Here’s How Battery Technology was Discovered
In the history of engineering, there are many happy coincidences and misunderstandings that have led to profound discoveries, but perhaps one of the most far-reaching was the discovery of the electrical charge generated by dissimilar metals. In the process of dissecting an animal, Luigi Galvani noticed involuntary movements in the animal and initially thought it was being caused by stored energy within the muscles of the beast. His friend and colleague, Allessandro Volta, thought otherwise and surmised that the reaction was actually an interaction between a brass hook on which the animal was suspended and the steel blade of the scalpel being used to dissect it. These two metals were, said Volta, creating an electric cell, which would later come to be known as a “Voltaic” cell.
The principles behind the reaction were soon tested and understood, and batteries became an everyday part of life. This everyday equipment has changed very little over the centuries, however, around twenty years ago when micro-electronics became viable, interest in making batteries functionally smaller led to advances in both the basic technology and materials being used. Today, battery technology is a big business, and billions of dollars are being ploughed into reducing footprints while increasing the overall efficiency of batteries. Traditional batteries store energy as a chemical reaction within a closed system, but there are increasing moves away from this type of storage in favor of more compact and highly efficient forms of energy release.
History of Battery Technology
Going back to their roots during the 1970’s oil crisis, electric cars have been a tantalizing possibility. Early examples were as simple as replacing the normal internal combustion engine with electric motors and storing a number of lead batteries wherever possible in the vehicle. The two main problems with these first steps in the technology were that the batteries were heavy and their efficiency was very low. Additionally, there was no infrastructure to allow routine charging once you had reached your destination, and the resulting cars were simply curious to most rather than credible alternatives to our thirst for oil. This situation would not go on to improve until mechanical engineering manufacturing made positive efforts to design purpose-made vehicles from lightweight materials, and battery expert companies worked with academics to look at efficiency and new technology. But now, we are seeing a new breed of electric vehicle that is both credible and offers a real challenge to petrol and diesel vehicles.
Battery technology was initially driven by the desire to make vehicles using electric technology, but it has moved forward given researchers have made new discoveries and pushed the boundaries of our knowledge of batteries forward. Market forces from the technology sector have made the race to new methods of supplying power financially worthwhile, and miniaturization of devices such as mobile phones and tablet computers have also become a driving force. But still, the research continues as designers are trying to think up new ways to take advantage of the advances being made in the field.
The fairly new field of carbon nanotubes has given rise to many exciting prospects. From ultra-tough surfaces for flak-jackets to lightweight components for vehicles, these carbon-based structures offer the possibility of being both cheap and mass-produced. But further research has found that the long-range ordering of the atomic structure may also hold the key to micro-batteries. Work continues in many respected research centers such as MIT and Stanford University to understand the possibilities of these structures. Paper-thin bendable batteries are currently a real commercial possibility and even non-traditional forms of energy release are the new exciting prospects under development. Researchers at MIT have found that under certain circumstances, carbon nano-tube devices can be made to exert waves of energy in a phenomenon known as “Thermopower”. On a different note, work is also progressing into so-called “dirt power,” where minute chemical interchanges involving the bacterial breakdown of waste material generates usable energy. Known as MFCs, or MicroBial Fuel Cells, this type of technology carries its green credentials boldly as it produces good amounts of usable energy in a very environmentally-conscious way.
Battery technology is a field with so much more to offer in new and exciting fields. As technologists uncover more diverse ways to harness energy, the applications to which they can be applied also continue to grow. This is a very exciting time to be in these emerging industries.
Pivot International is a product design, development, and manufacturing firm with strengths in software development, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and industrial design. If you are interested in engineering a new product or updating an existing product, contact us at 1-877-206-5001 or request your free consultation today.
Medical Devices Survey 2014
The field of medical devices undoubtedly suffered as a result of global economic slowdown, but the latest medical devices survey carried out by ICD Research — the research and business reporting section of the Progressive Digital Media Group — has cause for welcome relief. The report was commissioned to examine sales and marketing strategies, business planning, media spending, and potential future policies of major medical supplier companies, and compares these against the previous paper — giving a comparative overview of the sectors’ health.
Medical Devices Survey Results
ICD Research completes and compares this field of research on a four-yearly basis, generating a coherent comparative analysis of the state of the industry and giving an expected and surprisingly cogent insight into the future of this important and far-reaching industry. The four-year gap between reports is sufficiently spaced to give a balanced and realistic snapshot of worldwide medical device usage and possible future trends and policies.
Importantly, the paper is generally seen as a good indicator of emerging markets, and the current report is no exception in identifying future global hotspots — including manufacturing bases, potential markets, and exciting mergers and acquisitions. In terms of the current report, the analysis has identified a number of countries – notably China, Brazil, India, Russia and much of the Eastern European republics – as those to watch as both economically viable sites for production facilities and potential users of emerging medical equipment.
The report is exhaustive in its research and considers a whole raft of aspects, with interesting findings for the electronic manufacturing services. It also looks at possible future ventures and new business directions such as e-marketing, promotion via social media, participation in the increasingly important field of online portals, and potential changes to local legislation and requirements. Coming in at 142 pages, the report is a comprehensive breakdown of credible future trends within the medical devices industry.
ICD Research is well respected in the field of progressive market research, and regularly generates specialist papers in many diverse fields, such as military affairs, global production and vehicular markets, as well as a range of different health care sectors. The reports are deeply researched and considered to be works of authority in their given market.
The ICD Medical Devices Survey has become the market standard in predicting and understanding the future of medical strategy throughout the world. At $1,240 for a stand-alone copy, the report is not intended as a casual read but rather sets itself out as an important and well-respected source of information. With sufficient detail applied to its analysis, the Medical Devices Survey is deservedly regarded as the prima facie document for worldwide medical information.
Pivot International is a product design, development, and manufacturing firm with strengths in software development, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and industrial design. If you are interested in engineering a new product or updating an existing product, contact us at 1-877-206-5001 or request your free consultation today.
Secure Personal Information Using Biometrics Technology
With phishing and identity theft attacks on the rise, the need for personal security has never been greater. But as criminals begin to employ more sophisticated methods for obtaining personal data, users need to look beyond the usual means of protecting their information and take extraordinary steps to ensure it cannot be bypassed. An increasingly popular way of doing this is to use biometric data management as a means of protecting personal information.
What is Biometrics?
Biometrics is a field of computing security that either uses a physical aspect of a person, or has essential information encrypted onto a device that may only be read by specific equipment. Physical biometrics generally employs fingerprint or iris scanners to check the unique characteristics of a person’s physical make-up and compare it to a standard copy held on file. Fingerprints and the blood vessel structure of an eye are unique, and tend not to vary greatly within an adult. The custom software developement required to accurately read these combinations is now easy and relatively cheap to produce, and are cost-effective ways to protect your data.
The field of biometrics isn’t restricted to physical aspects of your body, and there is an increasing use of personal data that can be stored and read by official agencies if required. If you have replaced or received your first passport over the last few years, you may have noticed a small computer chip solidly fixed to one of the pages. While the small dark chip might look innocuous enough, it represents one of the latest major moves against passport fraud and personal identity theft.
The chip and its attendant aerial – the thin band of copper around the page – is used to transmit certain data about the holder, making it incredibly difficult for the document to be cloned, and easy to find if stolen and used. The system uses PKI (public key infrastructure) technology, which monitors and validates digital certificates using an array of hardware and software. Prominently used in airport security, biometric security forms the backbone of the modern day offensive against international crime and fraud.
Almost all governments now issue new passports with effective biometric data attached, which can be used to authenticate the holder’s identity. Despite initial fears that the data could be recorded and copied in the same way as almost any other digital data, system developers have demonstrated the level of security that the method utilizes, and has shown that biometrics can take system security to new and unbreakable levels.
Pivot International is a product design, development, and manufacturing firm with strengths in software development, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and industrial design. If you are interested in engineering a new product, updating an existing product, or in obtaining biometric security for your business, contact us at 1-877-206-5001 or request your free consultation today.
Advertising Goes Biometric
While retailers are starting to realize the value of biometric payment systems, understanding new types of biometric-based data intake services is a whole other ballgame.
Online ecommerce sites have always had the luxury of being able to track and segment shopper activity via cookies and other data collection devices. Meanwhile, the analysis of the demographics to brick-and-mortar have has been relatively opaque until now.
Biometrics Can Help Deliver Ads to the Right people
With up-and-coming biometric software, cameras can identify the age, race, and gender of shoppers as they browse through a store. Statistics can then be gleaned about behavior patterns of certain demographics and can be broken down by subgroup, while marketing can also be increasingly potent.
This new type of biometric software development also opens the door for measuring and comparing different locations belonging to the same retailers. Questions such as, “Is my target audience coming in?” and “What type of person tends to spend the most money?” can be quickly and painlessly answered as they allow companies to better understand what’s going on in their stores.
This year’s Retail Business Technology Expo (or RBTE) in London revealed that there are a number of systems positioned to help companies realize these types of goals. One company in particular that exhibited at the event called Mediazest presented a new tool that can roughly guess an individual’s age based solely on video footage. This data was then marketed to retailers as a better way of understanding the type of consumer who enters a store and buys an item, versus those shoppers who walk in and out without buying anything.
The in-store digital screen vendor Amscreen is even taking this idea one step further with its OptimEyes technology. This system not only measures facial characteristics such as age and gender, but also uses this information to instantly tailor in-store digital signage around the supposed needs and desires of the shopper.
The information gleaned also has a valuable security component, as in-store cameras can often identify known robbers, shoplifters, and fugitives as they enter the store.
While this technology may seem intrusive to some shoppers, the inclusion of new biometric devices offer a host of new, convenient and helpful additions. Added layers of safety are present for customers, transactions, and the store itself, and provide a more appealing customer experience.
As consumer understanding of biometrics ramps up and trust in the industry starts to crystallize, we may see more systems of marketing-driven facial recognition pop up. Businesses are undoubtedly trying to instigate their own growth, and biometrics could prove the perfect tool to leverage it.
The Inventor’s Mindset – What to do Before Prototyping
There are countless hopeful inventors out there hoping to be the next Franklin or Tesla, who are constructing and deconstructing their prototypes, as well as crafting, brainstorming, and adjusting what they hope will be the next “big thing.” It’s enchanting to fantasize about landing a lucrative license deal and watching your product launch more explosively than a space shuttle – but it’s easy to get swept up in the magic of it all and overlook the hard work. After all, inventions are 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Many an inventor has lost their way after allowing zeal and zest to outweigh their dedication or sense.
Things to do Before Product Prototyping Stage
When developing a new invention, the first steps are always the hardest. It may seem painfully evident, but the best way to start solidifying ideas is to start drawing. Keep a free-form, creativity-heavy prototype notebook. While three-dimensional printing and other quick, efficient tools such as laser-cutting and computer numerical control (CNC) milling have definitively changed the prototype landscape, the average person doesn’t have direct access to these luxuries. As a result, pursuing an outside design firm that specializes in “works-like” prototypes can be a healthy investment. Additionally, your sketch notebook will grow even more integral when the time comes to file IP or talk to a specialized firm to get a prototype fabricated.
After you have sketched out ideas, it’s time to buckle down and dive into research. The phrase “Google it” is firmly cemented into our society, and it’s strongly encouraged that future or aspiring inventors spend some considerable time investigating what’s out there on the Internet. There are a plethora of broken-hearted inventors who thought they had struck million-dollar ideas, and concurrently spent considerable time, effort, and money trying to get their product design or idea off the ground, only to find that their great innovations had debuted years earlier.
Admittedly, this discovery research phase isn’t the most glorious or enthralling chapter on the road toward product launch. But it must be done.
In the adolescence of a product’s lifecycle, there may be many ideas bubbling up in one’s head, and many sequential iterations of a product that the general product theme tends to evolve often. Going straight to computer-aided design (CAD) could be wasteful, time consuming, and costly.
While your initial concepts may be an offshoot of what someone else has created, you may find a gap in the marketplace that you can tweak your design to fill. Your research may even result in an enhanced product idea that is even better than the one you initially idealized.
6 Technologies Changing the Way We Use Biometrics
In the rapidly approaching future, biometric software development breakthroughs will eliminate the need to carry a debit card, use a key, and remember a password. With each creative software development comes new quirks and quicker pathways to unlock, access, and identify personal information — and it’s literally at our fingertips (if not our irises, palm prints, or vocal cords). Here are some recent announcements set to bridge society to the biometric future.
Apple proliferates fingerprint reading
In addition to general security features on the iPhone, Apple now enables fingerprint authentication for the iTunes and App stores for mobile purchases. This signifies the tech giant’s openness to expanding the utility of biometrics across the board. We could be seeing much more biometric input hardwired across many more Apple products and apps in the near future.
PayPal biometrics find home on the Galaxy S5
Another phone frontrunner, Samsung’s latest and greatest iteration of its flagship Galaxy phone is slated to have an exciting new addition to its already enviable feature showcase. At an unveiling in March, PayPal announced that it will support fingerprint authentication as an alternative to traditional password entry.
Pulsewallet gears up
PulseWallet (AKA BiyoWallet) launched two years ago and is now creating a biometric system designed for everyday commerce that uses hands and measures vein patterns in the palm. The process is completely touchless and measures blood flow in a hand as it hovers above the sensor. Pulsewallet is seeing competitors start to pop up but is gaining traction fast.
PayTango in use at colleges
Created by four undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon University, PayTango allows university students to easily pay for things with authentication via the quick scan of two fingerprints. PayTango was set into motion with financial backing by Y Combinator, an investment firm that has bankrolled many other successful endeavors such as Reddit and Dropbox.
SmartMetric merges bitcoins with biometric
SmartMetric, which calls itself the “only biometric fingerprint activated payments card in the world,” is touting a card-biometric combo that’s insanely useful and dead simple. The company offers finger-protected cards that store bitcoins offline, keeping the digital cryptocurrency data management solutions ti keep sensitive information safe and secure from any potential hacking threats. The special feature of the cards lies in hardwired EMV chips that ensure interoperability between Europay, MasterCard and Visa accounts and transactions.
Disney World goes biometric
Walt Disney World now features the aptly named MagicBand system, which gives visitors to the happiest place on Earth the ability to unlock hotel doors using a special colorful wristband. The wristband works alongside Disney World’s existing fingerprint scanning technology that allows entry into the main theme park.
From Apple to Disney, biometric technology is no longer limited to the fringe of geek tech. With Fortune 500 companies loudly joining the conversation, it’s clear that biometrics are spreading like wildfire throughout our society.
4 Things Prototype Developers Should Know
With huge advancements in prototyping technology, many inventors and entrepreneurs are utilizing professional prototyping services to help get ideas from their brains to the assembly line. Although these developers are extremely talented at breathing life into actionable ideas, there are still some existing concerns ambitious idealists need to understand and address before they bring their million-dollar ideas to a prototyping service.
1. The devil is in the details
To save on time and overhead costs, inventors need to make sure that they have all the product details hammered out in extreme specificity. In our advanced age of computer-assisted digital drawings, most entrepreneurs come to prototyping companies with three dimensional models that display the product from all angles, including measurements. Blueprints should also include the materials needed for product fabrication.
2. Be ready to revise
Don’t be afraid, as the expression goes, to kill your babies. Don’t take offense when potential changes are recommended, and realize that nothing is safe from the chopping block. Understand that prototyping is collaborative, no matter your position. After all, everyone you work with is on your team.
3. Keep a tally
No matter your background, when it comes to prototyping, you should be thinking like an engineer. It’s well worth the effort to document every step of the way as you refine your creation toward its ultimate form. Assign dates to each new iteration and always keep backup copies of the product’s evolution. It’s as easy as naming our files beta 1.0, beta 1.1, and so on. An additional benefit of such a system is the fact that it allows you to easily backtrack if a certain feature or flaw needs to be corrected. Further, a religious paper trail also allows you to develop straightforward, precise assembly instructions when you arrive at the manufacturing stage.
4. Realize that school is in session
You may not know everything (or anything) about manufacturing, prototyping and engineering. Be prepared to learn from the company you partner with, and scope out potential alliances based on their specific expertise. Some companies just do prototyping, whereas others are readily available to help investors and entrepreneurs with end-to-end business development. Base your search for companies on their ability to fill a void in your existing knowledge base.
The takeaway here is that organization and communication are the most crucial aspects of taking on the world with your new product. Our global marketplace is constantly in flux, so be sure to keep your head on a swivel and be open to new ideas at every turn.
How to Develop New Products [infographic]
When developing new products, inventor hopefuls must have a reactive mindset that takes factors into consideration such as market analysis, customer preferences, product design, product manufacturing and competitor behavior to help them stay above the competition. Inventors that form original ideas must wade through certain steps that will help them refine their products as necessary throughout the development phase — regardless of the domain or industry in which they work. The infographic below is a 14-step guide that developers can use when planning on building and launching a new product.
Here’s How the New Biometric Payment System in Vietnam Works
A new announcement by Vietnamese company TSYS on Monday, April 7 shed light on an entirely new biometric payment system that allows consumers to electronically pay for things using nothing more than a fingertip. Free from cards, PINs and even smartphones, this new payment technology is making it extremely simple for patrons to engage in commerce.
Biometrics in Vietnam
Vietnam Export Import Commercial Stock Bank (AKA, Vietnam Eximbank) will be using the new technology for over-the-counter payments as well as ATM transactions for all of its Vietnamese customers.
“Ease of payments is central to the Eximbank vision of financial inclusion and the implementation of transaction identification and authentication with the support of TSYS and fingerprint technology is key to achieving this objective,” said Vice President Mitsuaki Shiogo of Eximbank.
Even considering the scanning software technology service is among the first in the nation, Vietnam Eximbank is feeling confident about its deployment. The company plans to extend its reach even further to point-of-sale (POS) networks such as Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System and Microsoft Dynamics Point of Sale. The ambitious idea is to make fingerprints the de facto payment method across the board, resulting in having the entire process made more seamless for customers as well as merchants.
The new payment system also uses TSYS’s Prime ATM technology, an enhanced rule-based fraud detection management system designed to quickly and effectively zero in on fraud. It relies heavily on regulatory compliance services as consumer monitoring allows for flexible, user-defined rules on the types of activity that counts as suspicious or alert-worthy.
Biometric payment solutions such as this are an exciting and interesting prospect for people on both sides of the cash register. Despite the growing interest in mobile commerce (or “mCommerce”) solutions enabled by smartphone technology, these POS-style “naked payments” that only require the submission of a body part make good cases for themselves. Lost, stolen, forgotten or damaged cards and payment systems will become a thing of the past. The world may see fewer wallet sales and open bar tabs as well.
For instance, a similar product, the Pulse Wallet by Fujitsu, uses palm vein technology to identify users, which allows them to access their digital wallets for easy payments. Not only do products like these funnel banking services to customers regardless of language barriers or literacy levels, but they also can play the environmental card. PulseWallet specifically presents itself as a “green” payment system, since it requires no waste in the forms of cards or receipts.
Such groundbreaking services are paving the way to making banking not only more secure, but also easier. In a world where increased technology means elevated digital risks, the biometric movement seeks to bring peace of mind back to the consumer while taking the learning curve out of commerce.
The Myths You Better Not Believe About Biometrics
Despite its sci-fi depictions and paranoid hallmarks, biometric security is finally starting to gain the widespread acceptance of the general population. People seem to be opening their eyes to the convenience and utility of the cutting edge science as it makes appearances in an increasing number of places in our daily lives.
Misconception about Biometric Technolgoy
Apple’s latest iPhone version, replete with fingerprint scanning software technology, has made users feel at home with intro-level biometrics. The development of the iPhone didn’t come off as a scary, advanced unknown, and it helped steer the world of biometrics away from being lumped in with forensic-based and law enforcement procedures.
The biometric movement isn’t without opposition, however, and there are those who fight its proliferation, claiming it’s just another step toward a controlling, bleak Orwellian future.
Illegitimate fears and rumors aside, here are the facts:
First, there’s the prevalent, disturbing claim that any fingerprints recorded through biometric means are stored and handed over to law enforcement agencies in an effort to track every man, woman and child. Such an assertion couldn’t be further from the truth — the actual data received from biometric intake are stored and secured as computer signals within respective databases. The data security service doesn’t allow for fingerprints to be reconstructed from a template, nor does the image itself even necessarily need to be retained. Biometrics are a means to verify an identity, and are not used track a person from place to place.
There is also some concern that a cast could be taken of one’s finger (or, in a more morbid scenario, a finger could be lopped off entirely and presented to a biometric scanner) in order to breach security. This is another set of falsities that won’t make it out of the movies. Many sensors now come equipped with “liveness” detection, making them able to tell the difference between living tissue and other materials. Further, groundbreaking “multispectral” scanning interprets the unique ridges and fine grooves in the skin — both on the surface level and other cutaneous layers — making forgery an almost impossible task. This technology is now being employed widely, from ATM verifications to vaccine tracking records.
As the whole galaxy of biometric technology builds on itself, a natural progression is the tech’s integration with smart phones. As mentioned earlier, Apple is already leading the charge, though the only type of information recorded is fingerprinted… for now. In years to come, we’ll see more and more biometric apps and verifications through our phones, especially for work-related tasks.
The truth is that biometrics are the key in our quickly developing technological world. Biometrics aren’t part of a crime-fighting enterprise or Big Brother threat any more than the keys to your car or the PIN on your debit card. Technology has a natural way of shaking things up, but as the dust settles, advancement is almost always for the better.
