August 27, 2010, 7:30 AM CT

3-D movies via Internet and satellite

Blockbusters like Avatar, UP or Toy Story 3 will bring the 3-D into home living rooms, televisions and computers. There are already displays available and the new Blu-Ray players can already play 3-dimensional movies based on MVC. The first soccer games were recorded stereoscopically at the Football World Championships in South Africa. What is missing is an efficient form of transmission.

The problem is the data rate mandatory by the movies in spite of fast Internet and sat-ellite links. 3-D movies have higher data rate requirements than 2-dimensional movies since at least two images are needed for the spatial representation. This means that a 3-D screen has to show two images one for the left and one for the right eye.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut, HHI in Berlin, Gera number of have already come up with a compression technique for movies in especially HD quality that squeezes movies while maintaining the quality: the H.264/AVC video format. What H.264/AVC is for HD movies, Multiview Video Coding (MVC) is for 3-D movies. The benefit is reducing the data rate used on the transmission channel while maintaining the same high-definition quality.

Videos on the Internet have to load quickly so that the viewer can watch the movies without interruptions. Thomas Schierl is a scientist at the HHI in Berlin and he explains that MVC packs the two images needed for the stereoscopic 3-D effect so that the bit rate of the movies is significantly reduced. These 3-D movies are up to 40 percent smaller. Thomas Schierl and colleagues are working to establish the MVC codec for television transmission over satellites or the Internet. New TV sets will start off by only playing 3-D movies from the Blu-Ray disc that is now coming into the third dimension. The next step to bring 3-D into living rooms will be made possible via broadcast or IPTV channels running via DSL or cable......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

August 26, 2010, 7:30 AM CT

Organic LED light source for home electronics

Electronic products pollute our environment with many heavy metals before, during and after they're used. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 70% of heavy metals in landfill come from discarded electronics. With flat screen TVs getting bigger and cheaper every year, environmental costs continue to mount.

To counter this, a new Tel Aviv University solution applies a discovery in nano-technology, based on self-assembled peptide nanotubes, to "green" the optics and electronics industry. Scientists Nadav Amdursky and Prof. Gil Rosenman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Electrical Engineering say their technology could make flat screen TV production green and can even make medical equipment - like subcutaneous ultrasound devices - more sensitive.

Inspired by a biomaterial involved in Alzheimer's disease research discovered by Prof. Ehud Gazit of the university's Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, the researchers developed a new nano-material, applying the scientific disciplines of both biology and physics. This biological material is the basis for their new, environmentally-friendly variety of light-emitting diodes (LED) used in both consumer and medical electronics.

TV in a test tube?

Their new invention is more than a clean, green way to create light, the scientists say. It also generates a strong signal that can be used in other applications in the nano-world of motors, actuators and ultrasound......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

August 24, 2010, 5:59 PM CT

Glorious gadolinium gives flash memory

College Park, MD (August 24, 2010) -- Future flash memory could be faster and store more data without changing its basic design by using a clever nanocrystal material proposed by researchers at Taiwan's Chang Gung University, who describe a new logical element made with the rare earth material gadolinium in the journal APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, which is published by the American Institute of Physics.

It's well known in the semiconductor industry that conventional flash memory -- an essential element of mobile electronics today -- cannot improve much more because continued shrinking of its floating gate structure in the pursuit of faster performance and higher data storage capacity will soon degrade its ability to retain its memory. The situation has stimulated a wide range of research worldwide into dozens of alternative memory designs, but most attractive to industry would be one that requires the least modification to the existing floating-gate design.

A research group headed by Chao-Sung Lai at Chang Gung University in Taoyuan, Taiwan, has done just that. They have demonstrated that a cleverly modified floating gate made of gadolinium oxide -- an inexpensive rare-earth compound already used in other microelectronic applications -- has the write/erase speed and data retention properties that will enable smaller, faster and higher-capacity flash memories in the future......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

August 9, 2010, 7:33 PM CT

What is Cloud Hosting?

When web hosting meets cloud computing, the result is a variety of hosting products that let businesses dynamically scale resources according as their business needs fluctuate. By adjusting their hosting packages on an as-needed basis, businesses can save money by paying only for what they need and still avoid any downtime caused by servers going over capacity. In general, there are three general kinds of cloud hosting technologies that businesses can leverage to reap the cost efficiencies of cloud computing.

Cloud Shared Hosting
For businesses whose hosting needs are small to moderate, there is cloud shared hosting. This kind of hosting is designed for those who are just starting out a new online business or website. As a rule, cloud shared hosting plans offer increased reliability, performance and security. In a nutshell, these are businesses who are just starting out with a blog, an online community, or basic e-commerce website, and cloud shared hosting offers a great balance between low costs and high uptime.

Cloud Servers
At the next level, cloud servers offer businesses all the benefits of dedicated servers, but at a fraction of the cost. With a cloud server product, you can get flexibility, convenience, and the enhanced performance offered by cloud computing. Your servers can be dynamically scaled to meet the changing needs of your online business, and that will significantly reduce the costs of doing business because you will only have to pay for the bandwidth and server space that you actually use.

Cloud Storage
When cloud computing meets data back-up, cloud storage is what you get. Cloud storage offers online businesses high performance, future-proof and highly-scalable online data storage so that their media and files can be hosted and/or accessed from anywhere. Often using storage area network (SAN) disks, cloud storage plans tend to feature faster data throughput and improved reliability. This lets you store media files (such a video) and serve them up on your various web properties. It is also great for backing up your internal network files, or giving employees access to those files from anywhere in the world.

Doing Business in the Cloud
In a nutshell, if you're a company can't afford to experience any significant down-time, but still has to be prudent to not invest in more in your hosting than is necessary, then some kind of cloud hosting package is probably what your business needs. Basically, with a cloud hosting package, your business can save money by not spending more than you need to, but still harness all the benefits of cloud computing — such as scalability and enhanced server performance. Such features are ideal for a company that's tech- and/or web-reliant, but doesn't have enough free resources to commit to something as comprehensive as a dedicated hosting package.

Writer's Bio:
Samantha Wheeler is a freelance writer in the tech industry that has written articles on dedicated servers, managed hosting and cloud hosting. For more inquiries, please contact Samantha Wheeler at samantha.wheeler3@gmail.com
Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:43:44 GMT

Walden digital

I was sitting on the front porch of the cabin, reading Walden. On my iPad. Actually, it’s become more of Libby’s iPad, which doesn’t bug me too much.

We took the iPad with us when we spent the night at the cabin a couple of weeks ago. Not having electricity out there, we don’t have reading lamps, so when night fell, we were pretty much restricted by what we were left able to do in the dark. Not so with a back-lit ebook reader, however.

It’s a novelty. The iPad, aside from being an ebook reader, does nothing my laptop can’t also do (and do better). And as a book reader, it doesn’t do much that a paperback can’t do as well. (So far, the only thing I’ve found that the iPad can do while I am reading is look up words I don’t know the definition of, which is certainly the case when I’m reading Walden.) But I’ve dropped plenty of paperbacks and they still work fine when I pick them up. And I’ve never had a low battery message on a paperback. And I could even throw a paperback across the room if I hated it.

I’m reluctant to get sucked into the new book marketing paradigm. The iPad can use some of the services and not others. (For example, I can’t download any books from my local library onto it.) The services I have looked into seem pop culture heavy. I’m unlikely to read the latest bestseller, but the novelists I am interested in aren’t available on the services I’ve looked into. I suppose I could find them, but do I want to?

I’ve found that I cannot read out at the cabin. Too much is going on. I want to watch the woods and the lake. I am constantly listening to the birds and the breeze. When I’m out there I’m always thinking of the next thing I can go do or how much I can enjoy the stupor provided by the comfy chairs.

Like most things, though, Pablo will likely evolve.

Missouri calendar:

• Bobolinks migrate from Argentina and some nest in northern Missouri.

Posted by: Roundrockjournal      Read more     Source

July 20, 2010, 8:34 PM CT

Why the Home Phone Has Become Irreplaceable

Typically, a home phone concept was normally identified with the landlines or wired networks, where the phones were connected through the physical media. There was a time before a couple of decades, when the members of our families used to tell us who called, and pass on the information.

With the advancement of technology, things have changed quite considerably all around the world. Communication has become more direct now, and the SMS facilities allow people to send messages even when the receiver's cell phones are switched off.

We have reached a stage, where the cell phones have exceeded the number of fixed telephones in most of the countries. However, almost all the houses have still retained their good ol' telephones even to this day.

According to some survey reports, China has the highest number of wired home telephone lines, followed closely by the United States.

The reason for this is primarily the cost factor, since the wired telephone lines offer cheaper tariff plans and packages. Also there are many 'Voice over Internet Protocol' (VOIP) service providers, who offer excellent packages for free and cheap international calling.

Many new telephone service providers are cropping up everywhere around the world, and the offers which they provide to promote their businesses are absolutely unbelievable. Calling other countries has become as cheap as talking locally these days. Amazingly, all these features have been integrated with the home phone lines......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

July 6, 2010, 7:23 AM CT

Creating a super battery

Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on a giant planet, Washington State University scientists have created a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast amounts of energy.

"If you think about it, it is the most condensed form of energy storage outside of nuclear energy," says Choong-Shik Yoo, a WSU chemistry professor and main author of results reported in the journal Nature Chemistry

The research is basic science, but Yoo says it shows it is possible to store mechanical energy into the chemical energy of a material with such strong chemical bonds. Possible future applications include creating a new class of energetic materials or fuels, an energy storage device, super-oxidizing materials for destroying chemical and biological agents, and high-temperature superconductors.

The scientists created the material on the Pullman campus in a diamond anvil cell, a small, two-inch by three-inch-diameter device capable of producing extremely high pressures in a small space. The cell contained xenon difluoride (XeF2), a white crystal used to etch silicon conductors, squeezed between two small diamond anvils.

At normal atmospheric pressure, the material's molecules stay relatively far apart from each other. But as scientists increased the pressure inside the chamber, the material became a two-dimensional graphite-like semiconductor. The scientists eventually increased the pressure to more than a million atmospheres, comparable to what would be found halfway to the center of the earth. All this "squeezing," as Yoo calls it, forced the molecules to make tightly bound three-dimensional metallic "network structures." In the process, the huge amount of mechanical energy of compression was stored as chemical energy in the molecules' bonds......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:16:42 GMT

AMX Launches New Modero Touch Panel

When you're in the lead of a particular industry, you strive to maintain top spot by continuously innovating and pushing the boundaries of ingenuity beyond targets or expectations. This is exactly what AMX, one of the leading hardware and software solutions companies that help simplify the way we interact with technology, is doing with the launch of the latest addition to its Modero Touch Panel line.

Dubbed the MVP-9000i, the new tool for home automation from AMX will supposedly redefine the term "touch panel" with its nine-inch full-color screen.

"The MVP-9000i significantly advances touch panel capabilities that enhance the way users interact with control and automation touch panels," said Robert Noble, chief technology officer of AMX. "With finger-swipe animated page transitions, brilliant 24-bit color display and other cutting-edge innovations, it will be a must-have for anyone who experiences it."


© AMX
Posted by: Linda      Read more     Source

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:52:15 GMT

Huawei S7 Android tablet to be announced soon?

The Huawei S7 table was demonstrated recently at the Computex recently but not much was revealed about the device. Now there. Now there is news floating around that Huawei is soon going to announce and possibly launch its new Android tablet at a conference that will be held on June 24. The Huawei S7 is basically an internet tablet but it will also be equipped with phone functionalities making it a good competitor to Apple's iPad and also smartphones like HTC Evo 4G, iPhone 4 & Motorola Droid.

Here are the specs known so far:

Network: 3G
OS: Android 2.1
Processor: 1 GHz Snapdragon
Display: 7 inch (800 x 480) pixels
Connectivity: Bluetooth, HSDPA, WiFi,USB, HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack
Memory: microSD slot

Posted by: Kevin      Read more     Source

February 26, 2010, 11:49 PM CT

How to Select the Best Headsets for Your Office Phone

Corded headsets have been taken over by the wireless ones. Though the corded ones were very popular they are being fast replaced by the wireless ones. Commercially speaking the wireless ones are more convenient. With the corded headphones you had to deal with many cables and connections which you had to connect to different points in the system. They were also quite cheap. The wireless ones, particularly the Bluetooth headsets are comparatively expensive yet with them you don't have to deal with cables and cords.

It has been almost a decade since the wireless headsets have been discovered. They have been a huge technical innovation and are continuously improved upon. A whole new range of Bluetooth headsets have cropped up, further simplifying the use of mobile phones and computers. Recently, Cardo Systems have unveiled the G4 Bluetooth Headset. It is of the wireless variety and it is specifically designed for bikers. It has a very good noise cancellation feature which helps bikers to talk to each other while riding a bike with minimum background noise. One can hear very clearly even while riding a bike. They are compatible with mobile phones which are incorporated by the Bluetooth feature.

The corded headsets as well as the wireless ones are available in a wide range of style. The headbands, over the ear styles and the behind the neck styles are all different from one another. Every manufacture generates different styles with each of these products. But what is more important is the quality of the product. One should not compromise on the audio quality of the product. The main function of the headset is to give you better audio while leaving your hands free to perform other tasks.

One should always do some research on the best models available before buying these kinds of devices. They are available in various ranges. If you are opting to go for a wireless variety then you must check its range. Remember, the wireless variety is used so that one does not have to remain seated in a particular position while having to answer a call over the landline in the office. So, the range of the wireless headset should be such that even if a person moves 20 feet away from the device to do some other office work, he can still carry on a business discussion over phone conveniently without any audio problems.

Hence, choose the best possible headsets available in the market. Invest in the right product and you will definitely be satisfied with the services. Visit Telecom Superstore to select the best possible device.