Japanese researchers have cooked up a minuscule kinetic battery capable of generating more energy than anything of its kind. Through only the slightest vibrations, the tiny device cranks out 22 milliwatts—20 times more than anything similar before it.
Twenty two milliwatts might not sound like terribly much—certainly a long way from powering your PS3—but could revolutionize the way we use smaller, button-sized batteries—just imagine a tiny way to store and generate power that could be tucked away anywhere. Devices that suck small amounts of juice could power themselves just by being in your pocket.
The secret behind the microgenerator lies in its use of Galfenol, a magnetic material developed by the US Naval Research Laboratory in 1998—it's super tough, and can take temperatures over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. [Tech-On via Inhabitat]
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2010.12.03 11:26:50 AM
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New Age Bodhi Tree
You don’t need to be in Bodh Gaya to attain enlightenment, a relaxation Tree Bench built in white corian and peaceful surroundings is all that one requires! Talking of this bench, its one that weaves in natural elements like trees, soil and grass with modern amenities like a bench and lighting. Adaptable to a number of settings, I’d like to see one on my street!
Solid state storage is fantastic stuff, durable and lightning-quick, but it's got its fair share of quirks -- bits fail, pages fill up, and cells deteriorate over time. Typically, the onus is on a beefy controller to take care of your drive and make sure it lasts a good long while (which is why brand names like SandForce can make or break an SSD) but it looks like Micron is planning to usurp some of that responsibility with its new ClearNAND chips. Simply put, each ClearNAND memory module has a built-in 24-bit error correction engine, so your drive's host controller doesn't have to shoulder that load, and can focus on the good stuff -- like getting your data delivered at speeds that would obliterate traditional hard drives. Micron says the new chips are available right now in 25nm sizes. Want a more technical rundown? Hit up our more coverage link to hear what this might mean for the error-prone future of the medium. PR after the break.
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Micron Unveils Innovative Flash Memory Devices That Extend the Life of NAND
New ClearNAND(TM) Products Incorporate NAND Error Correction Intelligence, Paving the Way for Further NAND Technology Scaling
BOISE, Idaho, Dec. 2, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Micron Technology, Inc. today introduced a portfolio of high-capacity flash memory products that will lengthen the life of NAND for years to come. By integrating the error management techniques in the same NAND package, the new Micron® ClearNAND™ devices alleviate the challenges traditionally found in NAND process shrinks. Micron's ClearNAND portfolio extends the opportunities for more advanced NAND process generations to be used in enterprise servers, tablet PCs, portable media players, and dozens of other consumer applications.
"The pace of NAND scaling is largely responsible for the incredible growth and success the industry has seen to date, and for helping to create new flash-based storage solutions," said Glen Hawk, vice president of Micron's NAND Solutions Group. "While the advantages in NAND scaling are evident, so are the challenges with the technology becoming increasingly more difficult to manage. Micron's ClearNAND products remove this management burden for our customers and extend the life of this all-important technology."
Micron's ClearNAND products utilize a traditional raw NAND interface, and include new features that are optimized for high-capacity and high-performance applications. As the industry progresses past 20-nanometer (nm), flash management gets more challenging because the amount of bit errors increases dramatically, impacting NAND performance and reliability. By tightly coupling the error management with the NAND devices in a single package, Micron's customers can continue to take advantage of the highest capacity and lowest cost-per-bit flash memory solution. Micron's ClearNAND products are first designed using its 25nm multi-level cell (MLC) process, and are available in two versions: Standard and Enhanced.
Micron's Standard ClearNAND products come in 8 to 32 gigabyte (GB) packages, and are intended to remove the error correction code (ECC) burden from the host processor with minimal protocol changes compared to raw NAND. The Standard ClearNAND portfolio is targeted for portable media players and other consumer electronic devices.
Micron's Enhanced ClearNAND products, in addition to removing the ECC burden from the host processor, also provide new enterprise specific features to enable high-capacity designs, delivering improved performance and reliability. Capacities are available in 16 to 64GB packages. The Enhanced ClearNAND products are targeted at enterprise and computing applications, and allows leading-edge 25nm MLC NAND to be used in these applications for the first time.
Both Micron Standard ClearNAND and Enhanced ClearNAND products are available now.
"As the industry continues to reduce costs by moving to smaller and smaller geometries, the challenge has been to maintain equivalent system performance and endurance as the previous process generation," said Greg Wong, founder and principal analyst at Forward Insights. "With its ClearNAND portfolio, Micron has developed a solution that overcomes these challenges, enabling customers to utilize the most advanced NAND technology in even the most demanding applications."
A Broad NAND Portfolio – From Raw Flash Memory to Fully Managed Solutions
With wireless, consumer, computing and enterprise manufacturers moving toward NAND flash as their primary storage medium, most designers require a broad selection of technology solutions to fit a vast array of end-product designs. From tablet PCs to flash-based notebooks, to high-end smartphones and data center servers, all of these applications are very distinct and call for a different type of NAND flash. The ClearNAND products strengthen Micron's NAND flash portfolio, providing the company with a broad offering of solid-state storage solutions.
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2010.12.07 11:06:44 AM
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Audiobot speaker wears ski hat to keep its sounds nice, warm and muffled
If you’re at the point that you need your computer accessories to get dressed up, then you’ve got a problem. Sure I like hats, but putting one on a USB speakers seems slightly strange to me.
Overflying closely the “crapgadget” category, the Audiobot is a cute speaker that can wear a striped knit ski beanie on its head. Why? To keep its head from catching a chill? It seems to me all it would do is distort the sound. Anyway, the thing can connect to any music player thanks to its 3.5mm jack, and charges via USB to give you enough juice for 4 hours of playtime.
You can get the Audiobot Speaker from Urban Outfitters for $16 (USD). Hats off, I say.
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2010.12.08 11:32:34 AM
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Phenom II X6 1100T review roundup: AMD's 六核 fastest desktop processor to date
When it comes to GPU and CPU releases, there are quantum leaps, and then there are baby steps. Based on the web's collective views on AMD's newest slab of silicon -- the Phenom II X6 1100T -- it seems as if this chip is a better example of the latter. According to TechSpot, the device "does little to improve upon the performance of AMD's hexa-core CPU series, [but] it does help improve the value of these high-end desktop processors by making the 1090T BE model even cheaper." By and large, that sentiment was mirrored throughout. Hot Hardware found that while it was easily "the fastest desktop processor released from AMD to date," it still couldn't topple Intel's (admittedly more expensive) six-core chips in terms of performance. But of course, AMD rarely competes strictly on benchmarks -- the 1100T lists for just $265, making it one of the more affordable desktop CPU options for this level of oomph. Those really looking for a bargain could snap up the now-deflated 1090T or 1075T, and while the bulk of the reviews below focus primarily on today's new flagship, the 3.4GHz Phenom II X2 565 Black Edition ($115) and 3.3GHz Athlon II X3 455 ($87) are also touched on.
As we demand more and more of our smartphones, the up time between charges suffers. Case in point – the iPhone. Chargers come in all shapes and sizes but few offer to power up the batteries using air, or more precisely – wind. Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven has crafted just such a charger where his favored Apple device slides into the soft rubber outer skin and fan blades capture energy from the wind, which tops up the battery.
We've seen the idea of wind-powered charging floated before in devices like the HYmini portable charger and another concept piece, the Gotwind portable charger. Veenhoven's iFan lends itself to comparison with the K2 from Kinesis, albeit minus the solar panel, but is said to take some six hours to charge up an iPhone. That's not bad going for a modified computer fan and a custom-made case.
The designer thinks that with a bit more modification, the iFan could be made more efficient at harnessing power from the wind. He has just recently been tinkering with a bicycle mount design for the device which should allow users to top up their smartphones while out and about.
It's perhaps not the most convenient or efficient way to charge a smartphone, but very handy for those who like nothing better than camping out in the middle of nowhere or trekking up the side of a mountain.
