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Electronic
Xerox develops silver ink to usher in new era of low cost printable electronics
By Darren Quick
01:35 October 28, 2009 PDT
Silicon is the main substrate used for the integrated circuits found in almost all electronic equipment available today. However, silicon could soon be replaced by plastic, film or even fabrics, with Xerox scientists developing a low-temperature silver ink that they say paves the way for the commercialization and low-cost manufacture of printable electronics. This process will offer manufacturers an inexpensive way to add “intelligence” or computing power to a wide range of surfaces to produce things like electronic clothing and cheap games. Read More
Plastic Logic QUE proReader set for CES launch
By Jeff Salton
04:21 October 27, 2009 PDT
Plastic Logic has flagged the unveiling of its business user focused QUE proReader eReader at CES next January. The company says the eReader market to date has focused on leisure reading devices and casual users, so the QUE is designed for the busy executive who wants to access his or her business media in an electronic easy-to-read format. What this amounts too is an eReader roughly the same size as an 8.5 x 11-inch pad of paper, less than 1/3 inch thick, weighing less than many periodicals and boasting the largest touchscreen in the industry. Read More
Really green power - running an electric circuit from trees
By Darren Quick
22:45 September 8, 2009 PDT
Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have taken the term ‘green power’ literally by running an electric circuit from the power generated by trees. Sure, there isn’t much electrical power to harness, but the researchers say it should be enough to run wireless sensors that could be used to detect environmental conditions or forest fires and could also be used to gauge a tree’s health. Read More
Newly-developed 'graphone' makes spintronic devices closer than ever
19:29 September 3, 2009 PDT
A team of researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University, Peking University in Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Science, and Tohoku University in Japan has designed a new graphite-based magnetic nanomaterial that behaves as a semiconductor and could prove very important for ongoing research in the field of spintronics. Read More
Organic molecule sandwich may satisfy appetite for molecule-sized electronic components
By Darren Quick
21:37 August 27, 2009 PDT
Researchers have found a way of sandwiching organic molecules between silicon and metal that could allow the creation of electronic switches made from individual molecules. Using molecules as switches carries the promise of even smaller electronic components that can be produced cheaply in huge numbers, perform faster than their larger silicon brethren, and use only a fraction of their energy. Read More
Robotic gaming gets on a roll
By Darren Quick
00:42 August 26, 2009 PDT
Robots have uses beyond packaging, production lines and the imminent overthrowing of humanity - or at least South African/U.S. start up Robonica thinks so. It’s aiming to ‘redefine the entertainment robotics market’ with a line of robotic gaming products that fuse elements of robotics, remote controlled vehicles and electronic gaming. The core of the Robonica’s introductory product, Roboni-i Action Games, is a fully programmable remote controlled robot with sensors that make it aware of its environment and that enable it to interact with other robots. Read More
Oregon Scientific’s +ECO Clima Control solar powered weather station
By Darren Quick
01:36 July 8, 2009 PDT
Oregon Scientific’s solar powered +ECO Clima Control weather station allows users to monitor the temperature and humidity in up to four locations within the home and outdoors and includes weather predictions on the best time for the unit to soak up the sun’s rays. 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
New ‘electronic glue’ promises cheaper semiconductors
By Darren Quick
00:47 June 23, 2009 PDT
A new “electronic glue” for nanocrystals developed by researchers at the University of Chicago and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory promises to accelerate advances in semiconductor-based technologies, including solar cells and thermoelectric devices. Read More
RoBeDo's latest 'just-add-netbook' robot
By Darren Quick
01:32 June 12, 2009 PDT
RoBe:Do Robotics has rolled its latest software-ready autonomous robot off the production line at its Colorado home base. Like its first two robotic offerings, RoBe:Do’s third robot, aptly named “Three”, comes fully assembled and ready for you to add the netbook of your choice to act as the robot’s brain... and making and delivering popcorn could be just the tip of the iceberg for this bot. Read More
New OLED lamp shines on … and on
By Darren Quick
01:12 June 9, 2009 PDT
With their impressive energy efficiency, flat form and incandescent brightness, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) look to be a shoo-in as the next generation of lighting. Although the limited lifespan of the organic materials used in OLEDs has posed problems. Scientists around the globe have been toiling away to find ways to overcome this drawback and now South Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has developed a white OLED lamp that has a lifetime of 10,000 hours – 20 percent longer than existing fluorescent lamps. Read More
Scientists defy gravity with metal that pumps liquid uphill
By Darren Quick
01:42 June 4, 2009 PDT
Gravity can make it difficult to move liquid uphill but scientists at the University of Rochester have created a simple slab of metal that does exactly that using the same wicking process that trees employ to pull vast amounts of water from their roots up to their leaves. The metal could be used to pump microscopic amounts of liquid around a medical diagnostic chip, cool a computer's processor or turn almost any simple metal into an anti-bacterial surface. Read More
Putting the squeeze on crystals could see an end to computer boot stages
By Darren Quick
01:36 May 15, 2009 PDT
Nobody likes staring at a screen while they wait for their computer to boot up. Sure, you can spend those few minutes making a cup of coffee or ferreting the dirt out from under your fingernails, but if you’re raring to go those few minutes can be a frustrating waste of time. This could soon be a thing of the past however, thanks to a clever materials science technique that may allow a new class of electronic devices that remember their last state, even after power is turned off. Read More
Sony Electronics launches retail e-recycling initiative
By David Greig
19:02 April 27, 2009 PDT
Sony Electronics has launched the GreenFill recycling service, an extension of its Take Back program using in-store drop-boxes for the collection of unwanted portable electronics good - around 80% of which currently end up in landfill. Read More
Cisco Linksys Media Hub promises intelligent multimedia management
By Karen Sprey
17:25 April 20, 2009 PDT
‘Whatever you want – wherever and whenever you want it' is pretty much today’s philosophy, especially when it comes to music, movies and photos. We’re used to getting our content at the click of a mouse, button or scroll-wheel and it's this kind of flexibility and simplicity of access that Cisco's Linksys Media Hub aims to bring to personal media collections, delivering up to a terabyte of storage capacity backed by an intuitive interface and remote access functionality. Read More
Homeowners getting the energy conservation message
By Darren Quick
04:00 April 17, 2009 PDT
When it comes to buying consumer electronics, we are factoring energy efficiency into our choices in a bid to cut our household energy consumption, a new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has found. Read More
Smart Animals Scanopedia teaches kids about animals while they have fun
By Paul Best
23:37 April 13, 2009 PDT
If you have kids of your own, you’ll know instinctively the easiest way to encourage little ’uns to learn is through engagement and interaction. Toymakers know this, too, and have been quick to use various technologies to develop new lines of educative products. The Discovery Channel-branded Smart Animals Scanopedia, an electronic talking animal encyclopedia, joins the growing list of electronic toys that try to both teach and entertain. Read More
Shimano's Dura-Ace Di2 electronic shifting to give road racers a time advantage
By Paul Best
01:18 April 8, 2009 PDT
Japanese bike component manufacturer Shimano seems to have the pro-cycling world in a bit of a spin with its newly launched electronic Dura-Ace road racing components. It’s still early days but already the Dura-Ace Di2 – which stands for digital integrated intelligence – is receiving favorable reviews, with talk of significantly slicker, cleaner gear changes and one expert opinion describing the electronic component series as “revolutionary”. Read More
Terotech
- November 21, 2009 @ 19:38 UTC
