Technology in the news – Articles from 2010

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NewScientist.com, 13 August
Silver nanoparticles are used as an antibacterial agent in a wide range of products, from odour-free socks to wound-healing bandages (see diagram). They can find their way into waste water, and have been shown to reduce the activity of bacteria used to remove ammonia when the water is treated.
Discussion starters:
• Nanotechnology applications: unexpected outcomes
Stuff.co.nz, 14 August
A small Palmerston North company has created a device that will make broadband internet up to 50 per cent faster without having to pay hundreds of dollars installing fibre-optic cables.
The system looks like a modem, and connects with homes' existing wiring to boost broadband speeds without having to pay the $800-plus fee for re-wiring a home with modern cables to get such fast internet.
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
Wired.com, 16 August
For nearly a decade, neuroscientists, computer engineers and psychologists have been working to simulate the human brain so they can ultimately create a computing architecture based on how the mind works. Now an artificial intelligence expert claims that reverse-engineering the human brain may be just two decades away which would be the first step toward creating machines that are more powerful than the brain.
Discussion starters:
• Digital Technologies: supercomputing; intelligent algorithms
• Nature of Technology: interdisciplinary practice
NZTE export intelligence news item, 16 August
A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service ( eg power, water, transportation) and which is often also providing a service using that infrastructure. Results from a recent international survey found that utilities viewed Photovoltaic (PV) as one of the leading technologies for near-term renewable energy. Respondents to the survey also indicated that they viewed onshore wind and biomass as the other key near-term renewable energy sources.
Discussion starters:
• Renewable energy technology: improving cost competitiveness
NZ Herald, 16 August
SAN FRANCISCO - Google has rolled out an application that lets people use voice commands to have Android-based smartphones do tasks such as send email or fetch driving directions.
The Voice Actions program will only work on handsets running on the latest Android 2.2 software, referred to as Froyo.
NZ Herald, 16 August
New Zealand software firm Derceto has signed a $1.3 million contract to deliver cost-saving initiatives to South Korean utility company K Water.
The software will first be implemented at K Water's Cheongju water system, and if successful, could be used across all the company's plants.
NZ Herald, 16 August
US software specialist Oracle has launched a copyright and patent infringement lawsuit against Google, claiming that the search engine giant's mobile phone operating system uses elements of its technology.
The software company alleges Google infringed seven patents that fell under Oracle's control after it acquired rival Sun Microsystems in January.
Otago Daily Times article, 17 August
Ten years ago a Kiwi man found a brilliant solution - he invented a basic machine which can reprocess the entire domestic waste stream, turning it into building blocks of rubbish. Back then the world wasn't ready for his idea - but is it now?
Discussion starters:
• Material manipulation
• Process design
• Socio-cultural influences
NZ Herald, 17 August
For those that remember their handheld plastic Tamagotchis fondly, digital pets are back - only this time they are more alive than ever.
Victoria University's newly developed Tardigotchi, featuring a living microorganism inside a plastic spherical casing, has won first prize at an international festival.
NZ Herald, 18 August
On a Thursday evening in December a remarkable attack by a shadowy group of hackers briefly paralysed Twitter. For two hours anyone who typed www.twitter.com into their Internet Explorer's address bar was re-routed to a simple black screen showing a green flag and the words: "This site has been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army."
Beneath the flag was a line of Persian poetry which read: "We shall strike if the leader orders, we shall lose our heads if the leader wishes."
NZ Herald, 18 August
NEW YORK - Could you say, these days, where exactly is the line between the television and the internet?
Even if you haven't worked out quite how to hook your computer to your television set yet, perhaps you have found yourself watching some of your favourite shows on the laptop.
Stuff.co.nz, 18 August
The rise and rise of tech gadgets means most of us have more "stuff" than ever before, but these very gadgets are allowing a new breed of digital minimalists to get rid of most of what they own.
Kelly Sutton, a 23-year-old from New York who works as a software engineer at video site blip.tv, set up CultofLess.com and used it to sell most of his worldly possessions.
www.irl.cri.nz, 19 August
A computer game-based arm rehabilitation device developed by IRL has won first prize in the prototype category of the 2010 Engineers Australia, College of Biomedical Engineering Better Technology Awards.
The device, called Able-X (pictured right), was developed by IRL's Assistive Devices Team in Christchurch, led by Research Engineer Marcus King, and is being commercialised through Wellington-based partner company Im-Able.
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.

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