A study jointly conducted by Cornell, Northwestern, and Penn State Universities on ferroelectrics in modern computer hardware has paid off.

According to the findings, applying the same ferroelectric devices to a silicon based chip within a personal computer could create a much more efficient, fast, and low energy consuming product that takes us all to the next level of PC operations.

Ferroelectrics are commonly used in ’smart cards’, such as identification work ID’s, grocery rewards cards, and other cards meant top track information on a consumer. The idea to use this type of technology has been a popular one for decades, but only not have we advanced enough to put it to practical use.

“Several hybrid transistors have been proposed specifically with ferroelectrics in mind. By creating a ferroelectric directly on silicon, we are bringing this possibility closer to realization,” Darrell Schlom, the leader on the project, explained.

This could mean computers would no longer need to be rebooted, instead running on low power at all times, making it more energy efficient and convenient. It would also increase the speeds of information passing from the hard drive.

The study has been published in Science.

Source: National Science Foundation

By MICHAEL BROWN

While video game technology has become more stellar over the years, some students have been fighting a continued battle to stay in classes while avoiding the flashy distractions.

Freshman education major Drew Lamm said he spends about 15 hours playing video games a week. He said video games are a stress reliever and hobby for him, and his frequent genre of choice is RPG.

“I used to play ‘World of Warcraft’ a lot,” Lamm said. “That thing consumed my life for half a semester.”

Kevin Leighty, freshman secondary education in physics and pre-medicine double major, said playing video games is a pastime for him and that he also plays about 15 hours a week. He said this may affect his studying at times when he’s really into playing certain games.

“Sometimes I’ll cut out of the library early to go play a game,” Leighty said.

A few players said that these habits were even more demanding in high school. Junior English major Justin Figueroa said he spends about 13 to 16 hours a week playing now, but in high school he played more.

“I had a lot of trouble with that in the past,” Figueroa said. “I’ve even had an intervention. But now in college I’m a lot better, a lot more responsible. It can get you if you’re not careful.”

This may have to do with video games’ evolution. Communications professor David Gunkel said video games have improved greatly, from the graphics and realism to the impact it has on social communication.

“Anything that vies for time for a student can have an impact on studies,” Gunkel said. “{I’ve heard stories] of students who go off to college playing ‘Everquest’ or ‘World of Warcraft,’ and they failed out in the first semester.”

Gunkel said this problem can be aided by time management.
“We have to learn time management and teach time management to students who really need it,” Gunkel said. “I have a nephew who has a timer when he’s playing ‘World of Warcraft.’”

Gunkel said, for students, playing video games can also have a positive effect.
“The biggest change [in video game technology] has to do with the social component,” Gunkel said. “Now when you play, you’re playing with people all over the world.”

SOURCE: Sharp Electronics Corporation

MAHWAH, NJ–(Marketwire – April 14, 2009) – Sharp Electronics Corporation today announced the expansion of its nationwide electronics recycling program to include additional collection sites in the Southeast, bringing the entire program to more than 300 collection sites across the 50 states. More than 30 new drop-off locations throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia will be added, where consumers can bring Sharp televisions and other consumer audio and video products for free, convenient recycling.

“We appreciate Sharp’s commitment to product stewardship and welcome their recycling expansion into the state of Florida,” said Mary Jean Yon, Director of the Division of Waste Management in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“As a manufacturer of consumer electronics products, an important way for Sharp to reduce its impact on the environment is to provide a simple and no-cost way for consumers to dispose of their unwanted electronics in an environmentally sound manner,” said Stewart Mitchell, senior vice president and chief strategy officer, Sharp Electronics Corporation. “When we announced a nationwide program earlier this year, we did so with the intent of expanding it nearly three-fold by 2011. We’re very pleased to be moving toward that goal by bolstering our program with these additional participating locations in the Southeast.”

Sharp’s recycling program uses the infrastructure developed by the Electronics Manufacturers Recycling Management Company (MRM), which now expands through a collaboration with Creative Recycling Solutions, a recycling company that operates collection facilities in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the U.S. A joint venture between Panasonic, Sharp Electronics and Toshiba, MRM was established in September of 2007 to efficiently manage collection and recycling programs for electronics manufacturers in the United States. Earlier this year, Sharp expanded its current recycling program to 280 sites nationwide, including at least one location in all 50 states, with hundreds of additional sites planned over the next three years.

Consumers can drop off Sharp brand televisions and other Sharp consumer audio and video electronics products for free recycling at more than 300 locations across the country. Panasonic and Toshiba products will also be accepted at these locations. A complete list of locations where Sharp products can be recycled is available on the MRM website (http://www.MRMrecycling.com.)

The program developed by MRM aims to bring the electronic product manufacturing community together into a unified voluntary national solution to address America’s e-waste recycling needs. The program will utilize the larger volumes achieved through working with other manufacturers to maximize efficient collection and recycling. To ensure safe, convenient and responsible recycling, MRM has teamed with leading recycling companies CRT-Processing, Creative Recycling and Eco-International. The sites MRM has established include drop-off and collection sites, and corporate arrangements with not-for-profits such as Goodwill.

Sharp and the Environment

Consistent with Sharp’s vision to contribute to the world through environment and health-centric businesses, focusing on energy-saving and energy-creating products, Sharp Electronics strives to conduct business operations in an environmentally conscious manner. Over the past several years, Sharp has taken a leading role in addressing e-waste. For example, every year since its inception in 2003, Sharp has supported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Plug-in to eCycling” program by participating in and contributing to collection events for discarded electronics. Since the Plug-in to eCycling program’s inception, Sharp has supported more than 650 Plug-in events that collected and recycled 15.4 million pounds of electronics.

For more information on all of Sharp’s environmental programs please see our website http://www.sharpusa.com.

Sharp Electronics Corporation is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s Sharp Corporation, a worldwide developer of one-of-a-kind home entertainment products, appliances, networked multifunctional office solutions, solar energy solutions and mobile communication and information tools. Leading brands include AQUOS® Liquid Crystal Televisions, 1-Bit™ digital audio products, SharpVision® projection products, Notevision® multimedia projectors, Insight® Microwave Drawer® appliances, SuperSteam™ ovens, Plasmacluster® air purifiers and the OnEnergy™ solar system. For more information visit Sharp Electronics Corporation at www.sharpusa.com

-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) assuaged concerns over how willing its Unified Computing System is to play with others as it laid out more details about its virtual servers on Thursday.

The San Jose networking bellwether made a splash last month with the platform, which puts it squarely in the data-center market and in competition with longtime partners International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Hewlett- Packard Co. (HPQ). But along with the announcement came concerns over how well its system would work with existing information-technology infrastructure.

Competitors and critics complained that Cisco would run a closed system that would require businesses to buy all new equipment, and commit only to the networking company. Cisco, which unveiled some pricing information, was aggressive in dispelling those concerns.

“We’re putting to bed the myths out there around the Unified Computing System, ” said Soni Jiadani, vice president of the server access and virtualization group for Cisco.

On concerns that Cisco’s products are proprietary, Jiadani said. “That’s absolutely not the case. [The Unified Computing System] was purposely built as an integrated system with each layer conforming to industry standards.”

The Unified Computing System can work with a company’s existing IT infrastructure, she said.

Cisco again hammered the point about businesses saving money through a small data center and less power consumption.

The starting price of the system and “blade” server is $30,852.

The customer’s desire to have multiple vendors will ensure that the likes of IBM and H-P will continue to work with Cisco.

“I don’t anticipate anything in terms of a major shift,” Jiadani said. “These companies ultimately will respond to market needs, and what the customer wants.”

Cisco closed up 3% to $18.08.

By: PR Newswire

ELMSHORN, Germany, March 27 /PRNewswire/ — Shuttle Inc., the market leader in the Mini-PC segment and manufacturer of Multi-Form-Factor solutions, today introduces the XPC H7 4500H complete system for satellite TV reception. Unlike present proprietary solutions, the H7 4500H now comes with satellite television conveniently and reliably integrated in Windows Vista.

The whole feature set of Windows Media Center that had previously been available for DVB-T tuners and analogue cable TV only, can now be used with a DVB-S TV tuner card as well. Timeshifting (pausing TV programmes), EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and recording, all this can be done right from the sofa by remote control.

“Microsoft has moved the development of Windows Media Center forward and released the new Windows Media Center TV Pack for Windows Vista,” explains Tom Seiffert, Head of Marketing & PR at Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH. “Based on the XPC Barebone SG45H7, a complete solution to meet highest requirements towards functionality, image quality and multimedia formats has been created.”

The H7 4500H is a full-featured media centre PC to play back collections of DVDs, CDs, MP3 files, TV recordings and digital pictures as well. If desired, it can even be equipped with a Blu-ray drive for playback of high-resolution multimedia content.

The array of connectors of this compact complete system, measuring barely 32.6 x 20.8 x 19 cm (LWH), include HDMI, SPDIF, eSATA, FireWire and 6x USB.

The Shuttle XPC H7 4500H is now available from specialist retailers or through the Shuttle Systems Configurator. The recommended retail price from Shuttle is EUR 755 (ex VAT). The Shuttle Systems Configurator is available on http://www.shuttle.eu/systems. Suppliers can be found using the “Shuttle StoreLocator” on http://www.shuttle.eu/buy.

Press release and high-resolution images

http://www.shuttle.eu/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-53/140_read-15242/

Shuttle XPC H7 4500H product page

http://www.shuttle.eu/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-171/310_read-15089/

Shuttle XPC H7 4500H in the Shuttle Systems Configurator

http://www.shuttle.eu/H7_4500H

by Rich Brown

Even though it’s been out for more than two years, we hadn’t heard about the GTR Tech GT3 until earlier today, via the blog of PC business-type Ed Borden. Now that we know about the trim GT3, we’re struck by how appropriate such an enclosure seems to today’s fascination with pared-down desktop design.

In his blog, Ed compares the virtues of the GT3 with other smaller gaming PCs, in particular with HP’s recent Firebird 800-series gaming desktop. That system uses a customized motherboard and laptop-style MXM graphics cards. Ed also draws a comparison to systems like Falcon Northwest’s FragBox 2, which require smaller microATX motherboards that generally sacrifice expansion room for space savings. Unlike either of those systems, the GT3 support both full-size ATX motherboards, as well as standard dual-slot graphics cards.

We don’t want to sell either the FragBox 2 or the Firebird short. We recently reviewed a FragBox 2 with a pair of doublewide 3D cards and a 1,000 watt power supply jammed inside, so using a microATX doesn’t automatically make a desktop underpowered. We also have to credit the Firebird’s power efficiency and its visual appeal. Unlike the otherwise attractive GT3, the Firebird doesn’t have a giant, electric blue “GT3″ emblazoned across its front panel.

By offering the DIY system-building crowd a unique, slim chassis on which to build a competent gaming desktop, GTR Tech seemingly anticipated HP’s own Firebird design. We also agree with Ed’s assessment that the GT3 has a major advantage over the Firebird in that it offers complete user upgradeability. You can’t upgrade the Firebird’s graphics cards, for example.

We disagree, however, with Ed’s suggestion that the GT3 leaves the Firebird with no advantages. Even if HP’s gaming system isn’t the fastest (or the most affordable) 3D gaming box around, its performance relative to its power consumption is an impressive technical feat. We’re also glad to hear that the GTR Tech is apparently working on an updated version of the chassis. We’d love to see a boutique PC vendor use the GT3 chassis to compete with the Firebird on both performance and power consumption.

If you’d like to buy the GT3, it currently costs $189 direct from GTR Tech. Be sure to read GTR Tech’s list of GT3-compatible motherboards before diving in.