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Electronics
K-box turns anything flat into a giant speaker
18:57 July 21, 2009 PDT
As personal music players like the iPod become ubiquitous, there’s another developing trend that’s even more insidious: the desire to share that music with everyone else. Miini speakers are flooding the market at the moment, but a new product called the Kerchoonz K-box promises to make even more noise. A compact, mobile-phone sized device, the K-box turns any flat surface – wall, table, window, ceiling – into a giant speaker. Read More
New Samsung Video Wall System manages up to 250 video displays
21:47 July 19, 2009 PDT
Samsung has released a new interactive video wall solution designed for markets requiring large-scale video display formats. The Ultra-Definition Display (UD) System displays information from up to 125 networked PCs and, using one control server, manages up to 250 video displays. Read More
Vikuiti Rear Projection Film turns shop windows into very big screen TVs
By Darren Quick
01:31 July 13, 2009 PDT
Taking a stroll through your average city shopping precinct will see you bombarded with a plethora of advertising messages. Making their particular message cut through the visual noise can be a tough prospect for advertisers and plain old billboards and static signs just don’t seem to cut the mustard anymore. Those looking to grab people’s attention might want to take a look at 3M’s Vikuiti Rear Projection Film, which can be laminated onto transparent glass or plastic to act as an eye-catching rear projection screen. Read More
Carefully choosing colors in OLED displays can prolong battery life
18:26 July 9, 2009 PDT
Researchers from the Simon Fraser University in Canada have developed two different color maps for organic LEDs that, thanks to an appropriate choice of colors and by exploiting characteristics of human perception, can consume up to 40 percent less power and could be used to increase battery life for a wide range of portable devices. Read More
Quantum computer closer: Optical transistor made from single molecule
23:51 July 6, 2009 PDT
Quantum photonics is a particularly attractive field to scientists and engineers alike in that it could, once some core issues have been resolved, allow for the production of integrated circuits that operate on the basis of photons instead of electrons, which would in turn enable considerably higher data transfer rates as well as dramatically reduced heat dissipation. Now in yet another important achievement on the road to quantum computing, researchers from ETH Zurich have managed to create an optical transistor from a single molecule. Read More
Printable batteries to make light work of embedded electronics
18:44 July 6, 2009 PDT
The main problems with today's battery technology is that, despite gradual advancements in recent years, cells are still too big, heavy and expensive, making them impractical for the many applications in which weight or price play an essential role. Researchers at the Fraunhofer research facility in Germany, however, have taken a radically different approach towards the building process and have developed an incredibly light, thin and inexpensive battery that could - if such a thing is possible - end up bringing even more electronics into our everyday life. Read More
Energi To Go range promises portable power for almost any gadget
By Mick Webb
17:45 July 5, 2009 PDT
Energizer has teamed with XPAL Power for its new “Energi To Go” range and hardly a niche has been left uncatered for, with a portable iPhone shaped charger, solar powered units and even a USB powered charger that connects directly to DSLR batteries. Read More
First electronic quantum processor points to new era in computing
16:32 July 1, 2009 PDT
A team of researchers at Yale University has managed to create a rudimentary all-electronic quantum processor that can perform simple algorithms, in what many see as an important step towards making quantum computing a reality. The processor can perform a few simple tasks, which have been demonstrated before with single nuclei, atoms and even photons, but this is the first time that such tasks have been performed in an all-electronic device that looks and feels much like a regular microprocessor. Read More
Edge Tech Corp's DiskGo USB Flash drive hits 128GB
By Tim LeFevre
22:41 June 30, 2009 PDT
Over the last few years USB Flash drives have increased considerably in capacity and come down in price. Keeping the trend going is Edge Tech Corp with two new additions to its stable - the 128GB DiskGO and the tiny DiskGO Backup USB Flash drive. Read More
Light Tape: bending light... and other applications
By Jeff Salton
19:48 June 30, 2009 PDT
Think of a light bulb you can wrap around your finger or roll-out to create a display that would rival the Griswalds' efforts in Christmas Vacation. Light Tape is an extremely flexible lighting strip that has seemingly more applications than LED or neon lighting systems. Thinner than a credit card, and with a bend radius of 2mm, Light Tape can go just about anywhere – indoors and outdoors. It’s even wearable. Read More
10x better? Juniper Networks launches industry’s first 100Gbs Ethernet card
By Alan Brandon
21:19 June 24, 2009 PDT
Juniper Networks has announced what it says is the industry's first 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100 GbE) router interface card, which will be offered as part of Juniper's T1600 core router. The 100 GbE card is designed to address what the company calls the “new generation of scale” coming to core networks. Telecommunications providers, cloud-infrastructure companies, and other organizations rolling out large-scale virtualization face ever increasing demands on their networks. The 100 GE interface will provide an order of magnitude increase over most current interfaces. Read More
CATSi - the world's smallest GPS, GSM and RF tracking device
By Darren Quick
01:46 June 24, 2009 PDT
The CATSi, (pronounced cat's eye), is designed to track almost anything, from pets and people through to cars, trucks and motorbikes. Although we’ve seen plently of GPS trackers before, CATS-i is touting the its new product as the world’s smallest, thinnest and most covert GPS, GSM and RF tracking device ever. This means the device can be used in products that have previously been inaccessible to GPS tracking - little Jimmy should have a hard time detecting a CATSi sewn into his jacket for example. Read More
Pop-up buttons the future of touchscreens?
By Mick Webb
19:47 June 23, 2009 PDT
“Eyes-free” mobile phone dialing may be a not-too-distant reality. Hot on the heels of Google recently announcing its experimental Android powered interface comes this prototype from Carnegie Mellon University featuring pop-out buttons on a touch-screen which allow you to tap away without keeping a close eye on the screen. Read More
Stickers may lead to stretchable electronics
17:08 June 19, 2009 PDT
Wrinkling, blisters and delamination on stickers applied to curved or bendable surfaces are usually an annoyance, but examining this phenomena has led researchers to a new, powerful approach to fabricating stretchable electronics that could pave the way to the production of components with very high mechanical resistance. Read More
Sharp introduces color changing LED light bulbs
By Jude Garvey
22:47 June 17, 2009 PDT
When it comes to choosing light globes these days, energy-conscious consumers have a multitude of choice. Both CFL bulbs and LED bulbs offer energy-efficient lighting and whilst they seem expensive at first, you realize they will save you money in the long term. However, a less appealing feature of LED globes is the bright, white light they emit, not particularly compatible with creating a warm, romantic feel in your home. That may be about to change. Sharp Corporation has just announced an LED globe that includes a remote-controlled, adjustable-color function and a dimmer. Read More
Long sought-after material could revolutionize electronics
20:29 June 16, 2009 PDT
How often do you find yourself with a portable computer burning up on your lap with strange noises coming from your fan? Thanks to a recent research conducted at Stanford University, bismuth telluride — a new, easy-to-manipulate material with unique electrical properties — could make computer fans a distant memory while allowing for much faster and power-efficient devices. Move over electronics - here comes spintronics. Read More
Human ear inspires 'super-radio' design
18:36 June 15, 2009 PDT
The human body is a fascinating, well-oiled machine forged and perfected by hundreds of millions of years of evolution. So, when two MIT researchers were looking for a highly efficient design for a spectrum analysis chip, they turned to one of the most efficient designs in nature — the human inner ear — with outstanding results that will bring us 'smart radios' and transmitters capable of adaptively maximizing bandwidth and data transmission rates across all fields of communication. Read More
Pioneer makes AVIC in-car navigation easier on the eye
23:32 June 14, 2009 PDT
Concentrating on improved functionality, visual clarity and ease-of-use for the driver, Pioneer Electronics' latest update to its AVIC range of navigation systems offer a variety of screen views, pop-up highway signs for major junctions, on-screen info designed for ‘at-a-glance’ reading and more than 1300 3-D icons of major landmarks. Read More
Shrinking displays, growing resolution
By Darren Quick
01:13 June 12, 2009 PDT
While most of the focus is on bigger and bigger displays, microdisplay manufacturer, Kopin, has gone in the opposite direction, producing the world’s smallest 600 x 480 resolution VGA color-filter LCD. The tiny display, which measures just 0.27-inches diagonally, was made possible by shrinking the color dots down to a mere 2.9 x 8.7µm (microns) - to put that in perspective a strand of human hair is about 100 microns wide. Read More
Lithium-sulfur batteries could store triple the power of lithium-ion
06:11 June 10, 2009 PDT
A Canadian research team led by Dr. Linda Nazar has synthesized a prototype of a lithium-sulphur rechargeable battery that, thanks to its peculiar nanoscale structure, can store three times the power of a conventional lithium-ion battery in the same volume while being significantly lighter and potentially cheaper to manufacture. Read More
USB 3.0 explained: How the next-generation USB will reach speeds of 4.8 Gbit/s
23:53 June 9, 2009 PDT
Scheduled to hit the consumer market in 2010, USB 3.0 — also known as SuperSpeed USB — will deliver a tenfold improvement in data transfer rates while retaining backward compatibility with previous versions and adding new features that will make this communication standard all the more essential to the average consumer. But, speed aside, what changes is the next version of this popular standard going to bring? Read More
Mass production of flexible electronics inches closer to reality
23:36 June 4, 2009 PDT
Researchers at Stanford University have discovered a more reliable way of printing semiconducting organic compounds which also delivers improved performance - a breakthrough which could finally pave the way for the mass production of plastic electronics. Read More
PowerFlare LED safety lights offer safe alternative to chemical emergency flares
By Alan Brandon
16:44 June 3, 2009 PDT
PowerFlare’s PF-200 electronic LED safety light is not your average roadside flare. Invented by Ken Dueker, a former police officer and PowerFlare’s CEO, the PowerFlare PF-200 replaces chemical flares with a reusable, non-combusting alternative. Each PF-200 features a 360-degree LED array protected by a ruggedized plastic housing that can withstand the weight of a fire truck. Read More
Sneak peek at Pixel Qi's first 3Qi hybrid display
By David Greig
18:56 June 1, 2009 PDT
Pixel Qi has given a glimpse of its 3Qi hybrid display that combines three separate modes: black-and-white, e-paper and full-color. The 3Qi is planned for release in late-2009 and will feature a 10.1-inch diagonal screen suited for mini-laptops and ebook readers. Read More
Philips ColorReach Powercore LED architectural floodlighting
By David Greig
18:30 May 28, 2009 PDT
Billed as the first LED fixture powerful enough to illuminate large-scale facades and structures, Philips' ColorReach Powercor high-performance architectural floodlight can project light over 500 feet while using 70% less power than the metal halide fixtures... and producing more light. Read More
John Wassner
- November 27, 2009 @ 01:40 UTC
