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audiowrapz
iFrogz Audiowrapz for iPod Nano Coming to a WalMart Near You
Audiowrapz, those cool, silicon Nano cases with a passive speaker incorporated into the skin, are to go on sale at WalMart. Although you can already buy them in several colors for $25 online, the press release says they're going to be available in the stores in just black and pink for under $20. They'll be available on walmart.com early next month. [Press Release and iFrogz]
digital cameras
Your Digital Camera Is Obsolete: Japanese Image Sensor 100x More Sensitive Than Current Chips
Right now, your camera either has a CCD (most point and shoots) or a CMOS image sensor (lots of DSLRs) inside, which converts pretty pictures into an electrical signal. Japan's Research Center for Photovoltaics has developed a CIGS image sensor that's 100 times more light-sensitive than the silicon chip inside your cam. It's able to shoot in environments as dark as 0.001 lux, or about as dark as a "moonless clear night." Obviously, it'll be great for night vision gear, but it also picks up infrared, giving this some serious Sam Fisher applications. Check out the comparison shot between a CMOS and CIGS below, it's insane. Chen won't need that invisible coat, just a good zoom lens. More »
silicon
New Silicon Circuits Invented: Bendy, Stretchy, Rubbery
Scientists have made a discovery that makes silicon cool again: it can now be made into bendy chips. Stiff silicon devices are powerful, of course, but not the best fit for some situations such as advanced medical sensors. Now a team University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has worked out a way to stick 1.5 micron-thick layers of silicon onto rubbery plastic in a way that actually makes it stretchable. Check out the video to see elastic integrated circuits in action. More »
gadgets
Silicon Out, Graphene In?
Physicists at the University of Maryland have demonstrated that graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of graphite, has a greater ability to conduct electricity than any other known material at room temperature. In fact, electrons can travel up to 100 times faster in graphine than silicon, making it a likely candidate to replace it as a semiconductor material in devices like computer chips and sensors. More »
nanotechnology
Rough Nano-Wires Hold the Secret to Efficient Heat to Electricity Conversion
The latest edition of Nature magazine details a new method scientists have derived for converting heat energy into electricity, using silicon to instigate the conversion. Researchers have more investigations to carry out, but if preliminary findings are indicative of what is to come, appliances that charge using your own body heat may be on the horizon.More »
next-gen blu-ray tested
The Players: Panasonic DMP-BD30 ($500) and Sony PlayStation 3 with 2.1 firmware ($400 to $500)
The Movies: Fox's Sunshine and Sony Pictures' Resident Evil: Extinction
The Challenge: To find out what's so special about Blu-ray's BD Profile 1.1, also known as Full Standard Profile or just simply "Picture-In-Picture Enabled" More »
First Blu-ray BD Profile 1.1 Review (Verdict: Is That All?)
The Players: Panasonic DMP-BD30 ($500) and Sony PlayStation 3 with 2.1 firmware ($400 to $500)The Movies: Fox's Sunshine and Sony Pictures' Resident Evil: Extinction
The Challenge: To find out what's so special about Blu-ray's BD Profile 1.1, also known as Full Standard Profile or just simply "Picture-In-Picture Enabled" More »
1:00 AM on Fri Jan 4 2008
By Wilson Rothman
27,505 views,
45 comments
Latest by VishusBurn: @diverguy: "The reason they didn't just make the PS3 the only BD player and skip the stand alones is because 80-90% of the market doesn't give a crap about PS3's or Xbox's or any game console. In the eyes of more »
semiconductors
IBM Unleashes Photonic Supercomputer... On a Chip
Modern supercomputers are still at least 100 times faster than the crappy laptop you bought a week ago, and electrons are to blame. Today, IBM introduced a way to speed up the action on regular silicon chips by replacing the wiring with pulses of light, a technology called—what else?—silicon photonics. This method works for longer stretches requiring communication between cores, but it doesn't have a major impact in very tight spaces, so copper can still be used. This all may sound familiar, as it's essentially a teeny tiny version of today's fiberoptic networks. Now that you're kicking yourself about that laptop purchase, here's the good news: photonics won't be marketable on chips for another decade. [InfoWorld]
sharp
