The next-generation Internet is being built with high-speed wireless networks, ranging from next-generation cell phones and other mobile devices to free-space optical networks based on laser light.
The hottest trends:
Haptic interfaces, which add the sense of touch to virtual-reality systems, are becoming commerically available but are still expensive.CyberGrasp from San Jose-based Immersion consists of a lightweight mechanical exoskeleton that fits over a motion capture glove. It lets users manipulate virtual objects in a computer-generated world and creates the illusion of touching and grasping objects.
Woburn, MA-based SensAble Technologies makes touch-based modeling systems for industrial designers. Its FreeForm system… read more
The Federal Drug Administration has ruled that the Verichip, an implantable microchip used for ID purposes, is not a regulated device, so it can now be sold in the United States.
Applied Digital Solutions has been marketing the VeriChip in the U.S. as a device to allow hospital workers to access patients’ health records, by scanning the chip and cross-referencing the device’s ID with a patient database.… read more
Ray Kurzweil will debate Gregory Stock, Director, UCLA Program on Medicine, Technology and Society, on “BioFuture vs. MachineFuture” at the “Exploring the Edges” Foresight Senior Associate Gathering this month, April 26-28, 2002 in Palo Alto, California.
Stock foresees “widespread reworking of human biology via genetic engineering: neither governments nor religious groups will be able to stop this” in the next few decades, says Foresight president Christine Peterson. “Greg sees computer… read more
Researchers at Purdue University have created Nanotubes measuring just 100 atoms in diameter.Nanotube “parent” molecules were developed. These molecules self-assemble in water to form tiny rings, which then snap together, forming long tubes.
The outside of these tubes has “hooks” on which to hang other molecules. This allows the resulting nanotube to be used for specific electronic applications — virtually forming angstrom-sized circuit elements.
Professor Hicham Fenniri’s research… read more
“We are entering a new era. I call it ‘the Singularity,’” says Ray Kurzweil in an interview just published on the Edge Web site.
The interview is available as a video, RealAudio file, and text transcript.
Optimistic about an economy rebound, Intel has ramped up R&D spending to an all time high of $4.1 billion.CEO Craig Barrett says that Intel is focusing on its “core competency” — selling microchips and extending the life of silicon technology. Moore’s Law “is good for another 15 years,” Barrett contends.
At the February Intel Developer’s Forum in San Francisco, the company announced its newest Pentium 4, code-named Prescott, that… read more
It’s ten past 6 and you’re late. The two full moons are already peeking above the horizon, drenching the marbled purple landscape in an amber twilight.
The Crystal Pyramid Theater, that you architected and built last week, is just in sight now as you glide over lollipop trees. Above a field of giant cotton balls you glance up at your holographic watch.
(Click image for high-res version)… read more
Limits predicted by Moore’s Law won’t be reached until after 2028, according to a semiconductor industry leader.
Calvin Chenming Hu, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Chief Technologist, said 9 nanometer devices “can be ready more or less on time, in 2028 according to long-term forecasts or 2024, according to the 2002 (industry roadmap).”If Hu’s view is correct, fundamental limits on current two-dimensional integrated circuit technology are still far off. In… read more
Backed by a US Army grant of $50 million over five years, MIT has launched a new Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.
The institute is tasked with innovating materials and designs that will reinvent soldiers’ uniforms, turning them into high tech gear that rivals the best science fiction.
Among the capabilities of the futuristic fabrics: morphing to improve camouflage, stiffening to splint broken limbs, and storing energy that can be… read more
Researchers at Brown University have demonstrated that brain patterns can be used to control machines. The development could lead to techniques that allow paraplegics to articulate artificial limbs through thought alone.In the experiment, which resembled a computer game, monkeys initially used a joystick to chase red and purple dots around a screen.
Then, unknown to the monkeys, the joystick was disconnected — but the animals were still able to… read more
The Intel Science Talent Search (STS) has announced the winners.
Ryan Patterson, 18, of Central High School in Grand Junction, Colo., won first place and the $100,000 Intel Science Talent Search scholarship for his project, “The American Sign Language Translator,” a glove that converts American Sign Language to written text on a portable display.
Jacob Licht, 17, of West Hartford High School in West Hartford, Conn., won… read more
Scientists, using distributed computing via a million home computers, have come up with 300,000 potential compounds that could be developed as a cure for anthrax.
The project was completed in 24 days, versus years with traditional methods, according to Graham Richards, a chemistry professor at Britain’s Oxford University who helped organize the project.
The list of drug candidates goes to the U.S. Department of Defense and Britain’s Office of… read more