panels

Radically innovative speakers from Minnesota?

Most speakers--from the affordable models to state-of-the-art contenders--are box designs. Some are tall, slender boxes, some are tiny cubes or spheres, but they all have some type of cabinet. Unless you're an audiophile, just about every speaker you've ever heard has dome tweeters and cone drivers, so you might conclude that all speakers are made that way. Standing apart from the crowd, Magnepan speakers are slender, flat-panel designs, less than a couple of inches thick. The speakers don't rely on conventional tweeters and woofers; Magnepan speakers' sound-producing elements are proprietary thin-film drivers.

Magnepan's Jim Winey started … Read more

MIT demos flexible solar panels printed on paper

MIT researchers have shown how solar panels can be printed on paper and other cheap materials, opening a range of possibilities including homes with solar-panel window shades or wallpaper.

Last year, CNET's Martin LaMonica reported on how MIT had developed the world's first solar panel printed on paper. A recent MIT study in the journal Advanced Materials by Karen Gleason and colleagues details the innovation.

The paper photovoltaic arrays are created through an oxidative chemical vapor deposition process at temperatures less than 120 degrees Celsius.

Ordinary uncoated paper, cloth, or plastic can be used. The researchers printed solar cells on a layer of PET plastic, folded it 1,000 times, and found it would still work.

Multiple layers and a paper mask are used to print the cells in a vacuum chamber. MIT says the procedure is nearly as cheap and easy as inkjet printing. … Read more

Nanosys promises better color in tablets, TVs

A Silicon Valley company is promising to bring more color to LCDs.

Nanosys says it has developed a technology that helps deliver 50 percent more color than what's currently available on existing LCD panels. According to the company's site, "that means richer, more viscerally alive reds, a deeper palette of greens, and vivid blues."

Most importantly, the company says it can deliver better color with technology already being used in tablets, televisions, and other products.

Nanosys made headlines yesterday when blogger Robert Scoble gushed over the technology. He said that Nanosys CEO Jason Hartlove showed him … Read more

Tata Steel partnership yields solar girders

Steel giant Tata Steel has partnered with Australian solar developer Dyesol to produce a steel girder coated with solar panels, both companies announced this week.

The prototype girder was made as one continuous length of coated steel 10 feet long that can capture both direct and diffuse light. The solar cells were "printed" directly onto the steel as opposed to being a composite of multiple cells added to an existing steel girder. The new process will enable Tata Steel to integrate photovoltaics in building materials in volume for a moderate cost.

It's the world's largest dye-sensitized … Read more

ScreenDeck adds top shelf to your flat-panel TV

Back in the old days of direct-view and rear-projection TVs, you used to be able to stick a speaker or a component on top of your TV if you didn't have anywhere else to put it (it wasn't necessarily the neatest look, but a lot of people did it).

Thin-screen TVs may have put an end to all that, but with a little help from an accessory like ScreenDeck, you can now add a shelf to the top of your LCD or plasma.

ScreenDeck, which bills itself as "a shelf for your TV things," comes in … Read more

Japan eyes solar panels on all new buildings

Struggling with a continuing nuclear crisis and strains on its power supplies, Japan is thinking of requiring that all new buildings, including homes, come equipped with rooftop solar panels by 2030, according to a recent Nikkei newspaper report.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan may announce the plan this week at a G8 summit in France, the business daily reported. Kan has pledged to review Japan's energy policy and increase renewable sources following the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis.

Kan hopes a solar-energy requirement for new buildings, along with technological innovation, would help reduce the cost of solar-power generation.

The government's current energy policy includes plans to increase nuclear energy to more than half of the total supply by 2030 as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Japan now gets about 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear sources. … Read more

GE plugs Edge flat-screen LED lighting for office

General Electric next week will show off overhead LED light fixtures designed to replace florescent tubes with thin, flat plates of light.

The company tomorrow is expected to announce the line of LED Edge lighting fixtures that can be suspended from ceilings or recessed flush with ceiling tiles. The first of the products, a square troffer fixture design for recessed lighting, will be available by the end of this year. More stylish suspended fixtures are slated for release in the first half of next year.

The four fixtures are built around coin-size LED light sources and a textured optical screen … Read more

U.N.: Renewables could be 80 percent of energy by 2050

Renewable sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower could fulfill almost 80 percent of the world's energy demand by 2050 with the right policies, according to a U.N. report which won backing from governments today.

The 26-page study, by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), broadly matched a draft written by scientists. It was approved by government delegates at talks in Abu Dhabi.

Environmental groups hailed the report as a guide to the shift from fossil fuels to combat climate change, a process set to cost trillions of dollars. But they said some draft … Read more

Transparent rear panel puts iPhone 4's guts on display

Looking for a fun and unusual way to trick out your iPhone 4? Repair-guide site iFixit now sells an iPhone 4 Transparent Rear Panel for $29.95.

Made of clear glass, this replacement back cover reveals all the inner workings of your device. Actually, it reveals mostly battery, but it's still pretty cool if you're into that whole "naked" look.

The panel consists of a camera lens, flash diffuser, and bezel. To install it, you simply remove the two screws from the bottom of your iPhone, pop the old panel off, place the new one, and restore the screws.

The only potential problem is if you have the newer pentalobe screws, in which case you should consider tossing iFixit's $14.95 pentalobe screwdriver into your cart. (Better yet, grab one on eBay for as little as $2.29 shipped.)

One other caveat: the Transparent Rear Panel is compatible with only the GSM (i.e. AT&T) versions of the iPhone 4, meaning Verizon iPhone owners are outta luck. "We have nothing against the Verizon users," says the iFixit blog. "Apple chose to modify the rear panel layout for the Verizon version, and sadly our panel can only fit GSM iPhone 4 units."

What do you think of the Transparent Rear Panel? Cool way to make your iPhone stand out from the crowd, or painful reminder that the iPhone looks a lot sexier with its clothes on?… Read more

Ralph Lauren solar backpack gets a luxury price

Ralph Lauren's recently released Solar Panel Backpack is a black or bright orange water-resistant bag that provides a useful 3.45 watts of power. According to the luxury label, this would enable iPhone users to achieve a full charge in less than three hours--on a sunny day of course. Our own rough calculations for an iPhone 4 seem to verify that figure, but your own mileage may vary.

The official Ralph Lauren site also vaguely mentions compatibility with the iPod Classic and "mobile phone devices," so users of non-Apple products might want to check if their device is supported.

While solar-powered accessories may appeal only to outdoorsy types and probably work best if you live in the tropics, any product that helps save fossil-fuel while charging our gadgets is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Solar Panel Backpack is available online for $795.

(Source: Crave Asia via CrunchGear) … Read more