ECN Magazine News

Bacteria use hydrogen, carbon dioxide to produce electricity

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:56:27 +0000

Researchers have engineered a strain of electricity-producing bacteria that can grow using hydrogen gas as its sole electron donor and carbon dioxide as its sole source of carbon. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst report their findings at the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

"This represents the first result of current production solely on hydrogen," says Amit Kumar, a researcher on the study who, along with his co-authors are part of the Lovley Lab Group at the university.

Computational tool translates complex data into simplified 2-dimensional images

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:52:28 +0000

Kinks and curves at the nanoscale

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:46:36 +0000

Disney researchers develop fast, economical method for high-definition video compositing

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:35:15 +0000

DuctTake system combines multiple takes into single video

ZURICH - Video compositing to create special effects, replace backgrounds or combine multiple takes of an actor's performance is an integral, but highly labor-intensive, part of modern film making. Researchers at Disney Research, Zürich, however, have found an innovative way to create these composite videos that is simple, fast, and easy to use.

Yahoo takes big leap with $1.1B deal for Tumblr

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:33:30 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to rejuvenate an Internet icon that had fallen behind the times.

Robots learn to take a proper handoff by following digitized human examples

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:32:19 +0000

Disney Research and KIT scientists achieve natural human-to-robot handoff motion

A humanoid robot can receive an object handed to it by a person with something approaching natural, human-like motion thanks to a new method developed by scientists at Disney Research, Pittsburgh in a project partially funded by the International Center for Advanced Communication Technologies (interACT) at Carnegie Mellon University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Review: Toshiba brings high-res screen to Windows

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:04:10 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — Last year, Apple added a visually stunning option to its MacBooks: screens with ultra-high resolution. These "Retina" displays reveal four times as much detail as any Windows laptop screen ... until now. Toshiba just released a new laptop line with a Retina-level display.

Congress gets mixed advice on regulating drones

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:58:25 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — The growing use of unmanned surveillance "eyes in the sky" aircraft raises a thicket of privacy concerns, but Congress is getting mixed advice on what, if anything, to do about it.

A future with domestic drones may be inevitable. While civilian drone use is currently limited to government agencies and some public universities, a law passed by Congress last year requires the Federal Aviation Administration to allow widespread drone flights in the U.S. by 2015. According to FAA estimates, as many as 7,500 civilian drones could be in use within five years.

SKorea analyzing NKorea's 4 projectile launches

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:48:46 +0000

Smartphone sector sees vibrant performance in Southeast Asia

mbarnes — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:47:58 +0000

Over 108 million handsets sold in last 12 months; rising demand for bigger screens, Android smartphones