An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: When technologists talk about the "Internet of Things" (IoT), they often gloss over the fact that all these interconnected things need batteries and electronics to carry out the job of collecting and processing data while they're communicating to one another. This job is made even more challenging when you consider that many of the objects we would like to connect are made from plastic and do not have electronics embedded into them. Now researchers at the University of Washington have devised a way of using 3D printed plastic to create objects that communicate with smartphone or other Wi-Fi devices without the need for batteries or electronics. This research builds on previous work at the University of Washington dating back to 2014 in which another research team employed battery-less chips that transmit their bits by either reflecting or not reflecting a Wi-Fi router's signals. With this kind of backscattering, a device communicates by modulating its reflection of the Wi-Fi signal in the space. [...] In this latest research, the University of Washington team has been able to leverage this Wi-Fi backscatter technology to 3D geometry and create easy to print wireless devices using commodity 3D printers. To achieve this, the researchers have built non-electronic and printable analogues for each of these electronic components using plastic filaments and integrated them into a single computational design. The researchers are making their CAD models available to 3D printing enthusiasts so that they can create their own IoT objects. The designs include a battery-free slider that controls music volume, a button that automatically orders more cornflakes from an e-commerce website and a water sensor that sends an alarm to your phone when it detects a leak. The researchers "have leveraged mechanical motion to provide the power for their objects," reports Spectrum. "To ensure that the plastic objects can reflect Wi-Fi signals, the researchers employ composite plastic filament materials with conductive properties. These take the form of plastic with copper and graphene filings." "Once the reflective material was created, the next challenge for the researchers was to communicate the collected data. The researchers ingeniously translated the 0 and 1 bits of traditional electronics by encoding these bits as 3D printed plastic gears. A 0 and 1 bit are encoded with the presence and absence of tooth on the gear, respectively. These gears reflect the WiFi signal differently depending on whether they are transmitting a 1 bit or a 0 bit."

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圧縮しすぎで幽霊のように乱れたテレカン顔にさよならできる夢のAI動画圧縮がNvidiaから出ました！ YouTubeもNetflixも、ストリーミングでは圧縮アルゴリズムで帯域負荷を減らしてISPの帯域幅に合わせていますよね。圧縮方法はさまざまですが、色を犠牲にしたりコマ数を減らしたり、あと、解像度をギリギリ落とすこともあるので、像が荒くなって90年代の電話回線のビデオチャットみたいになることも

Korean chip manufacturer SK Hynix has unveiled the world's first 64GB DDR5 RAM modules, marking a big step away from DDR4 DIMMs that have dominated PC memory since 2013. From a report: The DDR5-4800 chips support speeds between 4,800 and 5,600 Mbps with faster potential data rates than DDR4, while using less power. The technology also allows for modules of up to 256GB in size. The JEDEC standard for DDR5 RAM was officially published in July this year, but SK Hynix unveiled its first chips in 2018. Apart from the memory gains, DDR5 will have two 32-bit channels instead of a single 64-bit channel, making it easier to increase peak bandwidth. The modules themselves will also regulate voltage instead of the motherboard, allowing the DDR5 RAM manufacturer to control the all-important clock speeds. All told, it could make for some very interesting enthusiast RAM options. SK Hynix has already tested modules at 6,400 Mbps and has 8,400 Mbps speeds on the roadmap.

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2020年10月3日、テスラ社のイーロン・マスクCEOは、「FSDシステム(完全自動運転オプション)を導入することで、駐車時の『Vector-space bird's eye view』(自車を上から見下ろした映像が表示される機能)が利用可能になる」と、自身のTwitterで明らかにしました。

Novak Djokovic's relationship with line officials has been difficult of late and the Serbian risked their wrath again late last week when he suggested they were unnecessary. From a report: The 33-year-old world number one was dramatically defaulted in the U.S. Open fourth round after inadvertently hitting a female line judge in the throat with a loose ball. Now he believes their job should be done by Hawkeye technology. "With all my respect for the tradition and the culture we have in this sport, when it comes to people present on the court during a match, including line (judges), I really don't see a reason why every single tournament in this world, in this technological advanced era, would not have what we had during the Cincinnati/New York tournaments," Djokovic said. The COVID-19 pandemic meant the majority of courts at the U.S. Open, part from the main show courts, dispensed with line judges as a health precaution. They are back at the French Open which, because it is on clay, does not use Hawkeye technology for close calls, relying instead on the umpire to examine a mark in the red dust. While the issue of whether players should be able to challenge via a Hawkeye review at the French Open and other claycourt events, as they do on other surfaces, has been debated all week here, Djokovic appears to want to go further.

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ついにARMWindowsが本格始動。これまで使えるアプリが限られていたARMWindowsですが、エミュレーションが展開されることにより使えるアプリは格段に増えます。米ギズモードの報告です。Microsoftは9月30日に、ARMベースのWindowsがx64エミュレーションに対応することを公式に発表しました。これが実現すれば、AdobeCreativeSuiteなどのアプリケーションがARMベ

クラウドファンディングを通して、ハードウェアのスタートアップを築く方法。「ページにこだわる」「アップデートは頻繁に行う」など、その基本的なポイントを6つ抜粋してご紹介。

ホンモノと見分けがつかないディープフェイク動画を見破るツールを、ニューヨーク州立大学ビンガムトン校の研究員とインテルが開発。その名も「FakeCatcher」。その見破り精度は90％だそうです。

ネコ用トイレは年々進化をしており、昨今はハイテク機能を備えた全自動トイレも増えています。しかし、高性能のトイレでも、強烈なアンモニア臭が内部に残るため、「なんとかならないか」と考えている飼い主も多いでしょう。今回紹介する「Smart Cat Litter Box」は、自動消臭センサーを搭載。厄介な臭いをスマートに消してくれるスグレモノです。現在「GREEN FUNDING」で支援を募集中。販売予定価格は2万4750円ですが、早期支援だと44％オフ、1万3860円で購入可能です。

Pixel 5の背面パネルはリサイクルアルミニウム。なのに、ワイヤレス充電対応。…あれ、ワイヤレス充電って背面金属だとダメだよね？ え、新しいテクノロジー？ 簡単なトリックがありました

Amazonが、手のひらをかざして支払いができる非接触型の生体認証デバイス「Amazon One」を発表しました。登録もクレジットカードだけで、時間はわずか1秒でできるとのこと。

D-Wave today launched its next-generation quantum computing platform available via its Leap quantum cloud service. The company calls Advantage "the first quantum computer built for business." In that vein, D-Wave today also debuted Launch, a jump-start program for businesses that want to begin building hybrid quantum applications. From a report: "The Advantage quantum computer is the first quantum computer designed and developed from the ground up to support business applications," D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz told VentureBeat. "We engineered it to be able to deal with large, complex commercial applications and to be able to support the running of those applications in production environments. There is no other quantum computer anywhere in the world that can solve problems at the scale and complexity that this quantum computer can solve problems. It really is the only one that you can run real business applications on. The other quantum computers are primarily prototypes. You can do experimentation, run small proofs of concept, but none of them can support applications at the scale that we can." Quantum computing leverages qubits (unlike bits that can only be in a state of 0 or 1, qubits can also be in a superposition of the two) to perform computations that would be much more difficult, or simply not feasible, for a classical computer. Based in Burnaby, Canada, D-Wave was the first company to sell commercial quantum computers, which are built to use quantum annealing. But D-Wave doesn't sell quantum computers anymore. Advantage and its over 5,000 qubits (up from 2,000 in the company's 2000Q system) are only available via the cloud. (That means through Leap or a partner like Amazon Braket.)

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空を飛ぶモノだけがドローンではありません。ドローン展示会『Japan Drone 2020』のエバーブルーテクノロジーズのブースにあったのは、帆を張ったヨット型ドローン「Type-A」。海の中の魚群を探し、見つけたらそれを追いかけることで、 漁業者の人件費や燃料費を削減することを目的とした自律船です。

Image:facebookスポークはもう過去のものだ。前輪も後輪も車輪の中が空っぽで、ハブもスポークもない未来のeバイク「beno」。これが開発期間4年の歳月を経て、やっと予約が始まりました。この投稿をInstagramで見るPracticallyelegant...Noquestionsasked..#benoreevo#benotechnologies#reevobikes#elegant#

懐かしのフロッピーディスクドライブを使って、ポータブル音楽プレーヤーを自作した猛者がいます。プレーヤー自体はそれほど難しくないようですが、フロッピーディスク1枚の容量にアルバム1枚を圧縮するのがたいへんそうです。

村民は奇妙な現象に悩まされ続けていました。毎日ある時間になると、インターネット接続がふっつり途切れてしまう、もしくは恐ろしくつながりにくくなってしまうのです。どんな技術者にみてもらっても原因は解明されぬまま、一年半が過ぎました。そしてある時、ある家にあった古いテレビを消したら、奇妙な現象はうそのように消えてしまったのでした。

AdobeがPhotoshopに搭載予定の新機能を紹介しています。その名も「Sky Replacement」。空の置き換えです。

Samsung announced today it has canceled its annual developer conference citing the need to prioritize the safety of its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. XDA Developers reports: There had been speculation that the South Korean tech giant would axe the show, not just due to the ongoing pandemic but because there isn't much to announce. In previous years, Samsung had used the event to announce updates to its software services like its digital assistant Bixby, but these software additions have never caught on with consumers. There have also been rumblings that Google and Samsung are negotiating a deal to replace many of Samsung's native software apps -- think the Galaxy App store or "Samsung Daily" news feed -- with Google ones.

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スマートフォンに健康管理アプリが入っていれば、いろいろなデータが自動的に記録されますし、スマートウォッチを連動させることもできます。コロナ禍の終わりが見えない今は特に、少しでも健康を崩したくないものですよね。健康維持のためにも、スマートフォンのアプリを見直してみましょう。