cotton

Web standards vet marches Microsoft to the front lines (Q&A)

You might think developing technology standards is plodding, bureaucratic tedium compared to something like the frenzy of smartphone innovation.

But you'd be wrong, at least in the case of Paul Cotton, who leads Microsoft's involvement in the important and often fractious world of Web standards. Web standards are hot -- and hotly contested.

Cotton, an even-keeled Canadian, discovered a passion for standards more than 20 years ago when figuring out how to digitize airplane maintenance manuals. He's comfortable with the contradictory motives of standards groups: fierce competition one moment and gentlemanly cooperation the next.

It's a … Read more

Thumbdrive-size computer now available for preorder

Cotton candy isn't just a sugary treat anymore; it's also a computer in a USB thumbdrive-sized package.

FXI Technologies' ARM-powered computer-in-a-stick, Cotton Candy, was on show at MWC, where the company announced that it is taking preorders for this tiny device.

We first saw this little computer last year when it was revealed to have an ARM Cortex-A9 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, a Mali 400 GPU for high-definition video decoding, and support for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

One end of the device plugs into a USB port for power while the other end connects to a … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly Ep. 74: Is Android too complex for your mom? (Podcast)

Justin thinks Android is still to complex for beginners, Antuan says nice things about Apple, and someone crams a whole Android-based computer onto a USB key.

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EPISODE 74

NEWS:

-CONFIRMED: Samsung Galaxy Nexus U.S. Launch Is In December

-Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich review: Cool, confident, chaotic

-Android 4.0 supports mass storage, Galaxy Nexus does not

-Want Android 4.0? Wait 2 months, says Cyanogen

Samsung Mocks Apple Ad

-Google: 200 million Android devices now active worldwide

-After iPad, Kindle Fire most desired tablet, study finds… Read more

'Cotton Candy'--Android computer on a stick

At last--a sweet stick of Cotton Candy that won't rot your teeth. Instead, it aims to put an Android-based computer on just about any screen you can find.

Norwegian company FXI Technologies calls it "the world's first any-screen, connected-computing USB device," code-named Cotton Candy. The tiny system is basically a USB thumbdrive with an HDMI output on the other end and a microSD slot added to complete the package. According to a release from FXI:

The vision for Cotton Candy is to allow users a single, secure point of access to all personal Cloud services and apps through their favorite operating system, while delivering a consistent experience on any screen. The device will serve as a companion to smartphones, tablets, notebook PCs, and Macs, as well as add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set-top boxes, and game consoles.

The Cotton Candy prototype's specs aren't too shabby, either--especially for a system the size of a pack of gum:… Read more

New cloth self-cleans by killing bacteria

Tossing clothes into the wash when dirty is so last year, thanks to a discovery by chemists out of the University of California at Davis. Near-ordinary cotton may simply need be exposed to light to get busy killing bacteria and breaking down toxic chemicals such as pesticide residues.

Ning Liu, a doctoral student at UC Davis, worked with textile chemists Gang Sun and Jing Zhu to develop a method that incorporates a compound (2-AQC) into cotton fabrics. When exposed to light, it produces reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide that kill bacteria and break down toxins.

While Liu says 2-AQC is more expensive than other compounds, it is difficult to remove from cotton due to strong bonding, and cheaper equivalents should work, too.

"The new fabric has potential applications in biological and chemical protective clothing for health care, food processing, and farm workers, as well as military personnel," she says.

The team reported on its findings in the Journal of Materials Chemistry last month, shortly before another study out of the University of Iowa chronicled the vast presence of even drug-resistant disease-causing bacteria on hospital curtains.… Read more

Don't wait for the state fair for cotton candy

As the days get longer, many of us start to dream about spending more time outside. Good weather, of course, means good food. But while the protein-packed goodness of seared burgers and franks will be wafting through the air, another, more sugary, tradition also awaits.

Like a carnival midway ride, the Great Northern Popcorn Vortex Cotton Candy Machine stands ready to jolt patrons (except instead of whiplash, this ride produces a sugar rush). Complete with cart, the home appliance produces one cotton candy cone every 30 seconds. An optional bubble top "eliminates potential dangerous sugar spray," and provides safe operation.

The magic of the midway in the comfort of home isn't the only appeal of this machine designed to be used for gatherings of all sorts. No special installation is necessary; the base is secured to the kettle via four clamps that reduce vibration. After a two-stage warm-up period that lasts a total of six minutes, the sugary goodness is ready to go--anytime of the year.… Read more

Ford to use recycled clothes in next-gen Focus

Ford's spin on "reduce, reuse, and recycle" includes your old blue jeans.

The auto maker today announced that the 2012 Focus, on sale early next year in North America and Europe, will use cotton from recycled clothing for carpet backing and sound-absorption materials inside the car. These materials will supposedly provide a much quieter cabin.

"Ford is continually looking for greener alternatives," said Carrie Majeske, product sustainability manager. "Recycled content is a way to divert waste from landfills and reduce the impact of mining virgin material."… Read more

Solar dress charges your MP3 player

Sashaying down the runway this weekend toward the future of wearable technology: a solar-powered dress that revs gadgets via a USB charger located in the waist.

Parts of the dress come from Cornell University's Textiles Nanotech Laboratory, which teamed up with two Italian universities to create cotton threads that can conduct electrical currents, yet remain light and comfortable enough to feel like the good old cotton we all know and love to sleep in.

"Previous technologies have achieved conductivity, but the resulting fiber becomes rigid and heavy," said Juan Hinestroza, an assistant professor of Fiber Science and … Read more

Football spread predictor

NFL Forecaster helps users predict weekly professional football games. While its depth is impressive, the amount of manual input may scare off some.

The program's interface is a cluttered and confusing mix of charts and statistics. We did ourselves a favor and consulted the Help file, specifically its alphabetized topics list, whenever a hurdle presented itself. The program excels at showing the current week's professional football match-ups and giving the spread (how many points the winner will win by). We were unable to know how accurately the program predicts scores since this was tested before the season, but … Read more

It isn't a kitchen, it's an amusement park

When was the last time you had cotton candy? In my case, I'd have to travel back to the early parts of my teenage years to reminisce about the pink and blue spun sugar treat, but if you're still a practicing fan, chances are that you still haven't had it since summer.

If you can't brave the winter chill without your cotton candy fix, then maybe you should consider putting this Tabletop Cotton Candy Maker on your holiday wish list. It spins ordinary table sugar into the cotton confection we know and love so well, and … Read more