BIOSTAR’s latest gaming products cover both the mainboard and VGA card spaces with two products that offer a sweet spot for performance versus investment in hardware. The motherboard is the Gaming H170T, which is the best valued motherboard of the Gaming Skylake platform (other brands are at least $169 and up), and the GPU is the Gaming GeForce GTW980Ti, a 6GB GDDR5, 384-bit, full size PCB, high-end 3D graphic solution, supporting NVIDIA&rs...

Queensgate Instruments’ latest Digital Piezo Translator (DPT) series of actuators incorporate capacitive sensors in order to deliver precise positioning and rapid settling. These highly advanced actuators can be implemented in a wide variety of applications, including interferometry, semiconductor mask-wafer chuck alignment, beam alignment, cavity tuning, adaptive optics, scanning probe microscopy and a multitude of different metrology task...

Steve Rogerson looks at how electricity suppliers are handling the growth of renewable energy and still managing to balance supply versus demand.

  An evaporative cooler claimed to be the world’s first personal air conditioner has been introduced. The Evapolar is a desktop cooler that is both powerful and compact; it cools, humidifies and cleans the air, creating a ‘microclimate’.

The internet could be on the brink of a ‘capacity crunch’ that would force us to rethink the way we use it, according to Professor Andrew Ellis of Aston University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Current technologies will reach their limits within the next eight years, Professor Ellis will warn in a talk at Lightfest 2015 at the Library of Birmingham on the 25th of September, and without radical developments and rap...

Steve Rogerson looks at how sensors will play a leading part in the growth of smart home technology

The next generation of wearables could be based on sensors integrated directly into fabrics, heralding an age of electronic clothing, as Sally Ward-Foxton investigates.

  A nine-year-old boy, born with his right arm missing from the elbow, has become the first child in the UK to be fitted with a bionic hand. The i-limb quantum, developed by Touch Bionics, allows Josh Cathcart to do the things that many of us take for granted, such as eat with a knife and fork.

Since the advent of biometric authentication, a myriad of devices have been introduced in an attempt to replace traditional cash and cards, including fingerprint and iris scanners. Now there is a new method available using heartbeats. The Nymi Band is a secure, wearable authenticator that increases convenience and security through continuous, biometrically authenticated, proximity-based access control.

A device that allows medical professionals to see exactly where a patient’s veins are has been introduced by Christie Medical Holdings. The VeinViewer Vision2 works by projecting near-infrared light onto the patient’s skin, which is then absorbed by the blood. The information captured is processed and projected back onto the surface of the skin in real-time.

  In response to today’s connection issues, Google created a router that’s more capable of handling our daily needs.

Microsoft has released the Windows 10 IoT Core for the Raspberry Pi and the Minnowboard Max. Designed to make it easy to build professional grade devices, the core is suitable for small, embedded devices that may or may not have screens. For devices with screens, the Windows 10 IoT Core does not have a Windows shell experience; instead the user can write a Universal Windows app that acts as the interface for their device.

  Robotics has now made its way into the most unlikely place of all: kebab shops. North London’s Super Kebab takeaway has replaced manual kebab slicing with the Atalay doner robot, which uses sensors to slice off perfect cuts of lamb.

  Underwear designed to protect male fertility against the EM radiation emitted by WiFi devices has been introduced by British scientist Joseph Perkins.

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first 3D printed drug. SPRITAM levetiracetam, manufactured by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of epileptic seizures, is printed using the company’s ZipDose Technology platform.

  At the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, a humanoid robot has passed the wise man puzzle of self-awareness.

  According to a recent survey, the average person loses 5.6 umbrellas in their lifetime. The Kisha umbrella, claimed to be the world’s first smart umbrella, can never be lost.

Sunglasses with electrochromic lenses that allow users to manually switch between clear and tinted modes have been introduced by Skugga Eyewear. The user can manually adjust the Skugga sunglasses with the companion app, which allows them to monitor the level of their UV exposure. Users can also switch between auto and two user-defined tint presets by flipping the right arm of the glasses. 

As part of a university pilot scheme, a former British soldier who was paralysed in Afghanistan is learning how to walk again with the help of an exoskeleton. James Johnson, who served with the Grenadier Guards, is the first paraplegic person to be part of the Salford University pilot scheme to teach people how to walk using robotics.

UK cities and businesses are being encouraged to apply for a £10m fund in a competition that will revolutionise the way the IoT benefits citizens by offering environmental improvements, economic opportunities and more efficient and effective delivery of services such as transport, healthcare and energy.