Emerging Technology News

As we push the limits of science and technology, we risk serious harm to ourselves trying to account for the unknown. Even with every university of science and technology adding to the brain-trust, we’ll never know the full extent of the dangers nanotechnology poses to humanity if unobserved. Nanotechnology is a fairly new branch of science and technology that deals with items on an atomic or molecular scale; items practical in medicine, electronics, biomaterials and energy production. These items are sometimes hard to envision, literally, with a one dimensional size ranging between 1-100 nanometres. The information on science and technology that we wish to discover from these materials is if we can directly manipulate matter on the atomic scale.

Discovery, along with ESPN, are aiming to deliver all the wonder of the 3D experience to satellite television around the world, and eventually in South Africa. Building on the success from the IMAX filmed documentaries on amazing natural occurrences, Discovery aims to enchant cable and satellite television users with the ability to watch a selection of documentaries in the wonder of 3D. The plans for the channel and programmes has been under development since 2010 with the project being showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and over the past two years, hardware and broadcasting technology has in fact developed sufficiently for the broadcast and receiving of 3D channels signals from satellite television to become a reality.

Fresh off CES 2012 in Las Vegas, the talk of the town is centred on electronic clothing and what the future holds for the fashion industry. While fashion can have a variety of functions for the technology, multiple industries are excited by the breakthroughs highlighted in the last year. OLED technology allows electronics to be woven into clothing that can display whole movies on the back of a shirt. Although the concept is sound, there are the fundamental hurdles still needing to be overcome, such as how to wash electronics (although they are working on nanotechnology for moisture protection), the technology may change the way that we look at clothing, in more ways than we actually expect.

A major breakthrough in medical advancement is the development of a tiny smart pill that monitors bodily responses to medication. The medical monitoring system could hit the shelves soon according to a recent announcement by the British pharmacy chain LloydsPharmacy, who partnered with the American technology firm Proteus Medical to produce the smart pill. The major question is whether consumers will buy the product from pharmacies and medical couriers, which on paper reads like something from a sci-fi movie.

Turnitin is an online resource used by most university and college professors worldwide to check plagiarism. Created by iParadigms, the resource has proven incredibly popular yet controversial although used only to check a paper or essay for plagiarism. Some feel having their essays checked out by Turnitin is akin to an ‘admission of guilt’ which is unconstitutional by education governing bodies of universities although the jury is still out on how accurate that is. The process is that the college or university buys a licence to use the service and then submits papers for review. While on the surface the service seems straight forward enough its popularity is waning although the objective is positive. Plagiarism has no place in a learning institution and the danger of ignoring such practices can result in gross misconduct if one is indeed plagiarising. For example, if a doctor you see happened to pass his final examination through plagiarism and time comes for a medical translation that concerns you, you could be at risk of an uninformed practitioner who cheated his way into a qualification; your health is at risk. The software to check plagiarism is traversing a grey area though between two factions warring over its merits.

The Canadian company Ortsbo showcased its new online service Live & Global, which uses propriety technology and close-captioning for accurate real time translation for online video into fifty three languages. Translation options are impressive scanning a wide range of languages, from Maltese to Chinese and Italian to Yiddish. At the showcase in Las Vegas, audiences watched closely as the software achieved real time translation of Variety magazine’s Entertainment Summit via an online video platform. The Ortsbo president, David Lucatch, stressed the potential of the real time translation product for global corporate meetings, stating that that “regardless of the language you speak, today you speak your client’s language.” The company has already signed a deal with IndyCar for the real time translation of press conferences and social media events.

With the amount of computer viruses people are consumed with protecting their computers against attacks and make a point of getting firewalls and anti-virus software frequently updated. The one thing that most people don’t think about are viruses carried around on their keyboards. New keyboard technology has shown that keyboards weren’t used that much in sterile environments due to the amount of germs they carry. With the latest self-sanitizing keyboard looking to burst onto the market many hospitals and laboratories that hinge on clinical cleanliness, may finally have their answer to sanitary keyboards.

Once again, CES 2012 is upon us and manufacturers descend upon Las Vegas to highlight the latest and greatest products that will forever change the lives of consumers. The Consumer Electronics Show is annually held and allows all the members of the Consumer Electronic Association to display their latest technology in January to distributors and media, whether it’s the latest upright vacuum cleaners or the new ultra thin laptops, called ultrabooks that will be the wow factor at this year’s show is yet to be seen. Whether your craving is to find out which way your 2012 refrigerator will operate on the CES floor, how small and what the new smart phone will be able to do or whether or not you will have images that leap out of your television screens in greater magnitudes than 3D can ever offer. No doubt heads will spin and reporters are already making bold claims about the show from leaked information.

Waterproof breathable fabric has exploded as the new sports apparel for mountaineers, climbers, snowboarders and skiers. Amateurs give very little thought to what is deemed the best clothing to wear on their novice expeditions into the world of extreme sports, but they learn very quickly that perspiring in snow does happen, and it’s extremely uncomfortable when you’re wearing cotton against your skin.

Scientists are hard at work with wearable clothing technology and cotton has arrived with one of the crucial solutions that can make the process viable within the coming year. Manufacturing engineers have discovered that making use of nanotechnology and interweaving cotton threads with transistors enables the clothing itself to be the transporter of  information between components. The technology allows clothing to be an environmental monitor system for workers in hazardous conditions, technologically focused socialites and a lifesaver in the medical industry for patients, specifically those without 24/7 medical care. Fire fighters can have heat and gas sensors attached to protective Dickies boots that can relay information to wrist computers and alert other firemen as well as the shoe wearer, socialites can have screens built into clothing with OLED displays and heart monitors can be built into clothing for the elderly to monitor their vitals when they are in home care situations.