Lifeboat Foundation

Lithium-air batteries are poised to become the next revolutionary replacement for currently used lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, cell phones and computers.

Startup Biospectal could help 1.6 billion people suffering from hypertension by using a smartphone and an app to check for high blood pressure.

by
• Shelby Brown

Researchers from Binghamton University’s Mechanical Engineering Department have developed a way to make cell phones and power lines more durable.

Assistant Professor Sherry Towfighian and graduate student Mark Pallay created a new type of microelectromechanical system – more commonly known as a MEMS switch – that uses electrostatic levitation to provide a more robust system.

“All cell phones use MEMS switches for wireless communication, but traditionally there are just two electrodes,” said Towfighian. “Those switches open and close numerous times during just one hour, but their current lifespan is limited by the two-electrode system.”

Continue reading “Binghamton University researchers design a more durable MEMS switch” »

A roadmap for how smart devices can fully integrate with our bodies by 2029 and how Apple can stay relevant over the next decade

Happy 2019 everyone. It’s that time of year again when tech media goes all out to publish their top 10 predictions for the year ahead. To complement this, I thought it might be interesting to try and illustrate how society might transform over the next 10 years, using the future iPhone lineup as an anchor to avoid too much deviation from reality.

We’re used to seeing better smartphones every year, packed with the latest and greatest hardware and features. So what would they look like in 2029? It’s amazing to recall when smartphones didn’t exist prior to 2007 — I have some minor flashbacks of my plastic brick with those tiny buttons like the 10 commandments miniaturised and inscribed with the alphabet. The iPhone has come a long way, but Apple won’t be immune to the fate shared by Nokia and Blackberry.

Continue reading “The iPhone 20(XX)” »

New UC Berkeley study suggests that AI makes it easy to mine mobile phones and fitness trackers for health information, even data the user has deleted.

SocialRecall says it deletes obsolete user data on the event version of the app, and that data for the other version is only stored on a user’s phone.

But privacy experts are still concerned that the app represents a mainstream rollout of technology that could have profound implications for the future of public spaces — and that it’s difficult to adequately inform users about the long-term risks of a technology that’s still so new.

“The cost to everyone whom you are surveilling with this app is very, very high,” New York University law professor Jason Schultz told Scientific American, “and I don’t think it respects the consent politics involved with capturing people’s images.”

The iPhone isn’t selling as well as Apple expected. Tim Cook blames China’s cooling-down economy, but a lot of users say it’s because the phone are too expensive for the features they offer.

Apple shares plummeted after CEO Tim Cook revealed that the iPhone maker expects a drop of up to $9bn in revenue compared to its November report. More affordable battery replacements are to blame, among other things.

Apple stated that it now expects a revenue of approximately $84 billion in the first quarter of 2019, down from its previous estimate of $89bn to $93bn. Markets have reacted swiftly to the news, sending Apple shares into a 7.5-percent nosedive.

Continue reading “Apple iPhone sales look $9bn worse than expected, CEO blames China & cheap batteries” »

Mark Zuckerberg and his pediatrician wife Priscilla Chan have sold close to 30 million shares of Facebook to fund an ambitious biomedical research project, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), with a goal of curing all disease within a generation. A less publicized component of that US$5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, devices that essentially translate thoughts into commands.

From a report: One recent project is a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time. In a paper published in the highly cited scientific journal Nature on Monday, researchers detail a wireless brain device implanted in a primate that records, stimulates, and modifies its brain activity in real time, sensing a normal movement and stopping it immediately. Those researchers are part of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a non-profit medical research group within the CZI. Scientists refer to the interference as “therapy” because it is designed to be used to treat diseases like epilepsy or Parkinson’s by stopping a seizure or other disruptive motion just as it starts.

“Our device is able to monitor the primate’s brain while it’s providing the therapy so you know exactly what’s happening,” Rikky Muller, a co-author of the new study, told Business Insider. A professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Muller is also a Biohub investigator. The applications of brain-machine interfaces are far-reaching: while some researchers focus on using them to help assist people with spinal cord injuries or other illnesses that affect movement, others aim to see them transform how everyone interacts with laptops and smartphones. Both a division at Facebook formerly called Building 8 as well as an Elon Musk-founded company called Neuralink have said they are working on the latter.

Continue reading “Mark Zuckerberg-Funded Researchers Test Implantable Brain Devices” »

While a 90-day ceasefire period is in place for negotiators to end the war, major Chinese technology companies and national initiatives are expected to continue to face challenges in 2019 as the world’s two largest economies remain at loggerheads over global leadership in hi-tech innovation.

Here we take a look at the views of analysts, executives, and experts to see which sectors and companies will likely be in the spotlight in 2019 and what the big issues are expected to be.

Continue reading “2019 China tech look ahead: trade war likely to cast a shadow as AI, e-commerce, smartphone progress continues” »