TechBlog

Zelscope is a Windows software that converts your PC into a dual-trace storage oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer. It uses your computer’s sound card as analog-to-digital converter, presenting a real-time waveform or spectrum of the signal - which can be music, speech, or output from an electronic circuit. Zelscope features the interface of a traditional oscilloscope, with conventional gain, offset, timebase, and trigger controls. As a real-time spectrum analyzer, Zelscope can display the amplitude and phase components of the spectrum.

Download evaluation version of Zelscope

Download a 14-day evaluation version of Zelscope here (720 kB)

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Whenever I hit the road for any length of time I always think about how great it would be to get a 3G card for my laptop. It’s always such a pain to go looking for an open wireless connection, and it would be so much simpler to be able to connect almost anywhere. While I haven’t made the plunge just yet and signed up for service, this would be a 3G HSDPA modem that might be worth looking into when I do.

Some of you might recognize this USB Pebble modem, however, it is different than its predecessor. Most notably is the inclusion of a digital TV tuner. While I can’t recall a time that I really desired to watch TV on my laptop, it might be nice to have the option.

Continue reading ‘Huawei USB Pebble brings 3G data and mobile TV to your notebook’ »

Bacteria often get bad press, with those found in water often linked to illness and disease. But researchers at The University of Nottingham are using these tiny organisms alongside the very latest membrane filtration techniques to improve and refine water cleaning technology.

These one-celled organisms eat the contaminants present in water — whether it is being treated prior to industrial use or even for drinking — in a process called bioremediation.

The water is then filtered through porous membranes, which function like a sieve. However, the holes in these sieves are microscopic, and some are so small they can only be seen at the nanoscale. Pore size in these filters can range from ten microns — ten thousandths of a millimetre — to one nanometre — a millionth of a millimetre.

Continue reading ‘Bacteria and nanofilters — the future of clean water technology’ »

Yole Développement releases a global analysis on accelerometers and gyroscopes markets, however it can be available in 2 separate reports:

1 - High performances MEMS for automotive, medical, industrial, aeronautic and defence applications
2 - Accelerometers and gyroscopes for Consumer

1 - MEMS MARKET

Continue reading ‘World Inertial Sensors and Gyroscope Markets’ »

Bellingham, WA — Micro- and nanolithography practitioners will share their up-to-the-minute research results and latest innovations at the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, CA, USA, in February. Topics range from state-of-the-art lithographic tools and technologies, resists, metrology, and materials characterization, to design and process integration, including progress of extending these technologies or switching to emerging alternatives. The event will be held 24-29 February 2008 in the San Jose Convention Center.

SPIE Advanced Lithography provides a rich networking opportunity for the international community and is known as a forum for high-quality technical presentations. More than 700 papers will be presented in five technical conferences. Of high interest are papers on nanoimprint, electron-beam direct write, parallel e-beam systems, extreme-UV systems, directed self assembly, molecular resists, EUV resists, double patterning, and high-index immersion lithography.

Three plenary talks are scheduled:

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New technology could enable new cancer treatment techniques and antibacterial coatings

Troy, NY — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new way to seek out specific proteins, including dangerous proteins such as anthrax toxin, and render them harmless using nothing but light. The technique lends itself to the creation of new antibacterial and antimicrobial films to help curb the spread of germs, and also holds promise for new methods of seeking out and killing tumors in the human body.

Scientists have long been interested in wrapping proteins around carbon nanotubes, and the process is used for various applications in imaging, biosensing, and cellular delivery. But this new study at Rensselaer is the first to remotely control the activity of these conjugated nanotubes. Details of the project are outlined in the article “Nanotube-Assisted Protein Deactivation” in the December issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

A team of Rensselaer researchers led by Ravi S. Kane, professor of chemical and biological engineering, has worked for nearly a year to develop a means to remotely deactivate protein-wrapped carbon nanotubes by exposing them to invisible and near-infrared light. The group demonstrated this method by successfully deactivating anthrax toxin and other proteins.

Continue reading ‘Using Carbon Nanotubes To Seek And Destroy Anthrax Toxin And Other Harmful Proteins’ »