Consumer Technology Regional Brief

Instead of relying on a bog-standard bulb to beam light out over a darkened road, car headlights in the future would use something more akin to a projector. A camera sits nestled beneath that projector, keeping an eye on drops of rain as they enter the headlights’ beams. Information from that camera is sent to a processing unit, which identifies raindrops and makes a guess as to where each droplet is headed. The projector then blots out the bits of its projection where the rain drops are. The result is a light that shines out from the front of a car in the dark, but doesn’t highlight any rain. This would increase the visibility of driving at night as the view of the driver would not be inhibited by the lights being reflected off the raindrops. This is being jointly developed by Intel and Carnegie Mellon University.

Continue reading Economic & Innovation World Review Report April – May 2013 →

Consumer Technology World Brief

What was once a form for companies to protect their intellectual property is now involving countries as they form their own patent-acquisition companies with the goal of helping domestic technology firms and possibly making some money in the process. Countries that have taken such steps involve South Korea, France, China and Japan. The beginning of state-sponsored intellectual property dealers adds a fresh geopolitical element to the debate about patent trolls and how to protect legitimate inventions without stifling innovation. It could also complicate efforts to improve global cooperation on trade-related matters such as online piracy and computer security.

Continue reading Economic and Innovation World Review Report March-April 2013 →

Consumer Technology World Brief

Mobile World Congress was hosted in the Mobile World Capital Barcelona where more than 72,000 attendees from 200 countries were treated to a wealth of learning and networking opportunities, product showcases and announcements. More than 1,700 companies showcased their organizations through exhibition halls which provided glimpses of exciting new phones, tablets, mobile devices, back-end solutions, technologies, applications, accessories, and more. With a slew of new phones and devices being unveiled; Mozilla Firefox released its own mobile operating system (OS) competing head-on with Android and iOS. The OS is a HTML5 web-based browser sitting on top of Android kernels and all apps are delivered through the browser – similar to how the iPhone used web apps when it was first launched in 2007. Initially, Firefox Mobile OS will run on low-end devices with processors of 1GHz or less and Mozilla has said that Firefox will eventually be modified to work with more powerful handsets, but for now it is concentrating on the low end.

Continue reading Economic & Innovation World Review Report Jan-Feb 2013 →

Consumer Technology World Brief

Raspberry Pi is definitely in the news again with Google Inc. donating 15,000 units to schools in the U.K. “This is a brilliant way for us to find kids all over the country whose aptitude for computing can now be explored properly,” wrote a Raspberry Pi Foundation representative in a blog post. “We believe that access to tools is a fundamental necessity in finding out who you are and what you’re good at. We want those tools to be within everybody’s grasp, right from the start”. There has been a lot of debate on the purpose and how sufficient is the current computer knowledge being taught to the younger generations as the whole world progresses towards a more technological centric approach to live our lives. There is a definite lack of structure to encourage students to explore their creativity and expand their experience with computer programming and modeling which is proving to be an important skill in the demands of today’s computer based innovation industry.

Continue reading Economic & Innovation World Review Report – January 2013 →

The year 2012 has come to an end with all the doomsday prophecies failing to happen because well we wouldn’t be here now would we! The year 2012 has been a tumultuous year across the board for everybody in all sectors. From battling natural disasters to space exploration we have reached various milestones which should be celebrated for without innovations these achievements would not have been possible.

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Consumer Technology World Brief

Research In Motion (RIM) announced last month that its new BlackBerry 10 will finally debut on Jan. 30, a year after the company’s next-generation smartphones and software were originally slated to go on sale. Shares of RIM have rallied over the past several months as the company made progress with the twice-delayed BlackBerry 10, which promises to deliver must-have smartphone features that could make it competitive with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android. But even with the promise of its new BlackBerry 10 shares plunged 23% after the company reported plummeting quarterly sales.

Continue reading Economic & Innovation World Review Report December 2012 →

The most radical redesign of Windows since 1995, Windows 8 erases the distinction between tablets and full-fledged PCs. The new operating system embraces touchscreen gesture control while retaining mouse and keyboard inputs. The default presentation looks like a mobile interface: Tiles displaying snippets of information replace icons, and the static desktop becomes a moving flow of websites and apps. (Users can access a traditional desktop if they prefer.) This reinvention of the OS is a platform for a reinvention of the PC as well. Microsoft’s new Surface series of tablets have keyboards built into their protective covers, and the Pro model offers the full versatility of a laptop.

Continue reading The Microsoft Surface + Windows 8 →

Consumer Technology World Brief

It was thought that 3D printing would be just a passing fad where the novelty of being able to design a product and have it printed immediately would diminish after a while but advancement in 3D machining today definitely proves otherwise. Many manufacturers already use 3D printing to make prototypes of parts, because it is cheaper and more flexible than tooling up to produce just one or two items. But the technology is now good enough for it to be used to make production items too. GE Aviation buying into Morris Technologies is definitely one to watch out due to the highly specialized nature of 3D machining and it is clear that GE plans to use these 3D components in real world applications. This could be the start of a truly revolutionary process.

Continue reading Economic and Innovation World Review Report – November to December 2012 →