Techno-News Blog

By Katherine Bourzac, Technology Review

Designed to teach math to students in poor countries, the device will be the first to use a new energy-efficient computing strategy. After a year of testing in a remote village in India, researchers are ready to scale up production of an ultra-low-power $35 tablet called the I-slate. The I-slate is designed to teach math and other subjects to students whose schools lack electricity or to students who don’t have access to teachers at all. The device will enter full-scale production next year, and will be the first device to apply a low-power technology called probabilistic CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) to achieve a longer battery life.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38803/?p1=A1

BY SIMSON L. GARFINKEL, Technology Review

Before Facebook and Google—even before the Internet—scientists at MIT had a radical vision they called the computer utility. “Computing may someday be organized as a public utility just as the telephone system is a public utility,” Professor John McCarthy said at MIT’s centennial celebration in 1961. “Each subscriber needs to pay only for the capacity he actually uses, but he has access to all programming languages characteristic of a very large system … Certain subscribers might offer service to other subscribers … The computer utility could become the basis of a new and important industry.”

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/38710/?p1=BI

By TOM LANGE, Daily Journal (Franklin, Indiana)

Five years ago, Johnson County teachers who wanted to use the Internet for in-class research or to show their students videos had to schedule time in the school computer lab. Today, students with smartphones, iPads and laptop computers are carrying the Internet with them wherever they go, and school districts such as Franklin are considering letting students use them in the classroom. Franklin expects to have wireless Internet available at all of its buildings later this month, and the district is considering letting students bring their smartphones and computers for use in class next year, technology director Matt Sprout said.

http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/local_story/Internet_now_essential_tool_in_1317702323/

by Microfinance Monitor

India’s Human Resources minister Kapil Sibal will unveiled the country’s $35 tablet computer meant for students.  The tablet was developed as part of the National Mission on Education as a low cost alternative to high-end tablets which were available at $200. Even the latest tablet made by an Indian company called Pepper was priced $99. “The tablet would let children go beyond the boundary of classroom and teachers to acquire knowledge through IT,” said the minister at a function in New Delhi last month, and promised to make it available to every child in school. “The tablet shall help enhance the quality of learning of children…This is not just a dream, it is a reality.”

http://www.microfinancemonitor.com/2011/10/04/countrys-35-tablet-computer-meant-for-students/

By Angela Deines, THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Within a matter of days, the robots will be arriving at Highland Park High School. The school’s robotics program will be fully operational with the delivery of the robots and simulators that symbolize the new relationship forged among Topeka Unified School District 501, GO Topeka’s Entrepreneurial and Minority Business Development Program, the Washburn Institute of Technology and Ohio-based Yaskawa Motoman Robotics. “It’s for industrial robotics. They (students) will be certified programmers for Motoman robots,” said program instructor Bruce Babin. “We’re talking about heavy equipment. It’s not for the hobbyist.”

http://cjonline.com/news/2011-10-02/robotics-class-forging-new-territory

By Kelly Olsen, Associated Press

If you own a consumer electronics gadget, there’s a good chance something from Samsung makes it tick. The company has traveled far from its roots as a seller of cheap appliances in the 1970s and 1980s when South Korean products were more likely to be panned than praised internationally. Over those decades it has grown to become the world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips and LCDs — key components that let PCs, digital music players and smartphones store data and display it on flat, high-resolution screens. And they are inside the company’s own finished consumer products such as its top selling TVs and No. 2-ranked smartphones. But Samsung still has a perception problem.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-10-03/surging-samsung/50640846/1

by David Ticoll, National Post

Consider the tech field — information and communications technology (ICT). Tech is big. Even while employers resorted to off-shoring over the past 10 years, our ICT professional workforce grew from about 650,000 to 800,000. From entrepreneurs to consulting firms to hospitals, organizations can’t find enough people with the tech skills they need. The tech professional jobless rate is about 3%, near full employment. These jobs are important. In every sector of the economy, technology investments deliver innovation, better customer service and improved productivity. Tech is a big career opportunity. Yet many tech-related college and university programs haven’t filled their seats since the dotcom bust. According to a 2009 Conference Board of Canada survey, most young people have a vague idea at best what a tech career is about. Those with opinions (along with parents, teachers and guidance counsellors) tend to think it’s about sitting in front of a computer all day in a job that could ship to India at a moment’s notice. Women are especially turned off tech. Though a majority of the workforce and some 57% of university students, women are only a quarter of tech professionals.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/10/03/david-ticoll-winning-the-jobs-war/

by Korea Times

A serious game refers to specific game content that includes education, medicine, national defense and sports, as well as others. “According to research, such games have a positive effect on reasoning, ability to think, sociability an acquisition of information. These particular games are used for military training, education, treatment of mental problems and rehabilitation,” said Ryu Sun-il, a researcher at KT Economy & Business Institute, in a report. The U.K. defense ministry, for example, developed a serious game called “Interactive Trauma Trainer,” which trains troops on how to respond to a possible injury and the medical treatment that should follow. IT also has serious games on the maintenance of combat planes and shooting. Japan is focusing on a rehabilitation game for senior citizens, and some businesses use them to improve work effectiveness.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2011/10/123_95980.html

by the BBC

For the first time since 1996 IBM’s market value has exceeded Microsoft’s. IBM’s closing price on 29 September was $214bn (£137.4bn) while Microsoft’s was a shade behind at $213.2bn (£136.8bn). The values cap a sustained period in which IBM’s share price has moved steadily upward as Microsoft’s has generally been in decline. The growth means IBM is now the second largest technology company by market value. Apple still holds the top slot with a value of $362bn (£232bn).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15124005

By Jon Stewart, BBC

From performing household chores, to entertaining and educating our children, to looking after the elderly, roboticists say we will soon be welcoming their creations into our homes and workplaces. Researchers believe we are on the cusp of a robot revolution that will mirror the explosive growth of the computer revolution from the 1980s onwards. They are developing new laws for robot behaviour, and designing new ways for humans and robots to interact. “I think robotics technology will change who we are, just as eyeglasses and fire changed who we were before,” says Rodney Brookes, robotics entrepreneur and former director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15146053

By Clint Boulton, eWeek

Amazon unveiled its Kindle Fire Sept. 28, and you’ll be hard pressed to find an analyst who will dub this Google Android tablet as a true rival to Apple’s latest iPad 2. While not comparing apples to oranges, comparing the Fire to the iPad 2 might be more like comparing a diminutive Clementine orange to a fat, navel orange. The iPad 2 has a 9.7-inch screen. The Kindle Fire offers a 7-inch display. The iPad 2 has got two cameras for photo-shoots and video chat. The Kindle Fire has no cameras. The iPad 2 has got a microphone; the Fire does not. The iPad 2 is available with 3G access. The Kindle Fire is WiFi only.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-Apple-iPad-2-Rivalry-to-Center-on-Content-324680/

By Erica Naone, Technology Review

The Silk browser—developed for Amazon’s Kindle Fire—could make for the fastest mobile browsing experience yet. Among the features announced with Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet is an unexpected and innovative new piece of software: a Web browser called Amazon Silk that taps into Amazon’s enormous cloud infrastructure to speed up the delivery of content to a mobile device. Browsing the Web on a smart phone or tablet can often be a frustrating experience, even when using the latest device over a relatively fast connection. This is because websites are increasingly complex, and because, by and large, they are still primarily designed for more powerful computers and broadband wired connections.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38728/?p1=A2

by Tom Simonite, Technology Review

Apple has popularized some revolutions in how we use personal computers in its time: the graphical interface, the mouse, and the touch screen, for example. Next Tuesday could see the company add to that list of milestones in man-machine interaction by letting users control a computer by having a conversation with it. Apple’s new boss, Tim Cook, will take the stage at the company’s California headquarters to announce the latest updates to the company’s products. Apple’s invite to the event says only “Let’s Talk iPhone,” but the Internet rumor mill has decided that Cook will announce two things: a fifth model of the iPhone; and a voice-activated “Assistant” for iPhone and iPad devices, based on an impressive app called Siri that was bought by Apple last year.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38739/?p1=A1

By Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

Most organizations are starting to think about migrating existing applications, data and infrastructure to the cloud, if they haven’t already. Recent surveys have shown that cloud deployments have tended to be primarily test systems and non-critical applications, but organizations are beginning to make plans to move mission-critical production applications to take advantage of the cost savings, flexibility and productivity boost the cloud promises. However, migrating production systems, such as email and personnel records, raise privacy and security considerations that may not have been a concern for previous deployments. In fact, security is consistently named as one of the top three reasons enterprises are still nervous about moving applications and data into the cloud.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/10-Security-Tips-to-Prevent-a-Cloud-Migration-Disaster-801906/?kc=rss

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Now that the details and specifications of the Amazon Kindle Fire have been reported to death, the question turns to one of supply: Can Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and its hardware supplier Quanta make enough Kindle Fires to satisfy consumer demand? It’s a fair question. When the first Amazon Kindle debuted in 2007, the e-commerce giant didn’t make enough and the existing e-readers were snapped up in one week. The specter of that supply shortage cast a pall over some analysts’ estimates for Kindle Fire sales this holiday season.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-Supply-Called-Into-Question-816663/?kc=rss

By: Nicholas Kolakowski, eWeek

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet costs $209.63 to build, according to an analysis by IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Service. That figure includes $191.65 in materials in addition to manufacturing expenses. Amazon plans on retailing the 7-inch tablet for $199. “The real benefit of the Kindle Fire to Amazon will not be in selling hardware or digital content,” read a Sept. 30 research note accompanying the analysis. “Rather, the Kindle Fire, and the content demand it stimulates, will serve to promote sales of the kinds of physical goods that comprise the majority of Amazon’s business.”

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-Costs-20963-to-Build-Analysts-226740/?kc=rss

by Nic Fleming, Technology Review

Microsoft’s Kinect Xbox controller, which lets gamers control on-screen action with their body movements, has been adapted in hundreds of interesting, useful, and occasionally bizarre ways since its release in November 2010. It’s been used for robotic vision and automated home lighting. It’s helped wheelchair users with their shopping. Yet these uses could look like child’s play compared to the new 3-D modeling capabilities Microsoft has developed for the Kinect. KinectFusion, a research project that lets users generate high-quality 3-D models in real time using a standard $100 Kinect, was the star of the show at Microsoft Research’s 20th anniversary event held this week at its European headquarters in Cambridge, U.K. KinectFusion also includes a realistic physics engine that allows scanned objects to be manipulated in realistic ways.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38731/?p1=A3

by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

The powered-by-the-cloud Silk browser Amazon surprised users with yesterday, which will initially only be available on its Fire 7-inch tablet, will probably be coming to other platforms, though the evidence is still circumstantial. The Silk browser is notable because it offloads much of the processing of web pages to Amazon’s vast cloud infrastructure, to speed up the browsing experience. (The Opera browser has been doing this for years, but unfortunately for Opera, no one seems have noticed.)

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27210/?p1=blogs

by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

What’s missing from the story of Amazon’s new cloud-turbocharged Silk browser, presently available only on its Fire tablet but probably coming to other devices, is the larger context of this technology. What would happen, for example, if Amazon used its massive cloud computing infrastructure not merely to pre-process the user’s browsing experience, but also to offload much of the processing powering of the rest of a device’s apps and OS? Researchers at Intel already have an answer.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27213/?p1=blogs

By SOHEE KHIM, the Princetonian

The most talented students, Thiel explained, are the ones who should be encouraged to innovate. Students who are not at the top are encouraged to participate in vocational training or other specialized programs — but the nation’s pre-eminent students are given few choices once they are accepted into universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford, he said. Thiel said that regaining the momentum of technological innovation requires reducing the burden of risk-taking for top students. Thiel explained that the future of the United States is very uncertain: While it is currently the most technologically advanced country in the world, he said, China is aware that in 20 years it will look just like — at least technologically — the current United States. As such, technological innovation is of paramount importance regardless of what the future holds for the country, Thiel said.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2011/09/28/28851/

by Erica Naone, Technology Review

The Kindle Fire is the tablet you need at the price you’ll be willing to pay. The $199 device comes packed with content and features that are arguably better than what’s available on the iPad, and at a fraction of the price. Wow. Crucially, Amazon’s powerful content library is already familiar and useful—many people already have dozens of Kindle books, for example. And Amazon has sneakily set its Prime members up with memberships that allow them to instantly stream thousands of movies and TV shows. The device is light, can be held in one hand, and has a beautiful display. Not only that, Amazon built a special browser for it called Silk. Amazon is backing Silk with its Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure, meaning the device does almost none of the processing. The idea is so brilliant I can’t understand why no one tried it before*.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/27205/?p1=blogs