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Electrons In Drag: Camouflaged Cell Phone Towers

 

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New Lens For Nano-Scale Objects

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley are...❝creating a superlens that can overcome a limitation in physics that has historically constrained the resolution of optical images. Schematic drawing of nano-scale imaging using a silver superlens that achieves a resolution beyond the optical diffraction limit. Using a thin film of silver as the lens and ultraviolet (UV) light, the researchers recorded the images of an array of nanowires and the word “NANO” onto an organic polymer at a resolution of about 60 nanometers. In comparison, current optical microscopes can only make out details down to one-tenth the diameter of a red blood cell, or about 400 nanometers.

The breakthrough, reported in the April 22 issue of the journal Science, opens the door to dramatic technological advances in nanoengineering that could eventually lead to DVDs that store the entire contents of the Library of Congress, and computer processors that can quickly search through such a huge volume of data, the researchers said. [...] With current optical microscopes, scientists can only make out relatively large structures within a cell, such as its nucleus and mitochondria. With a superlens, optical microscopes could one day reveal the movements of individual proteins traveling along the microtubules that make up a cell's skeleton, the researchers said.

Scanning electron and atomic force microscopes are now used to capture detail down to a few nanometers. However, such microscopes create images by scanning objects point by point, which means they are typically limited to non-living samples, and image capture times can take up to several minutes.

“Optical microscopes can capture an entire frame with a single snapshot in a fraction of a second,” said Fang, who is now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “That opens up nanoscale imaging to living materials, which can help biologists better understand cell structure and function in real time, and ultimately help in the development of new drugs to treat human diseases.” The study is the latest entry in a hotly debated topic among physicists and engineers surrounding the creation of a lens that can break the so-called diffraction limit of optics through negative refraction. Conventional lenses, whether manmade or natural, create images by capturing the propagating light waves all objects emit and then bending them. The angle of the bend is determined by the index of refraction and has always been positive.

Yet objects also emit “evanescent” waves that carry a great deal of detail but are far more elusive. Such evanescent waves decay exponentially and thus never make it to the image plane, an optics threshold known as the diffraction limit. Breaking this diffraction limit and capturing evanescent waves are critical to the creation of a 100-percent perfect representation of an object, considered the Holy Grail in optics.❞

[UC Berkeley News]

Happy Face Nastiness

Matthias Megyeri has created a series of works that put a happy face on security.

“Fences with bunny rabbits for posts, razor-wire woven with butterflies, padlocks shaped like teddy bears and cat-like CCTV camera covers are just part of the Sweet Dreams Security™ range. Vicious but cute, designer Matthias Megyeri has carved an exciting new market for security products that respond to the uncomfortable balance of the growing demand for safety, exaggerated by the media, and the over-saturation of ‘niceness’. So far they have enjoyed a fantastic response from the design community and the general public, and have been shown in the Royal College of Art end of year show, 2003, the ‘Hometime’ exhibition by the British Council in China and are due to be included in Design Mart at the Design Museum in September.”

[Matthias Megyeri via Eyebeam Reblog]

Mapping The Evolution Of A Document

Given the computer's ability to turn data points into a visual display, it has become possible to turn just about anything into a visual map. The image above is a visualization of the evolution of the entry for “Brazil” in the Wikipedia. [And here's the one for “love.”] Time moves from left to right. You can easily see the evolution of the article, since individual colors represent content elements that remain the same—so you see both continuity, growth and change.

This display was made with IBM's recently released alpha version of History Flow Visualization Application. If you want to experiment [I have not], you can download it here.

Visuality rules.

The Future of Music

“This is a book about music and the music business in the twenty-first century. Imagine a world where music flows all around us, like water, or like electricity, and where access to music becomes a kind of ”utility.“ Not for free, per se, but certainly for what feels like free.

In this world, we share, contribute, collaborate, and trade music amid a constant flow of new songs that suit our tastes and preferences, without any palpable constraints or limitations. Music is ubiquitous and served up in easy, friendly formats. Like water, it is simply present just about everywhere, anytime.

Artists, writers, composers, and producers all prosper, both creatively and financially. The music industry is redefined from A to Z, as fairer, bigger, and better. Fans, artists, and all kinds of music communities drive the business, rather than being driven by corporate powers. [...]

Ever since the invention of electricity, music and technology have worked hand-in-hand, and technology continues to catapult music to unprecedented heights. Today, because of the Internet and other digital networks, and despite all the legal wrangling, music is bigger than ever before. Within ten to fifteen years, the ”Music Like Water“ business model that we will outline in this book will make the industry two or three times larger than it is today.

Right now, the music industry is viewed as being in great turmoil. Technology has brought powerful and disruptive changes to the ruling incumbents. The best-selling CD in the U.S. is a blank, recordable one. Profits at the big record labels have dwindled and the markets for recorded music have virtually collapsed in many other parts of the world.

Will record companies go the way of horse-drawn carts? How will music companies make money in the future? Who will buy that is, pay for music, for how much, and on what terms? How do music fans feel about these developments, and how will the artists deal with this? How is it all going to shake out? Is the music industry just the first of the so-called ”creative industries“ to be sold out for free via the digital networks, or will everyone be better off in a world of ubiquitous media? Whose views will prove to be more correct: the recording industry's legal sharks or burn-crazy downloading teenagers?”

[Download first chapter: “Music Like Water”]
[The Future of Music]

Social TV

he ❝Social TV project is in research stages right now. But the idea is that, with the help of a bit of software, perhaps a keyboard or two and several strategically-placed microphones, people can remotely discuss a TV program while they are watching it. You’ll be able to see which of your buddies is watching which program in his or her house, and join into the viewing. Or, you might start a program-watching session of your own and invite friends.

Indeed, in many ways, Social TV will be similar to the Instant Messenger you already use on your computer. Only it will be more dynamic: Social TV software, located on a device like TiVo or even your TV set, might notice that your and your buddy’s yacking has gone well past the commercial break. The software would conclude that you are no longer watching the show and, perhaps, pause the program until you are ready to resume, says Nic Ducheneau, member of PARC research staff. [...]

PARC researchers plan to conduct more experiments this coming summer and then develop a working prototype. After all, the idea is likely to be a hit with TV services providers, worried about loosing younger viewers. Many young men, a prime television advertising audience, increasingly opt to spend their time playing interactive video games. Teens are spending more time text-messaging each other. Perhaps a more interactive TV could reverse that trend and drive TV viewership up again.❞

[Business Week]

The Virgin & the Mobile Phone

As if lighting candles for the Virgin...

...spectators raise high their mobile phones to snap the centuries-old Spanish tradition, LA 'LEVANTÁ' DE LOS MÓVILES.

[Antonio at Ions Blog via Picturephoning ]

Putting You Right In The Movie

❝Queueing outside what appears to be an ordinary cinema, members of the audience are invited to place their faces into a hole in the wall for a few seconds. High-resolution digital cameras perform a quick scan from several angles, and everyone takes their seats. The animated film, with the quality of Shrek or Toy Story, begins as normal but the entire cast is made up of walking, talking digital replicas of people in the audience. A grandmother in the second row was surprised to discover that her screen persona was a space commando, barking out orders to a squadron that comprised her daughter-in-law and a young couple in the fourth row.

Everyone in the cinema gets a role in the unfolding drama — there are soldiers, doctors, scientists and politicians involved in the story — as a Toshiba supercomputer hums away in the background processing the one-time-only film. Welcome to Aichi Expo 2005, which showcases the next generation of technology. Over the next six months more than 15 million visitors will marvel at the 21st century’s first world exposition [...]

Opposite Toshiba’s digital cinema is Hitachi’s virtual reality safari. Hitachi equips visitors with portable handsets that contain a prototype of its mu-chip, a processor slated to become the key component of future wireless devices, including mobile phones. As the handset is brought close to particular transmitters, it instantly downloads any information on offer in that area and displays it on a small screen. The safari ride itself employs a revolutionary 3D projection system designed to work with a set of sensors strapped to the hands. Once immersed in the virtual reality world, solid-seeming objects can be plucked from mid-air and examined more closely in the hands. A rare butterfly, for example, can be persuaded to land in one’s palm and then be looked at from any angle. Release your fingers, and it flutters off to join its companions back in the VR jungle.

Other gadgetry that went on display for the first time yesterday included object-recognition binoculars created by NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile phone company. As users scan the surrounding area, the binoculars will recognise certain objects and details about them will appear in the eyepiece. Fix on a passing plane, for example, and the machine will tell you the flight number and destination. Turn your attention to a flower, and it will tell you what variety it is. The machine contains a 360-degree “radar” to point you in the direction of things that it knows it already has information on. DoCoMo hopes to use the technology in camera-equipped handsets. With particular databases of information installed, the phones could be pointed at objects of interest and used to collect information. Waved past an item in a shop, for example, it might inform users where the same thing could be bought more cheaply.

But perhaps the strongest influence over the Aichi Expo is exerted by Toyota, currently the world’s most successful carmaker, and by far the largest company in the Aichi region of Japan. Britain and the US dragged their heels over involvement in the expo, and it is generally thought that it was Toyota’s pressure that persuaded them to join in. Toyota’s show, for which visitors must queue for several hours, focused on the classic Japanese theme of robots. The company has, invested millions upon millions of dollars in robotics research, partly for its factories, and the results were eerily human. One robot strolled into the arena and then balanced on one leg, another flexed a perfectly jointed hand in the air before playing a trombone.❞

[London Times]

Social Networking Pets

❝If you’ve ever longed for a way to monitor your dog’s social life, map out its buddy network and sense who its true friends really are, you might have been waiting for SNIF. The Social Networking in Fur, or SNIF, project is a wearable computer system for dogs that allows their owners to monitor the animals’ behavior and capture their social networks.

The technology, designed by a group of researchers at MIT’s Physical Language Workshop, also gives dog owners the chance to “petwork,” or network through their pets.

The system consists of a technologically enhanced collar, leash and wall-mounted leash-docking station. In prototype now, the system will be linked to a web-based community containing information about pets in the program and their owners. The collar and leash have an LED display and a variety of sensors for recording climatic conditions, the pet’s activity levels and the presence of other dogs equipped with SNIF collars. When out for a walk, the canine’s collar flashes a unique “collar tone” that provides its social network ID to other doggies’ SNIF collars. Then a secure ID transfer takes place. Owners can record their dog’s reactions to each other by pressing “negative” or “positive” buttons on the leash.

When released to play with a group, the dog’s collar records the IDs of pets that it has spent the most time with, along with the corresponding activity level. The collar relays the data to the leash when reattached. The leash then uploads the information to a SNIF server. On the website, pet owners can learn about their dogs’ new friends through profiles created by their owners. Unlike human social-networking sites, where users typically confirm they have met, the system automatically verifies whether the mutts have actually sniffed each other. It also reports on the status of a relationship and how often they see each other.

Besides giving pet lovers a keener insight into their dog’s favorite friends, it allows owners to play a stronger role in directing their pet’s social networking. Owners can avoid mutts previously classified as unfriendly, or detect their pet’s pals when they are within range. They could set up dog walks based on mutual compatibility. “It would be helpful to know in advance if another dog is aggressive and if Bogart (my white shepherd) has had any problems with them in the past,” says Marilyn Heywood Paige, a dog owner from Philadelphia. “I can see people setting up play dates for their dogs based on compatibility.❞

[Wired]

Just Add Water

“In a world with millions of refugees, numerous war zones and huge areas devastated by natural disaster, aid agencies and militaries have long needed a way to quickly erect shelters on demand. Soon, there will be such a method. A pair of engineers in London have come up with a ”building in a bag“ — a sack of cement-impregnated fabric. To erect the structure, all you have to do is add water to the bag and inflate it with air. Twelve hours later the Nissen-shaped shelter is dried out and ready for use. The structure is intended to improve upon two current methods of providing emergency shelter: tents, which provide only poor protection, or prefabricated, portable buildings that are expensive and difficult to transport. Dubbed the Concrete Canvas, the shelter incorporates the best aspects of both forms. It is almost as easy to transport as a tent, but is as durable and secure as a portable building.”

[Wired]