Researchers at two different universities have created wearable sensors that are ultra-thin, lightweight and breathable. Although they are based on different technologies, both of the new sensors can monitor vital signs, including electrical muscle activity and body temperature and can be worn over a long period without creating skin irritations or inflammation. That is in contrast to many existing wearable sensors, which because they are made of polyester or rubber, are not breathable and may irritate the skin. Continue reading Research Teams Make Advances in Wearable Sensor Tech

Intel is shipping its first products based on 3D XPoint, a technology it has been developing for more than ten years to bridge the gap between conventional memory, which holds data for immediate use, and longer-term storage. The company reports that 3D XPoint is 1,000 times faster than NAND flash often used in storage drives, but only 1 percent the speed of DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) temporary memory. Intel says it can speed up tasks in fraud detection, retail recommendations and autonomous vehicles. Continue reading Intel Debuts Memory Products Based on 3D XPoint Technology

Snapchat just updated its guidelines for publishers, who are now restricted from posting on Discover so-called questionable pictures devoid of news or editorial value, or providing links to or reports of fake news, stressing that all content must be accurate and fact-checked. In Feburary, Snapchat will offer publishers a tool to “age-gate” content, with the option for preventing minors from seeing some content altogether. These guidelines are being introduced as parent company Snap Inc. is preparing for an IPO. Continue reading Snapchat Preps for IPO with Metrics, Stricter Publishing Rules

This year Snap Inc. will go on a roadshow to market its expected IPO, and founder Evan Spiegel is expected to play an out-sized role, with the company’s IPO bankers and executives depicting him as a Steve Jobs-like visionary for millennial products. The goal is to portray Snap as a company that will become a media/content behemoth that can meet and exceed its hoped-for $20 billion to $25 billion IPO valuation, in a class with Apple and Facebook, rather than Twitter, which has deflated since its 2013 IPO. Continue reading Snap Preps for IPO Roadshow, Touting Spiegel as a Visionary

Harvard University researchers have programmed a robot swarm of more than 1,000 bots that can self-assemble into two-dimensional shapes. The “Kilobots” are roughly the size of a penny, and cost $14 in parts. It takes only a few minutes to put a Kilobot together. In order to program them at the same time, the roboticists use an infrared light from an overhead controller, which gives instructions. Infrared signals also help the robots communicate with each other to create formations. Continue reading Harvard University Researchers Create Biggest Kilobot Swarm