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May 2009 - Technology Trends

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  • Biological computing

    Cellular Counter Brings Computer Programming to Life “In an essential step toward programming cells as precisely as computers, synthetic biologists have finally learned to count. By linking a series of protein switches, researchers made prototype...
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  • Using real fonts online

    Introducing Typekit “We’ve been working with foundries to develop a consistent web-only font linking license. We’ve built a technology platform that lets us to host both free and commercial fonts in a way that is incredibly fast, smoothes out differences...
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  • Haptic communication

    Immersion’s New Haptic Touchscreen Tech Encourages Corny iPhone Romance “Immersive Messaging, on the other hand, is a cornball idea that’s essentially text messaging gussied up with haptic feedback: You can send a heart design to your...
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  • Charging surfaces

    Electrolux Rendez-Vous: the kitchen table becomes the table kitchen “The key to this concept design is its “energy shield” top which would transmit power wirelessly to any electrical appliance, so there’s no need to plug in your...
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  • Tracking trends across friends

    Finally, Zensify’s iPhone app shows key word trends across your social graph “…what sets Zensify apart is that it shows the user trends within your social graph in the form of a tag cloud of key words. In other words it brings a lot more intelligence...
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  • Monitoring air quality

    Sensaris Lets You Wear the Air Quality on Your Sleeve “Their GPS-equipped sensor gives you real-time air quality information including CO2 and ozone levels for wherever you are and then uses Bluetooth technology to transmit that information to a...
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  • Surrounded by data

    In-Formed: Embedding Statistical Data into Everyday Household Objects “”Caloric Consumption” shows the caloric consumption per capita in various countries and regions visualized on a plate and fork. The information allows for the comparison...
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  • Mapping calls

    Obama One People: Revealing the Emotional Flow of the Presidential Inauguration “The map of Washington, D.C. is overlaid with a 3D color-coded animated surface of square tiles (1 tile represents an area of 150 x 150 meters). Each tile rises and...
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  • Cooling laptops

    An ionic wind to cool laptops may blow fans away “The Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) ionic wind pump technique involves applying a voltage to an electrode, which produces a high intensity electric field. Air molecules surrounding the electrode tip ionize...
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  • Tracking the flu

    Gov’t to track citizens, prevent pandemic “Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications hopes to find out this autumn by testing a mobile phone-based GPS tracking system that constantly monitors each individual’s location and sends text...
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  • Government data access

    data.gov is Live “”The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government“. However, while this means that the data has finally become...
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  • Long lasting storage

    Computer memory to last a billion years “We have developed a new mechanism for digital memory storage with the potential to store data with both long lifetime and high density. Our memory device consists of a crystalline iron nanoparticle enclosed...
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  • Technology environment

    MIT’s futuristic, networked bus stop design “Riders can plan a bus trip on an interactive map, surf the Web, monitor their real-time exposure to pollutants and use their mobile devices as an interface with the bus shelter. They can also post...
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  • Social vs. work

    Companies Want to Monitor Workers on Social Networks “The professional services firm found that 60 percent of the executives interviewed believe they have a right to know how employees portray themselves and their organizations. Employees, on the...
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  • Remote control door opener

    BlueGuard Opens Doors When You Get Within Bluetooth Range “The $200 unit detects up to 10 separate cellphones at up to 33 feet (standard low-power Bluetooth range), and hooks up to the door-opening system to enable you to get hands-free entrance...
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