TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios on a single chip

TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios on a single chip

"Heads-up, kids -- Mobile World Congress is but days away from liftoff, and it looks like Texas Instruments will be there with a purpose. The company has today introduced what it's calling the 'industry's first quad-radio single chip,' which throws 802.11n, GPS, FM transmit / receive and Bluetooth radios onto a single 65-nanometer WiLink 7.0 solution. Purportedly, this device reduces costs by 30 percent, size by 50 percent and bragging rights by 894 percent. The chip is currently sampling to OEMs with undisclosed names, which could mean that a prototype phone or two will be taking advantage in Barcelona. Fingers crossed."

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Graphene Transistors 10 Times faster than Silicon Created by IBM

Technology Review: Graphene Transistors that Work at Blistering Speeds

"IBM has created graphene transistors that leave silicon ones in the dust. The prototype devices, made from atom-thick sheets of carbon, operate at 100 gigahertz--meaning they can switch on and off 100 billion times each second, about 10 times as fast as the speediest silicon transistors."

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I'm alive! 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves

I'm alive! 'Vegetative' patient speaks to scientists using his brainwaves

SCIENTISTS have reached into the shuttered world of a "lost" brain-damaged patient and communicated with him via his thoughts.

The 29-year-old Belgian was able to answer "yes" and "no" to questions by conjuring up imaginary scenes while having his brain scanned.

The man was one of 23 patients diagnosed as being in a vegetative state and recruited for a three-year study by Medical Research Council (MRC) scientists in Cambridge and colleagues from the University of Liège in Belgium.

Its aim was to see if brainscans could detect signs of awareness in patients who were thought to be closed off from the world.

Functional magnetic resonance scanning (fMRI) was used to measure activity in "motor" and "spatial" brain regions while the patients were asked to imagine specific scenes.

The scans use magnetic fields and radiowaves to detect surges of bloodflow that accompany neural activity.

For the "motor" task, patients were asked to imagine standing still on a tennis court and swinging an arm to return balls from an instructor. To activate the "spatial" region, they had to imagine navigating the streets of a familiar city or walking from room to room in their home.

In four cases, the scans were able to detect activity in the appropriate brain region as the patients carried out the scientists' verbal instructions.

But one Liège patient who had produced reliable responses was singled out for an even more remarkable test. He was asked to use "motor" or "spatial" imagery as "yes" and "no" answers to questions. The patient responded accurately to five out of six autobiographical questions posed by the scientists.

On one occasion he was asked "Is your father's name Alexander?" and correctly answered "Yes" by imagining the tennis scene. When he was asked "Is your father's name Thomas?", he answered "No" by thinking about roaming streets or walking around the house.

"Not only did these scans tell us that the patient was not in a vegetative state but, more importantly, for the first time in five years, it provided the patient with a way of communicating his thoughts to the outside world."

More - Scotsman.com News

Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

The liquid glass spray (technically termed “SiO₂ ultra-thin layering”) consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface because of the quantum forces involved. According to the manufacturers, liquid glass has a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily.

Liquid glass was invented in Turkey and the patent is held by Nanopool, a family-owned German company. Research on the product was carried out at the Saarbrücken Institute for New Materials. Nanopool is already in negotiations in the UK with a number of companies and with the National Health Service, with a view to its widespread adoption.

The liquid glass spray produces a water-resistant coating only around 100 nanometers (15-30 molecules) thick. On this nanoscale the glass is highly flexible and breathable. The coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. UK project manager with Nanopool, Neil McClelland, said soon almost every product you purchase will be coated with liquid glass.

Food processing companies in Germany have already carried out trials of the spray, and found sterile surfaces that usually needed to be cleaned with strong bleach to keep them sterile needed only a hot water rinse if they were coated with liquid glass. The levels of sterility were higher for the glass-coated surfaces, and the surfaces remained sterile for months.

Other organizations, such as a train company and a hotel chain in the UK, and a hamburger chain in Germany, are also testing liquid glass for a wide range of uses. A year-long trial of the spray in a Lancashire hospital also produced “very promising” results for a range of applications including coatings for equipment, medical implants, catheters, sutures and bandages. The war graves association in the UK is investigating using the spray to treat stone monuments and grave stones, since trials have shown the coating protects against weathering and graffiti. Trials in Turkey are testing the product on monuments such as the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.

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Kulula-air tries not to take itself too seriously

Kulula-air tries not to take itself too seriously

Someone there clearly has a sense of humor. The entire airplane is covered with details about the plane, including arrows pointing to the more interesting parts.

"The big cheese" describes the captain's window. An arrow points to the aircraft's registration, calling it the "Secret code."

Even the lav is pointed out, with the description, "Loo (or mile-high initiation chamber)."

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After Three Months, Only 35 Paying Subscriptions for Newspaper's Web Site

After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday's Web Site

In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others, including The New York Times, might expect?

So, three months later, how many people have signed up to pay $5 a week, or $260 a year, to get unfettered access to newsday.com?

The answer: 35 people. As in fewer than three dozen. As in a decent-sized elementary-school class.

[...]

The web site redesign and relaunch cost the Dolans $4 million, according to Mr. Jimenez. With those 35 people, they’ve grossed about $9,000.

[To be fair, a huge part of their audience gets free access.]

Anyone who has a newspaper subscription is allowed free access; anyone who has Optimum Cable, which is owned by the Dolans and Cablevision, also gets it free. Newsday representatives claim that 75 percent of Long Island either has a subscription or Optimum Cable.

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Leaf-like sea slug feeds on light

Leaf-like sea slug feeds on light

The solar-powered sea slug Elysia chlorotica can live entirely from energy from the sun. It's about three centimetres long.(PNAS)

U.S. researchers have found that the sea slug Elysia chlorotica can photosynthesize, using energy from light to convert carbon dioxide into sugars.

"If you shine light on these slugs, they fix carbon dioxide and make oxygen just like a plant," Sidney Pierce of the University of South Florida told CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks.

...

The slugs look just like a leaf, green and about three centimetres long, and are found off the east coast of North America from Nova Scotia to Florida.

They acquire the ability to photosynthesize by eating algae and incorporating the plants' tiny chlorophyll-containing structures, called chloroplasts, into their own cells.

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Bottlenose dolphins' Buffet: mud-ring feeding

Bottlenose dolphins Buffet: mud-ring feeding - Amazing hunting technique

Mexican Superhuman Tribe: The Tarahuma

Longevity: "In the hills of Mexico, a tribe of Indians carries an ancient secret: a diet and fitness regimen that has allowed them to outrun death and disease. We set out to discover how the rest of us can catch up."

A tribe of superhumans, the Tarahumara Indians have zero diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease or cancer. They can run nonstop for days, chasing their prey until it dies from exhaustion. Age seems to have no effect on them. And they live in a society free of theft, murder, or suicide.

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MagicJack's Next Act: Disappearing Cell Phone Fees - ABC News

MagicJack's Next Act: Disappearing Cell Phone Fees - ABC News

MagicJack CEO and founder Dan Borislow holds up the new and improved MagicJack at the Consumer...

(AP)

The company behind the magicJack, the cheap Internet phone gadget that's been heavily promoted on TV, has made a new version of the device that allows free calls from cell phones in the home, in a fashion that's sure to draw protest from cellular carriers.

The new magicJack uses, without permission, radio frequencies for which cellular carriers have paid billions of dollars for exclusive licenses.

YMax Corp., which is based in Palm Beach, Fla., said this week at the International Consumers Electronics Show that it plans to start selling the device in about four months for $40, the same price as the original magicJack. As before, it will provide free calls to the U.S. and Canada for one year.

The device is, in essence, a very small cellular tower for the home.

The size of a deck of cards, it plugs into a PC, which needs a broadband Internet connection. The device then detects when a compatible cell phone comes within 8 feet, and places a call to it. The user enters a short code on the phone. The phone is then linked to the magicJack, and as long as it's within range (YMax said it will cover a 3,000-square-foot home) magicJack routes the call itself, over the Internet, rather than going through the carrier's cellular tower. No minutes are subtracted from the user's account with the carrier. Any extra fees for international calls are subtracted from the user's account with magicJack, not the carrier.

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