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Electronics news articles

Viewing 31 to 45 of 63 articles

• Solar lamp reduces air pollution
  BBC </em> online<em>, 2 July
  The developers of a solar lamp that aims to replace kerosene-burning lights in developing countries have won a prestigious environmental award.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of Technology: appropriate technology
• Solar plane completes 24 hour flight
  BBC </em> online<em>, 8 July
  An experimental solar-powered aircraft which took off during daylight has landed safely in Switzerland after successfully flying through the night. The feat is a step toward the makers' aim of circling the globe using the power of the Sun to fuel the plane.The aircraft used super-efficient solar cells and batteries to stay in the air after the Sun's rays had faded.
  Discussion starters:
  • Advances in solar power technology
  • Material properties related to performance capability
• Doctors keep pace with heart from afar
  NZ Herald, 9 July
  An innovative pacemaker not only keeps a 13-year-old boy's fragile heart ticking, it also lets his doctor keep watch on it from hundreds of kilometres away.
  Discussion starters:
  • Digital Technologies - data collection and transfer
  • Medical technology – remote diagnosis
• New life-changing robotic technology unveiled
  NZ Herald video, 15 July
  A New Zealand-based technology company, Rex Bionics, has unveiled a robotic exoskeleton which could change the lives of disabled people.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: electromechanical robotic systems
• PowerTread &ndash; Turning cars into energy generators
  TV3 Campbell Live video, 15 July
  Two West Auckland inventors have come up with a device which take the energy created by the weight and speed of your car and converts it into electricity – a device which may have the potential to make large shopping malls self-sufficient in energy consumption.
  Discussion starters:
  • Renewable energy technolog
  y • Technological Modeling: proof-of-concept; prototype testing
  • Ingenuity, invention and innovation
• New vibration-harvesting generator could replace standard batteries
  BBC </em> online<em>, 21 July
  A Japanese electronics firm has shown off a vibration-harvesting generator that could replace standard batteries - with the Vibration Energy Cell batteries delivering power after a vigorous shake.
  Discussion starters:
  • Battery technology
  • Technological products: material sustainability
• India unveils cheapest ever tablet computer
  NZ Herald, 30 July
  It looks like an iPad, but its less than 1/10th the cost. India has unveiled the prototype of a US$35 ($48) basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.
  Discussion starters:
  • Digital technologies: hardware innovation
  • Nature of Technology: Socio-cultural influences; dual marketing
• 5-hour Europe flight step closer
  NZ Herald, 10 August
  A hypersonic passenger jet has entered its second phase of tests, bringing the dream of trips of less than five hours between Australasia and Europe closer to reality.
  The A2 is a 300-seat aircraft capable of non-stop flight to the other side of the planet at a cruising speed of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, about 5600km/h.
• A Global Graveyard for Dead Computers
  New York Herald, 15 August
  Photographic documentation of the garbage dumps in Ghana, where computers are burned and ripped apart for their rich minerals.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological Products: product life cycles; material sustainability • Nature of Technology: sociocultural impacts
• Titanic to be explored like never before
  NZ Herald, 19 August
  A team of scientists are about to "virtually raise" the Titanic by using 3D techniques to map the entire wreckage site of the sunken transatlantic liner for the first time, Reuters reported today.
  The group of experts will use cutting-edge robots and high resolution 3D imaging to reconstruct a detailed picture of the remains of the ship and of the wreckage site on the floor of the North Atlantic, much of it never seen before.
• Stanford's X-ray laser a world first
  Stuff.co.nz, 19 August
  Stanford University researchers said they've built the world's most powerful X-ray laser, which they hope will lead to new discoveries in drug development, energy production and computer science.
  The Linac Coherent Light Source has been up and running for several months at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. But it got its official dedication Monday with a visit from U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
• Automatic screen cleaner wipes away school innovation
  The Education Weekly, 19 August
  An innovative hay feeding bag and an automatic screen cleaner took a clean sweep at the Young Innovator Awards (YiA) in Tauranga late last month. Jonathan Kent from Tauranga Boys' College won the Senior Category with his Automatic Screen Cleaner concept and Savana Woodcock of Katikati College won the junior category with her Handy Hay Bag.
• Japan develops 'touchable' 3D TV technology
  www.physorg.com, 26 August
  A Japanese research team said Thursday it had developed the world's first 3D television system that allows users to touch, pinch or poke images floating in front of them.
  "It is the first time that you can feel images in the air," said Norio Nakamura, senior scientist with the research team at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
• Samsung unveils iPad competitor
  www.odt.co.nz, 3 September
  Samsung has unveiled a new tablet PC named Galaxy Tab as the latest device meant to rival Apple's popular iPad.
  The device offers users "a new galaxy of possibilities" with features such as mobile video conferencing and a video chat function, Samsung Europe telecom executive Thomas Richter said at Berlin's IFA consumer electronics fair.
• Local rocket buffs catch Nasa's eye
  NZ Herald, 12 September
  Auckland-based aerospace company Rocket Lab made history on November 31 last year by launching the first privately constructed rocket from the Southern Hemisphere. Now the company has received a research grant from the US Office of Naval Research to study new rocket propulsion methods and fuels.
  Discussion starters:
  • Hybrid fuel technology