Due to a number of important breakthroughs in the field of science and technology made it possible for New Energy Technologies to come up with its latest invention - the world's first glass window that can produce electricity.
The company was able to develop a glass window able to generate power using the world's smallest working organic solar cells.
These organic solar cells were created by Dr. Xiaomei Jiang at the University of South Florida, reports GreenDiary.
In contrast to the conventional solar systems, the solar cells developed by New Energy Technologies can produce power from both natural and artificial sources of light. These solar cells show a 10 times better performance than the solar and thin-film technologies used today.
Designer Kaitlyn Fox is the author of a device for people with hearing problems.
The gadget features a microphone and a built-in mini-computer. It is mounted on a pair of glasses and is able to record a person's speech and afterwards transform it into text that is displayed on the glasses.
Thus people who suffer from hearing loss can read the text and understand what other people are saying.
Fox's latest invention is called the EyeHear. This device makes use of special speech-to-text software that can convert spoken works into text. The latter is then displayed onto the bottom of the glasses' lens with the help of a small pico-projector. Everything is made in real-time.
Videotel V2200 DVD Player from Videotel is not just an ordinary DVD player - its most impressive feature is the ability to run 24 hours a day for five years.
The device comes with an 18 months warranty. It can auto start, skip unwanted commercials and menus and features an auto repeat function.
In case the main unit has problems, there will be no need to buy a new one - the user will only have to replace the internal loader for $ 168. The new loader can run for 3 to 5 years.
The Videotel V2200 DVD Player comes at a price of $ 286. But if you decided to place bulk order, you will pay $ 255.
The French cabin designer for Airbus Yelken Octuri has come up with an idea of creating a yacht that can fly. He wanted to make a vehicle that would combine his talent as an aircraft designer and his passion of the seas.
Despite the fact that the luxurious "Flying Yacht" is so far only a design and considered by most a science fiction, it gathered a lot of attention when it was exhibited at Paris' Air and Space Museum.
However, the designer's idea may not a far from being brought into life. Octuri has already been approached by several engineers and airplane designers who were willing to actually realize the concept.
Octuri says that his 46-meter "Flying Yacht" can turn into an airplane using its mobile masts. When it is on the water, the four 40-meters high mobile masts can be individually adjusted using a double-jack system, which ensures best possible positioning, regardless of wind direction.
In case the "Flying Yacht" needs to be transformed into a jetplane, the masts are lowered, thus becoming horizontal wings. A point to note is that onboard the "Flying Yacht" there is a lower deck that includes main room, kitchen and toilet, and the upper deck, featuring three plush bedrooms and a luxurious bathroom.
Recently Always Innovating has unveiled a device that really deserves a lot of attention.
The gadget is called Smart Book and the most interesting feature about this device is that can turn from a tablet into a netbook and vice-versa.
Apart from other devices like Fujitsu Lifebook T580 or Dell's Inspiron Duo tablet, the Smart Book from Always Innovating does not fold out or spins the display in order to turn into a handset or tablet.
The device features a removable screen that can be easily separated from the computer and become a tablet PC and a handset.
The tablet can be used for various purposes, including making VoIP phone calls. It is powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 processor with 512MB of RAM and 256MB of NAND flash storage. In addition, you get an 8G microSD card.
This Smart Book can run anything between Ubuntu Linux, Google Chrome or Android. You can view 720p HD videos on the device's 8.9 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.
The Smart Book also has WiFi, Bluetooth for connectivity and 3 separate batteries: 12000mAh battery found in the keyboard, 6000mAh and 1500mAh batteries located in the tablet and handset respectively.
Other than being a social network, Google+ has the potential to become a journal or blog, an educational tool and even a podcasting tool. In no particular order, here are a few creative ways that you can use Google+.
Use Google+ to keep a travel journal
With its location-aware feature, both in the browser and mobile app, Google+ is the ideal tool for travel writers and anyone who wants to keep a detailed record of their trips. Google+’s mobile app is particularly useful when it comes to travel writing. Snap a photo, attach your location, and share it with your followers instantly.
Google+ as a blog
The setup can be compared to Tumblr, where you can share different types of media with your circles. That said, certain features do need to be implemented for this to be worth your while, including a search function, and some sort of SEO functionality to ensure that traffic is driven to your blog. It’s probably safe to assume that this won’t be much of an issue for Google. Other features that could come in handy include Google Analytics integration and possibly even themed profiles.
Google+ as an educational tool
Google+’s hangout feature can also be pretty handy in a variety of scenarios. Students from universities all over the world could have an online study group or brainstorming session. If Twitter can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom, Google+ adds a vast amount of features that blow Twitter out of the water.
Teachers can create Circles that include students from any given class, and share reminders, information, assignments and more through Google+. It can also be used to encourage class participation in the same way that Twitter is used here. Circles make it easier than ever to share content with specific people, provided everyone has created an identical Circle of course.
Use Google+ to crowdsource
Once Google+ is open to the public, it has great potential to be used as a crowdsourcing platform. Circles are to Google+ what hashtags are to Twitter. Using Circles to keep the information organized or labeled, people can contribute links, photos, and videos on any given topic.
If Google+ was to implement public Circles, crowdsourcing could thrive on the site. Giving users the option to create public circles, and allowing others to follow or mirror them, this would make it incredibly easy for a large group of people to share information.
This kind of use will of course only be truly useful with certain features the site is in desperate need of including, ironically, search.
Google+ as a podcasting tool
Over at Phandroid, they’ve come up with a way to use Google+ to create video podcasts using Hangouts. Most blogs, The Next Web included, have international teams who rarely find themselves in the same room together. Google+ gives these kinds of teams an easy way to create an online video podcast to share with their readers.
Phandroid has shared detailed instructions on how to set it up. The first step is to create a private Hangout with each of the members involved in the podcast. With Google+’s current restrictions, you can have up to 10 people participate in the podcast, which is plenty.
Of course, in order to share the podcast with others, you have to record the video on your screen. Phandroid recommends Camtasia to get this done, but if you’d prefer to use free software, you can go with something like Jing.
If Google+ enabled private participation but public viewership of Hangouts, it gives bloggers, and just about anyone who wants to create an online discussion or panel, the vehicle to do so. A comment on Phandroid’s video suggests a “record to YouTube” feature, which would eliminate the need for software like Camtasia. The possibilities are endless.
With a feature like that, Google+ has the potential to be used as a live-blogging tool where users can leave comments on live video podcasts. I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds pretty cool.
If you want to see this in action, check out Phandroid’s video below:
Google+ as a bookmarking service
There are many great online bookmarking services that you might already be plugged into, like Diigo, Delicious or even Google Bookmarks. That said, Google+ can actually be used as a private or public bookmarking service, depending on your preference.
If you want to create a private space to save your bookmarks, simply go to your Circles and create a new one without adding anyone to it. You can then share links to that private circle, and browse your saved links by visiting the Circle’s page.
Again, this is another concept that will only really come into its own once Google+ has a search feature, after which labeling bookmarks in the description box will make it easy to categorize your links.
Get directions from your friends
To get the most out of this concept, it’s best to create a circle ahead of time with your local friends who you don’t mind sharing your location with.
If you’re out and about and become lost, you can share your location with your friends so they know exactly where you are. They can then give you exact directions, preferably on the phone and not on Google+, on how to get to where you want to go, without going to the trouble of describing where you are. As a plus, if they’re at a computer, there’s no harm in writing the directions for you. If you completely lack a sense of direction, like I do, I’m sure those extra details would be appreciated.
A new report published by the WSJ has revealed that Apple is currently looking at new ways to charge its six generation iPhone without the need for cables.
Its still unclear as to what method of iPhone charging Apple is working on, but induction charging might be a preferred way, allowing you to place your iPhone on a charging pad to top up your battery. This new method of charging and Apple’s new cloud storage might see the end of sync cables and docks.
Investors expect a bigger boost to Apple’s phone business next year. People briefed on Apple’s plans said the company is planning a major iPhone revamp then, with one person saying the company has been experimenting with features such as a new way of charging the phone.
Toshiba has unveiled its first glasses-free 3D laptop - the Toshiba Qosmio F750-10Q. Powered by Intel Core i7 CPU, the laptop features a lenticular glasses-free 3D display, a full HD 15.6-inch screen and eye-tracking technology based on a HD web camera that maintains the 3D effect while the user moves. Both 2D and 3D content can be displayed simultaneously and the Qosmio F750 comes with a built-in Blu-ray XL drive capable of burning 128GB disks.
The Qosmio F750-10Q utilizes a lenticular display, which projects two sets of images at the same time, splitting them between the left and right eye. The built-in webcam "intelligently tracks the user's eye movements, allowing the Qosmio F750-10Q to adjust the 3D effect to match the eye position," Toshiba says. According to Engadget's hands-on, the technology deals with the common glasses-free 3D gadgets' "sweet spot" problem well when being viewed by one person at a time.
The laptop is also capable of converting 2D DVD content into 3D in real time. The CPU is an Intel Core 2.0GHz i7-2630QM and there's a NVIDIA GeForce 540M GPU on board. The Qosmio F750 also features Harman Kardon stereo speakers, a HDMI port, 1 x USB 3.0 port, Bluetooth 3.0, 640GB (7200rpm) HDD and 6GB DDR3 (1333MHz) RAM. It measures 387.6 x 266.8 x 31.6 - 36.7 mm (15.2 x 10.5 x 1.2-1.4 inches) and weighs 2.9 kg (6.4 lbs).
Asus presented its yet to be released, glasses-free Asus ROG G53 3D PC during CeBIT fair in March 2011, but the Toshiba Qosmio F750 looks set to be the first glasses-free 3D laptop on the market. The laptop joins Toshiba's REGZA GL1 television in the company's line of glasses-free 3D devices.
Facebook today said it is teaming up with Skype to bring video chat capabilities to users of the world's largest social network.
In a press conference at the company's Palo Alto, Calif. headquarters this afternoon, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's co-founder, unveiled the video calling and group chat capabilities.
The announcements come nearly a week after Zuckerberg teased that the company was working on an "awesome" event.
"The video calling is so great and it's so easy," said Zuckerberg, who today also confirmed reports that Facebook has surpassed 750 million users. "Your least-technical friend is going to be able to get online with video chat and get connected. You'll connect with your friends on the social network that already has all your friends."
To start video calling now, visit http://www.facebook.com/videocalling and click Get Started.
Once you’ve clicked the button, Facebook will lead you through the process of starting to use Video Calling. First, you’ll need to install an app, this may require that you allow it in your browser.
Once you’ve got it installed, you can request a chat with any available friend by starting a chat and clicking on the video camera icon.
Your friend will need to install the Video Calling app as well, once they have, you can start chatting!
If your friend is unavailable, you can record a video message to let them know you tried to reach them.
Without a doubt, touchscreen technology has brought a whole new level of interaction with our devices. Israel's Efrat Barit and Saar Shai, however, believe that the functionality of touch-enabled devices could be greatly enhanced with the development of their Ringbow concept. Worn on the index finger, the ring-like device can be programmed to add extra capabilities to existing actions, activate entirely new touch options, or liberate the user's hands from the surface of the display for Kinect-like, spatial control over touchscreen device operation.
The evaluation prototype of the Ringbow concept is currently being issued to a limited number of application developers to test the kind of functionality and ergonomics destined for the production model. It communicates with a touchscreen device via Bluetooth and presently works only with the Android platform, but will be opened up for development on all touch-based platforms. It also looks a good deal chunkier than the product renderings on the company's website, but that's probably to be expected at this stage in the process.
To the side of the device and within easy reach of the thumb is a programmable 5-way directional control button. This can be used to add contextual flavors to existing touchscreen interaction, to toggle between menus or different interface displays, or to cater for the manipulation of virtual interface elements and their properties, or of offscreen visuals, and much more.
For example, the up, down, left, right and push inputs could be programmed to correspond to visual elements in a game or application, or add specific functionality to certain actions. Touching a point on the screen might open a browser, while touching the same point with the Ringbow activated might open the browser and head to a favorite site or simultaneously open a widget or app. Gamers needn't bother stretching for a weapon's magazine reload key, as this could be taken care of by the Ringbow.
The wireless nature of its connectivity also means that multi-touch input could be married with spatial gesture-based commands to improve performance and functionality, and certain interactions needn't require the user to touch the screen at all.
The current clip-on prototype sports a glowing strip to indicate device status and battery level, with charging undertaken via an onboard micro-USB port. Each Ringbow can be given its own unique ID so that different users can interact with the same touchscreen display, for collaborative work or multi-player gaming.
Although ultraviolet semiconductor diode lasers are widely used in data processing, information storage and biology, their applications have been limited by the lasers' size, cost and power. Now researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have overcome these problems by developing a new semiconductor nanowire laser technology that could be used to provide denser optical disc storage, superfast data processing and transmission and even to change the function of a living cell.
The breakthrough comes in the form of zinc oxide nanowire waveguide laser technology that the team says offers smaller sizes, lower costs, higher powers and shorter wavelengths than the current generation of ultraviolet lasers based on gallium nitride.
Until now, zinc oxide nanowires couldn't be used in real world light emission applications because of the lack of p-type (positive type) material needed by all semiconductors. Jianlin Liu, a professor of electrical engineering, and his colleagues solved this problem and created the p-type material by doping the zinc oxide nanowires with a metalloid element known as antimony.
They connected the p-type zinc oxide nanowires with n-type (negative type) zinc oxide material to form a device called a p-n junction node, that when powered by a battery results in highly directional laser light being emitted from the ends of the nanowires.
"People in the zinc oxide research community throughout the world have been trying hard to achieve this for the past decade," Liu said. "This discovery is likely to stimulate the whole field to push the technology further."
The team says the discovery could have a wide range of impacts. Because ultraviolet has a shorter wavelength than other lights, such as red used to read DVDs and violet used to read Blu-ray discs (even though Blu-ray lasers are referred to as "blue" they are in the violet range), the zinc oxide nanowires could be used to create denser optical disc storage.
The discovery also has applications in the fields of biology and medical therapeutics. Since the ultra-small laser light beam from a nanowire laser can penetrate a living cell, it could be used to excite the cell or change its function. It could also be used to purify drinking water.
Meanwhile, in the field of photonics, the ultraviolet light could provide superfast data processing and transmission and could also lead to the development of ultraviolet wireless communication technology, which is potentially better than state-of-the-art infrared communications technologies currently used in various electronic information systems.
Although the team has demonstrated the p-type doping of zinc oxide and electrically powered nanowire waveguide lasing in the ultraviolet range, Liu admits more work still needs to be done with the stability and reliability of the p-type material.
Even though tablet computers are flying off the shelves at quite a pace, less-than-satisfying onscreen keyboard input can lead many to seek a more comfortable alternative. Scosche Industries has released a water-resistant, wireless solution which can be rolled-up so that, like the folding Bluetooth keyboards we've seen, it can easily be taken along for the ride.
Compatible with Windows, Android, Mac OS X and iOS operating platforms, the 12.4 x 4.44 x 0.43-inch (315 x 113 x 11 mm) freeKEY silicone keyboard has a wireless Bluetooth 2.0 range of up to 30 feet (10 meters) and once paired with a device, there should be no need to re-pair.
The keyboard surface reminds of the kind of spongy keys you'd find on a ZX Spectrum way back when, and to its left is a rectangular block that contains the Li-ion battery, power switch and mini-USB charging port. On the top of this block, there's a connect button flanked on either side by LED status and charge indicators.
The roll-up, splash-proof freeKEY comes shipped with a retractable USB charging cable and costs US$59.99.
While most phones are getting smaller and being crammed with non-phone functionality, the "Sixty" cordless phone from French company Sagemcom harks back to an earlier age of domestic communications ... with an injection of 21st Century design and technology.
The Sixty delivers a new twist on the 1960's Bakelite telephone by transforming the stocky rotary form into a folded, slimline design and adding a digital time fascia and capacitive touchscreen. The non-retro functionality includes hands-free calling, caller ID, 150 name and number phone book, phone conferencing, multiple languages, and an integrated digital answer machine.
The drilling bell tone of yore has been replaced with more modern polyphonic ringtones, although these include a reproduction of the original "ring ring" for those who want to retain some of the old-skool feel. There's also rotating lights and sound effects during dialing.
Fiddling with small buttons or touchscreens on your mobile device when you're running, riding a bike or even just crossing the street can be a frustrating – and dangerous – endeavor. NEC is looking to solve this dilemma by developing a system that enables users to operate devices by just tapping their arm. The ArmKeypad is made up of acceleration sensors worn on each wrist that determine the area of the arm tapped by a user and translate this into different input commands via a Bluetooth link.
Announced by NEC and spied at Interaction 2011 by DigInfo TV, the system can detect whether the arm has been tapped by the left or right hand or if the user has clapped their hands. It can measure the strength of the tapping vibration and the tap's location on the arm.
One of the obvious applications is to control music while running allowing the user to stop and start the music, adjust the volume and select tracks.
Simpler and easier to learn that a gesture control systems, NEC says the commands are "easy to remember and are nearly free from input errors."
The company intends to refine the technology to about the size of a watch or wristband and a commercial version is expected in one or two years.
If tapping isn't your thing, you might have to hold out for systems that turn your arm itself into a touchscreen to reach maturity.
Medigus has developed the world's smallest video camera at just 0.039-inches (0.99 mm) in diameter. The Israeli company's second-gen model (a 1.2 mm / 0.047-inch diameter camera was unveiled in 2009) has a dedicated 0.66x0.66 mm CMOS sensor from TowerJazz that captures images at 45K resolution (approximately 220 x 220 pixels) and no, it's not destined for use in tiny mobile phones or covert surveillance devices, instead the camera is designed for medical endoscopic procedures in hard to reach regions of the human anatomy.
The miniature cameras are made with bio-compatible compnents and are suitable for diagnostic and surgical procedures. Potential applications include cardiology, bronchoscopy, gastroenterology, gynecology, and orthopedic and robotic surgery.
"Medical procedures that have not been possible until now become possible with the world's smallest camera," said Dr. Elazar Sonnenschein, CEO for Medigus Ltd.
The camera will be integrated into Medigus' own disposable endoscopic devices as well as sold to third-party manufacturers.
Medigus says it will begin supplying camera samples to US and Japanese manufacturers in coming weeks.
South Korea’s Education Ministry has announced plans to trash the textbook tomes that weigh down the bags of students and replace them with digitized versions. Primary schools will be first, with their educational materials digitized by 2014, followed by secondary and high schools in 2015. The scheme, dubbed “Smart Education”, will allow students to read their materials on a variety of electronic devices, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, and internet-connected smart TVs. There’s no mention, however, of whether the project will also be rolled out to the students with the largest textbooks: undergraduates.
Some 2.2 trillion yon ($2 billion) will be spent on the project. The digitizing of educational materials will obviously consume some of that funding, but most of the money will probably be spent on the infrastructure for distributing the materials — i.e. tablets and smartphones for students. The South Korean government hasn’t revealed whether it will use a commodity tablet like the homegrown Samsung Galaxy Tab, or create a new device specifically for educational purposes. Given the planned cross-platform interoperability, though, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some kind of HTML5ish solution — and if that’s the case, then students will be able to use whatever tablet they like.
To back up this complete overhaul of the system the Education Ministry gave some interesting (but rather obvious?) facts about Korean students. Not only are they the most computer-literate students in the world, but according to a recent OECD report, they are also the most amenable to computer-based learning. “That’s why Korean students, who are already fully prepared for digital society, need a paradigm shift in education,” said an official from the Ministry.
The same OECD report, incidentally, showed that computer use at school didn’t actually have much of an impact on exam results. Computer use at home, on the other hand, created a much more marked improvement in results. The report goes on to suggest that computers should be further integrated into the teaching curriculum — and that’s exactly what Korea is now planning to do.
Genius has announced the release of its Wireless Thumb Cursor Controller, or ring mouse for short. The clicking and scrolling action of the lightweight mouse replacement is thumb-controlled, its proprietary optical touch technology offers users 1000 dpi sensitivity and it's said to last a month between charges.
The 1.15 x 1.32 x 1.25-inch (29.3 x 33.7 x 32 mm), 0.42 ounce (12 g) Ring Mouse has 2.4GHz wireless connectivity with a range of around 30 feet (10 meters), and links to a USB nano/pico receiver slotted into a spare port on a Windows-based computer or laptop. Worn on the index finger, left and right click and optical touch control tracking technology are set around the top for thumb control of an onscreen cursor.
Although its primary use is likely to be controlling a projected presentation or photo slideshow, it should also prove useful as a travel laptop mouse, for those who regularly find themselves having to work in cramped conditions, or for those who just don't like to use a trackpad. The tracking sensitivity might also make it useful for mobile gamers.
Researchers from the Human Media Lab at Canada's Queen's University have created a fully-functioning floppy E-Ink smartphone, which they also refer to as a paper computer. Like its thicker, rigid-bodied counterparts, the Paperphone can do things like making and receiving calls, storing e-books, and playing music. Unlike them, however, it conforms to the shape of its user's pocket or purse, and can even be operated through bending actions.
"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said its creator, Roel Vertegaal, who is also the director of the Human Media Lab. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."
The device has a 9.5-cm (3.74-inch) thin film flexible E-Ink display, underneath which is a flexible printed circuit incorporating resistive bend sensors. Those sensors allow it to be programmed to recognize different types of bending gestures, which will subsequently result in it doing things such as navigating menus, making calls, selecting songs, or any other function. A built-in Wacom tablet also allows users to draw on its screen – making it even more paper-like.
When not actually being operated, the Paperphone consumes no electricity. Vertegaal's team have also created a similar device, the Snaplet, which can be worn like a wristband. It operates as a watch when in a convex state, becomes a PDA when flat, and can be used as a phone when turned concave.
The technology is the result of a collaboration between Queen's University and Arizona State University. "This is the future," said Vertegaal. "Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years."
The market of wireless devices that are used to control a laptop computer from a distance is about to be revolutionized with the launch of the EFO iPazzport multitouch Keyboard.
This gadget was developed by EFO shop. Weighting only 60 grams the iPazzport represents a fusion of a 10-meter wireless keyboard, mouse, touchpad, laser pointer and HTPC remote controller.
Measuring 85 X 135 X 10 mm, it includes a full QWERTY keyboard, featuring all function keys from F1 to F12 along with multi-media keys (Play, Pause, Next, Previous, Mute, Volume Up, Volume Down).
In addition, the iPazzport is compatible with Mac, Linux, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The device is powered by rechargeable Li-ion batteries that can hold for more than 2 weeks (stand by time 600 hours).
More and more, we're hearing about vehicle safety systems that use video cameras to identify hazards. Like us humans, automotive supplier Continental's recently announced ContiGuard forward-looking braking system has two eyes, in the form of two high-resolution CMOS cameras, and a suite of electronics that enables it to analyze the difference in perspective between the left and right views – similar to the parallax shift which our brains also use to create spatial vision when processing images.
The cameras in the ContiGaurd vision system are mounted 20 centimeters (8 inches) apart in a housing located behind the windshield. Unlike a single-camera system, say its designers, it can determine not only how far an obstacle is from the front of the car, but also how high that obstacle stands over the road.
By combining the two images and analyzing which aspects of them are the same and which are different, the system is also said to excel at recognizing objects even when several of them are close together, or in low light or poor contrast conditions. Details that may be questionable in one camera's image can be confirmed – or ruled out – by looking for those same details in the other image. In this way, it can more accurately identify things such as pedestrians or crossing traffic, even if the driver doesn't do so fast enough.
The new setup is also reportedly capable of determining in which direction every pixel of an object is moving, along the horizontal, vertical, and longitudinal axes. This allows it to calculate the exact point of impact with the object, and initiate braking procedures or alert the driver accordingly. It works at all speeds, has a 60-meter (197-foot) range, and can determine the location of objects to within 20-30 centimeters (8-12 inches) from a distance of 20-30 meters (66-98 feet).
In future versions, it is hoped that ContiGuard will be able to recognize obstacles such as children, cyclists and wheelchair users.
There's no doubt that residents of developing nations can benefit hugely from having mobile phones. This particularly applies to the field of medicine, as the phones allow people living in remote areas to contact health care practitioners, or to use health care apps. Given how unreliable the electrical grid can be in such countries, however, keeping those phones charged can be a challenge. That's why a team from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is working on a microbial fuel cell-based charger – a mobile phone charging system that gets its power from microbes in the soil.
The project is being led by Dr. Aviva Presser Aiden, an affiliate of SEAS and a current student at Harvard Medical School. Her device incorporates a conductive surface, that harvests free electrons created by naturally-occurring soil microbes during the course of their metabolic processes. She has already used the technology to power LED lights in a lab for 14 months.
Once they're ready to go, Aiden plans on distributing the chargers within a region of Sub-Saharan Africa, as part of a field study. Ultimately, however, she would like to see the local people being able to build their own, using readily-available materials such as window screens and soda cans. She believes that a complete device could be assembled from scratch in just a few minutes, at a cost of less than a dollar. It should be able to fully charge a phone within 24 hours.
Currently, over 500 million people living in Sub-Saharan Africa lack power in their homes, even though 22 percent of households in the region have mobile phones. Therefore, many people have to walk long distances to charging stations, paying between 50 cents and a dollar per charge. While solar chargers are one alternative, Aiden says that can be costly, and are often not even offered due to the lack of a distribution/repair network.
The project received a US$100,000 grant last month, from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges program.
Much has been written about the "internet of things". Right now, not every human being has an IP but in the very near future, low cost smart chips will be added to every device to give it an IP address and everything in one's life will become part of your private secure network to be monitored and controlled (and hence become smart) via a smartphone, tablet or PC.
Earlier this week, Dutch-based NXP Semiconductors announced its GreenChip, which for the cost of about US$1.00, enables every light bulb to have its own wireless IP address. NXP has subsequently announced it is to make its JenNet-IP, ultra-low-power, IEEE 802.15.4-based, wireless network layer software available under an Open Source license in Q4, 2011.
This development is very significant as it reduces the cost and greatly simplifies adding "smart" connectivity and two-way communication into a wide range of devices, and might well establish a cross-application standard for wireless connectivity in both residential and industrial environments.
Although the number of Wi-Fi hotspots has increased dramatically in most places over the past few years, the explosion in the number of smartphones and laptops attempting to make use of such connections means that getting decent download speeds is as difficult as it always was. Not only is this frustrating, it can also be a major drain on the batteries of mobile devices. In an effort to address one of these problems, a Duke University graduate student has developed software called SleepWell that allows mobile devices to take a nap to save power while they wait for their turn to download.
The SleepWell system was developed by Justin Manweiler, who likens its advantages to those that would be seen if companies in major cities staggered their work hours to reduce rush hour traffic. And like traffic congestion relief, the biggest advantages of the SleepWell system would be seen in cities where the density of Wi-Fi-enabled devices is greatest.
"The SleepWell-enabled Wi-Fi access points can stagger their activity cycles to minimally overlap with others, ultimately resulting in promising energy gains with negligible loss of performance," said Manweiler.
When a neighboring device is downloading information on the same Wi-Fi network, other devices can go to sleep while waiting for their turn to download, thereby saving precious battery life. Depending on usage patterns, Manweiler claims the system can potentially double the battery life of mobile devices.
Romit Roy Choudhury, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering who oversaw Manweiler's work, says the emergence of cloud computing will see mobile devices needing to access the Internet more frequently and that such frequent access could be severely constrained by the energy toll that Wi-Fi takes on the device's battery life.
"Energy is certainly a key problem for the future of mobile devices, such as iPhones, iPads and Android smartphones," Roy Choudhury said. "The SleepWell system can certainly be an important upgrade to Wi-Fi technology, especially in the light of increasing Wi-Fi density."
Having tested the technology over a number of device types and situations, Manweiler is confident that the SleepWell system is, "a viable approach for the near future."
