Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » University of Illinois

WATCH: How Does An Accelerometer Work?

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:16:27 +0000

Professor Bill Hammack of University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign has created a video that demonstrates how exactly an accelerometer in a smartphone works. In every accelerometer, there are springs made out of silicon that oscillate back and forth between contact points. They move based on the force of gravity. The contact points can measure the charge and figure out which way the smartphone is pointing. The springs are about the size of a pencil tip and they are made with tiny wafers of silicon. After watching this video you will know how your phone knows when to go in portrait or landscape mode.

Gig.U Network Brings Super High Speed Internet to 28 Universities

Riley Kennysmith — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:17:52 +0000

A group of American universities have banded together to offer their campuses high speed computer networks beyond anything that is currently commercially available. The Gig.U project will offer one-gigabit connections to university campuses and their surrounding areas, which the project hopes will draw companies to the areas. The New York Times reports that in the test program in a small area near Case Western, three startups moved to the neighborhood within three months.

There are currently 28 universities involved in the Gig.U Next Generation Innovation Project. Participating schools include: Arizona State, Case Western Reserve, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Pennsylvania State, University of Alaska, University of Florida, University of South Florida, University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, University of Illinois, University of Chicago, University of New Mexico, UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State, Duke University, Wake Forest University, University of Virginia, West Virginia University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University of Hawaii, University of Washington, University of Montana, Colorado State, University of Missouri, Indiana University, University of Kentucky, George Mason University, Howard University, University of Maryland and Penn State.

The project is funded by the universities involved and non-profits. Gig.U is currently based out of the Aspen Institue, led by executive director Blair Levin and project director Elise Kohn.

Cazoodle Shopping Search Launches Service For Electronics

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:25:19 +0000

Cazoodle Inc. is a start-up company that spun out of a project at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). Cazoodle was founded by Professor Kevin C. Chang and a research team of undergraduate/graduate students. Cazoodle is located at EnterpriseWorks, an incubation facility based on the Research Park at UIUC.

Cazoodle uses semantic search technology to connect consumers with offers on various merchant websites. Cazoodle already has apartment search services and they launched the electronics service earlier this week at the DEMO conference.

Cazoodle is one of many services that finds deals online for electronics, but the website does more to sort deals. Cazoodle also has a service called Shopping Caddy that brings up additional information when searching for products to make sure you’re getting the best deals. Cazoodle has been self-funded thus far.

Yahoo! Deletes Obama Joker Image From Flickr

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:00:51 +0000

Firas Alkhateeb, a student at the University of Illinois uploaded a satirical image on Flickr of President Barack Obama with a paint job that resembles the Joker in the movie The Dark Knight. The image has spread all over the Internet since it was uploaded last December.

Yahoo! recently decided to remove the image (above) from Firas’ Flickr account and sent him an e-mail. The e-mail stated that the image was deleted “due to copyright-infringement concerns.”

The problem with this e-mail is that there are tons of satirical pictures of former President George W. Bush all over Flickr. Ryan Tate of Valleywag suggested that Yahoo! may not want to disappoint the Obama administration in The White House because of several lucrative contracts between the two parties.

Another possible reason why the image was deleted would be because many Flickr users clicked the “Report Abuse” button on the image so Yahoo! caved and had it removed several months later. President Obama has a huge fan base on the Internet.