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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have for the first time used an apparatus that relies on the "noise" of jiggling electrons to make highly accurate measurements of the Boltzmann constant, an important value for many scientific calculations. The technique is simpler and more compact than other methods for measuring the constant and could advance international efforts to revamp the world’s scientific measurement system.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland have created the first nontrivial "atom circuit," a donut-shaped loop of ultracold gas atoms circulating in a current analogous to a ring of electrons in a superconducting wire. The circuit is "nontrivial" because it includes a circuit element—an adjustable barrier that controls the flow of atom current to specific allowed values. The newly published work was done at the Joint Quantum Institute, a NIST/UM collaboration.

With oddly simultaneous timing, a number of Apple's competitors have made bold statements alleging the iPad is poor in certain ways, not suited for particular uses, or even doomed to fail. You could be forgiven for thinking they're running interference because of fear. We marshall the evidence here.

The two tech behemoths go toe-to-toe over trademark issues, with dueling language experts and claims bordering on absurdity. Microsoft fired back at Apple this week in the on-going dispute over the trademark of the coveted compound term, "App Store." The dueling legal briefs shows the depth of the age-old rivalry and also reveals a fascinating look into the hair-splitting world of trademark. Microsoft's latest argument is, essentially, that Apple cannot own "App Store" anymore than a large food retailer could lay claim to "Grocery Story," since its the very descriptor needed to discuss what a group is.

A team of scientists has perfected the first practical nanoscale power generator, capable of generating useable electrical current from a mere squeeze of your fingers. In the future it'll be able to draw power from your pulse

How does a company's structure and ability to adopt new tech affect it's ability to evolve strategically?We continue our Leadership Hall of Fame series, a year-long look at the top business books and authors, with an excerpt from The Innovator's Dilemma (1997) by Clayton M. Christensen. From the earliest studies of the problems of innovation, scholars, consultants, and managers have tried to explain why leading firms frequently stumble when confronting technology change.

Several academic institutions are teaming up in an effort organized by the U.S.

As fiber optic technology continues to advance, it faces challenges from both its physical properties and its use of infrastructure. One emerging high-speed solution being developed at Stevens Institute of Technology uses lasers to transmit data through readily available open space, with the potential of expanding past the limitation of fibers into a system known as optical free space communications

If there's something aflame in your neighborhood, you may soon call for firemen toting backpacks blasting bursts of electricity to snuff out the firey problem. You listening, Bill Murray? Remember Ghostbusters ?

A new robotic flying drone , styled like a seagull, has arrived on the scene. It doesn't squawk, poop or steal french fries from your hand, but it's an example of incredible bio-mimicking design that could be the future of airborne robots.

The home of the future will be bedecked with smart sensors that send their data to the cloud so you can manage the house from afar--yes, this is a story we've heard before. But now Microsoft has joined a plan to build a smart city jammed with exactly these smart homes in Portugal. Living PlanIT , which calls itself "one of the world's leading smart city and urban development technology providers" has been working on a plan for a smart city in northern Portugal for quite a while--currently a 2013 unveiling looks likely

Investors and cleantech entrepreneurs alike should take note of this pie chart from OnGreen , a just-launched online marketplace for cleantech startups seeking funds. The information is gleaned from OnGreen's beta site, which already has 350 companies seeking $1.9 billion in capital ($142 million is sought by companies that already have funding).

We believe NFC is the next big thing in digital comms, but some of the applications it'll be used for are hard to imagine. This makes the upcoming PIAS Nites music festival in Brussels all the more interesting, as attendees will be able to use it to make Facebook friends, play games and a ton of other stuff. Around 10,000 people at the event in Belgium will be guinea pigs in a very large scale and focused trial of NFC technology that may not have been attempted before.

Over two thirds of students in U.S. high schools are below a proficient reading level

Now here's an incredible idea : A super-thin transparent screen coating for smartphones that could continuously top off your battery with solar power. The technology is coming out of a small company called Wysips , which has perfected a transparent coating less than 100 microns deep that captures enough energy from the sun to generate electrical power. It relies on the application of super-thin strips of photovoltaic cells laid down on a display screen, and then a precise layer of cylindrical lenticular lenses deposited on top