The Fruit of Knowledge
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Engadget’s holiday gift guide 2011: printers
Nov 18th
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We’re well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties surrounding the seasonal shopping experience, so we’re here to help you sort out this year’s tech treasures. Below is today’s bevy of curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the holiday season.
Yeah, yeah… we know — paper is so 20th century. But truth be told, there are still a lot of us that have use for the old-fashioned printed page. Whether you’re a student who needs to output seven copies of that term paper, or an aspiring photog looking to cut down on professional printing costs, we have some thoughts on what to look for this holiday season. Perhaps you’re ready to take those homemade Christmas cards to the next level? Print them yourself! Who doesn’t love an early present? Read on past the break to see just what caught our eye this year.
Continue reading Engadget’s holiday gift guide 2011: printers
Engadget’s holiday gift guide 2011: printers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Researchers increase charging capacity, speed of lithium ion batteries by a factor of ten
Nov 16th
It’s not every day that we get to write about advancements in battery technology — much less one as potentially groundbreaking as what a group of engineers at Northwestern University claim to have pulled off. In fact, Professor Harold Kung and his team say they’ve successfully managed to increase both the charging capacity and speed of lithium ion batteries by a factor of ten. The key, according to Kung, is the movement of the lithium ions nestled between layers of graphene. The speed at which these ions move across a battery’s graphene sheets is directly related to how fast a device can recharge. To speed up this process, Kung decided to poke millions of tiny, 10-20nm-sized holes into a mobile battery’s graphene layers, thereby providing the ions with a “shortcut” to the next level. As a result, Kung’s perforated batteries were able to charge ten times faster than traditional cells, going from zero to hero in 15 minutes.
Not satisfied with that achievement alone, Kung and his squad then set about increasing their battery’s charging capacity, as well. Here, they increased the density of lithium ions by inserting small clusters of silicon between each graphene slice. This approach allows more ions to gather at the electrode and, by taking advantage of graphene’s malleable properties, avoids some of the silicon expansion problems that have plagued previous attempts at capacity enhancement. The result? A battery that can run on a single charge for more than a week. “Now we almost have the best of both worlds,” Kung said. “We have much higher energy density because of the silicon, and the sandwiching reduces the capacity loss caused by the silicon expanding and contracting. Even if the silicon clusters break up, the silicon won’t be lost.” There is, however, a downside, as both charging capacity and speed sharply fell off after 150 charges. But as Kung points out, the increase in charge retention would more than make up for this shortcoming. “Even after 150 charges, which would be one year or more of operation, the battery is still five times more effective than lithium-ion batteries on the market today,” he told the BBC. For more technical details, hit up the links below.
Researchers increase charging capacity, speed of lithium ion batteries by a factor of ten originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Bella Thorne & Pia Mia Cried the First Time Their Song ‘Bubblegum Boy’ Played on the Radio (VIDEO)
Nov 14th
Besties normally do everything together, but these two are taking it to the next level. Shake It Up beauty Bella Thorne and her BFF Pia Mia got to duet for their very first radio jam! Their song “Bubblegum Boy” may have a sweet sounding title, but the track is bumpin’ with some serous bass — and…Read more»
We want to play Peter Molydeux’s ‘CasCore’ prototype
Nov 14th
One of our favorite Twitter accounts, @petermolydeux, is a constant source of entertainment, but now he’s taken it to the next level. Rather than leave it up to us to imagine his insane gaming ideas, he’s gone ahead and created a video proposal for CasCore, a game that marries the casual gameplay of Wii Sports‘ bowling with the hardcore survival-horror genre.
Give your imagination a break already and check out the prototype video above. How else will you see a child’s dreams crammed into a bowling ball?
We want to play Peter Molydeux’s ‘CasCore’ prototype originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Suzuki’s Q-concept micro car tries to out-smart the Smart
Nov 13th
Inner-city cars have been getting smaller and smaller, but Suzuki’s Q-concept micro car takes extreme spot-hunting to the next level. Thanks to its tandem seating configuration, the Q-concept is slim — somewhere between a car and a motorbike — bestowing it tighter turning angles, ideal for snaking betwixt those SUVs at Walmart. Being a concept, there are all sorts of teasing technical touches we’d love to see, such as what looks like a smartphone dock in the steering wheel, video screens instead of rear-view mirrors and, of course, gull-wing doors. It might not have the cyborg-ish charms of Audi’s Urban Concept, but mercifully it’s got some decent curves, unlike its cousin the not-so-concept electric Every van.
Continue reading Suzuki’s Q-concept micro car tries to out-smart the Smart
Suzuki’s Q-concept micro car tries to out-smart the Smart originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Moscow Mars flight simulation comes to close after 520 days
Nov 4th
For the past 520 days, six men have been taking part in an experiment — Mars500, a simulation of the effects of long-duration space flight carried out at the Moscow Institute. Over the last 17 months and change, the crew has had its stress and hormone levels monitored, been subject to studies on isolation and dietary supplements and has had its communication with the outside world severely hampered. The crew emerged earlier today, happy to be back, after never really having left. After release, the half-dozen members were taken to quarantine to be checked out by doctors. The scientists running the show seem satisfied with data gathered during the study and are hoping to take things to the next level, conducting a similar experiment in orbit.
Moscow Mars flight simulation comes to close after 520 days originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Naomi Watts Clowns Around With Her Family in NYC (PHOTOS)
Nov 1st
Naomi Watts took Halloween to the next level yesterday afternoon by dressing up in a classic clown costume, complete with a yellow wig, face paint and a big red nose. Indeed, the Oscar-nominated actress enjoyed a day of trick-or-treating in Manhattan with her immediate family, including her partner, Liev Schreiber, who wore a creepy-looking grim…Read more»
Sprint’s LTE getting Advanced in 2013, WiMAX’s inferiority complex intensifies
Oct 25th
Sprint just started building out its LTE network, but being the eager beavers that they are, the folks in Overland Park are already talking about taking the Now Network to the next level. Iyad Tarazi, Sprint’s VP of network development and engineering, said that Sprint will be rolling out an LTE-Advanced network in the first half of 2013. (As a brief refresher, LTE-Advanced is a true 4G technology that can make regular LTE speeds look positively pedestrian in comparison.) Tarazi added that we would see 12 LTE devices in 2012 and that over 250 million people will have access to Sprint-flavored LTE by the end of 2013 — with voice over LTE service coming in the first quarter of that year. For those (hundreds?) of you worried about the fate of of WiMAX, well, don’t. Apparently, the out-of-favor 4G network will continue to be supported for several more years due to Sprint’s agreement with Clearwire. So, it appears Sprint’s really making a run at Verizon’s LTE hegemony. Good luck Mr. Hesse, you’re probably going to need it.
Sprint’s LTE getting Advanced in 2013, WiMAX’s inferiority complex intensifies originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Selena Gomez & Justin Bieber Adopt a Puppy (PHOTOS)
Oct 25th
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are taking their relationship to the next level. The couple, who have been dating for eight months, have adopted a dog together. The teen singers stopped by D’Arcy’s Animal Rescue Centre in Winnipeg, Canada, and it was instant puppy love when they met a husky mix named Baylor. SelGo was…Read more»
Video: Rear window LED panel the ideal way to scold tailgating drivers
Oct 23rd
Filed under: Etc., Videos, Humor
I had a buddy in college who got so tired of tailgaters that he carved a middle finger out of plywood, wrapped it in Christmas lights, and stuck it in the rear window of his Volkswagen. When someone got too close on the interstate, he flipped a button, and the wooden bird illuminated, letting people know exactly how he felt.
Enterprising motorist Gandeep Singh took that idea to the next level, applying some creative thinking, and installing a 40″x16″ led crawler in his rear window to give his road rage a serious edge.
Unfortunately, it looks as if most of Singh’s programmed messages are G-rated, but he’s apparently working on a Bluetooth cellphone hookup, so you can update your crawler in real time. Follow the jump to watch video of it in use.
Continue reading Rear window LED panel the ideal way to scold tailgating drivers
Rear window LED panel the ideal way to scold tailgating drivers originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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