The Diagnostic Report

IBM has announced the development of new materials and research that could provide better, smaller and faster computer processors in a press release issued last week.

                With the limits of the silicon transistors being discovered, the need for new materials and circuit design compatible with today’s technology built off CMOS (Complementary-Symmetry-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) is growing.

            Scientists and developers have begun development on three new materials and designs they believe allow for faster processing in consumer electronics and communications while allowing for compatibility with current technology.

            Racetrack memory is one such development that compensates size with memory demands as technology shrinks.

            “This breakthrough could lead to a new type of data-centric computing that allows massive amounts of stored information to be accessed in less than a billionth of a second”, the press release said.

            Graphene, the second new material, has medical and security applications as it has the ability to function under temperatures up to 200 degrees Celsius and radiation levels up to 5 GHz.

            The carbon nanotubes are besting silicon-based technology and will hopefully be implemented in new computers within the next decade due to the limits of silicon technology.

            “Throughout its history, IBM’s continued investment in scientific research to identify new materials and processes has not only extended current technologies but is providing a sustainable technology foundation for tomorrow,” said IBM’s vice president of Science and Technology T.C. Chen in the press release.

            “Today’s breakthroughs challenge the status quo by exploring the boundaries of science and transforming that knowledge into information technology systems that could advance the power and capability of businesses worldwide.”

Posted in: Medical, Silicon Valley by Collin Sims /
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  The recent death of Steve Jobs has left Apple, a computer and consumer electronics company, without its CEO and as Apple fans mourn his death, the company must continue his work with support from customers.

Jobs’ death earlier in October shocked the world and inspired many to leave memorials outside crowded Apple stores around the world as said in the LA Times.

Reactions of students who both own Apple products and those who don’t on Bowling Green State University’s campus varied in response to the death of Jobs and the future of Apple.

Although he does not own any Apple products, senior Matt Badyna, a psychology major, said Jobs was a great figurehead for the company and said how he pulled the company out of financial woes as an example of his leadership.

One thing Badyna sees as a problem for the company in the future is he thinks while the company is stable enough to continue, the products produced will be affected.

Sam Shump, a sophomore majoring in middle childhood education, said he believes the company will be negatively affected for a while since Jobs was influential, but they will eventually move on.

Paul Smith, a junior majoring in computer science, said he owns an Ipod and an Mac computer at home while saying what he likes about the products is the “Ipod makes it really easy to traverse music” and the constant updates and addition of material.

While he was a creative force and his death will slow them down, Smith said the general direction of the company will continue and they will continue to make something different and unusual than what is out there.

Freshman Katie Walker, a 19-year-old business/finance major from Wadsworth, OH, said a lot of people will still buy Apple’s products, although she said their “new innovations may not be as profound.”

While Apple will attempt to hold onto their loyal customers and fans, students at Bowling Green State University believe the company will move forward without Jobs as a figurehead.

Posted in: Apple, Person On The Street by Collin Sims /
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This image appears courtesy of ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/toyota-shows-machines-sick-elderly-move-14855252

Toyota revealed plans to help in the health care field with new robotic technology as reported by the Associated Press.

One such new products is being dubbed the “independent walk assist” device by the company, which the company plans to release in Japan in 2013.

A professor of rehabilitation medicine named Eiichi Saitoh demonstrated the device on Tuesday by using it on his right leg, a limb stricken by polio as reported by the Associated Press.

This assist device allows the user to bend the knee as well as use stairs and rise from a chair with more ease than with a walker, all powered by a battery placed on the back.

New machines like this one have been tried on patients by Toyota and Saitoh was quoted in the Associated Press as saying he felt more confident that these machines were helping stroke victims and others who had difficulty moving improve.

Other aids being developed by the company include one device in the form of a skateboard meant to help re-learn balance and padded arms that could help a care worker lift a disabled patient.

Car parts that usually aid with mobility like computer software and motors are being used in these devices and could help improve future automobiles with prices to be determined overseas said Toyota in the Associated Press.

Toyota has previously manufactured robots used in showrooms that can talk and move around, but face challenges from rival companies with their robots.

One company, Honda, has one robot called Asimo used in display rooms and are also working on similar technology according to the Associated Press.

The company responded by choosing to keep their products user-friendly, said Toyota’s General Manager Akifumi Tamaoki in the Associated Press.

Posted in: Medical by Collin Sims /
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Posted in: Microsoft, Silicon Valley by Collin Sims /
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File Found at http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lzow4zHg9n0/TjA1qvUgmOI/AAAAAAAAAaM/zgDIt8ijyNQ/s1600/silicon_valley_company_startups.png

Many Silicon Valley employees are sending their children to a school where students learn through pens and blackboards, as stated in The New York Times.

Known as The Waldorf School of the Peninsula, the children who attend this nine-classroom school have parents who work for such large companies like Google, Apple, Yahoo, and Hewlett-Packard.

As stated in The New York Times, the school focuses on teaching their students through old-fashioned methods such as knitting and pen and paper while prohibiting the use of technology in school.

The school, reported in the Times to be one of 160 in the country, prefers to teach students how to learn by being “focused on physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks.”

An employee at Google, Alan Eagle, who works in executive communication was quoted in The Times as saying “The idea that an app on an iPad can better teach my kids to read or do arithmetic, that’s ridiculous.”

The Times report teaching methods being used at the school include teaching fractions through dividing up food, repeating verses while catching bean bags and developing hand-eye coordination and problem-solving through knitting.

While the school does not drill students on standardized math and reading, the school noted most students between 1994 and 2004 attended such prestigious colleges as Oberlin and Berkeley.

Some believe computers are essential to learning the classroom, such as director of education technology for the National School Boards Association Ann Flynn.

In The Times, Flynn was quoted as saying, “If schools have access to the tools and can afford them, but are not using the tools, they are cheating our children.”

An associate professor of education at Furman University, Paul Thomas, was quoted in The Times as saying, “Teaching is a human experience. Technology is a distraction when we need literacy, numeracy and critical thinking.”

Posted in: Education, Silicon Valley by Collin Sims /
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The PSP Vita

CNN and Wired report Sony announced plans to release their newest portable console, the PSP Vita, in North America and Europe on Feb. 22 after a December release in Japan.

The latest in Sony’s gamin department will be the latest in the PSP line, and will feature not only better graphics and features, but touch screen technology to help compliment traditional features such as buttons and dual control sticks.

After Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Jack Tretton showed the crowd at a technology conference Tuesday how a game will function on the Vita, it was revealed players could use either the touch screen options or the traditional control methods to perform actions inside of the game.

After Nintendo’s newest handheld, the 3DS, has not been selling well, even after lowering their price, analysts believe the console will not sell well due to smartphones and tablets developing gaming abilities.

“The advent of smartphone gaming is quite additive to what we’re trying to accomplish,” Tretton said. Tretton also said that the Vita could be there to help gamers find more advanced games to satisfy their needs.

In September, it was announced at a press conference that in Japan 26 games would be released the same day as the Vita, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 with a 100 more in development.

After the conference, Sony released a statement saying the battery life for the Vita will be three to five hours and will not use the Memory Stick features on the previous PSP systems, but rather a memory card costing between $25-100 dollars.

The Wi-Fi version of the system will sell for $250 and the 3G version will sell at $300 when the PSP Vita debuts in February after releasing in Japan in December.

Posted in: Gaming by Collin Sims /
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Hello everyone! My name is Collin Sims, I am a Senior at Bowling Green State University, where I am currently majoring in English with a Journalism Minor. After graduation, I want to move to Seattle and work at either Amazon or Starbucks before entering grad school. My dream is to one day travel the world and write two best-selling novels. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my friends, watching movies, playing video games, writing short stories and poetry. I hope to one day become a renaissance man. That is to do it all and become truly enriched, which means painting, writing, film making, and cook. I’m interested in a lot of things, technology being one of them and I’ll be bringing you updates on technology as it develops and makes our lives better or worse.

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