There is no doubt that much was using it to develop a digitalof our present technologies are pen that can be used anywhere.already in digital form, especially We are using digital devices –among developed countries. computers, mobile phones, etc.Such is the case in Israel – all our lives. Making the userwhere lies a company named interface natural and intuitive isOTM Technologies dedicated something that is on our mindsto bringing the natural user constantly.interface to all users through Today developing countries –their innovative product. mainly in Africa but also in ruralDr. Opher Kinrot, PhD. regions in Asia – have limitedCo-Founder and Co-CEO of OTM access to information. BringingTechnologies, explains in first- natural and inexpensive userperson the whereabouts of the interfaces to these regions willcompany and its product, how enhance their ability to connectthe idea of the startup started, with each other and with the restand their current challenges. of the world. Phree is anotherHe has more than 20 years of step in this direction, both inexperience in the field of optics education and communications.and medical devices. PHREE: THE ULTIMATETHE COMPANY STYLUS SOLUTIONOTM Technologies is a private Consumers need to look at theirstart-up company based in usage scenarios – both 'where'Israel, with less than 10 workers and 'when' they want to useat present. Phree is our first a stylus. If their main use is onproduct. Our mission is to bring the go or in the office, sittingnatural user interface to all near their table or in meetings,users – in the form of a digital with a single device or usingpen that works on any surface multiple devices, etc. Phree isand with all devices. OTM the only solution that lets youTechnologies will grow to be the use a stylus anywhere and withcomponent supplier of choice to any device - not limited by theOEM customers who will build screen size or location.their versions of digital pens and Phree has the potential toother devices that use OTM’s become the preferred inputsensors. method for VR/AR – the ‘mouse’ for virtual reality interaction.HOW THE IDEA In addition, there is a largeSTARTED potential in education and of course as a mobile input deviceWe see a future where turning the mobile phone into a work station. Future versions/communication with generations may be specifically geared to these markets.computers will be identical What makes Phree stand out is having a set of uniqueto communication among features no other device is close to offering. With Phree, youpeople. When we developedour optical tracking technology– OTM (Optical TranslationMeasurement) – one of thefirst ideas that came to mind OCTOBER 2016 51 The Future of Consumer Electronics
What makes Phree stand out is having a set of unique features no other device is close to offering. With Phree, you can work on all your devices anywhere can work on all your devices are Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, anywhere. Phree will bring Arabic, etc. further usability with emerging Our present challenge is virtual and augmented reality building our manufacturing headsets, where touch input capacity to deliver Phree to does not exist and there is no our 8000+ early backers and to other accurate input device at go into mass production with present. strategic partners for general No other product on the market usage. Once Phree is on the gives what Phree provides – market our challenge will be to writing anywhere and on any lower its overall cost and move surface. The best styluses by to mass manufacturing. Microsoft (Surface), Samsung (Note) and Apple (Pencil) ADVICE TO THE all work only on screens. In YOUNG ENGINEERS addition, Phree works with multiple devices – you can Dr. Kinrot has this to say to switch from your mobile phone the young engineers: spend to tablet, laptop and TV. time learning the basics, deepening your curiosity and THE CHALLENGES & applying your ideas to projects SOLUTIONS that interest you and working with people who you can We see professionals as part advance with. Your innovation, of the first users of Phree – a great team and the right including architects, designers, timing in the market can lawyers, doctors – people who change the world and make gain by the ability to easily and the next successful start-up. quickly markup documents. We also see Phree as being geared For more details about Phree, to the general user like students please visit www.otmtech.com and creatives for annotating notes in class, jotting down an idea anywhere and free sketching on the go. General users especially benefit in countries where keyboard use is limiting the input with many characters in the alphabet. Examples of languages that will greatly benefit from handwriting input with Phree52 OCTOBER 2016 The Future of Consumer Electronics
ACER RELEASES BADASSGAMING LAPTOP WITH 21”CURVED SCREEN Acer has just redefined “portable” tracking, a mechanical keyboard, with their latest laptop Predator a 4.2 sound system, a window to 21 X, being one of the heaviest show off one of the big fans, and laptops yet at 8 kilograms (17.6 a flipping numpad that doubles pounds) – that’s more than seven as a touchpad. Acer knows that times the weight of Acer’s Swift 7 what they produced is more than laptop. The gaming monster boasts just a “big seller” retail product of a 21-inch curved-screen with but a display of their engineering two GeForce GTX 1080 GPUs. It is expertise. complete with five cooling fans, a The Predator 21 X displayed at IFA 7th-generation Intel Core K-series in Berlin is just a sneak peek demo processor, and 4 terabytes of SSD unit, with its price still undisclosed. storage – a badass laptop for all the But it can be pre-ordered starting gamers. in January next year. That’s not it: it has a 4 DD4 slots having 64 GB of RAM, Tobii eye-All Photos by Acer OCTOBER 2016 53 The Future of Consumer Electronics
ENGINEERING INNOVATION Photo by IMBD CANNOT PROSPER WITH TOO MANY FINANCE MANAGERS by Margaret Banford There is a saying: too many himself without a financial backer history: money and innovation cooks spoil the broth. Yes, it is after Pierpont Morgan withdrew do not mix in any great degree. only a saying, but sayings do his support from the inventor, Having money does not mean have some truth in them. offended at the suggestion that his that someone is inherently more We all know the story of Apple actions during the financial crisis of knowledgeable about what is – Steve Jobs founded it and led that year had in any way affected happening; if they knew how to it through its first products – to Tesla’s work. come up new inventions, then great acclaim – and was then The question of money becomes they could simply get on with the asked to leave due to his lack of increasingly important when we process themselves, and leave respect for the budget. look at the recent recession and the poor engineers to their own Jobs made three major the effects it has had on society and inventions. innovations for the company, innovation – when does money Money has become something and then was ousted for using matter more than innovation and more than simply the means of up too much money in his imagination? When does it matter financing new invention. Now it inventions, which was a puzzling less? How do we strike a balance is something to be held out as move considering that his between these two positions? In a promise, as a reward for good latest invention at the time - all honesty, the thought occurs behaviour; if the engineer does the Macintosh – had brought a that we pay far too much attention what they are told, they get the new level of personal computer to money. money. To some extent this has to the population at large. We should have learned from always been the case, as we saw His situation mirrored that of the example of Tesla, Jobs, and with the Tesla example above (and Nikola Tesla, who in 1901 found countless others throughout also, more openly, in the possibly54 OCTOBER 2016 The Future of Consumer Electronics
apocryphal story about Tesla innovation skill, have no business has to change, but so far no oneoverhauling Edison’s motors with telling people who do how they appears to be brave enough to do it.the promise of a huge sum of money should innovate. If they want It’s easy to see why – they could endwaiting at the end if he succeeded), something done, they should up like Tesla, alone, with no moneybut it has never before been as offer money, not as a bribe or an and no backer. At least the way weblatant as it is today. extortion, but to the right person – do it they have the potential toEngineers and innovators are the person who wants to make what receive some money.essentially extorted – they are they want made. Even more ideally, So in the end, who do we look topromised money in the form of they could remove themselves from for someone to blame in all this?grants and donations IF – and the process entirely; simply offer the Do we blame the finance people?only if – what they do fulfils the money up to whoever needs and\or Do we blame the owners? Or dorequirements laid down by the wants it, and that is that. They might we blame the engineer's dreams?people with the money. The money never see their technological dreamis essentially both stick and carrot at come to fruition, but then again, they Who killed enginering innovation?the same time, leading to innovators just might. And even if they don’t,feeling pressured to do and make they could see that they have the About the author:things that perhaps they don’t enjoy satisfaction of allowing somebody’s Margaret Banford, when not writing,making, purely for the hope that (or somebodies’) creativity to thrive spends her time reading and playingeventually they will be given money and to find an outlet. several musical instruments. She isand time to do what they love. Someone needs to be able to stand also a fair baker and the CEO of C.M.People who have money, but no up and say that the current system Cornes, Birmingham UK.Photo by migrationideas Photo by en.iict-group OCTOBER 2016 55 The Future of Consumer Electronics
Photo bPyhTohteo Qbyuibnitllstainton To The Lazy Engineers: An Open Letter By Aaron Kesel \"Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't.\" -Jerry Rice I’m at mile 24 during a trail marathon and the sun you into the hall of fame, just give up now, want is in full heat now. Two hours earlier, the morning an ice cream?” These are the thoughts racing air was so crisp and I was fortunate enough to through my head, but I refuse to let them in and witness the sunrise over Lake Texoma (Texas or allow it to dictate the end of this race. Oklahoma, depending on who you support as The question I get from friends and family your college football team). However, that crisp most often is “why?” This is among the ranks morning air has now changed into stifling heat. of my favorite things to hear, along with “you The silver lining is that the trees offer solace in must be insane” or “you did what?!” However, the form of five degrees below 95 degrees. Each the answer to this question of why is much step sends a painful pulsing sensation through more simplistic than you would think. From my legs and orders my mind to stop trudging up the outside looking in, it appears as though I another hill, treading through another stream, or am putting myself through physical challenges, maybe just slowing down my pace and letting the numerous miles and bodily pain with no younger man I passed back at mile 18 to fly by measurable reward. However, this couldn’t be me. “It’s alright, it’s just a race, this will not place further from the truth.56 OCTOBER 2016 The Future of Consumer Electronics
Week after week, as a Chemical engineer, you’re symbitohTteihcebromedlaiyntidhoaanvnsehdiap,faced with seemingly impossible obstacles when you step outsideand issues, not so different than a 28 mile run of your comfort zone tothrough the tough Texas (or Oklahoma) heat. improvweilol npeu,rstuhee otherAs engineers we consistently want to improve,make things more efficient, and drive to have -Aaron Keselthe best and be the best. Is there a reason tonot also strive for this in your personal life? Photo by AaronKeselWhen you start to challenge yourself and pushyourself to your limit, something surreal starts Photo by playbuzzto take place. The stress that you carry all weekseems like a mere moment in the face of a 28-mile run around Lake Texoma or a mile highclimb up the side of a mountain. That issue thatother engineers have been losing sleep over issomething you have been thinking about andformulating a solution to for the last two hoursof running. The issue no one in the office canwrap their arms around, you’ve figured out a fixby Monday morning.It is counter-intuitive to think that runningand exercising is inversely proportional to theamount of energy that we have to expendduring the day. C’mon, we are engineers right?“Simple math and chemistry proves that, byexercising, we should have less energy basedon our bodies’ caloric consumption!” Butperhaps this exercising bit has more to it thanmeets the eye. Maybe by exercising we unlockchambers in our minds that lay dormant in ourbodies as we sit on the couch. Or maybe byexercising, we simply filter out all the confusionand a clear path of where to go presents itself.Exercising is like a good virus--as you start, itwill spread to all faucets of your life, personallyand professionally. This will allow you to thinkbetter, be better, and do better as an engineer.I leave you with this, a challenge, to get offthe couch and go against the engineeringstatus quo. What do you have to lose? You’realready living the other side of the coin by notchallenging yourself to be the “best” versionof yourself. For one month, get outside andrun every day. Start with what you can do andgradually increase the distance. And be honestwith yourself. Would you have passed chemicalengineering if you stopped at .25 miles? Get outthere and get after it. You have so much more towaste than just your physical health.About the author:Aaron Kesel is a chemical engineer whoworks in semiconductor processingand manufacturing for one of the top 3semiconductor companies. His specific area ofexpertise include Photolithography, diffusion,epitaxy, and metrology. Prior to this role, he hasheld positions in power distribution workingaround water purifiers and large scale industrialapplications. OCTOBER 2016 57 The Future of Consumer Electronics
Photo by flickerWhat if ChemicalEngineers Didn’t Exist?No food to feed the world! industrial scale; we would probably be the water and make it suitable for drinking eating only fish now. and other purposes. Desalination is a wayFritz Haber was the inventor of the all- that majorly contributes to purifying waterrenowned Haber Process, where nitrogen No clean water and is being used in over 120 countries,from the air is mixed with hydrogen including United Arab Emirates, India,under high temperature and pressure, to We can drink clean water today, with the Greece and Saudi Arabia.produce Ammonia. Now ammonia stinks, help of the cleaning process invented bybut, thanks to this process, more than half Chemical Engineers. Purifying water has Recycling wouldn’t have beenof the world’s population is being fed with several steps to it and being able to change possible!good food. This process produces nitrogen the sea water into something edible,fertilizers and is used by most of the food wouldn’t have been possible without the Recycling things like aluminum, paper andindustries. Now, this process was invented thinking of Chemical Engineers. Today, plastics and reusing them have becomeby Fritz Haber, but, it was Carl Bosch, who even contaminated sewage waters can be possible, thanks to the innovators.took it an industrial scale and then began turned into pure, drinkable water. Even, Recycling aluminum was developed in themass production of the fertilizers. Imagine desalination, a process where salts and 1960s and today, aluminum has becomeif the process wasn’t introduced on an unwanted minerals are removed to purify one of the most recycled materials. With58 OCTOBER 2016 The Future of Consumer Electronics
this, starting from cans to cars is being Photo by New Indian Express accordingly. Although, the surfacerecycled today, and has mainly helped TEL, tetraethyl lead, which was used in eventually gets piled up with coke,in reducing the consumption of bauxite early cars to reduce ‘engine knocking’. today’s refining processes, allows theand crude oil and has also contributed in TEL caused birth defects, polluted the platinum catalyst to regenerate up toreducing the air pollution. environment and affected people in many 400 times before being recycled. ThisRecycling paper and plastics has also ways physically and mentally. However, great invention, allowed petrol tobecome possible with the help of the use of it was soon to be outlawed have a higher octane rating, withoutChemical Engineers. Plastic is something and replaced by the great innovation any use of harmful chemicals and alsowe use in our everyday lives and is of Vladimir Haensel. He invented the benefitted the environment. It cutsnon-biodegradable. Therefore, to save platforming process, which allowed oil off harmful emissions and producesenergy and the environment, Engineers to have a higher octane rating and at the hydrocarbon like benzene, whichhave come up with a process, which same time caused less air pollution, unlike is mainly used in the production ofreprocesses the plastic to be reused again. TEL. Haensel had the idea in mind, which is plastics. Haensel contributed to theThis not only saves energy, but, even helps reforming the naphthas, but, the process production of catalytic convertersenvironmentally. required a catalyst. Then, he discovered and thanks to that, we are breathing the use of platinum as a catalyst, which air instead of lead today!Batteries? What are they? was a stable and facilitated the processThis is something that every technologyneeds, especially the long-lasting ones.Without it, you probably wouldn’t havebeen able to read this article. Lewis Urry,a Chemical Engineer, invented the alkalineand the lithium battery, while workingfor the all-known battery company,Eveready. Today, 80% of the dry-cellbatteries are based on his invention. Thisis the technology era and it definitelywouldn’t have been possible withoutUrry’s work and methods. Evereadyproduced batteries since the 1800s, but,the batteries that were produced beforeUrry’s invention, wouldn’t have beenable to power any of the gadgets thatwe use today. Urry’s invention broughtlong-lasting, cost-effective batteries andbasically is one of the major inventions,which made portable electronics a reality.Ozone layer probably wouldn’thave been depleted.CFCs, also knows as Chloro-Fluro Carbon,wouldn’t exist today. It’s a coolant usedin refrigerators, air conditioners and aspropellants in aerosol. This invention,however, has caused a lot of harm to theozone layer, thereby exposing the earth toultraviolet radiation. Thomas Midgley wasa Mechanical Engineer and a Chemist, soif you combine the worst subjects of thesetwo, one may get Chemical Engineer,which Midgley was arguably. Apparently,the first CFC was highly stable and had noharmful effects on animals, humans andplants. Due to its non-inflammability andvolatility, the product was a huge successcommercially and was used in refrigeratorsand air conditioners. However, peoplewere too late to realize its long-termharmful effects and the fact that, it wasdue to CFCs that the ozone layer was beingmajorly affected. The damage becameknown in the 1980s and that’s when theMontreal Accord came into play, whicheventually phased-out the use of CFCs.We would be breathing lead!Unfortunately, Midgley didn’t stop atCFCs. Before CFCs, Midgley produced OCTOBER 2016 59 The Future of Consumer Electronics
THE WORLD’S MOST Photo by WindowsCentralPOWERFUL GAMING LAPTOPYou can now bring desktop- The ASUS ROG GX800 uses a powerful gaming laptop in Photo by TechHivelevel gaming performance to dual-GPU setup, unlocked Intel the world.gaming laptops! processor and a mechanical Some of the hardwareASUS presents the new gaming keyboard, which is specifications of the ASUSupgraded version of their the best choice for gaming ROG GX800 is as follows:GX700—the ASUS ROG laptops since membrane keys It will be using Intel CoreGX800. It will be featuring won’t be able to withstand i7-6820HK, with an operatingbetter, more powerful fast simultaneous taps like system of either Windowsspecifications and will still mechanical keyboards can. 10 Home or Windows 10 Proinclude the removable Also, the keys have multicolour and its chipset is Intel CM236watercooling solution which LED keys, which you can Express Chipset.will help you get the most out customize to your own style.of your gaming experience. This makes it the fastest, most60 OCTOBER 2016 The Future of Consumer Electronics
Photo by IndianExpressNHAEVWELMGOTSEQLEUVITISOI-ONSREPELLENT FEATUREWhile other television companies device which uses sound waves Photo by IndiaTvNewsraise the bar in their technologies to keep the mosquitos away.for better viewing experience The company secures that theirand entertainment, LG has exceptional TV will not emitengineered a new television with harmful radiation or will use toxica humanitarian purpose. chemicals. The 32-inch display willThe company has produced a line cost $400, the cheapest in theof televisions called Mosquito line. The 43-inch variant will be asAway, which is designed to repel much as $710.mosquitoes. LG is targeting This effort will somehow alleviateIndian consumers, since malaria the increasing number of cases inhas severely stricken India which India. In New Delhi alone last year,affects hundreds of thousands of 10,500 cases of dengue are listed.its natives in a year. This will be the Only about 11 per cent of India’sfirst of its kind after a careful study population is free from malaria,of the Indian situation and market. as indicated in the 2014 WorldLG’s new TV will have an ultrasonic Malaria Report. OCTOBER 2016 61 The Future of Consumer Electronics
hoto by CambiarNewsWINDOWS PLANS TOTURN YOUR PC'S INTOHOLOGRAM VIEWERS Microsoft opened the HoloLens In line with this, Microsoft 3D models, it will also have Experience Showcase at its has announced Windows Bluetooth mouse support. flagship store in New York this Holographic, a new “mixed The Windows Holographic week. Interested developers reality” experience. You’ll soon platform is a collaboration can schedule appointments be able to see holograms on with Intel and it will support to be able to get hands-on your Windows PC! To be able Intel’s upcoming VR headset time with Microsoft’s new to do so, you’ll be needing Project Alloy, and other PCs holographic augmented reality the latest version of Windows and laptops. It will also be headset. Unfortunately, there 10 and a Microsoft HoloLens compatible to work in tandem still isn’t news when non- headset. Windows Holographic with Microsoft’s HoloLens and developers will be able to get will be featuring multitasking Intel NUCs with embedded Iris the HoloLens experience. and the capability to rotate graphics.62 OCTOBER 2016 The Future of Consumer Electronics
Photo by MSPowerUserPhoto by youtube OCTOBER 2016 63 The Future of Consumer Electronics
Search
