Chrysler's Mopar Division has developed a wireless charging system that sits in the central console of a car, which juices up the battery of any mobile device placed on the mat. The technology is to make its debut in the forthcoming 2013 Dodge Dart.
The new in-vehicle wireless charging system from Mopar - a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts - takes the shape of an 8.27 x 9.5 x 3.25 inch (210 x 241.3 x 82.5 mm) power bin towards the bottom of the vehicle's central console. The built-in charging grid activates when a battery-powered mobile device - such as an iPhone, Blackberry, MP3 player or Droid-based device - that's been wrapped in a specially-designed case is detected. The case comes supplied with the system and is said to be compatible with a variety of devices. Charging begins when the vehicle is started.
Mopar was also the first to make it possible for a driver to create in-vehicle wireless hot spots, and the first to introduce smartphone vehicle information apps.
The Mopar in-vehicle wireless charging technology is being made available for US$199.99 (not including the cost of installation) and will make its debut in the 2013 Dodge Dart that's set to hit dealerships during Q2 2012.
Article
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Carkoon: An airbag for children
Worried about the safety rating of that child car seat? Perhaps you should swaddle your progeny in a protective Kevlar cocoon. The Carkoon is a new child seat developed by British company Cool Technologies that wraps your child in protective Kevlar and a fireproof Nomex airbag upon impact. It even calls emergency services for you via a transmitter than signals GPS coordinates and details of the accident.
When deployed, the airbag shields the entire exposed portion of the car seat, protecting the child inside from flying objects (or flames) inside the car using the same materials used in body armor and fireproof suits. And should the driver be incapacitated, an emergency transmitter begins beaming the GPS coordinates of the seat to emergency channels. Which means you can rest assured that although you may be on fire, junior is comfortably awaiting help to arrive.
The seat is currently a prototype but could go on sale as early as next year for around $800, cheaper than your designer stroller.
Article
When deployed, the airbag shields the entire exposed portion of the car seat, protecting the child inside from flying objects (or flames) inside the car using the same materials used in body armor and fireproof suits. And should the driver be incapacitated, an emergency transmitter begins beaming the GPS coordinates of the seat to emergency channels. Which means you can rest assured that although you may be on fire, junior is comfortably awaiting help to arrive.
The seat is currently a prototype but could go on sale as early as next year for around $800, cheaper than your designer stroller.
Article
'Project Glass'
'Project Glass' is a research and development program by Google to prototype and build an augmented reality head-mounted display (HMD). The first 'Project Glass' demo resembles a pair of normal eyeglasses where the lens is replaced by a heads-up display. In the future, new designs may allow integration of the display into people's normal eyewear or contact lenses.
The New York Times reported the glasses would be available to the public for "around the cost of current smartphones"---$250 to $600---by the end of 2012, but other reports have stated that the glasses are not expected to be available for purchase any time soon.
The intended purpose of 'Project Glass' products would be the hands free displaying of information currently available to most smartphone users, and allowing for interaction with the Internet via natural language voice commands, in a manner similar to the iPhone application Siri. The software powering the glasses will be Google's Android operating system.
Source
The New York Times reported the glasses would be available to the public for "around the cost of current smartphones"---$250 to $600---by the end of 2012, but other reports have stated that the glasses are not expected to be available for purchase any time soon.
The intended purpose of 'Project Glass' products would be the hands free displaying of information currently available to most smartphone users, and allowing for interaction with the Internet via natural language voice commands, in a manner similar to the iPhone application Siri. The software powering the glasses will be Google's Android operating system.
Source
Monday, April 2, 2012
Using Legos to Build Artificial Bones
Researchers at Cambridge University are building artificial bone in the lab, and they’re doing so with what might be considered an unorthodox partner: Lego. The tedious process of building up a sample of artificial bone requires a lot of repetitive dipping of samples into various substances, rinsing, and repeating. So to automate sample creation, the researchers built a couple of inexpensive laboratory robots using Lego Mindstorms.
The robots, as you will see in the video below, handle the sample creation duties, freeing up the human researchers to focus on other laboratory tasks. Which is pretty clever. Lego, for its part, sees an expanding role for itself in the laboratory and in education in general. The company has teamed up with Google for the 2012 Google Science Fair, which is a pretty cool initiative that encourages kids 13 to 18 to solve answer any question that’s been bothering them any which way they can.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Bypassing the Password
Imagine sitting down at your work keyboard, typing in your user name and starting work right away — no password needed.
That’s a vision that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the Defense Department, wants to turn into a reality. It will distribute research funds to develop software that determines, just by the way you type, that you are indeed the person you say you are.
Richard Guidorizzi, program manager at DARPA, said, “What I’d like to do is move to a world where you sit down at a console, you identify yourself, and you just start working, and the authentication happens in the background, invisible to you, while you continue to do your work without interruptions.”
No biometric sensors, like thumbprint or iris scanners, would be used. Instead, he is seeking technology that relies solely on an individual’s distinct behavioral characteristics, which he calls the cognitive fingerprint.
Roy Maxion, a research professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, oversees research on “keystroke dynamics,” including the length of time a user holds down a given key and moves from one particular key to another.
Motions that we’ve performed countless times, Professor Maxion says, are governed by motor control, not deliberate thought. “That is why successfully mimicking keystroke dynamics is physiologically improbable,” he says.
He gives this example: A computer user holds down a key for an average of 100 milliseconds. Suppose that a fraudster is trying to mimic a person who is slightly faster than average — typically holding the key down for 90 milliseconds. “Then the spoofer is in the dubious position of having to consciously shorten a key-press action by 10 milliseconds,” Professor Maxion says. Having such control doesn’t seem realistic, he says, when one considers that “a voluntary eye-blink takes 275 milliseconds.”
Continuous monitoring of a user’s behavior is an essential element of Darpa’s requirements. Because of the conventional password-based systems used today, the agency says, there is now no way “to verify that the user originally authenticated is the user still in control of the keyboard.”
Research done by Professor Maxion of Carnegie Mellon suggests that just a few key taps may be needed for continuous authentication. Test subjects were invited to mimic the keystroke timing of another person they were observing, and were permitted to practice that person’s 10-character password 100 times. He said no one succeeded in mimicking the target.
Professor Maxion has worked on another behavioral biometric for user verification: mouse dynamics. He explains that “everyone has an idiosyncratic way of using a mouse, such as the speed with which you move the cursor across the screen; the path — straight line, convex or concave arc; and the presence or absence of jitter.”
That’s a vision that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the Defense Department, wants to turn into a reality. It will distribute research funds to develop software that determines, just by the way you type, that you are indeed the person you say you are.
Richard Guidorizzi, program manager at DARPA, said, “What I’d like to do is move to a world where you sit down at a console, you identify yourself, and you just start working, and the authentication happens in the background, invisible to you, while you continue to do your work without interruptions.”
No biometric sensors, like thumbprint or iris scanners, would be used. Instead, he is seeking technology that relies solely on an individual’s distinct behavioral characteristics, which he calls the cognitive fingerprint.
Motions that we’ve performed countless times, Professor Maxion says, are governed by motor control, not deliberate thought. “That is why successfully mimicking keystroke dynamics is physiologically improbable,” he says.
He gives this example: A computer user holds down a key for an average of 100 milliseconds. Suppose that a fraudster is trying to mimic a person who is slightly faster than average — typically holding the key down for 90 milliseconds. “Then the spoofer is in the dubious position of having to consciously shorten a key-press action by 10 milliseconds,” Professor Maxion says. Having such control doesn’t seem realistic, he says, when one considers that “a voluntary eye-blink takes 275 milliseconds.”
Research done by Professor Maxion of Carnegie Mellon suggests that just a few key taps may be needed for continuous authentication. Test subjects were invited to mimic the keystroke timing of another person they were observing, and were permitted to practice that person’s 10-character password 100 times. He said no one succeeded in mimicking the target.
Professor Maxion has worked on another behavioral biometric for user verification: mouse dynamics. He explains that “everyone has an idiosyncratic way of using a mouse, such as the speed with which you move the cursor across the screen; the path — straight line, convex or concave arc; and the presence or absence of jitter.”
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