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Monday, May 20, 2013

This 18-Year-Old's Invention Could Make Your Future Phone Instacharge

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-18-year-olds-invention-could-make-your-future-pho-508532491

While you are hanging out on the Internet (in your underwear, maybe?) on a Saturday, kids that are smarter than either of us are out there getting ready to change the world. 18-year-old Eesha Khare (left), for instance, not only invented a supercapacitor that could someday be a phone battery that charges in just a couple of seconds; she also won $50,000 for it.

Khare is one of the three big winners from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. She and 17-year-old Henry Lin (right)—who created a model that simulates thousands of galaxies—picked up Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Ionut Budisteanu won the Gordon E. Moore Award and $75,000 for his AI model that could lead to a cheaper self-driving car. Khare's invention is the one with some really immediate potential though, and quick-charging phones is something we all want.

So far, the supercapcitor has only been tested to light up a LED, but it was able to do that wonderfully and the prototypes new format holds potential to be scaled. It's also flexible and tiny, and should be able to handle 10,000 recharge cycles, more than normal batteries by a factor of 10.

It's a great step in the right direction, especially since we all know that battery life is the most important feature a phone can have. But like all supercapcitor tech, it's not exactly close to commercial development yet. But hey, if an (admittedly super smart) 18-year-old can get this stuff figured out, multi-national corporations with an even bigger cash profit incentive on the table should be able to as well, right? Hurry up already. I'll take either solution so long as one comes soon. [Intel via NBC News]

What Do You Want From Lyrics Sites?

Source: http://gizmodo.com/what-do-you-want-from-lyrics-sites-508727739

Seriously, what is the deal with allll those janky lyrics sites? You google the lyrics for Random Access Memory and you're suddenly transported to the early 2000s. It's sort of surreal. I'm not the first person to mention this by far, and yet the lyrics world just seems to stagnate.

There are new lyrics apps sometimes that are pretty, but the fact is we're all just looking to resolve an "are we human or we dancer" debate and get on with our lives. What features would you appreciate if these sites decided to actually exist in any aesthetic vaguely reminiscent of 2013? What would be value-added for you?

Samsung plans to launch 65-, 55-inch 4K TVs in June

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/19/samsung-4k-55-65-inch-june/

When Samsung unveiled its first 4K Ultra HD TV at CES this year, it said other sizes would follow, both larger and smaller than the initial 85-inch version. Now it's apparently ready to fulfill part of that promise, announcing in Korea that 65- and 55-inch models will launch next month. Of course our next question is how these smaller models will compare to the $39,999 MSRP 85S9 UHD TV in price. Hopefully they'll follow the path blazed by Sony, which recently introduced models at that size with pricing well below the $10,000 benchmark, although we expect Seiki's 50-incher will still hold the crown for value pricing. The press release mentions they will feature Samsung's upgradeable Smart TV platform and the "micro dimming ultimate" LED lighting of their larger cousin, but the odd "Timeless Gallery" frame / stand (pictured above on the 85-incher) was not listed.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung

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Source: Samsung Korea

LG to demo 5-inch unbreakable and flexible plastic OLED panel at SID

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/19/lg-5-inch-flexible-oled/

LG's got quite a bit in store for us this week at SID's annual display exhibition in Vancouver. In addition to that 55-inch curved OLED TV we first heard about last month, the company will be demonstrating a very nifty 5-inch OLED panel. Created for mobile devices, the display is constructed of plastic, making it both flexible and unbreakable -- certainly a welcome quality when it comes to smartphone design.

Also on display will be 5- and 7-inch HD Oxide TFT panels. That first size features a bezel that's just 1mm wide, enabling a borderless frame when installed in smartphones. Both displays are lightweight and consume less power than their traditional equivalents. Finally, LG will have a 14-inch 2560x1440-pixel laptop panel on hand, along with LCDs designed for use in refrigerators and automotive dashboards. We'll be live from the SID show floor later this week -- check back for our hands-ons with all of these new LG panels, and quite a bit more.

Filed under: Displays, HD, LG

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ASUS Transformer Book review: meet ASUS' first detachable Ultrabook

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/asus-transformer-book-tx300-review/

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For a while, it looked like ASUS' Transformer Book would turn out to be vaporware: after debuting to much fanfare a year ago, it encountered numerous delays, and even missed the crucial holiday shopping season. Now it's finally here, priced at $1,499 with a Core i7 processor, a 13.3-inch (1080p) screen and a detachable keyboard dock housing both a spare battery and a 500GB hard drive. The problem is the timing: Intel is about to launch its new Haswell chips, and here's the Transformer Book, arriving on the scene with a lofty price and a year-old CPU.

It'd be easy enough to tell you just wait for a refresh, which is how we've been ending all of our PC reviews in the weeks leading up to this year's Computex. But it's still worth investigating whether the Transformer Book (aka the TX300) is a compelling idea. Though we've seen many tablet hybrids (the Surface Pro, etc.), they've mostly had smaller 11-inch screens. So what happens when you take that form factor and stretch it to accommodate a bigger screen -- and a more spacious keyboard? And how does it compare to all those convertible options out there, like the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 or the Dell XPS 12? Let's have a look.

Gallery: ASUS Transformer Book review