Engineers’ Must-Reads This Week
(August 02 - 08, 2011)

Microsoft curbs Wi-Fi location database
(cNet.com, 08/01/2011, Declan McCullagh)
Microsoft has ceased publishing the estimated locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, and other devices with Wi-Fi connections around the world after a CNET article on Friday highlighted privacy concerns.

Mobile technology is a 'game-changer' - LivingSocial CEO
(IET, 07/29/2011, Sofia Mitra-Thakur)
Mobile technology may be a "game-changer" for the daily deal industry, according to LivingSocial's CEO.

Consumer electronics turn to MEMS for gesture control, precision location
(EE Times, 07/28/2011, Laurent Robin)
The first MEMS accelerometers in iPhones and the Wii revolutionized the user interface by introducing natural motion as an input mechanism, but it's taken a while for designers to figure out how best to use these capabilities. Now the inertial sensors are starting to move into a wider range of motion control and precision location applications, helped along by lower costs, and by the generally maturing of the knowledge base and infrastructure that are making the sensor data easier to use.

Text messages aid rescue workers, save lives
(Philippine Daily Inquirer, 07/28/2011, Juan Escandor Jr.) 
PILI, Camarines Sur — With the efficiency of cellphones to connect people, text messages have proven to be very helpful means of communication during calamities to aid rescue workers and save lives during typhoons.

Researchers to link brain, artificial limbs
(EE Times, 07/27/2011, Rick Merritt)
Four universities won a $1.2 million grant to develop prosthetics that deliver sensory information to patients and can be controlled by their thoughts. Rice University, the University of Michigan, Drexel University and the University of Maryland will work on the four-year project with funds from the National Science Foundation's Human-Centered Computing program.

(Published 09 August 2011, Smart Communications, Inc.)