Author: Connected World

When a challenge presents itself, researchers and students at universities step up to find a solution. Such was the case at Stanford when wildfire researchers ran into the challenge of deploying sensors to monitor smoke from prescribed burns. Students and researchers began working together to develop customized sensors for controlled fire monitoring and sustainability research. The fact is we will see more states fast track wildfire prevention efforts. California is one such state. These efforts could include more controlled burns, but the agencies need better data to understand how these controlled burns impact air quality. As the threat of wildfires…

#Factoftheweek Cellular POS (point-of-sale) terminals. NFC-ready POS terminals. mPOS terminals. Let’s review. Wireless technology has a very big role in electronic payments. It helps bring POS terminals to many markets where fixed line telecommunications infrastructure is not available. In 2024, the installed base of cellular POS terminals reached 164.8 million. By 2028, it will surpass 229 million. That is a growth rate of roughly 8.6%. In contrast, let’s consider the global installed base of NFC-ready POS terminals. In 2024, this was 284.8 million units. In 2028, it will be 380 million units. This is a growth rate of roughly 7.5%.…

For decades, AI (artificial intelligence) has offered the promise of new opportunities, but now with LLMs (large language models) we have an opportunity to take AI to the next level. Stanford University suggests chatbots are now turning into action bots—but the challenge persists: if systems are trained with unknown or bad data, will it still be helpful? Researchers at Stanford aim to address this challenge, having developed NNetNav, which is an AI agent that learns through its interactions with websites, which is open source and uses fewer parameters. Professor Chris Manning says NNetNav could become a lighter weight, faster, privacy-preserving…

#Factoftheweek 18% We are seeing the rise of video telematics, which is the integration of cameras to enable various video-based solutions in commercial vehicles. Let’s review the numbers of the installed base of active video telematics systems. North America 2024: 6.1 million units 2029: 13.8 million units Growth rate: 18% Europe 2024: 1.6 million units 2029: 3.3 million units Growth rate: 15.2% Video telematics can help in a number of different ways. It can track data to optimize routes, improve operations, and reduce costs with fuel or maintenance, ultimately improving efficiency for businesses. Video telematics can also investigate speeding, distracted…

#Factoftheweek $655.9 billion Semiconductor revenue soared to $655.9 billion in 2024, according to Gartner, which is up 21% from $542.1 billion in 2023. Gartner attributes this to the large demand for AI infrastructure buildout and an increase in memory revenue. This spells opportunities for business in the days ahead. As we build out AI infrastructure, businesses will have new ways to improve business processes. The dollars to build our AI infrastructure are at record numbers. What are your thoughts? With all the economic indicators, will we continue to see double digit growth in the days ahead? How long before we…

New university research is set to completely transform deep brain stimulation, enabling doctors to move away from manual adjustments and to automatic adjustments based on the patient’s symptoms using new technologies. First approved in 1998, deep brain stimulation is the placement of electrodes in the brain connected to a battery-operated generator in the chest. A small impulse of electricity moves from the generator to the electrodes to stimulate a specific area of the brain, relieving some symptoms and side effects for those with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, epilepsy, and tremors. It is similar to a cardiac pacemaker. The challenge is in…

Carnegie Mellon University—also known as CMU—has brought AI (artificial intelligence) to the forefront in many arenas. Now we see the university is partnering with Google Public Sector for large-scale computing, acquiring a large cloud-based GPU cluster. Google Public Sector is providing support for onboarding workloads and optimizing resources, ensuring CMU researchers can leverage its advanced GPU infrastructure. This partnership also brings Google’s presence in Pittsburgh and establishes the city as a growing tech hub in the East, all while bringing an important focus for the nation’s future talent pipeline. Here is how this can help: Expand high-performance computing capacity. Tackle…

#Factoftheweek 20-30% This is the anticipated price drop for orthopedic robotic systems. Why? Market competition, technological innovation, and economies of scale are all driving down the price. Additionally, regulatory support and insurer reimbursement for proven outcomes will also accelerate affordability, according to GlobalData. The average cost of an orthopedic robotic system varies from $554,000 to more than $1 million. Annual service costs are around 10% of the system. But now, mass adoption will lower manufacturing costs. At the same time, subscription-based pricing models could replace upfront fees. Still, challenges remain including surgeon training costs and persistent software upgrades. Ultimately, the…

In many industries, AI (artificial intelligence) can help improve business processes, resulting in a high ROI (return on investment). Consider the example of agriculture and animal science. Purdue University recently conducted research that shows how AI and other technology can help with fertility analysis. Researchers conducted a 400-sow study in 2024—and the results found technology can help improve sow insemination protocols. Here is how this can help in animal sciences: Require 40% semen doses, 45% reduction in boar heat tests, and 20% reduction in boar exposure days. A 24% reduction in overall system labor. A 1.6 return on investment for…

#Factoftheweek 15-fold growth. The opportunities are endless with AI (artificial intelligence), but only if the technology can handle the workload, right? This is still a challenge, especially as the amount of data continues to grow exponentially. Have you hit that memory wall? Parallel-computer architectures, such as those deployed for modern high-performance computing and artificial-intelligence workloads, often encounter memory bottlenecks that limit performance. IDTechEx says this has stemmed from the advances in processor performance outpacing developments in memory performance. Enter high-bandwidth memory. HBM is a 3D structure of vertically stacked DRAM dies on top of a logic die and relies on…