Computed·Blg

Via ars technica

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Flash memory is the dominant nonvolatile (retaining information when unpowered) memory thanks to its appearance in solid-state drives (SSDs) and USB flash drives. Despite its popularity, it has issues when feature sizes are scaled down to 30nm and below. In addition, flash has a finite number of write-erase cycles and slow write speeds (on the order of ms). Because of these shortcomings, researchers have been searching for a successor even as consumers snap up flash-based SSDs.

There are currently a variety of alternative technologies competing to replace silicon-based flash memory, such as phase-change RAM (PRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FERAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), and resistance-change RAM (RRAM). So far, though, these approaches fail to scale down to current process technologies well—either the switching mechanism or switching current perform poorly at the nanoscale. All of them, at least in their current state of development, also lack some commercially-important properties such as write-cycle endurance, long-term data retention, and fast switching speed. Fixing these issues will be a basic requirement for next-gen non-volatile memory. 

Or, as an alternative, we might end up replacing this tech entirely. Researchers from Samsung and Sejong University in Korea have published a paper in Nature Materials that describes tanatalum oxide-based (TaO_x) resistance-RAM (RRAM), which shows large improvements over current technology in nearly every respect.

RRAM devices work by applying a large enough voltage to switch material that normally acts as an insulator (high-resistance state) into a low-resistance state. In this case, the device is a sandwich structure with a TaO_2-x base layer and a thinner Ta₂O_5-x insulating layer, surrounded by platinum (Pt) electrodes. This configuration, known as metal-insulator-base-metal (MIMB), starts as an insulator, but it can be switched to a low resistance, metal-metal (filament)-base-metal (MMBM) state.

The nature of the switching process is not well understood in this case, but the authors describe it as relying on the creation of conducting filaments that extend through the Ta₂O_5-x layer. These paths are created by applying sufficiently large voltages, which drive the movement of oxygen ions through a redox (reduction-oxidaton) process.

When in the MIMB state, the interface between the Pt electrode and the Ta₂O_5-x forms a metal-semiconductor junction known as a Schottky barrier, while the MMBM state forms an ohmic contact. The main difference between these two is that the current-voltage profile is linear and symmetric for ohmic but nonlinear and asymmetric for Schottky. The presence of Schottky barriers is a benefit, as it prevents stray current leakage through an array of multiple devices (important for high-density storage).

The results presented by the authors appear to blow other memory technologies out of the water, in pretty much every way we care about. The devices presented here are 30nm thick, and the switching current is 50 ?A—an order of magnitude smaller than that of PRAM. They also demonstrated an endurance of greater than 10¹² switching cycles (higher than the previous best of 10¹⁰ and six orders of magnitude higher than that of flash memory at 10⁴-10⁶). The device has a switching time of 10ns, and a data retention time that's estimated to be 10 years operating at 85°C. This type of RRAM also appears to work without problems in a vacuum, unlike previously-demonstrated devices.

This may all seem too good to be true—it should be emphasized that this was only a laboratory-scale demonstration, with 64 devices in an array (therefore capable of storing only 64 bits). There will still be a few years of development needed before we see gigabyte-size drives based on this RRAM memory.

Like all semiconductor device fabrication, advances will be needed to improve nanoscale lithography techniques for large-scale manufacturing and, in this particular case, a better understanding of the basic switching mechanism is also needed. However, based on the results shown here, this new memory technology shows promise for use as a universal memory storage: the same type could be used for storage and working memory.

Via makezine

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Included tangibles are as follows:

• iMSO-104 Mixed Signal Oscilloscope Hardware
• 1x/10 Analog Probe
• Logic Harness (4 Digital + 1 Ground)
• SMD Grabbers (4 Digital + 1 Ground)
• Screwdriver for Analog Waveform Compensation Adjustment
• Analog tip covers (2 pieces)

The core hardware, based on the Cypress PSoC 3 chip, is housed in a slim enclosure with requisite Apple dock connector, SMB jack for the analog probe, and 5-pin male header to accommodate 4 digital channels + ground. The included set of probes appear well-built, and I estimate they’d withstand the level abuse my other test equipment is subject to. The unit also includes a small blue LED power indicator which turns off whenever the device’s related software becomes inactive.

Software

The iMSO’s software portion is available for free as a Universal app and includes an interactive demo mode to give you an idea of how the unit handles analog signals. The app implements standard digital scope functionality (zoom, trigger, cursor/measurement) with thankfully little UI clutter. In addition to standard menu controls, users can employ familiar pinch-to-zoom gestures as well as control voltage trigger level via onscreen sliders, and double-tap to toggle display infos.

Usage

Right off the bat, I was intrigued at the thought of using the iPad’s 9.7? display and touch input for highly portable ‘scoping. And yes, viewing a sinewave in such a manner does feel satisfyingly slick and moreover, imbues Apple’s hardware with an air of technical sophistication rarely achieved while editing a Pages document or playing Angry Birds. The iMSO software was easily controllable via my iPhone, but I really can’t imagine using it much on that platform when given the option of a much larger display.

While it won’t replace my big ol’ 50MHz CRT benchtop dinosaur, the iMSO’s comparatively humble 5MHz analog bandwidth works well for inspecting audio signals (which I do quite often). Additionally, max voltage limits on the devices inputs (±40V analog 10x, -0.5V/+13V digital) mean I’m likely to reserve use exclusively for low-power audio work. On the digital side, the unit did prove capable when I attempted peeking in on some serial communications between an Arduino board and MCP4921 DAC chip.

The fact that iOS devices use a single port for both power & data, means you’ll have to rely on battery power while using the iMSO. Thankfully, the device + software went easy on my iPad 2?s battery – so power is likely only a concern for those who plan on marathon testing/debugging sessions.

The ~$300 pricetag and bandwidth limitations will likely limit the iMSO’s initial audience – but if those points don’t pose a problem for you, well, this thing is pretty dang sweet. As the IMSO-104 is the first in its category, It will be interesting to see what future developments hold for iOS test equipment – see, we shall.

Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Manos Tentzeris holds a sensor (left) and an ultra-broadband spiral antenna for wearable energy-scavenging applications. Both were printed on paper using inkjet technology.

Via Insteading

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Is there such a thing as DIY internet? An amazing open-source project in Afghanistan proves you don’t need millions to get connected.

While visiting family last week,  the topic of conversation turned to the internet, net neutrality, and both corporate and government attempts to police the online world. A family member remarked that if they wanted to, the U.S. government could simply turn off the internet and the entire world would be screwed.

Having read this inspiring article by Douglas Rushkoff on Shareable.net, I surprised the room by disagreeing. I said that we didn’t need the corporate built internet, and that if we had to, the people could build their own. Of course, not being that technically minded, I couldn’t offer a concrete idea of how this could be achieved. Until now.

A recent Fast Company article shines a spotlight on the Afghan city of Jalalabad which has a high-speed Internet network whose main components are built out of trash found locally. Aid workers, mostly from the United States, are using the provincial city in Afghanistan’s far east as a pilot site for a project called FabFi.

FabFi is an open-source, FabLab-grown system using common building materials and off-the-shelf electronics to transmit wireless ethernet signals across distances of up to several miles. With Fabfi, communities can build their own wireless networks to gain high-speed internet connectivity—thus enabling them to access online educational, medical, and other resources.

Residents who desire an internet connection can build a FabFi node out of approximately $60 worth of everyday items such as boards, wires, plastic tubs, and cans that will serve a whole community at once.

Jalalabad’s longest link is currently 2.41 miles, between the FabLab and the water tower at the public hospital in Jalalabad, transmitting with a real throughput of 11.5Mbps (compared to 22Mbps ideal-case for a standards compliant off-the-shelf 802.11g router transitting at a distance of only a few feet). The system works consistently through heavy rain, smog and a couple of good sized trees.

With millions of people still living without access to high-speed internet, including much of rural America, an open-source concept like FabFi could have profound ramifications on education and political progress.

Because FabFi is fundamentally a technological and sociological research endeavor, it is constantly growing and changing. Over the coming months expect to see infrastructure improvements to improve stability and decrease cost, and added features such as meshing and bandwidth aggregation to support a growing user base.

In addition to network improvements, there are plans to leverage the provided connectivity to build online communities and locally hosted resources for users in addition to MIT OpenCourseWare, making the system much more valuable than the sum of its uplink bandwidth. Follow the developments on the FabFi Blog.

Via TechTree

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Personal comment: This kind of "hybrid" hardware demonstrastes perfectly how "new" the so-called "concept" of tablet is! Starting from a laptop, removing the keyboard and installing a lightweight OS... in order to install back a keyboard less than two years later. Now, thanks to all hardware constructor's tablets and hybrid models, one can easily think and admit that any laptop can be "transformed" to a tablet and reverse, and, as end-user, we may now request this kind of feature for all laptops without any power of functionality drawback... making mobile computing hardware converging again to one global solution valuable for any kind of use.

Eee Pad Transformer

Via TechnoLookers

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Amenbo Mouse

If you want to feel different sensations are not just a classic mouse, which is pretty cool, his name is Amenbo Mouse, a mouse equipped with a touch of beauty to five fingers with a shape similar to a human hand. A study conducted by the Japan Twin Research & Development Co. has successfully developed a mouse is truly revolutionary.

And now, they’ve officially showcased his creations mouse with Amenbo name, a new input device is a mouse that will not waste the function of one finger but will give a touch sensor for the fifth finger. Each finger will get the mouse pad itself with sensors, which are all connected to a single base with a flexible material that allow movement. The device can detect pressure and finger movements, and is ideal for many uses.

“We put sensors on each fingertip mouse, and can enter the coordinates for each finger as well as downward pressure from each finger means actual hand movements are being fed into a PC .. For example, is allow the PC to receive data for the various needs of the toes “said the Japan Twin Research & Development Co..
One example application for this system is to manipulate the data in 3D CAD. Sometimes in order to manipulate the data in 3D CAD or rather need to use a 3D mouse and normal mouse using both hands, but in this Amenbo mouse system functions can be combined and operated with one hand, and much more usefulness depends on the user’s needs.

As we can see from the demo video below, mouse Amenbo able to perform with good movement to move the 3D object, the mouse Amenbo own work through connection to a computer USB port connection, unfortunately for more complete information including the marketing has not been disclosed.

Via Slashgear

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The endoscope has been the go to tool for doctors that need to look inside the digestive tract of a patient since the 1980?s. These things are generally long, black cables that are forced through the mouth of up the bum of people when the doctors need to check for things like colon cancer or stomach issues. In 2008, we talked about a new development in endoscope tools that placed the camera into a small pill shaped capsule that the person swallowed to get a look at their innards.

The problem with that camera capsule was that it could only follow along and take photos inside the body using the muscle contractions of the patient’s body. Some Japanese researchers have taken that endoscope capsule to the next level and attached a small propulsion system to it that allows the camera to swim through the digestive tract. The new capsule has what appears to be a flagella type mechanism on the back that uses a magnetic propulsion system.

The doctor is able to control the capsule using a joystick to get it to take photos of whatever part of the digestive track is needed. The device has been nicknamed “mermaid” and it would have to feel strange moving around inside the body. It is certainly better than a four foot long tube crammed down your throat.

Via slashgear

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Microsoft has released the Kinect for Windows SDK beta, as expected, allowing PC developers to use the motion-tracking accessory. A free 100MB download, the SDK offers support for the depth sensor, color camera and quad-microphone array, along with all the clever skeletal-tracking systems that Xbox 360 game developers have had access to.

There’s also integration with Windows’ speech recognition API. That potentially means developers will be able to use the microphone array – which can pinpoint which user is talking thanks to beam formation – to transcribe speech to text, open and control applications, and more.

Microsoft has thrown in plenty of technical documentation, samples, all the drivers you’ll need and support for C++, C#, or Visual Basic. This current iteration of the SDK is only for non-commercial purposes; Microsoft says it will be releasing a commercial version later on. You’ll obviously need a Kinect sensor, too, which currently costs around $140.

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Kinect for Windows SDK beta