Technology in the news – Articles from 2010

2012 onwards | 2011 | 2010

Electronics news articles

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Stuff.co.nz, 14 September
Birds are a pain for farmers, causing fires in tractors and making a mess in sheds – but Bird Buster designer Bryan Bate has found a way of combating the problem.
Discussion starters:
• Technological systems: design and manufacture
• Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: evaluation in terms of fitness for purpose
Stuff.co.nz, 15 September
Iconic Kiwi whiteware manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Appliances has made an internationally significant breakthrough in fridge technology which could cut refrigerator power use by a third.
The company today announced refrigeration compressor technology which will not only potentially save up to 30 per cent on power use, but also impact design with more space available in the fridges.
www.sciencedaily.com, 16 September
If these walls had ears, they might tell a homeowner some interesting things. Like when water is dripping into an attic crawl space, or where an open window is letting hot air escape during winter.
The walls do have ears, thanks to a device that uses a home's electrical wiring as a giant antenna. Sensors developed by researchers at the University of Washington and the Georgia Institute of Technology use residential wiring to transmit information to and from almost anywhere in the home, allowing for wireless sensors that run for decades on a single watch battery. The technology, which could be used in home automation or medical monitoring, will be presented this month at the Ubiquitous Computing conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Stuff.co.nz, 16 September
Analogue television broadcasts will be progressively switched off between September 2012 and November 2013, the Government has announced.
The phased switch-off will start in Hawke's Bay and the West Coast.
From then, consumers will need a Freeview set-top box, a television with Freeview built-in or a subscription to a digital pay-television service such as Sky Television in order to watch television.
New Zealand will follow other countries, including the United States, Britain and Australia in turning off its analogue network and switching to digital-only transmission.
NZ Herald, 30 September
Wave Energy Technology New Zealand (Wet NZ) will use a $2million US Government grant to build a quarter-scale version of its device, which uses waves to generate electricity, in the US state of Oregon. Discussion starters
Discussion starters:
• Technological Systems: Sustainable energy technologies; scale-up
• Technological modelling: prototype testing.
NZ Herald, 4 October
Dozens of entrepreneurs and space engineers will gather on the Isle of Man tomorrow to finalise plans for one of the world's most technologically ambitious and financially lucrative competitions: the Lunar X prize.
The US$20 million ($27 million) award, which is being backed by Google, will be given to the first company that builds a robot rover craft, lands it safely on the moon, and directs it on a journey of more than 500m across the lunar surface. In doing so, the competition organisers hope to galvanise the exploration of the moon by opening it up to private industry. A deadline of 2012 has been set for all attempts to win the full prize.
The New York Times, 4 October
KOSAKA, Japan — Two decades after global competition drove the mines in this corner of Japan to extinction, Kosaka is again abuzz with talk of new riches.
The treasures are not copper or coal. They are rare-earth elements and other minerals that are crucial to many Japanese technologies and have so far come almost exclusively from China, the global leader in rare earth mining.
Science Daily, 10 October
Dr. Long Que, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, has reported success in designing and fabricating a device that allows microscale electronic devices to harvest their own wasted energy.
The work was described in a paper published in the September edition of Applied Physics Letters, co-authored by students Pushparaj Pathak, Tianhua Zhang, Yuan He, and Shashi Yadav.
NZ Herald, 13 October
Monitoring gear developed in New Zealand is being used to help doctors assess the vital signs of the miners trapped in the Chilean mine.
Zephyr Technology began developing smart sensor fabric harnesses to monitor the wearer's physiological status in a Pakuranga garage seven years ago and the equipment is now used by US special forces troops, Swat teams and firefighters.
NY Times online, 14 October
More buyers ask about how to connect an iPhone to a car or about the latest collision avoidance systems than they do about how quickly a car goes from zero to 60. So automakers are pumping up the technology.
Discussion starters:
• Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: convergence of technologies
Manawatu Standard, 27 October
If you told a bunch of teenagers to spend a Saturday learning physics, maths, computer programming, and mechanical engineering, many would roll their eyes.
But add a remote-controlled robot, and tell them to build it, drive it, and win a team game against other robots, suddenly it's all on, as LEE MATTHEWS discovers.
New York Times, 31 October
A Nepalese company has installed 3G cell towers at the base of Mount Everest, allowing mountaineers to make video calls at the mountain's peak.
Discussion starters:
• Digital technologies – communication technology; sociocultural influences
National Business Review, 1 November
The University of Auckland has developed what is understood to be the world's first wireless technology that allows parked or moving electric cars to charge automatically.
The breakthrough technology, which is owned by UK-based HaloIPT, was developed by the university's Power Electronics Group.
HaloIPT was founded by Auckland UniServices, which manages the University's intellectual property and is responsible for all research-based consultancy partnerships, and Australian structural engineering company Ove Arup & Partners.
Otago Daily Times, 1 November
The inventor of the world's first recreational jetpack will be landing in Queenstown this month to tell the fascinating tale of how a childhood ambition became a reality.
Formerly from Dunedin, Glenn Martin will be talking about the Martin Jetpack at the Crowne Plaza Queenstown on November 10 at 6pm.
NZ Herald, 9 November
NEW YORK - Hasbro is betting that iPod and iPhone users want 3D viewing on the go.
The second-largest US toy maker is set to unveil to investors on a handheld device called My3D that attaches to the two Apple iDevices. It promises three-dimensional content that offers a 360-degree experience in gaming, virtual travel experiences and entertainment content. It's aimed at both children and adults.

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