Technology News: Future Tech

Toyota Wheelchair Guided by Thought Alone

Monday - June 29, 2009

U.S. automakers have spent a lot of time lately wondering whether someone can think up a solution for their economic woes. Meanwhile, one of their Japanese counterparts is using brainpower in a different way: to control the movement and direction of a wheelchair. Researchers at Toyota headquarters in Japan have announced the development of a new brain-machine interface that can allow a person to start and turn a wheelchair with the use of brain waves. There's no need for any implants or invasive surgery. [More...]

Building a Better 'Bot: Behind the Scenes With the Transformers

Saturday - June 27, 2009

Giant alien robots don't actually exist. So the dozens featured in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" had to be built from the ground up. That effort took hundreds of artists, thousands of hours and even caused one computer to explode. "We lost some machinery," visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar said with a smile. "The thing just kind of gave up." [More...]

The Blood and Guts of Biometric Systems

Wednesday - May 27, 2009

When biometric security devices began appearing nearly a decade ago, they were often touted as the final word in security technology. After all, stealing your password is one thing -- stealing a thumb, a retina or a voice print is a bit more of a chore. Hackers, however, developed techniques to fool biometrics scanners, much like they've found ways around spam filters and firewalls. [More...]

The Barren Landscape for Tech Innovation

Sunday - May 10, 2009

Got a bright business idea? Take a number. Americans haven't stopped dreaming up newfangled gizmos or sketching engineering marvels on the back of cocktail napkins. However, tight credit and business cutbacks have slowed the pace of getting the latest U.S. innovations to market. Venture capital investments have plummeted. Lenders aren't lining up to fund business startups. [More...]

Home Automation: The Unfulfilled Promise

Tuesday - May 5, 2009

For the last 30 years, many people have invested a lot of money and effort chasing an unrealized promise of hoped-for explosive growth in home automation. With not a lot of commercial progress, it might be seen as foolish to pursue opportunities in this space. However, the promise of addressing latent needs of millions of households worldwide to create a new consumer electronics category is highly seductive. [More...]

Obama Pledges Big Bump in Sci-Tech R&D Spending

Tuesday - April 28, 2009

President Barack Obama promised a new era of science and technology for the nation, telling the National Academy of Sciences on Monday that he wants to devote more funds to research and development. America has fallen behind other countries in science, Obama said. "I believe it is not in our character, American character, to follow -- but to lead," Obama said. [More...]

Robots and the Law: Will the Real Inventor Please Stand Up?

Tuesday - April 28, 2009

Earlier this month, the journal Science reported on a robot that could formulate hypotheses, perform experiments to test those hypotheses, and thereby contribute to scientific knowledge. This technological advance raises legal concerns: Based on current law, if a robot conceived the idea for an "invention," this invention might not have the possibility for patent protection in the U.S. [More...]

IBM Supercomputer to Match Critical Thinking Wits With 'Jeopardy' Wonks

Monday - April 27, 2009

Having developed Deep Blue, the supercomputer that famously beat out world chess champion Gary Kasparov back in 1997, IBM is now working on a computer built to compete in the TV quiz show "Jeopardy." This will use a system based on Question Answering, a computer science approach that tries to build software systems that can provide accurate, useful answers to questions people ask using natural language. [More...]

The Networked Garden: MIT Undergrads Build Robo-Farmers

Friday - April 10, 2009

These gardeners would have green thumbs -- if they had thumbs. A class of undergraduates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has created a set of robots that can water, harvest and pollinate cherry tomato plants. The small, $3,000 robots, which move through the garden on a base similar to a Roomba vacuum, are networked to the plants. [More...]

Japanese Robot May Do Moonwalk by 2020

Monday - April 6, 2009

Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group. Specifics of the plan, including what new technologies will be required and the size of the project's budget, are to be decided within the next two years. [More...]

3rd Rebirth of Computing: The End of PCs and Game Consoles

Monday - April 6, 2009

The gaming market has been broken for a long time, and the PC concept is also becoming unmanageable. Developers want one platform to develop to; they don't want three consoles, two portable gaming systems, lots of phones and a PC. Users want something vastly less complex and really would like to go back to a time when they only worried about the price and where the on switch was. [More...]

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