Techie-Jim.net

Category: Science

  • Alkaline Batteries… Now Rechargeable

    Various brands, and styles of AA (double-A) batteries including Panasonic, Kodak, Sony, Toshiba, Polaroid, Energizer, and Duracell. By Vireak sc (Own work) on Wikimedia Commons.

    A, AA (double-A), AAA (triple-A), C (R14), and D (D-cell or R20) – all common types of alkaline batteries – batteries that commonly have a zinc electrode and potassium hydroxide (caustic base) electrolyte. The vast majority are not rechargeable. When you do see a rechargeable battery of the types listed they are not likely to […]

  • BSOD from SPACE

    Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

    Pretty much everyone knows what the blue screen of death is. That dreaded complete system failure that happens every so often. Sometimes for no reason at all. It can happen on any device – PC, Mac, Android, iOS/iPhone… most of the time the device just reboots. Any number of issues can cause them – software […]

  • Everything is Duplexing

    Fiber optic wires spread apart and sending out light.

    When you talk to someone on the phone typically someone makes a statement or asks a question then the other party responds. We take turns. You talk then I talk, then you talk then I talk – back and forth. That is also how many internet services and wireless communications work as well — they […]

  • Inkless Paper Developed

    Purple glow within a shade containing an ultraviolet (UV) light bulb.

    Phys.org reports on a breakthrough in printing: paper that uses ultraviolet light to print on coated paper. The paper can be heated to 250°F to erase what was printed and re-written to it up to 80 times (re-writable paper).  The researchers believe that this paper, which uses ultraviolet light to speed up chemical reactions between titanium […]

  • Fiber Picks Up Speed

    Fiber optic wires spread apart and sending out light.

    Our demand for data continues to grow and so to does the amount of data fiber optic networks can transmit. Phys.org reports on research completed by NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories in Japan where they were able to fit 12 individual cores inside a standard diameter for fiber optics. Since the amount of data we […]

  • Intel Pushes Moore’s Law Along: 10 nm

    intel logo: a light blue print of intel with a oval starting from the bottom of the "l" of the name on the right and wrapping back around to the bottom of the "l"

    Moore’s Law (which states the number of transistors per square inch doubles roughly every twelve {12} to eighteen {18} months) has had repeated claims that it would end as the limits of silicon are hit and the size approaches that where quantum effects take over, yet it keeps proving the naysayers wrong. IEEE Spectrum reports […]

  • Mass Manufacturing Graphene: New Method

    Hexagonal grid representation of crystalline graphene (single-molecule layer graphite).

    Graphene has been expected to be the next big idea in electronics, medical, and many other fields for quite some time. The properties of graphene outpace that of traditional materials used today. However, mass-manufacturing the single-molecule-layers of graphite (yes, “pencil lead”) has proven difficult, complex, and costly. But new methods are being worked on… Reported […]

  • Canon Global Advancement: Read the Side of an Airplane!

    Canon's corporate logo consisting of red lettering with sharp serifs.

    Canon, a leader in technology for digital cameras has made an amazing breakthrough in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Phys.org reports that Canon has developed a CMOS with the highest pixel density ever for a 35 mm full-frame sensor and simultaneously overcome the major hurdles to getting there. At 250 megapixels, or roughly 250 million […]

  • Towards Affordable Transparent Aluminum

    Screen capture of the molecular diagram of transparent aluminum on an old Apple computer screen from the movie Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home

    [dc]C[/dc]ontrary to popular belief, transparent aluminum is real… It’s just prohibitively expensive (or at least it was). It is known in the scientific world as magnesium aluminate or spinel. It is a mineral ceramic that is capable of allowing the visible and infrared spectrum to pass through (which is why it is often used in military applications). […]

  • Carbon Nanotube Filtering Breakthrough

    Yellow stick of butter with two lines - one drawn across the top to represent a semiconducting wire that has not melted through the butter and another that has sunk to the bottom of the butter representing a conducting wire. The example shows a way to purify - or sort - carbon nanotubes with different properties.

    Carbon nanotubes, microscopically-thin wires of carbon atoms, can be produced in sufficient quantity but not sufficient quality for electronics. They often include a bundle of wires where some are conductive, like the power wires going from your computer to the wall outlet, and some are semiconducting — the kind needed for processing information. Science Daily […]

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