We’ve long believed in the mystical power of quantum dots, so it makes perfect sense to us that one day they’ll be used to fully harness the Sun God’s rays and thereby save the planet. The nano-particles turn light into electricity, and could potentially be manufactured cheaply and abundantly enough to coat surfaces in current-generating paint. The main obstacle to this has so far been efficiency: the clever little dots just don’t work very hard. However, scientists at the University of Toronto now claim to have discovered a fix. Instead of using a single layer of particles, which can only harvest one meager wavelength from the full gamut of solar light, they added a second coat on top and configured it to be sensitive to an additional part of the spectrum. By adding third and fourth layers, the researchers hope to achieve a commercially viable efficiency of 10-percent within the next five years. We humbly call on Ra to be pleased with their efforts.

Quantum dots could coat the world in nano-sized solar panels originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Classic Style Laser Pointer

• All Metal Body (No Plastic)
• High Power Red Laser Diode
• Range of up to 2000 feet
• 645nm Wavelength (Up to twice as bright at 670nm lasers)
• Batteries Included (AAA x 2)

This sharp-looking laser pointer is compact enough to fit in a shirt pocket, yet powerful enough for business presentations in the largest auditorium. Ideal for business or technical people who don’t want anything flashy, just functional. Features a pocket clip and includes a protective storage case. Caution: never stare directly into the beam of any laser or point it at anyone’s eyes, regardless of the color or power.

Rating: (out of 119 reviews)

List Price: $ 39.99

Price: $ 1.47

Blu-ray, also referred to as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is a name related with a next generation optical disc format. It’s a similar physical proportions as normal DVDs and Compact disks, however provides over 5 times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs, holding as much as 27 Gigabite of data on a single-layer disc, that’s a lot more than Two hours of high definition video or about thirteen hours of standard video, and also as much as 50 Gigabite on a dual-layer disc. Existing developments by Pioneer have pushed the storage potential to 500GB on a solitary disc by using Twenty layers. For an amazing Blu-ray player, check out 3d blu ray titles.

This added capability merged jointly with the use of advanced video and audio codecs provides consumers an unparalleled High definition experience. Furthermore, add-ons for instance bonus material and also special features could be included in high quality inside the same disc, therefore there is no requirement for separate bonus discs to go along with the movie title.

Blu-ray was collectively formulated by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a collection of the world’s top consumer electronics, personal computer and media producers, including Dell, Apple, HP, Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Pioneer, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Thomson and also TDK. It has been created to permit recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), and also keeping huge amounts of data.

Although present optical disc technologies like DVD make use of a red laser to read and write data, the Blu-ray format utilizes a blue-violet laser in its place. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405 nm) is it’s got a shorter wavelength than the usual red laser (650 nm), rendering it feasible to focus the laser area with even higher accuracy. That enables data to become packed a lot more closely and stored in a reduced amount of space, so you are able to fit more files on the disc. Nevertheless, despite different type of lasers utilized, Blu-ray merchandise can very easily be created backwards compatible with CDs and also DVDs via the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit, sony blu ray 3d.

Throughout the format war over high-definition optical discs, Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD DVD format. However, on February 19, 2008, Toshiba, the leading organization supporting High definition DVD, introduced that it would no longer develop, make, or market High definition DVD players and recorders, leading almost every other HD DVD companies to follow suit, and also therefore effectively concluding the format war. Blu -ray is currently supported by about 200 of the world’s leading pc, consumer electronics, recording media, music and also video game organizations. The format has the advantage of support coming from all Hollywood studios and also different small studios to be a successor to the current DVD format. Major blank media makers such as TDK likewise support the Blu-ray Disc format as being the successor to DVD.

Blu-ray offers a number of the strongest copy protection procedures ever developed for any buyer format, rendering it the most effective choice for just about any content publisher seeking assurance that their important assets are guarded from piracy. The format includes a powerful copy protection system, which not just utilizes implementation on the playback device, but which also consists of precautions at replicator level, which may be strictly controlled. As opposed to the voluntary execution of CSS protection in DVD, the copy protection mechanism for Blu-ray Disc is required and also will be governed by strict licensing processes

Take a look at the awesome bluray and simplye be astounded!

By Andrew Liszewski

Current techniques for locating snipers (besides a well-trained pair of eyes) involve sophisticated microphone setups, which are essentially useless until the sniper fires a shot, at which point it could be already too late. But the CS300K Counter Surveillance Camera, from a company called JETprotect, promises to spot sniper scopes, binoculars, cameras and even human eyeballs from hundreds of meters away using the ‘red-eye’ effect that’s wrecked so many photos over the years.

The CS300K uses an integrated “unique wavelength GigE Vision IP camera” in conjunction with a “numerically controlled Class IIIb laser illuminator” and special automatic surveillance software to monitor for threats around the clock, providing warnings when something is spotted. The initial applications for the technology will involve military and security duties where prying eyes or scopes are a serious threat, but I’m sure it will eventually trickle down to the consumer level so you can use your cellphone to monitor that creepy guy on the subway who’s been occasionally staring at you for the past 15 minutes.

[ CS300K Counter Surveillance Camera ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Evan Ackerman

This is a prototype e-reader from Qualcomm called Mirasol. Apparently, this vivid color display (which doesn’t use a backlight) consumes less power than a monochrome e-ink display:

More, after the jump.

How can this work? Well, if they’re talking about the blue morpho (which is the spectacular butterfly in the pic), there really is some fascinating biotechnology there. The butterfly isn’t actually colored blue, in that it doesn’t have blue pigment in its wings. Rather, the wings of the butterfly are covered with tiny scales that reflect incoming light, setting up constructive interference effects at a wavelength at about 400 nanometers, which happens to be blue light. You can get any color you want by varying the size of the scales, which changes the wavelength at which constructive interference happens.

As far as the display goes, the advantage of the butterfly technology is that color is produced from incoming light, which means that you don’t need LEDs (or whatever) to provide light from underneath the display. Of course, it’ll only work if there’s enough ambient light, but that’s just like a real piece of paper (and conventional e-ink displays). Except with pretty colors. I don’t know about you, but I’d be more than willing to pay a premium (even a significant premium) for a display like this… Let’s hope that Qualcomm comes through.

VIA [ CrunchGear ]

With the advent of the Compact Disc at the beginning of Nineteen Eighties, the world underwent a dramatic change. It provided great audio quality and the ability to hold six hundred and fifty megabytes of data as a giant step in data storing and retrieving. This was the first time people had access to pre-recorded, recordable and rewritable media at low costs. It allowed extensive copying and sharing out of audio.  However, in the 1990’s, the demand for higher storage capacities arose and led to the development of the DVD which was a 5 – 10 x increase in storage capacity.  Even though the know-how was novel, the latest DVD format made use of the same form factor as the Compact Disc that made easy the transformation to next generation format.  This added to the DVD’s success with consumers.

In the present day, blu ray discs have made still another upheaval.  This new optical disc format is a proud development of the Blu Ray Disc Association (BDA) that include HP, Dell, LG, Hitachi, Apple, Samsung, Panasonic, JVC, Sony, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Sharp, Thomson, and TDK.   The BDA boasts 180 of the world’s leading consumer electronics, media and personal computer manufacturers.

Blu ray discs provide enhanced storing capabilities, i.e. twenty-five GB on single-layer and fifty GB on dual layer discs. It is the last word in user experience and facilitates rewriting, recording, playback and distribution of HD videos.  The blu ray discs have been founded on the bare disc physical form factor which makes it compatible with CDs and DVDs.

The blu ray discs, as the name suggests, uses a blue-violet laser to read and write data unlike the current technology which uses red laser. A blue-violet laser (405nm) has a far shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm) making it possible to focus the laser spot with superior precision.  The advantage of this is that, it permits data to be stored in less space since the data can be packed more tightly, which further, allows consumers to fit additional data on the disc even though it may be the same size as a CD or a DVD.

Presently supported by some of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer, video game, recording media, and music companies, these new generation blu ray discs have also won the support of Hollywood studios and other smaller studios, some of whom have already announced the release of new movies on blu ray discs.

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