The result of this cross-sectional layering is that solid and hollow items can be created by simply inputting the desired object’s dimensions into the 3D printer.

The design schematics for 3D printer models come from computer-aided design (CAD) files, with a virtual model parsed into thousands of cross sections, which become instructions for the printer’s control units.

This data dictates exactly where to deposit the material in each layer, with the process taking place on a stable, non-stick surface called the build plate.

Uses for 3D printers are extremely varied, with applications in the military, medical, industrial and commercial spheres.

A good example of this is the use of 3D printing in the prototyping of new machine components. Here complex designs for intricate parts can be quickly and cheaply constructed out of biodegradable plastic, trialled in a test machine and then tweaked if necessary.

While previously 3D printing has largely been confined to large-scale operations due to high cost, in the last five or so years desktop 3D printers aimed at enthusiasts have emerged.

These allow anyone to feed a printer with designs from their PC – banks of online designs exist – or a memory card, and make models at home. One such DIY printer is the MakerBot: Replicator 2.

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In terms of hardware, the Z10 is powered by a 1.5-gigahertz Qualcomm MSM8960 dual-core processor paired with two gigabytes of mobile DDR2 SDRAM, an internal bank of 16 gigabytes of flash memory and a large 3.8-volt lithium-ion battery. This core feature set is bolstered by the inclusion of an eight-megapixel rear-facing camera, a two-megapixel forward-facing camera and a 10.7-centimetre (4.2-inch), 1,280 x 768-pixel touchscreen – the latter coated with a layer of hardened, scratch-resistant glass.

The BlackBerry 10 OS is a proprietary variant based on QNX – a Unix-like embedded operating system – which allows for the integration of features such as multitouch gestures, advanced multitasking operations, screen-shared video calls and voice control of the device. Indeed, the 10 OS is heavily optimised for multitouch gestures and is based around a piece of software called BlackBerry Hub, a content and connectivity aggregator that displays a lot of key data in list form.

In terms of connectivity, the Z10 is installed with an NFC (near-field communication) antenna built in to the backplate and has support for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. The Z10 is compatible – dependent on model – with network connections up to 4G LTE.

Inside Z10

Screen – The Z10’s 10.7cm (4.2in), 356 ppi touchscreen delivers a 15:9 aspect ratio. The digitizer is applied directly to the glass and fused to the LCD.

Back camera – The Z10’s rear-facing, 8MP auto-focus camera has a five-element f/2.2 lens, dedicated image signal processor and 64MB frame buffer.

Top assembly – The phone’s ambient light sensor, headphone jack, power switch and earpiece speaker housing are built in to a single assembly at the top of the device.

Battery – A 3.8V, 1,800mAh removable lithium-ion battery powers the Z10 and has enough juice for over ten hours of talk time per charge.

HDMI port – The Z10 comes with two main ports: a micro HDMI for routing media to an HDTV and a micro USB 2.0 connection for charging and data transfer.

Front camera – A 2MP, fixed-focus camera is also included. This offers image and video stabilization, a 3x digital zoom and 720p video recording.

Motherboard – The mainboard holds a bounty of chips and integrated circuits including 16GB of NAND flash memory, accelerometer and dual-core Snapdragon CPU.

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They’re used in a number of ways, from flying supersonic aircraft to controlling wheelchairs – to name just two – however joysticks are probably most commonly encountered as a major element of people’s gaming systems.

Simple joysticks, such as the one used to control games on the early Atari consoles, employ electric switches to detect the direction you are holding the stick in.

Inside the base is a printed circuit board with contact terminals arranged around the bottom of the stick. While the joystick is in a neutral state (ie at the centre), or the stick isn’t pressing the contacts into the ‘on’ position, the terminals cannot complete the electric circuit.

The gap in the circuit is closed when the terminals are pushed on, pressing a metal disc onto the board. The console then detects the charge on the wire and executes the appropriate action, whether that’s moving left, right, up, down, diagonally or something completely different, depending on how the software interprets it.

The buttons on the joystick – often used for actions other than movement – work in much the same way.

Analogue joysticks are used for programs where a much greater range of movement is required – like flight simulators. Instead of pressing buttons to complete circuits, the bottom of the stick slots into two shafts – one that pivots on the X axis and another on the Y axis – with springs that return the stick to a central position when released. A pair of potentiometers (variable resistors) track the location of these shafts and thus determine the position you’re holding the joystick in.

Will any games work with this joystick today

The role of potentiometers

In an analogue joystick, as the base of the stick moves along the track of a shaft, a potentiometer (or pot) increases or decreases the resistance of the current in the X or Y-axis circuits accordingly. As opposed to the binary on and off state the contact terminals provide in a digital joystick, pots give an analogue range from the minimum value to the maximum value, depending on whether the stick is being pulled at its minimum range, its maximum range or somewhere in between. This signal still needs to be transformed into a digital numerical value though. A basic analogue-to-digital converter uses the voltage from the potentiometers to charge a capacitor, where a circuit with maximum resistance will charge more slowly than one with less resistance. By measuring the length of time the capacitor takes to charge fully, a numerical value can be ascertained.

How Do Joysticks Work

Advanced joysticks

In old analogue joysticks the analogue-to-digital conversion is handed over to the console or computer, requiring the system to continuously request data from the joystick, known as ‘polling’, to detect its current position. This can be a drain on system resources, so newer joysticks include an analogue-to-digital converter chip that translates the signal for the computer.

Some of the latest joysticks avoid this problem altogether by using optical technology. The shafts are connected to slotted wheels, each placed between an LED with a photocell on the other side. When the wheel turns and a slot lines up with the cell, the light from the LED causes it to generate a current, switching off once it’s blocked again. Cutting-edge joysticks like the Saitek X-65F don’t even have moving parts -instead they respond to pressure exerted on the stick, which is exactly the same system found in modern fighter jet planes.

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It also connects with your desktop-based iTunes library to create a single hub with which to view your media in the comfort of your favourite chair. Despite not physically storing video, the 8GB flash chip is used to cache films as they are playing to ensure that they do not skip and in most cases the full film will be downloaded to the Apple TV flash memory even if you haven’t finished watching it.

The controller software is the hub around which everything works. Once connected to a TV and a computer running iTunes, it will detect when changes are made, such as renting a video, and it will then send the relevant information to each part of your network. For example, it will allow your desktop to send the film to the TV box and onwards to the TV itself.

Apple TV is designed to do one thing above all else: stream video and photos. Because of this it is capable of assigning all of its resources to this one task and does not have to deal with multiple instructions at the same time.

The A4 processor has to deal with multiple functions and provided the incoming broadband connection is stable and fast, the whole experience will be faster than competing streaming products. The built-in 8GB of flash memory ensures that the streamed video is cached while it is playing, which in effect stores the film ahead of its playing time to eliminate any stoppages.

The low price point has been reached by using parts that are either mass produced by other companies or already in volume production by Apple, ie the A4 processor, which is used in the iPad and new iPod touch devices. The technology behind Apple TV is surprisingly simple, but of high enough quality to pull off the task at hand at lightning speed.

Use Apple TV

The software built in to Apple TV 2 is designed to work on your TV and you can browse the latest movies and TV shows just as you would on iTunes. Click the ‘Rent’ button and your movie will be streamed to the box and start playing immediately. The system includes menu options to access YouTube and NetFlix as well which work just as they do on an iPad or desktop. On top of this you have access to your home movies and photos stored in your iTunes library so all of your media is just a click away. Throw HD podcasts, web browsing and internet radio into the mix and you can start to see how quickly Apple TV could become a big part of your life.

Step 1 – Search the library – In the Computers menu choose from the list of iTunes libraries. You may only search through one library at a time.

Step 2 – Select a menu – Select from six menus. Choosing the Genre option organizes your movies into handy categories to scroll through.

Step 3 – Choose a movie – Select the movie of your choice and it’ll play. As with a DVD you can use the fast-forward, rewind and pause options.

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Married to TFT screen technology that carefully aligns each pixel for much wider viewing angles, the experience is more engrossing than ever before.

The ‘i’ in DSi symbolizes the two cameras that have been designed with one facing towards and the other away from the user; they are low resolution at only 0.3 megapixels, but are complemented by software that lets you distort photos, add special effects and share wirelessly on social networks.

The DSi XL is standalone thanks to the inclusion of 802.nb/g Wi-Fi, which gives the device speedy wireless internet access up to 36 metres from a wireless router or hot spot and also allows access to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Service, designed to allow free online play against other Nintendo users.

The included 16MB of RAM is primarily used by the DSi Browser for speedier surfing and to store cached pages and images while the 256MB of flash memory is used to store downloaded games and other media.

The 133 MHz processor is twice as fast as previous models and processes gameplay mechanisms alongside another, slightly slower, processor which processes sound, Wi-Fi and other background functions.

The two work in tandem to spread the load of multiple actions at any one time. Good sound is achieved through large speaker enclosures. The large battery can last for up to 17 hours on a low brightness setting.

Finally, the audio recorder uses audio filters for excellent recorded sound by eliminating some sound types and letting others through. This is just one lesser-known example of the huge amount of technology that has been squeezed into the DSi XL.

Most of the technological improvements to be found in the DSi XL model are not simply the result of improved innovation, but also the ability to use larger components in a larger housing.

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The 360 S ships with Kinect, Microsoft’s motion control system that uses an infrared sensor and a multichannel microphone to allow a player to act as their own controller, with the system monitoring your movements.

It also has five USB ports, which not only makes the unit more versatile and eliminates the need for external hubs, but also allows the old Xbox Memory Units to be phased out.

The biggest changes, however, are actually found inside the casing. The standard unit now ships with a 250GB internal hard drive which – while still removable – is a different design to its predecessors. The 360 S also comes equipped with built-in Wi-Fi, meaning that it can connect to a home hub and access Xbox Live very easily.

All of these features, combined with the Kinect system, make the 360 S a very powerful addition to the Xbox family and one that looks set to be the benchmark for improvements to come.

The end of the Red Ring of Death?

The Red Ring of Death refers to a ring formed by three status lights on the front of the machine. Normally green, if they go red it’s usually because of either power fluctuations or by overheating damaging the motherboard, which will need to be replaced. Now, though, the Red Ring is no more according to Microsoft. This has been achieved by replacing the original 360’s single fan with two smaller ones, making the machine quieter but also keeping it cooler.

Gaming in motion

Kinect is Microsoft’s new take on motion control. Containing a camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone, Kinect allows a player tremendous freedom of movement.

The depth sensor throws an infrared ‘net’ out into the room which allows the sensor to sense not only that you’re moving, but where in the room you are, and can be adjusted to take into account the size of the room and any obstacles. This sensor field means Kinect can track up to six people, including two active players, and pick up on movements in 20 joints per player.

Kinect’s microphone also allows it to locate the player in the field, allowing for headset-free chat over Xbox Live.

The xBox Hard Drive

The major change with the 360 S is that the hard drive can’t be pulled out and dropped into another Xbox 360. It can be removed, but the process is a lot more involved. While this cuts down on the system’s portability and versatility, it’s balanced by the fact the hard drive is replaceable and upgradeable. Microsoft’s 4GB version is available and can be upgraded to the 250GB hard drive separately, at a later date.

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Our desire to process data more quickly and generally extract more ‘juice’ from our electronic devices has meant that we have been involved in a constant cycle of computing enhancements and augmentations.

As the race for home PC power reached what many people regard as its zenith during the Nineties, microprocessor manufacturers including Intel and AMD carried forward their research into increasingly thin silicon wafer technology in order to give us more power.

Building CPU chips (or central processing units) that would run at ever-faster speeds meant that the scientists had to find a way of packing in more work-hungry transistors onto each layer of silicon. Eventually the silicon layers got so thin that home and business machines started using parallel processing techniques to perform multiple computations concurrently, which had in fact been employed within mainframes and supercomputers for many years.

So while your home laptop probably has most of the computing power that the supercomputers of the Sixties struggled to pump out, modern variants have been developed with astonishing levels of speed in terms of processing power. These machines can process algorithmic logic at speeds almost impossible for us to comprehend. But scientists and doctors still argue that however fast the hardware and software gets, it’s still a cavernous gap away from the speed at which synaptic signals are transmitted around the human brain.

So how do these machines work in the real world? The power behind the supercomputer is the CPU, or as its often just called, the processor. This unit is prebuilt with an on-board degree in mathematics called an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which it uses to perform mathematical operations including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Really speedy modern processors of the type found in supercomputers can handle calculations using large floating-point numbers, which gives them incredible speed.

If you don’t remember floating-point numbers from school, put simply these are numbers where the decimal point can be moved around to create additional numbers. By moving the decimal point around, more numbers can be created from a single set of digits – and the rest we can leave to the scientists. What we should know is that floating-point operations are crucial to supercomputers as the speed at which they can carry out calculations upon them give us our floating point operations per second (FLOPs) measure.

So where has the development of supercomputers brought us in terms of day-to-day technology usage? While many super machines are used for research projects, other machines are being employed by so-called cloud computing providers to build “virtual’ computing machines shared by multiple tenants across a network. It may sound complicated, but it’s not really.

“There has always been a lot of jargon associated with supercomputing, computing clusters, computing grids and now we have differing definitions of cloud computing to contend with,” says Ken Hertzler, vice president of product management at Platform Computing. “But essentially, cloud computing is very simple. It is a set of large-scale ‘servers’, which exist to ‘host’ your computing needs on a pay-per-use basis. It’s a bit like throwing an extra log on the fire when it’s snowing outside, ie the extra power is there when you need it. This is virtual computing in its plainest sense; much of the hardware and software exists at the cloud data centre – all you really need is a laptop.”

If we plunge deeper into the supercomputing supernova we start to see where the real beasts reside; ie dedicated lumps of raw computing power that sit immobile on their indomitable data-driven haunches to carry out mankind’s most complex computational desires. One such beast that most of us will have heard about is the supercomputer located on the French-Swiss border at CERN, which carries out the number crunching for the Large Hadron Collider. In fact, CERN’s life force is monitored by something in excess of 2,500 clustered servers running the Linux operating system.

Because the Large Hadron Collider generates such massive volumes of data, the scientists need custom-built supercomputing power if they are to successfully analyze the subatomic particles that get bashed around the inside the Collider’s seemingly endless miles of internal structure.

But this is still science, so how do supercomputers work in our world where we can see and feel their real effects and power? Computing giant IBM tried to show us evidence of the real power of its Deep Blue supercomputer in May of 1997 when it set the machine’s logic to play a fascinating match with the reigning World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov.

After beating every chess computer that IBM had developed for over a decade and a half, Kasparov was finally defeated by Deep Blue. Writing a number of years after suffering his defeat, Kasparov noted that Deep Blue was hardly what the supercomputing pioneers had initially dreamed of. “Instead of a computer that thought and played chess like a human, with human creativity and intuition, they got one that played like a machine, systematically evaluating 200 million possible moves on the chess board per second and winning with brute number-crunching force,” said Kasparov.

This reality, of course, did not stop IBM using the win to great effect for publicity purposes and indeed the company has continued to label the research arm of its supercomputer business as “Deep Computing’ to this day. “Combining these [Deep Computing] capabilities with advances in algorithms, analytic methods, modelling and simulation, visualization, data management and software infrastructures is enabling valuable scientific, engineering and business opportunities,” says IBM.

With all the high-end big scale computing discussion, you may think that you personally don’t impact the growth of supercomputers, right? Well, you’d be wrong. The average human is pushing the planet’s data consumption rates up exponentially, every day. From every time you make a Google search, to every email, video, picture image or sound file you share. This is not just data, this is what the technologists call “unstructured data’.

It’s not a simple spreadsheet with ten numerical values in it that could be easily broken down and expressed in its most simple binary value state. This is complex-rich data with meta tags, embedded extras and when we start to also exchange this data on mobile devices on the go the situation multiplies tenfold. The era of the green screen is gone, the era of the supercomputer has only just begun.

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Many convergence products, such as smartphones and PDAs, are capable of being used as eBook readers, but these don’t benefit from the electronic ink used in dedicated devices. Electronic ink is being developed by two key players: E Ink Corporation and Xerox. While both are being developed to work in different ways, they have some similarities, like the ink being made up of microcapsules filled with ink or an oily substance.

White particles carry a positive charge and the black ones carry a negative charge. When integrated into a screen fitted with microelectronics, the screen will be made of tiny cells, which could apply a negative or positive charge to the microcapsules making them visible or invisible on the screen, creating text.

A lot of the better-known eBook readers use E Ink Corporation’s Vizplex Imaging Film, including the Barnes & Noble nook, the Cybook Opus, the BeBook and the Amazon Kindle.

Another important point of note is that different eBook readers will read different electronic formats. Not all will recognize the PDF format natively, often relying on specially designed formats, meaning that users have to stick to a particular type of eBook format to suit their device.

There is a massive list of formats, from the Kindle format for Amazon’s Kindle (.azw) to TomeRaider (.tr2, .tr3) for certain mobile devices, including the Windows Pocket PC devices.

The current generation of Amazon Kindles incorporate internet access via 3G and Wi-Fi, so content canbe downloaded using Amazon’s Whispernet service. Kindle applications are also available for the Apple iPhone and Windows systems, making this device a real competitor in the eReader market.

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Satnav devices have got the A-to-B route planning down to a fine art – simply load up your destination and the combination of 3D mapping and voice guidance will get you to where you want to go. So where does satnav go next?

The answer is connectivity. The new Garmin nuvi 1690 comes with a built-in SIM card that creates a permanent data connection to the internet, enabling the device’s nuLink software to download relevant information about your journey as you drive, from traffic to weather to real-time fuel prices at nearby petrol stations.

It’s easy too, and perfectly integrated into the all-round functioning of the device, and turns the satnav system into a kind of ‘location aware’ internet tablet. In practical terms this means you can use the Google Local Search feature to search for, say, Indian restaurants, and the resulting list of results will show said establishments listed in order of their proximity to you.

And because it uses exactly the same technology that powers Google on a desktop computer you get all the added interactive benefits of that service as well – things like restaurants and hotels will also often be accompanied by user ratings and reviews, so you’re not simply finding your nearest restaurant, you’re finding the best one.

This Google search feature is one of the highlights of nuLink, complementing the traditional points of interest database in the device with more relevant and up-to-date information.

The other key benefit of the service is the live traffic information that it provides. This gives you the chance to see any potential jams on your route ahead, and you can set the system to automatically reroute you to avoid them, or you can take your chances and deal with any possible delays on a case by case basis.

Regular build-ups of traffic, for example, might have cleared by the time you reach them, while serious road works will most likely not have.

By having its always-on data connection, the Garmin nuvi 1690 is able to deliver other information straight to you as you drive. The fuel price service removes the ‘cat and mouse’ approach to filling up on a long journey, nuLink shows you the prices at all your upcoming petrol stations so you can easily compare.

Another useful money-saving feature is Garmin’s ecoRoute application. Enter a few details about your specific make of car and the way you drive and ecoRoute will plot your journey in the most fuel-efficient way – it’s unique to you, will show exactly how much money you will save, and as an added bonus helps you cut down on your carbon footprint as well.

These features show the direction that tomorrow’s satnav systems are heading. No more are they mere digital atlases, but rather fully interactive and personalized devices that deliver highly contextualized information.

Whether you want to know what the weather is like at your destination, whether your flight is on time, or where you should meet your friends when you arrive it is all possible, and much more besides.

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Originally launched back in the Nineties as a simple paging device, the BlackBerry has grown into one of the biggest and most recognisable mobile phone brands, the pride and joy of business users the world over. The secret of its success was simple: the BlackBerry completely rewrote the rulebook on how we use email.

No longer did you need to be tied to a desk, and a desktop computer, to check your inbox, you could do it on the go. Even more importantly, through the BlackBerry’s revolutionary ‘push email’ concept you could read your messages instantly.

Push email works by routing your traditional inbox via the BlackBerry servers, accessed by signing up to either the BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) for businesses or the Internet Service (BIS) for individual users. As soon as a new mail drops into your inbox, BIS (or BES) instantly ‘pushes’ it to the BlackBerry handheld associated with the account.

There’s no clicking of a Send/Receive butt on in the mail client, no waiting for 15 minutes for the email app to poll your inbox. With a BlackBerry email is instant – more akin to the immediacy of text messaging than the email we are more used to on a PC.

It’s this instant delivery that sold the BlackBerry concept to businesses, while in the last couple of years the simplicity of the service combined with more attractively designed hardware has increased its appeal to ordinary consumers as well. Now, a fifth of all the smartphone users in the world carry a BlackBerry.

Of course, a pocket-sized email device would be useless without the BlackBerry’s second point of genius, the thumb keyboard. The trademark Qwerty keyboard that sits below the handset’s screen seemingly defies the laws of engineering. It’s tiny, cramped and should be impossible to use with any comfort, yet with subtle design touches and intelligent short cuts it is somehow possible to type even lengthy emails at fast speeds. Other phone manufacturers have tried to replicate this, but the BlackBerry is still going strong.

How it works

1. The keyboard – The 35-key thumbboard comes in the normal Qwerty layout similar to any desktop keyboard. Despite its compact size it enables the user to type quickly and at some length.

2. Trackball – The trackball offers the quickest way of navigating. You can control how fast you scroll through webpages or documents simply by changing the speed at which you move the trackball.

3. Large capacity battery – The 1500mAh battery is as large as in any mainstream device, and delivers a couple of days’ use on a single charge, unlike many devices that need a daily charge.

4. Two megapixel camera – Although not a major focus of the BlackBerry range, the camera is good for snapshots, and the always-on internet connection on the phone makes it easy to share them.

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