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Small, cheap smart-tag devices that are printed as digital circuits in rolls like newspapers could help kickstart the wireless payment industry. The devices, known as rectennas, combine a rectifier - which converts current from AC to DC - with an antenna, and can harness power directly from radio waves given off by a mobile phone. Developed by a team at Sunchon National University and Paru Printed Electronics Research Institute in South Korea, the rectenna is based on Near Frequency Communication (NFC) technology, an update to the more familiar RFID standard found in London Underground's Oyster ticketing system, for example. NFC chips can be used to tag many of the same things RFID chips can, from pets to luggage to boxes in a warehouse. The killer app is likely to be contactless payment, where payments are made by waving a reader in a phone over an NFC price tag. Though this technology has been touted for a few years now - and worldwide payments by NFC-enabled phones are predicte...

Aug 2, 2012 1:20 PM   Samsung has just announced some superfast new chips and they might one day power an iPhone. The company claims the Pro Class 1500 line is the Usain Bolt of flash memory cards—four times speedier than predecessors, and possibly the fastest chips around. They can read data at 140 MB per second and write it at 50 MB per second and process at 1,500 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second) for writing and 3,500 for reading. They come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB configurations. Despite their very public squabbling, Samsung still provides Apple with some very important components, including flash memory. And the latest chips could be the innards that supercharge not your next iPhone, but your next next iPhone. [Samsung Tomorrow via Engadget] Image credit: Samsung Tomorrow View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Aug 2, 2012 11:20 AM   Apple is trying to patent a Smart Cover for the iPad that has an embedded secondary display. Or in other words: Eat it, Surface. The cover would use a connector on the side of the iPad that would supply data and power to the cover. Here's Apple's description from the application: [The] accessory device comprising: a flexible flap having a size and shape in accordance with the host device display, wherein at least a portion of the flexible flap is covered by a flap display configured to present visual information; and a connecting portion, the connecting portion arranged to provide at least a communication channel arranged to convey information between the host device and the accessory device wherein at least some of the information is presented visually on the flap display. It looks pretty cool. But, naturally, applying for a patent doesn't mean that we're going to see this, or even that Apple has the technology to do pull this off. But it'...

Aug 1, 2012 10:22 AM   Microsoft Surface is one of the most exciting products we've heard about in a long time, but for everything the company did to whet our appetite, it left us with plenty of questions about the tablet's guts, too. Tech In 5 has obtained what appear to be leaked slides detailing the forthcoming Lenovo "Windows 8 ThinkPad Tabet 2." Could this be our first look at what Surface and its competition will look like inside? Even though Lenovo goes to pains to compare the Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet to an iPad, its real competition will be Microsoft Surface. In particular, it's interesting to hear about the tablet's chipset. It packs an Intel Cloverview Dual Core Atom processor. Atom processors are notorious battery killers, but Lenovo seems to think that it can get 10 hours out of the tablet. What else? The 10.1-inch tablet is 9.8mm thick (slightly more than the 9.3mm Surface) and weighs 24 ounces (the same). The screen has 1366 x 768 resolution, ...

Jul 30, 2012 11:20 AM   Seemingly forgetting that 99 percent of the time microwaves are used to reheat pizza, make popcorn, or nuke a frozen dinner, LG has crammed more functionality into its Lightwave Oven than frozen dinner diners will ever need. In addition to heating a meal through the magic of microwaves, the MA922MBN also doubles as a compact convection oven, a grill, a dehydrator, a fermentor, and even a toaster thanks to a halogen lighting system inside. It can also clean itself via a built-in steam system, and if that wasn't enough, LG has made all of this functionality controllable via your smartphone. So whether you're engrossed in Olympics on the couch, or stuck at work, you can program, monitor, and start the $750 oven (available in Korea now, and hopefully globally soon) even if you're no where near it. That sounds pretty safe right? [Newlaunches via WhoWired] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnate...

Mortars are an invaluable tool for infantry forces, but the problem is that they aren't exactly accurate, only half land within 136 meters of where they're aimed. That sort of success rate just won't do in Afghanistan, where minimizing collateral damage is an imperative. That's why General Dynamics built a mortar with pinpoint accuracy. Mortars provide indirect (not line-of-sight) firing capabilities to infantry troops against both enemy positions and assets without having to rely on heavy artillery forces. Mortars are dumb-bombs that come in either finned or spin-stabilized varieties. Finned mortars utilize metal fletching to maintain its flight path, while the spin-stabilized version travels much as a bullet does when leaving a rifle barrel. Both types are fired at low speeds with high, arcing trajectories. That's great when you want to fire upon an enemy base from behind the crest of a hill (as the Vietnamese did with great success in the siege of Khe Sahn), but...

Jul 30, 2012 4:40 PM   Our comment guru Tony Kaye had an interesting question, so we figured we'd present it to you. Imagine you had the ability to travel back in time. Knowing what you know now, what would you make different in the tech world? What tech would you bring with you? Would you create Facebook before Facebook? Would you convince Reed Hastings never to attempt the Qwikster disaster? Would you terrify people with your iPod touch? Or maybe you'd subtly insert yourself into photos with people of the time? Let's get hypothetical. Image via Virtual Museum of Canada View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Jul 27, 2012 5:30 AM   Google's glasses were a little bit of a let down for those of us who wanted a true head-up display. This video, however, depicts a fictional future where the head-up display powers all our digital lives—and it's equal parts awesome and terrifying. Called Sight, this short was put together by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo, as a graduation project at Bezaleal academy of arts. It shows off a world where the only display required is embedded in a contact lens—which makes an empty room a playground and every activity a game. It's a thought-provoking little video and, given the way things turn out, maybe we should be thankful that Google Glasses don't offer true HUD just yet. [Vimeo] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Jul 27, 2012 1:16 PM   FWD highlights an early iPhone 4 concept design created by Apple's designer Shin Nishibori. It unequivocally confirms what I've repeatedly said since the introduction of the iPhone 4: it feels like an old school Sony product. Just like the iPhone 5 design or my custom wooden iPhone 4, which feels like a 70s Betamax VCR. [FWD] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Jul 22, 2012 3:30 PM   Reddit user Philawesomeraptor's girlfriend recently received a cornea transplant for a condition called keratoconus, which causes structural changes to the cornea, and drastically distorts vision. These are her stitches. There are other images of cornea stitches out there, but this one is especially beautiful. Apparently she is doing well, and her vision is improving in the eye that was operated on, so good news all around. [Reddit] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Researchers are developing a sense of touch, at least, a sense of touch for robotic machinery. A group of 13 researchers are working on an international project to develop an artificial finger with a sense of touch. The finger would be directly connected to the nervous system, the researchers said. It would contain sensors on its surface in the same numbers as our fingers do. The sensors translate pressure and mechanical movement into an electronic code. This would then decoded by the wearers brain, once they were trained to interpret the signals. "Compared to the hand prostheses which are currently on the market, an integrated sense of touch would be a major improvement. It would be a truly modern and biometric device which would give the patient the feeling as if it belonged to his own body," says Dr. Lucia Beccai from the Centre for Micro-Robotics at the Italian Institute for Technology. The finger would be important for people who have lost fingers or hands. The prototy...