Electronics

Innovation Elsewhere – 3,700 Blu-Rays in a Single Cassette Tape

May 7, 2014 by Tectoria

Sony has developed a new technology that can store 185 terabytes on good, old-fashioned magnetic tape.

For example, three Blu-Rays’ worth of data can fit on one square inch of Sony’s new super-tape. One of these new tapes will store the equivalent of 3,700 Blu-Rays’ worth of memory.

In fact, one relatively cheap tape would hold five more terabytes than a $9,305 hard drive storage array.

In order to create the new tape, Sony employed the use of sputter deposition, which creates layers of magnetic crystals by firing argon ions at a polymer film substrate.

Combined with a soft magnetic under-layer, the magnetic particles measured in at just 7.7 nanometers on average, able to be closely packed together.

Sony developed the technology for long-term, industrial-sized data backup – storage tape shipments grew 13% two years ago, and were headed for a 26% growth just last year.

Broke Your Smartphone Screen? Just Swap It Out!

April 23, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Google’s Advanced Technologies and Products Group (ATAP) is on a mission: build a modular smartphone.

Google and design company New Deal have floated a concept for a modular Android phone ecosystem called Project Ara that lets smartphone users swap modules (batteries, radios, cameras, screens, etc) around between “exoskeletons.”

The most obvious and immediate practical application of a modular phone is that if you drop the phone and shatter the screen, you can quickly and easily (and, hopefully, cheaply) swap in a new one. Or if your battery runs out and you’re away from a charger, just switch to a new one.

The two breakthroughs that make this design possible are a piece of hardware dubbed the endoskeleton and a concept New Deal refers to as “parceling.”

For ATAP and Google, the goal is to build a device that will make the smartphone accessible to the billions of people who can’t afford iPhones and Galaxy S5s.

They plan to release the first phone in less than a year, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, besides some great Project Ara eye candy, the Verge has a good breakdown of all the crazy phones you can make with Google’s Project Ara.

How Amazon Fire TV Stacks Up To Apple TV, Chromecast and Roku

April 3, 2014 by Tectoria

Amazon has just announced its streaming TV media device: Fire TV is a yet another direct challenge by Amazon against other tech giants and incumbents.

So how does the Amazon TV compare to Apple TV, Google Chromecast and Roku’s lineup?

First-party content for a cheaper price

Amazon Instant Video library is huge and well-known, and offers a vast range of content from well-recognized sources. Amazon also features some exclusive streaming deals, and is also starting produce original content.

The price tag? $99 a year.

Apple TV is perhaps the biggest competitor with an equally vast amount of content, but to access all of it you are going to pay more than Amazon’s $99 a year.

Google Play does not feature nearly the same variety of content, while Roku relies on third-party content.

Third-party content

Third-party content in this context means being able to use a smartphone, combined with an app, to stream content to your television. Google’s Chromecast is designed specifically to do this, as are Roku, and Apple TV and Airplay.

However, third-party content provider Netflix competes directly with Amazon Instant, and for the moment Amazon Fire TV will have a lot of catching up to do… if Amazon is truly serious about facilitating third-party content.

Gaming

Neither Chromecast nor Roku currently offer a compelling gaming experience, while Apple TV offers no games at all. On the other hand, Amazon Fire TV looks like it is committed to providing a quality gaming experience.

Size and ease of use

Chromecast is a simple (and cheap) HDMI dongle, and Roku offers a similar “stick” device. Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV are more traditional boxes with cables and power cords.

All have their advantages and disadvantages when setting up, with no clear winner.

Price

Apple TV is $99; the Roku series ranges from $50 to $100. Google’s Chromecast is just $35. Amazon’s Fire TV is $99.

Local Start-Up Whips Their Tech Into Shape

January 10, 2014 by thestevehof

Eco-Fit was one of the first Start-Ups to enter our accelerator program.. They build a custom hardware and software solution that is sold all over the world and employ people right here in Victoria. Their modules combine with the cardio fitness equipment at your local gym to make your workouts fun, social and competitive with people across the globe.

Their first major hurdle was simple; how do they demonstrate that their fitness modules, which attach to things like treadmills and stationary bikes, can work on a large scale in a massive gym? The challenge – the interference caused by so many wireless transmitters & receivers all in one place operating at the same time. The solution – building a custom wireless protocol designed to eliminate the wireless interference issue.

What you are seeing in the above picture is their testing boards that prove, unequivocally, that their modules operate at 100% efficiency even when in extremely close proximity to one another. All together you are looking at 149 modules, all powered and all sending and receiving data effortlessly. Admittedly the VIATeC Accelerator community wasn’t entirely pleased with this solution. We wanted to see a ‘testing facility’ with 149 pieces of exercise equipment, sauna, steam room, roman bath, massage room, etc.

While we didn’t quite get what we wanted, Eco-Fit did set up a gym of sorts that is being enthusiastically used by ‘beta-testers’.

Daniels Electronics sold for $25 million

August 16, 2012 by richardd

Victoria’s technology firms continue to attract attention from the world’s movers and shakers. Last week, Daniels Electronics was sold to an Australian company called Codan for 25 million. The deal will be completed later this week, according to the Times Colonist.

When the deal closes, Daniels will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Codan, retaining its brand and its 73 employees. Manufacturing, research and development will remain in Victoria. “And if we can grow international sales, which is the whole goal, we will do more manufacturing and more R&D in Victoria and that’s great news,” Gerry Wight, Daniels’ vice-president of sales and marketing, said.

Daniels – which sells most of its products in North America – designs and manufactures radio communications systems. The company has a long history in this province. It was founded in 1950 by F. Gordon Daniels a former telegraph operator at the Merry Island Lighthouse off the northern coast of British Columbia. He also helped establish a regional radio network for the police in northern BC.