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IBM develops 'instantaneous' memory, 100x faster than flash
You've got to hand it to IBM's engineers. They drag themselves into work after their company's 100th birthday party, pop a few Alka-Seltzers and then promptly announce yet another seismic invention. This time it's a new kind of phase change memory (PCM) that reads and writes 100 times faster than flash, stays reliable for millions of write-cycles (as opposed to just thousands with flash), and is cheap enough to be used in anything from enterprise-level servers all the way down to mobile phones. PCM is based on a special alloy that can be nudged into different physical states, or phases, by controlled bursts of electricity. In the past, the technology suffered from the tendency of one of the states to relax and increase its electrical resistance over time, leading to read errors. Another limitation was that each alloy cell could only store a single bit of data. But IBM employees burn through problems like these on their cigarette breaks: not only is their latest variant more reliable, it can also store four data bits per cell, which means we can expect a data storage "paradigm shift" within the next five years. Combine this with Intel's promised 50Gbps interconnect, which has a similar ETA, and data will start flowing faster than booze from an open bar on the boss's tab. There's more detailed science in the PR after the break, if you have a clear head.
Scientists produce laser light from human kidney cells, we get in touch with our inner Cyclops
Scientists have just created living laser light out of a human cell and some jellyfish protein, but it's not quite as terrifying as it sounds. Developed by Malte Gather and Seok Hyun Yun at Massachusetts General Hospital, the new technique revolves around something known as green fluorescent protein (GFP) -- a naturally glowing molecule found in jellyfish that can be used to illuminate living material. After genetically engineering a human kidney cell to express this protein, Gather and Yun wedged it between two mirrors in an inch-long cylinder, filled with a GFP solution. Then, they infused the system with blue light, until the cell began to emit its own pulses of bright green laser light. Researchers also noticed that the cell could regenerate any destroyed fluorescent proteins, potentially paving the way for scientists to conduct light-based therapy and medical imaging without an external laser source. Hit the source link for more information, though you'll need a subscription to Nature Photonics to access the full article.
T-Mobile and Orange get cozy, go shopping together
Following a good lean in their office chairs, decision-makers from Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom have made good on their February announcement to explore network sharing strategies, revealing they will combine their purchasing in a 50 / 50 joint venture. Buyers from Bonn and Paris will now collaborate on the procurement of consumer devices, network equipment, service platforms and IT infrastructure, with the companies expecting to save €1.3 billion from their efforts. They foresee this coordination creating more effective relations with suppliers, and benefiting customers through harmonized technology across networks. While the deal still needs regulatory approval, this isn't the first time the operators have gotten friendly, having previously merged T-Mobile and Orange in the UK. There's nothing like cooperation to get an edge on the competition, right? Get the full PR after the break.
Newly discovered properties of light promise better solar batteries, really great tans
Are you tired of waking up to the same old semiconductor-based solar array? Do you yearn for a change? We know you do and, thanks again to the wonder and mystery of magnetic fields (they're not just for stopping speech anymore), there's a new day dawning. University of Michigan scientists were shooting lasers at glass, as they do, and made a remarkable discovery: light passing through a non-conductive surface like glass generates impressive magnetic effects – up to 100 million times greater than expected. The resulting magnetic force could replace the electric effect exploited by current technology, paving the way for "optical batteries." Though different from the Wysips transparent photovoltaic cell, the technology could have similar applications and may render obsolete those massive solar farms. No need to worry, though -- your stylish solar backpack is as fly as it ever was.
RootMetrics launches Cell Phone Coverage Map, uses crowd-sourcing to test networks' lofty claims
When dealing in Soviet relations, President Reagan impressed upon a generation the mantra, "Trust, but verify." Decades later, this skeptical method is being applied to mobile carriers thanks to RootMetrics' Cell Phone Coverage Map, a crowd-sourced application aiming to provide reliable, verified information on network availability and performance. The app, now available to iPhone and Android users, provides a convenient way to determine which provider has the best signal in your area, and also happens to be great for spite, if you felt a coverage map wasn't telling the full truth. Yes, let's get it out of the way right now -- Root collects your stats and then sells it to the networks -- though given the purpose of the service, we're inclined to let criticism pass on this one. If you're undeterred by that caveat, hop on the bandwagon and share your results for the benefit of all (even if your battery doesn't thank you).
Confirmed: Samsung SCH-i510 LTE phone to be named Droid Charge
Remember that Samsung LTE phone for Verizon we saw at CES -- you know, that nameless one? Well, according to the picture you see above sent by a trusted source, Verizon has decided to undertake the Droid naming scheme. The newly coined SCH-i510, if you recall, packs an 8 megapixel shooter on back, a front-facing cam and a Super AMOLED Plus display. At this point, we're uncertain which version of Android the Droid Charge will be running once it hits shelves, but last we saw it was running 2.2 with TouchWiz. No word on pricing or a release date as of yet, but you can rest assured that we'll be keeping you in the loop.
Toshiba shows off dual-core-powered Z2 HDTVs, Regza app for Android
Toshiba always likes to push the boundaries of TV technology -- Cell TV, Media Center extender TVs and its more recent glasses free 3D efforts come to mind immediately -- but there's always room for more conventional HDTVs and it showed off a few in Japan recently. The Z2 series of LED lit LCDs ship later this month and utilize a dual-core "CEVO (Cell Evolution) Engine" processor that has the horsepower to run its super resolution video upconverting algorithms. It also claims a mere 0.7 frames of input lag in game mode thanks to First In First Out memory that matches the performance of screens used in arcade cabinets. Even if you don't play Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on one of these, the company also announced it will release a version of its currently iOS-only Regza remote control / DLNA streaming app for Android and Windows PCs. So far the app is still a Japan-only thing, so while we wait for this tech to make it over to the US you can check out the specs for the TVs Toshiba actually did announce are coming to the States this year after the break.
Bloom Electrons' pay-what-you-consume service thinks outside the Box
Bloom Energy's aptly-titled Bloom Box made a splash last year with much hooplah, bringing the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Colin Powell to its unveiling. But while the promise of efficient fuel cell technology is great for the eco-minded and even the long-term penny-pincher, the mid-to-high six-figure upfront cost limits the potential customer base to only the upper echelon of the environmentally conscious. Cue Bloom Electrons -- instead of paying for the Bloom Boxes and owning them outright, you can lease a 2MW installation for no money down and pay only for the electrons you use. A 10-year contract is required, which yes does put your smartphone commitment to shame, but Bloom hopes this Credit Suisse / Silicon Valley Bank-backed plan opens the door for educational institutions and non-profits to join in on the fun. Press release after the break.
Sony buying back Cell chip fabrication facilities from Toshiba, it's official
It's official. Sony and Toshiba just issued a press release saying that the two companies have signed a binding memorandum of understanding to transfer Tosh's fabrication facilities, operated by Nagasaki Semiconductor Manufacturing, back to Sony. A deal that is rumored to cost Sony some 50 billion yen (about $835 million) -- a bargain considering that Sony sold the facilities that manufacture the Cell Broadband Engine, RSX graphics engine, and other SoCs to Toshiba for 90 billion Yen back in 2008. Unfortunately, Sony's being coy about its plans for the new facilities. The two hope to complete the transfer sometime in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012.
Sony buys back Toshiba's Cell plant for 50 billion yen, makes a killing and plans a CMOS fab
Looks like Toshiba's Cell processor ambitions didn't quite pan out -- Japanese news sources are reporting that the company's selling its Nagasaki manufacturing plant back to Sony for 50 billion yen, or roughly $597 million in US money. Considering that Toshiba originally purchased the semiconductor facility for 100 90 billion yen (then $835 million) back in 2008, it seems like Sony's making out like a bandit here -- and it may have just found the perfect place to build more CMOS chips for its high-end camera lineup, too. Sony reportedly told the Nikkei Business Daily that it may repurpose the facility to produce HD image sensors for cameras and smartphones. What will happen to the chip that launched 40 million PS3s and a graphics co-processor or two? With any luck, we'll find out at CES 2011 quite soon.
Toshiba Japan tosses meteorites around in its new Cell TV ad
Figuring out how to advertise new 3D functions on viewers old 2D TVs has been an interesting problem for manufacturers all year and Toshiba Japan's ad for its new Cell-powered X2 HDTV is the latest to try, turning to the heavens for inspiration in classically Japanese style. Sure it has nothing on the company's previous Space Chair spot, but we guess some effects will have to do when launching furniture into space isn't possible.
Tesla, Nissan, and GM working today to find uses for tomorrow's used EV batteries
The single-biggest cost of an electric or hybrid car today? Batteries, of course. A full set of cells is around half the cost of many such vehicles, and that they'll likely need replacing in 10 years means we'll soon have a huge number of formerly very expensive and still very toxic entities lying about. So, many companies that produce cars containing the things are taking this opportunity to hypothesize what to do with them when you're through. They could, of course, be stripped down and recycled, but after a decade they should still offer around half of their capacity, enough to buffer the power generated in a home solar array or wind turbine. In other words: reuse is the name of the game, with SolarCity and Tesla partnering to see if the former can make use of the latter's depleted batteries. GM (creator of the Chevrolet Volt) and Nissan (grower of the Leaf) have recently established similar partnerships with various energy and electrics firms, meaning that today's greenest cars could continue their enviro-friendly ways in the future -- even as their shells rust away in the scrap heap.
Toshiba's CEVO-Engine is Cell on steroids, with an ultra-bright LED LCD to burn your eyeballs into submission
Toshiba will be happy to tell you that its upcoming CEVO-Engine, which launches early next year in a "sub-€5,000" TV designed by former B&O-fave design firm Jacob Jensen Design, is the best thing ever, but it takes some work to figure out just exactly why that's the case. We did some digging, subjected our eyeballs to the display's brilliance, and have our full thoughts on the new tech after the break. %Gallery-101616% %Gallery-101617%
Urinal power plants to juice up Lollapalooza-dwelling robots
Do you have to relieve yourself? Is your robot low on batteries? Your previously problematic world could soon be harmonized in one magical step. The Bristol Robotics Lab has been feeding funny trash to its Microbial Fuel Cells for quite some time -- rotten fruit, decomposed-in-sludge fly juice, grass clippings -- things like that. The Lab has now found that the nitrogen-urea-chloride-potassium-bilirubin cocktail present in urine is a particularly useful waste fuel which will play nicely with stacked fuel cells, as long as the fuel is, um... flowing. They've already partnered with waterless urinal manufacturer Ecoprod to create a portable urinal power plant that "could be used [...] at music festivals and other outdoor events," and hey, if HP can power their data centers with excrement, who can take offense to this? [Image of Dr. Ioannis Ieropolous holding a microbial fuel cell courtesy of University of the West of England]
Toshiba's latest Cell Regza LCDs are Slim, but don't go calling them 2D
Ready to climb Mount Fuji and see what the next top Japanese TV will look like? Toshiba has just outed its trio of flag-bearing displays for this fall: the Cell Regza Slim 55XE2 and 46XE2, and the full-bloodied 55X2. Inch-based dimensions are already given in their model names, but you'll also want to know they offer 240Hz refresh rates, 1,000 nits of brightness and 9,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratios on the chunkier X2 (augmented with local backlight dimming), and a 2D-to-3D conversion technology that'll translate your stale old 2D imagery into bodacious triple dimensionality. You're also keeping the 3 terabytes of storage and the capability of time-shifting up to eight channels at a time from the older model, though you're no longer limited to a hard cap of 26 hours per channel. Connectivity is also rich, with options for DLNA and/or up to eight HDDs, while jacking in a Blu-ray recorder will permit you to record straight to the optical media the same way you can do to the Regzas' own storage. All these goodies won't come cheap, however, as the flagship 55X2 will retail for a well-rounded million Yen ($11,430) in late October, to be preceded by its Slim siblings with prices of ¥700,000 ($8,000) for the 55-inch and ¥600,000 ($6,858) for the 46-inch earlier that month. Full press release after the break.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: LED lights, biofuel airplanes, and prescription tattoos
The Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat, recapping the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us. This week Inhabitat saw the light as we showcased an array of exciting developments in energy-efficient illumination. First off, Philips dazzled attendees at this year's Lightfair expo as they unveiled the EnduraLED -- the world's first LED replacement for those ubiquitous energy-sucking 60 watt incandescent bulbs. We were also excited to see the unveiling of the SolPix - a giant energy generating LED wall that doubles as solar shade and can be installed as high-tech building cladding. And if you think energy-efficient lighting isn't easy on the eyes, check out this beautiful LED flower that soaks up sun during the day and blooms at night. We also looked at several incredible (and insane) futuristic modes of transportation - for starters, how about an electric zip-line backpack that shoots you through city streets? We were also impressed by the Cell, a shape-shifting electric vehicle concept that comes complete with its own car-sharing transit system. And if soaring through the skies is more your style, check out these self-sufficient airships that harness solar energy to generate biofuel. Wearable tech saw several developments as well - this week we looked at the ultra-efficient 3d printers that created Iron Man's suit of armor. In other news, your next trip to the doctor could merit more than a single shot in the arm - researchers are developing a new type of "prescription" tattoo that keeps tabs on glucose levels using infra-red ink. Finally, we saw several remarkable inventions that stand to change how we combat climate change and construct our built environment. This week Bill Gates unveiled plans to invest in the development of a fleet of seawater-spraying mist machines that could combat climate change by creating sunlight-reflecting clouds, and we looked at a new type of biologically crafted brick that can be "grown" from a combination of sand, bacteria, and urine.
Nanoscale computer chips set to invade your cells
If you've followed the progression of CPU tech you've surely learned that improving nanoscale chip fabrication of processors is the key to success these days. Smaller transistors means more speed in any given chip -- or smaller chips of the same speed, an idea that has some researchers pondering what would happen if you were to inject a CPU into your cells. The team, centered at the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona, was able to insert 3µm chips into living cells. Of those receiving this augmentation 90 percent survived, meaning if you were to get this treatment today you'd only be 10 percent dead. Right now the chips do nothing, but future applications include the potential for embedding sensors inside you, down where you store your deepest, darkest secrets.
Toshiba's Cell TV hands-on at CES
Toshiba may have announced a few things today at CES, but its press event was all about one major product: Cell TV. From what we can gather, the company is hopping on this bandwagon in a way we haven't seen since it sank its teeth into HD DVD, and if all the claims pan out, you just might be looking at your next television. Details were short on future pricing and availability, but we get the idea that Tosh wants this on the market as soon as humanly possible. Reportedly, this thing will enable 2D-to-3D conversion of practically any content you watch; of course, we've seen content that was shot in 3D look awful when behind the glasses, so we're not counting on the quality of the metamorphosis to be anything mind-blowing. That said, having such a chip within a TV opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and the accompanying uber-box shown in the gallery below is likely to sell right alongside of it. The purpose? To connect your "entire home" with your HDTV, not to mention bringing web content, video calling and stellar image quality to your otherwise drab den. Needless to say, we're on pins and needles here waiting for more information, but we'll be sure to pass it on as soon as it becomes available. %Gallery-81751%
Toshiba introduces ZX900 Series 55-inch and 65-inch Cell TVs for the US
Originally envisioned last year as a 4k x 2k monstrosity, Toshiba's ZX900 Cell TV has been humbled slightly for its market debut. Still, the processing power is what's really on display here, and Toshiba claims that it's packed 143 times the processing power over existing televisions. That processing makes way for Toshiba's Resolution+ upscaling, a 480Hz frame rate (completely ready for 3D), and some home media server capabilities as well. The centerpiece is the Net TV applications, which include Netflix, VUDU, CinemaNow and Pandora, and there's 802.11n WiFi and 1TB of HDD for streaming and storage. There's also mention of video phone capability, but it's unclear if has a built-in webcam (doubtful) or if you've got to bring your own USB number. Unfortunately, the biggest draw of this TV in its Japanese incarnation is its eight tuners, and for whatever reason that special distinction has been removed from this US version. The 55-inch and 65-inch displays use KIRA2 LED-backlit displays with 512 zones of localized dimming, and just in case this was wasn't enough, the sets have built-in Wireless HD and to connect the Cell-packing set-top box to the display wire-free. Of course, once you involve a set-top box you're kind of nullifying some of the magic of building a TV "with a Cell processor," but we'll let it slide. Just this once, Toshiba. Both TVs will be out "later this year" for an undisclosed, sure-to-be-huge price. A press release is after the break.
Rumor: Sony considered Larrabee for PS4, will reconsider for PS5, PS6
PC Watch's Hiroshige Goto, citing a number of unnamed sources familiar with Intel's long-awaited Larrabee project, claims that Sony once considered using Intel's proposed architecture in the eventual successor to the PS3, presumably named the PlayStation 4. It was rumored that Intel was pursuing a relationship with Microsoft and Nintendo for their next-generation Xbox and Wii consoles, but considering the recent downsizing of the Larrabee project, it appears Intel was unsuccessful at wooing a major partnership. According to Goto's sources, Larrabee simply didn't offer the sheer power Sony was looking for. Instead, Sony is likely to pursue one of two options for the PS4: use a modified and improved version of the Cell architecture (as previously rumored), or develop a "normal" multi-core CPU akin to the chips found in personal computers and the Xbox 360. The latter option, of course, would help woo back developers turned off by Cell's unconventional design. However, an unnamed SCE executive isn't counting Intel out of the game yet, noting "Larrabee can help us to plan PS5 and PS6, but it cannot make it into PS4." Considering Sony has yet to decide on an architecture for PS4, it's clear that Sony's next-generation console is still years away. Good thing too, because by Sony's calculations, PS3 still has seven years of life left in it. Translation provided by Ittousai
