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Steve Rogerson looks at some of the recent news that may have missed the front page. British start-up Echo has designed a cable for an iPhone that is stronger than the one Apple provides. In fact, so strong is it that it can tow a car, and they sent a video to prove it. My question is why anybody would want a mobile phone cable that strong. Then again, I suppose it might come in handy if you break down somewhere remote. The company is runnin...

This glimpse of the future was crafted by: Mark Stone. The field of prediction is about to take a giant leap forward. We all make predictions. When companies hire an employee, they predict that they will do a good job. When they launch a product, they predict that consumers will want it. Call it a hunch, or even experience – we all make judgement calls about the future. This is how things used to happen, but this is all about to change...

According to an industry survey by IBM, two thirds of mid-sized companies have already implemented - or are currently considering - a cloud based storage model for their organisation. The analytic advantages of cloud computing in industry are no secret, in fact, 70% of these cloud-using respondents said they were actively pursuing cloud-based analytics to gleam greater insights and efficiency in order to achieve business goals. By Martyn Williams...

We’ve all been there, the vacuum has been rattling for months and you’ve gotten used to the slight aroma of charred carpet after every clean. But a final diminishing groan forces you to admit your trusty vacuum has had its day. Instead of trying to patch up old Henry, most of us would take his demise as the perfect excuse to splash out on that lightweight, wall mounted, cordless number we have seen on the telly. In industrial environm...

Chipworks definitely has an interest in the latest in wearable technology. So, naturally, when such a big name in the market as Fitbit announced a change of pace with the new, more-stylish Alta fitness tracker, the company was excited to take a look. Contributed by Mandi Gingerich, Julia Elvidge and Jim Morrison of Chipworks.

When choosing embedded hardware for a new product, there is a bewilderingly wide range of choices. However, navigating your way through the sea of CPU options and OS choices can be much simpler with these five steps in the vital skill of Board Support Package (BSP) porting.

'Urban mining', a new buzzword in the waste and recycling industry, is the act of reclaiming electronic goods to cash in on the precious metals inside. With commodity prices still at high levels as investors turn away from diving oil prices, recycled gold and silver inside discarded electric devices suddenly make sound financial sense, says BusinessWaste.co.uk.

Steve Rogerson looks at some of the recent news that may have missed the front page. I didn’t have far to go for Medicity Innovators’ Week, a medical technology event in Nottingham. However, it didn’t get off to the best start as they announced at the beginning that one of the keynote speakers had cancelled due to ill health. 

Every year in Louisville, Kentucky, hackers and security experts gather for DerbyCon. While a get-together of hackers may sound troubling on its own, what’s truly disturbing is what came out of last year’s conference. Medical cyber crime is on the rise, and there are thousands of critical medical devices which can currently be located online and hacked directly. By Rob Phillips, sales and marketing director of Accutronics.

The cost of production downtime varies significantly from one industry sector to another, but without a doubt, when it occurs, downtime is a troublesome and expensive inconvenience for all manufacturers. More often than not, halts in production could be avoided, so imagine just how much manufacturers could save if machine data was available to anticipate breakdowns.