New tools to help objects to communicate via the Net

Increasingly, the things people use on a daily basis can be connected to the Internet. Norwegian researchers are working to ensure that the Internet of Things operates as efficiently as possible.

A group of Norwegian researchers have been addressing this issue. In the research project Infrastructure for Integrated Services (ISIS) they have created a platform for developing and distributing applications for the Internet of Things. The platform encompasses a programming tool for developers, called Arctis and the website ISIS Store for downloading applications.

Source: The Research Council of Norway

Faster transistors

MIT physicists discover a new physical phenomenon that could eventually lead to the first increases in computers’ clock speed since 2002.

Source: MIT via ACM Tech News

Chip building goes up!

Intel Increases Transistor Speed by Building Upward

(...) early transistors were built on a flat surface. But like a real estate developer building skyscrapers to get more rentable space from a plot of land, Intel is now building up.

The company has already begun making its microprocessors using a new 3-D transistor design, called a Finfet (for fin field-effect transistor), which is based around a remarkably small pillar, or fin, of silicon that rises above the surface of the chip.

(...) it expected to be able to make chips that run as much as 37 percent faster in low-voltage applications and it would be able to cut power consumption as much as 50 percent.

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iTable

With the iPad coming soon, I got to thinking what would be the best computer input device for engineering work. The answer I found was: all of them!

What I would really like to have is an iTable - a full-size drawing board - where you could input using pen, keyboard, mouse, touch, all together.

It is a huge technical challenge, but it would be really, really nice!

Image credits: http://www.tecniart.org