When I last wrote about Intel, exactly 30 days ago, the company had yet to announce a replacement for outgoing CEO Paul Otellini, and there a was a lot of speculation about the company's direction. 

A lot can change in a month. On 2 May, Intel announced the promotion of 30-year Intel veteran Brian Krzanich to the chief executive role. And earlier this week, Reuters broke the news of a "sweeping" reorganization. Krzanich himself will now directly oversee most of the main product groups, including the company's PC and mobile units. He has also formed a "new devices" group. Mobile chip guru and Palm and Apple veteran Mike Bell has reportedly been tapped to head it up. 

What will this "new devices" unit do exactly?  AllThingsD says it will focus at least in part on "ultra-mobile products" and quotes a statement from the company that "the group will be tasked with turning cool technology and business model innovations into products that shape and lead markets". PCWorld speculates the new group will focus less on playing catch-up in the smartphone and tablet markets (which are still dominated by ARM-aligned companies) than on jazzier new products, such as Google Glass.

But Intel has invested a lot in its pursuit of the mobile market. Earlier this month—what a busy month!—the company unveiled Silvermont, a chip architecture that is optimized for power consumption. We'll likely have to wait until at least the end of the year, when the first chips in the Silvermont family ship, to see whether all that hard work has paid off. 

(Photo: Robert Galbraith/Reuters)

Smartphones have replaced wristwatches as timekeepers for many teenagers and tech-savvy adults. But a new smartwatch aims to win over customers with such features as an extremely low-power processor and the convenience of wireless charging.

Dreams of wearing a smartwatch as a handy computer on the wrist, also known as a watch-phone, have captured the public's imagination going back to the Dick Tracy newspaper comic strip. Such watches hold the promise of making smartphone features conveniently available on the wrist without having to pull mobile devices out of a pocket or bag.

The new "Agent" smartwatch has already raised more than US $300 000 on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter—easily surpassing its $100 000 goal since the project launched on 21 May. Despite its quick success, it by no means has the field to itself. It doesn't even have Kickstarter to itself—the  popular Pebble watch raised $10 million there. Apple and Microsoft are both rumored to be jumping into the smartwatch market as well.

Two features help set Agent apart. First, there's its novel dual-processor design. The main processor is a new ARM Cortex-M4 that consumes just 33 microamperes (uA) in sleep mode compared to 300 uA for most of last year's processors. And it will get more sleep than most, because a smaller second processor handles background "housekeeping duties and events." The smaller processor itself has a sleep mode, which uses just 0.1 uA.

Second, Agent has built-in wireless charging capability based on the industry-standard Qi system. Wearers would simply have to place their watch on an included Qi charging pad—or any other Qi charging pad—to recharge the device.

Agent also has a Sharp Memory Display that combines the best of both LCD and E-paper technologies for fast animations and readability out of doors. It too will have an extremely low power consumption of about 20 uA. Techcrunch was duly impressed:

The Agent is a refreshing change from other Kickstarter smartwatches in that it actually offers something new in terms of technical aspirations. The watch should get up to 7 days of battery life with its smart functions activated, or up to 30 days of standby in ‘watchface-only” mode. Even if that misses the mark by a bit, it should still beat the stated and actual battery life of existing devices like the Pebble.

But getting the technology right is just the first step. In fact, smartwatch success has proven more of the exception rather than the rule. Past flops have included Microsoft's 2004 attempt to introduce the SPOT watch—an expensive failure of a device that didn't offer consumers any new information they couldn't already get for free on existing mobile devices (IEEE Spectrum wisely called it out as a tech "loser" early on).

To win a place in consumer hearts and on their wrists, smartwatches need to offer a compelling new argument to people already carrying phones and tablets. They also have to form a habit that most young people have never had—a 2008 survey by investment bank Piper Jaffray showed that almost two-thirds of teens never wear a watch. Others have abandoned ordinary watches in droves. 

A strong sense of style will be essential for the growing number of people who see watches as fashion accessories or luxury items instead of necessary timekeepers. That means the technical prowess of Agent's engineering team at Secret Labs will have to be matched by the aesthetic design provided by House of Horology, a custom timepiece manufacturer that recently earned a "Best Men's Watches of 2013" accolade from New York Magazine.

Photo: Secret Labs | House of Horology

If the Bitcoin convention held this weekend in San Jose, CA proved one thing, it's that the community is surprisingly diverse. Putting aside the appalling gender gap, you simply had no idea who you would bump into. A fashion photographer from Milan. A curious kid from Edmonton, Canada. An Australian anarchist recently transplanted to New York City.

The one person that no one expected to see in all this flurry was the head of a bank or credit union, and you certainly didn't expect to find him trying to make friends. So all in all, Jordan Modell might have been the most peculiar of all the peculiar people I met at the conference. There was, it turns out, an explanation for his crypto-tech-friendly stance.

He had arrived together with Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, to find out whether there was anything they could do to support Bitcoin entrepreneurs during this rather crazy time.

In March, the market value of all bitcoins in circulation reached one billion dollars, attracting new investors, but also closer scrutiny from regulators. Last week, Dwolla shut down an account which funds MT Gox, the most popular online bitcoin exchange, after the Department of Homeland Security served the payment processor with a warrant. (It was hardly the first problem exchanges have seen. Back in 2011, PayPal didn't wait for the regulators to act when it proactively closed the account of Coinpal, an individual who used to accept PayPal for bitcoins. In the early days, this service was one of the best ways for people to get their hands on bitcoins.)

At the conference, Kahle explained that he was there to help. A few years ago, he had convinced his long time friend, Jordan Modell, to start a credit union with him. In 2012, the Internet Archive Federal Credit Union began serving low-income families in New Bruswick, N.J. In some ways, the move came out of left field, and it seems that even Kahle was unsure how this new endeavor would fit into his role as public steward of Internet.

During a presentation on Saturday Kahle said of his credit union, "I think we've now finally discovered why we need one."

As Modell, explained: "Most of the threat to the bitcoin world seems to come from regulators and banks. For lack of clear guidance, we do not know why banks are closing accounts. Banks may have decided that bitcoins for now are not worth the hassle of filings necessary or the associated taint," he says. "If there are no regulatory issues that prevent our doing work with bitcoin firms, then to us the bitcoin wolf looks like a playful puppy."

In the U.S., credit unions are required to verify the identity of the people they do business with (so-called "know-your-customer" laws), especially if they are acting as money service businesses. They're also required to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) to the government. But, Modell argues, this doesn't mean they can't lend a hand.

"We understand the need for SARs," Modell says. "And of course every activity over $10 000 is reported. But, subject to what regulators and council tells us, we do not think this added burden is enough to keep us from helping the bitcoin world."

After talking with people at the conference, Modell says he's identified some of the needs of the community. Assuming they get approval from their lawyers and regulators, Modell says the Internet Archive Federal Credit Union would like to help both the people who are setting up bitcoin exchanges and those who want to do business with them, navigating them through the regulatory landscape by setting up accounts that follow know-your-customer laws.

Modell would also like to work to set up low-cost, overnight transfers between bitcoin exchanges and the bank accounts of their customers. This would be a much cheaper alternative to wire transfers, which can cost more than forty dollars each.

Finally, Modell says the credit union may extend credit lines up to $5000 to individuals that are investing in bitcoin through these exchanges.

His hope is to help the bitcoin players who want to come into compliance do so at a low cost. "Honestly, I'm excited. And I think bitcoins can immediately co-exist now in a fiat-centric world," explained Modell in an email. "I just worry that those wishing to push boundaries too far and too fast might break the system by bringing on a backlash of regulation. Most regulators that I have met on my journey are real people with an understanding and care for the industry. But there is a saying: No regulator ever got called before Congress for saying no. I always want to work with, not try to bulldoze anyone on either side of the equation."

Photo Credit: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images

If the United States is to produce more engineering grads, universities will need to adopt creative approaches to recruit and retain students in engineering programs.

Here’s one some universities are taking: adopting the ‘redshirt’ strategy common in college athletics and kindergarten. Redshirting means delaying participation to increase readiness. Applied to engineering programs, the idea is to give high school students extra time to prepare for an engineering degree.

The University of Colorado at Boulder’s engineering school spearheaded the academic redshirting concept with its GoldShirt program in 2009. The five-year curriculum allows high school students to spend the first year catching up on math, science, and humanities courses before tackling undergraduate engineering courses. The university reports that its first redshirt engineer will graduate summa cum laude this fall after 4.5 years. The program’s retention rate is similar to that of the engineering school’s other programs.

Following Colorado's lead, the University of Washington and Washington State University to collaboratively launch a redshirt program that will start this fall. The program, which is funded by a five-year National Science Foundation grant aimed to increase engineering and computer science retention rates, targets low-income students from under-served high schools.

From Inside Higher Ed:

Part of the problem for low-income engineering majors, Riskin said [Eve Riskin is associate dean of engineering at the University of Washington], is that “[i]f you’re at an underserved high school, there’s a lot of focus on helping the kids graduate … you can get all As [at an underserved school] and then you come here and you’re in for a big shock.”

The schools say that redshirt programs will promote diversity, and should help recruit motivated students who have the right stuff for engineering, but just need a stronger footing to start.

One of the biggest challenges that science, technology, engineering and math fields face is retaining students past the first two years. And one of the top reasons STEM students give for dropping out or switching majors is difficulty with math in introductory courses. An extra year to prep and catch up could be just what they need.

PHOTO: Washington State University

Anonymous sources face a huge challenge in leaking sensitive information to journalists without leaving a digital trail for government investigators to follow. The New Yorker aims to make anonymous leaks feel slightly more secure with its new "Strongbox" solution, but the system's security still ultimately depends upon the caution of its users.

The New Yorker's drop box allows sources to upload documents anonymously and provides two-way communication between sources and journalists, according to The Guardian.

Sources are able to upload documents anonymously through the Tor network onto servers that will be kept separate from the New Yorker's main computer system. Leakers are then given a unique code name that allows New Yorker reporters or editors to contact them through messages left on Strongbox.

Strongbox is based on an open-source, anonymous in-box system called DeadDrop—the brainchild of security journalist Kevin Poulsen and Internet pioneer and activist Aaron Swartz from almost two years ago. Poulsen described how Swartz had created a stable-enough version of the DeadDrop code by December 2012 for them to set a tentative launch date. On 11 January 2013, Swartz killed himself as he faced the possibility of a a 35-year prison sentence for downloading 4 million articles from the JSTOR academic database.

The Strongbox launch on 15 May comes at a time when the U.S. government has shown itself willing to go after information leakers—and possibly reporters—by any means necessary. The Associated Press has reported on how the Justice Department secretly obtained phone logs used by AP editors and reporters. In another case, a Fox News chief correspondent may face criminal charges for reporting on a classified CIA analysis of North Korea provided by a source in the State Department.

Such relentless pursuit of information leaks presents both sources and journalists with several huge challenges. Sources want an easy, secure way to share information anonymously with news organizations. Journalists want the same thing, but also have the additional worries of needing to verify the information and get in contact with the source.

Thus far, online tools represent an easy but insecure way for anonymous sources to share sensitive information with journalists. Solutions such as Strongbox can help make anonymous leaks more secure, but security comes at the price of making the sharing process more cumbersome—a possible deterrent for would-be sources. For instance, Strongbox's use of the Tor network helps protect the identities of people uploading files. But the Tor system can prove tricky for novice computer users to install and navigate, according to several experts quoted by Knight-Mozilla's Source news.

The balance between security and ease-of-use also emerges in Strongbox's communication scheme. Security would depend upon "perfect operational discipline" by both the anonymous source and journalists, says Jacob Harris, a senior software architect at the New York Times, in an email published by Knight-Mozilla's Source news.

"A perfect communication system would be slow and onerous to use, and both sides might be tempted to bypass it and talk via other channels. In short, people are generally the source of security lapses, and we can’t forget that here."

Digital drop boxes have faced uncertainty since the height of Wikileaks' success in 2010, The Guardian points out. The Wall Street Journal's SafeHouse drop box that launched in 2011 faced criticism for glitches that could compromise the anonymity of sources. The New York Times considered a similar online tool in 2011 but did not proceed with the plan. And Al Jazeera's drop box has yet to lead to any huge leaks. Maybe that's because, at the end of the day, no system is foolproof. That's probably the rationale behind the final line in the New Yorker's privacy promise regarding Strongbox: "The system is provided on an 'as is' basis, with no warranties or representations, and any use of it is at the user's own risk."

So the challenge of ensuring security for anonymous leakers remains. But the New York Times's Harris suggested that news organizations may want to put just as much focus on making it easier for sources not as concerned about anonymity to pass along information. He pointed to Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst facing possible life in military prison for leaking classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks. In that case, Manning had previously failed to find a way to hand over his digital documents to the Washington Post, New York Times, and Politico.

Photo: okeyphotos/iStockphotos

Earlier this month, Stanford University’s Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) wrapped up a six-month contest for Stanford students, faculty, and alumni. The group awarded US $150,000 in prizes to the best entrepreneurial ventures, the best social ventures, and the best products demonstrated in a design showcase. This year, AWAIR, a medical device company that builds more comfortable breathing apparatuses for intensive care units, won the top prize in the entrepreneurial category; Anjna Patient Education, a nonprofit that developed SMS and voice systems for mobile devices that encourage patients to take better care of their health, took the social category; and ALICE, an AI tool to help construction managers schedule the myriad elements of a project, won the best product design.

The first two categories are judged essentially on their ideas, as pitched to the judges in writing and in oral presentations. But in the final category, product design, the entrants had to build something and demonstrate it at a product showcase held at Stanford this week. I confess, I didn’t get to all 50 booths; I stayed away from things like personalized wedding marketplaces, collapsible clothes hangers, and magnetic hair clips. I instead focused on things with an electrical or computer engineering angle that seemed to either be particularly useful or particularly weird. That still left plenty to look at. My five favorites included a company that uses the heat from a cooking fire to charge a cell phone, one that is using image processing algorithms to take signals from an existing land mine detector (basically just beeps) and turn them into rough sketches of what is under the ground, a company that is making a simple Bluetooth speaker sound much better than it seems like it should for the size and price by taking a room's acoustics into account, an activity tracker that lets pets get into the quantified self game, and a bracelet to let folks reach out and literally touch someone across the ether.

Flamestower . In the developing world, many people own cell phones and other mobile devices, but don’t have ready access to electricity, paying exhorbitant rates at commercial charging stations in order to use their mobile devices. Flamestower’s founders took a look at that problem, and figured out that what people in those situations all have are cooking fires. So they designed a deceptively simple gizmo to turn that cooking heat into electricity. It only generates 2.5 watts, but that’s enough to charge a cell phone through the built in USB connection. Founder Adam Kell plans to market the gadget for $15 in the developing world, but thinks he’ll also find a market for a $60 version designed for campers in the developed world.