Scientists believe to have discovered a much more efficient way to use silicon to convert heat into electricity – for use in a variety of products ranging from cars to portable electronics.
The concept of converting waste heat into electricity isn’t exactly new, but it never really materialized due to efficiency hurdles. Now, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley think they may have found a key increase the conversion efficiency by a factor of 100.
Imagine a time in which you would not have to plug in your cellphone or iPod over night to recharge the battery. Instead you would power and charge a device simply by wearing it close to your body. Few months back there was an announcement by Samsung which hinted the possibility of water powered mobiles.
Bacteria Capable Of Generating Electricity
Researchers at the University of Minnesota studying bacteria capable of generating electricity have discovered that riboflavin (commonly known as vitamin B-2) is responsible for much of the energy produced by these organisms.
The bacteria, Shewanella, are commonly found in water and soil and are of interest because they can convert simple organic compounds (such as lactic acid) into electricity, according to Daniel Bond and Jeffrey Gralnick, of the University of Minnesota’s BioTechnology Institute and department of microbiology, who led the research effort.
The discovery means Shewanella can produce more power simply by increased riboflavin levels. Also, the finding opens up multiple possibilities for innovations in renewable energy and environmental clean-up. The research is published in the March 3 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The bacteria, Shewanella, are commonly found in water and soil and are of interest because they can convert simple organic compounds (such as lactic acid) into electricity, according to Daniel Bond and Jeffrey Gralnick, of the University of Minnesota’s BioTechnology Institute and department of microbiology, who led the research effort.
The discovery means Shewanella can produce more power simply by increased riboflavin levels. Also, the finding opens up multiple possibilities for innovations in renewable energy and environmental clean-up. The research is published in the March 3 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Skin-tenna: Antenna That Uses Skin To Transmit Signals
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed a wireless antenna that channels signals along human skin could broadcast signals over your body to connect up medical implants or portable gadgets. The new power-efficient approach could make more of established medical devices like pacemakers or help future implants distributed around the body work together.
Skin-tenna works by taking advantage of the creeping wave effect that allows waves to travel along a surface, due to mismatches between the air and the surface, and allows wireless devices (like pacemakers) to communicate more efficiently with devices anywhere on the body. Signals are channeled out sideways along the skin by this reflection and the conducting plate. That makes the antenna more efficient, which could double the battery life of body-worn gadgets.
The future may be filled with wearable device are powered by body heat or water or bacteria and communicate by sending signals along the surface of our skin. Now that’s a future that sounds exciting.
Skin-tenna works by taking advantage of the creeping wave effect that allows waves to travel along a surface, due to mismatches between the air and the surface, and allows wireless devices (like pacemakers) to communicate more efficiently with devices anywhere on the body. Signals are channeled out sideways along the skin by this reflection and the conducting plate. That makes the antenna more efficient, which could double the battery life of body-worn gadgets.
The future may be filled with wearable device are powered by body heat or water or bacteria and communicate by sending signals along the surface of our skin. Now that’s a future that sounds exciting.
Nexus One, the Google Phone
Two years after announcing Android, Google answers the question “where’s my GPhone?” by launching Nexus One. It’s not the first Google-branded phone manufactured by HTC, but it’s the first Android phone sold by Google.
Nexus One
Google set up an online store for Android phones and Nexus One is the first phone that’s available for sale. Andy Rubin likes to call it a superphone because it’s much more than a regular smartphone. Even if Nexus One is probably the best Android phone on the market, it’s far from being revolutionary.
“Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc., a large 3.7″ OLED display for deep contrast and brilliant colors and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset for blazing speeds. Running on Android 2.1, the newest version of Eclair, the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak into any text field, fun Live Wallpapers, a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more. Of course, it also comes with a host of popular Google applications, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation,” mentions Google.
The phone is available for purchase in the United States and can be shipped to the UK, Hong Kong, and Singapore. You can buy it unlocked for $529 or buy it for $179 with a T-Mobile plan. In the coming months, Google will ship the phone in many other countries and will add support for other carriers, including Verizon and Vodafone.
Why launch a phone and sell it only on Google’s site? To create some excitement and to connect the phone with Google’s brand. Nexus means “bond, link”, so the phone is the link between Google’s users and Google’s mobile services.
Nexus One
Google set up an online store for Android phones and Nexus One is the first phone that’s available for sale. Andy Rubin likes to call it a superphone because it’s much more than a regular smartphone. Even if Nexus One is probably the best Android phone on the market, it’s far from being revolutionary.
“Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc., a large 3.7″ OLED display for deep contrast and brilliant colors and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset for blazing speeds. Running on Android 2.1, the newest version of Eclair, the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak into any text field, fun Live Wallpapers, a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more. Of course, it also comes with a host of popular Google applications, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation,” mentions Google.
The phone is available for purchase in the United States and can be shipped to the UK, Hong Kong, and Singapore. You can buy it unlocked for $529 or buy it for $179 with a T-Mobile plan. In the coming months, Google will ship the phone in many other countries and will add support for other carriers, including Verizon and Vodafone.
Why launch a phone and sell it only on Google’s site? To create some excitement and to connect the phone with Google’s brand. Nexus means “bond, link”, so the phone is the link between Google’s users and Google’s mobile services.
Silent Sound Technology: An End To Noisy Communications
You are in a movie theater or noicy restaurent or a bus etc where there is lot of noice around is big issue while talking on a mobile phone. But in the future this problem is eliminated with ”silent sounds”, a new technology unveiled at the CeBIT fair on Tuesday that transforms lip movements into a computer-generated voice for the listener at the other end of the phone.
The device, developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), uses electromyography, monitoring tiny muscular movements that occur when we speak and converting them into electrical pulses that can then be turned into speech, without a sound uttered.
‘Silent Sound’ technology aims to notice every movements of the lips and transform them into sounds, which could help people who lose voices to speak, and allow people to make silent calls without bothering others. Rather than making any sounds, your handset would decipher the movements your mouth makes by measuring muscle activity, then convert this into speech that the person on the other end of the call can hear. So, basically, it reads your lips.
“We currently use electrodes which are glued to the skin. In the future, such electrodes might for example by incorporated into cellphones,” said Michael Wand, from the KIT.
The technology opens up a host of applications, from helping people who have lost their voice due to illness or accident to telling a trusted friend your PIN number over the phone without anyone eavesdropping — assuming no lip-readers are around.
The technology can also turn you into an instant polyglot. Because the electrical pulses are universal, they can be immediately transformed into the language of the user’s choice.
“Native speakers can silently utter a sentence in their language, and the receivers hear the translated sentence in their language. It appears as if the native speaker produced speech in a foreign language,” said Wand.
The translation technology works for languages like English, French and Gernan, but for languages like Chinese, where different tones can hold many different meanings, poses a problem, he added.
Noisy people in your office? Not any more. “We are also working on technology to be used in an office environment,” the KIT scientist told AFP.
The engineers have got the device working to 99 percent efficiency, so the mechanical voice at the other end of the phone gets one word in 100 wrong, explained Wand.
“But we’re working to overcome the remaining technical difficulties. In five, maybe ten years, this will be useable, everyday technology,” he said.
The device, developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), uses electromyography, monitoring tiny muscular movements that occur when we speak and converting them into electrical pulses that can then be turned into speech, without a sound uttered.
‘Silent Sound’ technology aims to notice every movements of the lips and transform them into sounds, which could help people who lose voices to speak, and allow people to make silent calls without bothering others. Rather than making any sounds, your handset would decipher the movements your mouth makes by measuring muscle activity, then convert this into speech that the person on the other end of the call can hear. So, basically, it reads your lips.
“We currently use electrodes which are glued to the skin. In the future, such electrodes might for example by incorporated into cellphones,” said Michael Wand, from the KIT.
The technology opens up a host of applications, from helping people who have lost their voice due to illness or accident to telling a trusted friend your PIN number over the phone without anyone eavesdropping — assuming no lip-readers are around.
The technology can also turn you into an instant polyglot. Because the electrical pulses are universal, they can be immediately transformed into the language of the user’s choice.
“Native speakers can silently utter a sentence in their language, and the receivers hear the translated sentence in their language. It appears as if the native speaker produced speech in a foreign language,” said Wand.
The translation technology works for languages like English, French and Gernan, but for languages like Chinese, where different tones can hold many different meanings, poses a problem, he added.
Noisy people in your office? Not any more. “We are also working on technology to be used in an office environment,” the KIT scientist told AFP.
The engineers have got the device working to 99 percent efficiency, so the mechanical voice at the other end of the phone gets one word in 100 wrong, explained Wand.
“But we’re working to overcome the remaining technical difficulties. In five, maybe ten years, this will be useable, everyday technology,” he said.
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