Advances in embedded technologies for mobile and home-care devices include the commodification of power and communications subsystems. This is underway
With the number of U.S. senior citizens projected to double between 2000 and 2030, technology is advancing to meet the need for new medical devices to provide better, more-cost-effective healthcare for this expanding potential patient population. Developing these new medical devices often requires the application of technology originally developed for such consumer electronic devices as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones. This electronic communications technology is fundamentally different from the electronics used in the last generation of medical devices, and it consequently presents challenges. To meet these challenges, new design and engineering techniques—including partnerships that span the supply chain—are emerging.
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http://www.devicelink.com/mem/archive/07/10/007.html
Lawrence Ricciwww.EmbeddedInsider.com 6:26 AM GMT | Read comments(0)Microsoft Tag
Something called Microsoft Tag was demonstrated at NRF. Simplistically it was like a 2D Barcode that can be read by a camera phone. But there were a couple of differences. First, it is fast. I mean fast fast FAST. There is still the need to start an ‘app’ and point the ‘phone’ but once the tag moves into the field of view it is ‘click’. Second, these tags are, well, ‘pretty’ and could easily be used as design elements in signs or even clothes. Bottom line, these tags could empower a new level of ‘pervasive’ computing.
I could see this at a entertainment venue, like Disney world, or a historic town. A visitor could subscribe to an interactive tour with a smart badge- really a camera equipped PDA with a wide field of view. Exhibits, even people could be ‘tagged’. The smart badge could recognize the tag and augment the experience with a recorded narrative
Lawrence Ricciwww.EmbeddedInsider.com
Called Skinput, the system is a marriage of two technologies: the ability to detect the ultralow-frequency sound produced by tapping the skin with a finger, and the microchip-sized "pico" projectors now found in some cellphones. The system beams a keyboard or menu onto the user's forearm and hand from a projector housed in an armband. An acoustic detector, also in the armband, then calculates which part of the display you want to activate. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18591-body-acoustics-can-turn-your-arm-into-a-touchscreen.html
Called Skinput, the system is a marriage of two technologies: the ability to detect the ultralow-frequency sound produced by tapping the skin with a finger, and the microchip-sized "pico" projectors now found in some cellphones.
The system beams a keyboard or menu onto the user's forearm and hand from a projector housed in an armband. An acoustic detector, also in the armband, then calculates which part of the display you want to activate.
Lawrence Ricci
www.EmbeddedInsider.com
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Two national laboratories, the state of New Mexico and a Japanese agency are developing smart grid technology to give homeowners and businesses more access to renewable energy sources by controlling the supply and demand of electric power.
Big tech is nice, and the place where governments collaborate. But most of this big tech collaberation is associated with billing and load shedding, not energy production. But solar power, generated at the home site and shared by grid tie inverters , is here today, a commercial product. This is grass roots, self funded small tech.
There is much to be said in favor of the grass-roots approach to the smart grid.
Enterprise software marker and leading technology company Novell, Inc. (NOVL - Snapshot Report) announced that it has received a buyout offer from Elliott Associates, L.P., the largest institutional stockholder of Novell, which holds approximately 8.5% of NOVL common stock. Elliott is an investment firm with over $16 billion in assets. http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/31293/Zacks+Analyst+Blog+Highlights%3A+Novell%2C+Inc.%2C+J.P.+Morgan%2C+Hewlett-Packard+Company%2C+International+Business+Machines+and+SAP+AG
Enterprise software marker and leading technology company Novell, Inc. (NOVL - Snapshot Report) announced that it has received a buyout offer from Elliott Associates, L.P., the largest institutional stockholder of Novell, which holds approximately 8.5% of NOVL common stock. Elliott is an investment firm with over $16 billion in assets.
http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/31293/Zacks+Analyst+Blog+Highlights%3A+Novell%2C+Inc.%2C+J.P.+Morgan%2C+Hewlett-Packard+Company%2C+International+Business+Machines+and+SAP+AG
My guess is the Elliott Associates bid is backed by an off-stage actor, probably Google. The objective would be to buy Novell for their IP/Patents, use them to get into the enterprise space (groupwise fused with Google Office?), and compromise Microsoft's access to Linux and control the SCO/Novel Lawsuit.
My bet is 80% of the Novell engineers will be on the street next to the engineers laid off by the Oracle/Sun activity, Google will cherry pick what IP and brand names it wants from the ruins, and maybe MS or IBM will pick up a piece. The rest- bye bye.