Technologies that WOW us!

Vice Provost for Information Technology (IT) Kamran Khan asked the IT staff for ideas on technology developments that amaze and excite us. Here are a few of the ideas that made us step back and say, "wow!

  • Flip Mino - Looks like a digital camera but it is a digital VIDEO camera. Submitted by Gary Kidney.
  • IBM cools 3-D chips with H_2 O - IBM scientists unveiled a powerful and efficient technique to cool 3-D chip stacks with water. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Adobe launches Acrobat community - Adobe has made a move into online document sharing with the launch of the Acrobat.com community site. It allows people to create, store and share documents online, and hold web conferences to discuss changes. Submitted by Carlos Solis.
  • The Kanzius Machine and a cancer cure - Former radio technician John Kanzius has built a radio wave machine that could potentially cure cancer. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Hovering objects with no power - Researchers at Cornell have been able to get objects hover by pairing superconductors with permanent magnets, moving closer to the dream of hovering vehicles. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Electrons travel faster on Graphene - University of Maryland physicists have shown that a single-atom-thick sheet of graphite has the potential to replace current semi-conductors in computer technology. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Micro-chip sized cooling fan - Thorrn Micro Technologies have developed a micro-chip sized solid state fan with no moveable parts that is one fourth the size of and up to three times as powerful as a comparable mechanical fan. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Chemical brain controls nanobots - A tiny chemical "brain" which could one day act as a remote control for swarms of nano-machines has been invented. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • IBM unveils green optical network technology prototype - Massive amounts of bandwidth in an energy efficient could be just around the corner, revolutionizing the way information is accessed across many different applications. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • 100 Gbps Ethernet - The goal of 100 Gbps Ethernet transmission is closer to reality with the announcement Wednesday that Alcatel-Lucent researchers have recorded an optical transmission record along with three photonic integrated circuits. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Sun Leaks 6-core Intel Xeon, Nehalem details - Details of Intel's next generation architectures were inadvertently leaked by Sun, including information about the Dunnington and Nehalem processors. Submiited by Hans Krause.
  • Project Kittyhawk: A Global-Scale Computer - IBM attempts to explore the construction and implications of a global-scale shared supercomputer so powerful that it will be capable of hosting the entire Internet as an application. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Nanowires allow 'power dressing' - Scientists have developed novel brush-like fibres that generate electrical energy from movement. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Second Life with a Wiimote - Follow these instructions to find out how to control your Second Life experience with a Nintendo Wii remote. Submitted by Tom Oster.
  • Wiimote Experimentation - A researcher from Carnegie Mellon experiments alternative uses for the Nintendo Wii remote. Submitted by Terry Graham.
  • Rewritable Holograms - Researchers at the University of Arizona, with funding from the US Air Force, have developed the world's first rewritable holographic display. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Touchless Interfaces by Elliptic Labs - Touchscreen interfaces are great, but all that touching can be a little bit of a drag. Enter the wonder kids from Elliptic Labs, who are hard at work on implementing a touchless interface. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Installation by MIT Media Labs - This camera-display combination allows you to interact with 3D objects as if they are actually in the room. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Electronic Vision - Vision for the blind may soon be possible with this patent for a camera implanted in eyeball that gives electronic vision.
  • Supercomputer-on-a-chip - Supercomputers may soon be the same size as a laptop if IBM brings silicon nanophotonics research to market. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • "Star Trek" universal translator? - New gadget scans text, 'speaks' translation. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Stanford tech offers 10X jump in battery life - Thanks to nanotechnology, an assistant professor at Stanford University has come up with a breakthrough in the the longevity of Lithium-Ion batteries. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • EyeCamera by Playstation - The PlayStation Eye camera connects to the PS3 and takes video games into a whole new dimension. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Fujitsu ScanSnap - small footprint document scanner will scan both sides (one pass) of a document at about 18 pages a minute; available for both Mac and PC. Submitted by Rick Roberts.
  • Google Earth - view the world in 3D. Check out your own neighborhood, how does it look from space or a helicopter? Take a look at IT's home, the Mudd building through Google Earth. Submitted by Chris Pound.
  • GPS (Global Positioning System) - now available in a vehicle near you, GPS provides accurate location and time information anywhere in the world.
  • Incredible levitation effects - physicists have 'solved' the mystery of levitation. Submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Mashable.com - social networking site showcases "getting things done" ideas like 90+ Online Photography Tools and Resources, the Ultimate RSS Toolbox, and the Getting Things Done Ninja. Submitted by Chris Pound.
  • Orb.com's MyCasting - instant access to media and other digital content stored on your home PC at anytime and from any internet-connected device, such as a mobile phone, PDA or laptop. Submitted by Amado Aguilar, Marc Scarborough, and David Hagan.
  • Phase Change Memory - the "new flash memory," in development since the 1960s, has finally hit the masses and makes existing flash drives seem clunky and unwieldy. submitted by Hans Krause.
  • Photo Coffee Table by Microsoft - coffee table style touch screen computer makes photo viewing and other computer work a totally hands on experience. Submitted by Omar Aziz.
  • Photosynth - 3D display of photos. Submitted by Amado Aguilar, Marc Scarborough, and David Hagan.
  • ReacTable - new instrument lets musicians manipulate sounds by moving glowing blocks on a round, transparent table. Submitted by Carlos Solis.