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Electronics news articles

Viewing 16 to 30 of 32 articles

• Laptop catches fire during use
  TV3 News video, 6 May
  An Auckland woman is warning people to be careful how they use their laptops after hers exploded into flames on her lap.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: safe operating practice
  • Technological products: Material properties and fitness for purpose
• Digging levitating climbing: A raft of new robots
  New Scientist online, 10 May
  As the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) kicks off in Shanghai, China., the hot topic will be the critical role that robots are currently playing the other side of the East China Sea - exploring and clearing the wrecked reactor buildings at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The convention will also see details on a fascinating crop of robots revealed, from levitating medical camera bots to droids that can burrow underground on Mars.
  Discussion starters:
  • Working in hazardous environments • Advances in robotic technology
• Kiwi guitar pedals making noise around the world
  nzherald.co.nz, 27 June
  Ben Fulton is a businessman who is well on the way to building an international operation and is working toward a $5 million turnover.
  His company specialises in making analogue guitar effect pedals and has won fans around the world from U2's The Edge to The Police's Andy Summers. "I'm a novelty, this long-haired Kiwi guy," says Fulton.
  Discussion starter:
  • Technology design process
  • Entrepreneurship
• 3-D Printing: in chocolate
  www.stuff.co.nz, 8 July
  Consumers may soon be able to download a piece of software and use it to sketch the kind of chocolate they'd like to make. By sending the 3D CAD file to a machine in a local shop they'll be able pick up their finished chocolate design as quickly as 10 minutes later.
  Discussion starters:
  • Manufacturing technology: Flexible manufacturing; 3-D computer aided design
  • Product development: co-creation
• Inside IBM's cognitive chip
  Nature.com news article, 18 August
  IBM has unveiled a new 'cognitive computing' microchip that, according to the company, emulates some of the brain's abilities. Nature magazine takes a peek under the hood of this new chip.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital technologies: chip design
• Graduates invention all in the mind
  Stuff.co.nz article, 17 September
  Inspired by his experiences with meditation, a fourth year Victoria University media design student has invented a device which shows what is going on inside the user's mind. A specially designed brain-computer interface headset captures brain wave data and reflects a person's state of mind through audio and patterns.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital Technologies: interfacing technology
• Smartphone on wheels
  Stuff.co.nz article, 19 September
  Using some of the functions of todays smart phones, a new technology is being developed to project three-dimensional images are into the back seat of a car to entertain passengers, who control the action with gestures rather than hand-held devices.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital Technologies: innovation in gaming technologies; holographic projection
• Smart arms for a robot give it smooth moves
  NewScientist.com article, 21 September
  Reaching out from under a table to grab a cup of coffee on top might seem like a simple task, but it actually involves planning a mathematically complex journey. That's no problem for humans, who can intuitively skip the maths and jump straight to the caffeine fix, but robots are forced to crunch the numbers. Now researchers have found a shortcut that could help make robots a little more human.
  Discussion starter:
  • Computer science: motion planning algorithms
• Dashboards tap into iPhone power
  Stuff.co.nz article, 4 October
  Dashboard buttons could be a thing of the past within a few years as car makers look at using futuristic control systems that rely on voices, a wave of the hand or even a glance of the eye.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital Technologies: cloud computer control systems
• Could smart phones be the stethoscopes of the future?
  Mailonline article, 7 October
  Thermometer, stethoscope... smartphone? Research from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (UK) shows that smartphones could replace anything from heart monitors to microscopes. The researchers proved that by simply pressing a patient's finger against a Motorola Android smartphone's camera, they could harvest data as accurately as the huge and expensive monitors used in hospitals. Other researchers showed off using iPhone as a microscope - and an app that breathalyses you to 'tell' you if you are hungry enough for a snack.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: 'proper' and 'alternative' functions
  • Digital Technologies: new software applications
• Medical skills tested on life-like robot
  Stuff.co.nz article, 21 October
  Built to simulate a human being, SimMan 3G is helping to train medical professionals at Waikato hospital's Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre. Designed to simulate a range of medical situations, the SimMan 3G can quickly become a she.
  Discussion starters:
  • Digital Technologies: human-robot interaction
  • Technological Systems: wireless control; simulation technology
• 'Black box' spies on young drivers
  Stuff.co.nz article, 16 November
  An Australian company has released a device that monitors how a car is being driven and send alerts to its owner via text message. The device, called the In-Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS), was originally developed for the mining industry by Australian company Digicore but is now available to the general public.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital Technologies: data monitoring and reporting
• Pentagon tests long-range hypersonic weapon
  BBC News online article, 18 November
  The US has test-fired a new weapon which can travel at five times the speed of sound, the Pentagon says. The missile was launched from Hawaii and reached its target on a Pacific atoll 2,300 miles (3,700km) away in less than half an hour.
  Discussion starter:
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: fitness for purpose in its broadest sense
• Once more with feeling: New touchscreen tech adds 'tixels' - screen textures you feel
  Dailymail.co.uk online article, 7 December
  Many mobile phones boast of their 'haptics' - the advanced vibration effects that let you 'feel' when you've typed a letter on screen. But a new technology from Senseg uses electrical current to 'pull' the skin of your finger towards the surface, creating textures you can feel. It's also totally silent, with no 'buzzing' noise. The results can be used to create control dials that you can feel on screen - or even to create pictures with textures, such as a rough wall that actually feels like stone
  Discussion starters:
  • Digital Technology: terminology - 'tixels'; 'haptic'
  • Technological systems : transformation, storage, transportation or control of materials, energy and/or information.
• Kiwi wows tech show with 'invisible computing'
  nzherald.co.nz online article, 15 December
  A robotic cook, a colouring book that comes to virtual life and movies that read your mind are some of the innovations on show at a cutting-edge computer technology exhibition in Hong Kong this week.
  Discussion starters:
  • Digital Technologies: Augmented reality technology
  • Technological modelling: Prototype development