universityofcambridge
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Liquid crystal lasers will light up next-gen HDTVs, your life
If you thought Mitsubishi's LaserVue HDTVs were the beginning and the end of laser-tech in boob tubes, think again. Mitsu's line is carrying on, but the brightness and depth of color offered by that telly are apparently just the beginning of what's possible according to researchers at the Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics at the University of Cambridge. They indicate that the use of liquid crystals in concert with a single, laser-based light source would result in the same color depth but at a lower cost and higher reliability than the LaserVue, which requires separate lasers for RGB. What cost, exactly? That, dear reader, remains to be seen, but given the source we're thinking you have plenty of time to save up -- and to practice those Dr. Evil impressions. [Via OLED-Display]
Researchers tout co-op system for ubiquitous WiFi
There's already plenty of folks working to make WiFi as ubiquitous as possible, but a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge seem to think they've devised one of the most efficient solutions yet, although it's not without its share of hurdles. The basic idea is to turn a sometimes frowned upon activity into an acceptable one, by making it safe for individuals to share their home WiFi with neighbors and passers-by. To do that all-important latter bit, the researchers propose that the guests would only be given access to a "tunnel" to a single, trusted point on the internet (as illustrated above), with a firewall offering further protection. That, obviously, wouldn't work unless everyone (including the ISPs) played along, and the researchers some ideas about that as well, even including the possibility that municipalities pass laws requiring ISPs to support co-ops. In other words, don't bet on it showing up overnight. [Warning: PDF link][Via New Scientist]