Tag Archives: Technology

Frankfurt, IEEE Spectrum, News

Head Up Displays Go Down Market

91113PioneerHUD-1378926860093Heads Up Displays (HUDs), once the domain of fighter pilots and luxury car drivers, now come in a clip-on variety affordable to a much wider market. The systems project information on to a see-through screen to help keep their users’ attention outside the vehicle. But until now, such clarity of mind never came cheap: BMW charges over US $1000 for its built-in HUD system.

At this week’s Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany, several cheaper alternatives were on offer. Car accessory maker Pioneer showed off its NavGate HUD, which it will sell in Europe starting in October. The HUD uses Texas Instruments’ DLP projector instead of the more expensive laser found in a Japanese-market predecessor. That move shaves a few hundred dollars off its cost, but it still comes through at €699, or $927. Navigation system maker Garmin last month announced a dashboard-mounted HUD display for $150.

Unlike built-in HUDs systems, these after-market versions require drivers to provide a smartphone and to download separate applications (an additional $50 in Garmin’s case). But the ubiquity of smartphones is helping accessory makers to nip at the heels of car manufacturers in yet another product range. And for the DIYers, there’s always Lifehacker.

Read the rest of this blog post at IEEE Spectrum’s Tech Talk: [html] [pdf]

IEEE Spectrum, News

Five Dimensions Store More Data Than Three

An experimental computer memory format uses five dimensions to store data with a density that would allow more than 300 terabytes to be crammed onto a standard optical disc. But unlike an optical disc, which is made of plastic, the experimental media is quartz glass. Researchers have long been trying to use glass as a storage material because it is far more durable than existing plastics.

A team led by optoelectronics researcher Jingyu Zhang at the University of Southampton, in the U.K., has demonstrated that information can be stored in glass by changing its birefringence, a property related to how polarized light moves through the glass (PDF). Continue reading Five Dimensions Store More Data Than Three →

IEEE Spectrum, News

Echolocation by Smartphone Possible

Credit Nir Nussbaum: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/tierecke/
Credit: Nir Nussbaum

Submarines, bats, and even humans can echolocate, but they need high-end acoustic gear, brainpower, or training in order to do it. Now electrical engineer Ivan Dokmanić, of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, could bring that capability to smartphones. He has used echolocation combined with a simple algorithm and off-the-shelf microphones to map part of a complex structure—the Lausanne Cathedral. Used in reverse, this kind of technology could one day help smartphones find their location inside buildings.

Read the rest of this news story in IEEE Spectrum [html] [pdf]

News, Technology Review

Cheap Magnetic Helmet Detects Some Kinds of Brain Damage

VEPSA helmet that sends a magnetic field through the wearer’s head might someday offer a quick way to reveal whether the brain is  swelling or bleeding as the result of an injury.

In a prototype of the helmet, a small halo-like coil generates a magnetic field above a person’s head; another coil, just above the ears, detects the magnetic field induced in the volunteer’s brain. Because liquid such as blood affects the magnetic field’s phase, the team behind the device was able to distinguish eight brain-injured patients from 46 healthy volunteers in a pilot study, they report in the journal PLOS One. Continue reading Cheap Magnetic Helmet Detects Some Kinds of Brain Damage →