Cover Story
3D Displays: Third Time’s a Charm
3D Images Spread from Movie Theaters to Street Corners, Games, and Home Appliances
Part 1: Trends
3D Movies on Fire; Even Signs of Standardization in Home Appliances
The number of Hollywood movies and displays featuring 3D images is increasing rapidly. In Japan, a broadcasting service has started that shows 3D images on dedicated TV sets.There were temporary 3D image booms in the past, but this time seems different. The movie industry, a giant content provider, is powerfully driving the shift of movie theaters and home appliances to 3D images. Will the third time be a charm? We report on the latest situation surrounding 3D images.
Part 2: Technology Development
In Pursuit of More Natural 3D Images, Holography Makes Progress
Synchronously with advances in the development of new applications such as 3D movies and digital signage, the development of 3D displays is also picking up speed. From the goggle method to holography, considered the ultimate in 3D imaging, competition is intensifying leading to the development ofa variety of technologies.In the near future, 3D-compatible products, from cell phones to portable game machines and TVs, may become commonplace in the market.
Part 3: New Applications
Touchable 3D Images Developing into New Media
It would be a shame to stop at just viewing 3D images. In the future, it will become possible to touch and carry them, and even interact with them.You will be able to do things that were not possible with 2D images. For example, you will be able to go inside an image to meet the person with whom you are communicating or have that person come over to see you. A new media will also emerge that will project a different 3D image each time you turn the page. New 3D technologies will narrow the gap between images and reality, and open up entirely new ways of utilizing images.
Special Feature
Analyzing All 8 Models in the 906i Series: The Latest in All-Round Cellphones
We analyzed all 8 models in the FOMA 906i Series.Manufacturers are working on integrating antennas and reducing the handset thickness, while incorporating many functions that support such technologies as One-Seg, FeliCa, GSM, HSDPA, and GPS. Our analysis made it clear that achieving multi-functionality and thin product profile simultaneously is making noise countermeasures more difficult to implement than before. We report the results of our analysis of each manufacturer’s products, focusing on multi-functionality, thin product profile, and noise countermeasures.
Next-Generation Processors Entering the Many-Core Era
Latest Trends in Hot Chips and IDF
Hot Chips, which recently held its 20th session, is an important academic symposium that foretells the trends in microprocessors.A number of the presentations were related to many-core technologies. Meanwhile, the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), held by Intel Corp, the largest microprocessor company in the world, also has a major impact on the future direction of devices.We discuss the direction in which microprocessors are headed, based on what we learned at Hot Chips 20.
Guest Paper
Auditory Sensor Capable of Simultaneously Interpreting Multiple Human Voices
Though developed a long time ago, voice recognition systems are not being used in many places. One reason is the significant drop in recognition rate that occurs when noise or other people's voices are present. KyotoUniversity's Prof. Okuno and his team have been researching a method to stabilize the recognition rate by separating and extracting certain human voices or music out of an acoustic environment where a variety of sounds exist. The resulting auditory system, "HARK," was developed jointly with a Honda affiliate and has been experimentally installed in Honda's ASIMO robot.We askedProf. Okuno to describe the HARK system, including its development history and application examples.
Documentary
New Challenge: MySpace Develops Web Site for Its Rapid Advancement Era
Can-do Spirit Leading to Explosion in the Number of Users
NE Tutorial
Introduction to CMOS RF Circuitry Design(Final): Integrating RF Circuits into Chips and Designing Low-IF Type Receivers
The last eight installments explained the optimum method for designing element circuits for use in CMOS RF circuits. This is the last in the series and discusses in detail how to design a low-IF receiver chip for the 2.4 GHz band. Additionally, it shows specific examples of the latest CMOS RF chips presented in technical papers at the ISSCC 2008.
Technology Trends in Switching Power Supplies for Flat-Panel TVs (Final): Using High-Frequency Switching and Thinner Transformers to Make Thinner Power Supplies
Thickness reduction, especially in LCD TVs, has been accelerating, as a result increasing the need for reducing the thickness of the power supply modules to be installed in TVs.This last article in the series discusses the efforts being made to further reduce the thickness of power supply modules, including the high-frequency switching technology, the thin transformer technology, and a prototype 5.2-mm ultra-thin module.
Academy
Session 7: DMA for Reducing Data Transfer to / from Devices
Keyword
Compact Fluorescent Lamp
Key Person
From Taiwan: Entering the Vietnamese and Indian Markets in a Hurry to
Strategically Complement Chinese Base
NE Interview
Google, Inc., Senior Vice President, Engineering, Alan Eustace:
Cloud Computing Ushers in New Age of Computing
World Seport
From Vietnam: Not Simply a Manufacturing Base: Young Generations Keyed into Internet and Cell Phones
News
- Google’s Chrome: The Real Objective is to Create an OS
- Mitsubishi Electric Begins Large-Scale Recycling of Mixed Plastics
- Sharp Establishes LED Illumination Business, Emphasizing High Efficiency
- Matsushita Electric Industrial Introduces Model Driven Development (MDD)
