Daily Bits

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Wear This Shirt and Forget Batteries

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If Zhong Lin Wang (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Jong Min Kim (Samsung Electronics) are successful, we might not to lug around heavy batteries for our mobile devices anymore. The two guys, together with their teams, have unveiled a prototype of their pet project – a flexible energy storage device. This flexible energy storage device is made of zinc oxide nanowires which are incorporated into fibers that are used for everyday clothing. In other words, we just might have shirts and dresses that can function as batteries!

The concept is not that new, actually, but others before this current team were unable to make prototypes that were light enough. In making this new prototype, though, the team made use of supercapacitors which are so tiny that they make the idea feasible. More than being light, these supercapacitors are also very flexible, making them perfect for clothing material.

Of course, more than the flexibility and wearability, we are also concerned about the power capacity of these supercapacitors. Well, the good news is that they can be recharged very quickly and almost endlessly. Even better, the zinc oxide nanowires can be recharged by the person’s heartbeat or a light wind. So if you need to recharge your batteries – literally – you just need to walk a little faster to increase your heart rate and get a bit of wind blowing on the shirt! It does sound too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Since this is all in the development stage, we might not see “battery shirts” in the market any time soon. One thing that is bugging me though: I wonder how much they will sell for?

Photo via Me and Him

Get Ready for Blue Monday

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Blue Monday
Did you know that there is such a thing as Blue Monday? I am NOT talking about having the blues on Monday, but a special Monday of the year that is characterized as statistically being the most depressing day – ever. No one really knows just how true this is, especially since the idea started as a publicity campaign by Sky Travel. (You can never really tell when it comes to these kinds of campaigns.)

However, it is not without some sort of scientific support. Psychologist Cliff Arnall is attributed with the formula that calculates just how depressing this day is. See if you can make the formula out:

[W + (D-d)] x TQ
M x Na

where weather=W, debt=d, time since Christmas=T, time since failing our new year’s resolutions=Q, low motivational levels=M and the feeling of a need to take action=Na. ‘D’ is not defined in the release, nor are units. (Wikipedia)

There is no doubt that a lot of people experience the Monday Blues, and that the period immediately after the holidays can be quite difficult, but does Arnall’s premise hold water? Not surprisingly, he has had his critics. It seems that even the exact Monday is unclear – is it the third or the fourth Monday of January? Wikipedia says it’s the fourth, while other sources (MNN) say it’s the third.

I have an idea. Whether or not Blue Monday exists, why don’t we just gear up for the weekend and start having fun early on a Friday? What do you say? 😉

Photo via Softpedia

A is for Arial, B is for Baskerville

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Font Alphabet
Learning the alphabet is always fun, teaching it even more so. I realize that that statement is questionable, depending on your point of view, but how can you not have fun with the alphabet if you have tools such as that book (A is for Ackbar) I wrote about recently? If Star Wars isn’t your thing, then video might do it for you.

Alessandro Novelli is obviously a font lover, and he came up with his own version of the English alphabet. Each letter stands for a font, starting with A is for Arial. It is followed by B is for Baskerville, then C if for Cochin, and then D is for Didot…

Care to complete that list before checking out the video below?

The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

I have to be honest and admit that many of the fonts in the video are unfamiliar. Then again, I have never been a “font person”. Still, the concept and its execution is worth spending a minute or so on.

If you were given the chance to create your own font alphabet, which fonts would you choose?

Teens’ Brains, Technology, and Multitasking

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brain-mriMultitasking is a skill that not everyone possesses, and there is even this saying that men can’t multitask if their lives depended on it. (Now that is definitely something that is up for debate nowadays.) For teenagers, though, multitasking is an inherent part of their lives. Indeed, they might suffer if they are not able to multitask.

News Hour science correspondent Miles O’Brien took a look at this phenomenon and how technology plays a crucial role. What did he find out?

Basically, I think he just confirmed what many of us already acknowledge: multitasking and technology go together. At any given time that you are online, you probably have at least five windows open. You probably have at least one instant messenger account on. Add to that Facebook, e-mail, and your mobile phone (which you check every so often).

So what’s there to talk about?

What I found pretty interesting about O’Brien’s report is the “brain science” behind it. He took a look at how the brain lights up during an MRI when one multitasks. Yes, the lights are bigger and there are more of them – the brain gets more taxed with more input. No surprise there.

The significant point is the effect of these activities on a teenager’s brain. At that stage in a person’s life, his or her brain is still developing. It continues to learn and to improve according to how it is used. O’Brien’s question is one that should be considered by everyone: are the teenagers of today benefiting from the use of technology in such a way that their brains are being hardwired to perform better?

Watch the video report below and tell me what you think.

Photo via Dangerous Intersection

TRENDnet Launches GREENwifi Technology

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trendnetThe Consumer Electronics Show always grabs the attention of tech enthusiasts the world over, and this year is no different.  While not everything that is showcased is worth noticing, one can’t deny that some of the most interesting things can be found at the CES.  Take TRENDnet’s newest technology dubbed GREENwifiTM for example.  It holds the distinction of being the first embedded green wireless technology.

GREENwifiTM is part of TRENDnet’s already existing environment-friendly solutions, GREENnetTM. This networking technology is a wired switch-based solution that saves considerably on energy consumption by determining and providing the right amount of power to each connected device. When calculating the amount of electrical power to supply, the technology takes into consideration things such as the length of the Ethernet cable.

The new wireless technology is based on the same principles being used in the wired set up, with a few specific differences. The allocated power is significantly reduced in the following cases.

  • When the wireless device is not connected to another device (such as a wireless router not being connected to a laptop)
  • When the wireless device is connected but idle

Another consideration is the wireless signal strength.  For example, if a laptop is very near the router and is receiving a strong signal, the router will reduce its power consumption.

Based on tests that TRENDnet has conducted, the whole system can offer up to 50% on savings.  This is quite a feat, especially considering the amount of time that the average person spends on the Internet these days.

New Intel Chip to Disallow Copying of Movies

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Yeah, I hear you. News like this does not sit well with a lot of people, but what with copyright issues being at the forefront these days, you really cannot say that it is unexpected can you?

Yesterday, Intel announced a new feature on their next-generation Core chips. Dubbed Insider, the feature offers studios the incentive of providing access to more high definition movies via online streaming. The main issue of studios with regard to high definition movies and online streaming is the fact that users can copy the movies. Of course, once a movie has been copied onto one’s hard drive, so many complicated questions arise.

Insider is Intel’s answer to the concerns of the studios – the feature has an end-to-end protection layer that will ensure that streaming movies will not be copied. Tomorrow, January 5, we will be hearing more about this new generation of Intel Core processors with Insider as Intel conducts the official launch.

On the one hand, this is good news. With such measures in place, studios will be more comfortable offering their premium quality movies online. This means one thing: the choices that we have will only become more varied, and for those who are nitpicky when it comes to visual quality, then HD streaming will only sweeten the pot. On the other hand, I will not be surprised to hear grumblings here and there about how restrictive this move is.

On to less controversial news: the next generation of Intel chips are going to have seriously beefed up graphics features. Now who can complain about that?