loading-chartbeat – Page 15 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Light-emitting fabrics could reinvent your ’90s wardrobe

Researchers who are obviously Saved by the Bell fans have developed clothing fibers that could turn you into a walking neon sign. Rather than OLED or LCD tech, the team exploited polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells (PLECs) that are rugged enough to be used in fabrics. They created a millimeter-sized fiber that’s decidedly high-tech — it consists of a thin steel wire coated with nanoparticles and an electroluminescent polymer, topped by a transparent carbon nanotube outer layer. A prototype fabric glowed for several hours, but so far, the light colors are limited to blue and yellow. However, PLEC tech has a theoretical life span of thousands of hours, and more colors are technically possible. The fibers could feasibly “be woven into light-emitting clothes for the creation of smart fabrics” or used for biomedical applications, according to lead scientist Zhitao Zhang from Shanghai’s Fudan University. However, there are a few hurdles to clear. The fibers are too short to be woven into clothing and, like your old Christmas tree lights, are still too unstable. On the other hand, they require less power than LEDs and are transparent and conductive — meaning they have potential to be used for human- or solar-powered wearables. We could also see them in future invisibility cloaks if combined with tiny cameras. For now, it’s just a rough prototype, but display tech often goes from concept to reality a lot faster than other scientific pipe dreams . Filed under: Wearables , Science , Alt Comments Via: Spectrum IEEE Source: Nature

Originally posted here:
Light-emitting fabrics could reinvent your ’90s wardrobe

There’s now a super-speed PCIe SSD you can actually buy

Samsung has taken a commanding lead in next-gen SSDs that blow away old-school models , but it finally has some competition. Kingston’s HyperX Predator PCIe SSD is now available with read speeds touching 1.4GB/s. That’s still a far cry from Samsung’s latest SM951 SSD , which reads at a ridiculous 2.2GB/s. But unlike Samsung’s OEM-only model, you can actually purchase the Predator PCIe and jam it into your own PC build or laptop. You’ll need an M.2 SSD slot to do so (preferably with four PCIe lanes), but if that’s missing, Kingston will supply a PCIe slot adapter for an extra ten bucks or so. Write speeds run at 1GB/s, and random read/write IOPS are a scorching 130, 000/118, 000 random. For that, your wallet will also get scorched: it’s around $460 for the 480GB model ($230 for 240GB), or nearly double a regular HyperX 480GB SATA III drive. But that matches the price of Samsung’s similar XP941 model , and prices will likely fall quickly now that there’s some competition. Anyway, the performance is also more than double, and you can’t put a price on bragging rights . Filed under: Storage Comments Via: Tom’s Hardware Source: Kingston

Continue Reading:
There’s now a super-speed PCIe SSD you can actually buy

Packing peanuts are the key to fast-charging batteries

Hate buying some new gadget, only to wind up with a sea of packing peanuts that do little more than spill on to the floor? Don’t be too quick to toss them out — they may be the key to a new generation of lithium-ion batteries. Purdue University researchers have developed a heating process that converts these shipping leftovers into anodes (where lithium ions are stored during charging) made from carbon. On top of eliminating waste, this technique should lead to batteries that recharge much faster. The carbon anodes are only a tenth as thick as their commercially available counterparts, so they don’t produce nearly as much electrical resistance. There’s still some refinement necessary before you’re buying peanut-powered devices, mostly in terms of capacity. Lab samples last for a respectable 300 charging cycles without losing capacity, but you’d need more for hardware that’s going to be used for years. However, the approach is already practical: it’s cheap, simple and easy to implement on a large scale. It won’t be at all shocking if you can one day buy a quick-charging phone and send the packing foam back to help make more phones, rather than throwing it in the trash. [Image credit: Joey Yee, Flickr ] Filed under: Science Comments Source: Purdue University (Phys.org)

Pakistan orders cellphone users to provide their fingerprints

Pakistan is determined to prevent terrorists from using untraceable cellphone accounts to coordinate attacks like that in Peshawar , even if it means eroding civil liberties in the process. The country has ordered cellphone users to have their SIM cards verified through fingerprints, theoretically discouraging extremists from relying on local carriers to communicate or trigger bombs. People have until April 13th (carriers have to comply by April 15th) to get their digits on the record if they want to keep their cell service intact. It’s questionable as to whether or not the sacrifices will be worthwhile. Terrorists may simply turn to SIM cards from other countries and roam on Pakistani networks when necessary; in fact, people living near the Afghanistan border are already more likely to have foreign service. Also, the sheer scale of the fingerprint program could leave many upstanding people in the lurch. There are roughly 50 million SIM cards that haven’t been registered so far, many of them in rural areas where participation is difficult. And even if Pakistan makes the deadline, that’s not exactly a resounding victory — it still means that tens of millions of residents are losing some of the freedom that comes with anonymity. [Image credit: AP Photo/B.K. Bangash] Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments Source: Washington Post , BBC

Universal reportedly wants Spotify to scale back its free streaming

Spotify might have bent over backwards to lift restrictions on its free streaming service a couple of years ago, but at least one music label appears eager to turn back the clock. Financial Times sources understand that Universal is using licensing negotiations to squeeze Spotify and demand more limits for those who don’t pay up, such as restricting the amount of time they can play tunes in a given month. The publisher isn’t confirming anything, but CEO Lucian Grainge has lately been chastising the free, ad-based streaming model — it’s no secret that he would like more paying customers. According to one insider, Universal believes that Spotify is directly hurting sales at stores like iTunes. Whether or not Spotify gives in is another matter. It can’t afford to lose one of the major labels, but it’s also adamant that having an enticing free tier is crucial to getting listeners to pay. Other music companies, such as Beggars Group, would argue that Spotify is much better than alternatives like YouTube, where there are far fewer limits for free users. And simply speaking, Spotify may have the industry over a barrel — when streaming is more popular than CDs in the US, pulling a whole catalog could leave a lot of money on the table. Filed under: Internet , Software Comments Source: Financial Times

See the original article here:
Universal reportedly wants Spotify to scale back its free streaming

DC airport tries using face recognition to catch imposters

If you come to the US through Washington DC’s Dulles airport in the near future, don’t be surprised if Customs and Border Protection takes your snapshot before letting you through. The agency has confirmed to Motherboard that it will be testing a facial recognition system which captures a photo and compares it against your passport picture to see if you’re an imposter. The relatively short (2 to 3 months) trial won’t rely solely on face detection to flag suspicious travelers, but it could give customs agents a way to double-check identities without relying so heavily on keen eyes and intuition. As you might guess, this government-backed face detection is raising a lot of privacy concerns. CBP won’t directly link photos to people and promises to delete the images once the experiment is over, but critics are worried that the timestamps would make it possible to link a person to a given portrait. Also, there’s no guarantee that a full-fledged program would be as respectful of your privacy as officials attest — the TSA misrepresented what its millimeter wave scanners could do, for example. While there’s no certainty this trial will prove successful, let alone lead to an Orwellian future for air travel, it’s easy to understand why you’d feel anxious. [Image credit: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images] Filed under: Transportation Comments Source: Motherboard

More:
DC airport tries using face recognition to catch imposters

Movie piracy app Popcorn Time thinks it can thwart a shutdown

About a year after Popcorn Time’s death and resurrection show , comes news that app is taking even more of the legwork out of watching pirated movies online. To further stretch the meaning of “legal, ” the service is moving to a peer-to-peer streaming system so that its userbase (which is apparently growing by 100, 000 downloads per day) hosts the requisite data, according to Wired . “Making all our data available via P2P will mean that Popcorn Time will no longer rely on domains and centralized servers, but only on its user base, ” an anonymous software engineer said. “After everything we went through, this will be our sweetest revenge and our biggest victory.” So there’s that. Wired says the application will use the same P2P protocol for streaming that BitTorrent does , so if the central servers are knocked offline the service itself should remain operational. Another forthcoming addition will issue software updates for the app via P2P downloads that take advantage of “cryptographic signatures” to ensure that no malicious code proliferates the community. The interview is a really interesting, but the engineer seems incredibly cavalier about what the app is doing and how long it can outrun the law. Reading through it reminded me a lot of the attitude the original Pirate Bay crew had before the shutdowns and litigation ensued. We all know how that turned out. Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet , HD Comments Source: Wired

Read the original post:
Movie piracy app Popcorn Time thinks it can thwart a shutdown

Watch Nissan’s glowing Leaf tear down a glowing stretch of highway

Daan Roosegaarde’s Smart Highway concept saw a third of a mile of asphalt in the Dutch town of Oss festooned with phosphorescent stripes — they spend the day soaking up sunlight and convert it into a slightly eerie blue/green glow to guide drivers for eight hours once night falls. Seeing the road is trippy in and of itself, so (naturally?) watching Nissan’s glow-in-the-dark Leaf tear down it is a whole other story. Friendly reminder: You might want to have the Tron or Starlight Express soundtracks cued up before you press play. If you’re asking yourself why this exists, just stop — there’s really no meaning to this little artistic exercise other than to demonstrate an understanding that glowing thing plus glowing equals cool. You won’t be recreating this with the same sort of gear soon either, since the relatively exotic strontium aluminate paint that makes the Leaf shine in the dark is Nissan’s and it won’t share. You’re better off just buying a Tron bike of your own for the same effect, but for now just enjoy the light show as you wait for the weekend to engulf you. Comments Via: Autoblog

Read the original:
Watch Nissan’s glowing Leaf tear down a glowing stretch of highway

Streaming music sales in the US beat CDs for the first time

Sorry, Taylor Swift , but streaming music isn’t going anywhere. In fact, revenues from streaming services like Spotify and Rdio overtook CD sales last year — a first for the music industry — according to data from the RIAA . Streaming sales hit $1.87 billion last year, a 29 percent jump from 2013, while CD revenues fell 12.7 percent reaching $1.85 billion. Naturally, digital downloads still rule the music realm — accounting for 37 percent of the total market and $2.57 billion in sales — but it’s also worth noting they dipped a bit last year. At this point, it’s not a matter of if streaming music will overtake digital downloads, it’s simply a matter of when . The big problem for artists, though, is that they don’t make as much from streaming services as they do from downloads or CDs (that’s basically Swift’s entire beef). Don’t be surprised if you end up paying more for your Spotify subscription at some point soon, as those services rush to ramp up their pay outs. Filed under: Internet Comments Via: CNET Source: RIAA

Read the original:
Streaming music sales in the US beat CDs for the first time

Microsoft clarifies Windows 10 upgrade process for pirated copies

Yesterday, we heard that Microsoft planned to give people with pirated copies of its software a free way to upgrade to Windows 10. According to Reuters , Microsoft’s goal with this plan was to combat piracy in China, though the idea was to expand said offer beyond that country. Well, as it turns out, it won’t be that simple — and, frankly, is anyone really surprised? Microsoft tells The Verge that it will provide “a mechanism” for pirates to upgrade to the latest version of its OS , but they will have to go through the Windows Store in order to get a genuine (read: officially supported) upgrade. In other words, those with a non-genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8 will have a way to get Windows 10, but there’s no confirmation that it will be at no cost. “We will provide a mechanism for non-genuine Windows 10 PC devices to ‘get genuine’ via the new Windows Store, whether they are upgraded versions of Windows or purchased.” Although Microsoft isn’t making the situation any easier to understand, a company spokesperson did tell The Verge that the upgrade practice described above “will be consistent globally.” Exactly what the process will be like is yet to be determined, but we’re sure the Redmond-based company is going to have more details to share on that front as we get closer to the launch of Windows 10 . Filed under: Desktops , Laptops , Software , Microsoft Comments Source: The Verge

See more here:
Microsoft clarifies Windows 10 upgrade process for pirated copies