"VIDEO: Bokode, a better bar-code, explained, explored"

Bokodes are better bar codes that pack as much information as RFID tags, but are secure from hackers and much, much smaller. Check you this video about how MIT packed coded information behind a three millimeter illuminated microdot that can be read with a cell phone camera.



MIT's bokode is named after the Japanese term "bokeh," which refers to the image of a round blob that results when a camera is out of focus. MIT researchers reversed that process by encoding the microdot's blob-like image based on the angles at which rays emerge from the lens--an encoding that allows the out-of-focus camera to recombine the rays into the original. Check out all the details in the video!

VIDEO: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid31184510001?bctid=31226633001

"ALGORITHMS/CHIPS: MIT's 'bokode' chip bests bar codes"

Bokodes--a new type of printed code similar to bar-codes but much much smaller--promise to house reams of information about products that can be revealed with an out-of-focus camera. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology invention could replace RFID tags too, in applications where high-security is required. Look for bokodes to start appearing on everything you buy within the next five years. R.C.J.


A new kind of identification tag that combines the security of a bar code with the capacity of an RFID tag will debut next week at the Siggraph 2009 conference. The new tag, which can be read by consumers with a cellphone camera, looks like a 1-mm-high raised bump. Called a "bokode," the MIT invention consists of an illuminated microdot behind a plastic lens. However, the team is working on a holographic version that would use flat, fresnel-like lenses to encode angular information that does not require a backlight. On credit cards bokodes could store information more securely than RFID tags, since the bokode cannot be hacked while still in your wallet like a RFID tag. Bokodes could also be used for classroom presentations, business meetings, video games and motion-capture systems. For augmented reality, nutrition information stored by bokodes could be overlaid on products on grocer's shelves. Bokodes could also allow ultra-high-precision motion capture. For example, using them on body suits would reveal both the angle and the speed of joints, rather than just the speed detected by current motion-capture technology.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218800089

"MEMS: Natural iridensence harnessed for reflective displays"

Iridescence in nature--on insects', butterflies' and birds' wings--depends not on brute-force backlights, but instead plays tricks with the reflected light to make it appear brighter. As researchers uncover how these natural systems work, engineers are harnessing that knowledge to build reflective displays that require almost no power but are as bright as backlit LCDs. Look for bright reflective displays by QualComm for cell phones by the end of 2010.



Iridescent insects, butterflies and birds have long puzzled scientists with their unique ability to reflect bright colors. Nature's trick is growing nanoscale structures with dimensions that filter light being reflected without dimming light the way conventional filters do. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) said they have unearthed the secret of natural liquid crystals that reflect light as bright as a back-lit LCD. Separately, Qualcomm MEMS Technologies Inc. announced it is breaking ground on a manufacturing plant to fabricate its own reflective displays using methods similar to those recently discovered at Georgia Tech. Next, the researchers said they plan to characterize the shells of iridescent insects to create unique colors not seen elsewhere in nature.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218600648

"MATERIALS: transparent aluminum created with soft X-ray photoionization"

Don't look for transparent aluminum in Home Depot just yet, but scientists claim they have perfected a method, albeit only for a few femtoseconds. R.C.J.



Oxford university scientists have created a new state of matter that they call transparent aluminum. Ordinary aluminum was bombarded with intense radiation from the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. Transparent aluminum was featured in the movie Star Trek IV, where it was used to makes tanks to hold whales, but the real material is too exotic. Unfortunately, transpatent aluminum only stays that way for an estimated 40 femtoseconds and only in the ultra-violet spectrum (which bees see but people don't). However, the materials could have applications in nuclear fusion and in understanding planetary science.

Text: http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/090727_2.html

"INTERNET: Google claims YouTube on-track for profitability"

YouTube could be in the black by 2010, according to Google Inc. which bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. The high cost of streaming millions of videos only a few of which are supported by advertising has kept YouTube in red ink, but Chief Executive Eric Schmidt claimed during an earnings call on Thursday that new formats, like pre-roll ads that appear before a video, are generating more and more revenue each month. Google's reported quarterly profit beat Wall Street expectations, but revenue growth was not as stellar as some had predicted, resulting in its shares dropping in price by nearly 3 percent.
Text: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE56F75P20090717

"MATERIALS: cloak could render buildings 'invisible' to earthquakes"

Invisibility cloaks have already been demstrated for radar, sonar and acoustic waves, but now researchers think that they can render buildings invisible to earthquakes! If this technology is proven out experimentally, then metamaterials could become standard equipment in the foundations of every new building constructed worldwide. R.C.J.



Earthquakes can be made to bypass buildings surrounded by seismic invisibility cloaks, claim researchers at the University of Liverpool. Just as submarines can be shielded from sonar, airplanes from radar and small areas from probing by laser beams, the very long wavelengths emanating from earthquakes can likewise be redirected around buildings, effectively making them "invisible" to seismic waves. Invisibility cloaks work by harnessing metamaterials--regular patterns of dielectrics that resonate at the cloaking frequency. The technique effectively diverts electromagnetic energy around objects. Experimental confirmation of the metamaterials is underway, and the researchers also are experimenting with methods for diverting shock waves around passengers during automobile accidents.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218600378

"QUANTUM: Q-Internet heralds a new age of networked qubits"

Quantum bits--called qubits--can perform mathematical operations that are intractable, by encoding both ones and zeroes simultaneously in what is called a superposition of values. However, to create full fledged quantum computers something like an acknowledgment pulse is needed, and MIT claims to have one. R.C.J.


Future versions of the Internet will store and transfer quantum information--qubits--from node to node, researchers predict. After each operation, an acknowledgement pulse signaling a successful transfer must be sent to insure the smooth interchange of information among network nodes. Acknowledgement entails inspecting the data values, but that would destroy quantum information. Therefore, MIT scientists have invented a new method of signaling the reception of qubits without revealing their values. The quantum memory value is received from polarized qubits on incoming photons with the herald pulse acknowledging its successful storage in the cold gas. Later, another photon with the same polarization state as the original is retrieved from the gas, thereby proving that the herald pulse preserved the quantum information by only announcing the successful reception and storage of the qubits without resolving their superposition of quantum values.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218600118

"WIRELESS: 20 Million Internet TVs To Ship in 2011"

Internet protocol televisions (IP-TVs) will sweep the world over the next few years as people switch from overpriced satellite and cable service to low-cost alternatives on the Internet, such as Hulu and Netflix. Instead of buying a set-top box to make the connection to the Internet, an increasing number of TVs will come with an Ethernet port or WiFi built-in. Look for IP-TVs to overtake traditional televisions, as prices drop, achieving parity within five years. R.C.J.



ABI Research forecasts that by 2011, over 20 million IP-TVs will include Internet connectivity, a trend that will enjoy linear growth through 2014. Networked TVs are already widespread in Japan with North America, Western Europe, and select Asian countries as the next growth markets, according to ABI. The 2009 holiday season will be the watershed when IP-TVs could begin trickling down from high-end models to the mainstream. Online content is also growing, with news, weather and sports complementing Internet video sites like YouTube. Also music, gaming, and social networking will drive IP-TV adoption, according to ABI in a new report, “Internet and Web-Enabled HD TVs.”
Text: http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1003872-Internet_and_Web-Enabled_HD_TVs