As they re-create the conditions at the center of the sun, we could be on our way to a future where today’s nagging energy problems are solved. The researchers say the system they’ve been building for the past twelve years is capable of generating 500 trillion watts, more than the peak capacity of all U.S. power plants combined.

The hitch? They need to make this mind-boggling reaction sustainable beyond just a few nanoseconds. This experimentation might bear fruit in the near future, with the scientists expecting to see “significant results” between 2010 and 2012. Now if they could just fit that power plant into a cell phone.
Lawrence Livermore NIF, via Engadget and BBC
source:dvice.com

Hyundai thinks they have found a solution by using a new type of battery called lithium polymer in place of those bulky lithium-ion batteries most hybrids use. In addition to being both smaller and lighter, the lithium-polymer batteries are like the Mister Fantastic of the battery world, in that they can be made in a variety of custom shapes which fit neatly into tight spots in the car.

The super-sleek Hyundai Nuvis concept car unveiled yesterday in New York shows what you can do when you don’t need a place to stash big hunking blocks of batteries. Unlike last year’s weird looking BLUE-WILL, the Nuvis looks incredibly cool, although I doubt if those giant electric gullwing doors will ever make it into production.

For now the Nuvis is just a concept, but let’s hope they take a bold step and actually build something like this soon. See a couple of extra pics of the Nuvis after the jump.
Via Hyundai USA
source:dvice.com

In the UK the initiative is being headed up by the WWF, that is asking people to take part in order to show that they care about people, wildlife and the planet, and that they want the world’s leaders to take action to tackle climate change.

More than 2000 cities from 80 countries across the globe have already signed up. In addition, a number of iconic landmarks will be plunged into darkness, including the London Eye, Nelson’s Column, the Forth Bridge, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Table Mountain in Cape Town and Sydney Opera House.

There’s more information on the WWF’s site as well as Earth Hour communities on Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
source:www.pocket-lint.com

Made by the wittily named Fulham-based “Electrickery” it measures 190mm high.

With the advice that designs may vary, it’s on sale now for £19.95 plus around £6 postage and packaging to UK addresses.
source:www.pocket-lint.com

The funny-looking effort is dubbed the “Puma”, that apparently stands for “personal urban mobility and accessibility”.

Aimed at the “urban driving” market, the Puma is at prototype stage now, but there are plans to put the vehicles in production by 2012.

The Puma is a two-seater and can reach a range of 35 miles on a single charge, powered by lithium-ion batteries.

“We are excited to be working together to demonstrate a dramatically different approach to urban mobility”, said Jim Norrod, chief of Segway.
source:www.pocket-lint.com

If you’ve done a fair amount of electronics circuit building, then you probably dread prototyping. You know prototyping: that point where you take your “perfect” circuit design from paper and transfer it to an initial hardware mockup. Typically, you have three basic choices in this matter, each with its own problem.

Your first choice in circuit prototyping is to lay out your design on a modular breadboard. The strongest virtue of this choice is the elimination of soldering — all connections are built into the breadboard. Unfortunately, breadboards are bulky and unable to handle surface-mount device (SMD) designs.

Following closely on the heels of breadboard prototyping, your second choice is perfboard layout. Once again, most perfboards are unable to accommodate SMD circuit designs. Plus, the point-to-point wiring needed for connecting the components can be a daunting task.

Which leads us to your final choice for circuit prototyping: custom printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication. Whether you roll your own PCB with DIY masks and etch kits, or hire a fab house to create a custom PCB, time will be your enemy. Fab houses can take upwards of one month for delivery of a finished board (unless you’re willing to pay extra for faster service), and making your own PCB can be fraught with frustrating failures and delays which can take days to weeks to solve.

Granted, PCBs can handle SMD circuit designs, but you will have to convert your schematic design into a PCB template and you should be prepared for a possibly large financial investment. If you go the DIY route, copper-clad boards, etchants, transfer films, and drill bits can all add up very fast. Likewise, many fab houses charge setup and postage fees in addition to a per-square-inch cost for creating the PCB itself.

So what’s a poor circuit designer to do? Well, I feel your pain. One of my constant challenges is trying to devise/create/locate a prototyping concept that satisfies three key requirements:

1. Fast. I want to be able to take my schematic straight to a prototype without needless conversion, wiring, and fabrication.

2. Fun. Ideally, this prototyping solution should be suitable for a beginner to use. No steep learning curve; just solder the components and GO!

3. Cheap. A prototype should never cost more than the components. Oh, and did I say this solution should be cheap?

Well, this ideal solution might finally be at hand. A tasty selection of SMD breadboard products is available from Capital Advanced Technologies. They’re called Surfboards®. And they are fast, fun, and CHEAP!

Ranging from $1.50 to $5, Surfboards are able to handle a wide variety of SMD components — from discrete components (e.g., resistors, capacitors, etc.) to complex SMD ICs. Even better, most Surfboards route these SMD components to an industry-standard inline SIP header for easy installation into larger through-hole prototype circuits and breadboards.

Here’s how it works:

First, locate a Surfboard (or Surfboards) that can handle your SMD circuit design. There are over 30 basic patterns and layouts to choose from, some with SIP headers and some without. Next, attach your SMD components. Use careful soldering and liquid flux for this stage in your circuit prototyping.
Finally, connect your Surfboard to a power source (along with your circuit’s required inputs/outputs) and give your design a whirl. By using Surfboards, I have been able to whip up a great-looking prototype in a matter of minutes with only a $2 investment (exclusive of component cost).

If you’re looking to expand your Surfboard’s prototyping concept, Capital Advanced Technologies also has a product line of SIP breadboards (these are solder breadboards, NOT solderless breadboards) called UNI-SIP that can assemble several Surfboards into larger, more complex circuits.

You can order Surfboards from many distributors, including DigiKey.

Here are some examples:

6405 5-pin SIP $1.93

9161 14-16-pin SOIC $2.04

6908 8-pin SIP w/Bus $2.51

9082 8-pin SOIC + discrete components $4.11

If your circuit design requirements are flexible, these Surfboards can easily turn your prototyping into a surfing safari.
source:www.popsci.com

What can you do about it? Well, one great proactive demonstration would be to stop your regular consumption of dry-cell batteries. Yes, there are numerous substitutes, ranging from rechargeable varieties to alternative energy replacements, but each of these substitutions has a debit that few of us are willing to pay. You know, “costs” like always hunting for an outlet to power a battery recharging station, or getting rid of a clean, slim-line AA battery for a gargantuan solar-driven bat-winged monstrosity.

Hidden on a page of a recent DigiKey catalog, I found a glimmer of hope for beating this battery dependency. A small SOIC-16 SMD clear IC that is capable of generating electricity when placed in sunlight or strong artificial lighting. The CPC1832 from Clare is an 8V solar cell that is capable of powering CMOS ICs while sitting on top of a penny (U.S. monetary unit = one red cent).

The specifications for this diminutive wonder chip are impressive: 8VDC with a current of 50 µA. Even better, the CPC1832 has a built-in switching circuit that triggers the solar cell’s output when it is stimulated by light. Sorta like a switch that also provides power. Likewise, with such a small footprint, several cells can be joined together for increased voltage and/or current supplies, without creating a freakish Frankenstein battery replacement circuit.

Although there are 16 pins on the CPC1832, only two are used for supplying voltage/current at its output. Pin 16 is the positive (+) output pin and the negative (-) output terminal is pin 9. While the remaining 14 pins don’t have to be soldered, establishing a connection with these unnecessary pins will help ensure a mechanically stronger solar-powered design.

Oh, your designs aren’t the SMD type. No matter. If you have a through-hole circuit design, you can still adapt the CPC1832 to your project. For example, Bellin Dynamic Systems makes a series of SOIC-to-DIP boards that can easily convert the CPC1832 to a 16-pin DIP IC platform. Even SMD soldering rookies can firmly attach a SOIC solar cell to a Bellin board.

Here are a few pointers for the inexperienced SMD worker that will help to guarantee successful professional-looking soldering:

1. Hold the solar cell SOIC package in place on the Bellin board and attach a small piece of masking tape to the chip for keeping it in contact with the board.

2. Apply a small amount of liquid flux to each pad of the Bellin board.

3. Touch the soldering iron to one of the board’s pads, not the solar cell’s pins. Carefully, apply solder to the point between the soldering iron tip and the solar cell’s pin. As the solder liquefies, slide the iron’s tip towards the SOIC pin. Remove the iron and examine your solder joint. When the solder is solid, test for a strong connection, by tweaking the pin with a wooden tooth pick.

4. Solder all of the solar cell’s non-output pins (i.e., pins 1-8) first. When these pins are all solidly connected, remove the masking tape and solder the remaining pins (i.e., pins 9-16).

Clare CPC1832
Price: $1.63

Bellin Dynamic Systems #505
Price: $45.95

By adding CPC1832 8V solar cells to your next project, you will be able to hold your head high with tree-hugging pride during the next Earth Hour.
source:www.popsci.com

Professional thieves beware! In addition to motion sensors, security cameras, flood lights, rent-a-cops and Doberman pinchers, there’s a new piece of technology designed specifically to ruin your day. And to make matters worse, it’s invisible. Well, not exactly invisible, but stare right at it and you won’t realize it’s there. Worried? Thanks to a novel new motion sensor developed by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam-Golm, Germany, you should be.

It seems the beaker-tweakers at Frounhofer have figured out a way to turn regular glass doors and windows into high tech security devices. The glass itself is coated with a fluorescent material containing nanoparticles that convert light into fluorescent radiation. When the invisible light of a UV lamp “illuminates” the glass panes, the fluorescent radiation generated is channeled to the edges of the window, where it is detected by sensors.

For example, if someone (The Hamburglar) steps into the light of the lamp, less light reaches the coating and less radiation is produced. When sensors are installed on all four sides of the window or door frame, statistical conclusions can be drawn from the data as to how large, how fast and in what direction the object d’ crime is moving (toward the burgers). In other words, a hummingbird won’t trip the alarm.

The software, designed by Computer Architecture and Software Technology FIRST in Berlin, is so smart it can even interpret different light signals. This enables the system to easily distinguish between the frequency of the UV lamp and the slowly changing light from a passing car’s headlamp.
source:www.popsci.com

We’ve all got the drawer. It has an indiscriminate collection of electronic connections, cords, and chargers for devices we haven’t used in a decade and couldn’t give away on eBay for free. But we guard that drawer with Obamian hope that the next purchase might actually require a serial port connection or that dot-matrix printers might hold the key to cold fusion. We wait for just one occasion to justify our persistence and silence throughout decades of shrieks from our significant others.
It’s likely that within that drawer are somewhere between six and ten cell phone chargers, one perhaps still connected through its one-of-a-kind connection to that swanky new flip phone you bought in 1999. We understand. We too have such a drawer, or cabinet or garage. But together, today, it’s time to let go, just a little bit.

This week, 17 cell phone manufacturers agreed to — yes — a single truly universal charger that frees us from the tangle of chargers past (technically not till 2012, so don’t empty the drawer just yet). But as we conduct this catharsis of connectivity, we ask you to demand more. Help us compile a list of what else in technology, and society, should be universal.

The micro-USB (not to be confused with the currently more common mini-USB) is the chosen plug to erase years of incompatibility, starting in 2012. Nearly all the big manufacturers (with the notable exception of Apple) have agreed to the shift. The announcement came at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. So, great. At least one device will be truly universal.

Below, we begin a broader brainstorming aimed at universalizing this world. We know you people love to comment (mostly criticize), so tell us why our ideas are dumb and offer up a few suggestions of your own. Perhaps we’ll publish the address of the winner of the best idea, and we can all send our leftover chargers to their humble abode.

Laptop Chargers
Leaving your laptop charger at home shouldn’t require you to miss your flight out of sheer panic. Every hotel charging more than a Motel 6 should stock them in every room between the Ethernet cord, the pizza delivery options list, and the copy of the Bible. At the least, one given freaking brand could stay consistent from model to model.

Crayon Colors
When did red become no longer red? Can we get Crayola to calm down with the options? Nobody likes seeing a drawing on the fridge done in seven shades of periwinkle. We don’t care if it was a seven-year-old who drew it.

Batteries
Okay. We get that not every device can run off the same Duracell, but we’re always guaranteed to have all the wrong types in the cupboard, and two dead stragglers at the bottom of the box just to rub it in. So we’re willing to compromise. Let’s ditch double-A batteries completely. Triple-A is close enough in size and anything that can run off a double-A could be configured for multiple triple-A.

Shoe Size
We’re not quite sure what being an 11 means, but can’t it mean the same thing for all brands? Why must we ask whether a specific brand runs big or runs small? A 2×4 is always a 2×4, no matter the lumberyard (okay, technically it’s not, but you get the point).

Computer Ink
We hate computer ink. It’s a complete racket that’s ripe for a revolution. So let’s get the five big printer companies to agree on a cartridge size, so the process of paying $42 for our monthly ink refill doesn’t require 25 minutes in Office Depot with a magnifying glass, searching for some arbitrary code.

Passwords
They have programs for passwords with passwords. There’s got to be a universal password so we don’t have to change it once a month or get locked out of some software program for forgetting which random number we tagged at the end of our last name. Come to think of it, our signature is a truly unique password according to CSI, so let’s figure out a way to use that for every account we’ve got.

What are we leaving out?
source:www.popsci.com

The project, which is designed to raise awareness of clean-burning fuels, is aiming to reach 270
kilometres per hour with its steam car later this year. In so doing it would break the world record of 204 kilometres per hour set by the American Stanley Steamer in 1906.

The car itself is 8.5 metres long and weighs 3 tonnes. It is powered by demineralised water, which is pumped into a dozen 250-kilowatt boilers – equivalent to about 1200 electric kettles. These provide steam to a 268-kilowatt turbine that drives the rear wheels.

Following tests at Thorney Island airfield in Hampshire, UK, in which the car reached 130 kilometres per hour, the team is now awaiting final clearance from Edwards Air Force Base in California to use Rogers Dry Lake for the record bid. The advantage of the dry lake is that it is 600 metres lower than Utah’s famous Bonneville Salt Flats, so there is more oxygen available for the boilers, enabling the car to develop much more power.

The team hopes to be on site when the lake dries out in May.
source:www.newscientist.com