One day, hospital patients might be able to ingest tiny robots that deliver drugs directly to diseased tissue, thanks to research being carried out at EPFL and ETH Zurich. A group of scientists led by Selman Sakar at EPFL and Bradley Nelson at ETH Zurich drew inspiration from bacteria to design smart, highly flexible biocompatible Read more about Researchers develop smart micro-robots that can adapt to their surroundings[…]

A team of Japanese researchers from Keio University in Tokyo have demonstrated that an amoeba is capable of generating approximate solutions to a remarkably difficult math problem known as the “traveling salesman problem.” The traveling salesman problem goes like this: Given an arbitrary number of cities and the distances between them, what is the shortest Read more about An Amoeba-Based Computer Calculated Approximate Solutions to an 8 city Travelling Salesman Problem[…]

A new approach to controlling magnetism in a microchip could open the doors to memory, computing, and sensing devices that consume drastically less power than existing versions. The approach could also overcome some of the inherent physical limitations that have been slowing progress in this area until now. Researchers at MIT and at Brookhaven National Read more about Study opens route to ultra-low-power microchips[…]

In a statement on Wednesday, the Italian competition authority, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), said both companies had violated consumer protection laws by “inducing customers to install updates on devices that are not able to adequately support them.” It fined Apple €10m ($11.4m): €5m for slowing down the iPhone 6 with Read more about Apple, Samsung fined in Italy for slowing people’s phones.[…]

Why is Xiaomi’s fitness tracker detecting a heartbeat from a roll of toilet paper? Weibo users are confused, but the answer isn’t as wild as it seems Does a roll of toilet paper have a heart? Obviously not. So why does Xiaomi’s fitness band display a heart rate when it’s wrapped around a roll of Read more about Why are Xiaomi’s fitness tracker and Apple watches detecting a heartbeat from a roll of toilet paper and bananas?[…]

Researchers from Linköping University and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have proposed a new device concept that can efficiently transfer the information carried by electron spin to light at room temperature—a stepping stone toward future information technology. They present their approach in an article in Nature Communications. Light and electron charge are the Read more about Nanoscale pillars as a building block for future information technology[…]

Over on the EEVblog, someone noticed an interesting chip that’s been apparently flying under our radar for a while. This is an ARM processor capable of running Linux. It’s hand-solderable in a TQFP package, has a built-in Mali GPU, support for a touch panel, and has support for 512MB of DDR3. If you do it Read more about A $1, Linux-Capable, Hand-Solderable Processor[…]

Metals are widely used for antennas; however, their bulkiness limits the fabrication of thin, lightweight, and flexible antennas. Recently, nanomaterials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, and conductive polymers came into play. However, poor conductivity limits their use. We show RF devices for wireless communication based on metallic two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide (MXene) prepared by a Read more about 2D spray on transparent wireless antennae created[…]

Lenovo is making it easier for their customers running Linux to update their firmware now on ThinkPad, ThinkStation, and ThinkCenter hardware. Lenovo has joined the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) and following collaboration with the upstream developers is beginning to roll-out support for offering their device firmware on this platform so it can be easily Read more about Lenovo To Make Their BIOS/UEFI Updates Easier For Linux Users Via LVFS[…]

There are, to date, seven different HDMI versions, starting with 1.0, which was introduced back in 2002, and currently ending with 2.1, which was only announced back in November of 2017. The amount of bandwidth each each version is capable of supporting, as well as any additional cool features a version may possess, is decided Read more about You Are Probably Using the Wrong HDMI Cord[…]

Nvidia’s flagship Titan V graphics cards may have hardware gremlins causing them to spit out different answers to repeated complex calculations under certain conditions, according to computer scientists. The Titan V is the Silicon Valley giant’s most powerful GPU board available to date, and is built on Nv’s Volta technology. Gamers and casual users will Read more about 2 + 2 = 4, er, 4.1, no, 4.3… Nvidia’s Titan V GPUs spit out ‘wrong answers’ in scientific simulations[…]

March 19 is the first day of IBM Think 2018, the company’s flagship conference, where the company will unveil what it claims is the world’s smallest computer. They’re not kidding: It’s literally smaller than a grain of salt. But don’t let the size fool you: This sucker has the computing power of the x86 chip Read more about IBM unveils ‘world’s smallest computer’ with blockchain at Think 2018[…]

Razer is a vendor that makes high-end gaming hardware, including laptops, keyboards and mice. I opened a ticket with Razor a few days ago asking them if they wanted to support the LVFS project by uploading firmware and sharing the firmware update protocol used. I offered to upstream any example code they could share under Read more about Razer doesn’t care about Linux[…]

A joint China-Austria team has performed quantum key distribution between the quantum-science satellite Micius and multiple ground stations located in Xinglong (near Beijing), Nanshan (near Urumqi), and Graz (near Vienna). Such experiments demonstrate the secure satellite-to-ground exchange of cryptographic keys during the passage of the satellite Micius over a ground station. Using Micius as a Read more about Real-world intercontinental quantum communications enabled by the Micius satellite[…]

The Japanese company will unveil and test its “brain-to-vehicle” technology at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The “B2V” system requires a driver to wear a skullcap that measures brain-wave activity and transmits its readings to steering, acceleration and braking systems that can start responding before the driver initiates the action.The driver still Read more about Nissan’s Car of the Future Will Read Your Brain Waves[…]

Supports 2.5″ SATA I/II/III hard drive/solid state drive. USB 3.0 supports data transfer speeds up to 5Gbps. Backwards compatible with USB2.0/USB1.0 Efficient UASP Transfer Protocol. An Equipped Cover provides better dust protecting SATA connector from dust. Portable and lightweight design make it is easy to carry. LED light shows Power and Activity status. Support hot Read more about Unitek USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter Cable for 2.5″ SSD or HDD – Hard Drive Adapter: turns your hard disk into portable storage[…]

The Rival 600 even has its own CPU and storage tucked inside, so that once you get everything configured just the way you like, you can save those settings directly in the mouse, so you won’t need to re-download the SteelSeries app if you play with it on a different machine. Source: SteelSeries’ Dual-Sensor Mouse Read more about SteelSeries’ Dual-Sensor Mouse Could Be the King of Precision[…]

Mesh routers like Eero, Netgear’s Orbi, and Google Wifi are getting all the hype these days, but replacing your whole network with a bunch of new devices can be kind of expensive. Asus has a good solution with its new AiMesh system, which lets you repurpose your existing Asus routers as part of a mesh Read more about Asus is turning its old routers into mesh Wi-Fi networks[…]

Seagate is increasing IO performance in disk drives by separating read-write heads into two separate sets which can operate independently and in parallel.The heads are positioned at one end of actuator arms which rotate around a post at their other end to move the heads across the platter surfaces. Thus, with an eight-platter drive, each Read more about Seagate’s lightbulb moment: Make read-write heads operate independently[…]

A 2-in-1 Windows 10 laptop powered by a smartphone chip The chipset behind the Asus NovaGo comes straight from smartphones, so we were into the fact that the volume and power keys are aligned along the right side of the laptop. This is shaping up to be the always-connected laptop counterpart to a smartphone in Read more about Asus NovaGo: laptop built on an ARM mobile phone processor runs Windows[…]

Having been very happy about my old Canon printer, I decided to get another one when it died after four years of trusted service. This one is absolutely horrific. It started off with difficulties connecting via WiFi. The amount of paper jams I have is around 1 page printed to 1 page jammed. The scanner Read more about Canon TS6050 – the printer to not get[…]

An apparent factory cockup has left OnePlus Android smartphones with an exposed diagnostics tool that can be potentially exploited to root the handsets. Security researcher Robert Baptiste suggested the EngineerMode APK was made by Qualcomm, and was intended to be used by factory staff to test phones for basic functionality before they are shipped out Read more about OnePlus phones have a secret root backdoor and the password is ‘angela’[…]

The phone-in-the-closet phenomenon has become a hidden store of e-waste; a two-year-old phone still has value and is still a powerful device. And so it’s great news that Samsung is starting a new “Upcycling” initiative that is designed to turn old smartphones and turn them into something brand new.Behold, for example, this bitcoin mining rig, Read more about Samsung repurposes old phones – bitcoin miner, fishtank monitor, promises to open up[…]