as a way to make high-speed wireless Internet services available in areas much larger that a typical Wi-Fi coffee bar or the local McDonald's. But it may prove difficult to make such services commercially viable, analysts say.
WiMax -- touted as a potential spoiler for cable modems and other traditional Internet connections -- was developed to beam the Internet across cities using radio networks with much wider ranges than Wi-Fi, a system used on laptops in coffee shops.
Some broadband operators are considering WiMax as a way to expand their networks, and city administrators are looking to offer broadband services cheaply in public places such as parks or in low-income housing areas.
Such networks could erode the market for services such as cable modem and digital subscriber line (DSL) access over traditional phone lines. But the scarcity of suitable airwaves and wide availability of DSL and cable could stunt WiMax growth at least in the United States in the next few years.
"The WiMax market in other geographies will dwarf that of North America," said Forrester analyst Charles Golvin, who believes WiMax makes more sense for some parts of Europe and developing countries where broadband is not very common.
Companies including chip giant Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and network gear makers such as Alcatel (CGEP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) , Lucent Technologies (LU.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Alvarion (ALVR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) plan to sell WiMax products. Early versions that deliver the Internet to fixed locations such as homes are expected to go on sale next year.
But U.S. WiMax providers will be cautious about where and how they operate because if WiMax is added to a crowded market. The fear is that profit margins could suffer at both the WiMax operator and incumbent broadband providers, analysts said.
"Increased broadband competition, price compression and high subscriber acquisition costs threaten to drive margins ever lower," said In-Stat analyst Keith Nissen who expects only 3 percent of broadband users around the world will use WiMax services by 2009. It could cost about $3 billion to build a nationwide U.S. WiMax network, according to In-Stat estimates.
Roughly 85 percent of U.S. households can now buy broadband services and about 70 percent have a choice between cable and DSL, according to Yankee Group analyst Patrick Mahoney.
This means that most commercial WiMax services are likely to be small in scale as markets would be limited to hard-to-reach rural areas or city neighborhoods that are not already hooked up for broadband, Yankee's Mahoney said.
Municipal administrators in as many as 100 cities or towns are looking at building wireless networks, said Forrester's Golvin who noted that these could projects range from coverage of entire cities or towns to links between official buildings.
For example, the City of Philadelphia hopes to build a network to interconnect Wi-Fi networks. It could potentially use WiMax in about 60 percent of the city, officials said.
Some regional operators are eyeing WiMax as a way to extend their networks and to avoid the high costs of putting new wires in the ground. But so far, none have made firm service plans and airwaves availability could also be problem, Golvin said.
Local phone provider BellSouth Corp. (BLS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is testing an early WiMax system. It says it has suitable airwaves across its nine operating states and hopes to have a service next year.
But first it needs to work out equipment costs and consumer demand before committing to service plans. It is also working out how it can avoid potential interference between its airwaves and satellite services using similar bands.
"If it can save money and provide a high-speed broadband service and we can make a profit on it, then we'll do it," said spokesman Jeff Batcher, noting that WiMax should be cheaper to provide than services such as DSL which BellSouth sells.
Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which provides local services in 14 states, has also tested WiMax. It does not own airwave licenses but says it would consider buying licenses or using unlicensed airwaves.
Golvin believes that using unlicensed spectrum would be too risky for operators such as Qwest. Since anybody can use unlicensed spectrum it is difficult to control service quality as other users of the same band could cause interference.
Sprint (FON.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider, is likely to be the biggest U.S. WiMax provider as it will own airwaves suitable for the technology in 80 of the top 100 U.S. markets after it buys Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) this year.
It plans to test early versions of WiMax that transmit to fixed locations but it will wait for a mobile version before launching services around 2008. It says it needs mobility to compete better with entrenched broadband providers.
Many analysts believe mobility could make WiMax a more viable competitor to cable or DSL but caution that a technology standard has yet to be agreed for mobile WiMax.
Seattle-based Clearwire, which is run by wireless pioneer Craig McCaw and counts Intel among its investors, has also endorsed WiMax. It has WiMax-like services in four U.S. markets and plans to add another 16 markets by year-end.
But Spokesman Todd Wolfenbarger said it was too early to predict how successful these services would become.
"I think we're cautiously optimistic about it," he said.
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 1275
Registered: 08-2004Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Tuesday, May 17, 2005 - 08:46 am: |
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Drug's Effect on Cancer Stuns Doctors
May 16, 7:09 AM (ET)
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - No one could have been more surprised than the doctors themselves. They were just hoping to relieve the symptoms of a deadly blood disorder - and ended up treating the disease itself. In nearly half of the people who took the experimental drug, the cancer became undetectable.
Specialists said Revlimid now looks like a breakthrough and the first effective treatment for many people with myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, which is even more common than leukemia.
"It may be, if not eradicating the disease, putting it into what I would call deep remission," said Dr. David Johnson, a cancer specialist at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center who is familiar with but had no role in the research.
Revlimid "is not yet on the market but almost certainly will be" because of these findings, he said.
MDS refers to a group of disorders caused by the bone marrow not making enough healthy, mature blood cells. About 15,000 to 20,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States, and as many as 50,000 Americans have it now. They usually suffer anemia and fatigue and need blood transfusions about every eight weeks to stay alive.
"It's a serious problem, it tends to occur in older people, and it's fatal for most," said Dr. Herman Kattlove, a blood disorder specialist at the American Cancer Society.
Revlimid is similar to thalidomide, a drug notorious for the birth defects it caused decades ago but that in recent years has proved effective against another blood cancer, multiple myeloma. Researchers don't really know how it works other than that it boosts the immune system in a number of ways.
In small studies, Revlimid also showed promise and with far fewer side effects. In a new study, doctors tested it on 115 people with MDS who have the most common chromosome abnormality that causes the disease.
After about six months on the drug, 66 percent no longer needed blood transfusions, said the study's leader, Dr. Alan List of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. A year later, three-fourths of them still don't need transfusions.
But the big surprise was that signs of the genetic mutation fueling the disease diminished in 81 patients and vanished in 51.
"The chromosome abnormality completely disappeared, something we've never seen before" from a drug aimed just at boosting red blood cells, List said....
Link here.
Related news
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 1597
Registered: 08-2004Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Friday, August 19, 2005 - 05:38 pm: |
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Reinventing the wheels... check out your next car for this millenium.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/050725/25tech.htm
http://corporate.honda.com/press/article.aspx?id=2005062944530
http://toyota.com/html/noflash.html
http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/adv_tech/400_fcv/index.html
http://www.ford.com/en/vehicles/specialtyVehicles/environmental/fuelCell/default .htm
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 2112
Registered: 08-2004Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Sunday, November 20, 2005 - 09:33 am: |
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... not new tech but old tech overlapping with each other; here's a glimpse of what is possible when TLS decides to go to bed with Cisco. It's interesting to note that TLS has ruled out IPTV... may be, they are thinking of using Cisco/Linksys technology to provide their version of online video? A possibility but most likely will get into many issues such as content licensing as well as working against the Foxtel consortium. Anyway, who knows what SOL will do next... this just to point out some of the "potential" of what a telco with control of the last mile of copper to your home can do.
Cisco's Bold New TV Bet
BUNDLE WARS. Certainly the timing is good. For years, cable and phone companies have been pouring money into building so-called converged networks, capable of delivering all manner of digital traffic over gear based on the Internet Protocol. Now these carriers are racing to fill these networks with a profitable "quadruple play" of services that combine Internet access with Net-based phone calling, wireless calling, and video services.
While already a dominant supplier in the first three, Cisco had been a relative no-show in video. "Once you add video, not just in products but in being able to integrate them all together, that gives us leadership that is very, very unique," Chambers told analysts the day the deal was announced.
Indeed, the deal could make Cisco a far more formidable supplier to various camps in the bundle wars, which for the most part pit cable providers against telephone companies such as Verizon (VZ ). In particular, it strengthens Cisco's ability to help cable companies such as Comcast (CMCSA ) and the cable division of Time Warner (TWX ).
...
Solidifying Cisco's position with cable companies could be a huge advantage, since they have made by far the most progress in the early innings of the contest against phone companies. The cable companies currently provide video service to 70 million U.S. homes, compared with less than 1 million for the phone companies that only now are rolling out video offerings. Also, the cable companies have made far more progress selling phone and broadband access to big phone-company customers than the other way around.
But Scientific-Atlanta could help Cisco with phone companies as well. Until two years ago, the 50-year-old communications company sold only to cable companies. Since then it has landed some marquee telecom accounts. It will provide the set-top boxes in SBC's Project Lightspeed, which is supposed to bring IP-based TV services to 18 million homes by the end of 2007.
...
THREAT TO MICROSOFT? And Cisco may have bigger plans up its sleeve to help carriers of all stripes reach consumers. For example, analysts expect it to try to make a big splash with the networked DVD players purchased from KiSS. By integrating this technology into Scientific-Atlanta's set-top boxes, for example, Cisco would allow consumers not only to receive content via their set-top box but also make DVD copies of favorite shows and even transfer programming to other PCs or TVs in the home, depending on licensing rules imposed by owners of that content. "Having Scientific-Atlanta plus Linksys will enable carriers to bring new services to the home," says Cisco Senior Vice-President Dan Scheinman. "As you connect your set-top box to your wireless network, you'll be able to get what you want, where you want, on the device you want." ...
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 2384
Registered: 08-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0
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| | Saturday, July 08, 2006 - 10:57 am: |
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Going solar on a smaller scale
It's not all panels: cell phone, iPod, watches harness the sun
By Stephanie I. Cohen
Last Update: 7:52 PM ET Jul 6, 2006
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Consumers can now harness the power of the sun to juice up their high-tech gadgets with pocket-size technology.
Solar power advocates have traditionally focused on large-scale residential projects like adding rooftop solar panels -- the fastest-growing segment of the solar industry, according to the Solar Energy industries Association.
But the rising cost of fossil fuels that has fired up demand for renewable energy sources like solar also led to a worldwide shortage of silicon, the key material used to make solar panels, slowing growth in the sector. A surplus of materials isn't expected to return to the market until 2008.
In the meantime, green consumers can dabble in solar with the purchase of numerous low-cost, solar-powered products. From power chargers to light-powered watches to backyard lights, solar power is making a push into the residential and electronic markets.
Soldius Inc., a privately held Netherlands firm, markets a portable solar charger that weighs barely three ounces. Placing the wallet-sized charger in indirect sunlight for about 3 hours to 4 hours will fully charge a cell phone. An iPod or Blackberry can also refuel using the device.
The charger's compact size may be its greatest advantage -- it's small enough to slip between an airplane window and shade, said Don Doney, the U.S. distributor for the technology and president of MySoldius. "You can charge your device as you fly to Florida," Doney said. "You can carry it on your person, in your bag, or in your car," he added.
The charger sells for between $90 and $110, depending on the model. About 10,000 have been sold in the U.S. since the end of last year, Doney said.
A similar device from London-based Better Energy Systems can turn the sun's rays into power for most handheld electronic devices including iPods, MP3 players, digital cameras and cell phones. The company's $90 pocket-sized Solio charger has three flower-petal shaped solar panels that fan out to soak up sunlight. The light-weight device can store up to 14 hours of power in an internal battery. Each hour in the sun yields about one hour of play time.
Out of the woods
Solar chargers have been around for a while but traditionally were marketed to the outdoors crowd for use when camping and hiking. But the explosion of electronic devices used by the masses has turned solar power into an energy source for urban warriors.
For shoppers looking for a fashionable entry into light-powered products there is Citizen's eco-drive line of watches with prices starting around $135. The eco-drive technology in each watch includes a rechargeable lithium ion battery that will automatically charge when it is in sunlight or artificial light. It takes about three to four hours to fully charge a basic woman's watch, said Alyson Gottlieb, a spokeswoman for the company.
If the watch is put in a jewelry box and taken out months later, it will still work. "We call this maintenance free," Gottlieb said. "You do not need to put is under a lamp... All you need to do is wear it," she added.
Consumers looking to make a tiny investment in solar power can purchase a solar battery charger for the collection of AA and AAA batteries found in cameras and remote controls throughout the house.
Homeowners can also draw on sunlight to power garden and backyard lights that store up energy throughout the day, light up at a walkway or patio at night, and then automatically turn off' at dawn. Lights and lanterns can be found at lighting, home-improvement, and outdoor stores.
More to come
Solar accounted for just 1% of the renewable energy consumed by the U.S. in 2004.
But interest in solar power peaked recently. Palo Alto-based Nanosolar recently announced plans to build the world's largest solar-power-cell manufacturing factory in California with funding from Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The company's vision is to install solar panels on buildings so they can switch between using solar energy and power from the grid.
Big players like Sanyo Electric Co. are also putting more dollars into solar projects. The Japanese electronics manufacturer recently announcing plans to invest more than $350 million in its solar cell business over the next five years.
Worldwide shipments of solar devices grew by 32% in 2003 and the industry generated $4.7 billion in revenue that year, according to the Solar Energy industries Association. End of Story
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=
%7BC77C0C3A%2D4C9D%2D4973%2DAF11%2DF7314B364CEA%7D&siteid=
mktw&dist=&print=true&dist=printTop
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 2390
Registered: 08-2004
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| | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - 10:15 am: |
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... in those yester years there were researches done by IBM fellows in "magnetic bubbles" which sounded quite similar to this new chip. And then there was DEC or Digital and their famous "magnetic core memory" which were deployed in most of their PDP range of real time machines. The nice thing about magnetic core memory is if the power to the computer were to cut off, the memory would retain an "image" of the "state of computing" - this provides for later reconstruction of the realtime "data" which is crucial for online betting. Hong Kong Race Course (Tab?) reputedly had the world's largest PDP farm at one time...
Are they revisiting the "old" tech with a new twist here?
New microchip is a significant development in magnetic memory
Posted by Amber Maitland
10 July 2006 - The US chip-maker Freescale has announced the development of a new kind of electronic memory that stores data like a hard drive, but is much smaller in size.
The chip is called magnetoresistive random-access memory, or Mram for short.
According to a report by the BBC, one analyst believes it could be "the most significant development in computer memory for a decade".
Will Strauss, an analyst with research firm Forward Concepts said, "This is radically new technology. People have been dabbling in this for years, but nobody has been able to make it in volume".
Mram is more reliable than flash memory, as it doesn't degrade over time, can store information without power, and has very rapid read and write speeds.
It could be used to store the operating system of PCs in the future to increase the startup speed.
Freescale didn't announce the chip for a couple of months after it started production, so that it could build inventory.
New microchip is a significant development in magnetic memory Images.
HC
"... if you've got a chart, I have an opinion!"
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holycow
Member
Username: holycow
Post Number: 2671
Registered: 08-2004 | |
