2024 was a year of paradoxes in consumer electronics. While artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and cutting-edge display technology changed how people use their devices, the year also saw a surge in demand for simple, tactile controls and…
Category: Engineering
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This Suspension Backpack Makes Its Contents Lighter
This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE Xplore.
Backpackers are all too familiar with the uncomfortable burden of a heavy bag, but scientists are exploring ways to lighten the load. In a recent
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Meet H. Stan Thompson, the Man Who Coined the Term “Hydrail”
IEEE Life Senior Member H. Stan Thompson has lived a couple of professional lives. For decades, he was a planning engineer and futurist at Bellsouth Telecommunications, which was formed from the merger of two Regional Bell Operating Companies…
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Clever Technology Turns Lampposts into EV Charging Stations
For city denizens who’d love to buy an electric vehicle—but live in buildings with no driveway or garage—the lack of practical charging options remains a daunting barrier. For charging companies, pricey urban real estate and prohibitive…
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Trump’s Administration Will Impact AI, Energy, Crypto and More
U.S. presidential administrations tend to have big impacts on tech around the world. So it should be taken as a given that when Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, his second administration will do the same. Perhaps more than…
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Synthetic Skin Inspired by Electric Fish Detects Objects
The ability to detect a nearby presence without seeing or touching it may sound fantastical—but it’s a real ability that some creatures have.A family of African fish known as Mormyrids are weakly electric, and have special organs that can…
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Robotaxis Are Blazing the Trail for Self-Driving Cars
Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared in the author’s newsletter, Exponential View.
When people ask me to describe my work, I say I take a critical look at exponential technologies—which I define as technologies…
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Ferroelectric Transistors for Homomorphic Encryption
In an age where data is bought and sold as a commodity, true privacy is rare. But homomorphic encryption can protect your data completely, so no one, not even the servers used to process it, can read your information.
Here’s how it works: A…
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Ultra-wideband Wireless Signals Simplify EV Batteries
A new ultra-wideband wireless system that collects data from batteries could help boost the range of electric vehicles and simplify their development and assembly.
Electric vehicles collect a lot of data from their batteries, such as information…
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Noise-cancelling headsets use AI to make zones of silence
It’s an experience we’ve all had: Whether catching up with a friend over dinner at a restaurant, meeting an interesting person at a cocktail party, or conducting a meeting amid office commotion, we find ourselves having to shout over…
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