Practical Holographic Video

The tyranny of two-dimensional computer and TV displays could soon be over. A team of MIT researchers has proposed a way to make a holographic video system that works with computer hardware for consumers, such as PCs with graphics cards and gaming consoles. The display, the researchers say, will be small enough to add to an entertainment center, provide resolution as good as a standard analog television, and cost only a couple hundred dollars.
Source: Kate Greene, Technology Review, April 24, 2007

Take this job, and compare the pay online

Ever wonder how your pay compares with that of people doing the same job across the street, or even across the country? That information, previously available only through word-of-mouth or expensive surveys of human resources managers supplied to your employer, is now readily available at your fingertips. Launched five years ago, PayScale is growing fast as more and more curious workers go to the site and provide details on their job, anonymously of course, in exchange for free information on pay and other compensation for people doing comparable work.
Source: Elinor Mills, CNET News.com, April 25, 2007

BlueSky Touts GPS on a Chip

Risto Savolainen, founder of London-based BlueSky Positioning, told Red Herring that his company has managed to cram a complete Global Positioning System receiver on to a fingernail-sized Subscriber Identification Module, or SIM card, which fits into the GSM or 3GSM mobile phones provided by wireless carriers such as T-Mobile. Phones that are equipped with the new chip and suitable applications software can then support a host of new location based services, such providing directories of nearby restaurants or serving up ads for businesses located in the vicinity of any given phone subscriber.
Source: Peter Purton, Red Herring, April 25, 2007

Big and Bright Flexible Displays

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are attractive because they are bright, efficient, and thin enough to be flexible. But they are currently limited to use in small displays, such as those in mobile phones. That’s in part due to the failings of one piece of the device, a transparent electrode used to light up the display. Now researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new type of electrode that could help clear the way for large, flexible OLED displays.
Source: Prachi Patel-Predd, Technology Review, April 26, 2007

Web service Fotowoosh wants to be the Flickr of 3-D

Looking at the photo prints from your Washington, D.C., vacation can prompt memories of being at real, three-dimensional places like the Lincoln Memorial. But what if you could actually walk into your photograph and stand at Lincoln’s feet all over again–or at least zoom inside a 3-D version of your image on a computer screen? A new Web service called Fotowoosh promises to deliver such an experience, courtesy of computer-vision researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh.
Source: Wade Roush, Technology Review, April 27, 2007

Scientist proposes adhesive Spider-Man suit

In an upcoming paper, Nicola Pugno, a professor of structural engineering at the Polytechnic University in Turin, Italy, discusses formulas for fashioning carbon nanotubes into superadhesive gloves and boots that could be used to create a Spider-Man-like suit in the near future. He also outlines a theory for using carbon nanotubes to create large invisible cables that could act as human-strength cobwebs. The designs for the materials are modeled from the adhesive properties of the gecko, a tropical lizard whose sticky feet can scale trees.
Source: Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com, April 27, 2007

Practical Holographic Video
The tyranny of two-dimensional computer and TV displays could soon be over. A team of MIT researchers has proposed a way to make a holographic video system that works with computer hardware for consumers, such as PCs with graphics cards and gaming consoles. The display, the researchers say, will be small enough to [...]