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Microsoft Windows 8 Banned By Chinese Government

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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In a move that caught Microsoft offguard, the Chinese government has issued a notice that  agencies are to forego purchasing Windows 8 and installing the software on any new government devices. The notice that was officially sent out is titled “<a href="http://www.zycg.cn/article/show/242846" style="color: #0092dd;" target="_blank">Agreement to supply information about the class of energy-saving products complement the mandatory tender notice</a>“.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If that reads a little awkward to you, ask Google Translate, as the original page is in Chinese. In any case, the announcement highlights energy-saving products, but Windows 8 is specifically mentioned as item #5: “<em>all computer products are not allowed to install Windows 8 operating system.</em>”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Chinese news outlet <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-05/20/c_133347210.htm" style="color: #0092dd;" target="_blank">Xinhua</a> looks back to the termination of support for Windows XP as a reason for the ban on Windows 8.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Windows 8 ban" class="lazy alignnone wp-image-15600 size-full data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://technews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/win8-china.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="635" src="http://technews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/win8-china.jpg" style="background-color: #ecf0f4; display: inline; float: none; max-width: 708px; padding: 10px;" width="640" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In a news report, it says that the move was made to ensure computer security. Apparently, the Chinese government is not confident that Microsoft will continue support for Windows 8 in the future, hence the ban.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It is important to note that the ban is only in effect for government-owned devices. Private consumers are free to purchase whatever OS they want to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On another note, the ban on Windows 8 seems to be only a part of the government’s strategy. In the same report, Xinhua states that China is going to focus on developing its own operating system, based on Linux. Knowing just how China does not lack for talent in this niche, it is not surprising that they will want to work on their own operating system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On Microsoft’s part, the company says they were surprised by the announcement, but they also emphasized that they are doing what they can – and will continue to do so – to meet the requirements of the Chinese government in terms of procurement. They also mentioned their ongoing relationship with the government by providing Windows 7 and that they will work with the government to evaluate Windows 8.</span></div>
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Microsoft Windows 8 Banned By Chinese Government

In a move that caught Microsoft offguard, the Chinese government has issued a notice that agencies are to forego purchasing Windows 8 and...

The futuristic dream of wirelessly charging your smartphone while you stand in line at the coffee shop may soon come to pass

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<img alt="Energous wireless power transfer demo, to an iPhone" height="353" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/energous-wireless-power-transfer-640x353.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A new company called Energous has devised a method of wirelessly transmitting power over long distances. Its prototype system can beam 10 watts, more than enough to charge your smartphone or tablet, over a distance of 15 feet — and, rather importantly, it will track your device if you move around. The company hopes to commercialize its technology soon, with partner companies showing off the tech at CES in January 2015. It seems that the first generation of wireless charging — those awful, short-range charging plates — may finally be drawing to a close. The dream of having your smartphone and other mobile devices constantly topped up — while you sit on the sofa, while you stand in line at the coffee shop — may soon come to pass.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Usually when we write about wireless charging on ExtremeTech we’re referring to magnetic resonance, where you have two coils of wire (antennas, basically) that are both tuned to a certain frequency. When you pass electricity through one coil, it induces a resonant electromagnetic field in the other coil, (fairly) efficiently transferring energy through the air. This is the method that almost every upcoming wireless charging technology uses, including WiTricity (an MIT spin-off that has been trying to bring magnetic resonance wireless charging to market for a good 5+ years). Not Energous, though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">According to Technology Review, Energous appears to use a very different technique, consisting of “lots of small antennas.” This antenna array sends radio waves to nearby mobile devices that have announced their presence via Bluetooth. Beyond that, there are sadly few few details. In the demo video above, you can see that Energous’ Energy Router can send power to two devices. The Router can also “track” devices as they move around (though there’s no word on how big an area it can track). From these details, we can infer that some kind of beam forming is used, to transmit a tight beam of electromagnetic radiation at the target device. The max range is apparently 15 feet (4.7 meters), with fairly modest efficiency of 20% (not a huge deal, when you’re talking about mobile devices with tiny power consumption).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To receive the wireless power, Energous uses special case that you slip your smartphone into. Again, no word what’s inside the special case, but presumably it’s a bunch of antennas/coils. It is these cases that will first come to market, says Energous, with partners showing off cases and Energy Routers at CES 2015. Eventually, though, of course, Energous wants to get its technology built directly into devices — and the company says it’s having receiver and transmitter chips made at the moment. This is a good sign that, despite the cases and Energy Router being rather large at the moment, the technology can be scaled down.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/wireless-power-transfer-energous.jpg" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Energous wireless power transfer setup. The Energy Router is the big white box on the right." class="size-large wp-image-183044" height="353" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/wireless-power-transfer-energous-640x353.jpg" style="border-style: none;" width="640" /></span></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="color: #666666; line-height: 15px; padding: 10px 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Energous wireless power transfer setup. The Energy Router is the big white box on the right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">While Energous might not have the industry support that WiTricity has (its “Rezence” tech is backed by Intel and Qualcomm among others), it’s exciting to see another technique for wireless power transfer that doesn’t use magnetic resonance. With magnetic resonance there are some fairly strict rules (as governed by the laws of classical physics) that limit its potential for wireless power transfer. An array of beamforming antennas makes a lot of sense, for wirelessly charging multiple devices as they move through a 3D space. (If that’s how Energous actually works, anyway; I could have it completely wrong.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Who knows. With Energous (or WiTricity/Rezence if it actually comes to market in mobile devices) we may soon be living in a world where your mobile devices can be constantly topped up, whether you’re sitting on the couch, at your office desk, or standing in line at the coffee shop. Wireless power transmission could also be the key to powering large sensor networks (smart homes, smart cities), without having to attach each device to the grid or provide them with a bulky battery.</span></div>
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The futuristic dream of wirelessly charging your smartphone while you stand in line at the coffee shop may soon come to pass

A new company called Energous has devised a method of wirelessly transmitting power over long distances. Its prototype system can beam 1...

Wireless energy powers pacemaker in live rabbit

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<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn25590/dn25590-1_300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A tiny pacemaker like this one was placed in a rabbit and powered wirelessly from outside its body <i>(Image: Alexander J. Yeh)</i>" border="0" height="488" src="http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn25590/dn25590-1_300.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's electricity in the air. A rabbit's beating heart has been regulated using a tiny pacemaker that beams in energy from outside its body. It is the first time this kind of wireless energy transfer has been demonstrated in a living animal. If such wirelessly powered medical implants can work in people too, it would reduce the seriousness of the procedures required to get them fitted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Our device is small, so it will be much easier to deliver into the body," says<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/group/poongroup/cgi-bin/wordpress/people/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Ada Poon</a> of Stanford University in California, who led the team that implanted the tiny pacemaker.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being fitted with a pacemaker currently requires surgery plus another operation when the battery eventually runs down. So Poon and her colleagues outfitted a rabbit with a pacemaker that has no battery and is just 3 millimetres long (see picture, above right). A metal plate, powered only by a cellphone battery, was then held a couple of centimetres above the rabbit's chest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Body boost</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The plate transmitted 2000 microwatts to the pacemaker via electromagnetic waves. The pacemaker was then able to regulate the rabbit's heartbeat, and delivered safe levels of energy to the surrounding tissue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Such "near-field energy transmission" was previously considered too weak to power devices that are small or placed deeply in the body. To get around this problem, Poon's team designed the plate to emit electromagnetic radiation in a directed beam towards the implant. They also used the rabbit's own body tissue to help deliver the signal: the radiation is of a high frequency that propagates particularly well in animal tissue, allowing it to pass further into the body without losing much energy into the tissue or causing damage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"I think that amongst the solutions that are proposed to power an implant, this is going to be the most reliable," says Patrick Mercier at the University of California, San Diego, who works on wireless power for implants. He says that when the Stanford team first shared their unusual power scheme, many in the field were surprised. Because of the high frequencies involved, no one had thought to try this method.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Skin patch</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Poon's team also found that their device worked in tests with pig tissue, delivering energy to implants placed in samples of pig hearts and brains. The team is now launching a company, Vivonda Medical, to adapt the technology for use in humans. That will include more practical alternatives to the metal plate, perhaps delivering energy via a patch on the skin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Robert Puers at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL), Belgium, isn't convinced that the technique makes sense for crucial medical devices like pacemakers. "These devices, being life-supporting, should not depend on the presence of an external powering device," he says.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Poon's team also plans to adapt their technology for other types of implants, such as neurostimulators which are implanted in the brain to treat conditions such as Parkinson's disease.</span></div>
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Wireless energy powers pacemaker in live rabbit

There's electricity in the air. A rabbit's beating heart has been regulated using a tiny pacemaker that beams in energy from ou...

China has built a prototype for a train that's 3 times faster than a plane

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #171717; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Using a near-vacuum tunnel, scientists believe maglev trains can reach 2,900 km/h.</span></h3>
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he<a href="http://english.swjtu.edu.cn/public/viewNews.aspx?ID=154" style="color: #4c5398; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"> researchers from Southwest Jiaotong University in China have already built a prototype</a> testing platform (pictured above) for the near-vacuum maglev train.</div>
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Inside the tunnel the atmospheric pressure is 10 times lower than the atmospheric pressure at sea level, which drastically reduces the amount of energy needed to overcome air resistance,<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/train-capable-of-reaching-1800-mph-2014-5" style="color: #4c5398; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Business Insider</em> explains</a>.</div>
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And it's this lack of air resistance that will help the train reach theoretical speeds of 2,900 km/h. Currently the fastest commercial maglev train can reach speeds of just 431 km/h.</div>
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At the moment the train is limited by its small testing platform, but if they're right about the speeds it could reach on long straights, you could travel from Paris to Moscow in about an hour. And if there was a direct route, Londoners could be in New York within two hours.</div>
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There are just no words for how awesome this would be if it works - the world will just get a whole lot smaller.</div>
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China has built a prototype for a train that's 3 times faster than a plane

Using a near-vacuum tunnel, scientists believe maglev trains can reach 2,900 km/h. he researchers from Southwest Jiaotong University i...

''Google" is the World’s Most Valuable Company

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<span lang="EN-US">This just in: Google has become the richest and most valuable company out of any company in the world!  </span><span lang="EN-US">Considering their competition, this has been no easy task! </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Milward Brown, Global Market Research agency, stated that the brand value of Google has shot up nearly 40% in just one year and is worth $158.84 billion.  Even Apple can</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">t compete.  They are only worth a measly $148 billion and are on a 20% decline.  After overtaking IBM last year, Google has been steadily climbing the ladder!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><img alt="Google" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-15580 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://technews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/www.businessinsider.com_.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="472" src="http://technews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/www.businessinsider.com_.jpg" style="background-color: #ecf0f4; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; display: inline; float: none; max-width: 708px; padding: 10px;" width="708" /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Head of Millward Brown France, Benoit Tranzer hinted that <a href="http://www.google.com/" style="color: #0092dd;" target="_blank" title="Google">Google</a> has become so popular because of their breakthrough in wearable devices.  Google Glass has become a phenomenon and continued investment within AI (Artifical Intelligence) has really helped Google grow exponentially.  This sends a reassuring signal to all lovers of Google, they are in it to win! </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">What is so amazing about this feat is that <a href="http://www.apple.com/" style="color: #0092dd;" target="_blank" title="Apple">Apple</a>, for the first time in over 4 years, has not been able to retain first place as most valuable company.  U.S. technology firm, <a href="http://www.ibm.com/" style="color: #0092dd;" target="_blank" title="IBM">IBM</a>, came in third with a brand value of $107 billion and<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/" style="color: #0092dd;" target="_blank" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> followed closely behind with a value of </span><span lang="EN-US">£</span><span lang="EN-US">90 billion.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Although Apple has taken second place, Samsung has really faired badly at twenty-ninth on the list with a brand value of only $25 billion.  What a shame! </span></div>
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<a href="http://technews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SearchIsLookingForLife.jpg" style="color: #0092dd;"><img alt="Google is Now World's Most Valuable Company" class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-15671 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://technews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SearchIsLookingForLife.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="506" src="http://technews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SearchIsLookingForLife.jpg" style="background-color: #ecf0f4; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; display: inline; float: none; max-width: 708px; padding: 10px;" width="708" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So will Google be able to continue this climb to victory?  It</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s easier to climb the ladder then to remain at the top!  Google will have to continue to wow its customers and woo Apple lovers, if they want to remain at the summit for a long time! </span></div>
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''Google" is the World’s Most Valuable Company

This just in: Google has become the richest and most valuable company out of any company in the world! Considering their competition, th...

Thermal Touch" can turn any surface into an augmented reality touchscreen

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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="German company Metaio is using an infrared camera and AR technology to turn any surface in..." height="359" src="http://images.gizmag.com/hero/thermal-touch-augmented-reality.jpg" width="640" /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Augmented reality company Metaio is developing "Thermal Touch," a technology that combines infrared and visible light cameras to detect the heat signature from your fingers and turn any object into a touchscreen. The technology could be embedded in the smartphones and wearable devices of the future to offer new ways of interacting with our environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="The current prototype makes use of a standard camera, plus an infrared camera mounted on a..." src="http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/thermal-touch-augmented-reality-0.jpg" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Back in 2004, the <a href="http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_2600-814.php" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1e8dd7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">best-selling mobile phone</a> had a 128 x 128-pixel screen, no camera or Bluetooth, and a whopping 4 MB of internal memory. Ten years from now, smartphones and other wearable devices will in all likelihood push the envelope much further than we can now imagine, by embedding all sorts of advanced, miniaturized sensors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Metaio, an augmented reality company based in Munich, believes that thermal imaging cameras will be a staple in the personal electronics of the future, and has developed the prototype of a user interface that relies on them to turn any object into a heat-sensitive touchscreen.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.gizmag.com/thermal-touch-augmented-reality/32218/pictures#4" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1e8dd7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="The system can easily discriminate between touching and hovering over the surface (Photo: ..." src="http://images.gizmag.com/inline/thermal-touch-augmented-reality-3.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="530" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The prototype, currently mounted on a tablet device, consists of an infrared camera coupled with a standard, visible light camera. The device registers the heat signature left by a person's finger when they touch a surface, and then uses augmented reality software to add new interesting, context-sensitive functions that allow users to interact with their environment in new ways and in real time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For instance, while shopping at the supermarket, you could touch an item and immediately bring up online consumer reviews for that product; design 3D objects and see how they would sit in your room before they're sent to the presses; or even draw the outline of a TV remote on your hand, and then press a virtual button to change the channel or adjust the volume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One interesting feature is that the technology can easily discriminate between the user actually touching a surface and hovering over it, since the heat transfer is significantly reduced. This could open up even more ways of interacting with the environment (and which are likely to look even more bizarre to an outside observer).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For the time being, the technology is at the early stages and will need years of research before it could be embedded into consumer electronics. Metaio says it will demonstrate a prototype on May 27-29 at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You can see the technology at work in the video below.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Source: <a href="http://augmentedblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/metaio-unveils-thermal-imaging-rd-for-future-use-in-wearable-augmented-reality-headsets/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1e8dd7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Metaio</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="298" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/t1HmYNqp8NM" width="530"></iframe></span></div>
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Thermal Touch" can turn any surface into an augmented reality touchscreen

Augmented reality company Metaio is developing "Thermal Touch," a technology that combines infrared and visible light cameras...