 |
Back to the main page
Archives Of Computer Blog
Subscribe To Computer Blog RSS Feed
|
Micro-pump Is Cool Idea For Future Computer Chips
Brian D. Iverson holds disk containing "micro-pump" cooling devices
Innovative cooling systems will be needed for future computer chips that will generate more heat than current technology, and this extra heating could damage electronic devices or hinder performance, said Suresh Garimella, a professor of mechanical engineering. The new device has been integrated onto a silicon chip that is about 1 centimeter square, or roughly one-sixth of a square inch. The technology is an example of a microelectromechanical system, or MEMS, a tiny mechanical device fabricated using methods generally associated with microelectronics. "Because it's a MEMS pump, we were able to integrate the entire cooling system right onto a chip," Garimella said. "The most innovative part of the technology is the micro-pump". An article about the cooling device will appear in the recent issue of Electronics Cooling magazine. The article was written by doctoral student Brian D. Iverson, Garimella and former doctoral student Vishal Singhal, who recently graduated and co-founded Thorrn Micro Technologies Inc., in Redwood City, Calif. Chips in today's computers are cooled primarily with an assembly containing conventional fans and "heat sinks," or metal plates containing fins to dissipate heat. But because chips a decade from now will likely contain upwards of 100 times more transistors and other devices, they will generate far more heat than chips currently in use, Garimella said......... Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source Water and Nanoelectronics Will Mix to Create Ultra-Dense Memory Storage Devices
A team of experimentalists and theorists at the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and Harvard University has proposed a new and surprisingly effective means of stabilizing and controlling ferroelectricity in nanostructures: terminating their surfaces with fragments of water. Ferroelectrics are technologically important "smart" materials for a number of applications because they have local dipoles, which can switch up and down to encode and store information. The team's work is published in the recent issue of Nano Letters. "It is astonishing to see that a single wire of even a few atoms across can act as a stable and switchable dipole memory element," Jonathan Spanier, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Drexel, said. Spanier and colleagues successfully demonstrated the benefits of using water to stabilize memory bits in segments of oxide nanowires that are only about 3 billionths of a meter wide. "We have been interested in how water sticks to oxides," Alexie Kolpak, Penn graduate student in theoretical physical chemistry, said. "We are especially excited that water is the key ingredient in making these wires 'remember' their state"......... Posted by: Ryan Permalink Source DVD On A Plotter, Not Bad
he E also has a choice of aspect ratios, but I still couldn't get the picture to fill the full width of the screen. And yes, that is the actor from Friends who now mocks his acting career on the TV show Joey. This particular job, Lost in Space, must have been inspirational. I have no idea why the DVD is lying around my house......... Posted by: Ryan Permalink Source The All-New Google Mini: Less is More
"True to its name, we've made the Mini even smaller, but added a number of features to make it even more useful for small businesses," said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager of Google's enterprise business. "For about the price of a PC, companies can make their web sites more usable and employees more productive by adding Google search". Starting at just $1995, new features for the Mini include:. Access to more, fresher content
Better performance
Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source Security360 Preview: Digital Certificates
Today, because of the growing requirements for strong authentication and security services like smartcard-based authentication and IPSEC, quarantine technologies like Network Access Protection, and business drivers such as cost, information protection and regulatory compliance, what was once considered a luxury in the business world is rapidly becoming a necessity. To help unravel the questions around digital certificates, when they should be employed, and how to implement them, hosts Mike Nash and Amy Roberts will tackle the issue during this month's Microsoft Security360 webcast on April 18. Guests for this month's discussion include Candy Stark, security project manager for Microsoft IT; Gary Secrest, director of worldwide information security at Johnson & Johnson; Dan Blum, senior vice president and research director of Burton Group; Conrad Bayer, group program manager of Windows Security at Microsoft; Steve Sanders, senior technology analyst for Southern Company; David Cross, director of program management for Windows Security at Microsoft, and Brian Komar, president of Ident-IT......... Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source Cablelabs And Realnetworks Bring Video Services To The PC
"We are constantly working to deliver customers innovative technical solutions that match their usage preferences," said Glenn Britt, Chairman of the CableLabs Board of Directors and President and CEO of Time Warner Cable. "This DRM solution provides a secure environment while guaranteeing a high quality customer experience. We hope this will lead to a competitive marketplace for secure DRM technologies". The ability for the PC to serve as another vehicle for consumers to enjoy cable programming is a top initiative for the cable industry," said Richard R. Green, president and CEO of CableLabs. "The approval of Helix DRM is a positive step for both the cable and IT industries - an ideal match-up for content providers and the manufacturers of innovative home computing and networking products"......... Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source Forearm Supports Reduce Upper Body Pain Linked To Computer Use
Providing forearm support is an effective intervention to prevent musculoskeletal disorders of the upper body and aids in reducing upper body pain associated with computer work, according to a study in The British Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Reported in the April 18 issue, the study shows that use of large arm boards significantly reduces neck and shoulder pain as well as hand, wrist and forearm pain. "Based on these outcomes, employers should consider providing employees who use computers with appropriate forearm support," said lead author David Rempel, MD, MPH, director of the ergonomics program at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Study findings also show arm boards and ergonomics training provide the most protective effect, with a statistically significant reduction in both neck and shoulder pain and right hand/wrist/forearm pain in comparison to the control group, who did not receive forearm support. The boards reduced the risk of incidence of neck and shoulder disorders by nearly half. According to the authors, musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, shoulders and arms are a common occupational health problem for individuals involved in computer-based customer service work. Specific disorders include wrist tendonitis, elbow tendonitis and muscle strain of the neck and upper back. These health problems account for a majority of lost work time in call centers and other computer-based jobs. "Extended hours of mouse or keyboard use and sustained awkward postures, such as wrist extension, are the most consistently observed risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders," Rempel added......... Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source Unbreakable Quantum Encryption
NIST physicist Xiao Tang and colleagues have developed a quantum communications system that uses single photons to produce a "raw" encryption key at the rate of 4 million bits per second. Image credit: © Robert Rathe
The NIST quantum key distribution (QKD) system uses single photons, the smallest particles of light, in different orientations to produce a continuous binary code, or "key," for encrypting information. The rules of quantum mechanics ensure that anyone intercepting the key is detected, thus providing highly secure key exchange. The laboratory system produced this "raw" key at a rate of more than 4 million bits per second (4 million bps) over 1 kilometer (km) of optical fiber, twice the speed of NIST's prior record, reported just last month.** The system also worked successfully, eventhough more slowly, over 4 km of fiber. The record speed was achieved with an error rate of only 3.6 percent, considered very low. The next step will be to process the raw key, using NIST-developed methods for correcting errors and increasing privacy, to generate "secret" key at about half the original speed, or about 2 million bps......... Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source Paint-on Laser To Rescue Computer Chip
But this isn't a laser in the stereotypical sense -- no corded, clunky boxes projecting different coloured lights. In fact, Professor Ted Sargent, of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, carries a small vial of the paint used to make this laser in his briefcase -- it looks like diluted ink. Lasers that can produce coherent infrared light in the one to two nanometre wavelength range are essential in telecommunications, biomedical diagnosis and optical sensing. The speed and density of computer chips has risen exponentially over the years, and within 15 to 20 years the industry is expected to reach a point where components can't get any faster. But the interconnect bottleneck -- the point where microchips reach their capacity -- is expected sometime around 2010. To tackle this problem, Sargent, a Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology, created the new laser using colloidal quantum dots -- nanometre-sized particles of semiconductor that are suspended in a solvent like the particles in paint. "We've made a laser that can be smeared onto another material," says Sargent. "This is the first paint-on semiconductor laser to produce the invisible colours of light needed to carry information through fiber-optics. The infrared light could, in the future, be used to connect microprocessors on a silicon computer chip." A study describing the laser was reported in the April 17 issue of the journal Optics Express......... Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source Global 3G-Powered Notebooks
HP is expected to be the first company to provide customers with global 3G capabilities when it expands its range of broadband wireless notebooks to integrate Cingular's critically acclaimed UMTS/HSDPA-based technology later this year. Customers will be able to enjoy wireless access to email, the Internet and critical business data 1 both in the United States - either with BroadbandConnect or high-speed EDGE services - and abroad in more than 100 countries worldwide in which there are UMTS or GPRS/EDGE networks available. BroadbandConnect service is expected to be available in most major U.S. markets by the end of this year. "Cingular is a pioneer in the deployment of national, high-speed wireless data services and in the integration of wireless wide area network capabilities in portable computers," said Jeff Bradley, vice president, business data services, for Cingular Wireless. "We look forward to putting this wireless experience and expertise to work for HP as we team with them to bring notebook customers the global 3G wireless broadband technology of choice"......... Posted by: Ethan Permalink Source |
Older Blog Entries 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13