Consumer Electronics Spending 2013

Accenture’s report is based on a quantitative online survey among more than 11,000 consumers across 11 countries including the United States, Germany and the BRIC nations among others. The results show that, in terms of personal electronics, consumers from China, Brazil, Russia and India significantly outspent their counterparts from the United States and other traditional markets in 2012. Moreover, BRIC consumers reported very optimistic purchase plans for 2013 as well. While the American respondents on average expect to spend $970 on consumer electronics this year, Chinese respondents plan to spend $1,489.

http://www.statista.com/topics/841/tablets/chart/824/consumer-electronics-purchase-plans-for-2013/

http://bit.ly/VANrKn




FAA grounds all Dreamliner Boeing 787

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner began joining US airline fleets last year, but a fire started by the plane's lithium ion batteries last week put it on the docket for a review by the FAA. After a second mishap caused by the bird's batteries, the FAA is now requiring US airlines to temporarily ground all 787. 

                              

http://engt.co/WELevm

Wi-Fi eXchange

Stoke Wi-Fi eXchange is a gateway application that automatically authenticates Wi-Fi attached subscribers and securely links them to their 3G or LTE cellular network services and/or to the Internet. Wi-Fi eXchange enables operators to maximize the benefits of service provider Wi-Fi while limiting traffic loads on the mobile core through dynamic, selective traffic steering. Wi-Fi eXchange is an important catalyst for operators seeking to transition from Wi-Fi as merely RAN congestion relief to Wi-Fi as a new service delivery medium.

The intelligent traffic steering capability of the Wi-Fi eXchange gives operators many options for defining and implementing routing optimization schemes without impacting existing core network elements. The Wi-Fi eXchange can maintain thousands of traffic options, defined by the operator by any combination of destination, subscriber class, traffic type, and other parameters. With this increased flexibility, operators can direct their uniquely defined traffic flows either through the mobile core or directly to the Internet or other destination.

Mobile High-Definition Link

Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) is an industry standard for a mobile audio/video interface for directly connecting mobile phones and other portable consumer electronics (CE) devices to high-definition televisions (HDTVs) and displays. The MHL standard features a single cable with a low pin-count interface able to support up to 1080p high-definition (HD) video and digital audio while simultaneously charging the connected device.

Ophelia

Dell and Wyse unveiled the project Ophelia. Ophelia is a USB memory stick-sized thin client that will plug into any compatible TV or Dell monitor. The device will boot into an Android OS and turn any TV into a portal to access a computer somewhere else. Ophelia works by taking advantage of the MHL protocol and works with any MHL-enabled display. Over 100-million MHL-compliant chipsets have already been shipped, so the opportunities for this type of interaction are growing.

MHL, along with established standards such as USB and HDMI or even future short-range wireless standards, will enable consumers to plug their cell phone into any monitor or TV and consume content via their phone on a larger display.


Wi-Fi-D

Global Wireless Research (GWR) research predicts that the Smartphone Era will end once several new technologies are in place, which include ubiquitous LTE data speed, wearable wireless devices, peer-to-peer communication (via LTE Direct, WiFi Direct and others), and Augmented Reality.


RF Implantable ICD for Heart 


Sorin a global medical device company and a leader in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, announced today the first implant of PARADYM RF in Canada at the Montreal Heart Institute. The PARADYM^TM RF family of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) devices is fully supported by the recently launched SMARTVIEW^TM remote monitoring system.

Touch-Less Gesture Recognition

The MLX75030 from Melexis is a universal active light sensor interface which has been designed to allow easy implementation of robust multi-channel, close range optical sensing systems into difficult operational environments. It incorporates four independent simultaneously operating light measurement channels;two taking care of reflection and the other two for ambient light measurement. This makes the device highly optimized for inclusion in human-machine interfaces (HMI) requiring proximity detection or touch-less gesture recognition in environments subject to wide variation in background lighting levels, especially in automotive infotainment systems, white goods and consumer electronics devices.

This IC features 2 active light reflection measurement channels with integrated ambient light suppression. The active light sensing section is complemented by two logarithmic current sensors which can measure the photocurrent signal from externally connected photodiodes for ambient light sensing. Internal control logic, configurable user registers and SPI communication enable simple, programmable operation. More channels can be added through multiplexing. A built-in temperature sensor can be used to compensate any heat effects.

The MLX75030 controls the LED current and measures the resulting photodiode signal, which is translated into digital form by an integrated 16-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). This data can then be transferred to the system microcontroller via the SPI interface. The optical light intensity of both active light channels can be used to detect proximity of an object close to the detectors, independent from the background light level. Human gestures (such as swipes or zooms) can then be determined by use of software algorithms. HMI response times of 30 frames/sec are supported. 

MGI Global Investment

McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) said on Thursday Jan 17, 2013..

MGI estimated that the world needs to spend $57 trillion on infrastructure - between now and 2030 simply to keep up with projected growth. That is nearly 60 percent more than the $36 trillion spent over the past 18 years.

MGI cited South Korea, Ontario and Singapore as having model infrastructure organisations that others can emulate, while Switzerland shows how to develop a joined-up national strategy.

It commended Seoul and Stockholm for the integrated approach they took to easing clogged traffic and said Denmark had reduced its road maintenance bills by 20 percent.

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Water Management

Ricardo Radulovich, professor of water science at the University of Costa Rica, points out that in Africa irrigation is a very limited option, due to lack of water, and rain-fed agriculture is affected by prolonged dry seasons and rainfall variability during the rainy seasons. A case in point is the Sahel in west Africa, where drought has grown increasingly frequent and where emergency aid was needed last year to forestall famine.

Yet Radulovich believes that Africa's lakes can be part of the solution to the continent's agricultural limitations. Several African countries are endowed with lakes, some very large, that occupy a surface of more than 150,000 square kilometres. Why not use that water surface to grow food and aquatic plants, and for fisheries, asks Radulovich, who began his career as an agricultural water scientist 10 years ago.

G2V BPA free Water Bottle

All G2V Stainless Steel bottles and lids are made from fully FDA-approved materials, and contain absolutely no Bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is found in some types of plastics and may leach into food or drinks. Our plastic lids are fully-recyclable Polypropylene #5 and contain no BPA.

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