Empowering Our Digital Sixth Sense with Google Glass, Augmented Reality and Wearable Health Gadgets

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">We all know about our five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. Many people believe we also have a kinesthetic sense, which is what some folks believe is a sort of spiritual sense — for instance, when they perceive another person is in a room with them even though the other person is behind them and hasn’t made a sound. It’s as though they sensed them unconsciously. Personally, I seem to have another type of sense that I don’t know what to call, but it relates to anticipating things just before they happen; a lot of my experiences with this have been unsettling at times.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">These extra senses are difficult to qualify and in many cases even hard to explain, but we are about to enter an era where a digital sixth sense will become a reality. Not only can this sixth sense be qualified, but it can be repeated as needed.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">One of the more basic examples of a digital sixth sense comes from the many new wearable health monitors popping up these days: products like the Nike Fuel, Jawbone UP and Fitbit, to name just a few. For the past eight months I have been wearing the Nike Fuel on my wrist, a Fitbit clipped to my belt and a watch that can give me a pulse readout on demand.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">I have to admit that monitoring my health in any way was foreign to me until I had a triple bypass last June. Let’s just say that this was a serious wake-up call that got me more interested in my health on a lot of levels. Part of my recovery process included walking, simple weightlifting and various movements to get my heart health back and to help my body recover from this very invasive surgery.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Luckily, these digital health monitoring tools had just come onto the market and my wife and son made sure I had at least two of them to help monitor myself and motivate me to move. In every sense of the word, these became a digital sixth sense, as they told me things I could not see or understand without them. I especially used them to monitor sleep patterns, steps walked and pulse rate, which became critical since some of my medications brought my pulse to under 50 beats per minute, a level only fine-tuned athletes achieve when in peak condition. In fact, this info alone had a major effect on my doctor’s decision to modify some of my heart medications at the time.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><strong>Google Glass</strong></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Another technology that will deliver a digital sixth sense is <a href="http://techland.time.com/tag/google-glass" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google Glass</a>. While the jury is still out about whether this exact product will be successful, make no mistake: this product concept will eventually become a mainstream tool and enable us to “sense” or get all types of information that is put in front of us in forms of enhanced content. These types of glasses will put digital information into our sight lines and let users get all types of content on demand such as news, sports, maps and directions in real time.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Using voice commands, you can search for info about what you see in front of you as well as snap pictures or take videos. In <a href="http://techland.time.com/2013/03/25/a-killer-app-for-google-glasses" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a piece I wrote here a few weeks back</a>, I even shared what I thought a killer app could be for Google Glass. I am a world traveler and have to deal with multiple languages while overseas. I would want Google Glasses or something similar to be connected to a language translator, and when I see a sign in the local language, it would instantly translate what the sign says for me. Various apps such as Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are being written for Google Glass and with these, you can get direct access quickly to feedback from the people you’re connected to on your social networks. It is pretty clear that something like Google Glass could deliver a lot of digital sixth sense content that in today’s world is hidden in a device in your pocket or purse and can not be viewed the same way it can when delivered to you via something like Goggle Glass.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Here is <a href="http://www.techradar.com/us/news/video/google-glass-what-you-need-to-know-1078114" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a link to some other uses for Google Glass</a> to give you more ideas of how this type of product can deliver sixth sense content.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><strong>Augmented Reality</strong></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Perhaps the most interesting digital sixth sense technology may come from augmented reality programs. In a way, it’s similar to using Google Glass in the sense that you can get info overlaid on top of what you’re seeing, but it goes way beyond that. And in a lot of cases, your smartphone or tablet may be better platforms for delivering augmented reality sixth sense experiences.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">What is augmented reality? Last October, <a href="http://techland.time.com/2012/10/22/with-zappar-augmented-reality-is-ready-for-prime-time/" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">I wrote a column here explaining this new technology</a> that’s coming on the scene now.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Here is what I wrote at that time to explain it:</div><blockquote style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 40px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The first time I saw it in action was when the folks at Verizon had partnered with a U.S. company working on AR. They showed me a magazine ad for a boot. When I activated the AR app on a smartphone and pointed it at the boot ad in the magazine, I could virtually lift the boot off the page and turn it 360 degrees or look at its bottom sole to get a sense of what that boot would look like in person.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But the folks from Zappar take this idea to new levels. One demo they showed me was of a Roald Dahl’s children’s book that was Zappar-enabled. When you point your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet at a page in the book when using the Zappar viewing app, animated characters from the story pop onto the screen of the mobile device to “augment” the story line and experience. Or you can point it at a page that has black and white photos and the app colors them in. Or you can even have the app read the entire page aloud in a storyteller’s voice.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Zappar has been a big hit with Hollywood studios, too. The company recently AR’d movie posters and ad pages for Dreamwork’s dancing penguins feature <em>Happy Feet Two</em>. When the mobile app is pointed at the poster or ad in a magazine, the lead penguin dances a jig. What’s also cool is that you can keep the picture of the lead penguin on your screen and then point it at any kind of setting to virtually put the penguin in that setting. For example, Casper showed me the penguin in front of Big Ben as well as the Houses of Parliament.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The technology can even be used to put games on top of a picture. One example is putting the Zappar reader in the jewel case cover of a PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo game and when you point your mobile device at the picture on the jewel case cover, a representation of the game pops up that can be played on your smartphone or tablet. The same can be done as an ad for a video game in any magazine — a game pops up related to the ad and can be played on the spot.</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Another interesting example is a mug with an AR code on the side, and when you point an iPad or iPhone at it using an AR app created by the AR23D Agency in cooperation with Paladone — a leading designer and developer of souvenirs in the UK — you can play basketball with a virtual net that pops up on the side of the mug. It is worth the time to look at this short YouTube video since it will help you understand in a more visual way what augmented reality really is and why I think of this as a digital sixth sense technology:</div><span class="embed-youtube" style="display: block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 1318.5px; padding-top: 30px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><iframe class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="454" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1sqaLdAiCH8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent" style="height: 1348.5px; left: 0px; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 2344px;" type="text/html" width="753"></iframe></span><br /><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">We are in the early stages of digital sixth sense development, but from the examples I have shared above and with some of the things I have seen in the labs that are being created to enhance our digital experiences, I am certain that all of us will soon be able to tap into digital technology in ways that will allow us to embrace our digital sixth sense.</div></div>

Empowering Our Digital Sixth Sense with Google Glass, Augmented Reality and Wearable Health Gadgets

We all know about our five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. Many people believe we also have a kinesthetic sense, which is wh...

Read more »

Make a $125 laptop using a Raspberry Pi and Motorola Atrix dock

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="contL" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 620px;"><div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><div class="CL" style="clear: both; font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div></div><div class="MT15 b_14" id="cont" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 15px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tbody style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td class="b_14l" style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://tech2.in.com/features/general/how-raspberry-pi-and-your-mobile-device-makes-for-a-delicious-dish/870430" style="color: #0099cc; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dropc" style="float: left; font-family: arial; font-size: 58px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 51px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 3px 2px 0px;">T</span>he Raspberry Pi microcomputer </strong></a>has seen a great deal of use by hardware hackers to kickstart all sorts of creative projects. The microcomputer, which is priced in the range of $25 (Rs 1,300) and $35 (Rs 1,900), is now being used to make a Raspberry Pi-powered laptop. The brain child of developer Eric Chou, the system basically does this by tying in to a Motorola Atrix laptop dock, according to a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/27/pi-laptop/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0099cc; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">report by Techcrunch.</strong></a> <br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" />While the smartphone that the dock was intended for has been discontinued, Adafruit Industry, one of the companies that are making low-cost solutions around the Raspberry Pi, point out in its “<em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">how to</em>” video that the laptop dock can still be picked up through various online outlets. Its Micro USB and Micro HDMI jacks give a clean, pretty straightforward method to make a Pi into a laptop. The video has clear instructions on which connectors to get and how to put them together to plug in the Pi and get the DIY laptop working.</div><div style="outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="337" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yZkz_a52I6s" style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="660"></iframe><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The low-cost platform, according to Chou, who did the costing, will set people back around $125 (Rs 6,900 approx). The developer has also included an optional AirLink Wi-Fi module. The costing also included the cost of the Pi itself. The costing makes this platform cheaper than the build costs for <a href="http://laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/index.shtml" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0099cc; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">XO "One laptop per child"</strong></a>, which cost around $200 (Rs 11,000 approx) to make. <br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" />This kind of a platform will be a lot more accessible to individuals and small groups, because the XO has to be ordered by the thousand and the scale generally restricts it to government-backed mass education projects. But with the Pi-powered DIY, as long as users are willing to do some hacking, it is possible for much smaller batches of low-cost laptops to be put together and then put to work in the areas where they are the most needed.</div><div style="outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">The potential in developing countries for the Raspberry Pi is immense. While the Pi has already seen some use while powering a school computing lab in rural Cameroon, thanks to efforts that were reported by a Belgian volunteer project, the surface has only been scratched so far. While the Raspberry Pi is a good fixed-location learning solution, with a device like the Atrix dock, the portability of the platform can definitely be extended. This in turn will extend the usefulness of the device.</div><div class="MT10 brd_b CTR" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(232, 232, 232); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="The Rasberry Pi can now be used to make a low-cost lpatop using an Atrix dock (image credt: techcrunch)" height="348" src="http://im.tech2.in.com/gallery/2013/may/rasppi_laptop_2_271930534492_640x360.jpg" style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="620" /></div><div class="FL imgtxt" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #666666; float: left; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 3px 10px;">The Raspberry Pi can now be used to make a low-cost laptop using an Atrix dock (image credt: techcrunch)</div><div class="CL" style="clear: both; font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">From what the developer has to say, a Pi-powered laptop need not be limited to a classroom location either. The Atrix dock also contains a battery, ensuring that even without electricity at home, the laptop can offer some hours of use. According to reports, the not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation created the Pi in the hope of getting more U.K. kids learning to code. However, the foundation is also keen to find ways to get more Pis out to developing countries this year, where the need for a low-cost computing solution is even greater.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div>

Make a $125 laptop using a Raspberry Pi and Motorola Atrix dock

T he Raspberry Pi microcomputer  has seen a great deal of use by hardware hackers to kickstart all sorts of creative projects. The microcomp...

Read more »

Microsoft unveils two new mice for Windows 8 users

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Microsoft is attempting to cater to Windows 8 users that don’t have a touchscreen with the <a href="http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2013/05/23/announcing-sculpt-comfort-mouse-amp-mobile-mouse.aspx" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">announcement</a> of two new pointing devices, the Sculpt Comfort Mouse and the Sculpt Mobile Mouse. Redmond is taking a unique approach by placing a Windows key on each mouse. It seems a bit odd at first considering this key is traditionally part of the keyboard but when you factor in the importance it has in Windows 8, it isn’t quite as shocking.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-05-23-image-6.jpg" style="max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The Bluetooth-enabled Sculpt Comfort positions the Windows button on the left side for easy thumb access. But Microsoft took it one step further by making the button touch sensitive as well. As such, users can swipe up to toggle open apps and swipe down to launch the multitasking menu. There’s even haptic feedback built in that gives you a physical confirmation that a command was registered although this function is completely optional.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Other than the Windows key, the Sculpt Comfort doesn’t bring any other innovation or creature comforts to the table. In fact, The Verge <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/23/4348396/microsoft-sculpt-comfort-and-mobile-mouse-announced-with-a-windows-key" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">described</a> it as a standard, inexpensive and plasticy mouse. It’ll be priced at $39.95 when it becomes available next month.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-05-23-image-7.jpg" style="max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The Sculpt Mobile Mouse is much like other mobile mice from Microsoft except there’s a Windows key directly behind the scroll wheel. The pointer uses a USB dongle for connectivity rather than Bluetooth so you’ll lose a USB port when using it. That’s probably not a huge deal as you’re more likely to use this portable pointer while traveling with your notebook instead of with a desktop machine.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">It will retail for $29.95 and should be available alongside the Sculpt Comfort next month.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/52682-microsoft-unveils-two-new-mice-for-windows-8-users.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

Microsoft unveils two new mice for Windows 8 users

Microsoft is attempting to cater to Windows 8 users that don’t have a touchscreen with the  announcement  of two new pointing devices, the S...

Read more »

HP Envy/Pavilion revamp, more touchscreens, 3200x1800 LCD, 20" tablet

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">With the advent of another school year on the way, HP is revamping its consumer laptop line-up. Engadget <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/hp-refreshes-laptops-for-back-to-school/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">takes a detailed look with some hands-on photos</a> of HP's rejiggered notebook families. Amongst the changes are a broad adoption of Intel's Haswell platform, a higher proliferation of touchscreens, more aggressive pricing and a high-PPI (3200 x 1800) LCD option for its highest-end Ultrabook offering. According to HP, its new models are slated to launch between June 5 and July 1.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img alt="" src="http://www.techspot.com/fileshost/newspics3/2013/envy%20touchpad.jpg" style="max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">In addition to laptops, HP will also be rolling out some new all-in-one PCs. The most interesting may be its ENVY Rove20 -- <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/23/4357512/hp-envy-rove-20-is-the-companys-stab-at-a-giant-all-in-one-windows-8" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a gigantic Windows 8 tablet</a> that also serves as a full-on desktop system.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">For portables, the DM1 will be the smallest laptop model to feel HP's refresh love; the miniscule notebook will become the Pavilion 11 TouchSmart. The newly designed 11-inch laptop will feature a multi-touch screen and an AMD A4 for just $399 -- a favorable price for its features, to be sure. The laptop will include both a VGA and HDMI output, an aluminum palm rest, 3 x USB ports, a network jack and a 1366 x 786 display. For consumers needing more speed, there will also be an AMD A6 option as well.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">A larger Pavilion 14 TouchSmart "Sleekbook" will also make an appearance as well as standard 14-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch Pavilion models geared mostly toward the common denominator of consumers.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">HP is also making changes to its Envy line-up, including a new dv7-replacing HP Envy 17 -- an aluminum 17.3-inch laptop which is likely to contain an upper mid-range to high-end GPU, although HP has not yet announced it. Other features include 4.1 Beats Audio speaker system, up to 2TB of storage (i.e. 2 x internal drives) and a 1080p screen. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">If you're looking for something smaller but higher-end, either the HP Envy TouchSmart 14 Ultrabook or Envy TouchSmart 15 may fit the bill. The 14-inch Ultrabook will debut with an option of a 1600 x 900 resolution display (3200 x 1800 is another rumored possibility). Meanwhile, its larger 15-inch brother will essentially replace the dv6 while also boasting a premium 4.1 speaker sound system and a 1080p screen.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img alt="" src="http://www.techspot.com/fileshost/newspics3/2013/envy%20beats%20keyboard.jpg" style="max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Known pricing and availability is as follows:</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Laptops:</div><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><li style="outline: none;">HP Pavilion 11 TouchSmart Notebook will be available June 26, 2013 @ $399 and up</li><li style="outline: none;">HP Pavilion 14 TouchSmart Sleekbook will be available June 26 @ $479.99 and up</li><li style="outline: none;">HP Envy TouchSmart 14 Ultrabook with availability TBD @ $699 and up</li><li style="outline: none;">HP Envy TouchSmart 15 will be available June 5 @ $529 and up</li><li style="outline: none;">HP Envy 17 will be available June 5 @ $699 and up</li></ul><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">All-in-one PCs:</div><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><li style="outline: none;">HP Pavilion 20 TouchSmart All-in-One PC will be available on June 26 @ $619.99 and up</li><li style="outline: none;">HP Pavilion 23 TouchSmart All-in-One PC will be available on June 5 @ $749.99 and up</li><li style="outline: none;">HP ENVY Rove20 will be available in July with pricing to be determined</li></ul><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Printers:</div><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><li style="outline: none;">HP ENVY 4500 e-All-in-One will be available June 17 @ $99 and up</li><li style="outline: none;">HP ENVY 5530 e-All-in-One will be available July 1 @ $129 and up</li></ul><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/52680-hp-envy-pavilion-revamp-more-touchscreens-3200x1800-lcd-20-tablet.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></span></span></div>

HP Envy/Pavilion revamp, more touchscreens, 3200x1800 LCD, 20" tablet

With the advent of another school year on the way, HP is revamping its consumer laptop line-up. Engadget  takes a detailed look with some ha...

Read more »

Google visits the Galapagos Islands to capture Street View imagery

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Google’s iconic Street View cameras recently <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/capturing-beauty-and-wonder-of.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">visited</a> Ecuador's Galapagos Islands and soon enough, you’ll be able to explore the some of the region’s most remote locations without leaving your house. The search giant deployed multiple camera-toting hikers to the Galapagos during a 10-day stint in an effort to better understand how invasive species, climate change and tourism affect the ecosystem.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Each hiker was equipped with what Google calls a “trekker” – a 42-pound backpack containing specialized computer and camera equipment. On top of the pack is a soccer ball-like orb that contains 15 cameras designed to capture panoramic views of its surroundings.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-05-23-image-11.jpg" style="max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Project leader Raleigh Seamster said they hiked over trails and even down the crater of an active volcano. Because the Galapagos consists of multiple islands, much of the life is under the surface of the water. That’s alright though as Google teamed up with crews from The Catlin Seaview Survey to bring Street View underwater. The team was able to capture sea lions, sharks and other marine animals in their natural habitat, Seamster said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-05-23-image-12.jpg" style="max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Google’s iconic Street View is no stranger to some of the most beautiful and remote locations on the planet. Earlier this year the team traversed some of the most impressive <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/52002-google-takes-street-view-to-new-heights-quite-literally.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">mountain ranges</a> in the world and shared imagery from the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/52089-google-shares-street-view-imagery-from-fukushima-disaster-area.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Fukushima disaster area</a> in Japan. Last year Street View traveled to the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/49449-explore-the-antarctic-with-google-maps-and-street-view.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Antarctic</a> and in 2011 the company took Street View indoors with <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/46060-google-takes-street-view-indoors-with-business-photos.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Business Photos</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Google is in the process of combing through all of the imagery and stitching it together. With any luck, it will be posted to Street View sometime later this year.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/52683-google-visits-the-galapagos-islands-to-capture-street-view-imagery.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

Google visits the Galapagos Islands to capture Street View imagery

Google’s iconic Street View cameras recently  visited  Ecuador's Galapagos Islands and soon enough, you’ll be able to explore the some o...

Read more »

Mozilla brings near-native application performance to the web with asm.js

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; outline: none;"><img alt="mozilla, javascript, web apps, asm." src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/thumbs/2013-05-23-teasercc7.jpg" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Mozilla has developed a version of JavaScript called asm.js that they claim will offer performance near that of native code, which will allow a web browser to run almost any application, <a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/05/native-level-performance-on-the-web-a-brief-examination-of-asm-js/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reports Ars Technica</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Historically, JavaScript has been inefficient when compared to languages like C and C++, which offer high performance after a program is compiled, but limit flexibility because classes cannot be changed thereafter. Conversely, JavaScript is a just-in-time (JIT) compilation language that gets compiled more or less on the fly by the CPU, which allows for much greater application flexibility, but generally lower performance. Fundamentally, JavaScript isn’t designed for high performance optimization.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Alternatives to JavaScript have cropped up in recent years, such as <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/45795-google-releases-dart-programming-language-takes-aim-at-javascript.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Google’s Dart</a>, which avoid some of the pitfalls of JavaScript while enhancing performance. But, due to the popularity and ubiquity of JavaScript, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. So, Mozilla set out to do something about these inherent performance limitations via asm.js.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://asmjs.org/spec/latest/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">asm.js</a> is a derivative of JavaScript, containing a pared down and very limited subset of the language. For example, Mozilla removed JavaScript’s object-oriented constructs, which consequently removes many of JavaScript’s dynamic features that are difficult to optimize. Object-oriented functionalities such as objects and classes are not completely eliminated when using asm.js, but “they must be implemented and used by asm.js programs in the same way that C++ compilers implement and use them,” explains Ars’s Peter Bright.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-05-23-image-14.jpg" style="max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">So what does all of this mean for the future of the web? Presently, it’s often necessary for software developers to code and compile applications for specific platforms, as browsers are simply incapable of running them. This further decreases the flexibility of applications by limiting them to one operating system, or requiring the developer to write and compile the software for multiple systems, which greatly increases overhead. One alternative is to use a language like Java, which is platform independent, but still requires installation of a local runtime environment.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">With the advent of asm.js, large-scale and robust applications may be able to operate efficiently enough to run from within a browser, offering platform independence, and extremely flexible software deployment.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/52684-mozilla-brings-near-native-application-performance-to-the-web-with-asmjs.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

Mozilla brings near-native application performance to the web with asm.js

Mozilla has developed a version of JavaScript called asm.js that they claim will offer performance near that of native code, which will allo...

Read more »

OCZ Vertex 450 SSD Review

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="OCZ Vertex 450 SSD Review" height="289" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/673/images/ocz-vertex-450-review.jpg" width="640" /><br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">After OCZ's <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/42815-ocz-goes-all-in-with-ssds-acquires-indilinx.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">acquisition of Indilinx</a> in 2011, the company has been slowly moving towards having a unique range of SSDs using their own controllers. Late last year we checked out <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/609-ocz-vector-ssd/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">OCZ Vector</a>, the first drive entirely developed in-house by OCZ based on the Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller, and surely it didn't dissapoint.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Prior to the release of the Vector, OCZ relied on third-party controllers from SandForce, Marvell and Indilinx itself. With careful work on the drives' firmware, they were still able to market their drives well against competitors, but ultimately found themselves at somewhat of a disadvantage versus behemoths Intel and Samsung.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Nevertheless the wait to see what the collaboration between OCZ and Indilinx might yield was worth it once the Vector arrived. Unlike almost all <a href="http://www.techspot.com/reviews-storage.shtml#SSD" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">SSDs</a> that we have reviewed over the years, the Vector's performance was consistently strong. This was made more impressive considering it was going up against the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/578-samsung-840-pro-ssd/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Samsung SSD 840 Pro</a> which to this day is one of the fastest, if not the fastest SSD available.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The Vector managed to hold its own and although it didn’t beat the SSD 840 Pro in any of our copy tests, it was never far behind.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/673/images/Image_03S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The battle between the Vector and the SSD 840 Pro has been closely contested ever since, though when push comes to shove OCZ could be on the losing end. As it stands today the SSD 840 Pro series is slightly cheaper and slightly faster, therefore it makes sense that OCZ are releasing a second SSD series based on a slightly modified version of the Barefoot 3 controller that is designed to be more cost effective.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Known as the Vector 450 this new SSD uses the ‘Barefoot 3 M10’ controller which features a power-optimized clock generator and runs at a slightly lower clock speed, which helps to improve yields and thus drives costs down. Additionally this modified controller supports 20nm lithography NANA and AES-256 encryption.</div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #05408f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">OCZ Vertex 450 SSD</h2><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The Vertex 450 is still aimed at performance buffs while the Vector series is recommended for enthusiasts willing to part with some additional cash for even better performance. Armed with the Indilinx Barefoot 3 M10 controller models offer capacities of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. The drives have a slim 2.5" design, measuring 99.8 x 69.63 x 7mm and weighing up to 83 grams.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/673/images/Image_01S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Power consumption is low compared to conventional hard drives as the Vertex 450 uses just 2.25 watts when active and 0.9 watts when in standby mode. While this is less than OCZ’s claimed power rating for the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/543-ocz-vertex-4/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Vertex 4</a>, it's more than what Samsung claims for their latest SSD 840 Pro series.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The 128GB model packs read and write speeds of 525MB/s and 290MB/s which is considerably less than the same capacity Vector drive. Meanwhile, the 256GB and 512GB models feature a read throughput of 540MB/s which is 10MB/s less than the Vector. The 256GB model boasts a write speed of 525MB/s and the 512GB model is slightly faster with 530MB/s.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">All Vertex 450 models are loaded with 20nm IMFT NAND synchronous flash memory and are designed to <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/543-ocz-vertex-4/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">replace the 25nm-based Vertex 4</a> drives which have been in circulation for a year now.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/673/images/Image_06S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Our review sample has sixteen 16GB NAND ICs which are labelled Micron 29F128G08CFABB, giving a total capacity of 256GB. Of course, OCZ is not in the business of creating their own NAND flash memory and instead purchases and packages the NAND flash wafers, which they say allows them to pass the cost savings onto their customers. The NAND flash memory is presumably manufactured by Micron.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/673/images/Image_07S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Once formatted in Windows, the original 256GB is converted to 239GiB, though Windows shows this as 239GB, so it seems like 7% of the original capacity is lost. With a suggested retail price of $270, the Vertex 450 256GB costs $1.05 per gigabyte, an excellent value for a high-performance SSD.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The Indilinx Barefoot 3 M10 controller features an ARM Cortex processor and is coupled with a 1GB DRAM cache. OCZ used a pair of Micron DDR3-800 512MB chips, one on either side of the PCB.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/673/images/Image_04S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The Vertex 450 SSD series is rated to deliver 20GB of writes per day for 3 years, which equates to a total of 21.9TB’s of written data. OCZ also provides a full 3-year warranty with all Vertex 450 drives, so that should provide users with some peace of mind.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">OCZ has set the MSRP for the 128GB model at $130, while the larger 256MB model will cost $235 and the 512GB model $499. This price points roughly represent a 8% discount versus the current outgoing Vector models at the same capacities.. It's also worth mentioning that the drives also include a 3.5” adapter kit for desktop PCs and cloning software from Acronis.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/673-ocz-vertex-450/" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

OCZ Vertex 450 SSD Review

After OCZ's  acquisition of Indilinx  in 2011, the company has been slowly moving towards having a unique range of SSDs using their own ...

Read more »

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Review

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Review" height="339" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/675/images/geforce-gtx-780-review.jpg" width="640" /><br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/525-gainward-geforce-gtx-680/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">GeForce GTX 680</a> was Nvidia’s first 28nm part featuring 1536 CUDA cores, 128 texture units and 32 ROP units. It's remained since release Nvidia's fastest single GPU graphics card of the series, second only to the dual-GPU GTX 690 which features a pair of GK104 GPUs.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">And so for the last 12+ months the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/525-gainward-geforce-gtx-680/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">GTX 680</a> and the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/481-amd-radeon-7970/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Radeon HD 7970</a> have been battling over the performance crown, forcing numerous price cuts and even a little overclocking from AMD to produce the 7970 GHz Edition. In the end AMD was able to undercut Nvidia on price, producing what we believe to be the better solution.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Most recently however Nvidia showed what they could really do with the GK104 architecture by beefing it up with more CUDA cores, texture units and ROPs creating the GK110. The <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/644-nvidia-geforce-titan/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">GeForce GTX Titan</a> is a monster that belongs to an entirely different league, crushing the GeForce GTX 680 as well as the Radeon HD 7970 GHz each and every way possible. Real-world gaming tests saw the GTX Titan outpace the GTX 680 by a 42% margin and the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition by a 30% margin. In the past we've seen performance jumps of 20 to 25% from one generation to the next, so these numbers are indeed something special.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/675/images/Image_07S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">But of course, with a <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121724" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">$1,000 price tag</a> it's comparing apples and oranges. If anything, the Titan did show how much more complex and powerful Nvidia could make the current generation 28nm GPU without putting the TDP rating through the roof. It also meant that Nvidia could move to the next generation mainstream GPUs without having to completely redesign their architecture for the GeForce 700 series and that is exactly what they have done.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The new GeForce GTX 780 is based on a similar, albeit slightly cut down version of the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/644-nvidia-geforce-titan/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Titan GPU</a>, managing to keep many of the features that make the $1,000 graphics card great, such as the 384-bit memory bus.</div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #05408f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">GeForce GTX 780 in Detail</h2><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The GeForce GTX 780 reference board measures 10.5” (26.7cm) length. Display outputs include two dual-link DVIs, one HDMI and one DisplayPort connector. With 2304 CUDA cores at its disposal, the GeForce GTX 780 features 50% more CUDA cores than the GeForce GTX 680. The GTX 780 also gets a 3GB memory buffer standard which is 50% more than the GTX 680.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Helping to take advantage of the extra memory are six 64-bit memory controllers for a 384-bit wide memory bus. Paired with a 6008Mhz GDDR5 memory clock, it provides up to 288.4GB/sec of peak memory bandwidth to the GPU.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/675/images/Image_05S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Those specs mean that those still rocking a GeForce GTX 580 should be looking at around a 70% performance improvement when upgrading to the GTX 780. It’s not just GTX 580 owners that can expect a decent performance upgrade as owners of last year’s GTX 680 will still receive around 30 - 40% more performance, at least on paper.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The 12 SMX units providing 2304 CUDA cores are clocked at 863MHz though using Boost 2.0 they can be clocked up to 900MHz in certain scenarios. The second generation GPU Boost technology works in the background, dynamically adjusting the GPU’s graphics clock speed based on operating conditions.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/675/images/Image_01S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Originally GPU Boost was designed to push the GPU to the highest possible clock speed while remaining within a predefined power envelope. However Nvidia’s engineers found that the GPU temperature usually limits performance first. Therefore with Boost 2.0 they have changed the way the technology works boosting clock speeds according to the GPU temperature rather than power target. The new target in question for the GTX 780 is 80 degrees Celsius.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">In other words, the GTX 780 will automatically boost to the highest clock frequency it can achieve as long as the GPU temperature remains at 80C. Boost 2.0 constantly monitors GPU temperature, adjusting the GPU’s clock and its voltage on-the-fly to maintain this temperature.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/675/images/Image_06S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Nvidia has borrowed the design of the <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/644-nvidia-geforce-titan/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">GTX Titan</a> for the GTX 780 which is great news as the Titan not only looked imposing but it was also whisper quiet. Many other recent high-end GPUs like the GTX 780 make use of vapor chamber cooling, which consists of a copper vapor chamber that extracts heat from the processor using an evaporation process similar to a heatpipe, but more powerful. Helping to improve efficiency here is a new thermal material designed by a company called Shin-Etsu, which is said to provide twice the performance of the grease used on the GTX 680.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Additionally, Nvidia has included an extra heatsink behind the 80mm blower-style fan that increases the cooling area. There is also an aluminum baseplate, which provides additional cooling for the PCB and board components. The guts of the cooling operation are covered in a case that encloses the top of the card.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Given the high-end nature of this board, Nvidia engineers decided to use an aluminum casing for the cover. At its center is a clear polycarbonate window, allowing you to see the vapor chamber and dual-slot heatsink used to cool the GPU.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3005009861503854460" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/675/images/Image_03S.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 98%; outline: none;" /></a></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Another nice touch in our opinion: the side of the card features a large GeForce GTX logo that glows green when the system is turned on. We think this looks cool, but if it's not for you, the LED intensity can be adjusted in software.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Beside the logo towards the end of the card is a pair of PCI Express power connectors. The configuration is the same as the GTX Titan meaning you will find a single 8-pin along with a 6-pin connector. The GTX 780 has been given a TDP rating of 250 watts, which is 28% greater than the GTX 680, so Nvidia recommends using a 600W power supply. The board features a 6+2 power phase design that Nvidia says feeds enough power even when overclocking. Six phases are dedicated to the GPU while two are for the GDDR5 memory.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/675-nvidia-geforce-gtx-780/" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Review

The  GeForce GTX 680  was Nvidia’s first 28nm part featuring 1536 CUDA cores, 128 texture units and 32 ROP units. It's remained since re...

Read more »

The ‘eight great technologies’ which will propel the UK to future growth receive a funding boost. Originally given at Policy Exchange. This is the text of the speech as drafted, which may differ slightly from the delivered version.

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="block-2 " style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #0b0c0c; font-family: nta, GDS-Regular, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="inner-block" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="summary" style="border: none; margin: 30px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.25; padding: 0.3rem 0px 0.2rem;"><a href="https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/person/image/26/s216_David-Willetts-960x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: 2.4rem;"><img alt="The Rt Hon David Willetts MP" border="0" src="https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/person/image/26/s216_David-Willetts-960x640.jpg" style="border: none; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a><a href="https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/person/image/26/s216_David-Willetts-960x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b0c0c; line-height: 1.31579;"><br /></span></a><span style="color: #0b0c0c; line-height: 1.31579;"></span></div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.25; padding: 0.3rem 0px 0.2rem;"><span style="line-height: 1.31579;">In January last year I spoke at Policy Exchange about the importance of a high tech industrial strategy. There is a lot that government can and must do to drive the development of key general purpose technologies. Today I can update you on the progress we are making and announce where we’re providing more funding for these key technologies.</span></div><br /><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.25; padding: 0.3rem 0px 0.2rem;"><span style="line-height: 1.31579;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.25; padding: 0.3rem 0px 0.2rem;"><span style="line-height: 1.31579;">Vince Cable set out in an important speech in September 2012 our approach to industrial strategy. It is a long term approach across the whole of government, to give business the confidence to invest and grow. We are taking action to make this happen. Technologies and the broader research which underpins their development is a fundamental part of our approach to industrial strategy. Today I can set out new decisions to drive this forward.</span></div></div></div></div><div class="block-4" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #0b0c0c; float: left; font-family: nta, GDS-Regular, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; min-height: 100px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 673.1875px;"><div class="inner-block" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="document body" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 30px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="govspeak" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We are fortunate to have a very broad science and research base. Indeed there is no other medium sized economy which has anything like our range of world class research activity. This is clearly demonstrated in the Research Council impact reports that are being published today. The reports illustrate the value to the economy and to society of the funding that we provide for science and research every year.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">It is not just the Nobel prizes, the winners of the Fields medal and the world famous professors. Whenever there is a crisis, a civil war, or a coup d’état anywhere in the world we are likely to have a historian who has some understanding of the background, anthropologists who know the culture, and someone who can speak the language. This is an extraordinary privilege which we must not take for granted: citizens of very few other countries have such a wide open window on the world. The very range of what we do is one of our greatest assets, especially as great technological and scientific advances depend on breaking down the conventional barriers between disciplines.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We have the extraordinary advantage of being the only medium-size country that has such a range of scientific activities. We have world class scientific institutes and research intensive universities. This includes humanities and social sciences. It is not just STEM it is STEAM – Science Technology Engineering Arts and Maths. Reed Elsevier’s 2011 review of the comparative performance of the UK Research Base identifies ‘over four hundred niche areas of research in which the UK is distinctively strong’.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">One of the main aims of our science policy is to maintain that breadth and not to find ourselves forced to trade off being world class in life sciences or history or physics. We do not direct our scientific and research community into particular research projects. Instead our science community rightly enjoys extraordinary autonomy as funding is largely allocated on the principle of excellence determined by academic peer review. This is the first pillar for our science and innovation policy.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">There is a second pillar too. After the failure of the economic interventionism of the 1970s and the triumph of the liberal revolution in economic policy of the 1980s we are wary of Government trying to pick winners. In so far as government can raise the growth rate we tend therefore to focus on measures which apply across the economy as a whole – deregulation or lower corporate taxes or ease of setting up a business. We perform well on many of these measures – the UK is already ranked 2nd in the G7 for ease of doing business. Until recently we have tended to favour these so- called ‘horizontal’ measures rather than ‘vertical’ ones which focus on particular sectors.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Put the breadth of our science base together with the dominant intellectual climate and you get classic British policy on science and technology. We finance a broad range of research selected by fellow scientists on the basis of its excellence. The government is working hard at tearing down the barriers to the smooth functioning of a modern market economy. Strong science and flexible markets is a good combination of policies. But, like patriotism, it is not enough. It misses out crucial stuff in the middle – real decisions on backing key technologies on their journey from the lab to the marketplace. It is the missing third pillar to any successful high tech strategy. It is <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> and technology and engineering as distinct from pure science. It is our historic failure to back this which lies behind the familiar problems of the so-called ‘valley of death’ between scientific discoveries and commercial applications. Also, as we shall see, it helps to explain our belief that we lack a culture of risk-taking.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We are living now with the long-term consequences of the failure to have a policy backing these key technologies. Look at the business sectors where we are strong - creative industries, financial services, construction, new web-based services. They all share a crucial feature. They are all areas without capital-intensive <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>. So paradoxically the very aversion to backing particular technologies with <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> has itself contributed to a change in the structure of the British economy - an economy which innovates but does not do as much <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> as many of our competitors.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Focusing on <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> and on particular technologies is not the same as picking winners, which notoriously became losers picking the pockets of tax payers. It is not backing particular businesses. Instead we are focusing on big general purpose technologies. Each one has implications potentially so significant that they stretch way beyond any one particular industrial sector. Information Technology has transformed retailing for example. Satellite services could deliver precision agriculture.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">This is where we face the valley of death. It is after the pure science and before the usual process of individual companies developing particular products and processes. It is <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>. It is also where the British government used to play a crucial role, supporting the military industrial complex of the twentieth century ‘warfare state’ described by David Edgerton.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">It is also what the US still does far more than we do. It is hard to see because you have to look behind the American rhetoric of limited government. Moreover the scale of federal and state activity is hidden because it is divided up between several different agencies. The rationale is often military and security in its broadest sense. There are other reasons too: after President Bush banned federal funds for stem cell therapies, California voted for $3 billion of funding for it in a referendum. I have visited their research funding body and it will not just fund pure research but also help on the new processes needed to manufacture these therapies and use them to treat patients.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Our research councils tend to focus on more upstream research whereas in the US, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Institutes for Health and the Department of Energy go further downstream closer to market. Sometimes our approach can look like mother birds pushing their fledglings out of the nest but with too many falling to the forest floor to be eaten by foxes. We think our problem is that we lack the same willingness to take risk as in America. But often we were expecting companies to step in earlier, taking more risk than in the US or elsewhere.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The Technology Strategy Board is a crucial but underestimated institution which can help plug that gap. It is working more closely than ever before with our Research Councils to get more sustained support from blue skies research to closer to commercialisation. As part of our life sciences strategy we set up a Biomedical Catalyst worth £180 million split 50/50 between the Medical Research Council and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to take new medical innovations closer to practical application. Already this scheme is a real success. I am keen to repeat this model elsewhere. Yesterday, I announced a £25 million catalyst fund for Industrial Biotechnology and Bio Energy, linking the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the TSB.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The US does other things on a far more ambitious scale than us. They are more imaginative and bold in the use of procurement for example. Their support for innovative small businesses with Ronald Reagan’s Small Business Research Initiative is on a scale far greater than ours. Where government has a big role such as in medicine or security they harness that. The US Orphan Drugs Programme for example provides strong incentives for drug development. DARPA rests on the assumption that US security depends on harnessing key new technologies and they do that not just with research support but with contracts that are offered for new products at a very early stage. Indeed Silicon Valley originally grew on the back of contracts from the military for computers and IT.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Just showing that they do it in US doesn’t prove the point on its own. There are perhaps four specific objections which we need to address.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">First, we have to accept we make mistakes. We do not have perfect foresight. Some of the technologies for which we have high hopes today will turn out to be clunkers tomorrow. That is because this is all about taking risk – if the risk was much lower then we could indeed leave it to straightforward business decisions. But we do have a wide range of expertise to help us understand scientific and technological trends and we have set out our thinking more openly than ever before. Indeed that is why I am releasing today my pamphlet describing eight great technologies.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Secondly we are told that the high tech sector is small and the real big commercial issues are elsewhere. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines sectors as high tech if they devote more than four per cent of turnover to <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>. This is a demanding test. And companies or sectors which do this are unusual. But they can develop technologies which then go mainstream and have a massive impact way beyond any specific sector. These new technologies may be absorbed by business sectors that themselves do little <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> but are nevertheless transformed.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Thirdly there is the danger incumbents get the support not the insurgents. New small businesses are crucial and we have a range of programs specifically aimed at promoting them. But the fact is that lot of the <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>spend is in big business. Indeed our shortage of big primes at the top of the supply chain is one of our key industrial weaknesses. So big business does matter. Where we do have key primes – as in automotive, aerospace or life science, they themselves can be protectors of small business as they maintain a supply chain.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Moreover they may not have a cushy time. These new technologies are often deeply destabilising. They are a challenge to traditional businesses which find themselves having to adjust to the arrival of new technologies which disrupt what they do. The ones that survive have to move way beyond their traditional technologies and sectors. There is an interesting trend of patents being taken out for technologies which go way beyond the traditional activities of a business – the automotive sector taking out more patents in IT for example as it becomes crucial to the performance of a car.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Finally there is the fear politicians are always seduced by baubles. We go for glitzy new projects rather than what has real potential. That is why it is important we draw on expert advice which has to be more transparent than ever. The pamphlet which I am publishing today identifies eight great technologies. It is not my personal view. It distills work done by experts in the Research Councils, the Technology Strategy Board and foresight exercises conducted by the Government Office for Science. We have published their reports. In an important speech to the Royal Society last November George Osborne listed them and asked if people agreed with them. By and large our analysis has been accepted.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">In the past I have drawn on the well recognised American account of four major technological advances – Bio, Nano, Info and Carbo or BNIC for short. It gives us extra confidence in the analysis behind the eight great technologies that they fit into these categories. The first three on our list of eight technologies are broadly information technologies. Then the discovery that biological data is digital moves us on to Bio. Advanced material design often involves nano technology. And our final technology is, in large part, about reducing carbon in our energy supplies.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">As well as identifying these great technologies today I can set out more fully than ever before what Government is doing to back them. We are systematically working through all eight to ensure they are properly supported.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">There are some basic steps we can take using the convening power of government. So here is Industrial Strategy 101. You set up a leadership council probably co-chaired by a BIS minister and a senior industry figure in which researchers, businesses, perhaps regulators and major public purchasers come together. You use it to get them talking to each other confidently and frankly. Then that group might commission a trusted expert to prepare a technology road map which assesses where the relevant technologies are heading over the next five years or so, where publicly funded research is going, and what business is likely to do. Just this exercise, before any increase in public funding, can transform behaviour. Some of the big companies for example might have a HQ abroad and it means their managers here and also BIS ministers can show to them what we are doing and encourage more investment here. It can encourage businesses sitting on piles of cash to invest when they see how it fits in alongside investment we are committed to putting in. You might go further and find that if the government puts some money up front it can get co-investment by others. You might find some key regulations which need to be eased, or perhaps the opposite and some need to be even introduced to help give confidence a new technology can safely be adopted. Government might be more open about its procurement plans than before and more willing to go for an innovative use of a new technology not settling for the tried and tested. But crucially you have a vehicle for making this happen and building mutual trust. The quality of links between business, the research community and government is itself a source of comparative advantage in the modern world.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Let me now very briefly review progress on each of these eight key technologies. They will be backed further by the decisions I am announcing today on the allocation of an extra £600 million of funding. This investment in science and technology, announced by George Osborne in the Autumn Statement, is additional to the ring-fenced science budget.</div><h3 id="big-data" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Big data</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The power of computing and data handling is now becoming so great that classic distinctions between micro and macro effects are breaking down. We are reaching the stage of being able to model airflow across a turbine blade or the movement of a liquid through a tube at the molecular level. Computer modelling of an economy, a substance or a process is therefore becoming very different and far more sophisticated than it was even a decade ago. The importance of these developments is being recognised around the world. I note that I am giving this speech on the same date as the Data Innovation Day in the US.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We have set up the e-infrastructure leadership council co chaired by Dominic Tildesley, formerly a senior business executive from Unilever, and myself. We share with industry our plans for research funding so as to encourage co-investment by them. We are seeing the benefits already with companies such as IBM, Cisco and Intel making a number of investments into the UK. Business will invest more as they see us invest more in computational infrastructure to capture and analyse data flows released by the open data revolution.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The government invested an extra £150 million in e-Infrastructure in October 2011. This has been followed by a further allocation of an extra £189 million in the Autumn Statement. This will be invested over the next two years in key areas such as: bioinformatics and environmental monitoring.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Our investment in data has also ensured we maintain our leadership in social science. We have invested £23.5 million in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)–led life study, the most ambitious birth cohort study yet, which will track 100,000 children from birth. The reason it is so ambitious is that it will also link genetic data, environmental data and educational outcome data.</div><h3 id="space" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. Space</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The UK is once more seen as a leading space science nation. Companies have focussed on making satellite technology more affordable with smaller, lighter-weight satellites that lower the cost of commercial launches. Surrey Satellites Technologies (SSTL), one of the UK’s single most successful university spin-outs, is the world leader in high-performance small satellites. Roughly 40 per cent of the world’s small satellites come from Guildford – and now even smaller nano-satellites are coming from SSTL and Clydespace in Glasgow.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The Space Leadership Council is co-chaired by an industry executive and myself. The Coalition has made a series of significant investments in space over the past two years, and these investments have given the industry confidence to invest more for the future. Every major public sector investment has triggered commercial investments several times greater. We have also set up a Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">In March 2011 we launched a £10m National Space Technology Programme in the UK and this original programme attracted £17 million in matched funding from institutional and industry investors. Early analysis suggests the return to the economy from this investment of £10 million will be between £50 million and £75 million.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Today I can announce that as a result of the Autumn Statement the Government will be investing an extra £25 million in the further implementation of the technology vision through Phase-2 of the National Space Technology Programme. This £25 million of further investment will meet un-met demand as many excellent projects were not supported in the first phase.</div><h3 id="robotics-and-autonomous-systems" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. Robotics and autonomous systems</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The UK has some distinctive strengths in this area, going back yet again to our abilities in software programming and data handling. Effective handling of data from a range of sources is key to autonomous systems and we have real skills here. It was an extraordinary feat of engineering to land NASA’s Curiosity probe on Mars last year. Its Mars Rover vehicle is however largely controlled from Earth with a delay of at least seven minutes as instructions travel to Mars. The European Mars Rover vehicle, due to land in 2018, is more autonomous, using mainly British technology to enable it to travel further during the Martian day and therefore carry out more investigations during its design life.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funds much of the research on robotics. It has so many different applications across different industrial sectors that the <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> effort is fragmented. There is also no single leading major industrial prime leading the development of the technology. In October 2012 I convened a meeting of key experts on robotics and autonomous systems at the Royal Academy of Engineering to discuss what more could be done to promote this important general purpose technology. The discussion showed the need to bring greater coordination of this research. The Technology Strategy Board is now creating a Special Interest Group on Robotics and Autonomous Systems which will shortly produce an outline technology road map to promote future investment. The participants in last October’s meeting also proposed academic centres of excellence that would both conduct basic research but also translate it for commercial application. For this reason I am announcing an investment of an extra £35 million for centres of excellence in Robotics & Autonomous Systems. They will be created in and around universities, innovation centres, science parks and enterprise sites and provide bespoke support for both university and industrial interests. Support from these centres of excellence will provide the missing link between our SMEs and primes in this technology area. They will be hubs of technical expertise and training, providing cutting edge facilities and opportunities for business networking.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">In addition, the Technology Strategy Board will invest up to £1 million in feasibility studies to accelerate the development of novel robotics and autonomous systems concepts towards technology demonstration in multiple sectors. They will launch the competition in February.</div><h3 id="synthetic-biology" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">4. Synthetic biology</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Many of the critical discoveries related to DNA were made in Britain, in perhaps the world’s greatest post-War research institute – the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. It is not just the original discovery of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick, drawing on work by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">More recently researchers funded by EPSRC, have successfully demonstrated that they can build some of the basic components for digital devices out of bacteria and DNA, which could pave the way for a new generation of biological computing devices. The researchers, from Imperial College London, have demonstrated that they can build logic gates or switches, which are used for processing information in devices such as computers and microprocessors, out of harmless gut bacteria and DNA. Although still a long way off, the team suggests that these biological logic gates or switches could one day form the building blocks in microscopic biological computers.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We produced a synthetic biology road map last year and a new Synthetic Biology Council has been established to ensure this road map is delivered. I co-chair it with Lionel Clarke, a senior executive from Shell.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We are making a series of investments in research in synthetic biology. The UK Research Councils and the Technology Strategy Board are spending over £90 million on world leading synthetic biology research and commercialisation including £20m announced by the Chancellor last November. We announced as part of our <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategy-for-uk-life-sciences-one-year-on" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039); border: none; color: #2e3191; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Life science strategy one year on</a>that a further £50 million will be invested in synthetic biology as part of the subsequent Autumn Statement settlement. This will be used to support implementation of key recommendations from the UK Synthetic Biology roadmap, including establishing multidisciplinary research centres as well as a seed fund to support start-up companies and ‘pre-companies’.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We also announced that we are investing £38 million in a National Biologics Industry Innovation Centre. This investment will allow the development of a large scale facility for the manufacture of biologically produced medicines such as antibodies and vaccines.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">At present no major pharmaceutical companies manufacture significant quantities of biologics in the UK so this centre will fill a gap in biologic manufacturing capability and strengthen the UK’s case as the location of choice for internationally mobile life sciences companies.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The centre will be managed by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) as part of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult and also supports regenerative medicine.</div><h3 id="regenerative-medicine" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">5. Regenerative medicine</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Regenerative medicine involves restoring function by replacing or restoring human cells, tissues or organs. There are three main approaches researchers are pursuing – transplantation of cells, tissues and organs, stimulation of the body’s own self-repair mechanisms; and the development of biomaterials for structural repairs. This is led by world class research in centres such as Edinburgh (where Dolly the sheep was cloned), Cambridge, Leeds, and London. Our research has moved on from Dolly the sheep to Jasper the dog. He had spinal injuries but was able to walk again by injecting his spinal cords with a specific type of stem cell. The potential applications for human medicine are easy to envisage.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The Research Councils and TSB recently published ‘A strategy for UK regenerative medicine’, including commitments of £25 million for the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform, (which is establishing multidisciplinary programmes to address the key roadblocks in developing therapies in this area) and £75m for translational research. Our Cell Therapy Catapult has now opened at Guy’s Hospital in London. An extra £20 million capital was allocated to the Regenerative Medicine Platform at Autumn Statement 2012 to provide imaging and cell manufacture technologies and a clean room.</div><h3 id="agri-science" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">6. Agri-science</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Britain did not just lead the Industrial Revolution, we pioneered the Agricultural Revolution too. From leading that Agricultural Revolution in the late eighteenth century to new biotechnology-led advances, the UK has remained at the forefront of agricultural research.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Chickens are a prime example. Chickens are the world’s biggest source of meat, and are particularly important in Asia. We breed the world’s chickens - of the £85 billion global poultry market, 80 per cent of breeding chickens come from genetic stock developed in the UK. Thanks to our genetics research you get twice as much chicken for a given amount of chicken feed as 20 years ago. Each year we launch a new breed of chicken which will produce many generations over a year or more before a new improved version comes along. This is possible because of close links between the Roslin Institute, with its world leading <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>, and our commercial sector.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">BIS and DEFRA are working together with industry to strengthen links between research spend and agricultural policy. This work will be brought together in a new agri-tech strategy over the next few months. We are already investing £250 million in the transformation of the Pirbright Insititute of Animal Health as well as Babraham and Norwich research park. The Autumn Statement package earmarked £30m for capital investment in BBSRC’s world-leading agri-science campuses. A candidate for this funding is the construction of a new National Plant Phenomics Centre at Aberystwyth University.</div><h3 id="advanced-materials" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">7. Advanced materials</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Advanced materials are a key tool for advanced manufacturing. UK businesses that produce and process materials have a turnover of around £170 billion per annum, represent 15 per cent of the country’s GDP and have exports valued at £50 billion. There has been quite rightly a flurry of interest in 3D printing, or ‘additive layer manufacturing’. This new technology is possible not just because of advances in IT but also because of advances in the materials that go into the process. It is no longer just a matter of printing out designer dolls: Southampton University has used advanced materials to show how we could print out a new aeroplane.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The Prime Minister convened a seminar last summer on advanced materials which showed the importance of advanced materials for advanced manufacturing. As a result I can announce an extra £45 million in advanced materials research, for new facilities and equipment in areas of UK strength such as advanced composites; high-performance alloys; low-energy electronics and telecommunications; materials for energy; and nano-materials for health.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">In addition, we announced at the Autumn Statement a £28 million Expansion of the National Composites Centre (NCC), located on the Bristol and Bath Science Park. The NCC is one of the seven centres within the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. This investment will expand the NCC from 6,500 sq m in a single building to 11,500 sq m across two buildings, and give it the space to install equipment to work on larger structures made of composite materials.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">It will also enable the NCC to increase the level of skills development it undertakes, by creating a new training centre for higher level and vocational skills development, training the next generation of engineers in manufacturing and materials technologies.</div><h3 id="energy" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">8. Energy</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Efficient energy storage technologies could allow the UK to capitalise on its considerable excess energy production. While UK consumption peaks at 60GW, the UK has generation capacity of 80GW but storage capacity of only 3GW (primarily from the single Dinorwig water system in Wales). Greater energy storage capacity can save money and reduce the national carbon footprint at the same time.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">It has the potential for delivering massive benefits – in terms of savings on UK energy spend, environmental benefits, economic growth and in enabling UK business to exploit these technologies internationally. Energy is one of the largest single themes in Research Council funded research, with a portfolio of over £600 million of total current awards. In addition the government will invest an extra £30 million to create dedicated <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>facilities to develop and test new grid scale storage technologies.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We are also considering a strategic opportunity to partner with the US Department of Energy in the development of small modular reactor technology.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Behind these technologies lie a network of research labs and facilities. They are a shared national asset for scientists but also of use to business too. We are systematically investing in them and trying to strengthen links between researchers and industry. Many of them are located on university campuses. We are promoting university/business collaboration by our imaginative Research Partnership for Investment Fund which has secured £1 billion of new investment on <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> facilities on our campuses. We are working with our partners to create the new Crick Institute in London which should be one of the world’s leading new medical research facilities when it opens in 2015. We are also creating seven Catapult Centres linking business and public funding for new technologies. We are stimulating research clusters like Harwell and Daresbury which are both now enterprise zones. I am delighted to announce that an extra £65 million from Autumn Statement 2012 will be invested in buildings, joint facilities and infrastructure to promote co-location of industrial and academic groups, and support high-tech business on campuses. Investment will mainly be focused around the development of four campuses: Rothamsted Research Campus, Aberystwyth (IBERS as I have already said), Harwell Oxford, and SciTech Daresbury.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">This will enable the UK to accelerate the exploitation of its world leading research base to deliver jobs and growth by bringing together substantial, internationally significant research capabilities with a variety of users, supporting the setting up and development of innovative knowledge based companies in sectors ranging from food and farming through to the production of synthetic diamonds.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Scientists also need constantly to upgrade their equipment and labs. Indeed the inter-action between science and technology is itself one of the great drivers of innovation. For this reason we will be investing an extra £50 million in these over the next two years.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We are also encouraging academics to think about the wider impact of what they do. It does not mean faking forecasts of likely benefits. I welcome the recent step by EPSRC to tackle these anxieties.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">For all these eight great technologies to come to market we also need excellent measurement and as part of the Autumn statement I can today announce we are providing an extra £25 million to build a state of the art laboratory for cutting edge measurement research. The creation of advanced facilities at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington will allow scientists there to undertake leading edge research in key nano and quantum metrology (measurement science) programmes.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">This ability to make accurate measurements underpins the UK’s competitiveness in both existing markets and to underpin new technology that will support growth in the UK economy. For example Rolls Royce would not have been able to supply turbine blades to Airbus without measurement traceable to NPL; graphene could not have emerged as a viable proposition without the pioneering research work that NPL performed to be able to measure its properties.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Also to underpin the development of the technologies within these eight areas, we need highly skilled individuals. To support this EPSRC is making a £350 million investment in Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) to develop the talented people that will create future growth and a more sustainable future.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Centres will be in areas including the digital economy, renewable and nuclear energy, synthetic biology, materials technologies, regenerative medicine, data to knowledge, and advanced manufacturing.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">This investment will refresh the current portfolio of Centres for Doctoral Training announced in 2008. Current students of these centres are helping change the world from reducing risk in the financial sector to pioneering 3D inkjet printing for individually tailored therapeutic drugs.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The government’s investment of £600 million through the Autumn Statement 2012 in Research Council infrastructure, and the facilities for applied research and development (<abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>) will support the development of innovative technologies and strengthen the UK‘s competitive advantage in areas such as big data and energy efficient computing, synthetic biology and advanced materials.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">I can now set out therefore the allocation of the extra £600 million of extra science funding committed from the Autumn Statement . There will be:</div><ul style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£189 million for big data</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£25 million for space</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£35 million for robotics and autonomous systems</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£88 million for synthetic biology</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£20 million for regenerative medicine</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£30 million for agri-science campuses</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£73 million for advanced materials</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£30 million for energy</li></ul><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We have also committed a further:</div><ul style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£35 million for research campuses</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£25 million for the advanced metrology lab</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">£50 million for transformative equipment and infrastructure</li></ul><h3 id="conclusion-a-date-for-your-diary" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;">Conclusion: a date for your diary</span></h3><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The pamphlet on our eight great technologies is being published today. I would like to invite you back in ten years time on 24 January 2023. There are risks of course. I may not be around. Policy Exchange may not be. But I hope most of us are and that we are still excited about science. Imagine that today we are burying a time capsule and we are going to open it up in ten years when we can take stock. One possibility is that of course technology has developed in a way completely different than set out here. I am still waiting to commute to work on a personal jet booster pack as operated by James Bond in Thunderball. There could well be new technologies which we just have not considered. We are not claiming perfect foresight. But in addition there are six real possibilities for the long-term impact of our strategy for these eight great technologies. Here they are.</div><h4 id="false-dawn" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;">1. False dawn</h4><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We are still waiting. The analysis broadly stands but it all takes longer than we had hoped. Robots for example are still trundling round labs but not yet waiting at our tables.</div><h4 id="transmutation" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Transmutation</h4><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The technologies will not have worked out in the way we expected but new businesses have emerged in a more indirect route. As every romcom shows, things rarely work out in the direct routes we expect. ARM originates with the BBC Acorn computer project run out of Bristol.</div><h4 id="gone-abroad" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Gone abroad</h4><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">The technologies play out roughly as we describe but it all happens abroad. We have a few multi-millionaires who sold their ideas to foreign multinationals but not much else. This is one of my fears. It is the observation that we grow the world’s best corporate veal.</div><h4 id="its-here-but-it-isnt-ours" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;">4. It’s here but it isn’t ours</h4><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We have grown the companies here so they have put down roots and we have got genuine expertise which cannot be shifted. But ultimately they are owned by a big corporate which has HQ somewhere else. Illumina is a happy example.</div><h4 id="we-have-grown-big-new-companies" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;">5. We have grown big new companies</h4><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">Just as the US has got Google Amazon Facebook Ebay. We have got more companies like Vodaphone or GSK or Rolls Royce. We get regulations right. We have patient capital. We are the home to more top 500 companies than we are now.</div><h4 id="we-are-purveyors-of-rd-to-the-world" style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin: 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem; vertical-align: baseline;">6. We are purveyors of <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> to the world</h4><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">We host the world’s clusters. From Formula One in Oxford/Warwick/Birmingham to Tech City in East London and space activity around Harwell, we are famous for our world class <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> centres. The emerging economies are keen to work with us because creating a world-class university from scratch is hard. It is smarter to work with ones you have. Britain is increasingly recognised as the world’s best <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> lab. We have achieved our ambition of being the best place in the world to do science. Multinationals base their <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> facilities here. Smart people from around the world want to come and research here. We have also earned a reputation as the best managers of big international scientific projects.</div><div style="border: none; line-height: 1.31579; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0.7rem 0px 0.3rem;">I believe that with our eight technologies we will probably have a mix of these outcomes. But I am optimistic. With our strong public support for <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr>and these new measures for converting discovery into commercial opportunities we can indeed achieve a lot. We can help new businesses grow. We can be world’s <abbr style="border: none; cursor: help; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="research and development">R&D</abbr> lab. We can indeed be the best place in the world to do science.</div></div></div></div></div></div>

The ‘eight great technologies’ which will propel the UK to future growth receive a funding boost. Originally given at Policy Exchange. This is the text of the speech as drafted, which may differ slightly from the delivered version.

In January last year I spoke at Policy Exchange about the importance of a high tech industrial strategy. There is a lot that government can ...

Read more »