Toshiba introduces 'world's thinnest tablet'

Toshiba will begin shipping its newest tablet, the Excite LE, next week.

And in a market where every tablet absolutely has to be differentiated or it simply will not stand out, Toshiba claims this one is the thinnest model in the world.

With a 10.1-inch display, it is only 0.3 inches thick. The iPad 2, by comparison, measures in with a thickness of 0.34 inches, so the Excite LE is more than 10% thinner. The question is whether or not that will be enough to attract consumers en masse.

world Thieniset tablet produced by Toshiba

The Excite LE can't compete against the iPad on price. The 16 GB version is set to retail at around $530 while the 32 GB model will go for $600. That means to get the Toshiba tablet, users will need to spend more than an iPad - that is, until the iPad 3 starts putting pressure on retailers to discount the iPad 2. It's expected the iPad 3 could be more expensive than its predecessors.

Toshiba's new tablet comes loaded with the latest version of Android Honeycomb, version 3.2, and offers up to eight hours of battery life. The device comes packed with a 1.2 GHz dual-core Texas Instruments processor, and includes both front and rear cameras.

The 10.1-inch tablet market has been the hardest for anyone to break into, solely because that's the exact same size as the iPad. In the 7-inch world, Amazon has managed to find success with its Kindle Fire.

The Kindle Fire has also proven that when it comes to Android tablets, at least right now, price matters. The average consumer who has enough money to buy an iPad will, frankly, buy an iPad, regardless of how powerful the comparable Android tablets are.

So the Excite LE has a tough battle, especially since Toshiba's previous tablets haven't really been able to break through the competition.

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Windows 8 Consumer Preview now available

The final beta of Microsoft's new operating system has been released.

The company chose the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain as the official launch venue. Before this iteration, no one would have thought of a mobile trade show as a place for Windows, but this new platform is a brand new experience with mobile at its core.

In fact, some have criticized the OS as being "too optimized" for the mobile environment, because of features like touch controls that simply won't work on a traditional PC. So Microsoft is working on striking the perfect balance so that it can please the traditional segment and the mobile-centric segment at the same time.

There will be two versions of Windows 8 - one for desktops and one for tablets - but both should function pretty much the same. Things like an app store and highly customizable interfaces will make the new version unlike anything Microsoft has released for a computing product before.

As part of the launch, Nvidia confirmed today that it will be distributing test PC units to developers powered by the Tegra 3 quad-core mobile processor. "We're furthering this tradition by helping to realize the extraordinary potential of Windows on ARM processors, like Tegra 3," the company said in a statement.

The most distinct aspect of Windows 8 is what's known as the "Metro UI," which allows users to have complete customization on their home page, including widgets, RSS readers, weather information, date/time, etc.

In addition, since this is such a revolutionary new platform, Microsoft wants to scrap out all remnants of the "old-school" look and feel. Instead of a Start bar, hovering your mouse over that corner of the screen will allow you to swap between the Metro UI and the traditional desktop. For the mobile version of Windows 8, the Metro UI will be the default interface.

The beta download is available now, and tips the scales at a little over 3 GB.

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iPad 3 debuts on March 7 in San Francisco

Apple has sent out official invites for a media event that will be held next Wednesday, March 7, in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10 a.m. Pacific time.



The invitation, which reads "we have something you really have to see and touch," features a finger pressing a slick looking iOS calendar icon.



As AppleInsider notes, the long-awaited iPad 3 is likely to boast a high-res Retina Display capable of display an impressive resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels - twice the resolution of the 1,024-by-768 screen found on the iPad 2.



Although Cupertino has yet to release any official information, rumors indicate the next-gen iPad will be equipped with a faster processor (A5X or A6) and (potential) 4G LTE connectivity. 



External appearances are unlikely to change significantly, although the iPad 3 may feature edges slightly more tapered than the iPad 2.

However, the Retina Display could add an $80 premium to the price of the iPad 3, increasing entry level price points to $579 for the Wi-Fi-only 16GB model - while 3G-capable models could see a $70 jump in price. 



It should be noted that Best Buy has already begun discounting the iPad 2 by $50 in anticipation of the upcoming launch, while shipments of iPad 3 tablets have been spotted leaving the warehouses of Apple manufacturing contractor Foxconn. 

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Nokia unveils 41 megapixel phone that outperforms most SLR cameras

Nokia has unveiled a 41 megapixel camera-phone - designed so phone users can 'zoom in' without a bulky lens.

The 41-megapixel sensor is around three times more powerful than the ones in any existing handsets.

A Nokia executive says, 'It shows what we can do.' 

The phone will be launched in May and cost 480 Euros.

Nokia says the technology is designed so users can zoom in quickly and easily without losing picture quality. 

Nokia Smart Phone with 41 megapixel Camera

Most smartphones use digital zoom functions where the picture quality drops when users 'zoom in' - in practice, the zoom functions are rarely used.

PureView's huge 41-megapixel sensor lets users zoom in up to six times simply by 'selecting' an area - and because of the super-high resolution of the PureView, images still come out at five megapixels, the same as many normal smartphone cameras.

With video, users can zoom in up to four times and still shoot in 1080p Full HD. 

'When you zoom with the Nokia 808 PureView, in effect you are just selecting the relevant area of the sensor,' says the Finnish company. 'With no zoom, you simply use the full area of the sensor.'

41 mega pixel camera phone of Nokia

The phone is bulkier than normal camera phones, according to reports from Barcelona's Mobile World Congress, where it was unveiled, but even on full resolution, it shoots instantly.

'The PureView doesn't compete with the SLR,' Niklas Savander, executive vice president at Nokia.

'People aren't actually going to keep 38-megapixel pictures. but it shows what we can do.'

The phone has been in development for years, Nokia said, and produces pictures that can be blown up to 'poster size'.

Tech site Pocket-Lint said, 'What it shows us though is that Nokia can create amazing technology in a device that is small and compact - relatively speaking. 

'We're also told it will come to other handsets in the future. The reason you don't want it is that, beside the amazing camera tech, it runs the company's Symbian operating system, which is basically winding down.'

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Eye-controlled computer games for disabled children

Computer games which can be controlled by eye movements are being developed by researchers at a UK university.

The project at De Montfort University aims to allow severely-disabled youngsters to play computer games.

Learning to control games by eye tracking is also intended to help disabled children navigate real-world environments.

Eye control "adds a whole new level of intelligence to games", says research leader Stephen Vickers.

The use of eye tracking as a way of interacting with devices has been explored for a number of years, says Dr Vickers.

But his project is developing a more accessible, low-cost system, which will bring games into the reach of disabled children who cannot operate a mouse or keyboard.

They will be able to "push" buttons and direct a character by looking at different points on the screen. In a spaceship game, he says players can fire a gun by staring at a button.

Eye tracking uses an infrared light to identify where the eyes are looking - and can measure the movements as the person looks around a computer screen.

If the eyes focus on an on-screen button, this can be like using a mouse and cursor to "click" on a button.

Researchers at the project at the Leicester-based University have worked with a local special school.

As well as letting children play games, it is also a way of helping children with very limited mobility to learn how to move around virtual environments, including those showing the layout of real buildings.

Dr Vickers says the growing popularity of touch screen tablet computers and the use of gesture and swiping motions on computers is part of a wider change in how people interact with computers.

If eye-tracking technology is going to become more affordable and mainstream, he says it is likely to be through the games industry.

"The characters will walk where you are looking. It's much more natural to use and enjoy. It adds a whole new level of intelligence for games," he says.

The use of eye tracking is also being developed for other types of special needs.

Researchers in the United Statesare using eye tracking to study different forms of autism among children.

It showed that children on the autistic spectrum are less likely to look into people's eyes and are more likely to look fixedly at inanimate objects or at bodies.

The eye-tracking study from the Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and Emory University School of Medicine also found that "highly verbal children" on the autistic spectrum were more likely to look at mouths
Source BBC

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IBM maps electric charge in single molecule

Big Blue's long had a fascination with the tiny, and now IBM scientists have for the first time been able to measure how charge is distributed within a single molecule.

The discovery could make it possible to image the charge distribution within functional molecular devices, with implications for solar photoconversion, energy storage and molecular scale computing devices.

The team directly imaged the charge distribution within a single naphthalocyanine molecule using what's called Kelvin probe force microscopy at low temperatures and in ultrahigh vacuum.

"This work demonstrates an important new capability of being able to directly measure how charge arranges itself within an individual molecule," says Michael Crommie, professor for condensed matter physics at the University of Berkeley.

"Understanding this kind of charge distribution is critical for understanding how molecules work in different environments. I expect this technique to have an especially important future impact on the many areas where physics, chemistry, and biology intersect."

The technique could be used to study charge separation and charge transport in charge-transfer complexes, which consist of two or more molecules and which hold great promise for energy storage and photovoltaics.

When a scanning probe tip is placed above a conductive sample, an electric field is generated due to the different electrical potentials of the tip and the sample. With Kelvin probe force microscopy, this potential difference can be measured by applying a voltage such that the electric field is compensated.

The field's stronger above areas of the molecule that are charged, leading to a greater signal, and oppositely charged areas yield a different contrast because the direction of the electric field is reversed.

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Laser beams used to detect explosives

Austrian scientists say they've developed a way of using a laser to sniff out explosives from more than 100 meters away. Vienna University of Technology researchers are using what's known as  Raman-spectroscopy, which involves irradiating a sample with a laser beam. When the light is scattered by the molecules of the sample, it can change the light's wavelength, and thus its colour.

And by analyzing the colour spectrum of the scattered light, it's possible to work out what type of molecules did the scattering.

Until now, samples had to be placed very close to the laser and the light detector for this kind of Raman-spectroscopy.

"Among hundreds of millions of photons, only a few trigger a Raman-scattering process in the sample," says the university's Bernhard Zachhuber.

These scattered particles of light are scattered uniformly in all directions, so that only a tiny fraction travel back to the light detector.

Laser Beams 

From this very weak signal, though, it's possible to extract enough information using a highly efficient telescope and extremely sensitive light detectors.

The team worked with the Austrian military to test the system with  frequently used explosives, such as TNT, ANFO or RDX. And, says Engelene Chrysostom, "Even at a distance of more than a hundred meters, the substances could be detected reliably."

And the same held true even when the sample was hidden in a nontransparent container. The laser beam is scattered by the container wall, but a small portion of the beam penetrates the box, where it can still excite Raman-scattering processes.

The team expects applications in airport security checks, as well as adacdemic research, for example geological analysis on a Mars mission. 

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'Perfect' single-atom transistor brings quantum computer closer to reality

Physicists have created a working transistor consisting of a single atom placed precisely in a silicon crystal, making a remarkable feat in micro-engineering. The tiny electronic device uses as its active component an individual phosphorus atom patterned between atomic-scale electrodes and electrostatic control gates.

This unprecedented atomic accuracy may yield the elementary building block for a future quantum computer with unparalleled computational efficiency.

Until now, single-atom transistors have been realised only by chance, where researchers either have had to search through many devices or tune multi-atom devices to isolate one that works.

"But this device is perfect. This is the first time anyone has shown control of a single atom in a substrate with this level of precise accuracy," said Professor Michelle Simmons, group leader and director of the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication at UNSW.

The microscopic device even has tiny visible markers etched onto its surface so researchers can connect metal contacts and apply a voltage, stated research fellow and lead author Dr Martin Fuechsle from UNSW.

"Our group has proved that it is really possible to position one phosphorus atom in a silicon environment - exactly as we need it - with near-atomic precision, and at the same time register gates," he added.

The device is also remarkable, says Dr Fuechsle, because its electronic characteristics exactly match theoretical predictions undertaken with Professor Gerhard Klimeck's group at Purdue University in the USand Professor Hollenberg's group at the University of Melbourne, the joint authors on the paper.

The UNSW team used a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to see and manipulate atoms at the surface of the crystal inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber. Using a lithographic process, they patterned phosphorus atoms into functional devices on the crystal then covered them with a non-reactive layer of hydrogen.

Hydrogen atoms were removed selectively in precisely defined regions with the super-fine metal tip of the STM. A controlled chemical reaction then incorporated phosphorus atoms into the silicon surface.

Finally, the structure was encapsulated with a silicon layer and the device contacted electrically using an intricate system of alignment markers on the silicon chip to align metallic connects. The electronic properties of the device were in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions for a single phosphorus atom transistor.

It is predicted that transistors will reach the single-atom level by about 2020 to keep pace with Moore's Law, which describes an ongoing trend in computer hardware that sees the number of chip components double every 18 months.

This major advance has developed the technology to make this possible well ahead of schedule and gives valuable insights to manufacturers into how devices will behave once they reach the atomic limit, said Professor Simmons.

The invention has been described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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Bomb explosion kills three in Capital City of Nepal Kathmandu

At least three people, including a woman, were killed Monday in a powerful petrol bomb blast in the Nepali capital, media reports said.

More than six people were injured -- five of them critically, Xinhua reported.
 Local media reports said the blast took place around 1 p.m. outside the gate of the Nepal Oil Corporation's central office in Babarmahal area, close to the country's seat of government Singhadurbar.
 The Samyukta Jatiya Mukti Morcha-Bishwokranti (SJMM), an ethnic outfit, has claimed responsibility for the bombing. 

 Police cordoned off the site immediately after the incident. The injured were admitted to the Bir Hospital.
 Local media said a meeting on fuel price hike was underway in the Nepal Oil Corporation's office when the explosion rocked the building.

At least six people were also injured in the blast, officials say.

There has been no comment from the government as yet.

"A bomb blast killed two people and injured five in an area near government offices and the district court. The explosion occurred at 1:25pm (0740 GMT)," Nepal police spokesman, Binod Singh, was quoted by news agency Agence France Presse as saying.

"A special team of police have been deployed in the area. They are gathering evidence and the area has been cordoned off."

A person claiming to be a spokesman for the Unified National Liberation Front said it was a group fighting for the rights of indigenous communities and cited the government's inability to curb corruption and fuel price rises as reasons behind the attack, BBC Nepali reports.

The device, which went off at 1:25pm (0740 GMT) in a busy area of Kathmanduas workers were heading out of offices on their lunch breaks

A previously unknown group calling itself the Unified Ethnic Liberation Front claimed responsibility, Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchadar said, although the group’s agenda remains unclear.

“We will take action against the group. This is a political group which the police are investigating,” he told AFP.

“This is a very serious incident. Two were killed on the spot and one died in hospital. Seven were wounded.

“This is not due to a lapse in security but it represents an ongoing threat. I have ordered that security be tightened.”

Live television pictures from outside the offices of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) showed blood spattered across the road while police cleared panicked office workers from an area surrounding a body.

“We rushed to the site after hearing the explosion. There was panic and crying,” said Ramesh Koirala, chief of the NOC’s administration department.

“I saw that one body was piled up on another. The police haven’t picked up the dead bodies yet. There were internal organs scattered across the road. One of our employees, who is in his 30s, has been seriously injured.”

Another witness told News 24 TV: “There was a sudden explosion while we were talking and we ran for cover.

“We assumed that sound of the explosion was from a punctured tyre but we quickly realised that it was a bomb blast.”

Three people were killed and two others injured in December 2009 when a bomb went off in the southwest of the country but the device was thought to be a left-over from the Maoist insurgency.

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Bomb explosion kills three in Capital City of Nepal Kathmandu

At least three people, including a woman, were killed Monday in a powerful petrol bomb blast in the Nepali capital, media reports said.

More than six people were injured -- five of them critically, Xinhua reported.
 Local media reports said the blast took place around 1 p.m. outside the gate of the Nepal Oil Corporation's central office in Babarmahal area, close to the country's seat of government Singhadurbar.
 The Samyukta Jatiya Mukti Morcha-Bishwokranti (SJMM), an ethnic outfit, has claimed responsibility for the bombing. 

 Police cordoned off the site immediately after the incident. The injured were admitted to the Bir Hospital.
 Local media said a meeting on fuel price hike was underway in the Nepal Oil Corporation's office when the explosion rocked the building.

At least six people were also injured in the blast, officials say.

There has been no comment from the government as yet.

"A bomb blast killed two people and injured five in an area near government offices and the district court. The explosion occurred at 1:25pm (0740 GMT)," Nepal police spokesman, Binod Singh, was quoted by news agency Agence France Presse as saying.

"A special team of police have been deployed in the area. They are gathering evidence and the area has been cordoned off."

A person claiming to be a spokesman for the Unified National Liberation Front said it was a group fighting for the rights of indigenous communities and cited the government's inability to curb corruption and fuel price rises as reasons behind the attack, BBC Nepali reports.

The device, which went off at 1:25pm (0740 GMT) in a busy area of Kathmanduas workers were heading out of offices on their lunch breaks

A previously unknown group calling itself the Unified Ethnic Liberation Front claimed responsibility, Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchadar said, although the group’s agenda remains unclear.

“We will take action against the group. This is a political group which the police are investigating,” he told AFP.

“This is a very serious incident. Two were killed on the spot and one died in hospital. Seven were wounded.

“This is not due to a lapse in security but it represents an ongoing threat. I have ordered that security be tightened.”

Live television pictures from outside the offices of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) showed blood spattered across the road while police cleared panicked office workers from an area surrounding a body.

“We rushed to the site after hearing the explosion. There was panic and crying,” said Ramesh Koirala, chief of the NOC’s administration department.

“I saw that one body was piled up on another. The police haven’t picked up the dead bodies yet. There were internal organs scattered across the road. One of our employees, who is in his 30s, has been seriously injured.”

Another witness told News 24 TV: “There was a sudden explosion while we were talking and we ran for cover.

“We assumed that sound of the explosion was from a punctured tyre but we quickly realised that it was a bomb blast.”

Three people were killed and two others injured in December 2009 when a bomb went off in the southwest of the country but the device was thought to be a left-over from the Maoist insurgency.

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Study: Little electrical shocks to the brain improve memory?

According to US researchers, bringing a small  shock in  a person’s brain just before they discovered  a new task  seemed  to strengthen memory in a handful of patients with epilepsy, a tantalizing result that could have implications for Alzheimer’s disease.

Pacemaker devices which are also known to be  deep brain stimulators created by Medtronicand St. Jude Medical are already utilized  to relax  muscle tremors in patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, and are being tested for a host of other conditions such as treatment-resistant depression.

The machines are implanted under the skin in the chest with wires all the way to the neck connected to tiny electrodes implanted deep in the brain, which generate  electrical impulses.

The new  study was done at the University of California at Los Angeles to  seven epileptic patients  who had electrodes implanted deep in their brains to help identify the source of their seizures. The team  grabbed this opportunity to leaarn  how stimulating the brain affects memory.

They focused on an area of the brain called the entorhinal cortex, which helps form and store memories.

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Italian designer envisages Hospital boat for medical aids at seas

Quite a number of people go to sea for various purposes like fishing, traveling, sporting and others. However, since we don't have facilities to provide immediate medical aid for the victims of an unexpected natural disaster or accidents at seas, the concern has led the 29-year-old Italian yacht designer Marino Alfani to envisage a hospital boat concept. Designed like a catamaran, the boat can come close to the shore and offer immediate medical aids to patients. The hospital boat has been conceptualized in a way that it could board full-fledged medical facilities. The boat could lodge state-of-the-art laboratories, operation theaters, hyperbaric chamber for oxygen therapy and other facilities. It could house around twenty people including crewmembers, doctors and nurses. As a result, around 50 patients could be provided treatment daily.

The boat would have a helipad and garage for ambulance that bring patients from nearby accident sites and also transport them to land hospitals if required. According to Alfani, the boat would be hugely helpful in occasions like the recent Costa Concordia and the 2004 tsunami. When there are natural calamities like earthquakes and tsunamis, road networks often are blocked. Therefore, the idea of providing medial aids at sea is quite brilliant.

The prototype of the Hospital boat is built of aluminum alloy. The build measures in at 115-feet long, 48-feet wide and 25-feet tall. The whole architecture takes it inspiration from the emergency room of the BergamoHospital in Italy. Two 1200 diesel electric motors would propel the boat to provide a maximum speed of 10knots. The wonderful design won the 2012 Millennium Yacht Design Awards.

 

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Soon, eat your bottles once you've drunk what's inside

People will soon be able to eat their bottles after they have finished their drink - thanks to an avant-garde edible material developed by scientists. The product, a membrane created using a biodegradable plastic combined with food particles, could either be peeled off or potentially eaten as a whole and can taste like the drink inside.

Until now, experts at Harvard University have filled an orange membrane with orange juice, a tomato-flavoured enclosure with gazpacho and grape packages with wine.

They have not yet created a bottle with WikiCells - the edible material- but biomedical engineer Dr David Edwards hopes to craft a prototype soon.

"In the near term, we will be encountering WikiCells in restaurant settings' as a novelty item," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

After that, Prof Edwards plans to expand WikiCells to speciality stores and supermarkets.

Eventually, he plans to develop a WikiCells machine that would allow individuals to produce their own edible bottles.

"The idea was to try to create a bottle which was based on how nature creates bottles," he told the Harvard Crimson.

"People in a village in Africa could become plastic bottle-free and make things for themselves. It's really exciting from a humanitarian point of view," he added

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Space elevator could be built by 2050

Are you thinking about reaching to space? If yes the days are not far to reach space via space elevator. Japanese construction company Obayashi says it's working on plans for a space elevator that could take people to orbit by 2050. The company's told the Daily Yomiuri that it's a serious venture, but that it would need to work with other organizations round the world.

As anyone that's read Arthur C Clarke'sFountains of Paradise will know, the space elevator, or orbital tower, is a way of lifting a payload to geostationary orbit that could be very low cost. 

A tower, or cable, reaches from the equator to a point beyond geostationary orbit which holds a counterweight, keeping the tower's terminal station in position. As one car goes up, another descends, recovering a lot of the energy used.

Space Elevator

Obayashi's tower, it says, would reach a quarter of the way to the moon, with a station at the 36,000 km mark. While the tensile strength required would be incredible, it's believed that carbon nanotubes could handle the job.

Obayashi's considering using magnetic linear motors as the means of propulsion, and the journey to the station would take at least a week. The station would house laboratories, tourists, and even a solar power generator that could supply energy back to Earth.

"At this moment, we cannot estimate the cost for the project," an Obayashi official told Yomiuri. "However, we'll try to make steady progress so that it won't end just up as simply a dream."

Quite apart from the challenge of producing carbon nanotubes in enough quantity, there are, obviously, many other problems to overcome. At the speeds expected, radiation during transit through the Van Allen belt could be dangerous. There's also the risk that a structure that large would be hit by space debris.

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Soon, driverless cars will zoom in streets with no stoplights

Traffic red lights will soon be a history, says a computer scientist who is developing virtual intersection systems for fully autonomous vehicles.

According to Peter Stone, a professor of computer science at The University of Texas at Austin, intersections of the future will not need stop lights or stop signs, but will look like a somewhat chaotic flow of driverless, autonomous cars slipping past one another as they are managed by a virtual traffic controller.

"A future where sitting in the backseat of the car reading our newspaper while it drives us effortlessly through city streets and intersections is not that far away," said Stone.

Stone's research focuses on creating artificially intelligent (AI) computing systems, and he is developing some of the systems that are needed to make autonomous driving a reality.

For example, Stone and his students created an autonomous car, named Marvin, in cooperation with Austin Robot Technology that competed in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge competition.

Now, Stone is developing virtual intersection systems that will make auto travel safer and faster.

"Computers can already fly a passenger jet much like a trained human pilot, but people still face the dangerous task of driving automobiles," Stone explained.

"Vehicles are being developed that will be able to handle most of the driving tasks themselves. But once autonomous vehicles become popular, we need to coordinate those vehicles on the streets," he stated.

In his newest system, AI driver agents (the autonomous vehicles) "call ahead" and reserve space and a time at an intersection. Then an arbiter agent, called an "intersection manager," approves the request, and the vehicles move through. There is little stopped traffic.

For now, the action takes place mainly as a simulation on a computer, or with a single real car (for example, Marvin) interacting with many other simulated cars.

But Stone says the day is near when we'll start seeing autonomous vehicles on the streets, and the benefits of controlling the cars – and traffic – will be realized.

Stone presented his research this week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Phones could be powered by user's body heat

Dead cellphones could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new technology that can harvest enough juice for another call from the user's own body heat. Developed by researchers in the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University, Power Felt is based on tiny carbon nanotubes encased in flexible plastic fibers and uses temperature differences – room temperature versus body temperature, for instance – to create a charge.

"We waste a lot of energy in the form of heat. For example, recapturing a car's energy waste could help improve fuel mileage and power the radio, air conditioning or navigation system," says graduate student Corey Hewitt

.

"Generally thermoelectrics are an underdeveloped technology for harvesting energy, yet there is so much opportunity."

Potential uses for Power Felt include lining automobile seats to boost battery power and service electrical needs, insulating pipes or collecting heat under roof tiles to lower gas or electric bills.

It could also be used to lineclothing or sports equipment to monitor performance, or to wrap IV or wound sites to better track patients' medical needs.

"Imagine it in an emergency kit, wrapped around a flashlight, powering a weather radio, charging a prepaid cell phone," says David Carroll, director of the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials. "Power Felt could provide relief during power outages or accidents."

The reason thermoelectrics haven't been used more widely in the past is simple - cost. Standard thermoelectric devices use a much more efficient compound called bismuth telluride to turn heat into power in products including mobile refrigerators and CPU coolers, but  can cost $1,000 per kilogram.

But the Wake researchers are confident that, in bulk, their system could costs as little as $1 to add to a cellphone cover.

Currently, 72 stacked layers in the fabric yield about 140 nanowatts of power. The team is evaluating several ways to add more nanotube layers and make them even thinner to boost the power output.

There's more work to do, but Wake Forest says it's in talks with investors to produce Power Felt commercially.

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Einstein Theory is still Correct !! Flaw found in 'faster-than-light' experiment

CERN scientists believe they've established just how neutrinos were apparently able to travel faster than light. Last September, scientists working on CERN's Opera experiment reported that the subatomic particles were reaching Gran Sasso in Italy very slightly sooner than they should. If true, this would have meant that Einstein's special theory of relativity was wrong, and that the speed of light could be exceeded.

The team eventually identified two possible sources of error - the crystal oscillator which was timestamping the events and an optical fiber connection.

Einstein 

Both of these are still possible problems, says CERN - but the first would actually have made the neutrinos appear to travel too slowly. In other words, whether or not the oscillator's working properly, it's the connection that seems to have caused the 'faster-than-light' journey.

The optical fiber connector that carries the external GPS signal to the Opera master clock may not have been working correctly when the measurements were taken, CERN has confirmed, which would have increased the neutrinos' apparent speed.

The Opera team won't know for sure what's been going on until the original experiment is repeated, with more tests scheduled for May.

"While continuing our investigations, in order to unambiguously quantify the effect on the result, the collaboration is looking forward to performing a new measurement of the neutrino velocity as soon as a new bunched beam is available in 2012," it says.

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Chemically modified graphene could lead to flexible electronics

Researchers have come a step closer in creating faster, thinner, flexible electronics with the development of a new method for chemically altering graphene.

Highly desired for its many promising attributes, graphene is a one-atom thick, honeycomb-shaped lattice of carbon atoms with exceptional strength and conductivity.

Among graphene's many possible applications is electronics: Many experts believe it could rival silicon, transforming integrated circuits and leading to ultra-fast computers, cellphones and related portable electronic devices.

But first, researchers must learn how to tune the electronic properties of graphene -- not an easy feat, given a major challenge intrinsic to the material.

Graphene

Unlike semiconductors such as silicon, pure graphene is a zero band-gap material, making it difficult to electrically "turn off" the flow of current through it. Therefore, pristine graphene is not appropriate for the digital circuitry that comprises the vast majority of integrated circuits.

To overcome this problem and make graphene more functional, researchers around the world are investigating methods for chemically altering the material. The most prevalent strategy is the "Hummers method," a process developed in the 1940s that oxidizes graphene, but that method relies upon harsh acids that irreversibly damage the fabric of the graphene lattice.

Researchers at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science have recently developed a new method to oxidize graphene without the collateral damage encountered in the Hummers method.

Their oxidation process is also reversible, which enables further tunability over the resulting properties of their chemically modified graphene.

"Performing chemical reactions on graphene is very difficult," said Mark C. Hersam, professor of materials science and engineering at the McCormick School.

"Typically, researchers employ aggressive acidic conditions, such as those utilized in the Hummers method, that damage the lattice and result in a material that is difficult to control.

"In our method, however, the resulting graphene oxide is chemically homogeneous and reversible — leading to well-controlled properties that can likely be exploited in high-performance applications," said Hersam, who is also a professor of chemistry and of medicine.

To create the graphene oxide, researchers leaked oxygen gas (O2) into an ultra-high vacuum chamber. Inside, a hot tungsten filament was heated to 1500 degrees Celsius, causing the oxygen molecules to dissociate into atomic oxygen. The highly reactive oxygen atoms then uniformly inserted into the graphene lattice.

The resulting material possesses a high degree of chemical homogeneity. Spectroscopic measurements show that the electronic properties of the graphene vary as a function of oxygen coverage, suggesting that this approach can tune the properties of graphene-based devices.

"It's unclear if this work will impact real-world applications overnight. But it appears to be a step in the right direction," Hersam said.

Next, researchers will explore other means of chemically modifying graphene to develop a wider variety of materials, much like scientists did for plastics in the last century.

The finding will be published Feb. 19 in the journal Nature Chemistry. 

 

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Pirate Bay faces UK blockade

The PirateBay could be blocked in the UK following a court ruling that it illegally encourages users to infringe music copyright. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) - which represents labels including Sony, EMI, Universal and and Warner - succeeded yesterday in persuading High Court Justice Arnold that the site was breaching copyright on a massive scale.

The decision also criminalizes users of The Pirate Bay.

"In my judgment, the operators of TPB do authorise its users' infringing acts of copying and communication to the public. They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting. On any view, they 'sanction, approve and countenance' the infringements of copyright committed by its users," reads the judge's statement.

pirate bay logo

"But in my view they also purport to grant users the right to do the acts complained of. It is no defence that they openly defy the rights of the copyright owners."

ISPs BT, BSB, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, Telefonica and Virgin Media are all named as defendants.

The High Court will rule in June on whether they should be forced to block the site, as the BPI is asking.

But the decision follows a ruling by the same judge last summer that the country's biggest ISP, BT, should be forced to block pirate website Newzbin 2.

The judge said he found the Pirate Baycase 'virtually indistingushable' from that one: indeed, he added, "If anything, it is a stronger case."

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Boy is world's first to survive being born with heart outside his body

When Ryan Marquiss was born with his heart outside of his body, doctors didn’t expect him to survive.

It is an incredibly rare condition and usually babies are stillborn or die within three days.

His heart also hadn’t developed and so he only had half a heart - a combination of defects which is so rare that Ryan is the only one of his kind in the world.

Doctors advised his devastated parents to terminate the pregnancy when his mother was just 12 weeks pregnant, but they bravely refused.

Ryan Before and After Surgery

And it is a gamble that has paid off, as Ryan is just about to celebrate his third birthday.

Mrs Marquiss, 34, said: ‘We wanted to let nature take its course, so we refused to have the termination.

‘We knew it would be a miracle if he survived the birth but we were unwilling to take matters into our own hands.

‘The doctors told us that no baby with Ryan’s combination of defects had ever survived, so the fact that he is here with us today, is just amazing. He really has astounded everyone.’

Doctors discovered the problem at 12 weeks into his mother’s pregnancy.

The incredibly rare defect, ectopia cordis, affects only eight in every million births and ninety percent of these are stillborn or die within three days.

And adding to that Ryan was also suffering from hypoplastic right heart syndrome, where only the left side of the heart has developed properly.

Ryan with his Sister

Mrs Marquiss, who lives with husband Henry, 34, and their other children Natalie, seven, and Ainsley, five, in Pennsylvania, USA, said: ‘All the odds were stacked against him. We knew that it was a miracle that he had been born alive with his heart outside his body, but then to have another life-threatening condition of only having half a heart meant that everything was against him surviving.’

Doctors at the Children’s National Medical Centre in Washingtondelivered him at the end of February 2009 by caesarian, helped by a team of 30 medical professionals.

Dr Mary Donofrio, Director of the fetal heart programme at the Children’s National Medical Centre said: ‘If he survived the birth his exposed heart likely would become infected and kill him. Even if infection didn’t happen his heart had one working ventricle and he would require open heart surgery to rewire the blood flow through it.

‘I told the family right from the start that if he survived, it was a miracle.’   

Mrs Marquiss said: ‘His heart was protruding out of his chest cavity. The heart was only covered by a thin membrane.

‘But he was alive and we just had to pray that he would carry on fighting.’

Ryan had to have an operation at just two weeks old to have a central shunt placed in his heart to ensure proper blood flow.

Then he underwent more than a dozen operations over the next two years. He had operations to replumb his heart so that the half a heart would do the job of a full size heart.  Doctors also put tissue expanders under his skin to produce more skin so they could use it to cover his exposed heart.

Mrs Marquiss said: ‘He has done amazingly well. He has been so brave throughout it, and his sisters have kept him going too. They have been to see him in hospital and made recordings of themselves at home, so Ryan could hear them.

‘He just kept on fighting. He refused to die, and he kept on proving everyone wrong.

‘He will need some sort of chest protection operation in the future but it may be overcome by just wearing some sort of protective padding when he plays sport. He won’t be a competition athlete, but we are hoping he can run around on the playground and climb trees like any other child.’

Ryan’s case has now been reported in a medical journal. Doctors believe that his survival offers hope for other babies with serious heart defects.

In the future he may require a heart transplant, but at the moment, he is progressing well.

Mrs Marquiss said: ‘He really is a medical miracle. When I look at him running around the playground and playing on the climbing wall, I praise God. Every day with Ryan is one we were told we wouldn’t have. So we cherish each moment.’

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New load Shedding Schedule Effective from 23 february 2012; 11 Falgun 2068.

Good News for Nepalese as Nepalelectricity authority had reduced time of load shedding by one hour. According to NEA the reduction in load shedding is due to the reserve water in Kulekhani and there capacity to control leakage. Though load shedding has been reduced but the common can’t feel the reduction in load shedding is only in early morning when most of the people remain sleeping.

New Loadshedding Schedule Effectice from todat that is Falgun 11 2068 or February 23 2012 is as follows. 

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