New Challenges For Wearables


The earliest recorded mention of a wristwatch dates back to the late 1500s, but it really began gaining adherents in Great Britain’s Boer War campaign as a way of synchronizing military actions beyond the line of sight. Strapping a pocket watch to a horse or a camel simply didn’t work, and pulling it out of a jacket pocket was not only inconvenient, it was dangerous. Advertised as a “c... » read more

Energy Harvesting Makes Progress


The dream of a self-powered device has been around for a long time—thousands of years, in fact. The first windmills and waterwheels date back to ancient Greece and the beginning of recorded history. Self-winding timepieces date back to the late 1700s. The Foucault pendulum has been in motion in Paris, minus some brief hiatuses, since 1851. And it's been 144 years since two French physicists d... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Dec. 10


Optical Metamaterial with a Refractive Index of Zero Most of the time we hear about the need for coherent light sources, such as those produced by lasers, but there may be equal promise looking in the other direction. Quantum processors promise to be many times faster and more powerful than today’s supercomputers, but to get to that point they will need fast and efficient multi-directiona... » read more

System Bits: Nov. 12


3D Printers When thinking about 3D printers, most people probably think about creating small plastic parts or prototypes. 3D printing now can be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a batt... » read more

Picture Perfect


For the past five years power/energy efficiency has been a growing concern in the IC world, as well as in the OEM world that has to compete based on battery life. The days when you could plug a phone into the wall at night and be assured you could use it for three days or more without worrying about finding another plug ended with the advent of great displays and more functionality. Since th... » read more

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