View: All articles | Design | Digital | Electronics | Fashion and Textiles | Food and Biotechnology | Intellectual Property | Materials | Teaching Practice

Electronics news articles

Viewing 16 to 30 of 63 articles

• Device to help the blind see with their tongue
  www.nzherald.co.nz video, 19 March
  A soldier, wounded in Iraq, tries out an invention that could spell hope for sightless people the world over.
  Discussion starters:
  • Prototype development
• Look no hands: cars that drive better than you
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 7 April
  Bob is a child-sized dummy which has helped test the first in-car system that can sense an imminent collision with pedestrians and brake automatically if the driver doesn't. It is being put through final trials before being launched in May by Swedish car maker Volvo in its new S60 model.
  Discussion starters:
  • Systems technology – sensor control
• Audi takes on Pikes Peak - with no driver
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 12 April
  SAN JOSE, California - It can traverse rough terrain, accelerate quickly and negotiate sharp turns like other high-performance sports cars, but there's one thing that sets this Audi coupe apart: It doesn't need a driver.
  The car, named Shelley, is the latest creation by Stanford University researchers who are developing technology that could help make driving safer and one day allow ordinary vehicles to drive on their own.
• GPS and TV-enabled supermarket trolley hits Australia
  www.3news.co.nz video, 20 April
  The next big thing in supermarket shopping is about to make an entrance.
  It's a futuristic trolley that comes with a TV screen and a GPS navigation system, and does just about everything but pay the bill.
  Damian Murphy road tests the state-of-the-art trolley invented in Australia, and set to be in supermarkets there from July.
• China's 'robot dad' aims to show inventions to world
  www.stuff.co.nz, 21 April
  Wu Yulu, a 49 year old farmer from the outskirts of Beijing, has become a household name in China for his homemade robots. Now, the creations that he calls his children are about to gain international renown.
  Made from scrap materials including wire and screws, Wu has invented over 47 robots which can pour tea, offer smokers a light and paint pictures.
  Wu, who received no education after primary school, has become a hero in Chinese media for his whirring, ticking and talking inventions, and now foreign media have taken an interest in him ahead of his appearance at the Shanghai World Expo which runs from May to October.
• Low-power Bluetooth for watches
  www.stuff.co.nz, 21 April
  A new version of the Bluetooth wireless technology could expand what can be done by watches, toys, home sensors, medical monitors and other devices that typically have been limited in their functions because they don't get their batteries changed or charged very often.
  Imagine your wristwatch now telling you who's calling on your phone and showing your text messages.
• Electric cars may kick-off before RWC
  www.nbr.co.nz/, 27 April
  Wellington City Council hopes to have electric vehicles on the streets before Rugby World Cup kick-off in September next year.
  The council's draft annual plan allocates $50,000 toward an electric vehicle pilot programme in conjunction with private and state-owned enterprise partners, with emphasis on the development of a business fleet.
• Robot sub used in bid to stem Gulf oil spill
  www.odt.co.nz/, 27 April
  Coast Guard crews raced to protect the Gulf of Mexico coastline as a remote sub tried to shut off an underwater oil well that's gushing 42,000 gallons a day from the site of a wrecked drilling platform.
• NZ students win at World Robotics Competition
  TV1 Breakfast Show video, 28 April
  Rangitoto College students discuss their participation at a global robotics completion held recently in Texas, USA.
  Discussion starters:
  • control technology
• Sharp banks on 3D for mobile, TV
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 18 May
  TOKYO - Sharp is banking on the growing popularity of 3D technology to show off its display panel strengths to keep growth going for the Japanese electronics maker, its president said yesterday.
  Sharp will start mass-producing a high-definition 3D camera for mobile devices this fiscal year through March 2011, which will allow people to take 3D photos and 3D video on their smart phones, other cell phones and digital cameras to watch on 3D TVs in their living rooms, Sharp President Mikio Katayama said.
• Taiwan firms display colour e-readers
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 2 June
  Taiwanese electronics firms displayed a slew of e-readers at an industry show this week, with one maker unveiling a lightweight model that can display a full magazine page in colour.
  The colour model - developed by Delta Electronics Inc. and expected to go on sale by December - stood out among a number of monochrome e-readers at the Computex Show in Taiwan.
• Yoke Har Lee: Undersea expertise wins overseas sales
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 7 June
  Ten years ago, Electronic Navigation Ltd (ENL) set out to develop new technological capability, in an exercise aimed at business renewal and growth.
  The exercise paid off: ENL has since carved out a significant global presence with its sonar technology, used to gather information under the sea.
• Shopping? Don't forget your phone
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 15 June
  Cellphones look set to replace the supermarket checkout when you do your grocery shopping. With the push of a button you will scan an item with your phone and it will tell you everything you want to know about the product and the company that made it.
  And, when you walk out the door your money will automatically be taken from your account.
• Time to turn off analogue TV
  www.odt.co.nz, 22 June
  Government officials are sounding out technology companies about the best way to expand the reach of free-to-air digital television as a Cabinet decision on the shutdown date for analogue TV approaches.
  The Ministry for Culture and Heritage last week asked companies in the broadcasting technology industry for their views on the most cost-effective way to extend the country's existing digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmission network.
• Aucklanders play musical stairs
  TV3 Campbell Live video, 30 June
  What would make you walk up the stairs instead of taking the escalator? What if the stairs played like a piano when you stepped on them?
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological Modelling: prototype testing
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: proper function / alternative function