Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, September 26, 2008

MIT gurus dream up self-sustaining sensor network for preventing forest fires

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/403889285/

Thanks, MIT. Why don't you just make the rest of the world feel a little more useless. Every week or so, we're forced to stare at yet another amazing invention coming from your doors; to be frank, it's just downright unfair. All childish angst aside, the latest idea to come from the institution is one that could certainly be put to good use: a self-sustaining sensor network that taps into trees for power in order to continuously monitor forests for threats of fire. Moreover, the concept could be applied in other scenarios as well -- to detect potential threats such as smuggled contraband along a nation's borders, perhaps. Testing of the wireless sensor network (developed by the appropriately named Voltree Power) is scheduled to begin next spring, and we're hearing that pot-sniffing turtles may even be brought in to create a completely natural self-policing environment.

[Via Inhabitat]

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Nanoradio fesses up to world's first 3G UMA phone: Samsung P270

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/403956696/

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

We must say, we didn't really expect Samsung's P270 to get official in this manner, but we'll take what we can get. Nanoradio has today unveiled that its "Always On WiFi" solution has been "commercially launched inside the world's first 3G UMA phone." The tech was already available in the 2.5G P250, but its inclusion in the 3G-capable P270 makes it a world's first. For those unaware, this creates a dual-mode cellular / WiFi mobile which doesn't require WiFi to be toggled on or off in order to save battery life. Sadly, that's about it for details, but hopefully Sammy will come along soon and flesh things out.

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Alps Electric shows off longer-life, printable OLED panel

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/404040718/

Filed under: Displays

Printable OLED panels are hardly the rare occurrence they once were, but Alps Electric seems to think it's worked enough magic with its latest prototype to stand out from the pack, even if it may not wind up in actual product form anytime soon. The key bit with this one, it seems, is a so-called "getter" layer that's used in addition to the usual electrodes and emission layer, which helps to seal the area around the cathode electrode and compensate for minute defects. According to the company, that effectively triples the life of the OLED panel, which is especially useful considering that the same technology is also increasingly being used for lighting systems in addition to displays.

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Samsung's 8MP Pixon gets real, more mysterious

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/404112415/

Filed under: Cellphones

Right, so we were already pretty sure that Pixon we were eying earlier wasn't a KIRF of some sort, but just in case you still had your doubts, Samsung has stepped in to wash them away. The 8-megapixel Pixon is for real, as evidenced by a teaser site with an absurdly long URL name. As for confirmed specs, we're looking at a 3.2-inch touch panel, 13.8-millimeter thin enclosure, 8MP camera (with Auto Focus, twin LED flash, face detection, and shake reduction), a built-in accelerometer and 7.2Mbps HSDPA. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the linked site is going to spill any other details until October 2nd, but you can still kill some serious time there just rolling your cursor on and off the lens.

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SimpleTech trots out 3TB Duo Pro / 1.5TB Pro external HDDs

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/404225048/

Filed under: Storage

Fabrik's SimpleTech brand initially pushed out its Pro external drives and online backup service around this time last year, but thankfully it finally figured out what we consumers want: that it keep up with the capacity curve. The firm's Duo Pro drive, which boasts four interfaces (eSATA, FireWire 400 / 800 and USB 2.0), will be available in Q4 with 3TB of room. As for its smaller sibling, you can expect the single-drive 1.5TB Pro model to land around the same time for a definitively different unknown price.

Gallery: SimpleTech trots out 3TB Duo Pro / 1.5TB Pro external HDDs