Blog posts of '2012' 'January'

A team of students at Cambridge working with IEEE Fellow Arokia Nathan are working on a way to reclaim light that is lost from OLED displays. Only 30% of light in a typical smartphone or other small handheld device is project forward towards you. The rest scatters off to the side. Nathan and his team have created a prototype that can actually reclaim the lost light and turn it back into energy that the screen can run off of. The device involves solar cells in thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Ideally, this will cut back on the amount you would need to charge your device, making it more efficient in the long run. At the moment, the team is not looking at a “never charge again” capacity for their invention, but agree that it would certainly cut back on the amount of charges you’ll need for your phone.

So many electronics these days use USB connectors to charge and get power, meaning that our computers have multiple devices getting power through them, a waste of energy! But what if you could directly power these devices from the outlet? Current Werks, an innovative design company specializing in power for portable devices, has made two USB wall outlets that will accomplish just that. They have two models: the Duo and Quattro. The Duo has two regular sockets and two USB ports that will deliver 16 watts and fits in 15 and 20 amp receptacles. The Quattro simply features four USB ports alone to give out 22 watts of energy. They will make their first appearance at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for live demonstrations. You can preorder your USB sockets now for just $24.98 (Duo) and $39.98 (Quattro).