GLIMPSES OF THE
FUTURE |
iPad 2 As Powerful As 1985 Cray Supercomputer We're all used to the effects of Moore's Law in accelerating IT development, but the cumulative effects have been usefully highlighted by a recent study which compared the processing power of an iPad 2 to computers of the past. Dr. Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee has run a test on Apple’s new iPad 2, and it turns out that the ultra-slim tablet would be a rival for a four-processor version of the Cray 2 supercomputer, which was the world’s fastest computer in 1985. Dr. Dongarra’s researchers also discovered that the new iPad 2 is about 10 times as fast as its predecessor, the original iPad.A Nightshirt To Monitor Sleep A U.S. company has developed a nightshirt embedded with fabric electronics to monitor the wearer's breathing patterns. A small chip worn in a pocket of the shirt processes that data to determine the phase of sleep, such as REM sleep (when we dream), light sleep, or deep sleep. When people with sleep disorders spend the night in a sleep lab, they are normally hooked up to a complex array of sensors that monitor brain activity, muscle activity, eye movement, and heart and breathing rate. Nyx's Somnus shirt dramatically simplifies this by focusing only on respiration. Analysing sleep stages based on respiration is still considered experimental. But the company is now testing the device on patients who come to a sleep clinic who are also assessed using standard technology, known as polysomnography. The developers will soon begin home tests of the shirts to further validate its use outside of the lab. The company hopes to have a commercial product available by summer of 2012 for less than $100. Nanotube Patches To Heal The Heart Carbon nanotubes that mimic natural tissue and can regenerate heart cells in a dish have been created by researchers at Brown University in the U.S.A. The material compensates for nerve cells in the heart’s wall and a special class of cells that spontaneously expand and contract, keeping the heart beating in perfect synchronicity. Such cells are lost forever after a heart attack. The conductive patch mimics the rough surface of natural tissue. The carbon nanofibres work well because they are excellent conductors of electrons, performing the kind of electrical connections the heart relies upon for keeping a steady beat. The scaffold is elastic and durable, and can thus expand and contract much like heart tissue. Growing Meat Without Animals Meat grown in bioreactors - instead of raised on farms - could help alleviate global warming and planetary stress. Hanna Tuomisto at the University of Oxford recently co-authored a study on the potential environmental impacts of cultured meat. The study found that such production, if scientists grew the muscle cells in a culture of cyanobacteria hydrolysate (a bacterium cultivated in ponds), would involve 'approximately 35 to 60 percent lower energy use, 80 to 95 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions and 98 percent lower land use compared to conventionally produced meat products in Europe.' As it is, 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is used for grazing livestock and growing animal feed. If cultured meat were to become viable and widely consumed, much of that land could be used for other purposes, including new forests that would pull carbon out of the air. Meat would no longer have to be shipped around the globe, because production sites could be located close to consumers. Some proponents imagine small urban meat labs selling their products at street markets that cater to 'locavores'. Even Winston Churchill thought in vitro meat was a good idea. 'Fifty years hence, we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing by growing these parts separately under suitable medium,' he predicted in a 1932 book, Thoughts and Adventures. (We all like to be futurologists from time to time.) But so far few governments or organizations have been willing to commit funding necessary for research into lab-grown meats.
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How Much Do You Love Your Prius? Drivers of hybrid and electric vehicles can be a self-satisfied, smug bunch, and Toyota is betting that they will want to congratulate one another and hug each other in joy (metaphorically speaking) about their wise, planet-saving investment. The company is joining forces with Salesforce.com to build a private social network for customers who will own electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles that will be introduced by the Japanese carmaker next year. Toyota will invest $5.4 million and Salesforce.com will spend $2.7 million on Toyota Media Service Co., a Toyota subsidiary that provides data services to drivers. 'Square' Turns iPads Into Cash registers And Credit Card Readers Square, the mobile payments startup co-founded by the creator of Twitter, has demonstrated technology that it says could one day replace cash registers and eliminate paper receipts. Using the San Francisco company's free software and credit card reader, merchants can effectively turn an iPad into a cash register to accept payments and receive real-time analytics of their sales. Customers can also run a virtual tab at their favourite stores. After swiping a card at any participating shop, a user can link the card to a Square account. From then on, the merchant can accept a payment simply by tapping on the user's photograph from inside the Square software. Receipts are e-mailed to the customer electronically. Verifying Passwords By HOW They Are Typed By definition, password security isn't very secure. But now researchers at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, are working on strengthening an approach to password security that's not just about what you type, but how you type it. The researchers at the American University of Beirut have developed software that aims to improve upon past attempts at linking password authentication to the the speed and rhythm of the user's keystrokes, a method called key-pattern analysis (KPA). Instead of just measuring the time-lapse between keystrokes, the researchers also measure how long each key remains depressed. They argue that this extra parameter of 'intra' timing significantly boosts reliable authentication and improves the overall KPA approach. (And if it turns out we have a recognisable 'signature' in the way we type it could help police track down criminals, spammers, etc.) And, Instead Of Passwords, How About Iris Recognition At The Desktop? A new device called EyeLock uses iris-recognition as an alternative to passwords to log you in to password-protected Web sites and applications. Although similar eye-scanning devices are already used in the business and industrial markets, manufacturer Hoyos calls EyeLock "the first and only portable iris-scanning device for consumers." The scanning device, which resembles a wand, plugs into a base that connects to your PC via a USB port. After you install the software and choose the sites and applications that you want to iris-protect, you pass the scanner in front of your eye. A snapshot is taken of your iris to confirm your identity. Assuming you're the real you, you're then granted immediate access to the secure Web site or application. With security always a primary concern, the company boasts that the device is unhackable. E-Cigarettes Now Have Social Network For Smokers Blu, the maker of electronic cigarettes that release a nicotine-laden vapour instead of smoke, has developed packs of e-cigarettes with sensors that will let users know when other e-smokers are nearby. It could be described as social smoking for the social networking era. E-cigarettes have several obvious advantages to their traditional counterparts. They allow users to avoid bans on smoking in public places because they release only water vapour. Mr. Healy and other e-cigarette manufacturers also claim that they have practically no negative health effects — an assertion that draws skepticism in many quarters. But the devices are also, in their own way, gadgets. And Finally...The Metaphor Repository Researchers with the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity want to build a repository of metaphors. Not just American/English metaphors but also those of Iranian Farsi, Mexican Spanish and Russian speakers. Why metaphors? 'Metaphors have been known since Aristotle as poetic or rhetorical devices that are unique, creative instances of language artistry (for example: The world is a stage; Time is money). Over the last 30 years, metaphors have been shown to be pervasive in everyday language and to reveal how people in a culture define and understand the world around them,' IARPA says. Did you hear about the science fiction writer who was convinced that a giant metaphor was going to collide with the Earth? Back issues of 'Glimpses' are archived here. |