Gizmodo: general electric

GE Makes Holographic Storage Breakthrough For Cheap(er) 500GB Discs

John Mahoney — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:39:00 EDT

~~Sheinhardt Wigs~~ GE engineers have announced a breakthrough in the formerly retardedly-expensive field of holographic storage: by making the holograms smaller, they can squeeze 500GB on standard-sized optical discs.

And the even cooler part is that the base tech will be very similar to the laser systems used to read CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs today, so the new holographic-enhanced players and drives would still be backwards compatible with previous optical discs.

Still quite a while until this approaches the realm of a product, but it's good to know about the next stupid format war this will surely spawn well before it happens! [NYTimes]

New GE Light Within a Light Is Like Ship In a Bottle

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:20:00 EST

General Electric's new Energy Smart CFL.fluorescent light is one of those things that makes you scratch your head and wonder: How the hell do they do that? A fluorescent spiral lamp into a traditional bulb?

John Strainic, global product general manager, won't say. He just says that the manufacturing process is the result of "very advanced patents". As you can see in the video, the fluorescent spiral is housed inside the typical incandescent light bulb glass—which will be frosted in the final version—along with the necessary electronics to make it work.

It seems to me like the typical looks-cool-but-I-don't-know-if-it's-useful-or-what invention that may take the market by storm or sit on shelves gathering dust forever. It will be available at Target and selected Ace Hardware stores next January, and around "Earth Day 2009" (which in case you didn't know—like me—is April 22) everywhere else. [GE Lighting]

GE's Battery-Free Sensor is a Breakthrough in RFID Technology

Sean Fallon — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:50:00 EDT

GE's new battery-free sensor could be just the kick in the pants RFID needs to start living up to its potential. The platform uses a conventional RFID tag coated with a chemically or biologically sensitive film that draws power wirelessly from a handheld reading device. Naturally, eliminating on-board batteries means that manufacturers can make smaller sensors (as you can see in the image above) at a lower cost. So, with any luck, this technology will lead to new tracking and info-swapping applications across a wider range of industries. [Gizmag]

GE-Branded Digital Cameras On the Way to Already-Overcrowded Me-Too Market

Charlie White — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:01:21 EST

As if we didn't already have enough digital camera brands, now GE has decided to enter into the fray, licensing its name to the General Imaging Company for a line of digital cameras to be rolled out in three weeks at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA, March 8-11) convention in Las Vegas. That's right, GE, the company that makes locomotives, nuclear power plants, refrigerators, jet engines and TV shows, now wants into the digicam dodge, too. Oh happy day.

The GE-branded shooters will arrive in entry level and higher-end trim, starting at 7 megapixels with a 2.5-inch viewscreen and 3x optical zoom for the basic camera (pictured above), and moving up to 12 megapixels and 3-inch viewscreen for the fancier model. There will also be a photo printer along for the ride. No one's talking about prices yet, but we'll get our hands on the cameras in Vegas. – Charlie White

General Imaging Teaser Site [GE, via DP Review]

General Electric Vapor Tracer: An Electronic Bloodhound for Busting Druglords

Brian Lam — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 07:41:44 EDT

This, my friend, is the Vapor Tracer, a device being used in the drug wars to sniff out narcotics. Its nose is a mass spectrometry sensor, which finds little bags of cocaine in your ass by detecting the "mass-to-charge ratio of ions". Yeah, neither do we. Anyhow, it's the coolest of all the hardware in this BusinessWeek article about tech in the drug war.

The other cool picks include a portable substance identification lab; a giant Gamma Ray mounted on a truck for seeing into cargo bays of trucks (and turning drug mules green, strong and angry. ARGGG!!!); a 6.5 million dollar Predator drone with infrared cams; a crystal meth lab, and a sweet, sweet, indoor marijuana greenhouse. Picture of the greenhouse after the jump.– Brian Lam

In This War, Technology Is Key [Business Week]