Geek News

The tiny dot in the center of the screen, between the two metal electrodes, is the light emitted by a single atom . The photo, Single Atom in an Ion Trap , just won the grand prize in the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) science photo and imaging contest. "The idea of being able to see a single atom with the naked eye had struck me as a wonderfully direct and visceral bridge between the miniscule quantum world and our macroscopic reality," said Oxford University quantum physics professor David Nadlinger, who took it. To give an idea as to scale, the gap between the two needlike-like tips is about 2mm, less than a tenth of an inch, so the image is substantially enlarged. Still, it's a scale that we humans can relate to, unlike the nanometer size of the atom itself. Here's how Nadlinger captured the image: A strontium atom was ionized by a laser, then trapped in an ultra-high vacuum chamber (aka, an ion trap) and hit by a blue-vio...

Steadicam is the company behind iconic tracking shots in films like Rocky and Return of the Jedi , so when parent Tiffen launched a smartphone stabilizer bearing its name at CES 2017, there was a ton of interest. The $195 Steadicam Volt nabbed more than $1 million on Kickstarter and is now on sale at stores. It works very well and can produce natural-looking, cinematic shots, but don't expect it to do that out of the box. It takes a fair amount of time to set it up, and even longer to master. The Volt is a rather unusual type of stabilizer. Like Steadicam's classic products, it relies on balance and inertia, but it also has a motorized gyro like the DJI Osmo and other electronic gimbals. The gyro and electronics are tucked into the body. There's a platform on top for the phone, and a handle and weighted frame below. Most of the parts are built from plastic, which doesn't impart the most solid feel but makes the Volt very light -- around a pound. It measures a bit...

Fully autonomous cars won't be allowed on the streets until they're safe , but how will we know when that happens? The American Automobile Association (AAA) is trying to figure that out by testing self-driving cars powered by Torc Robotics "Asimov" system. The aim is to gather information and develop safety criteria that could be used by any company developing self-driving tech. "By creating a blueprint for automakers to follow, we hope to build public trust in technology," said AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah CEO Tim Condon. A recent AAA survey found that 75 percent of Americans are skeptical of self-driving cars, and as a driver-focused, independent organization, the AAA feels its well-placed to help build up that trust. Torc Robotics, meanwhile, is one of the early pioneers of self-driving, having placed third in DARPA's 2007 Urban Challenge -- back when self-driving cars were a bit more bulky . The Asimov system has been cross-country...

Iconic CES devices like the Apple Newton, CD player, VHS VCR , Sony PlayStation and Oculus Rift "Crystal Cove" didn't necessarily seem groundbreaking at the time. Experts and the public often gave prizes to gadgets like the Creative Zen Vision:M and Hitachi's G1000 Pocket PC that we've since deleted from our collective memory banks. With that in mind, here are 10 of the most memorable CES shows that yielded products that were instant hits as well as some that weren't appreciated until later. CES 1970: the VCR comes home CES started in 1967, but it was a sleepy affair until 1970, when Philips unveiled its N1500 videocassette recorder. Until that point, VCRs cost upward of $50,000 and were used mainly by TV stations, but the Philips model with a built-in tuner was just $900 (around $5,000 today). It became the first-ever home VCR, letting folks who could afford it record TV shows for future viewing. CES 1979: Atari and the home-gaming revolution For m...