Opera House at home
Australian scientists are working on recreating the acoustic surround sound experience of sitting through a performance from a back seat at the Sydney Opera House. According to a report by ABC Science Online, University of Sydney researchers Dr Andre van Shaik and Dr Craig Jin are described as having recorded excerpts from the Marriage of Figaro opera via a prototype “spherical microphone array”. This comprises 36 microphones attached to the surface of a polystyrene ball that sits in an actual seat within the Opera House. Enjoying the acoustic ambience of the Sydney Opera house at home, however, is still a long way off. Capturing the directional qualities of a concert across currently 36 and in time hundreds of channels of “3D” audio is only part of the solution. The other half is creating a playback room capable of playing such the recording.
Not so immobile
A group of US researchers claims to have cracked a popular Texas Instruments (TI) based RFID code system used to immobilise cars and offer secure but convenient fuel purchases. In a recently published research paper, the Johns Hopkins University team detail how using what they say is a relatively inexpensive electronic device, criminals could potentially wirelessly probe a key tag in close proximity and then use the information to break its cryptographic code. According to the researchers, about 150 million of the TI chip transponders in question are in use worldwide. This includes use within recently made immobilisers of at least three leading car manufacturers.
Wire bonding replaced
Infineon has developed a novel wire bonding replacement for chip cards (such as prepaid phone SIM cards) called “Flip Chip On Substrate” (FCOS). Developed in conjunction with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), FCOS is claimed to be the first method whereby a chip card IC is flipped inside its module housing and the functional side of the chip attached directly to the module by conductive contacts. This technique eliminates the need for conventional gold wires and synthetic resin encapsulation. FCOS is claimed to save space within the module and to be more physically robust than conventional wire bond-based solutions. Infineon says FCOS is “ready-to-go” and suitable for use with the standard production processes used for smart cards with contacts.
Cars dial ‘000’ after accident
From as early as 2009, all new cars in Europe could be fitted with equipment that will automatically call the emergency services in the event of an accident using a location enhanced version of the current single European “112” emergency number (equivalent to 000). In the event of a crash, the technology, dubbed “eCall”, will both notify the local emergency services and report a vehicle’s exact location. Although in accidents eCall will be trigged automatically, a manual trigger will also be fitted within the car. The objective is to minimise emergency response times in the critical minutes following an accident. Associated eCall standards and specifications are expected to be formalised this year with field tests commencing in 2006.
Mobiles become MP3 players
The long expected launch of mobile phones that double up as MP3 players has now officially occurred with the launch of handsets from Motorola and Nokia. According to a report in NewScientist, the newly released Motorola E1060 features Apple Computer’s iTunes software for accessing Apple’s iTunes on-line music store; while the Nokia 6680 and 6681 offer compatibility with arch rival Microsoft’s Windows Media Player and the US music download site Loudeye. The Motorola E1060 has 512 MByte of “TransFlash” memory on which it can store about 100 songs, and each of the Nokia models can store around 15 songs on a 64 MByte Flash memory card. All music supports the same copy-protection file formats used on the current equivalent standalone MP3 players and PCs.