You may soon get to enjoy facilities like flexible high-resolution home theatre displays, wearable health monitors, and biomedical imaging devices because scientists are working on a novel process for creating new classes of lighting and display systems.
John Rogers, the Flory-Founder Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, has revealed that the new process is all about creating and assembling ultra-thin, ultra-small inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into large arrays that offer new classes of lighting and display systems with interesting properties, such as see-through construction and mechanical flexibility.
He said that such properties would be impossible to achieve with existing technologies. "Our goal is to marry some of the advantages of inorganic LED technology with the scalability, ease of processing and resolution of organic LEDs," said Rogers.
Compared to their organic counterparts, inorganic LEDs are brighter, more robust and longer-lived. Organic LEDs, however, are attractive because they can be formed on flexible substrates, in dense, interconnected arrays.
Rogers and his colleagues-including collaborators from Northwestern University, the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore, and Tsinghua University in Beijing-say that the new technology combines features of both.
"By printing large arrays of ultra-thin, ultra-small inorganic LEDs and interconnecting them using thin-film processing, we can create general lighting and high-resolution display systems that otherwise could not be built with the conventional ways that inorganic LEDs are made, manipulated and assembled," Rogers said.
To overcome requirements on device size and thickness associated with conventional wafer dicing, packaging and wire bonding methods, the researchers have developed epitaxial growth techniques for creating LEDs with sizes up to 100 times smaller than usual.
They have also developed printing processes for assembling these devices into arrays on stiff, flexible, and stretchable substrates.
To create an array, a rubber stamp contacts the wafer surface at selected points, lifts off the LEDs at those points, and transfers them to the
desired substrate.
"The stamping process provides a much faster alternative to the standard robotic 'pick and place' process that manipulates inorganic LEDs one at a time. The new approach can lift large numbers of small, thin LEDs from the wafer in one step, and then print them onto a substrate in another step," Rogers said.
The researcher says that shifting position and repeating the stamping process can transfer LEDs to other locations on the same substrate, and, in this fashion, large light panels and displays can be crafted from small LEDs made in dense arrays on a single, comparatively small wafer.
Given that the LEDs can be placed far apart and still provide sufficient light output, Rogers says that the panels and displays can be nearly transparent. He even envisions the creation of flexible and even stretchable sheets of printed LEDs, which can have potential use in the health-care industry.
"Wrapping a stretchable sheet of tiny LEDs around the human body offers interesting opportunities in biomedicine and biotechnology, including applications in health monitoring, diagnostics and imaging," Rogers said.
A research article describing the researchers' work has been published in the journal Science.
Agencies
Sunday, August 23, 2009
$1 salary for Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will receive a base salary of $1 for fiscal 2010, according to a regulatory document filed Friday.
That's a decrease of $999,999 from last year. But Ellison won't exactly be starving. He is the world's fourth wealthiest person, according to Forbes.
And according to Oracle's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison's base pay of $1 million in fiscal 2009 only accounted for 1.2 percent of his total compensation anyway. Ninety-seven percent was in the form of stock.
Still, Ellison's new $1 base pay puts him on the salary pedestal with the likes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
"The compensation committee recognizes that Mr. Ellison has a significant equity interest in Oracle, but believes he should still receive annual compensation because Mr. Ellison plays an active and vital role in our operations, strategy and growth. Nevertheless, during fiscal 2010, Mr. Ellison agreed to decrease his annual salary to $1," Oracle said in the filing.
Oracle's fiscal 2010 began June 1.
Ellison, who is 64, founded Oracle in 1977. According to the SEC filing, he owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle, or 23.4 percent of the company's total stock.
Agencies
That's a decrease of $999,999 from last year. But Ellison won't exactly be starving. He is the world's fourth wealthiest person, according to Forbes.
And according to Oracle's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison's base pay of $1 million in fiscal 2009 only accounted for 1.2 percent of his total compensation anyway. Ninety-seven percent was in the form of stock.
Still, Ellison's new $1 base pay puts him on the salary pedestal with the likes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
"The compensation committee recognizes that Mr. Ellison has a significant equity interest in Oracle, but believes he should still receive annual compensation because Mr. Ellison plays an active and vital role in our operations, strategy and growth. Nevertheless, during fiscal 2010, Mr. Ellison agreed to decrease his annual salary to $1," Oracle said in the filing.
Oracle's fiscal 2010 began June 1.
Ellison, who is 64, founded Oracle in 1977. According to the SEC filing, he owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle, or 23.4 percent of the company's total stock.
Agencies
Is Intel set to acquire two software firms?
Intel has quietly snapped up two software companies in the last 30 days with aim of boosting development of applications that take better advantage of chips with more than one processing core.
In a company blog, the chipmaker indicated the acquisition of Cilk at the end of last month and then Rapidmind earlier this week. Both are small companies that employ under than 50 people. The acquisitions follow the purchase of software company Wind River Systems in June.
"Over the last few years, there has been a gradual emergence of multicore microprocessors. It's put parallelism in more and more machines," James Reinders, chief evangelist and director of marketing and sales at Intel, said in a phone interview Friday, explaining why Intel bought the two firms.
"If you look at traditional applications, ones that we use everyday, it's fair to say that most are not exploiting parallelism--at least not to the full extent," Reinders said.
A multicore processor is defined as any chip with more than one processing core. Today, almost all Intel chips that go into laptops, desktops, and servers have at least two cores. The challenge for Intel is to make sure that applications take advantage of all the cores--so-called parallelism. This has historically presented a challenge for software programmers.
"The operating system does stuff for applications in parallel," Reinders said, referring to operating systems such as Windows. "But considering that we can produce more and more cores every year, to truly get the benefit of what the future holds, applications need to change. And most applications haven't changed," he said.
The goal is to facilitate the development of parallel programming. "How do we help software developers tackle parallel programming? Both companies had teams of experts that had been focused on this problem. So, they're kindred spirits," he said.
Writing about Cilk in a blog, Reinders said Intel sees "great opportunities for Cilk to integrate with our parallel tools...including Intel Parallel Studio." The firm's technology enables "mainstream programmers to develop multithreaded (or parallel) applications...Providing a smooth path to multicore for legacy (older) applications that otherwise cannot easily leverage the performance capabilities of multicore processors," according to Cilk's Web site. Original Cilk research was done at MIT.
Rapidmind was founded five years ago as Serious Hack and grew out of work at the University of Waterloo. It boasts advanced technology for helping software developers with data parallel programming for multicore processors and accelerators.
The cost of the two acquisitions was not disclosed.
CNET.com
In a company blog, the chipmaker indicated the acquisition of Cilk at the end of last month and then Rapidmind earlier this week. Both are small companies that employ under than 50 people. The acquisitions follow the purchase of software company Wind River Systems in June.
"Over the last few years, there has been a gradual emergence of multicore microprocessors. It's put parallelism in more and more machines," James Reinders, chief evangelist and director of marketing and sales at Intel, said in a phone interview Friday, explaining why Intel bought the two firms.
"If you look at traditional applications, ones that we use everyday, it's fair to say that most are not exploiting parallelism--at least not to the full extent," Reinders said.
A multicore processor is defined as any chip with more than one processing core. Today, almost all Intel chips that go into laptops, desktops, and servers have at least two cores. The challenge for Intel is to make sure that applications take advantage of all the cores--so-called parallelism. This has historically presented a challenge for software programmers.
"The operating system does stuff for applications in parallel," Reinders said, referring to operating systems such as Windows. "But considering that we can produce more and more cores every year, to truly get the benefit of what the future holds, applications need to change. And most applications haven't changed," he said.
The goal is to facilitate the development of parallel programming. "How do we help software developers tackle parallel programming? Both companies had teams of experts that had been focused on this problem. So, they're kindred spirits," he said.
Writing about Cilk in a blog, Reinders said Intel sees "great opportunities for Cilk to integrate with our parallel tools...including Intel Parallel Studio." The firm's technology enables "mainstream programmers to develop multithreaded (or parallel) applications...Providing a smooth path to multicore for legacy (older) applications that otherwise cannot easily leverage the performance capabilities of multicore processors," according to Cilk's Web site. Original Cilk research was done at MIT.
Rapidmind was founded five years ago as Serious Hack and grew out of work at the University of Waterloo. It boasts advanced technology for helping software developers with data parallel programming for multicore processors and accelerators.
The cost of the two acquisitions was not disclosed.
CNET.com
Larsen and Toubro to set up commercial banks
The financial services arm of construction and engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is planning to set up a commercial bank as part of its efforts to have a presence in the entire gamut of financial services in the country.
L&T Finance, which already holds 4.69 percent in City Union Bank, said here Thursday that there were related advantages of starting a bank especially to provide services to corporate partners.
Apart from L&T Finance, the group has floated another non-banking finance company (NBFC), L&T Infrastructure Finance, as well as incorporating a general insurance company, L&T General Insurance.
"Our long-term vision is to be present in the entire gamut of financial services including asset management, general and life insurance and bank. Our vision is to be a wholesome financial services player but no time frame has been fixed to achieve that," said Larsen and Toubro's executive vice president for financial services N. Sivaraman.
Various options will be looked at -- going alone, partnering another company or acquisition -- before a decision is taken, Sivaraman told reporters.
However, Larsen and Toubro's first expansion move in the financial services field will be in the general insurance sector through its investment arm L&T Capital Holdings.
"We don't find a need for a foreign partner for funds. For assessment of risks, it is actually based on local experience. A foreign partner brings in expertise in pricing of the risk. We can do that on our own," Sivaraman said.
According to him, though there are talks about the Indian general insurance sector moving towards consolidation, buying out the stakes of existing promoters did not enthuse Larsen and Toubro.
"The foreign promoters of Indian general insurance companies are here for the long run. Further, an existing company may come with a baggage which we do not want."
The non-life insurance company is expected to start business in 2010.
About floating a bank, Sivaraman said: "There are relative advantages of having an NBFC and a bank."
"There are two agendas for holding a stake in a bank. The first one is to have a share in the business. The second is the availability of banking services to our trade partners in opening letters of credit and other banking products."
The lending portfolio of Larsen and Toubro's two NBFCs at the end of last fiscal stood at around Rs.7,500 crore, which is expected to grow this year.
L&T Finance will also raise Rs.1,000 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures for business deployment.
Agencies
L&T Finance, which already holds 4.69 percent in City Union Bank, said here Thursday that there were related advantages of starting a bank especially to provide services to corporate partners.
Apart from L&T Finance, the group has floated another non-banking finance company (NBFC), L&T Infrastructure Finance, as well as incorporating a general insurance company, L&T General Insurance.
"Our long-term vision is to be present in the entire gamut of financial services including asset management, general and life insurance and bank. Our vision is to be a wholesome financial services player but no time frame has been fixed to achieve that," said Larsen and Toubro's executive vice president for financial services N. Sivaraman.
Various options will be looked at -- going alone, partnering another company or acquisition -- before a decision is taken, Sivaraman told reporters.
However, Larsen and Toubro's first expansion move in the financial services field will be in the general insurance sector through its investment arm L&T Capital Holdings.
"We don't find a need for a foreign partner for funds. For assessment of risks, it is actually based on local experience. A foreign partner brings in expertise in pricing of the risk. We can do that on our own," Sivaraman said.
According to him, though there are talks about the Indian general insurance sector moving towards consolidation, buying out the stakes of existing promoters did not enthuse Larsen and Toubro.
"The foreign promoters of Indian general insurance companies are here for the long run. Further, an existing company may come with a baggage which we do not want."
The non-life insurance company is expected to start business in 2010.
About floating a bank, Sivaraman said: "There are relative advantages of having an NBFC and a bank."
"There are two agendas for holding a stake in a bank. The first one is to have a share in the business. The second is the availability of banking services to our trade partners in opening letters of credit and other banking products."
The lending portfolio of Larsen and Toubro's two NBFCs at the end of last fiscal stood at around Rs.7,500 crore, which is expected to grow this year.
L&T Finance will also raise Rs.1,000 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures for business deployment.
Agencies
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Sun-Oracle deal gets OK from US Justice Dept
Business software maker Oracle Corp said it has received the Justice Department's approval to move forward with its $7.4 billion acquisition of former dot-com-era star Sun Microsystems Inc.
The deal still needs to get the go-ahead from the European Commission.
Clearance by the Justice Department had been held up over questions about the licensing of Java, a programming language that Sun invented that now runs on more than 7 billion electronic devices around the world, including cell phones and personal computers.
Sun's shareholders approved the deal in July. Another potential antitrust question could surround Sun's MySQL database, an open-source product. Some worry Oracle could make MySQL a lower priority as it tries to boost sales of its market-leading database software.
Sun's performance had been shaky for nearly a decade before Oracle outbid IBM Corp. for the Santa Clara, California-based company in April. IBM is one of Oracle's biggest database software rivals, and is a major Sun rival in computer servers.
The Sun acquisition will give Oracle more control over the development of Java, a key technology used in its products, and also thrust the Redwood Shores, California-based company into hardware, a new area for Oracle.
The Justice Department's approval was expected. Oracle's stock rose 17 cents to $22.11 in after-hours trading, having finished the regular trading session up 16 cents to close at $21.94.
Agencies
The deal still needs to get the go-ahead from the European Commission.
Clearance by the Justice Department had been held up over questions about the licensing of Java, a programming language that Sun invented that now runs on more than 7 billion electronic devices around the world, including cell phones and personal computers.
Sun's shareholders approved the deal in July. Another potential antitrust question could surround Sun's MySQL database, an open-source product. Some worry Oracle could make MySQL a lower priority as it tries to boost sales of its market-leading database software.
Sun's performance had been shaky for nearly a decade before Oracle outbid IBM Corp. for the Santa Clara, California-based company in April. IBM is one of Oracle's biggest database software rivals, and is a major Sun rival in computer servers.
The Sun acquisition will give Oracle more control over the development of Java, a key technology used in its products, and also thrust the Redwood Shores, California-based company into hardware, a new area for Oracle.
The Justice Department's approval was expected. Oracle's stock rose 17 cents to $22.11 in after-hours trading, having finished the regular trading session up 16 cents to close at $21.94.
Agencies
Why Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo! oppose Google book project?
Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo! are planning to join a coalition of library associations and non-profit groups in opposing Google's ambitious book scanning project, US newspapers reported on Friday.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal said the technology heavyweights have agreed to form what is tentatively being called the Open Book Alliance to challenge Google's class action settlement with authors and publishers.
The settlement, which gives the Internet search and advertising giant the rights to commercialize digital copies of millions of books, is already facing anti-trust scrutiny from the Justice Department and awaiting court approval.
Gary Reback, an anti-trust lawyer in Silicon Valley who is acting as counsel to the Alliance, told the Times the book deal "has enormous, far-reaching anticompetitive consequences that people are just beginning to wake up to."
Reback, who helped persuade the Justice Department to file its anti-trust case against Microsoft in the 1990s, said the group includes the Internet Archive, a San Francisco non-profit which maintains a digital library of websites.
The Times said the group plans to make a case to the Justice Department that the arrangement is anticompetitive.
It said that members of the Alliance were likely to file objections independently with the US District Court in New York which is set to hold a "fairness hearing" on the deal on October 7.
Microsoft and Yahoo! confirmed to the Times that they were participants while Amazon refused to comment.
Peter Brantley, a director of the Internet Archive, said the Special Libraries Association, the New York Library Association and the American Society of Journalists and Authors were planning to join the group.
He told the Journal its membership would be formally disclosed in the next couple
of weeks.
Brantley said members of the coalition all see problems with the settlement and are pushing for revisions, but not all necessarily want to see it blocked.
The Google Book Search project has come under fire from a number of quarters, including from groups worried about privacy.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic of the University of California at Berkeley recently wrote to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt expressing concerns about privacy aspects of the deal.
"Given the long and troubling history of government and third party efforts to compel libraries and booksellers to turn over records about readers, it is essential that Google Books incorporate strong privacy protections in both the architecture and policies of Google Book Search," they said.
Google reached a settlement last year with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers on a copyright infringement lawsuit they filed in 2005 over Google's plan to scan millions of books and put them online.
Under the settlement, Google agreed to establish an independent "Book Rights Registry," which will provide revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitize their books.
Microsoft shut down its own book scanning project in May of last year.
Agencies
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal said the technology heavyweights have agreed to form what is tentatively being called the Open Book Alliance to challenge Google's class action settlement with authors and publishers.
The settlement, which gives the Internet search and advertising giant the rights to commercialize digital copies of millions of books, is already facing anti-trust scrutiny from the Justice Department and awaiting court approval.
Gary Reback, an anti-trust lawyer in Silicon Valley who is acting as counsel to the Alliance, told the Times the book deal "has enormous, far-reaching anticompetitive consequences that people are just beginning to wake up to."
Reback, who helped persuade the Justice Department to file its anti-trust case against Microsoft in the 1990s, said the group includes the Internet Archive, a San Francisco non-profit which maintains a digital library of websites.
The Times said the group plans to make a case to the Justice Department that the arrangement is anticompetitive.
It said that members of the Alliance were likely to file objections independently with the US District Court in New York which is set to hold a "fairness hearing" on the deal on October 7.
Microsoft and Yahoo! confirmed to the Times that they were participants while Amazon refused to comment.
Peter Brantley, a director of the Internet Archive, said the Special Libraries Association, the New York Library Association and the American Society of Journalists and Authors were planning to join the group.
He told the Journal its membership would be formally disclosed in the next couple
of weeks.
Brantley said members of the coalition all see problems with the settlement and are pushing for revisions, but not all necessarily want to see it blocked.
The Google Book Search project has come under fire from a number of quarters, including from groups worried about privacy.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic of the University of California at Berkeley recently wrote to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt expressing concerns about privacy aspects of the deal.
"Given the long and troubling history of government and third party efforts to compel libraries and booksellers to turn over records about readers, it is essential that Google Books incorporate strong privacy protections in both the architecture and policies of Google Book Search," they said.
Google reached a settlement last year with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers on a copyright infringement lawsuit they filed in 2005 over Google's plan to scan millions of books and put them online.
Under the settlement, Google agreed to establish an independent "Book Rights Registry," which will provide revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitize their books.
Microsoft shut down its own book scanning project in May of last year.
Agencies
Friday, August 21, 2009
Will MindTree touch $1 bn revenue by 2014?
Mid-sized software services firm MindTree, which completed 10 years on Tuesday, will come up with newer strategies as it aims to achieve over $1 billion in revenues by March, 2014. The company, which counts steel-maker Arcelor Mittal and Swedish truckmaker Volvo among its top customers, will be focusing on areas like energy, defence and healthcare. The firm is also targeting newer geographies like Japan.
“We are making strategic investment in defence, working along with DRDO and focusing on areas which deal with the surveillance space. There isn’t much revenue contribution right now, but the potential in long run is great” , said S Janakiraman, president and CEO, R&D services and one of the 10 co-founders of MindTree. MindTree is also building video surveillance , analytics solutions and new telemedicine solutions for the burgeoning rural healthcare market. “We recently had a major win from an Apac telecom firm and an European consumer appliance company. The size of the contracts is worth $5-6 million”, he said.
Mr Janakiraman said that MindTree will be the fastest growing company once the recovery happens as they are making more investments for innovations. “The 15% salary cut of 200 employees out of 8,000 will be immediately restored once business picks up”. MindTree has also bagged a contract for IT services from Swift, the financial messaging provider, and has plans to tap energy sector.
“We have put the team in place and are talking to large energy companies in Europe and the US,” said Anjan Lahiri, president and CEO, IT services and one of the co-founders of MindTree.
Agencies
“We are making strategic investment in defence, working along with DRDO and focusing on areas which deal with the surveillance space. There isn’t much revenue contribution right now, but the potential in long run is great” , said S Janakiraman, president and CEO, R&D services and one of the 10 co-founders of MindTree. MindTree is also building video surveillance , analytics solutions and new telemedicine solutions for the burgeoning rural healthcare market. “We recently had a major win from an Apac telecom firm and an European consumer appliance company. The size of the contracts is worth $5-6 million”, he said.
Mr Janakiraman said that MindTree will be the fastest growing company once the recovery happens as they are making more investments for innovations. “The 15% salary cut of 200 employees out of 8,000 will be immediately restored once business picks up”. MindTree has also bagged a contract for IT services from Swift, the financial messaging provider, and has plans to tap energy sector.
“We have put the team in place and are talking to large energy companies in Europe and the US,” said Anjan Lahiri, president and CEO, IT services and one of the co-founders of MindTree.
Agencies
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