wi fi technology

Woman in Science – Ada Lovelace Day 2016

While Ada Lovelace Day 2016 has not been recognised with a Google doodle, the most efficient way of learning what Inter/national Day it is (besides a #trending), Materials World is very encouraged to see Ada Lovelace Day as strongly celebrated and acknowledged as ever.

Forbes has a fantastic interview with Suw Charman-Anderson, founder of ALD, on the role of Ada Lovelace Day in encouraging women into STEM subjects, and we would like to reflect on some of the blogs we’ve written over the past twelve months on the importance of women in STEM.

A retrospective on Elsie MacGill, who was the first woman to be awarded a Masters in aeronautical engineering in 1929. MacGill was one of the principle forces behind the production of the RAF Hurricane.

To mark Women in Engineering 2015, we compiled a list of some of the most influential and revolutionary scientists and engineers including Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, Jocelyn Goldfein, Director of Engineering at Facebook, and Hedy Lamarr, whose work on frequency hopping would later be implemented in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology.

Renishaw project manager Luck Ackland, Dr Elizabeth Carter from the University of Sydney Vibrational Spectroscopy Facility, and Dawn Bonfield, President of the Women’s Engineering Society, gave us their thoughts on International Day of Woman and Girls in Science.

What did Hertha Marks Ayrton do? Improved our understanding of the mechanism of electric arc, saved soldiers from mustard gas with the Ayrton Fan, fought against a scientific establishment for women in science and beyond, and more.

And, to close, some good news: in June 2016, Dartmouth University announced that it had graduated more women than men in engineering fields, with women making up 54% of the 2016 class.

Who has inspired your path in science? Let us know in the notes!

We pulled together today’s’s top CES 2016 stories, just for you:

1. This transforming robot rolls around your home and shoots projections everywhere
Tired of lugging your TV from room to room? Hate having yards and yards of unsightly HDMI cords cluttering up your kitchen, bathrooms, and foyer? Now there’s a better way!
via: @mashable

2. Fisher-Price Now Has a Toy That Teaches Preschoolers How to Code
If you’re dreading the day your kid brings home math homework that reads like the control panels of a Vor’cha-class attack cruiser, just rip off the bandaid already.
via: @gizmodo

3. Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi HaLow technology for Internet of Things
It’s a good thing that only super smart people get to name new technologies. It’s pronounced like “halo,” right? In any case, it’s better than “Wi-Fi for stuff.”
via: FierceWireless

4. This is Faraday Future’s ridiculous 1,000-horsepower electric concept car
Now here’s a company that gets it. Living in the future is great and all, but what people really want is to look like they’re living in the future.
via: @theverge

5. LG Display brings rollable OLED newspaper to CES 2016
Who wouldn’t buy this awesome roll-up display? It could switch back and forth between the same two still images—or just stay on one! Admit it. Even if it claims the functionality of a laminated photograph, you would buy this. #LooksLikeTheFuture
via: @slashgearcom

Windows 10 upgrade shares your wi-fi password

So apparently the new Windows upgrade shares an encrypted version of your wi-fi password with all your contacts.
Like even the spambot sending you Viagra ads. It’s called Wi-Fi Sense, and it is the default in the new upgrade.
To disable Wi-Fi sense, head into Wi-Fi—>Network settings—>Manage Wi-Fi settings, and uncheck basically all the boxes you can see.
When you join new networks, it will ask if you want to share that network. Keep the box unchecked.
This could be potentially harmful to your network security, so if you’ve recently upgraded, make sure you check to see what you’re sharing.

Technology doesn’t tend to just disappear: what is the social network of solar punk? How do we order and deliver goods? What do cars and public transport look like? What is our power grid? Are personal and street lights now bioluminent, or are they charged solar pieces? Are cell phones and computers integrated into our brains, updated frequently? What are advances in Wi-Fi technology? Are there people who prefer to go all natural, forgoing implants for suspicion of technology or religious reasons? What do robotics look like in a solar punk society? Are they humanoid, passing as people? Do they have rights? Are robotics used to supplement human bodies, like with functional prosthetic limbs and replacement parts? Or do we slowly eschew robots in favor of technology to grow whole new body parts, to create new organics for ourselves?

Scientists are building 3-D-printed eyeballs that can record your vision

If you could swap the eyes you were born with for 3-D printed upgrades, would you? What if they had 15/20 vision, photo filters and the ability to record what you see? A research and design group in Italy is trying to bring this sci-fi concept to life. They’ve undergone a 12-year project to upgrade our vision with features like Wi-Fi and self-repairing technology, propelling the human body years into the future. There are 3 models: Heal, enhance, advance.

Power Over Wi-Fi named one of the most game changing technologies of the year. 

Popular Science included the technology in their annual “Best of What’s New awards announced this week. Power Over Wi-Fi (PoWiFi) uses an internet router to send out “power packets” of data on unused Wi-Fi channels. These signals are harvested by specially developed sensors to charge small electronic devices.

In real world testing PoWiFi was able to recharge the battery of a Jawbone fitness tracker from zero to 41 percent, over 2.5 hours, without any noticeable disruption in internet speed for users.

In future the team hopes to increase the amount of energy transmitted, and make it operational over larger distances.