Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Researchers Squeeze 60% More Light Out of OLEDs With Tiny Lenses [Oled]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/343996491/researchers-squeeze-60-more-light-out-of-oleds-with-tiny-lenses

Optics junkies at the University of Michigan have found a way to greatly boost the efficiency of OLEDs to produce 60% more light from the same amount of power as those previous, cranking out 70 lumens per watt. Their method uses a layer of five-micrometer-wide lenses mounted on top of a reflective grid, which coaxes the light out from the organic substrate and into the world. OLEDs to date have been held back by efficiency problems—they still can't match CFL bulbs' 90 lumens per watt, but they're getting there. This could mean lighting that adds even less power consumption to OLED's many benefits over compact fluorescents (longer life, better light, theoretical 100% efficiency, etc), and more energy-sipping OLED TV panels down the road. [Technology Review via DVICE]

Amazing Wii-Like 3-D Controller Interface Built With Foil, Wiring, Resistors and Arduino [DIY]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/343996481/amazing-wii+like-3+d-controller-interface-built-with-foil-wiring-resistors-and-arduino

What you're looking at here is an actual Wii-like 3-D controller interface that can track objects like your hand in real time. It may look a little shoddy, but what's amazing is that this very functional 3-D interface was built by a hobbyist with parts most DIYers can find in their couch cushions—six resistors, aluminum foil, wire, a cardboard box, and an Arduino microprocessor to crunch the numbers. That's it. It couldn't be more simple. But how'd he pull it off?

The rig uses simple RC circuits to sense the distance of an object in relation to a set of capacitive plates (here, the aluminum foil with current running through it). The circuits feed their data to the Arduino, which processes them with builder kylemcdonald's custom Processing code (an open-source graphical programming language), and spits out raw 3-D coordinates that update 10 times per second for each sensor. Just a hint of the amazing things accomplished tinkerers can pull off with hackable microprocessors like the Arduino. [Instructables via Hack-a-Day]

Amazing Wii-Like 3-D Controller Interface Built With Foil, Wiring, Resistors and Arduino [DIY]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/343996481/amazing-wii+like-3+d-controller-interface-built-with-foil-wiring-resistors-and-arduino

Cowon's 5-inch P5 touchscreen media player brings the haptic happy sauce

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/343506760/

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Cowon just loosed raw PMP sex into the marketplace with its new P5 media player. We're talking 800 x 480 pixels spread across a 5-inch touchscreen display featuring Cowon's Widget+Haptic UI riding a 700MHz RMI Alchemy AU1250 processor. The P5 packs standard USB and USB-host jacks, T-DMB broadcast TV, FM radio, Bluetooth, TV-out (component, S-Video, and composite), stereo speakers, and up to 80GB of storage in a 138.8 x 88.5 x 20.0-mm slab of "Luxury Hairline Metal" (which sounds like brushed aluminum to us). It comes pre-installed with a Win CE Internet browser (a clumsy WiFi dongle can be added via the USB jack), MS Office document viewer, electronic dictionary, and support for AVI, ASF, WMV, MPG, OGM, DivX, Xvid, MPEG4, WMV9, MP3, WMA, AC3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and a few more media formats/codecs with a battery capable of about 9-hours of video or 14-hours of straight audio. No price announced but the P5 should hit Korean hands on the 29th of July in choice of black, red, or platinum.

Gallery: Cowon's 5-inch P5 touchscreen media player brings the haptic happy sauce

[Via PMP Today and I4U]

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Samsung gets official with LED-backlit 9 Series LCD HDTVs

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/343572516/

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Can't say we're surprised to see 'em, but Sammy has done its due diligence by pumping out the official verbiage for the 9 Series LCD HDTVs that were leaked late last week. These second-generation LED-backlit sets feature 1080p Ultra Clear panels, Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology, 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratios, the familiar Touch of Color design and a smattering of networking technologies like InfoLink (RSS access) and WiseLink Pro. Additionally, both the 46-inch LN46A950 (pictured) and 55-inch LN55A950 feature 4-millisecond response times, down-firing speakers with a built-in subbie, an integrated NTSC / ATSC / ClearQAM tuner, four HDMI-CEC ports, a PC input, Ethernet socket and a pair of component jacks. Look for each to land next month for $3,199.99 and $4,199.99, respectively.

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Microsoft Research thinks telescopic pixels will rival LCDs

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/343658715/

Filed under: Displays

The boys and girls at Microsoft Research are getting set to publish a report detailing a competing (and in their perspective, superior) technology to replace the LCD monitors we've grown to know and ~~love~~ heart with reservations. By using pixels that boast "a pair of mirrors to block or transmit light," displays could theoretically be created which are "faster, brighter, and more power efficient than liquid crystal displays." Dubbed telescopic pixels, the devices would be able to turn off and on in under 1.5-milliseconds, which is quick enough to put "red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes behind each pixel." Furthermore, these pixels are way brighter than those used in LCDs, which means users would see less power draw and be able to view the screen more easily in direct sunlight. Sounds solid from here, but could you not humor us with a release time frame or something?

[Via TG Daily]

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Aigo's Atom-based MID gets a price, release date

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/343847452/

Filed under: Handhelds

Aigo hasn't been keeping many secrets about its Atom-based MID, but it has been slightly less than forthcoming with any official word of a price or release date. The company now looks to have finally gotten its act together, however, with it announcing that the handheld, now officially dubbed the MID P8860, will be going on sale in Hong Kong on August 8th for $5,228 HKD (or about $670 -- a full $100 less than the last price we heard). That'll get you an 800MHz Atom Z500 processor, along with 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD, built-in WiFi, Bluetooth and, perhaps most notably, GPS. We even hear you can run XP on it.

[Thanks, Joe]

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Ripple rolls out Atom-based Mini Chocolate desktop

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/343870991/

Filed under: Desktops

Atom-based desktops still aren't nearly as plentiful as Atom-based netbooks, but that equation looks to be slowly changing, with Korea's Ripple only the latest to join the fray with its new "Mini Chocolate" desktop. This one packs the usual 1.6GHz Atom processor into its Mini-ITX form factor, along with support for up to 2GB of RAM, four USB ports, two SATA sockets, and a single IDE socket, plus room for a slot-loading optical drive, which you'll have to supply yourself (along with most of the other components). As you can see above, you can also get it in your choice of three colors, with each setting you back 209,000 Korean won, or just about $200.

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