NEC Corporation has developed a device that uses smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) to turn the wearer's arm into a virtual keyboard, allowing for contact-free operation. The device could be used in workplaces in the manufacturing, medical and security sectors. [ + ]

The Adelaide electronics industry has been put under the microscope, with EIDA conducting a research survey to analyse the characteristics and structure of the city's electronics industry — including its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. [ + ]

Sand in your computer sounds like something you'd like to avoid, right? Well, a research team at Georgia Institute of Technology is deliberately introducing sand into computers to help cool them. [ + ]

Researchers from UNSW have claimed that Australia's management of electronic waste is poorly implemented, lags behind international best practice and is based on outdated recycling targets. [ + ]

How's this for a new source of power? Scientists have shown that the movement of bacteria could be harnessed to create microscopic 'wind farms' to power tiny devices. [ + ]

By optimising topology of a metal nanomesh and its adhesion to an underlying substrate, University of Houston researchers created a material with improved stretchability and eliminated fatigue, while maintaining transparency. [ + ]

Scitech has been announced as the authorised distributor of NanoFocus products across Australia and New Zealand. The NanoFocus range includes products for 3D surface measurement, precise 3D profilometry and fast 3D inline sensors. [ + ]

Following the recent release of the new SMARC 2.0 specification, congatec has announced its full support of the specification. SMARC 2.0 was released by the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies e.V. (SGET). [ + ]

Keysight Technologies will host several seminars in August: three face-to-face seminars entitled 'Solving today's challenges in the Internet of Things', which will be held in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, and a FieldFox User Group Forum Webcast. [ + ]

Qualcomm Technologies intends to add software support for STMicroelectronics' inertial sensor solutions. [ + ]

Scitech has announced its appointment as the authorised distributor for the XIMEA range of cameras in Australia and New Zealand. [ + ]

While modelling random sequential adsorption (RSA), Clarkson University researchers made an interesting discovery: even the tiniest imperfection in the position of the lattice landing can have dramatic impacts on the density of the permanently formed deposit. [ + ]

Using nature as inspiration, researchers have developed solar cells with improved light harvesting. By reproducing rose petal epidermal cells and then integrating the transparent replicas into an organic solar cell, scientists achieved a relative efficiency gain of 12%. [ + ]

ElectroneX, Australia's only dedicated trade event for the electronics industry, returns to Sydney on 14–15 September. With around 100 exhibitors and a technical conference featuring leading international industry experts, this is truly an event not to be missed. [ + ]

STMicroelectronics has announced its collaboration with ETAS and ESCRYPT to deliver a complete platform comprising microcontrollers, software tools and security solutions that accelerates development of automotive control units for the connected-car age. [ + ]