Technologies

Definition The term "technology" rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the  Second Industrial Revolution . The term's meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with  Thorstein Veblen , translated ideas from the German concept of  Technik  into "technology." In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between  technik  and  technologie  that is absent in English, which usually translates both terms as "technology." By the 1930s, "technology" referred not only to the study of the  industrial arts  but to the industrial arts themselves Science OR Engineering The distinction between science, engineering, and technology is not always clear. Science is systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation. Technologies are not usually exclusively products of science, because they have to satisf...

A  tangible user interface  (TUI) is a user interface in which a person interacts with digital information through the physical environment. The initial name was Graspable User Interface, which is no longer used. The purpose of TUI development is to empower collaboration, learning, and design by giving physical forms to digital information, thus taking advantage of human abilities of grasp and manipulate physical objects and materials. One of the pioneers in tangible user interfaces is Hiroshi Ishii, a professor in the MIT Media Laboratory who heads the Tangible Media Group. His particular vision for tangible UIs, called  Tangible Bits , is to give physical form to digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible. Tangible bits pursues the seamless coupling between physical objects and virtual data. Characteristics Physical representations are computationally coupled to underlying digital information. Physical rep...

BATTERY ELECTRIC MINING TRUCKS WITH ENERGY HARVESTING ETF MINING,  Established in the UAE in 2009, ETF has been a long time in the making.  For many years, ETF walked the traitorous road that innovation on an industrial scale brings. Still, with over 20 mi views on YouTube, it intrigued the mining industry the world over. Its deep innovation leaving many fascinated and inspiring talent all over the world. But left even many more convinced it would never happen.  End 2014, it almost wasn’t. In 2015, ETF HOLDING BV was incorporated in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and now controls its affiliates ETF European Truck Factory GMBH and ETF FZE.  ETF also expanded its shareholder base and sanitized its balance sheet . Features of ETF Truck:- Largest Trucks in the World ETF makes the largest mining trucks in the world. Starting with 180 metric tonnes payload. The largest truck has 774 metric tonnes payload. More M...

Our brain generates all kinds of electrical signals with our thoughts, so much so that  each specific thought has its own brainwave  pattern. These  unique electrical signals can be mapped to carry out specific commands  so that thinking the thought can actually carry out the set command. In a EPOC neuroheadset created by Tan Le, the co-founder and president of Emotiv Lifescience, users have to don a  futuristic headset that detects their brainwaves generated by their thoughts . As you can see from this demo video, the command executed by thought is pretty primitive (i.e. pulling the cube towards the user) and yet the detection seems to be facing some difficulties. It looks like this UI may take awhile to be adequately developed. In any case, envision a (distant) future where one could  operate computer systems with thoughts alone . From the concept of a ‘smart home’ where one could turn lights on or off without having to step out ...

After using the same DDR3 standard for eight years, RAM manufacturers everywhere have begun the process of rolling out their latest memory chips in the form of DDR4. But what benefits (if any) does DDR4 have over DDR3 in real-world applications, and are they worth the increased cost? The Technical Improvements of DDR4 RAM Right now, there are three main types of RAM you can buy for a consumer-grade custom PC: DDR3, DDR3L, and DDR4. The main notable improvements that DDR4 makes over its predecessor, DDR3, are a greater range of available clock speeds and timings, lower power consumption, and reduced latency. With DDR3, the options for your clock speed (i.e., how fast the RAM can read or write data) are primarily geared to one of four different choices: 1333Mhz, 1600Mhz, 1866Mhz, and 2133Mhz, with 2133Mhz being the maximum limit. 800Mhz and 1066Mhz configurations do technically still exist, but for the most part these have been phased out of production i...

Printnig Before printing a 3D model from an  STL  file, it must first be examined for errors. Most  CAD  applications produce errors in output STL files: holes, faces normals, self-intersections, noise shells or manifold errors. A step in the STL generation known as "repair" fixes such problems in the original model. Generally STLs that have been produced from a model obtained through  3D scanning  often have more of these errors. This is due to how 3D scanning works-as it is often by point to point acquisition, reconstruction will include errors in most cases. Once completed, the STL file needs to be processed by a piece of software called a "slicer," which converts the model into a series of thin layers and produces a  G-code  file containing instructions tailored to a specific type of 3D printer ( FDM printers ). This G-code file can then be printed with 3D printing client software (which loads the G-code, and uses...

Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have developed an innovative photovoltaic cells – tiny, flexible solar cells, the appearance of which is very similar to the snake scales. Their main feature is the integration possibilities in the surface of objects of virtually any shape and size. According to the developers, such batteries will able to change our approach to  solar energy  generation. The technology, called “Dragon SCALE”, it became part of the license agreement between the company mPower Technology and Sandia laboratories. According to the agreement in the near future will be put in commercial release of tiny solar cells that can be applied to various materials, like as the printing ink. The new solar cells can be integrated into a variety of appliances, such as sensors,  wearable electronics , drones and satellites. The batteries can also be used in larger-scale projects, for example, on building  solar power systems . Also easily foldable, “Dragon Sca...

We love our mice, really we do. Sometimes, however, such as when we're sitting on the couch watching a DVD on a laptop, or when we're working across the room from an MP3-playing PC, it just isn't convenient to drag a hockey puck and click on what we want. Attempts to replace the venerable mouse--whether with voice recognition or brain-wave scanners--have invariably failed. But an alternative is emerging. What is it?  Compared with the intricacies of voice recognition, gesture recognition is a fairly simple idea that is only now making its way into consumer electronics. The idea is to employ a camera (such as a laptop's Webcam) to watch the user and react to the person's hand signals. Holding your palm out flat would indicate "stop," for example, if you're playing a movie or a song. And waving a fist around in the air could double as a pointing system: You would just move your fist to the right to move the pointer right, and so on. When is it c...

Hyperloop One, just one of several startups trying to build Elon Musk's Hyperloop, has notched up an important milestone, today announcing it has successfully tested its full-scale system for the first time. While it has still got considerable work to do before it fires passenger pods through tubes at supersonic speeds, it was able to levitate the moving test vehicle over the track in what it describes as its "Kitty Hawk" moment. Hyperloop One, along with its competitors like  Hyperloop Transportation Technologies  and  Arrivo , aims to one day establish networks of near-vacuum tubes that shuttle passenger and cargo pods along at close to the speed of sound. This Hyperloop system would make it possible to travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 30 minutes. And Hyperloop One does seem to be making some solid progress. In March it  revealed its full-scale test track  in the Nevada desert, and it is also conducting feasibility studies with governme...

Virtual reality  ( VR ) is a  computer  technology that uses  virtual reality headsets  or multi-projected environments, sometimes in combination with physical environments or props, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user's physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment.  VR systems that include transmission of vibrations and other sensations to the user through a  game controller  or other devices are known as  haptic  systems.  The  Virtual Reality Modelling Language  (VRML), first introduced in 1994, was intended for the development of "virtual worlds" without dependency on headsets.  The  Web3D consortium was subsequently founded in 1997 for the development of industry standards for web-based 3D graphics. The consortium subsequently developed  X3D  from the VRML framework as an archival,  open-source  standard for web-based distribution o...

The Avegant Glyph  is not a virtual reality device. I was told this over and over during my demo of the hardware. It's a media player, designed to give you a private screen for your existing devices. It doesn't offer an experience that engulfs you. The experience of wearing the glyph is more like sitting in a dark movie theater. The fact that reality doesn't disappear is a feature, not a bug. I was able to watch movie clips and play games from an iPhone while still seeing the room above and below my eye line. It was comfortable to interact with people around me, and they were able to speak with me without feeling like I was closed off. The screen itself also stood well above what other products in this space are offering. I took my glasses off to use the Glyph and was able to see the screens perfectly after spending a moment or two adjusting the focus and the interpupillary distance. The screen presented a beautiful image, with deep colors and no noticeable pixels. ...