Nokia Tablet To Use Wimax Network
LAS VEGAS -- Sprint Nextel Corp.'s new ultrafast cellular data network is getting some support from Nokia Corp., which said Tuesday it is going to launch a Web-browsing "tablet" for the WiMax network as it goes live this summer.
The Web tablet, which features a 4.1-inch touch screen and a slide-out keyboard, is likely to join a tiny laptop from Taiwan's ASUSTek Computer as the first gadgets that can use the network, in addition to laptop cards and desktop modems.
Finland-based Nokia previously announced its intention to make a WiMax tablet, but provided specifics for the first time Tuesday. The tablet will be a modified version of Nokia's N810 model, with a slight bulge on the back for the WiMax antenna. Nokia President Mark Louison said the price would be similar to the N810, which sells for US$439 on Nokia's Web site.
Contrary to usual practices in the U.S. wireless industry, Nokia will be selling the devices, rather than the carrier. Activation for Sprint's network will happen in much the same way people buy access to commercial Wi-Fi hotspots. If WiMax becomes available in the area, the tablet will notify the owner that it has picked up a signal.
Connecting to the network will take the user to a Sprint Web page where a credit card number can be entered. Access prices have not been announced for the network, which Sprint will be marketing under the Xohm brand.
Nokia is involved in Xohm in another way: Its joint venture with Siemens AG is one of the suppliers of network hardware.
WiMax will enable downloads of 2 to 4 megabits per second, peaking at speeds of up to 10 mbps, according to Nokia. By comparison, current third-generation broadband networks peak out at 1.4 mbps, though speeds are increasing.
In January, Asus announced that a model of its small portable computer, the eeePC, will come with a built-in WiMax chip. It also plans to make regular laptops with the chips later in the year. Intel Corp. is a major backer of the technology, making it likely that chips will show up in laptops from other manufacturers as well.
Sprint is in talks with Intel, Google Inc. and cable operators Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks for an infusion of capital to help build the network. Clearwire Corp., which already operates a pre-WiMax network in smaller cities across the country, would collaborate in building the network.
Source:chinapost.com.tw
Multimedia Goes Mobile At Wireless Convention
 LG Mobile Phones Among the products on display at the CTIA Wireless show was the Vu cell phone, which offers mobile TV. |
While today's typical phone can sluggishly transmit a camera phone image, or download a Web page, the WiMax signal can do much more. It enabled a dashboard computer to stream CD-quality music until Hammond switched to a broadcast of the local Fox TV station, which also displayed on a bigger screen in the back.
If that wasn't enough, he then logged on to Google on another computer and then made a Wi-Fi phone call to Oregon on a Skype phone.
Making voice calls on cell phones is so yesterday, so last generation. The glimpse of the future from the CTIA Wireless trade show here is all about mobile multimedia and the fast data connections that make it possible.
The show, which takes its name from the former Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, is one of the largest showcases for emerging wireless technologies and new products. The sponsoring group is now named the International Association for the Wireless Communications Industry.
The rolling WiMax demonstration produced download speeds of up to 4 megabits per second, which pales in comparison to the 42 megabits per second that Ericsson demonstrated inside the convention center.
The typical residential cable Internet service provides speeds of less than 10 megabits per second.
Buoyed by strong growth in consumer consumption of mobile data, the industry is looking forward to wireless technology's fourth generation, or 4G.
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Hydrogen-Powered Plane Takes Off
The first manned, hydrogen-powered plane has been successfully tested in the skies above Spain, its makers say.
The small, propeller-driven craft, developed by aviation giant Boeing, made three short flights at an airfield south of Madrid, the company said.
It was powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which produce only heat and water as exhaust products.
The tests could pave the way for a new generation of greener aircraft, the company said.
Boeing's chief technology officer John Tracy said the flights were "a historical technological success" and "full of promises for a greener future".
Small future
Three test flights of the two-seater aircraft took place in February and March at an airfield at Ocana, south of Madrid. The plane was modified to include a hybrid battery and fuel cell system used to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.
 other organisations have demonstrated solar-powered planes |
During take-off the planes batteries were used to provide an additional boost, but whilst in the air, the plane relied entirely on the hydrogen fuel cell.
Boeing said the plane has a flying time of 45 minutes but tests were limited to around half that time.
Although the test had been successful, the firm said it did not believe fuel cells could be the primary power source for large passenger aircraft.
However, it could be used as a secondary source of energy for large planes, according to Nieves Lapena, the engineer responsible for the test flights, but this may take some time to develop.
"In my opinion, we are talking about a delay of about twenty years," she said.
Green skies
Hydrogen-powered planes have been flown before, but never with a human pilot onboard.
In 2005, California-based AeroVironment successfully completed test flights of its Global Observer craft which was powered by liquid hydrogen.
Other companies are also seeking to develop more environmentally-friendly planes, amid concerns over their contribution to climate change.
Earlier this year, the airline Virgin Atlantic conducted the first commercial flight powered partly by biofuel.
And last year, defence firm Qinetiq flew a solar-powered plane for 54 hours, smashing the official world record for the longest-duration unmanned flight.
Zephyr, as the craft was known, could be used for military applications, as well as for Earth-observation and communications.
Other unmanned prototypes have been shown off by the American space agency Nasa.
However, in 2010, Swiss balloonist Bertrand Piccard plans to launch Solar Impulse, a manned plane in which he will attempt to circumnavigate the globe.
To carry the precious payload, the craft will have a huge wingspan of 80m (262ft), wider than the wings of the Airbus A380.
As the plane is piloted by only one person at a time, it will have to make frequent stopovers. The current plan is for the journey to be broken into five legs each lasting between four or five days.
Projectors to magnify cell-phone cinema
Microvision Inc., a small Redmond, Wash., company, was at the CTIA Wireless industry show this week to demonstrate a prototype of its projector. It's about the size of two full-size iPods, but by the time it goes on sale later this year, it should be about 30 percent smaller, said Russell Hannigan, the company's director of projector product management.
In a darkened room, the prototype beamed out surprisingly bright, crisp and large video from a connected iPod Nano: With the projector held 6 feet away from the wall, the image measured 6 feet diagonally and was as sharp as a DVD.
On the brightly lit showroom floor, the image was less impressive, but projected on a piece of paper held a foot away, it still made for a nice alternative to the iPod Nano's screen, which is slightly larger than a stamp.
The technology differs substantially from standard projectors: Microvision's unit shines red, green and blue lasers on a rapidly moving, 1-millimeter square mirror, which "paints" the picture line by line, so fast that it blends into one image.
Hannigan said it's highly energy-efficient and allows the company to dispense with the fans and vents that standard projectors have. The goal for the first projector is a 2.5-hour battery life.
Microvision Chief Executive Alexander Tokman expects the projector to sell for $300 to $400 through its partners, of which Motorola Inc. is the only one he was allowed to identify.
The company is also working on a projector so small that it can be built into cell phones, at least the more bulky models. That could be available in the second half of 2009. Because a cell phone already contains a battery and some of the other electronics that are necessary, this unit can be simpler and cheaper — Tokman estimates it would increase the price of a cell phone by $100.
"The two things people are buying now are cell phones and big-screen TVs," Hannigan said. "This brings those two together."
3M Co. and Texas Instruments Inc. also have prototypes of pico projectors, and may be bringing them to market soon.
Another competitor is Alcatel-Lucent. Randy Giles, director of optical subsystems at the company's Bell Labs research arm, was at CTIA demonstrating a small projector that showed Disney's "Fantasia" from a Nokia N95 phone. The image was smaller and appeared dimmer than Microvision's, but Giles said a prototype that's 14 times brighter is in the lab. He too expects projectors to be built into handsets next year.
Alcatel-Lucent's projector uses lasers, like Microvision, but is otherwise more conventional, using a technology that's similar to liquid-crystal displays to block or let the light through to the screen.
So who would buy a pico projector? Microvision's Tokman said its research indicated that teenagers would be the big market.
"They would rather shut themselves in a dark room and project movies on the walls," he said. "They prefer this to spending time with their parents."
source:keralanext.com
Interactive Sleeve Boosts Top Athletes
The Australian netball team and elite basketballers are trialling the interactive textile technologies which provide a groundbreaking training tool.
The technology, developed at the Textile and Fibre Technology Division in Belmont, uses electronic sensors, sewn into clothing fibre, that respond to movement to provide feedback on sporting actions.
Dr Richard Helmer is leading the research, which aims to help athletes edge closer the high-performance zone, where they can do no wrong.
Dr Helmer has been collaborating with coaches at the Australian Institute of Sport for 18 months following the development of a prototype dubbed the ``air guitar''.
It's a wired-up clothing sleeve where sensors that monitor movement are fed into a computer and the movements are matched with music.
The research with elite athletes is about far more than wires, computers and music the musical feedback is designed to give them a feeling about their action, rather than a thought.
They already know how to throw,'' Dr Helmer said. ``We're not trying to mess with their action.
The work with the netballers is almost a psychological exercise.
At the moment we're allowing them to see or hear a rhythm that's related to their motion. We're trying to give them a new way of thinking about what they're doing without disrupting the subconscious processes that get the ball in (the net).
If that keeps them in the zone for four quarters, we've done our job.''
Later this year, the project will also begin working with amateur athletes with the idea of developing a training aid using data collected from elite athletes.
Dr Helmer sees many more applications for the technology in fields ranging from entertainment to education, physiotherapy, medicine and even military operations.
Next Generation Revolution - Google Weblogs
Google Weblogs, or “GWeblogs,” or “Gblogs,” which will launch later this year in a public beta, is the next revolution in personal publishing. Here’s what you can expect:
- Don’t limit yourself to “reverse chronological” publishing. Our advanced Google algorithms put your best content at the top of your blog. Even if your later work goes downhill your previous posts will still shine.
- No more template languages to mess with or sidebars to get right. Our advanced Google algorithms automatically populate your blog’s sidebar with the most relevant possible content.
- Stop worrying about your PageRank or your search engine optimization. Post directly into Google search results for maximum visibility.
- Save your readers time and effort. We’ll automatically extract the most relevant sentence from your post for the index page, along with any necessary ellipsis. We'll also put some words in bold!
- Your blog’s header will stay fresh with new images from our team of artists, each and every anniversary of a scientific achievement.
- Unsure of what to post about? Just click “I’m Feeling Lucky” and we’ll “take care” of the rest!
G'Day tomorrow! Google launches forward thinking technology
Google's new gDay search engine, developed in Google's Sydney engineering centre, can accurately predict future events and internet content.
According to Google, the accuracy of the artificial intelligence Machine Automated Temporal Extrapolation (MATE) system is anywhere between 75 per cent and 95 per cent.
"It depends on the Web site in question and the day of the week, for example, our spiders don't work Sundays" a Google spokesperson said.
gDay creates a sophisticated model of what the Internet will look like 24 hours from now - including share price movements, sports results and news events, from Australian Web sites only. Google's testing of gDay has found that results beyond a 24 hour period are statistically unreliable.
"Google's Australian engineers have a history of major technological innovations, from Google Maps to Mapplets to Traffic for Google Maps. Giving humankind the ability to see 24 hours into the future is just a natural progression - of sorts," said Alan Noble, Head of Engineering for Google Australia & New Zealand.
"Maybe you want to see tomorrow's rugby scores. Maybe you want to see tomorrow's lotto numbers. Maybe this is the greatest freakin' product ever."
Users who like a casual flutter and share traders are said to benefit most from gDay. "All past lotto results are publicly available on the web so gDay can extrapolate tomorrow's results, but supplementary numbers and Super66 are still a bit dicey," a Google spokesperson said.
Early trials of gDay, searching 365 days into the future, predicted Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page as joint winners of the 2008 Brownlow Medal.
source:linuxworld.com.au