high technology : In The News

Researchers in Temple University's physics department are developing magnets as blood thinners, helping reduce the risk of heart disease, according to CNET.

Temple University physics department chair Rongjia Tao made headlines in 2008 when he developed a simple device that creates an electric field to thin fuel, thereby reducing the size of the droplets injected into the engine and improving fuel efficiency.

Now, Tao and former graduate student Ke Huang are unveiling their latest research that this same principle, when applied to the human body, can help thin blood and reduce one's risk of heart attack--without the side effects of blood thinners such as aspirin.

Source: CNET
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Comcast and Skype partner to bring VoiP to HDTV, according to ZDNet.

Comcast and Skype announced that the two have struck up a deal to bring the VoIP service to Comcast HDTVs. This could prove to be a lot more useful than just a video chat with relatives.

Skype users will be able to utilize most of the familiar functions of the desktop app. That consists of being able to make and receive Skype video and audio calls, as well as send messages - all through an HDTV connected to a Comcast adapter box. (Naturally, that TV is going to need a webcam installed somewhere.)

Source: ZDNet
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Comcast is about to enter the home security market, according to Bloomberg News.

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), the largest U.S. cable-television provider, is rolling out a home-security business as it seeks sales growth beyond TV services.

The Philadelphia-based company is starting Xfinity Home Security in seven markets for $39.95 a month. It lets users remotely adjust lights and thermostats, watch cameras, and get e-mail or text alerts when doors and windows are opened and closed. Customers can watch live video of their homes on an Xfinity website or with an Apple Inc. iPad application.

Source: Bloomberg News

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Viridity Energy partners with Saft and Envitech on the first trackside energy storage system in North America, recycling energy from braking SEPTA trains and trolleys, according to the New York Times.

Subway trains need a lot of electricity to get going, turning electricity into kinetic energy, the energy of movement. When they pull into a station, many of them can do the opposite: generate electricity from their momentum. They turn their motors into generators to slow the train, producing current.

But in many systems, some of that energy goes to waste because of a bottleneck: the third rail, which carries current to the train, cannot handle as much energy as the train is generating during deceleration. Too much current pushes up the voltage, and when the voltage gets too high, the electricity is dissipated by running it through a piece of metal that converts it into heat.

But in Philadelphia, on the Market-Frankford line of the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority, a new company called Viridity Energy will install batteries to capture a lot of that electricity and hold it while the train is in the station. Then it can deliver the power when the train starts up again or store it for a time of day when it is needed more.

Source: The New York Times
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Philadelphia last week embarked on the nation's largest project to reduce stormwater pollution through green measures, reports the Associated Press.

The state and city, the country's fifth largest with 1.5 million people, signed a "Green City, Clean Waters" plan Wednesday, kicking off a 25-year, $2 billion effort to modify infrastructure to reduce the amount of rainwater tainted with road oil, litter and raw sewage flowing into rivers and streams.

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and national environmental groups said the initiative should serve as a blueprint for cities and towns nationwide. The changes are expected to reduce by 5 billion to 8 billion gallons the amount of sewer overflow going into the city's waterways each year, including the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. That represents an 80 percent to 90 percent reduction.

Original source: Associated Press
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Comcast Interactive Capital and DreamIt Ventures partner to provide business development to minority owned initiatives, according to TechCrunch.

Comcast Interactive Capital, the venture capital arm of the media giant, has partnered with Philadelphia based venture fund and startup accelerator Dreamit Ventures to provide seed funding, training, mentoring and other benefits to minority-led startups through DreamIt's accelerator program.

The new $350,000 fund will give five minority-led startups for its Fall Philadelphia 2011 program a extra infusion of capital on top of the funding DreamIt provides for its class of startups. For Comcast Interactive Capital, this is the first investment initiative from the $20 million fund that was created as part of the acquisition of NBC Universal. The $20 million fund will be used to invest in other minority led startups and initiatives (outside of DreamIt), mainly in the technology sector.

Source: TechCrunch
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NJ.com reports on Salem County's LuNaTecs robotics team, which took top honors at a national competition held at the Liacouras Center, advancing to the international competition.

PSEG, DuPont and Boeing sponsored FIRST robotics Team 316, the LuNaTeCs from Salem County, along with 55 other high school robotics teams from across the country as they competed in the FIRST Robotics Philadelphia Regional Competition on April 8 and 9 at the Liacouras Center at Temple University here.

After two days of stiff competition, the LuNaTeCs, along with 23 other teams, advanced out of the qualifying rounds and into the quarterfinal matches. Perhaps many did not expect Team 316 to do too well since they were ranked 23rd coming out of the qualifying rounds so it was no wonder that such a shocked hush fell on the packed stadium when the LuNaTeC's alliance beat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams.

Source: NJ.com
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Philly Watchdog gives citizens an active role in reporting fraud via iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Philadelphia is using 21st-century technology to fight corruption.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz launched an iPhone app that allows citizens to upload and send audio, photos and video to the city's Fraud Unit, so it can investigate. The free Philly Watchdog app allows for anonymous tips, has a geolocation feature that provides the location of the incident and a one-touch button to call the unit directly.

"When it comes to reporting fraud and waste in Philadelphia, I'm proud to say that 'we now have an app for that,' " Butkovitz said last week at a press conference announcing the app.

Source: The Wall Street Journal
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Comcast announces the rollout of its much anticipated Extreme 105 Xfinity Internet Service, according to Techspot.

Comcast has finally announced the initial availability of its Extreme 105 Xfinity Internet service, which is currently available to 40 million homes in major markets such as Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Miami, Philadelphia, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

First introduced last May, the service delivers download speeds of up to 105Mb/s (10Mb/s upstream), which is a substantial boost over the company's previous 50Mb/s service. According to the company's figures, you can download an HD movie in five minutes and a standard-def TV show in 20 seconds.

Source: Techspot
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Johnson & Johnson plans to buy West Chester-based Synthes, and the deal may usher in future medtech investment, according to Reuters.

Johnson & Johnson's plan to buy Synthes for some $20 billion may mean more deals in the sector as rival medical technology firms try to bulk up in tough times, though antitrust issues are a hurdle.

A weak economy and high unemployment have hit sales of medical devices hard, since patients have to take time off and, in the United States, dig deep into their own pockets to help pay for procedures such as knee replacements.

As a result, more and more companies are looking at acquisitions as a way to add new avenues of growth.

Source: Reuters
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New technology to electronically assess head trauma is being developed by Villanova University engineering professor, according to the National Post.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discover more genes that may be linked to Alzheimer's, according to NPR.

Two groups of researchers have scanned the genomes of thousands of individuals, looking for clues to genes involved in Alzheimer's disease. Gerard Schellenberg of the University of Pennsylvania explains how locating those genes could lead to new ways to treat or prevent the disease.

Alzheimer's disease is one of medical science's big mysteries, of course. It's difficult to diagnose. We don't really know what causes it, if there is any single cause. We have no real cure for it.

Well, writing this week in the journal Nature Genetics, researchers may have found some new clues to the disease. Two big consortia of researchers, one in the U.S., one in Europe, have sifted through the genomes of thousands of Alzheimer's patients and have come up with a handful of genes that seem to be linked to the condition. 

Source: NPR
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An Allentown battery manufacturer is installing its large format lithium ion energy storage system ona 2,700 square foot building at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as part of its Energy Innovation Hub, reports CNET.

"The Energy Innovation Hub will include a live demonstration of a microgrid with a 2,700 square foot net-zero energy home. International Battery will provide Sunverge with an 8.2 kilowatt-hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery pack for use in the residential SIS (Solar Integration System)," the company announced Thursday.

The battery pack will be used to store solar energy that can be retrieved for later use in conjunction with the solar system and micro smart grid, also being constructed on site, according to International Battery.

Source: CNET
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Online auction giant eBay announced it will acquire GSI Commerce, a leading provider of eCommerce and interactive marketing services, according to GigaOm.

Auction giant eBay said today that it will buy GSI Commerce, a King of Prussia, Pa.-based provider of e-commerce and marketing services for a whopping $2.4 billion in cash and debt. The deal is part of eBay's continued makeover from an auctions-oriented company to an e-commerce platform.

Source: GigaOm

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Philadelphia's Osage University Partners has set up a fund to provide profit to schools where initial research is done, according to The New York Times.

THERE are a lot of smart people in universities. Some may even be geniuses. Many of them are certainly good at inventing technologies that will change our lives.

But for the most part, universities aren't particularly adept at extracting the full measure of profit from all those innovations. While university technology transfer offices routinely license the intellectual property developed on campus, the schools themselves often aren't very nimble at retaining large stakes in the start-ups that exploit that property.

Source: The New York Times
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