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A
computer that knows where your hands are turns
your desktop into a monitor and your finger
into a mouse. The tricky finger-tracking software
now runs on a PC, making it possible to control
an ordinary computer with your bare hands.
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Stamps
bang out tiny silicon lines
Taking a Stone Age approach to high-tech materials
could result in fast, cheap chipmaking. Princeton
researchers have pressed quartz molds into silicon
wafers with the help of ultraviolet laser pulses.
The simple process makes a useful pattern of microscopic
lines in less than a millionth of a second.
Bent
wires make cheap circuits
A crimped microscopic wire turns a one to a zero.
This simple circuit sets the stage for cheap, low-power
computers that don't have to boot up every time
you start them. The key is using the logic of magnetism
rather than electricity.
Mixes
make tiniest transistors
The people who design computers have traditionally
been electrical engineers. A pair of single-molecule
transistors show that would-be computer makers might
want to consider getting a degree in chemistry instead.
Plastic
computer memory advances
The right kind of plastic can store electrical charges
in tiny spots. Think of the charges as the ones
of digital ones and zeros and a new type of computer
memory comes into focus.
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