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Innovations
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07-22-2015, 08:06 AM
Indeed, not long ago LG showed off a 55-inch OLED display that is so thin it can stick to a wall using nothing more than a magnet, as well as an 18-inch screen that can be rolled, just like the one inside the pen. And that’s just a taste of what’s around the bend.
08-27-2015, 12:52 AM
A startup is building a force- and touch-sensitive pad the size of a small tablet computer to serve as your next drum machine, QWERTY keyboard, painting canvas, or something else entirely. Sensel wants its iPad-sized gadget, called the Sensel Morph, to be used as an alternative to a keyboard, mouse, or typical touch screen for all kinds of interactions with computers or tablets. The Morph Aims to Be a Giant Leap Forward for Touch Surfaces | MIT Technology Review
08-31-2015, 02:19 AM
Scientists are forever keen to get tiny robots working inside our bodies, despite pop culture warning us against the idea. Researchers from UC San Diego have joined the fray with a new idea: "microfish" robots that could one day "swim" through your bloodstream and cleanse toxins. The team devised a 3D-printing method called "microscale continuous optical printing," that let them create hundreds of fish-shaped bots thinner than a hair in just a few seconds. The printer is capable of creating custom shapes and adding nanoparticles that perform different functions, thanks to millions of micromirrors that project UV light onto photosensitive materials.
09-08-2015, 09:43 PM
Researchers at Kogakuin University (Tokyo, Japan) have prototyped a transparent Li-ion battery that can charge itself by sunlight. Using materials that are already generally used in making Li-ion batteries, the researchers were able to achieve near transparency by reducing the thickness of the battery's positive and electrodes to only 80 and 90 nm, respectively. When exposed to sunlight, the battery becomes slightly tinted, reducing green light transmittance to about 30%; after discharge, transmittance rises to about 60%. Smart2.0 - Solar-charged transparent Li-ion battery promises 'smart windows'
10-14-2015, 09:01 PM
A photography startup is building a camera that shoves the picture-taking power of a big DSLR camera and several detachable lenses into a gadget roughly the size of a paperback. Light, based in Palo Alto, California, plans to start taking preorders for its L16 camera on Wednesday for $1,699, though some would-be customers may pause when they learn it won’t ship to them until late next summer.Startup Is Making a Compact 52-Megapixel Camera | MIT Technology Review
11-23-2015, 12:11 AM
A group of researchers led by Dr Ravinder Dahiya at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, has found a way to produce large sheets of graphene, borrowing materials from the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. The cost of this substrate, which directly relates to the cost-of-production of the graphene itself, is around 1/100th of the material previously used. Graphene has been hailed as a 'wonder material' since it was first isolated from graphite in 2004. Graphene is just a single atom thick but it is flexible, stronger than steel, and capable of efficiently conducting heat and electricity. Researchers cut cost of graphene production - Electronics Eetimes Researchers from Rice University (Houston, Texas) have prepared a research paper on Flatcam, a camera system that replaces lenses with a coded mask and computation. The Flatcam has similarities to lensless image sensor being developed by Rambus, which replaces the lens in a conventional camera with a diffraction grating and computation (see Rambus develops lensless image sensor for IoT). However, the Flatcam does provide a complete optical reconstruction of the given scene, while the Rambus system does not as it is intended for use by machines. Rice University reports no-lens camera - Electronics Eetimes
You have to see the demonstration (via the link), it's really cool Companies have been promising us futuristic, paper-like displays since forever, but so far we remain unimpressed. The ReFlex, a prototype flexible smartphone from Queens University is tantalizingly close to what we've been waiting for, though. To build it, the team mated a 720p flexible LG OLED display to bend sensors and haptic feedback motors. Powering the device is an Android 4.4-powered board, complete with custom drivers, placed in the non-flexible part beside the display. Bending the device will flip through the pages of an e-book, and the more you bend, the faster it flips. With allegedly sensational driving range and performance, the Quantino and Quant FE electromobiles from startup company Nanoflowcell already made headlines. The company now showcases the vehicles in a near-series version at the Geneva Motor Show – but with a completely new business model. With features like large driving range and short tank stops, Nanoflowcell attacks the existing electromobility paradigm at its weakest points: The company claims driving ranges of 1000 kilometres for vehicles equipped with its electrolyte-based liquid battery, twice as much as the currently most advanced battery-operated e-cars. And with a simple refill process at a kind of gas station that would not require significantly more time than filling the tank of a gasoline or diesel vehicle, the usability barrier of existing electromobility through lengthy charging stops would be cleared away. Alternative to Li-ion batteries ready for series deployment? | Electronics EETimes “Our goal is not manufacturing these vehicles in series production”, a spokesperson explained EE Times Europe. “They (the vehicles) are ready to enter production, but we intend to market the flow cell technology”, adding that the company has something like a franchise model in mind. “The system could be integrated in any electric car”, the spokesperson said. With its properties, the Nanoflowcell system would beat conventional lithium-ion batteries, the spokesperson claimed: “Since it is based on liquids, it can easily be customised to any type of vehicle, be it a city car or a large sedan,” he said. “We are the alternative to lithium-ion.” Alternative to Li-ion batteries ready for series deployment? | Electronics EETimes
03-10-2016, 10:50 PM
An Israeli startup is making glasses with lenses that can automatically adjust their optical power in real time, which may be a boon to people with age-related trouble focusing on nearby objects and could also be helpful for making virtual reality less nauseating.
03-11-2016, 11:47 PM
The advantages of ball-shaped tyres are legion. Using them, an autonomous vehicle could move in any direction at any angle at any time, spinning the vehicle in place to turn around, making completely parallel lane changes, or crab-rolling sideways to parallel park in a tiny space after dropping its passengers. These manoeuvres are impossible to execute using a human/steering-wheel interface (which requires forward momentum to execute a turn), but with a robot in charge of a spherical tyre, just about anything is possible. |
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