Category Technology/Electronics

Researchers have developed a deep learning method that can produce a seamlessly looping, realistic looking video from a single photo. Sometimes photos cannot truly capture a scene. How much more epic would that vacation photo of Niagara Falls be if the water were moving?

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a deep learning method that can do just that: If given a single photo of a waterfall, the system creates a video showing that water cascading down. All that’s missing is the roar of the water and the feeling of the spray on your face.

The team’s method can animate any fl...

Researchers have come up with a way to use one single device – such as a mobile phone or smartwatch – to wirelessly power up to 10 wearables on a user. This novel method uses the human body as a medium for transmitting power. Their system can also harvest unused energy from electronics in a typical home or office environment to power the wearables.

Advancements in wearable technology are reshaping the way we live, work and play, and also ho...

Prototype technology could enable smart home systems that don’t record speech. Microphones are perhaps the most common electronic sensor in the world, with an estimated 320 million listening for our commands in the world’s smart speakers. The trouble is that they’re capable of hearing everything else, too.

But now, a team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a system that can inform a smart home — or listen for the signal that would turn on a smart speaker — without eavesdropping on audible sound.

The key to the device, called PrivacyMic, is ultrasonic sound at frequencies above the range of human hearing...

Jet packs, robot maids and flying cars were all promises for the 21st century. We got mechanized, autonomous vacuum cleaners instead. Now a team of Penn State researchers are exploring the requirements for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles and designing and testing potential battery power sources.

“I think flying cars have the potential to eliminate a lot of time and increase productivity and open the sky corridors to transportation,” said Chao-Yang Wang, holder of the William E. Diefender Chair of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Electrochemical Engine Center, Penn State. “But electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles are very challenging technology for the batteries.”

The researchers define the technical requirements for flying car batteries...