We’ve heard of turning yesterday’s lunch into tomorrow’s electricity, but a new energy converter coming out of Oak Ridge National Laboratory harnesses the power of a different type of hot waste. The as-of-yet unnamed thermal waste-heat converter has the potential to cool electronic devices, solar cells, and computers while generating electricity from excess heat. Its creators see the new conversion process being used to reduce the massive amounts of heat generated by petaflop computers. The converter employs up to one thousand tiny cantilevers attached to a one square inch surface (e.g. a computer chip) to produce between one and ten milliwatts of electricity — admittedly a very small amount of energy. However, it’s creators are quick to point out that a slew of these converters could generate enough power to perform small tasks in the heat-generating device — things like sensing when a server room gets too hot for comfort. Sure it’s a small step, but if they can get this stuff to save our future babies from cooking, we’re all in. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading ORNL energy harvester turns heat waste into electricity, converts hot machines into cool customers

ORNL energy harvester turns heat waste into electricity, converts hot machines into cool customers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Swiss scientists designed a small blood-powered turbine that would fit in arteries and power internal electronics like a pacemaker. Each turbine can produce 800 microwatts of energy which is far greater than the ten microwatts used by a pacemaker. More

Remember the recent PlayStation Network outage? You know the one, right? It started in late-April and lasted up through this weekend’s phased restoration (and continues on for many un-phased users). Well, Sony would like to sincerely apologize for the whole thing the best way it knows how: free video games. The company today announced its “Welcome Back” program, which is letting all existing PSN and Qriocity users in North America pick two of the following games: Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD, and Wipeout HD + Fury. PSP users, meanwhile, can chose two from LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force, and Kill Liberation. You can claim the games at some point in the next 30 days, and once you’ve downloaded, they’re yours to keep. The gesture may well prove too little, too late for many disgruntled users — but even they’ll likely have trouble staying angry at Sackboy’s adorable little dirt-stained mug.

Sony’s ‘Welcome Back’ campaign apologizes to distraught PSN users with free games, good vibes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 18:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Silk! The ancient material is soft, luxurious and…incredibly versatile for the future. New uses and manufacturing techniques for silk have been discovered and you can use it as a vein replacement, bone replacement, optical fibers, microneedles, cups, holograms and more. More

Toshiba just fired its own salvo in the pixel density wars at SID 2011. The company is showing off a range of LCDs for cellphones that top out at an almost imperceptibly fine 367ppi on its 4-inch HD (720 x 1280) model. Beyond just cramming more red, green, and blue dots in each inch, these panels also top the bar-setting Retina Display in the contrast department with an impressive 1,500:1 ratio. The company also brought a smaller 3.3-inch screen with a resolution of 480 x 864 to Display Week that hits a respectable 300ppi. They’re not quite as impressive as these HAST LCDs, but who really needs to put 1080p in their pocket? (Want is a different story.) Of course, Engadget is on the scene and, if you’re lucky, we’ll let you live vicariously through us as we tour Toshiba’s booth — you know, as a reward for your loyal readership.

Continue reading Toshiba enters pixel density fray with 367ppi LCDs for cellphones

Toshiba enters pixel density fray with 367ppi LCDs for cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As recently as 600 million years ago, oxygen levels were extremely low on Earth, only about a tenth of what they are today. So how did ancient animals move around and avoid mass asphyxiation? More

We all know that mermaids can perform underwater musical numbers. But how would a real-life mermaid sing underwater? And hear music? Find out in our guide to underwater physics for mermaid chasers. More

Melanie Pinola offers 7 alternatives to Apple’s MacBook Air. Lenovo’s X1 looks very promising indeed.

Originally posted here:
Alternatives to the MacBook Air

Synthetic biology attempts to generate biomolecules with new and/or improved activities for use as, say, drugs or fuel. One way of producing new biomolecules involves directed evolution, in which specific functions are selected for, but that has been slow and labor intensive. A faster method comes from Esvelt et al.

For a terrifically long-term video project, Sam Klemke filmed himself every year for 35 years. He then ran these clips in reverse order to simulate himself traveling backwards in time. Watch him de-age three decades in less than 10 minutes. More