Mystery European Car Manufacturer Will Use OLED Lighting In Next Two Years [OLED]

OLED manufacturer Novaled has announced it's teamed up with a 'European car maker' to create OLED interior and backlight lighting for their new motor. Intriguing, eh?

Apparently it's passed the concept stage and is being put into production as we speak, with the car likely to go on sale in the next two years. OLED, as you know, is flexible, low-energy and with costs being decreased almost every day, it's now an affordable alternative to other lighting systems.

OLED lighting in the next Citroën, anyone?
[Gizmodo via Plastic Electronics via OLED-Info]

IBM ditches copper wires for chips that communicate with pulses of light [Processors]

There's some weird science going down at IBM: namely, ditching the copper that facilities electrical signals for information exchange on circuitry and replacing it instead with chips that can communicate using pulses of light. The whole shebang is called a nanophotonic avalanche photodetector, and IBM claims to have the fastest one in town.

Wait, avalanche? That's right — the term comes from the way the exchange of information builds as the silicon circuits do their thing, according to IBM:

The IBM device explores the avalanche effect in Germanium, a material currently used in production of microprocessor chips. Analogous to a snow avalanche on a steep mountain slope, an incoming light pulse initially frees just a few charge carriers which in turn free others until the original signal is amplified many times. Conventional avalanche photodetectors are not able to detect fast optical signals because the avalanche builds slowly.

The technology's main draw is the fact that it uses substantially less power than a setup that relies on copper and electrical signals, using a whopping 20 times. The example given by IBM is that if a traditional system uses 20-30 volts, the new system would get by with a AA battery, which is rated at around 1.6 volts. Check out a video explanation of the technology below.


[DVICE via PC World]

Ma'am, Your IKEA Graphene Glow Wall Is Ready for Pick-Up [Graphene]

It appears to be graphene day. First, IBM was using the material to shame silicon into submission, and now Swedish scientists say graphene could one day make lamps and other traditional lighting elements unnecessary.
If the Swedes are right, then future homes and buildings could be adorned with graphene panels, called Light Emitting Electromechanical cells (LECs, for short).

The LEC panels can be fashioned so they cover an entire ceiling, wall, or whatever, and they're completely adjustable. Dim your walls and ceiling for a romantic evening with the female characters of Mass Effect 2, for example.

The article notes that OLED panels have seen similar implementations, but the graphene scientists say their material is both cheaper to produce and better for the environment (OLED panels contain indium tin oxide, which is difficult to recycle).
[Gizmodo via Science Daily via Treehugger via DVICE]

TMOS displays: the next step after AMOLED-backed LCDs?

I believe that headline contains what’s known as a gaggle of acronyms. TMOS (time-multiplexed optical shutter) is a new display technology that claims brighter, thinner, longer-lasting, higher-resolution displays. Hey! I hear you giggling out there. “Yeah, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.” Okay, so extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I’d say their pitch is somewhere short of extraordinary, but if there’s anything to the technology, it really may just be all that they say. The company and technology have been around for a while, but they’re actually approaching the market at this point and you might want to know something about it before you start seeing the name pop up all over.

The idea is that by taking out as many layers of the display as possible, you reduce light interference (increasing brightness), power draw (better battery life) and component number (allowing for more pixels per square unit). But what to strip out? Uni-Pixel, the people behind TMOS note that instead of having three dots per pixel (red, green, blue in varying intensity), you could just have one, but with the dot changing color so rapidly that your eye only perceives the aggregate color. I’m not going to get all neuroscience on you here, but allow me to just say that there are biological reasons both for and against this technology, which I’m sure Uni-Pixel is aware of.

Micro-mirrors would direct light from side-mounted LEDs, which sounds clumsy to me, but they say it’ll result in refresh rates far above current displays’. They would also be simpler to manufacture, more durable, and more flexible. Anyhow, the engineering challenges are serious, but they say they should be able to put one in a product in 2010. Guess we’ll just have to wait!
[CrunchGear]

Alien effects: Lighting a candle in space

When you're floating around in the International Space Station, you're constantly reminded that you're having a literally out-of-this-world experience. Case in point: this is what it looks like when you light a candle in microgravity.
Because of the lack of gravity, the air's density is the same in all directions, so that means the heat disperses evenly, making the flame all the same color. Wow.
[DVICE via TechEBlog]

Intel Light Peak Optical Tech Achieves Insane 10Gb/s Speeds [Intel]

Today at IDF, Intel unveiled Light Peak technology, a plan for an extremely high-speed optical cable they hope will land on consumer products in 2010. Imagine transferring an entire Blu-Ray disk in 30 seconds. And that's just the beginning.
In Intel's words:

Existing electrical cable technology in mainstream computing devices is approaching practical limits for speed and length, due to electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and other issues. However, optical technology, used extensively in data centers and telecom communications, does not have these limitations since it transmits data using light instead of electricity. Light Peak brings this optical technology to mainstream computing and consumer electronic devices in a cost-effective manner.

Light Peak delivers 10Gb/s speeds right now, and could conceivably go as fast as 100Gb/s within a decade or so. Those kinds of speeds are even sustained over a 100-meter distance, which is really impressive. Intel is currently working with hardware manufacturers (computers, handhelds, etc) to try to get the optical tech onto devices sometime in 2010. [Gizmodo via Intel]

Panasonic's LED lightbulb shines for a whopping 19 years

How often do you change lightbulbs? Every few months, maybe? Well, when Panasonic's new LED bulbs hit shelves, change that time frame from months to decades.

Yes, these insanely efficient bulbs keep shining and shining, providing the brightness of a traditional 60-watt bulb. Of course, they won't be cheap, with pricing set at about $40 a bulb in Japan when they hit stores in October. But seeing as they cost a mere $2 to run per year in energy costs and last 19 years, that seems like a good deal in the long run.

[CNET via Inhabitat]

אינטל במהירות האור

אינטל בדיוק שיחררה חדשה על מעבד הסיליקון (צורן) הפוטוני החדש שלה והמהיר ביותר עד כה. לדעתי הוא גם היפה ביותר מבין המעבדים הקיימים היום.

המעבד החדש יכול לקודד 200 גיגה ביט של מידע בשניה על קרן או לעומת המעבד המהיר (והעלוב) ביותר של היום שמסוגל לעבד רק 100 גיגה ביט ולא עשוי מצורן. המעבד הזה הוא רק הצצה למעבד שצפוי להגיע לפס ייצור תוך 3-5 שנים שיוכל לקודד טרה-ביט מידע בשניה ויהיה בגודל של ציפורן.

איך זה פועל? המעבד של אינטל לוכד קרן אור ומפרק אותה ל-8 ערוצים, כשכל ערוץ עובר דרך מודולטור (אפנן) אשר מקודד מידע על גבי אור. הקרניים עם המידע משולבות בחזרה לקרן יחידה ו...וואלה. כל זה קורה בקצב של 25 גב"ש לכל אפנן. אלו הם אבני היסוד למחשבי העתיד בהם נחושת תוחלף בקרני אור. לפני שזה יקרה אינטל מעוניינת לדחוס 25 אפננים כאלה על מעבד יחיד כאשר כל אחד מהם יעבוד בקצב של 40 גב"ש, אולי בשילוב של לייזר היברידי על-גבי המעבד שיכוון את קרני האור לאפננים במקום סיבים אופטיים.

קדימה אינטל, אני ממתין לתוצאות.

[דרך גיזמודו דרך MIT Tech Review]