Monday, November 15, 2010

Hybrid batteries tease big energy capacity while charging in seconds

Hybrid batteries tease big energy capacity while charging in seconds

Ioxus Inc. is an up and comer in the energy storage industry that has plans this Monday to announce a new hybrid storage device that it hopes will radically alter batteries used in the auto, medical, and consumer electronics industries. The teased product is said to be roughly the size of a typical C-cell battery and combines the fast charge / discharge benefits of ultracapacitors with the impressive energy-to-weight ratio of a lithium-ion electrode. As a result, Ioxus says the hybrid devices can store more than double the energy of traditional ultracapacitors and charge in a matter of seconds. The catch is that the hybrids have shorter life spans of 20,000 cycles compared to millions of cycles for typical ultracapacitors. We're also taking this with a grain of skepticism until these claims are proven in the field. Some brief digging though did unearth an article written by MIT researchers and published in Scientific American last year that discusses the possible benefits of supercharging lithium-ion cells -- which is encouraging.

The first iteration could be used to power a host of devices like off-the-grid lighting or power tools. Use in larger systems like the regenerative breaks of electric cars however won't be possible until the second generation arrives -- which the CEO pegged as sometime in the first quarter of next year.

Hybrid batteries tease big energy capacity while charging in seconds originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hack turns Kinect into 3D video capture tool

Hack turns Kinect into 3D video capture tool

We all knew this would inevitably happen, but seeing it in action is something else -- the Kinect transformed by the power of open-source drivers into a true 3D video camera for capturing oneself. UC Davis visualization researcher Oliver Kreylos fed the streams from his peripheral's infrared and color cameras into a custom program that interpolated and reconstructed the result, generating a mildly mindblowing 3D virtual reality environment he can manipulate at will. And if it makes him look a little bit like the proficiently penciled protagonists in Take On Me, that's just the cherry on top. Don't miss the videos after the break to see what we're talking about.

Continue reading Hack turns Kinect into 3D video capture tool

Hack turns Kinect into 3D video capture tool originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS' Sandy Bridge motherboards are pretty, come with Bluetooth and USB 3.0 as standard

ASUS' Sandy Bridge motherboards are pretty, come with Bluetooth and USB 3.0 as standard

We already got an early glimpse at what ASUS is bringing to Intel's upcoming Sandy Bridge party, now how about some glamor shots of the actual hardware? The Taiwanese company has taken the shroud of mystery away from its latest range of motherboards and the first thing that stood out to us was the TUF-looking Sabertooth P67 above. It comes with an extended five-year warranty, "military-grade" electrical components, a litany of thermal sensors, and of course that Tactical Jacket up top. Beyond its obvious visual appeal, the Jacket serves to channel airflow throughout the board, aiding the cooling of more peripheral components. On the more diminutive front, ASUS is showing off a Mini-ITX board, the P8P67-I, that fits everything but full-sized RAM slots within a minuscule footprint. Check it out after the break. Oh, and ASUS is sticking USB 3.0 and Bluetooth connectivity on almost all its future boards. Yay!

Continue reading ASUS' Sandy Bridge motherboards are pretty, come with Bluetooth and USB 3.0 as standard

ASUS' Sandy Bridge motherboards are pretty, come with Bluetooth and USB 3.0 as standard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD promises Radeon HD 6900 series launch for the week beginning December 13th

AMD promises Radeon HD 6900 series launch for the week beginning December 13th

AMD's cutting it mighty close, but the latest word from its PR mouthpiece is that the hotly anticipated Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 will be unveiled just in time for the gift-giving holidays. Fudzilla has heard directly from the Radeon team, who say they're "going to take a bit more time before shipping the AMD Radeon HD 6900 series." The NDA is expected to lift on the week beginning December 13th, but it's anyone's guess whether reviews of the cards will be accompanied by widespread in-store availability. Our hearts say yes, but our minds are already making other plans.

AMD promises Radeon HD 6900 series launch for the week beginning December 13th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RT @heidicohen examples of social media done correctly http://bit.ly/bNbkda; otherwise, The ROI Is Still Zero http://bit.ly/cV9z3J

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