Stanford's nanowire battery leapfrogs Li-ion

from Engadget by Paul Miller

Stanford claims its latest advances in silicon nanowires have it building batteries with 10 times the capacity of existing Li-ion cells. Apparently people have been trying to stuff silicon -- which has a much higher capacity than existing materials -- into a battery for decades, but since it swells when charged with positively charged lithium and shrinks during use, the silicon has a tendency to "pulverize." Who knew batteries could be so dramatic? Oh, right. The advancement at Stanford, led by Yi Cui, builds the battery in the form of silicon nanowires, giving the silicon room to grow and shrink without damage. A patent is being filed, and Yi Cui is already considering forming a company or licensing the tech to a manufacturer.

 

Read

Read More...

Summary only...

DisplayLink's new VGC 4.3 supports Vista Aero 3D

from Engadget by Paul Miller

Since simply having a USB-fed monitor would not be bleeding edge enough for you, DisplayLink has updated its Virtual Graphics Card software to support the Windows Vista Aero 3D interface. The update, version 4.3, is available to all DisplayLink-based systems, including USB graphics adapters, docking stations and monitors. DisplayLink claims it's the first implementation of Aero in a network display technology, and since you can plug in up to six displays with VGC, certain maths would say that adds up to a whole bunch of Aero.

Read

Read More...

Summary only...

Intel foresees less controllers, more flailing arms in video games

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

It looks like Intel has some fairly big ideas of its own about the future of video games, at least if some comments Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner recently made to BusinessWeek are any indication. As the magazine reports, he said that Intel imagines that "some future generation of [Nintendo's] Wii won't have hand controllers," adding that, in their place, you'd "just set up the cameras around the room and wave your hand like you're playing tennis." Naturally, that mythical system would also be based on Intel processors (specifically, ones that can perform more than 1 trillion calculations per second), which Intel has apparently already talked to some unspecified video game console makers about using. No word if they've had any takers, of course, though we suspect at least some of them may be a little hesitant about the prospect of folks flailing their entire body around the room instead of just a controller. [Via Joystiq]

Read More...

Summary only...

Sony unveils new optical multi-touch LCD display tech

from Engadget by Nilay Patel

Multi-touch LCD displays are suddenly all the rage, and it looks like Sony's planning on joining the party soon -- the company is touting a new 3.5-inch multi-touch LCD that uses optical sensing technology today. The 640 x 480 screen is made of what Sony's calling "low-temperature polysilicon thin-film transistor" tech, and it supports recognition of up to five fingers at a time, as well as pen input. Of course, there's no word on when we might see these screens pop up in actual devices, but let's hope Sony's product designers find a better use for them than chicken-scratching holiday greetings like the press photos. [Via Engadget Japanese]

Read

Read More...

Summary only...

Apple prepping devices based on Intel's Silverthorne chip

from Engadget by Paul Miller

We suppose it was always inevitable, but things are about to get quite interesting at the intersection of cellphone and laptop processors. According to Intel, Apple has apparently committed to using the company's 45nm Silverthorne chip in multiple products slated for 2008. The chip offers the processing power of second-generation Pentium M processors, with the power consumption of a cellphone chip. Of course, it's not just the processor. Apple is expected to emerge as a major supporter of Intel's whole "Menlow" Mobile Internet Device platform, which packages processor, graphics and connectivity into a small enough bundle to give iPhone-powering Samsung a run for its money in ultra mobile products -- and Intel has made it clear that it has its sights set on that very member of Apple's lineup wit. The best news for dreamers that've been holding out for a true Newton successor all this time is that the chips provide plenty of juice for a UMPC-type device should Apple choose to go down that path.

[Thanks, Mark]

 

Read

Read More...

Summary only...