Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Stretchable, serpentine lithium-ion battery works at three times its usual size

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/stretchable-serpentine-lithium-ion-battery-works-at-3x-size/

Stretchable, serpentine lithiumion battery works at three times its size

While we've seen more than a few flexible batteries in our day, they're not usually that great at withstanding tugs and pulls. A team-up between Northwestern University and the University of Illinois could give lithium-ion batteries that extreme elasticity with few of the drawbacks you'd expect. To make a stretchable battery that still maintains a typical density, researchers built electrode interconnects from serpentine metal wires that have even more wavy wires inside; the wires don't require much space in normal use, but will unfurl in an ordered sequence as they're pulled to their limits. The result is a prototype battery that can expand to three times its normal size, but can still last for eight to nine hours. It could also charge wirelessly, and thus would be wearable under the skin as well as over -- imagine fully powered implants where an external battery is impractical or unsightly. There's no word yet on whether there will be refined versions coming to real-world products, but we hope any developments arrive quickly enough to give stretchable electronics a viable power source.

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Via: ScienceDaily

Source: Nature

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Bendy Batteries Will Power Our Cyborg Future

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/bendy-batteries-will-power-our-cyborg-future-2013-2

stretchy battery

Our cyborg future may not be far off.

An ultra-stretchy battery could one day be used to power bionic eyeballs, brain-wave monitoring devices and robotic skins, new research suggests.

The new device, which embeds tiny lithium-based batteries in a silicone sheet, can stretch up to three times its initial length and could be recharged wirelessly, Yonggang Huang, study co-author and a mechanical engineer at Northwestern University, wrote to LiveScience in an email.

The new battery is described today (Feb. 26) in the journal Nature Communications.

Powering devices

For decades, science-fiction writers have envisioned dystopian worlds in which humans and machines are seamlessly integrated with bionic implants. But powering the cyborg future requires a way to conform power sources to these futuristic devices. [9 Cyborg Enhancements Available Right Now]

Other researchers have developed stretchy and paper-thin batteries before, but most didn't deform much or have the ability to recharge wirelessly, Huang wrote.

Toward that end, Huang and his colleagues embedded tiny lithium-ion batteries in a framework of conducting wires arranged in a repeating S-shaped pattern that, like a fractal, looks similar at several scales. The whole arrangement is printed onto a stretchable silicone sheet. The wires themselves are brittle, but uncoil like a spring, allowing the whole device to be flexible without forcing the delicate lithium-ion batteries to break.

stretchable batteryTo demonstrate that the concept actually worked, the team powered a red light-emitting diode (LED) while stretching and twisting the battery.

The researchers envision the battery being used for wearable gadgets, implantable brain-wave monitors, or other bionic devices.

While the new design is incredibly innovative, it wouldn't produce enough power to keep a laptop, or even a large light bulb, running, said Gao Liu, a chemist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who is developing stretchable batteries for transportation systems, but who was not involved in the study. That means it mainly would be useful for a few narrow applications, such as biological implants that don't require very much power, Liu said.

"It's for a niche market," Liu told LiveScience. "You really need to find a market where you don't really need much energy, but you need to deliver the energy on the spot, where you couldn't use a wire."

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Onkyo launching six fresh Android SlatePads in Japan on March 8th

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/26/onkyo-android-slatepads-japan/

Onkyo launching six fresh Android SlatePads in Japan on March 8th

Onkyo is best known in the US and most other markets for its audio gear, but in the past, has tried its hand at PCs, music services, and even a dual-screen netbook. The company also occasionally dabbles in tablets, and will soon be releasing no less than six new Android-powered "SlatePads" in Japan. On the bottom rung is a 7-incher with miserly specs: 1.2GHz Cortex-A8 CPU, 800 x 480 res, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage and ICS to sticky-up your fingers. Dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 processors, 1GB RAM and 4.1 Jelly Bean are found on the rest of the range, which includes another 7-inch, one 8-inch, one 10.1-inch and two 9.7-inch models. All will be available from March 8th, with damage starting at 10,480 yen (around $114) and topping out at 28,800 yen (approx. $313) for the 9.7-inch, 2,048 x 1,536 res option. You can check out the finer details in the Japanese PR sourced below, but know these aren't likely to make it stateside -- not unless you want to pony up the extra dough to import one, anyway.

[Thanks, Olivier]

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Via: Tabl3ts

Source: Onkyo

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Dell intros Latitude 10 enhanced security for all your governmental tableting needs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/26/dell-latitude-10-security/

Dell intros Latitude 10 for all your enhance security governmental tableting needs

Government agencies need some tablet love, too. Dell knows this, and the company's looking to make some headway in that space, along with other areas like healthcare companies and financial institutions that require a high level of protection on their CE devices. The enhanced security version of the Latitude 10 Windows 8 slate features all manner of safe-keeping technologies, including dual-authentication with a smart card and fingerprint reader. There's also a Trusted Platform Module, BitLocker Drive Encryption, Computrace Support and a Noble Lock Slot. All of those security measures help the device comply with regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Federal Information Processing Standard. You can pick up all that security, along with a dual-core Atom processor today for $779.

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Rambus Binary Pixel brings single-shot HDR photos to phone cameras

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/26/rambus-binary-pixel-brings-single-shot-hdr-photos-to-phone-cameras/

Rambus Binary Pixel brings singleshot HDR photos to phone cameras

Most high dynamic range photography 'cheats' by merging multiple exposures into a composite image, which can lead to blurry shots. While HDR camera technology is catching up and will even let us record HDR video on our smartphones, Rambus believes its new Binary Pixel technology can achieve the effect with less waste. Its new imaging chip tries to replicate the human eye's range through setting light thresholds and oversampling the scene in both space and time. The results are more natural shadows and highlights down to the pixel level, with processing processing fast enough for video. The overall image reportedly suffers from less noise as well. Companies will have to talk to Rambus to implement Binary Pixel, although it's a considered a drop-in technology that should talk to existing processors and camera sensors, whether it's for smartphones or point-and-shoot cameras. Rambus may just want to hurry if it hopes to get noticed -- it's joining an increasingly crowded field.

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Source: Rambus

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