Pantech Vega LTE smartphone works by wave of the hand

A smartphone that can be controlled touch-free with a wave of the hand in the air is due for the Korean market this month. South Korean mobile phone manufacturers Pantech yesterday announced the launch of a high end smartphone with gesture-recognition technology developed by eyeSight Mobile Technologies. Video demos circulating over the Internet suggest the new smartphone will not only be seen by gadget-hungry buyers as cool but by many phone users as useful.

The phone might be especially convenient in situations where hands are on steering wheels, in a mixing bowl, or covered with gloves that are difficult to remove in time to handle a phone call.

The new entrant is called the Pantech Vega LTE. Reports describe this Android smartphone

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How to interface MAX232 with 8051 micrcontrollers?

To receive data from i.e. a PC, you need a level converter, like a MAX232, or use standard components and make your own level converter (diagrams can be found via Google). A level converter is needed because the COMmunication port of a PC switches the data between approx. -9.23 to 9.23 Volt (I measured these levels, can vari a bit from PC to PC), -9.23 Volt corresponds with a logical '0' (lo), 9.23 Volt corresponds with a logical '1' (hi), both on TTL level of 5 Volt, so can be connected directly to the i/o's of an AVR. The MAX232 can convert at a maximum speed of 120kbit/sec. Here a very simple diagram of an RS232 converter (receive data only):

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How to interface 7-Segment Display with 8051 micrcontrollers?

The 7 segment display is found in many displays such as microwaves or fancy toaster ovens and occasionally in non cooking devices. It is just 7 LEDs that have been combined into one case to make a convenient device for displaying numbers and some letters. The display is shown on the left. The pin out of the display is on the right.

This version is a common anode version. That means that the positive leg of each LED is connected to a common point which is pin 3 in this case. Each LED has a negative leg that is connected to one of the pins of the device. To make it work you need to connect pin 3 to 5

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How to interface Keypad with 8051 micrcontrollers?

keyboards are organized in a matrix of rows and columns. The CPU accesses both rows and column through ports; therefore, with two 8-bit ports, an 8*8 matrix of keys can be connected to a microcontroller. When a key pressed, a row and column make a connect; otherwise, there is no connection between row and column. In IBM PC keyboards, a single microcontroller (consisting of microprocessor, RAM and EPROM, and several ports all on a single chip) takes care of software and hardware interfacing of keyboard. In such systems it is the function of programs stored in the EPROM of microcontroller to scan the keys continuously, identify which one has been activated, and present it to the motherboard. In this section

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How to interface LCD with 8051 micrcontrollers?

There is a simple technique to display characters from both the internal character generator and user designed characters on an LCD character module.The controlling microcontroller is a AT 89C52. The LCD module is connected to the microcontroller through its I/O ports. The process of displaying character to this module is divided into three steps. First the module must be initialized. This sets up the built-in LCD controller chip. Second, some user designed characters are uploaded to the CGRAM. This allows the displaying of up to 8 custom characters in addition to the 192 character permanently stored in the module. Lastly, a message consisting of a mix of standard ASCII characters and custom designed characters is displayed on the module.

The LCD

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Transistors are made from natural cotton fibers

Smarter, more functional clothing incorporating electronics may be possible in the near future, according to a study co-authored by Cornell fiber scientist Juan Hinestroza.

Hinestroza, associate professor of fiber science, was part of an international team that developed transistors using natural cotton fibers.

"Creating transistors from cotton fibers brings a new perspective to the seamless integration of electronics and textiles, enabling the creation of wearable electronic devices," Hinestroza said.

The innovation represents a significant step forward because it lays the groundwork for creating even more complex devices, such as cotton-based circuits, Hinestroza said. This would allow fabrics to sense body temperature, automatically heat up or cool down, or track heart rate or blood pressure in high-risk patients, as well as to monitor physical

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Brain imaging study: A step toward true 'dream reading'

When people dream that they are performing a particular action, a portion of the brain involved in the planning and execution of movement lights up with activity. The finding, made by scanning the brains of lucid dreamers while they slept, offers a glimpse into the non-waking consciousness and is a first step toward true "dream reading," according to a report published online in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 27.

"Dreaming is not just looking at a dream movie," said Martin Dresler of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry. "Brain regions representing specific body motions are activated."

Lucid dreamers are aware that they are dreaming and can deliberately control their actions in dreams. The researchers realized that this learned skill presents

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