Archive for December 2017

Engineers produce breakthrough sensor for photography, life sciences, security

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-12-breakthrough-sensor-photography-life-sciences.html Engineers from Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering have produced a new imaging technology that may revolutionize low light imaging. Called the Quanta Image Sensor, or QIS, this new light sensing technologyenables highly sensitive digital imaging in low light situations. QIS technology is able to reliably capture and count single photons, with resolution as high as one megapixel.  This

Brotli compression algorithm for faster web

https://opensource.com/article/17/1/brotli-compression-algorithm?sc_cid=70160000001273HAAQ Brotli is a new open source compression algorithm designed to enable an Internet that’s faster for users. While the Brotli algorithm was announced by Google in September 2015, only recently have the majority of web browsers adopted it and HTTP servers started to offer Brotli compression. Brotli accomplishes better than gzip compression by making use of a

Arduino and Unity3D Interactive Experience – Arduino Project Hub

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/relativty/wrmhl-arduino-and-unity3d-interactive-experience-cc18b3?ref=platform&ref_id=424_recent___&offset=3 This looks like an interesting project to connect any Arduino interface to Unity3D.  In transmitting data from Arduino to Unity3D, usually the main issue is INSANE LATENCY. With wmrhl you should be able to connect any Arduino interface to Unity3D, and it’s completely open source at https://github.com/relativty/wrmhl

6 open source home automation tools | Opensource.com

https://opensource.com/life/17/12/home-automation-tools?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY  The Internet of Things isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a reality that’s expanded rapidly since we last published a review article on home automation tools in 2016. In 2017, 26.5% of U.S. households already had some type of smart home technology in use; within five years that percentage is expected to double.  While connected devices often contain proprietary components, a

Debunking The Unscientific Fantasy Of 100% Renewables

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/06/26/debunking-the-unscientific-fantasy-of-100-renewables/#611600d529f9 Mark Jacobson of Stanford said America could easily become 100% renewable by mid-century. Jacobson published a paper in 2015 that claimed we could get rid of all other energy sources except wind and solar, and a tiny bit of other renewables, by 2050, and that it would be easier and cheaper than any other alternative mix. Jacobson’s paper

The Tomu: An Arm Microcontroller That Fits in Your USB Port

https://blog.hackster.io/the-tomu-an-arm-microcontroller-that-fits-in-your-usb-port-31f60af97471 This looks interesting. There are a fair number of USB stick computers on the market. the Tomu is different because it id so small it fits entirely inside your computer’s USB port.  The board is based around Silicon Labs “Happy Gecko” EFM32HG309 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller. It was inspired by the YubiKey 4 Nano. The project is entirely open source with the hardware under

Finnish autonomous car goes for a leisurely cruise in the driving snow

https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/15/finnish-autonomous-car-goes-for-a-leisurely-cruise-in-the-driving-snow/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook  It’s one thing for an autonomous car to strut its stuff on a smooth, warm California tarmac, and quite another to do so on the frozen winter mix of northern Finland. Martti, a self-driving vehicle system homegrown in Finland, demonstrated just this in a record-setting drive along a treacherous (to normal drivers) Laplandish road. More

Ethernet switch teardown

Here is tear-down of old Zyxel  ES-108 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet switch. I had one on my network for many years, but one day it stopped worked and started making whining noise. Look inside. Closer look to details. Main Ethernet switch chip is ADM6999 from ADMtek (now part of Infineon). In addition to it line transformers and power