Nanoscribe GmbH, a spin-off of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), has developed the world’s fastest 3D printer of micro- and nanostructures, the German company claims.

With this printer, three-dimensional objects, often smaller than the diameter of a human hair, can be manufactured with minimum time consumption and maximum resolution. The printer is based on a novel laser lithography method.

Nanoscribe systems are used to print polymer waveguides reaching data transfer rates of more than 5 terabits per second.

Using the new laser lithography method, printing speed is increased by factor of about 100. This increase in speed results from the use of a  special  “galvo” mirror system, a technology that is also applied in laser show devices or scanning units of CD and DVD drives.

Reflecting a laser beam off the rotating galvo mirrors facilitates rapid and precise laser focus positioning. “We are revolutionizing 3D printing on the micrometer scale. Precision and speed are achieved by the industrially established galvo technology,” says Martin Hermatschweiler, the managing director of Nanoscribe GmbH.

via Microscopic 3D printing | KurzweilAI.

Will auto insurance disappear?

That’s a  ”provocative but plausible” scenario according to a recent Celent report, “A Scenario: The End of Auto Insurance. What Happens When There Are Almost No Accidents.”

Technologies  such as telematics, collision avoidance, automated traffic law enforcement, and robot cars have the potential to radically reduce accident rates. The convergence of these technologies has the potential to eliminate them altogether.

via The End of Auto Insurance?.

Computerised glasses are, at this moment, the wearable computing technology that is most likely to herald the beginning of the end of the Smartphone era.  Although they are each taking slightly different approaches to these technologies, Apple, Google and Microsoft are all striving to define the market for wearable computers of which computerised glasses are an integral part.  The US military, especially the Special Forces units, already use wearable computers for communications and satellite navigation tasks. That technology hasnt yet reached consumer or business users, but it soon will.  Smart glasses are due to be launched selectively in the New Year.

via Augmented Reality: Do Smart Glasses Herald the End of the Smart Phone Era? :: The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website.

Details of an immersive video games display system that projects images of the title’s environment around a player’s room have been revealed in a US patent belonging to Microsoft.

The Xbox maker describes extending graphics beyond the edges of a TV to "make the experience more realistic".

A spokesman said he could not comment about when a product might be released.

Sony appears to be pursuing a different strategy. A video from the firm hints at a new augmented-reality headset.

Both firms are expected to announce details of their next-generation consoles in 2013.

Their rival, Nintendo, will provide more detail about the release of its Wii U games machine at a New York event on Thursday.

Scan and project

Microsoft’s patent suggests that current games console systems are constrained by their reliance on a single screen.

"Such displays are typically the only source of visual content, so that the media experience is bounded by the bezel of the display," it said.

"Even when focused on the display, the user may perceive architectural and decorative feature of the room the display is in… such features are typically out of context with respect to the displayed image, muting the entertainment potential."

via BBC News – Microsoft Xbox 3D-projected games outlined in patent.

At the University of Pittsburgh, the neurobiology department worked with 52-year-old Jan Scheuermann over the course of 13 weeks to create a robotic arm controlled only by the power of Scheuermann’s mind.

The team implanted her with two 96-channel intracortical microelectrodes. Placed in the motor cortex, which controls all limb movement, the integration process was faster than anyone expected. On the second day, Jan could use her new arm with a 3-D workspace. By the end of the 13 weeks, she was capable of performing complex tasks with seven-dimensional movement, just like a biological arm.

To date, there have been no negative side effects.

via 27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012.

Princeton researchers have found a simple and economic way to nearly triple the efficiency of organic solar cells, the cheap and flexible plastic devices that many scientists believe could be the future of solar power.

via Nanostructures triple organic solar cells efficiency.

(Phys.org)—Is Samsung getting ready to release a line of flexible displays made of glass-replacing plastic? The right words in response may be "well, finally," or "well, maybe." The Wall Street Journal has talked to a source who said that Samsung, in the words of the WSJ subheading, "Plans to Mass Produce Flexible Mobile-Device Screens" in the first half of next year. The source was not named and was only described as "a person familiar with the situation." Samsung has tantalized techies and consumers with its futuristic videos showing a beautiful-life day using wearable wrist computers, auto dashboard display screens, location-finding smartphones, and wall mounted computer screens of plastic rather than glass.

via Samsung rowing harder and faster for flexible screen production.

Unlike LED-based contact lens displays, which are limited to a few small pixels, imec’s innovative LCD-based technology permits the use of the entire display surface. By adapting the patterning process of the conductive layer, this technology enables applications with a broad range of pixel number and sizes, such as a one pixel, fully covered contact lens acting as adaptable sunglasses, or a highly pixelated contact lens display.

The first prototype presented today contains a patterned dollar sign, depicting the many cartoons that feature people or figures with dollars in their eyes. It can only display rudimentary patterns, similar to an electronic pocket calculator. In the future, the researchers envision fully autonomous electronic contact lenses embedded with this display. These next-generation solutions could be used for medical purposes, for example to control the light transmission toward the retina in case of a damaged iris, or for cosmetic purposes such as an iris with a tunable color. In the future, the display could also function as a head-up display, superimposing an image onto the user’s normal view. However, there are still hurdles to overcome for broader consumer and civilian implementation.

via Breakthrough in augmented reality contact lens: Curved LCD display holds widespread potential.

Australian computer scientists in Adelaide are electronically tagging and tracking movement of common household objects as a way to track what elderly people are doing. A computer system can track which objects are getting used and how those objects are moving around to flag developing health problems in the elderly.University of Adelaide computer scientists are leading a project to develop novel sensor systems to help older people keep living independently and safely in their own homes.The researchers are adapting radio-frequency identification RFID and sensor technologies to automatically identify and monitor human activity; to be able to determine if an individuals normal routine is being maintained so that timely assistance can be provided if it is needed.

via FuturePundit: RFID Tags To Track Elderly At Home.

CleanTechnica says,

In earlier trials, the researchers used different alloys that achieved full spectrum responses but involved very high production costs. The advantage of gallium arsenide nitride is that it is very similar to a conventional semiconductor, gallium arsenide, and it can be produced with a commonly used fabrication method involving chemical vapor deposition.

The Lawrence Berkeley breakthrough represents just one path to increasing the efficiency and lowering the cost of solar cells. Over at Ohio State University, a full spectrum solar cell is also under development, and Stanford is pursuing a new technology that cuts around the problem of solar cell efficiency loss due to high temperature

http://www.greenwala.com/channels/green-technology/blog/13103-Scientists-Develop-Affordable-Solar-Panels-That-Work-In-The-Dark

Human development scientists and computer game developers designed a video game that teaches kids how to resolve conflicts peacefully amongst themselves. Inanimate objects, such as pencils and erasers, come to life to lead players through a series of common scenarios in which arguments are about to occur. The player is prompted for the non-violent solution and is rewarded for choosing correctly.

Amid growing concern surrounding the effects violent video games have on children, a new computer game could be the alternative parents have been waiting for.

Kids who play together also argue together. Fights over games, toys and friendships are common, but when arguments heat up, it’s time to solve them before things get out of hand. A new computer game teaches kids how to solve playground and classroom quarrels that kids face every day in a positive way — without fists and fights.

"It helps them resolve conflicts by giving them a chance to think about what happens in the course of an actual conflict episode," said Melanie Killen, Ph.D., a human development expert at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md.

The game, called "Cool School: Where Peace Rules" — designed by a team of human development scientists, teachers, government mediators, computer game developers and animators — helps kids solve school violence and bullying while still having fun.

via Cool School – Where Peace Rules — Human Development Scientists And Computer Game Developers Design Video Game That Teaches Conflict Resolution To Kids.