Sci-Tech Hi-Tech

'Unzipped' Carbon Nanotubes Could Help Energize Fuel Cells and Batteries

2012-06-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at Stanford University. Their findings are published in the May 27 online edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"Platinum is very expensive and thus impractical for large-scale commercialization," said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford and co-author of the study. "Developing a low-cost alternative has been a major research goal for several decades."

Over the past five years, the price of platinum has ranged from just below $800 to more than $2,200 an ounce. Among the most promising, low-cost alternatives to platinum is the carbon nanotube -- a rolled-up sheet of pure carbon, called graphene, that's one-atom thick and more than 10,000 times narrower a human hair. Carbon nanotubes and graphene are excellent conductors of electricity and relatively inexpensive to produce.

For the study, the Stanford team used multi-walled carbon nanotubes consisting of two or three concentric tubes nested together. The scientists showed that shredding the outer wall, while leaving the inner walls intact, enhances catalytic activity in nanotubes, yet does not interfere with their ability to conduct electricity.

"A typical carbon nanotube has few defects," said Yanguang Li, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and lead author of the study. "But defects are actually important to promote the formation of catalytic sites and to render the nanotube very active for catalytic reactions."

Unzipped

For the study, Li and his co-workers treated multi-walled nanotubes in a chemical solution. Microscopic analysis revealed that the treatment caused the outer nanotube to partially unzip and form nanosized graphene pieces that clung to the inner nanotube, which remained mostly intact.

"We found that adding a few iron and nitrogen impurities made the outer wall very active for catalytic reactions," Dai said. "But the inside maintained its integrity, providing a path for electrons to move around. You want the outside to be very active, but you still want to have good electrical conductivity. If you used a single-wall carbon nanotube you wouldn't have this advantage, because the damage on the wall would degrade the electrical property."

In fuel cells and metal-air batteries, platinum catalysts play a crucial role in speeding up the chemical reactions that convert hydrogen and oxygen to water. But the partially unzipped, multi-walled nanotubes might work just as well, Li added. "We found that the catalytic activity of the nanotubes is very close to platinum," he said. "This high activity and the stability of the design make them promising candidates for fuel cells."

The researchers recently sent samples of the experimental nanotube catalysts to fuel cell experts for testing. "Our goal is to produce a fuel cell with very high energy density that can last very long," Li said.

Multi-walled nanotubes could also have applications in metal-air batteries made of lithium or zinc.

"Lithium-air batteries are exciting because of their ultra-high theoretical energy density, which is more than 10 times higher than today's best lithium ion technology," Dai said. "But one of the stumbling blocks to development has been the lack of a high-performance, low-cost catalyst. Carbon nanotubes could be an excellent alternative to the platinum, palladium and other precious-metal catalysts now in use."

Controversial sites

The Stanford study might also have resolved a long-standing scientific controversy about the chemical structure of catalytic active sites where oxygen reactions occur. "One group of scientists believes that iron impurities are bonded to nitrogen at the active site," Li said. "Another group believes that iron contributes virtually nothing, except to promote active sites made entirely of nitrogen."

To address the controversy, the Stanford team enlisted scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to conduct atomic-scale imaging and spectroscopy analysis of the nanotubes. The results showed clear, visual evidence of iron and nitrogen atoms in close proximity.

"For the first time, we were able to image individual atoms on this kind of catalyst," Dai said. "All of the images showed iron and nitrogen close together, suggesting that the two elements are bonded. This kind of imaging is possible, because the graphene pieces are just one-atom thick."

Dai noted that the iron impurities, which enhanced catalytic activity, actually came from metal seeds that were used to make the nanotubes and were not intentionally added by the scientists. The discovery of these accidental yet invaluable bits of iron offered the researchers an important lesson. "We learned that metal impurities in nanotubes must not be ignored," Dai said.

Other co-authors of the study are Hailiang Wang, Liming Xie and Yongye Liang of Stanford; Wu Zhou, Juan-Carlos Idrobo and Stephen J. Pennycook of Vanderbilt University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Fei Wei of Tsinghua University.

Nature's Billion-Year-Old Battery Key to Storing Energy

2012-06-10T14:23:00.002-07:00

New research at Concordia University is bringing us one step closer to clean energy. It is possible to extend the length of time a battery-like enzyme can store energy from seconds to hours, a study published in the Journal of The American Chemical Society shows.

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Concordia Associate Professor László Kálmán -- along with his colleagues in the Department of Physics, graduate students Sasmit Deshmukh and Kai Tang -- has been working with an enzyme found in bacteria that is crucial for capturing solar energy. Light induces a charge separation in the enzyme, causing one end to become negatively charged and the other positively charged, much like in a battery. In nature, the energy created is used immediately, but Kálmán says that to store that electrical potential, he and his colleagues had to find a way to keep the enzyme in a charge-separated state for a longer period of time. "We had to create a situation where the charges don't want to or are not allowed to go back, and that's what we did in this study," says Kálmán. Kálmán and his colleagues showed that by adding different molecules, they were able to alter the shape of the enzyme and, thus, extend the lifespan of its electrical potential. In its natural configuration, the enzyme is perfectly embedded in the cell's outer layer, known as the lipid membrane. The enzyme's structure allows it to quickly recombine the charges and recover from a charge-separated state. However, when different lipid molecules make up the membrane, as in Kálmán's experiments, there is a mismatch between the shape of the membrane and the enzyme embedded within it. Both the enzyme and the membrane end up changing their shapes to find a good fit. The changes make it more difficult for the enzyme to recombine the charges, thereby allowing the electrical potential to last much longer. "What we're doing is similar to placing a racecar in on snow-covered streets," says Kálmán. The surrounding conditions prevent the racecar from performing as it would on a racetrack, just like the different lipids prevent the enzyme from recombining the charges as efficiently as it does under normal circumstances. Photosynthesis, which has existed for billions of years, is one of the earliest energy-converting systems. "All of our food, our energy sources (gasoline, coal) -- everything is a product of some ancient photosynthetic activity," says Kálmán. But he adds that the main reason researchers are turning to these ancient natural systems is because they are carbon neutral and use resources that are in abundance: sun, carbon dioxide and water. Researchers are using nature's battery to inspire more sustainable, human-made energy converting systems. For a peek into the future of these technologies, Kálmán points to medical applications and biocompatible batteries. Imagine batteries made of enzymes and other biological molecules. These could be used to, for example, monitor a patient from the inside post-surgery. Unlike traditional batteries that contain toxic metals, biocompatible batteries could be left inside the body without causing harm. "We're far from that right now but these devices are currently being explored and developed," says Kálmán. "We have to take things step by step but, hopefully, we'll get there one day in the not-too-distant future." This research was funded by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

New fuel cell in line for European award

2012-06-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

Thomas Ruyant is a French competitive sailor, with many races and several international victories under his belt. He needs a very light, long- lasting energy source on his yacht. He relies on a type of methanol-powered fuel cell to power all his navigational electronics, and in harsh conditions.

These lighter fuel cells are produced in a laboratory in Munich, Germany. They are designed to power, over several months, small electronic devices, like for example small home appliances or gadgets for travel or leisure, and are 80 per cent lighter than conventional batteries.

Behind the invention of these lighter fuel cells is German chemical and mechanical engineer Manfred Stefener. He and his team have created a very compact and portable fuel cell battery.

The idea that Manfred Stefener had in the 1990s was basically to replace hydrogen, the traditional fuel cells power source, with methanol. Methanol is an alcohol used, for example, in antifreeze and windshield-wiper fluid. Four times denser than hydrogen, it requires less storage space and therefore reduces battery weight. Stefener’s team successfully managed to miniaturize the fuel cell structure, making it more commercially viable.

“Methanol is a liquid fuel with a very high energy density, and can be transported very easily, so it’s much easier for smaller fuel cells to use methanol instead of hydrogen to be transported, to fill in small cartridges or to provide very long run times for fuel cells,” says Stefener.

Stefener has also created yet another kind of fuel cell device powered by natural gas, destined for domestic power and heat in homes. He says this device can make large savings on our energy bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent.

“The fuel cell works like this,” he explains. “It takes normal natural gas from the grid, and produces electricity, which covers about 40 to 60 per cent of the total electricity demand of a typical European home and it covers also like the full warm water demand of these homes.”

Stefener, aged 42, is among the nominees for the European Inventor Award, organized by the European Patent Office, which is taking place in June in Copenhagen. After his studies, he decided that the use of hydrogen in big, heavy fuel cells was completely unrealistic:

“During my PHD thesis, that I started in 1997 here at the technical University of Munich, I realized that hydrogen powered cars, that everybody wanted at that time, were not ready for commercialization, because they were too expensive and the hydrogen infrastructure was not there. So my idea was to make fuel cells for smaller devices with a factor of thousand lower power.”

euronews:
“How did you feel after having discovered this new technology?”

“Today you can see that methanol fuel cells, I have invented now 15 years ago, is the first commercial product in fuel cell market, and of course this is a very satisfying feeling that today people are really using products based on the invention I made many many years ago,” he smiles.

Stefener is convinced that fuel cells can spawn a range of new ideas and applications to help satisfy the ever growing energy needs of our society.

3D Printing Revolution

2012-06-10T08:19:00.002-07:00

3D printing technology is progressing rapidly, and some experts say it could revolutionise the way objects are made in the future.

An object is scanned – or designed on computer modelling software – then sliced up, into many thousands of tiny layers, which are then printed out, eventually forming a solid three dimensional product.

Lifesaving Nano Nose Smells Cancer

2012-06-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

Prostate cancer is one of the leading killers in men. One reason for this is that so few go for a preventive, but invasive, medical check up. The late detection of prostate cancer often means the removal of a part or all of the organ, but now there is some clever technology which should aid early detection.

At a research facility in Barcelona a ‘new artificial nose’ is being developed, which scientists say could actually smell cancer molecules. The nano-technology is being developed by European research project BOND .

Professor Josep Samitier of the University of Barcelona explained what they are hoping to detect: “When we smell flowers or perfume, or when we eat, we receive important information in the form of chemicals. This chemical information exists and develops also when an illness occurs, for example in the case of cancer or other diseases.”

The highly sensitive nano-nose examines the urine of cancer patients and the results are promising.

According to researchers, in a few years, it might be possible to provide doctors with a small device which reliably shows whether the patient’s urine is contaminated with cancer cells or not.

The artificial smelling system relies on several hundred nanometric biosensors, which can detect even the tiniest number of cancer cells.

This non-invasive detection method could be a milestone in the fight against prostate cancer.

Researchers are still in the trial phase but the potential for saving lives is enormous.

Introducing the Leap

2012-05-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Leap represents an entirely new way to interact with your computers. It's more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen. For the first time, you can control a computer in three dimensions with your natural hand and finger movements.

New Lithium-Air Battery Technology

2010-12-30T14:17:00.000-08:00

New Battery Technology with Higher Energy Density than Any Existing Battery

Lightweight batteries that can deliver lots of energy are crucial for a variety of applications - for example, improving the range of electric cars. For that reason, even modest increases in a battery's energy-density rating - a measure of the amount of energy that can be delivered for a given weight - are important advances. Now a team of researchers at MIT has made significant progress on a technology that could lead to batteries with up to three times the energy density of any battery that currently exists.

Doctoral student Yi-Chun Lu holds an experimental lithium-air battery that was used for testing at MIT. Photo: Patrick Gillooly

Yang Shao-Horn, an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering, says that many groups have been pursuing work on lithium-air batteries, a technology that has great potential for achieving great gains in energy density. But there has been a lack of understanding of what kinds of electrode materials could promote the electrochemical reactions that take place in these batteries.

Lithium-oxygen (also known as lithium-air) batteries are similar in principle to the lithium-ion batteries that now dominate the field of portable electronics and are a leading contender for electric vehicles. But because lithium-air batteries use lightweight porous carbon electrodes and oxygen drawn from a flow of air to take the place of heavy solid compounds used in lithium-ion batteries, the batteries themselves can be much lighter. That's why leading companies, including IBM and General Motors, have committed to major research initiatives on lithium-air technology.

In a paper published this week in the journal Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Shao-Horn, along with some of her students and visiting professor Hubert Gasteiger, reported on a study showing that electrodes with gold or platinum as a catalyst show a much higher level of activity and thus a higher efficiency than simple carbon electrodes in these batteries. In addition, this new work sets the stage for further research that could lead to even better electrode materials, perhaps alloys of gold and platinum or other metals, or metallic oxides, and to less expensive alternatives.

Doctoral student Yi-Chun Lu, lead author of the paper, explains that this team has developed a method for analyzing the activity of different catalysts in the batteries, and now they can build on this research to study a variety of possible materials. "We'll look at different materials, and look at the trends," she says. "Such research could allow us to identify the physical parameters that govern the catalyst activity. Ultimately, we will be able to predict the catalyst behaviors. "

One issue to be dealt with in developing a battery system that could be widely commercialized is safety. Lithium in metallic form, which is used in lithium-air batteries, is highly reactive in the presence of even minuscule amounts of water. This is not an issue in current lithium-ion batteries because carbon-based materials are used for the negative electrode. Shao-Horn says the same battery principle can be applied without the need to use metallic lithium; graphite or some other more stable negative electrode materials could be used instead, she says, leading to a safer system.

A number of issues must be addressed before lithium-air batteries can become a practical commercial product, she says. The biggest issue is developing a system that keeps its power through a sufficient number of charging and discharging cycles for it to be useful in vehicles or electronic devices.

Researchers also need to look into details of the chemistry of the charging and discharging processes, to see what compounds are produced and where, and how they react with other compounds in the system. "We're at the very beginning" of understanding exactly how these reactions occur, Shao-Horn says.

Gholam-Abbas Nazri, a researcher at the GM Research & Development Center in Michigan, calls this research "interesting and important," and says this addresses a significant bottleneck in the development of this technology: the need find an efficient catalyst. This work is "in the right direction for further understanding of the role of catalysts," and it "may significantly contribute to the further understanding and future development of lithium-air systems," he says.

While some companies working on lithium-air batteries have said they see it as a 10-year development program, Shao-Horn says it is too early to predict how long it may take to reach commercialization. "It's a very promising area, but there are many science and engineering challenges to be overcome," she says. "If it truly demonstrates two to three times the energy density" of today's lithium-ion batteries, she says, the likely first applications will be in portable electronics such as computers and cell phones, which are high-value items, and only later would be applied to vehicles once the costs are reduced.

Coming Soon: Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging

2010-12-30T06:37:00.000-08:00

Looks like we released our electric vehicle charger slideshow just a little bit too soon. Autobloggreen reports that a wireless charge station may be released sometime in the next few years courtesy of Evatran, a mysterious startup with the tagline "Energy without limits."

Evatran's Plugless Power charging station, unveiled this week at the Plug-In 2010 Conference, consists of a a permanently mounted car adapter along with a fixed parking block and control tower. An adopter-equipped vehicle need only pull up to the parking space, and the parking block automatically begins charging. Evatran explains the technology behind the station:

Plugless Power electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) connects the on-board EV battery charger inductively to the electrical power source. Simply put, the two halves of the electric transformer are separated--one installed on the vehicle and one installed on the floor of a garage or parking space. When the two pieces are brought together, electrical current flowing in the parking block from the electrical grid causes current to flow into the vehicle adapter, thereby charging the battery. With the Plugless Power dual-component EVSE, current flows from one source to another without using a plug and a cord, enabling "hands-free" charging.

It all sounds plausible enough, but the technology isn't quite ready for prime time yet. The first version of Evatran's charger, set to be released this December, uses a cord. Evatran hopes to have a wireless version ready in April 2011, at which point customers who have shelled out the $3,000 for the cord charger can upgrade for another $800.

There's just one problem: the Plugless Power station doesn't always work. According to Evatran, the charger will be about 90% effective, which means that the other 10% of energy released is wasted. Still, it's a start. And just imagine how much easier EV charging will be when we don't have to think about it.

The Most Beautiful Sexy Robots

2010-12-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

A gynoid is a humanoid robot designed to look like a human female, as compared to an android modeled after a male. The term gynoid was coined by Gwyneth Jones in her 1985 novel Divine Endurance to describe a robot slave character in a futuristic China, that is judged by her beauty. The term is not common, however, with the masculine term android being commonly used to refer to both “genders” of robot. The word fembot (female robot) has also been used. Gynoids have also been used as a metaphor in feminist discourse, as part of cyborg feminism, representing female physical strength and freedom from the expectation to reproduce.

Female-appearing robots have also appeared in real-life, with early constructions being crude. The first gynoid was produced by one British company, for use as a “pleasuring-aid”. It was called simply “36C”, from her chest measurement, and had a 16-bit microprocessor and voice synthesiser that allowed primitive responses to speech and push button inputs. Female-appearing robots have also generated controversy. In 1983 a “busty female robot” was removed from a display at Berkeley college after a petition was presented claiming it was insulting to women. The robot’s creator called this “censorship” by the “feminist movement” and akin to book burning.

The fetishization of gynoids in real life has been attributed to male desires for custom-made passive women, and has been compared to life-size female dolls. The reaction of people to robots that appeared female to different degrees has been studied. The reaction of people to such robots has been attributed in part to gender stereotypes. This research has been used to elucidate gender cues, clarifying which behaviours and aesthetics elicit a stronger gender-induced response.

Artificial women have been a common trope in fiction and mythology since the writings of the ancient Greeks. This has continued with modern fiction, particularly in the genre of science fiction. In science fiction, female-appearing robots are often produced for use as domestic servants and slaves, as seen in the film Westworld, the Paul McAuley novel Fairyland (1995), and the Lester del Ray short story Helen O’Loy (1938) as opposed to male-appearing robots who are traditionally warriors, killers, or laborors.

A long tradition exists in fiction, of men attempting to create the stereotypical ideal woman, and fictional gynoids have been seen as an extension of this theme. Examples include Hephaestus in the Iliad who created female servants of metal and Ilmarinen in the Kalevala who created an artificial wife. Probably most famous, however, is Pygmalion, one of the earliest conceptualizations of constructions similar to gynoids in literary history, from Ovid’s account of Pygmalion. In this myth a female statue is sculpted that is so beautiful that the creator falls in love with it, and after praying to Venus, the goddess takes pity on him and converts the statue into a real woman with whom Pygmalion has children.

Fiction about gynoids or female cyborgs reinforce essentialist ideas of femininity, according to Magret Grebowicz. Such essentialist ideas may present as gender stereotypes. Among the few non-eroticized fictional gynoids include Rosie the Robot Maid from The Jetsons. However, she still has some stereotypically feminine qualities, such as a matronly shape and a predisposition to cry.

The stereotypical role of wifedom has also been explored through use of gynoids. In The Stepford Wives, husbands are shown as desiring to restrict the independence of their wives, and obedient and stereotypical spouses are preferred. The husbands’ technological method of obtaining this “perfect wife” is through the murder of their human wives and replacement with gynoid substitutes that are compliant and housework obsessed, resulting in a “picture-postcard” perfect suburban society. This has been seen as an allegory of male chauvinism of the period, by representing marriage as a master-slave relationship, and an attempt at raising feminist consciousness during the era of second wave feminism.

In a parody of the fembots from The Bionic Woman, attractive fembots in fuzzy see-through night-gowns were used as a lure for the fictional agent Austin Powers in the movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery. The film’s sequels had cameo appearances of characters revealed as fembots. Judith Halberstam writes that these gynoids inform the viewer that femaleness does not indicate naturalness, and their exaggerated femininity is used in a similar way to the title character’s exaggerated masculinity, lampooning stereotypes.

Hyundai’s Car For Family In 2020

2010-12-11T00:48:00.000-08:00

Hyundai shows its concept car scheduled to be launched in 2020. Hyundai and Nicolas Stone coming up with a new car concept and people will start again call it a family car.

This car will not need any kind of fuel to generate the energy. Only water and sun will be enough to run this just like plant need. Exterior of this will have solar plate which will get the energy from sun.

This concept car is equipped with transparent solar cells to generate electricity from ambient light, which is afterwords used to carry out electrolysis of water finally generating hydrogen, which fuels the car.

The only by-product of the car engine will be clean potable water and breathable oxygen. Utilizing a new energy model, the vehicle uses the electricity to stimulate a central water tank, splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen gets stored in special reserve tanks, while the oxygen gets expelled into the air as exhaust. So, no emissions, since this cute little car functions exactly like a plant, being powered by an artificial system of photosynthesis.

Urbee Hybrid is world’s first 3D printed car

2010-12-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

Henry Ford revolutionized automobile relese Urbee Hybrid is world’s first 3D printed car.Urbee Hybrid run solely on renewable energy or get over 200 mpg at highway speeds.Urbee Hybrid car shows on 2010 SEMA car show in Las Vegas.This car is created using Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems…..

Minneapolis-based Stratasys Inc has announced that it is creating a fuel-efficient and environment-friendly vehicle named Urbee, which will be on display at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas from November 2 to 5.The maker of additive manufacturing machines for prototyping and producing plastic parts said it is partnering with Winnipeg engineering group Kor Ecologic to build the first-ever prototype car that will have its entire body 3D printed with an additive process.

Stratasys said all the various external components of the car including its glass panels have been created using Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems at its digital manufacturing service “RedEye on Demand”.With more and more automobile companies claiming to offer effective and sustainable solutions to reduce GHG emissions and thereby reduce the dependence on petroleum, the Urbee is likely to undergo close scrutiny and speculations. The various stages of the development of the car have already been chronicled by the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet for future broadcast.

The electric/liquid fuel hybrid delivers over 200 miles per gallon on the highway with an impressive 100 miles a gallon in the city. Also, the car can be charged overnight from any standard home electrical outlet. Alternate charging options include renewable energy from a windmill or a solar-panel array small enough to fit atop a single-car garage.For combined city and highway use, the Urbee gives about 150 miles per gallon, costing about 2 cents a mile, which is about 10 percent of the fuel consumed by a typical SUV.

The world's only immortal animal

2010-10-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth.

Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands of time and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life).

The key lies in a process called transdifferentiation, where one type of cell is transformed into another type of cell. Some animals can undergo limited transdifferentiation and regenerate organs, such as salamanders, which can regrow limbs. Turritopsi nutricula, on the other hand, can regenerate its entire body over and over again. Researchers are studying the jellyfish to discover how it is able to reverse its aging process.

Because they are able to bypass death, the number of individuals is spiking. They're now found in oceans around the globe rather than just in their native Caribbean waters. "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion," says Dr. Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute.

Toshiba show 3DTV without glasses

2010-10-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

4 October 2010 Last updated at 11:47 GMT

Toshiba show 3DTV without glasses

Toshiba has launched what it claims are the first 3D television sets that do not require special glasses.

The two sets are able to create 3D effects in real time from standard film and television pictures.

The televisions use a special lenticular sheet to create an array of nine overlapping images.

A viewer sees different images with each eye, creating the illusion of a 3D picture.

The system is similar to that used in the Nintendo 3DS handheld console.

Both Toshiba televisions use the Cell processor - originally designed for the PlayStation 3 - to process the pictures.

Masaaki Oosumi, president of Toshiba Visual Products said it was "obviously more natural to watch TV without glasses".

However, the technology requires a person to be sat in an optimal position to see clear 3D images.

The electronics giant suggests a person sits 90cm (35in) from its 20in set and 65cm (25in) from the 12in screen. The picture is also best viewed with a 40-degree "sweet spot" in front of the set.

These limitations are why most manufacturers - including Sony, Samsung and Panasonic - use glasses to generate 3D effects.

These rely on images for each eye being broadcast one after the other in rapid succession.

Filters in the glasses flash on and off in sync with the picture, filtering the correct image to each eye. The brain recombines the image into a 3D picture.

3D TV is still in its infancy, but broadcasters are already ramping up efforts to provide content in the UK.

Last week, Sky launched Europe's first dedicated 3D television channel, whilst Virgin has launched a 3D movie channel.

Toshiba said the smaller version of its new sets will cost about 120,000 yen ($1,400), and the larger one will be double the price. It is also working on a larger 56 inch model.

It said it hoped to sell 1,000 units a month but currently has no plans to sell the sets abroad.

They were unveiled at the Ceatec electronics show in Tokyo, Japan.

A distant Earth-like exoplanet 'could have life'

2010-09-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

By Katia MoskvitchScience reporter, BBC News

An artist's impression of Gliese 581g and its parent star

Astronomers have detected an Earth-like exoplanet that may have just the right kind of conditions to support life.

Gliese 581g lies some 20 light-years away in its star's "Goldilocks zone" - a region surface temperatures would allow the presence of liquid water.

Scientists say that the newly found world could also potentially have an atmosphere.

Their findings, made with the Keck telescope in Hawaii, appear in the Astrophysical Journal.

The researchers, from the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, have been studying the movement of the planet's parent star, a red dwarf called Gliese 581, for 11 years.

Their observations have revealed a number of exoplanets spinning around the star.

Possibility of life

Recently they discovered two new alien worlds, so together with the previous findings, this brings the number of planets orbiting Gliese 581 to six.

But the most important new revelation is that one of those worlds might be the most Earth-like planet yet identified.

"Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said Steven Vogt, an astronomer at UCSC.

"The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common."

Gliese 581g has a mass about three to four times that of Earth. It orbits its sun in 37 days and is thought to be a rocky world. It has enough gravity to possibly have an atmosphere.

Another Earth-like planet, Gliese 581c, was discovered a few years ago

Gliese 581g is located in its star's "Goldilocks zone" - a zone in space where temperatures are neither too hot nor to cold for liquid water.

Such a zone defines the region in a star-centered orbit where an Earth-like planet could sustain that water on its surface - and therefore life.

"We had planets on both sides of the habitable zone - one too hot and one too cold - and now we have one in the middle that's just right," said Dr Vogt.

The planet's average surface temperature is estimated to be between -12C and -31C.

But unlike Earth, this alien world has one side always facing its sun and the other side constantly in the dark. So in-between the two sides, between shadow and light, there could be an area where life could potentially thrive.

"Any emerging life forms would have a wide range of stable climates to choose from and to evolve around, depending on their longitude," said Dr Vogt.

Alien worlds

The first exoplanet orbiting a star was detected more than a decade ago.

Since then, nearly 500 other worlds have been found beyond our Solar System, many of them Jupiter-like gas giants.

Now, astronomers are hoping to spot more exoplanets where life could be possible.

"We're at exactly that threshold now with finding habitable planets," said Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution, a co-author of the study.

Dr Vogt agreed: "The number of systems with potentially habitable planets is probably on the order of 10 or 20%, and when you multiply that by the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, that's a large number," he said.

"There could be tens of billions of these systems in our galaxy."

Any emerging life forms would have a wide range of stable climates to choose from and to evolve around, depending on their longitude”

Steven VogtUniversity of California, Santa Cruz

Michael Dell shows off new 7-inch Android tablet

2010-09-22T22:10:00.001-07:00

Posted in Dell by Conner Flynn on September 22nd, 2010

Michael Dell loves to tease. Word is that Dell’s big cheese has just pulled out yet another Android tablet from his very large and mysterious pocket. This time it’s a 7-incher. Mr. Dell didn’t let loose any dates and specs, but this could be the long-rumored Looking Glass.
Dell also announced that the smaller Streak is heading to Best Buy next month. We hope that this bigger tablet won’t disappoint us with an outdated OS this time.

Doctors to use Dell Streak Tablets when treating patients

2010-09-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Posted in Dell by Conner Flynn on September 15th, 2010

The Streak is a lot more portable than the iPad, but you still can’t call it as pocket-friendly as the iPhone. Nevertheless, Dell wants to fill up their Streak with a healthcare software app.
Dell has a good reputation in the medical world already, but with the Streak Dell aims to get in even deeper, giving the tablet to doctors to test later this year. The dual cameras will be useful for recording the patient’s progress, and using the app they can update their electronic medical records.

Don’t be alarmed when you see a Dell in your doctor’s labcoat.

Dell’s Inspiron Duo is a 10″ Netbook/Tablet that swivels

2010-09-22T21:56:00.001-07:00

Posted in Dell by Conner Flynn on September 14th, 2010

The folks at Dell are crazy, throwing all kinds of ideas out there and seeing what sticks. Dell’s new Inspiron Duo is a 10″ tablet that opens up and swivels its screen to transform itself into a netbook. But what’s the point? Why swivel when it can just detach? This is just tablet madness.
They’re saying it will be available before the end of the year. Again crazy talk. Dell may actually be innovating something here. Dell showed off this Windows 7 Premium running and dual-core Atom N550 processor packing thing at the second day keynote of Intel’s IDF conference.

Dell takes second place back from Acer in PC shipments for Q2

2010-09-22T19:04:00.001-07:00

Posted in Acer,Dell,HP by Shane McGlaun on September 7th, 2010

A few companies track PC shipments around the globe including iSuppli. In July, iSuppli offered up the numbers for Q1 2010 and Acer overtook Dell for the second place in the global PC shipment list.
The numbers for Q2 are out and Dell has recaptured that second spot. Dell shipped 10.5 million PCs for 12.8% of the market. Acer shipped 10.1 million PCs for 12.4% of the market. Acer had negative 6.2% growth for the quarter while Dell had negative 1.2% growth thanks to its desktop and server shipments.

Dell Studio XPS 9100 with Intel i7-980X Processor

2010-09-22T18:56:00.001-07:00

Posted in Dell by Conner Flynn on August 3rd, 2010

If you’ve got money, Dell’s got the computer. Dell’s new Studio XPS 9100 features Intel’s 3.33GHz Core i7-980X processor, which should give you enough processing power to do whatever you want. You can get it in various configurations, and prices start at $945.
Some configurations include: Intel Core i7 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate, Up to 24GB RAM, Up to 4TB storage space, Blu-ray and DVD burner options, Gigabit Ethernet, Wireless b/g/n, Built-in card reader and Radeon HD 5970 graphics card.