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Researchers have demonstrated the smallest laser ever, consisting of a nanoparticle just 44 nanometers across. The device is dubbed a "spaser" because it generates a form of radiation called surface plasmons. The technique allows light to be confined in very small spaces, and some physicists believe that spasers could form the basis of future optical computers just as transistors are the basis of today's electronics.

While the best consumer electronics operate at speeds of about 10 gigahertz, Mikhail Noginov, professor of physics in the Center for Materials Research at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, VA, notes that optical devices can operate at hundreds of terahertz. Optical devices are, however, difficult to miniaturize because photons can't be confined to areas much smaller than half their wavelength. But devices that interact with light in the form of surface plasmons can confine it within much tighter spots.

"There's currently a big effort, mostly theoretical, towards designing a new generation of nanoelectronics based on plasmonics," says Noginov. Unlike other previous plasmonic devices, spasers are an active element that can produce and amplify these waves. Noginov co-led the development of the new spaser with Ulrich Wiesner of Cornell University and Vladimir Shalaev and Evgenii Narimanov of Purdue University. The work is described today in the journal Nature.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23249/

Researchers at MIT have developed a new system that may provide a cheaper and more efficient way to track motion. The system, called Second Skin, could be a cheaper alternative for creating special effects for movies. The researchers say that they hope it will also be used to help people monitor their own motions so that they can practice physical therapy or perfect their tai chi moves.

Traditional tracking systems involve high-speed cameras placed around a specially lit set. The subject being tracked wears special markers that reflect light emitted by the cameras. The cameras capture and record the reflected light several times a second, to track the subject's motion.

When the system is used to make movies, software programs and a team of animators convert the data into an animated character. These motion-tracking systems can cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Alternative systems that use magnets, accelerometers, or exoskeletons are, respectively, in need of even more extensive set up and calibration, error prone, or bulky and inflexible.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22555/

Cliff Kushler, the inventor of the T9 keyboard technology for numeric keypads, has developed a new alphanumeric entry technology for touch-screen laptops and Smartphone devices. This latest technology, named Swype, works with an on-screen QWERTY keyboard similar to ones found on Windows Mobile and the iPhone. The difference from the usual method of typing in the letters is that a finger or stylus is used to slide in the first letter, then without lifting the finger, the user continues writing the entire word. Only once the word is completed can the finger be lifted off.

This patented technology is a faster and easier way to input text onto a screen - at over 50 words per minute. The speed derives from the allowance given to the user to be inaccurate. Swype has built-in “intelligence” that does not expect users to hit each letter precisely. As long as the input roughly passes through the letters of the word, Swype would be able to generate it. Also, tracing a smooth, continuous path is much faster than “target-tap-lift-target-tap...”.

Source: http://thefutureofthings.com/news/6064/swype-it-dont-type-it.html

MICROCHIPS that process information without moving electrons could lead to a new generation of ultra-low-power computers. That is the promise behind a processor that uses waves rather than current to crunch digital data.

In conventional computer chips, information is processed in the form of electric charges and transmitted by physically moving electrons from one place to another. This approach has been hugely successful, with engineers packing ever-increasing numbers of transistors onto a single chip.

But Moore's law, as this trend is called, is set to come up against a barrier. As transistors become smaller, tiny variations in the structure of the materials they are made from can influence the electron flow. This makes it hard to guarantee that neighbouring transistors are identical.

Source:. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026836.200-computer-chips-give-new-spin-on-saving-energy.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

University of Rochester researchers have developed the first true 3-D processor and it runs today at 1.4 GHz. Previous attempts to build 3-D chips simply stacked identical processors on the top of one another. On the contrary, the new 3-D chip, dubbed the ‘Rochester Cube,’ was specifically designed to optimize all key processing functions vertically. And each layer could have a different function.

For example, this kind of 3-D processor could have a layer dedicated to conversion of an MP3 file and another one to provide information about light to your digital camera. Will we ever use these processors? Time will tell.

The team is using wafer bonding as the target technology for 3-D systems, where face-to-face bonding is employed with two physical planes bonded with adhesive materials or metal pads. But back-to-face bonding can also be used.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1038