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More than 30
retired computer engineers worked together to
resurrect an antique IBM 1401 for the Computer
History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. Unlike
today’s computers, this 1960s-era model actually
lets you see all the moving parts that make it
work. This photo essay documents the team’s work
with the machine, which was donated to the museum
by computer enthusiasts who bought it for US $21
000 from the German eBay site. Read
more. | |
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Oral
arguments started in Bilski v. Kappos this week,
in what some have called “the patent case of the
century.” Could Isaac Newton have patented
calculus under U.S. patent law and created an
insurance-industry monopoly? Patent attorney Kirk
Teska describes the barrage of such questions from
U.S. Supreme Court justices and considers what it
bodes for the future of business-method patents.
Listen
now. |
HP boosted
the sensitivity of MEMS acceleration sensors
1000-fold without increasing the cost. The secret
was borrowing technology from inkjet printers to
make chunkier MEMS.
Read
more.
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Google’s deal
to digitize books may be in legal limbo this week,
but a New York City–based start-up has pressed
ahead. On Demand Books' one-off bookmaking
technology is pressing pages in bookstores and
libraries around the world.
Read more.
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A
father-and-son team thinks they’ve discovered the
next stage of microphone evolution: replacing the
vibrating mechanical diaphragm with a stream of
smoke. They measure changes in the stream’s shape
with a laser and a photodetector. Watch and listen
as the inventors give a demonstration of their
latest prototype.
View
now.
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Omer Yosha’s
home-brew musical interface is like an invisible
multilevel keyboard that floats in the air in
front of you. It goes on sale early next year.
We’ve included video of the instrument in action.
Read
more. |
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Learn about
Enabling Electronics for Smart Grid
Technologies & Beyond. What are the
opportunities, and what engineering challenges
must be met to seize the day successfully? The
forum scheduled on Nov 30th in Santa Clara, CA is
free for all local members. The video recording of
the event will also be available later for all
IEEE members. Seats are limited.
Learn more. |
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In England,
your home may be your castle, but the government
will soon be able to get a rather good idea of
what is happening inside it. The British
government has decided to go ahead with its
Intercept Modernisation Programme, which would
force every telecommunication company and Internet
service provider to keep a record of all of its
customers’ personal communications, showing whom
they have contacted, when and where, as well as
the Web sites they have visited. Read more and
comment. |
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At his
Metamodern blog, Eric Drexler has been examining
the position of China in nanotechnology
development. The data seems to suggest that the
most prolific authors are based in China. But
there is a giant chasm between research projects
and commercial products and that probably remains
the single biggest obstacle to nanotechnology
having a greater impact on our economies. Read more and
comment. |
As it turns out,
opening a door—in this case, a swinging door—is
actually pretty hard, though we humans don’t even
have to think about it. Hitoshi Arisumi's
experiments with an HRP-2 humanoid have shown that
the best approach is for a robot to use its whole
body, just as you use your hip and shoulder to
open a door while carrying groceries.
Read more and
comment. | |
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