Posts Tagged ‘materials’
Apple Already Shipping Liquidmetal with Some iPads
Author: Tyler Evans
Last week we found out that Apple had signed an exclusive deal to use LiquidMetal in its products. LiquidMetal is a brand name of Californian Liquidmetal Technologies, and is an alloy manufactured to cool into a glass-like structure. It is incredibly hard, light and stiff. And it turns out that Apple has already used it in a product.
In some iPad packages shipped in North America, the SIM-card ejector-tool is made from the stuff, according to Cult of Mac supremo Leander Kahney. Apple wanted to test out the miracle material on a non-essential part as it requires at least two sources for its parts, and Liquidmetal is only available in one place.
According to Kahney, Liquidmetal’s co-inventor Atakan Peker saw the pin and recognized it right away. “That’s my metal,” he said. “Take it from an expert, that’s Liquidmetal.”
I have a U.S. iPad 3G, and can confirm that the SIM-ejector-too is indeed light and stiff, and almost impossible to bend. I was unable to test whether or not I become invisible when wearing it as a ring, as my human-sized fingers are far too big.
It’s hard to know what Apple is up to with this material, but given the company’s innovations in this area, from the unibody aluminum “bricks” to the iPhone 4s glass backplate, it pretty certain Apple has something in mind. Then again, it could just be an early Christmas present from Steve Jobs to Jonathan Ive, who is famously enthusiastic about the materials he works with.
Apple’s Mystery Liquidmetal Product Revealed [Cult of Mac]
Illustration: Charlie Sorrel
Illustration texture: Patrick Hoesly/Flickr
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Apple Already Shipping Liquidmetal with Some iPads
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Tags: Apple, charlie-sorrel, from-the-stuff, iPhone, LED, materials, r&d and inventions | 
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Open Hardware Summit
Author: Troy Sorbo
Image from OpenHardwareSummit.org
The concept of open source hardware has interested me for some time. There are a number of wildly popular (at least with the geeks) products available for “free”. This particular type of free is akin to freedom and not cost. If you have the materials and tools on hand you could build a Makerbot from scratch or mill a circuit board and solder up your own Arduino compatible board, but even then it isn’t completely free. The freedom comes from sharing the design, making incremental improvements, and combining the community effort with a product to make it better.
The Open Hardware Summit has been organized to nail down some of the vague definitions to the term “open source hardware” and produce a real, and enforceable license, much like the Creative Commons License does for artistic creations and the GPL does for software.
ArduPilot marketing image from DIY Drones
Definition v.0.3 of the Open Source Hardware (OSHW) has been released for public comment, and you can join in the discussion on the Forum. Ayah Bdeir and Alicia Gibb will be chairing the Open Hardware Summit as part of MakerFaire NY on September 26, 2010. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend, but I will be watching the blogs for information.
Chris Anderson, founder of GeekDad, has developed a respectable business around his open hardware products ArduPilot (pictured above), ArduCopter, and now Parrot ARDrone. All of the source code, schematics, and board layouts are available for free online. If you have the facilities and parts, you could solder one up and start flying in a week or so. If you aren’t so patient or doubt your soldering foo, you can buy preassembled boards from SparkFun. More information is available at DIY Drones.
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Open Hardware Summit
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AT&T stores getting Windows Phone 7 retail materials, launch coming sooner than expected?
Author: Tech Blogger
Microsoft’s mobile efforts may look like they’re slightly in disarray after the expensive and embarrassing Kin debacle, but it looks like Windows Phone 7 may yet emerge unscathed from the chaos — and potentially even earlier than expected, if this sheet of AT&T retail signage that’s being sent out for a July 24th store overhaul is to be believed. Don’t get too excited, however: we’re told that cards like this have hit in July for September launches in the past — which would line up with that hint of an October Telstra launch — and that the “QTY: 6″ label likely points to two devices, not a sextuplet. (We’d guess… Samsung and LG?) Either way, it would be a big win for Microsoft if it can manage to get Windows Phone 7 in store shelves before that promised “holiday 2010″ due date — we’ll see what happens.
AT&T stores getting Windows Phone 7 retail materials, launch coming sooner than expected? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 22:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Props to Engadget
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Beer-in-a-Box Saves Space, Materials, Sobriety [Beer]
Author: Alexander McQueen
This clever beer packaging concept is a box with a tap. We’ve seen similar things before, yes, but this costs less, uses less packaging and is more efficient to transport. Plus, it holds beer! [Brand X Daily via Core77] More »
Props to Gizmodo
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How to build a breaking mechanism for my robot using simple materials?
Author: Brandon Zimmerman
i need a breaking system that can stop my robot on a steep slope and prevent it from falling back.
i need a simple mechanism that works effectively from simple and easily available products.
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Highly Efficient OLEDs with Phosphorescent Materials
Author: James Cliff
Product Description
This brand-new monograph on organic light emitting diodes, edited by a pioneer, and written by front-line researchers from academia and industry, provides access to the latest findings in this rapidly growing field. More than ten contributions cover all areas — from theory and basic principles, to different emitter materials and applications in production.
Highly Efficient OLEDs with Phosphorescent Materials
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From the Tips Box: Defrosting Meat, Packing Materials, and Remembering Secret Numbers [From The Tips Box]
Author: Brandon Zimmerman
Readers offer their best tips for defrosting meat in the microwave, shipping items with just a paper bag, and remembering sensitive numbers like Social Security or bank PINs. More »
Props to Lifehacker
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What are the Organic materials used in an OLED display?
Author: Markus Smith
Organic Light Emitting Diode uses less power and produced more light. What are the materials used that separate this technology from regular LEDs?
