fabric

As car makers look for ways to replace unsightly buttons or add more controls without crowding the center stack, researchers are turning to smart fabric.

The driver's seat has always been synonymous with total control, and that could become even more true as manufacturers begin embedding controls into its fabric. Researchers at the Polytechnic School in Montreal, Canada, have developed a soft polymer-based fiber with electrical properties that can be woven into fabric, according to an article in New Scientist.

Smart fabrics are becoming more mainstream, and touch sensitive fabric isn't new. But creating a durable fabric that … Read more

Step aside, Google Docs, there's a new JavaScript tour de force in town.

I'm talking about the latest project from programmer Fabrice Bellard, a JavaScript program that emulates an x86 processor fast enough to run Linux in a Web browser.

The JavaScript PC Emulator can do the work of an Intel 486 chip from the 1990s, but doesn't have a built-in floating point unit for numeric processing, Bellard said. Happily, Linux itself can emulate that, and a version of the operating system's core--2.6.20--runs on the foundation.

Bellard published a technical description of the JavaScript PC Emulator … Read more

Intel traditionally builds chips for its own use, but it's now branching out to create one for another manufacturer.

Intel will create chips based on its 22-nanometer technology for Achronix Semiconductor, Achronix announced today. This marks the first time Intel is designing a chip for another manufacturer and may indicate that the chip giant is looking to do some contract manufacturing for outside customers.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Achronix will use Intel's 22-nanometer chips to develop its own Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). FPGAs are integrated circuits that can be programmed after they've been manufactured, allowing … Read more

Intel is pledging to spend between $6 billion and $8 billion to build a new chip manufacturing plant and upgrade its existing fabrication plants in Arizona and Oregon.

The influx of cash will allow Intel's new and current fab plants to put more muscle behind building the chipmaker's next-generation, 22-nanometer microprocessors, which could eventually power sleeker devices that deliver higher performance and longer battery life at a cheaper cost.

Intel's first microprocessors built on the 22-nanometer process, codenamed "Ivy Bridge," will be in production in late 2011, the chipmaker said today.

Besides kicking in money … Read more

I recently made my first homemade pizza for a dinner with friends, and was forced to come to terms with the fact that my three-year-old dollar-store pizza cutter is on its little, last, pathetic legs. Or last axle, if we're being literal.

During an intensive course of Internet research for a replacement cutter, I stumbled upon a line designed by Frankie Flood. Flood's designs often tend toward cool aesthetics and away from functionality, but this baby looks like it would actually work well. Although I may not be purchasing one to serve practical purposes, it's definitely worthy … Read more

Sit up straight. Be on time. Watch your blood pressure; wise admonishments all, yet hard to enforce--until now.

A new type of undershirt wired with an integrated system can now monitor an individual's heart and respiration rate, activity, GPS location, and even posture, then transmit the data to a supervisor or other concerned adult.

Where are they? How are they? These are questions the TrainTrak physiologic "garment-based" monitoring ensemble promises to answer, according to developer, QinetiQ. By updating real-time location and physiologic status the "e-garment" can help maintain "personnel accountability, increase situational awareness, detect … Read more

IBM is tapping into its computing know-how to get to the next-generation 22-nanometer chip technology.

Generally, the smaller the geometries, the faster and more power efficient the chip becomes. Both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are moving their processor lines from 65-nanometer to 45-nanometer technology. (AMD, which does joint chip R&D with IBM, is slated to begin doing this in the fourth quarter.)

After 45nm, comes 32nm, which doesn't present any great manufacturing process hurdles. But 22nm is a different story. And IBM is trying to lead the way--ahead of Intel.

At its most basic, photolithography--the conventional … Read more

Update at 2:15 p.m. PDT: Adds comments from AMD spokesperson.

Advanced Micro Devices is in a bind. The chipmaker is caught between the dire need to reduce manufacturing capacity on its books with pressure to build a $3 billion plant in New York state.

AMD's chairman Hector Ruiz is touring the Malta, New York site this week-- referred to as the Luther Forest Technology Campus--as Saratoga County installs a $79 million water pipeline that will service the facility. Moreover, this week, the town of Malta voted unanimously to approve plans for the plant, according to the … Read more

Courtesy of Xavier de Rosnay, Gaspard Auge (aka Justice) and the whole Ed Banger crew, the DJ mix unofficially dubbed the "Rejected Fabric Mix" has found its way to the WWW as a freebie when the popular London dance label (and club) Fabric rejected it for their next FabricLive compilation DJ series.

Before being leaked to the public, Justice's new mix is easily one of the best of the year and has a scope well beyond the duo's own apocalyptic electro madness. Take a listen (or three... or five) and see for yourself.

Free Download: "The mix Fabric didn't want you to hear!"… Read more