Monday, July 30, 2012

Quantum Dots


Quantum Dots Give Notebooks a New Glow
A layer of nanomaterial that gives a liquid-crystal display the rich range of colors usually possible only with more expensive technologies will be commercialized later this year by the materials giant 3M and Nanosys ..... Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) .... organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) ..... their film—a sheet of plastic embedded with nanoscale spheres of indium-phosphide and cadmium quantum dots—makes it possible to match the color gamut of an OLED in an LCD ...... a typical high-end LCD provides only about 70 percent of the color range in a standard called Adobe RGB, while an LCD with this film provides the full gamut (as does an OLED display)
OLED quality displays at the price of LCDs.

Nanotech is seeping into traditional tech.


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The Commandos Behind Facebook's Growth

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase
If you are like me you though the massive growth happened on its own.

Chasing Facebook's Next Billion Users
The growth team was formed in late 2007, when Zuckerberg decided expansion was so important that it warranted a unit with its own resources. The site was approaching 100 million members, but its growth rate had cooled. ..... the growth team struck a deal with Google to let the search engine show Facebook profiles in its results. They also launched a feature called “People You May Know” ....... a companywide push to create a translation tool that let users in Spain, France, and Germany navigate the site in their native languages. Within two years of its creation, the team had expanded Facebook’s roster of users sevenfold, to 360 million. ..... a key to building more active members is spotting what she calls “magic moments.” That’s when a new user moves from thinking, “‘What the hell is this Facebook thing all about’ to ‘Aha! I understand, this is cool,’” says Gleit. Facebook tries to get users to experience this moment as early as possible by helping them find friends effortlessly. ...... her job entails wrangling with other teams at Facebook to highlight features on the site that improve engagement ..... “The next billions of people, we believe, are going to come through mobile” ...... governmental barriers like in China, and occasionally Vietnam, or competitive barriers like VKontakte in Russia ..... Quora, online storage company Dropbox, and Twitter now have their own growth teams
I was going to say Facebook's next billion will come from China. Zuckerberg's marriage to a Chinese woman, was that strategic?
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The Red Hot Mobile Space

The official online color is: #A4C639 . 한국어: 공...
The official online color is: #A4C639 . 한국어: 공식 온라인 색은: #A4C639 . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Funny how Windows and the Mac operating system never went to war like this. HP and Dell should have been at loggerheads back in the days.

Apple vs. Samsung: Shaping the Mobile Battlefield
On July 9, a British judge named Colin Birss ruled that Samsung’s tablet computers were unlikely to be confused with Apple’s iPad because they’re “not as cool.” ..... a globe-spanning courtroom free-for-all over who invented what in smartphones and tablets .... the struggle for domination in the booming $312 billion mobile device market ..... Google’s open approach threatens Apple’s pitch to consumers that its exclusive, “walled garden” offerings are different and better. ..... a marathon bout, or perhaps cage match. Having fought over the past two years on four continents ..... Apple will try to convince jurors of one essential idea: Samsung is a copycat. .... Android phones manufactured by Samsung and other companies—all of which Apple has also serially sued in numerous forums worldwide—offer consumers a more flexible, open operating system with greater product choices at a variety of price points as an alternative to Apple’s single, expensive, and closed-system devices. ...... Samsung’s filings indicate that it will acknowledge that it closely studies its rival’s products. ..... Samsung said in its pretrial filing that Apple must prove that an ordinary consumer would be “deceived” into buying a Samsung tablet or phone, thinking that it was made by Apple. .... Apple’s Cook and Choi Gee Sung, the former CEO of Samsung, had tried and failed to settle the case in court-ordered mediation. ..... Samsung being one of Apple’s main suppliers of flash memory chips, display screens, and other components.
This reminds me of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. This fight is a waste of the two companies' resources.


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Massive Power Outage In India

Hydroelectric dam
Hydroelectric dam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When about a third of the people in a country the size of India (US + Europe + Africa) lose power, that is massive.

What the India Blackout Says About India's Frailties
Even for India, though, the blackout that began in the early hours of Monday was extraordinary. Nearly 360 million people—more than the population of the U.S. and Canada combined—lost power across seven states in northern India when excessive demand and a shortfall in hydro power overwhelmed the electricity grid. The worst blackout in a decade started at 2:32 in the morning, leaving people sweltering in their homes and stopping service on trains and subways in Delhi..... Slightly more than 12 hours later, power resumed in the capital...... The less-than-normal rainfall has put strains on India’s hydroelectric power supply, which accounts for 19 percent of the country’s 205 gigawatt generation capacity ..... The blackout “is symbolic of the infrastructure bottlenecks of the country” ...... The government wants to spend $400 billion over the next five years on power-sector investment, adding 76 gigawatts of capacity by 2017. That’s on top of the 85 gigawatts of power India has added in the past 10 years.
The real solution might be on the moon.
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$8,500 Smart Chair: It Moves

The desk that keeps you standing I thought was pretty cool. Although a 40 minute workout goes a long way to help you out no matter what your chair. But this smart chair just keeps moving.

This $8,500 "Smart" Office Chair Never Stops Moving
chairs should instead encourage small but constant motions that are good for the body..... incorporates ergonomics and neuroscience to stimulate not just the body, but also the emotions. ...... custom-sized, carbon-fiber shells that wrap around each leg. They allow a generous range of movements—stretching, leaning, twisting—while supporting the spine ..... most LimbIC users prefer their feet to be suspended in air ..... They should feel weightless and bouncy, an effect achieved by stimulating different body points that send signals to the inner ear. The result: a feeling of happiness and increased creativity ..... extensively studied the limbic system, a part of the brain involved in emotions (including pleasure) and instinct .... customer feedback so far has been extremely positive ..... In concept, the chair acts as an extension of the body, adjusting subtly to the user’s movements, such as picking up the phone or using a mouse ..... You can even make dancing and skiing movement while seated .... “I could sit and concentrate for extended periods of time even with my acutely herniated disc,” one finance expert writes in a testimonial. “With other chairs, this used to be impossible.” .... “It doesn’t look comfortable. With a human in it, you recognize it as a chair, but without it you don’t.” ... “Most see it as an investment in their health and in themselves.”
The video is worth the watch.



I took particular note of this:
threw out traditional sitting rules such as the expectation that people should sit upright, with knees bent at a 90-degree angle. That science was developed in the 19th century
You mean the way I sit is fossil thinking?

Somebody put some thought into this new chair.


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