Wrote for the Tartan this week

I wrote for the Tartan this week. I wrote how AFM works. Please digg my article.



Brief preview of the article:

Atomic force microscopy (AFM), a popular tool for imaging, measuring, and manipulating matter at the nanoscale, was invented in 1986 and was commercialized in 1989. This type of microscopy gathers information by feeling the surface with mechanical probes. AFM is a type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) in which the image of a surface is obtained by moving a probe over a sample and recording the interactions between the probe and the surface of the sample.

AFM is used for a variety of biological applications, including imaging molecules, cells, tissues, and biomaterials. At Carnegie Mellon, AFM is being used to study peptides and lipoproteins. AFM, popularly used in nanotechnology research, has been used to image the surface of the ivy plant to understand how it climbs structures, as stated in an article on www.photonics.com.

According to www.veeco.com, AFM is on the cutting edge of science since it provides true three-dimensional surface images. AFM is used to image and manipulate atoms and structures on many different surfaces. Samples viewed by AFM do not need any special treatments. The technology provides higher resolution images than other methods such as the scanning electron microscope. It is also favorable since it has the ability to operate in liquids and work with sample sizes ranging from a few nanometers up to several micrometers.

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Is the media forcing you get an iPad?

The Apple iPad is now official out and officially in your local Best Buy or Apple Store. The device has gotten criticism that it is a larger / super-sized version of the iphone/ipod touch. There has been some bias in the recent reviews of the iPad. As we know the publishing industry is going through a bad time right now, with less people subscribing to magazines and newspapers. People are getting their news online for free. Media companies like the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and PC Magazine are giving biased reviews about the iPad, and saying it is an awesome magical device. While online media outlets like Engadget, Gizmodo and CNN are saying it is nice device, but lacks many things like Adobe Flash. The media companies are betting on the iPad, since they are moving to digital model distribution for an example Time Magazine charges 4.99 an issue on the iPad, vs reading it online for free. The WSJ offers a subscription to access their material on the iPad. WSJ does not give free content. One of the media outlets, USA Today who had a poor free iPad app, gave the iPad a poor review. The iPad is being hyped by media companies like WSJ especially since they have key interests in the product. I do believe that some of these reviews are not ethical, by giving people a wrong impression to buy a product.

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Innovation in e-book screens

Current e-book readers only display colors in black and white and aren’t useful for viewing color magazines. Pixel Qi is a hybrid display screen that can display colors when a backlight is on. When the backlight is off, the e-book displays black and white colors, uses 70 percent less power, and is readable in direct sunlight. It can also be used in devices like netbooks or tablets. Pixel Qi CEO Mary Lou Jepsen plans on seeing this technology sometime in the first quarter of this year.

Source: Engadget

Google pulling out of China

Google has threatened to end www.google.cn in China over concerns about censorship and hacking. Hacking targeted a flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer, violating Internet user privacy, while censorship is a long-running dispute regarding human rights. Yahoo supports the decision, but Microsoft has no plans to exit China. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer disagrees with the situation: “There are attacks every day. I don’t think there was anything unusual, so I don’t understand.”

Source: Reuters

Intel’s glasses-free 3-D TV

Intel has announced a technology, “glasses-free 3-D,” that allows one to watch 3-D content without wearing 3-D goggles. There is a special overlay applied to HDTV to make it glasses-free. The video has to be shot in a special format, and the current resolutions are slightly below 720p. There is a current limitation of eight specific viewing angles from which one can experience the 3-D content.

Source: Engadget

Lenovo reveals hybrid tablet

Lenovo has announced the release of a notebook computer that has a detachable screen that becomes a tablet PC. The notebook computer is two computers in one. When the screen is attached to the keyboard, it runs Windows 7 and has access to the hard drive and RAM. When the screen is detached, it runs on a touch-enabled Linux operating system designed by Lenovo with limited memory. Lenovo expects to start shipping the hybrid tablet this June.

Source: Revision3/Techzilla