Digitivity » Future Tech

Panasonic Evolta Robot to Run the Ironman Triathalon

Digitivity — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:50:00 +0000

Panasonic is running its Evolta robot in the Ironman Triathalon. It’s a lot smaller than Asimo, Honda’s robot. It’ll take quite a long time to finish, too, being 1/10th the size of a man.

Are there any areas of life where we’re really safe from robot encroachment?

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GE Unveils UNTHA Recycler for Refrigerators

Digitivity — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000

GE, the US distributor for UNTHA, revealed a refrigerator recycler. The giant 40-foot machine takes a refrigerator, chops it up, and then sorts it according to metal, plastic, and insulating foam.

Samsung Unveils a 14-Inch Transparent OLED Laptop Screen

Scientists Make Electric Motor From a Single Molecule

Digitivity — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:01:00 +0000

Posted in Articles

Seems too incredible to believe, but Charles Sykes at Tufts University managed to create an actual 1-nm long electric motor from a single molecule (butyl methyl sulphide).

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LPDs to Replace LCDs and LEDs?

Digitivity — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:17:25 +0000

There’s a new display technology from a company called Prysm which is being portrayed as an alternative to LCDs and LED LCDs.

The company, which has been doing research and development for the past five years, is calling the technology LPD for laser-powered phosphor display. A laser is used to excite a phosphorous coating, thus resulting in an image. Unlike LCDs, there is no constantly-on backlight, which Prysm claims results in electricity savings of 75%.

The lack of a constant backlight also means black levels are higher with LPDs. Prysm also claims LPD panels are more environmentally sound and recyclable than LCDs (“ecovative” in their words).

Large Prysm LPD

LPDs have some similarity to the old CRTs (cathode-ray tubes), but the difference is that, in LPDs, the ray is a light beam and not an electron beam.

LPD feature rundown

Lower power consumption
Lower heat dissipation
Recyclable
Higher brightness
Blacker blacks
Any size or shape of displays possible
No backlight to fail

Will LPDs replace LCDs for TVs?

But I don’t know if LPDs are going to replace LCDs anytime soon. The literature on Prysm’s web site talks about airport, cinema, government, and other large institutional use, and nothing about consumer applications. It seems the company is targeting large customers first to finance the technology’s development, and it’ll likely be a while before we see LPDs in the local TV shop.

Sites covering the Prysm LPD story include The New York Times’ Gadgetwise Blog, Slashdot, and Xconomy.

Samsung Unveils a 14-Inch Transparent OLED Laptop Screen

Digitivity — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:22:49 +0000

Mashable is reporting on a new prototype laptop by Samsung that has a 14-inch screen that you can see through.

That’s right. The laptop’s screen is 40% transparent.

How cool is this?

Samsung Transparent OLED Laptop

One of the comments at Engadget, where the laptop was originally reported, said another possible use for the technology would be a kind of hologram. If you think about it, that makes sense. Just put up a glass panel in the middle of a room, and make a person appear on it. It would be 2-D, but that’s I think that’s good enough.

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