Walls, windows as future solar cells
Cheaper solar cells, roughly one-tenth the cost of current day prices, could be available within three to five years thanks to a manufacturing procedure that uses nanoparticle 'inks' to print them like newspaper or to spray-paint them onto the sides of buildings or rooftops, states Gizmag.
Even windows could become solar cells thanks to the semi-transparent inks. 'Painting' solar cells on buildings has been an idea in the making for some time, Gizmag investigated the possibilities of 'solar paint' in 2008.
For the past two years, chemical engineer Brian Korgel and his team at the University of Texas, Austin, have been working on reducing solar cell manufacturing costs by 90%. The current process for making solar cells, gas-phase deposition in a vacuum chamber, requires high temperatures and is quite expensive.
Augmented reality transforms toys
The future of toys is augmented reality, writes CNET News, after viewing Mattel's i-Tags, a new technology to be included with action figures the company will make for 'Titanic' director James Cameron's new film, 'Avatar'.
Augmented reality (AR) is an overlay of digital information or imagery on top of real-world objects. Or, as Sean McGowan, a toy industry analyst with Needham & Company in New York, called it, AR is "jet fuel for the imagination".
In the case of the 'Avatar' action figures, AR is being implemented in the form of small plastic cards, the i-Tags, which kids can hold up in front of any Webcam. When they do, a fully 3D digital image is superimposed over the card on the screen.
Sat nav tracks dementia patients
Vulnerable dementia sufferers are being tracked with satellite technology in a pioneering project in Warwickshire, reports the Birmingham Post.
The technology will enable worried relatives to monitor movements on a map via a secure Web site. Warwickshire County Council is one of the first local authorities in the country to use the tracking technology in this way.
The initiative comes amid fears that the degenerative condition which currently affects 570 000 in England, will double in the next 30 years.
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