Technology
Wireless body area network sends data to cellphone
10/10/10 14:44
Researchers recently demonstrated a new type of wireless body area network, or BAN for short. A BAN essentially gives the human body its own IP address. The new technique demonstrated at IMEC based in Eindhoven uses a dongle that plugs into the SD card slot of a cellphone, enabling the streaming of data from the sensors to the cellphone in real time. The software runs on Android OS and uses the nRF24L01+ radio wireless standard rather than Bluetooth. So what does this mean for the future of medicine? Well, with just a few EKG-like sensors, people with medical conditions such as heart problems, or athletes in training, will be able to monitor their own body on their cellphones. The technology is still in the demo phase, but it's one I look forward to seeing in practice.
Cholesteric LCD
14/06/09 11:17
What you are seeing in this image is a cellphone that has changed its color from purple to blue at the touch of a button. It can actually change to eight colors using an electric current, but it doesn't need power to stay in that color. Once it is changed, it remains that way.
This prototype uses a technology called cholesteric liquid crystal display (chLCD,) but treated in a special way to adapt its shape to any kind of surface. Using heat, three red, green, and blue layers of chLCD are shaped around whatever object you want. In between those layers there is a resin that seals the substrate, protecting the chLCD and making sure it doesn't break.
The company that makes it—Kent Displays—says that there's no practical limit to the pixel resolution of this kind of displays, and points out that, in the next version, it will be possible to display pixels in up to 4,000 different colors.
A4 size e-paper
22/05/08 09:25
At SID 2008 in Los Angeles, Seiko Epson showed off a new electronic paper. The 13.4-inch (A4-size) electronic paper was developed by combining electrophoretic electronic ink of E Ink Corp and a low-temperature polycrystal Si-TFT of Seiko Epson. It has a pixel count of 3104 × 4128 and definition is as high as 385ppi. Contrast ratio is 10:1 and reflectance is 40%. With this prototype the company believes it entered the final stage of replacing traditional paper with electronic paper.