3-D-Printing Bio-Electronic Parts

Print Functioning Circuitry from Semiconductors

With 3D printer making a prototype or spare part out of metal or polymer, researchers at Princeton University have taken a step in expanding the technology’s capabilities by creating a way in print functioning electronic circuitry out of semiconductors as well as other materials.

They are also trying ways of combining electronics with biocompatible materials and even living tissues that can pave the way for new implants. According to Michael McAlpine, assistant professor at Princeton states that with cartridges that are full of semiconductor `inks’, it can be possible to print circuits of all types of tasks and to demonstrate it, the researcher printed a light emitting diode within a contact lens.

The display circuitry and processors in computers do not have the provision to 3-D printing since they need several complex components fabricated on the nanoscale though it could be utilised in making medical devices or implants incorporating electronics.

 For instance, researchers could print a scaffold for growing nerve tissue according to McAlpine and suggests that if they could print LEDs with circuits within the scaffold, the light could stimulate the nerves where the electronics could be used to interface with prosthetic arm

3-D Printing – Bio-Electronic Ear

McAlpine had used 3-D printing last year, to make a `bio-electronic’ ear which was made from living cells together with supportive matrix of gooey hydrogel and had conductive ink which was made from a suspension of silver nanoparticles that formed an electrical coil and could receive radio signals.

Thereafter his group worked to expand 3-D printing to semiconducting materials which enables a printed device to process incoming sounds. Semiconductors seem to be the key ingredient of information processing circuits which can be used to detect as well as emit light.

McAlphine’s team, to broaden the 3-D printing palette, built its own printer and several of them in the market presently, are only designed to print plastic The bionic ear, for example had features on the millimetre scale. In order to make LEDs they had to go to the micrometre sale.

Quantum dots were taken to make the LED by the Princeton researcher, semiconducting nanoparticles which emitted bright light in response to electrical current. Besides this, two types of metal were also used to make electrical leads and contacts for the device together with polymers and silicone matrix in order to hold it together.

3-D Printing - Various Development 

While printing with so many inks, the challenge was that they bled into each other and hence the researchers had to ensure to suspend each material in a solvent which would not mix with either of them. His team had made a cube of eight green and orange LEDs which were stacked 2 x 2 x 2 and printed the LEDs on contact lens after they were scanned in order to make the shape of the printed devices matching to the curvature of the lens surface.

McAlpines’ team are not the only ones working in expanding the possibilities of 3-D printing. Chemical engineer, Michael Dickey from North Carolina State University in Raleigh who was not involved with McAlpines’ work, states that `most 3-D printing is like a glorified hot glue gun just printing polymers.

His group developed a liquid metal which can be printed into stretchable, self-healing wires while a professor of biologically inspired engineering at Harvard, Jennifer Lewis has developed 3-D printing for tissue engineering on combining various cell types in complex patterns including blood vessels.

Sony Malware May Be Linked To Other Damaging Attacks

Identification of Technical Evidence at Sony Corp’s Hollywood Studio

Researchers of Cyber security have identified what according to them is technical evidence linking massive breach at Sony Corp’s Hollywood studio with the attacks in South Korea and the Middle East. Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow based security software maker stated that it has uncovered evidence that all the three campaigns could have been launched by one group or it could have been facilitated by an individual organisation who are well versed in working with destructive malware.

Cyber attackers had damaged thousands of computers at Saudi Arabia’s national oil company as well as Qatar’s RasGas with virus known as Shamoon in 2012, which is one of the most destructive campaigns till date and Iran has been blamed by the U.S. officials.

A year ago, over 30,000 PCs were affected at South Korean banks as well as broadcasting companies by similar attack that cyber security researchers were of the belief that it was launched from North Korea. Kurt Baumgartner, Kaspersky researcher informed Reuters that there are `unusually striking similarities’ which are related to the malicious software and techniques in both the campaigns and the Sony attack on Nov. 24 in which a malware was dubbed `Destover’, was used.

Perpetrator Access to Confidential Information 

The attack had crippled the computer systems giving the perpetrator access to confidential employee information which also included the executive salaries. The attack is said to have used a so called wiper virus which can erase data and has the capabilities of bringing down networks with thousands of computers thereby preventing companies in conducting their business.Similarities were described by Baumgartner in depth in a technical blog which was published recently on Kaspersky’s website.

He stated in an interview that `it could be a single actor or it could be that there are trainers or individuals who float across groups’. According to him he states that the evidence indicate that the hackers from North Korea were the cause of the attack on Sony though it is unclear whether they work directly for the government.

Several of the cyber security researchers are not in agreement with Kaspersky’s interpretation of the technical evidence. Symantec Corp. a California based company had stated in a blog post that it also sees similarities between the attacks against Sony and the Shamoon campaign and attributes it to being copied stating that there does not seem to be any evidence that the same group is behind both attacks.

Critical Infrastructure At Risk

Chertoff co-founder and executive chairman of The Chertoff Group, which is a global security consultancy based in Washington commented in an interview that `either for political or economic reasons at some point, sophisticated actors are going to be more willing to use destructive malware.

He adds further that Sony attack shows that critical infrastructure is at risk and the potential for cyber weapons to be deployed continues to increase. Cyber security companies fear for more destructive attacks in the forthcoming months.

Chief executive officer, Ron Gula, for Tenable Network Security Inc., which is based in Columbia, Maryland comments, `if attacks like those against Sony continue against other U.S. companies, 2015 could be a year of disrupted services’.

Smart sports equipment turns phones into coaches

CNN

What if you have just won the match and walking proudly out of the court and meet the other person, who has just lost the match. You think he will also storm out of the court in anger and grab his water bottle but, instead you find him picking up his phone and checking in the mistakes that he had made during the match.

New discovery

Now we have new range of tools available in market which will allow you to check on the speed of a pitch, the arch of a basketball toss, the quality of a serve and the speed of a pitch, the strength of a putt. These tools are not meant for professional players or even touring golfers. These professional level tools are meant for using as part of the casual sports, starting from a beginner’s level to league level. So what makes this gadget so unique? It is the technology behind these tools which is mainly the amalgamation of increasingly affordable and small sensors such as gyroscopes and accelerometers. Every smartphone is loaded with these sensors giving boost to the developing fitness tracker industry. These sensors have already the total experience biking and running by coming up with different apps like Strava and other wearable apps like Fitbit. Now, companies are installing these unique sensors in different kinds of existing sports equipments like running shoes, tennis rackets, golf clubs and basketballs.

Similar technology is being used by Babolat, which has been making tennis rackets for nearly 20 years. Year 2013 saw a completely new kind of racket being launched, which was priced at $ 399 called Pure play drive. This was the very first kind of connected racker having a trio of sensors hidden in the hollow handle of the racket which has the ability of tracking down the vibrations and the movements of the user. The sensors have the unique ability to track the exact spot where the ball touched the racket, the spin was given by the players and the force it hit the racket.

All these statistics are sent to smart phone app that will reflect this through easy diagrams. The app has been equipped to track even the length of the game and even the total shots, misses and hits. Similar types of tools are coming up for different range of sports. Another example will be the 94Fifty Basketball even though looks like real ball, it has the ability to measure the intensity of dribble, the arch of each shot, and the speed as well. Adidas has also developed football which has the ability to collect information about every kick. But the main point to remember is that these sensors are meant for practice matches are not for the team games.

Professional athletes have always relied on the phone camera and now even the beginners are starting to depend on the smart phone cameras for a quick slow motion replay. One of the biggest challenges is that these sensors need to turn the raw data into understandable information. Well now people can expect every action of their sports activities to be tracked with the increasing usage of sensors.

How Are You Planning To Save Money in 2020 with out Checkbooks and PIN Number

Image credit:FNB

I don't think anyone of gives much importance to the checkbook and its mere existence. Frankly speaking, the checkbook can be clearly called out dead. We have practically moved over to cards and no longer depend on carrying out checkbook for any banking or monetary transactions.

If you are among the people who are always worried about someone following you in the ATM or peeping over your shoulder to get a glimpse, then the days of getting worried are coming to an end. You will no longer have to pay high fees to carry out transfers between the banks. As if now, we can see how the banking has improvised over the years.

But in the coming years, we can actually forget about all these problems. We can expect our finance and banking control to take change drastically. According to Gi Fernando, founder and investor of Free Formers, the continuous growth and increasing space in the technological world has started scaring everyone. The company currently works on digital training to unemployed adults and businesses. As per Gi, the technology will take over the banking and finance in such a way that it would be out of the recognizable limits.

So, going by the predictions what are the things that we might not require in the coming 5 years:

Card readers and PIN numbers: 

With increasing number of companies opting for biometrics, clumsy card readers and outdated PIN numbers will become history. So we can certainly expect retinal scan, belt buckles, fingerprints, contact lenses and watches to completely replace our traditional card readers and pin numbers. According to global lead banking analyst at Ernst & Young, Steven Lewis, biometric usage will increase over the years. We can certainly expect eye scanners and fingerprints will become more prevalent. A simple example would be a buyer entering a store and picking up what they want and simply paying through their wearable device.

Banks: 

According to Fernando, even though physical banks will be available in the future but many of them will exist in the coffee shops, cafe and supermarkets and even pop-up stalls. This new banking environment will serve the purpose of making people meet face to face. So, in simple, although there will be bank branches, they will start to look more or less like Apple store.

Checks and Cash: 

It doesn't matter how advanced we get in terms of technology, cash will always have it's place. Even though it will be a long time for cash to fade out, but shopping for clothes and groceries over smartphones and other contactless payment method will gain lot of importance. But the same can't be said for checks as the use of checks have declined over the past couple of years. With the advancement in technology, people might find it hard to completely switch over the financial usage methods.

Wire transfer: 

There have been an increasing number of private companies venturing into the money transferring and the trends can be expected to grow in future as well.

Corning Taking over the Fiber Optics Division of Samsung

According to the recent reports, Corning, which is the U.S. specialty glass maker, will be taking over the fiber optics operations of Samsung. Samsung electronics have agreed to sell over their fiber optics division to Corning. After this deal, Samsung will be exiting another non-core business as they want to focus on enhancing the poorly performing key areas like smartphones. Terms of the sales deal and also the plants in South Korea and China are completely confidential. So this might be a good reason to get disappointed by this development. Due to the increasing competition in the market this news was declared by both the parties involved in this sale. South Korea firm's (Samsung electronics) exiting there for the second time from a business line has not come to shock anybody in the market including the market experts. The company is expected to be hitting the lowest annual profit in past 3 years and this approach has been attributed to the stiff competition in the market. This deal has happened as part of the company's recent management changes.

What made the difference? 

One of the top makers of the smartphones around the world, Samsung has been facing quite a competition from market rivals and stuck between the Apple’s iPhones at the top and Chinese rivals like Xiaomi at the lower end. If we see the performance of Samsung Electronics in the last 3 quarters, then we can clearly see that the company's share in the global smartphone industry has declined every year and consistently in every quarter. The company has recently sold out a large amount of shares in the defense as well as chemical divisions.

According to the spokeswoman of Samsung Electronics, they are selling out their fiber optics business as they want to increase their focus on our core business areas. When contacted, Samsung Electronics denied passing any comment regarding the revenue generated by this division. According to the statement generated by the company in October, they are also looking towards putting an end to their light emitting diode lighting business mainly outside the home country. They stated that this business was always considered as  a non-core business.

According to Corning, which supplies glass for Apple Inc smartphones and Samsung, they are considering this deal to further empower their optics business especially in the Asian market. Through this deal Corning is looking forward towards strengthening their position in the Asian market. The company is world known for making the Gorilla Glass.

There has been an increasing use and growth in the technological industry in the Asia Pacific market, and every company is looking forward to encase on this opportunity. While coming to this the perfect time for them is to expand their business and functions. If the reports have to be believed, then this deal is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2015, simple reason being that the deal is being carried out on a high magnitude.