Go on and file this one away in the folder of "awesome things that could, but won't ever happen." As the brilliant minds around the world figure out how to solve vicious diseases, move motorcars with peanut oil and send engineers to fix a telescope in outer space, we still can't buy a pack of AA cells that last longer than a month or two in our favorite toy. Some call it a limit of physics, some deem it a conspiracy. Whatever the case, we've no doubt whatsoever that a new silicon-containing carbon material -- designed by Dow Corning Toray to double the capacity of existing Li-ion batteries -- won't ever have a real impact in our lives. Of course, it's not like any consumer would actually benefit from having a netbook battery good for 16 hours, nor would wedding photographers enjoy being able to shoot 1,000 indoor shots without cracking the battery door open on their SB-600. No -- that's just absurd. C'mon Dow, prove us wrong here.

Eytmotic's $180 hf2 earbuds with in-line controller for iPods and iPhones have been around for awhile. In that time, they've racked up plenty of gold statues and plaques to backup their claim of delivering "the most accurate, unaltered sound of any earphone or headset today." Now Etymotic has teamed up with ACS (Advanced Communication Solutions) to deliver silicon sleeves custom-moulded for your inner-ear to ensure a perfect, comfy fit while further isolating you from the ambient noise around you; a trick that allows you to pickup audio detail at lower volumes and thus spare your hearing. Of course, ACS' 15 minute customization service is available for other buds as well, but offering it within the hf2 Custom Fit bundle as a £90 (about $130) voucher redeemable at any of 300 approved ear impression outlets in the UK is a pretty shrewd move.

[Via Tech Digest]

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It seems like every tale of impending bandwidth "disaster" is soon countered by a new bandwidth "breakthrough." In this case, researchers at Intel have been testing a silicon-based Avalanche Photo Detector (APD) (as opposed to the traditional, and rather expensive, indium phosphide), and so far results have been quite promising. On one key metric, something called the "gain-bandwidth product," the APD achieved speeds of 340GHz, or as the gang at Intel puts it, the "best result ever." It is hoped that this product could significantly lower the price of 40Gbit/s (and faster) optical links and find a home in areas like quantum cryptography, biochips and eventually chip-to-chip and on-chip interconnects. And most importantly, this could be huge for our national entertainment infrastructure: with online television gaining momentum and a spin-off of The Hills dropping soon, bandwidth has to be stretched to the breaking point as it is.

[Via VNU Net]

Oh, what wondrous things come from the land of Korea -- dancing emotional robot humanoids, oxygen-emitting robot plants, and multiple 24-hour StarCraft channels. It's all good, and we dig robotics and televised gaming, but this latest invention could be our favorite if it pans out. Professor Cho Jae-Phil and his team at Hanyang University have replaced the graphite in lithium batteries with a certain kind of silicon, which we're told can store eight times the power. No word on what the batteries have actually been used for yet, but it stands to reason they could eventually make it to consumer electronics. Now you see why we're willing to say this might be better than 24-hour StarCraft. Say it with us: 48-hour StarCraft.

Last we heard, IBM was busy extending optical lithography down to 30-nanometers in order to keep Moore's Law intact, and some two years later, the process is still being honed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley. Reportedly, gurus there with IQs far greater than ours have developed a new patterning technique (plasmonic nanolithography) that could make "current microprocessors more than 10 times smaller, but far more powerful." Additionally, professor Xiang Zhang asserts that this same technology could eventually "lead to ultra-high density disks that could hold 10 to 100 times more data than disks today." The secret to the madness is a flying plasmonic head, which is compared to the arm and stylus of an LP turntable; the setup enables researchers to "create line patterns only 80-nanometers wide at speeds up to 12-meters per second, with the potential for higher resolution detail in the near future." In layman's terms? That CPU you purchased last month will, in fact, be old hat in due time.

[Via Slashdot]

[Via Slashdot]

In reality, quite a bit of time has passed since we've heard of the next great leap in the (seemingly) never-ending journey towards quantum computing, but we're incredibly relieved to learn that at least someone is still out there, somewhere, pressing on. An international team of researchers have reportedly shown that they can "control the quantum state of a single electron in a silicon transistor, even putting the electron in two places at once." Essentially, the team is using tiny semiconductor transistors to "control the state of a quantum system," but there is still a long ways to go before any of this is meaningful. The crew managed to discover a few things by chance, yet to create a quantum computer, they would need to "position atoms of arsenic (or some other material) in the transistors more reliably." For those of you way too geeked out, fret not -- we'll let you know when all of this technobabble finally amounts to something.

[Thanks, Chris]

We've always heard that Chewbacca and friends had the power to control nanoscale strain in processors in a galaxy far, far away, but we Earthlings are just now getting caught up. Researchers at the Centre d'élaboration de matériaux et d'études structurales (CEMES-CNRS) have reportedly patented a measurement device that will essentially "enable manufacturers to improve microprocessor production methods and optimize future computers." We'll warn you, the meat of this stuff is pretty technical, but the take home is this: the technique has a good chance at "optimizing strain modeling in transistors and enhancing their electrical efficiency," which is just what we need for more potent chips that demand less energy. And that's something even a layman can appreciate.

Normally we get excited when a slab of silicon makes our games run at 60 frames per-second, but in this case we're impressed with a new chip that filters out cancer cells. The device, created by some impressive souls at Princeton and Boston University, directs and focuses streams of cells in a liquid. Like a change sorter, it then separates regular cells form unusual ones. The silicon wafer is tacked with tiny pillars that catch abnormal cells that are, in the end, potentially cancerous. The device hasn't been used to any major extent, but we'll keep an eye on this promising discovery.

The first "completely integrated, extremely bendable circuit" was just demonstrated to the world. The team behind the research is led by John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The process bonds circuit sheets measuring just 1.5 micrometers (50 times thinner than human hair) to a piece of pre-stretched rubber. That allows the circuits to buckle like an accordion when pulled or twisted without losing their electrical properties. Unfortunately, the materials used thus far are not compatible with human tissue. In other words, no X-ray vision implant for you. X-ray contacts perhaps... quantum-computers now, please Mr. Scientists? Watch a circuit buckle in the video after the break.

[Via BBC, thanks YoJIMbo]

IBM is looking to save around $1.5 million per year and be a kinder citizen to the environment by instituting a greener method for recycling silicon. Previously, IBM would sandblast defunct wafers to make sure no trade secrets left the premises when they were sold off to solar-panel outfits or used as "monitors." The new process, however, involves defacing the circuitry with an abrasive pad and water, which saves a few bills and leaves the silicon in much better shape for reuse. Reportedly, Big Blue has already implemented the new approach in its Essex Junction, Vermont facility, and the East Fishkill, New York plant is all set to follow suit shortly.

While some researchers over in Raleigh are having fun tinkering with PlayStation 3 farms and dodging the RIAA, NC State's Drs. Tushar Ghosh and John Muth are occupied building prototypes with fibers they say "resemble human muscle and can exhibit muscle-like capabilities when electrical currents are applied." The duo sees the development as paving the way for "advancements and potential applications in robotics, smart textiles, prosthetics, and biomedicines," as they have reportedly found that polyurethane and silicone tube structures shaped like human muscle strands can be manipulated with electricity. It was noted, however, that the current models are using strands "roughly the size of a pencil lead," but the next step is to scale down the fibers and integrate them into a robotic Mr. and Mrs. Wuf.

It looks like MIT is raising the bar yet again, as this time it's taking a break from crafting autonomous UAVs and stackable vehicles to cram optical circuitry on your everyday silicon chip. In an effort to "integrate the optical circuitry with electronic circuitry" on the same silicon wafer, researchers have devised a method which will harness the "enormous power of light waves in networks" while offering up a way to manufacture the circuitry cheaply. The crew has reportedly already been playing around with a working prototype, and suggests that it could eventually "redefine how optical networks are built." Moreover, the development addresses the existing "signal weakening over distance" issue in fiber optic transmissions by "splitting the light beams as they pass through a circuit, rotating one of the polarized beams, and finally rejoining them on their way out of the circuit, which retains the signals' strength." While there's no projection of when this technology could actually hit the mainstream, anything that makes it less expensive to rollout FiOS (and similar networks) to more people most definitely has our vote.

Proving that Malaysian industrial complexes aren't the only venues where shoddy security can facilitate the theft of thousands of PC components, a pair of crooks in California turned a minor fender bender into a successful heist of some 100,000 microchips on Tuesday afternoon. Police suspect that the men had been planning the crime for some time, as the victim's Fremont-bound Mazda MPV had just left a warehouse with $190,000 worth of chips when the robbers rear-ended it with their white van; rather than using weapons to subdue the driver, however, the two thieves simply waited until he exited the vehicle to discuss the accident, when one of them proceeded to slip into the minivan and drive away. The driver of the van followed suit, leaving the victim standing on the side of the road, no doubt confused and worried that his employer would chew him out for being so careless with the precious cargo. Although the brand of chip has not been revealed, since this all went down in Santa Clara, it's not too difficult to figure out whose products got pinched. So far authorities have no leads as to the whereabouts of the chips or the two robbers, but if someone in an MPV with license plate 4NKV115 tries to sell you a CPU for a buck and some change, do the right thing and notify law enforcement officials after you've purchased enough silicon to meet your needs. And if you're driving back home with your cheap booty when someone happens to ram your car, for heaven's sake, don't leave the keys in the ignition when you get out to exchange insurance info.

[Via Boing Boing]