Typing on today’s mobile phones and tablets is needlessly slow. One limitation is that the QWERTY layout is ill-suited when typing with the thumbs. Two-thumb typing is ergonomically very different from typing on a physical keyboard, which is why researchers from the Max Planck Institute and colleagues from the University of St Andrews and Montana Tech set out to create an alternative keyboard layout for two-thumb text entry with the goal of improving typing performance and minimizing the...

The same material that formed the first primitive transistors more than 60 years ago can be modified in a new way to advance future electronics, according to a new study. Chemists at The Ohio State University have developed the technology for making a one-atom-thick sheet of germanium, and found that it conducts electrons more than ten times faster than silicon and five times faster than conventional germanium.   The material’s structure is closely related to that of graphene—a...

Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds. The prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro, is a larger model of a robotic jellyfish the same team unveiled in 2012. The earlier robot, dubbed RoboJelly, is roughly the size of a man's hand, and typical of jellyfish found along beaches.   Both robots are part of a multi-university project funded by...

Imec recently demonstrated a low-power intracardiac chip designed to detect ventricular fibrillation. Billed as a major step toward next-generation cardiac resynchronization therapy solutions, the new chip features innovative signal processing functions and consumes only 20 µW with all channels active.   Robust and accurate heart rate monitoring of the right and left ventricles and the right atrium is essential for implantable devices used in cardiac resynchronization therapy, and...

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. In this context, […] the "monkey" is not an actual monkey, but a metaphor for an abstract device that produces an endless random sequence of letters and symbols. [ Source: Wikipedia ]   Shakespeare’s works or a computer program are both constructed from individual...

Each of us would like to pursue our personal hobbies and interests into old age. However, this depends on us staying fit and healthy. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen (Germany) are now presenting an armchair that brings the gym right into your living room at the push of a button. On the outside, GEWOS as it is called, looks like a conventional armchair but the inside is loaded with sensors, circuit boards and all kinds of wiring. All this...

In cooperation with the Institute for Microelectronic and Mechatronic System and the Department of Mechatronics of Ilmenau University of Technology (Grmany), Physik Instrumente (PI) has designed a novel nanopositioning platform based on magnetic levitation. The platform utilizes a magnetic field that is generated by six coils and actively monitored by a 6D sensor. The magnetic field acts as a drive for the platform and actively guides the platform.   The magnetic field drive and the...

It is relatively cheap and easy to deliver goods in bulk to a port or an airport, but transporting the individual goods to their destination, the last mile so to say, requires a lot of money and effort. A solution might be using drones. In rough terrain with few or no roads, drones can be deployed to deliver goods to dispersed groups of people while in urban areas traffic congestion can be relieved by shifting local pickup and delivery from ground to air.   Such a drone network...

A team of engineers in NASA's PhoneSat project at the Ames Research Center in California aims to accelerate satellite architecture evolution by applying the Silicon Valley approach of “ release early and often ” to small spacecraft. To this end, they are making extensive use of commercial off-the-shelf components, including normal smartphones. Smartphones incorporate many capabilities needed for satellite systems, including fast processors, versatile operating systems, multiple miniature...

The end of the year is a good time to go introspective and ponder the ultimate question about life, the universe and everything. Where do we come from? What is the origin of life?   Two scientists have moved beyond the dominant assumption that the answer can be found in Darwinian evolutionary theory. They propose to shift the search for the emergence of life from hardware to software. The transition from non-life to life might not have originated in a chemical change in matter, but...

If you’re into reverse engineering microchips, building your own nuclear fusion reactor or getting your hands on hardware designs used by CERN, Berlin is where you should celebrate the end of 2012. Why? Because the Exceptionally Hard & Soft Meeting ( EHSM ) that explores the outer limits of open source hardware and software will take place on 28 to 30 December in Berlin.   At EHSM the most amazing open source hardware projects come together. Take for instance keynote speaker Will...

Many people have thought(s) about the reality of life. Is life real? Is the Earth actually an atom? Do we live in a dream? Is our world nothing more than a computer simulation? In 2003 the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom formalized the question and now scientists say they can test whether it is the case or not.   According to Bostrom at least one of the three following propositions is true: 1 The human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage;...

The Centre of Microsystems Technology (CMST), imec’s associated laboratory at Ghent University (Belgium), has developed an innovative spherical curved LCD display, which can be embedded in contact lenses. Unlike LED-based contact lens displays, which are limited to a few small pixels, the new LCD-based technology permits the use of the entire display surface. By adapting the patterning process of the conductive layer, this technology enables applications with a broad range of pixel number and...

PragmatIC Printing Ltd, (Cambridge, England), a developer of imprinted digital electronic technology, has started production on its pilot line at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) in Redcar, Northern England. In addition to commercial production, the pilot line serves as a test-bed for device design, process optimization and circuit functionality.   PragmatIC uses organic semiconductor materials on a plastic substrate, combined with imprint lithography to form the materials into...

Researchers at Rice University (USA) have developed a micron-scale spatial light modulator (SLM) similar to those currently used in sensing and imaging devices, but with the potential to run several orders of magnitude faster. Their ‘antenna on a chip’ operates in 3D ‘free space’ instead of the two-dimensional space of conventional semiconductor devices.   In current optical computing devices, light is confined to two-dimensional circuitry and travels in waveguides from point to...