Month: October 2021

Self-healing quasicrystals may resurrect hopes of practical applications

Unusual property reduces the defects that have hindered commercialization to date.

X-ray tomography visualization showing two quasicrystals as they start to meld together during cooling. University of Michigan scientists have discovered that quasicrystals exhibit a self-healing phenomenon that could reduce defects.

Enlarge / X-ray tomography visualization showing two quasicrystals as they start to meld together during cooling. University of Michigan scientists have discovered that quasicrystals exhibit a self-healing phenomenon that could reduce defects. (credit: Shahani Group/University of Michigan)

Quasicrystals are a unique class of materials with considerable promise for practical applications because of their unusual properties. But progress toward realizing that commercial potential has been hampered by the fact that the usual manufacturing processes for quasicrystals are prone to producing defects in the form of tiny cracks between crystals known as grain boundaries. A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications found that under certain conditions, quasicrystals can heal themselves—potentially reviving commercial interest in these materials.

The earliest quasicrystals found were metal alloys, usually aluminum with one or more other metals. That has made them useful for a handful of practical applications, such as non-stick coatings for frying pans and anti-corrosive coatings for surgical equipment. But scientists would love to create more complex quasicrystals that are capable, for example, of manipulating light to create new kinds of camouflage or cloaking.

"One reason why industry gave up on quasicrystals is because they're full of defects," said co-author Ashwin Shahani, a materials scientist at the University of Michigan. "But we're hoping to bring quasicrystals back into the mainstream. And this work hints that it can be done."

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Surface Laptop Studio review: One well-built, weird convertible PC

Mediocre speed and a few odd decisions overshadow a neat design.

The Surface Laptop Studio with its screen popped out over its keyboard.

Enlarge / The Surface Laptop Studio with its screen popped out. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

The Surface Pro 8, with its larger screen and performance improvements, is the star of Microsoft’s Surface lineup. But for people who prefer true laptops to convertible tablets, there’s a new member of the family that merits a look: the Surface Laptop Studio.

Like the old Surface Book, the Surface Laptop Studio wants to be a regular laptop with the option to get the keyboard out of the way when it’s time to draw or write with the Surface Pen. But where the Surface Book’s screen could be removed entirely from its base, the Laptop Studio has an attached screen with a folding hinge—not totally unlike the old Surface Studio desktop that it’s named for.

So where does the Surface Laptop Studio fit into the new Surface lineup? How does it stack up to the old Surface Book design? And how does it compare to other premium large-screened laptops from the other PC makers?

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Anker Soundcore Frames coming in November for $200 (eyeglasses with speakers)

Anker is a brand that’s been cranking out affordable-but-decent smartphone accessories including chargers, power banks, earbuds, and Bluetooth speakers for years. Now the company’s moving into the new, but emerging market of “audio eyeware.” The Anker Soundcore Frames are a set of eyeglasses with speakers built into the frames. They’re expected to be available in November […]

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Anker is a brand that’s been cranking out affordable-but-decent smartphone accessories including chargers, power banks, earbuds, and Bluetooth speakers for years. Now the company’s moving into the new, but emerging market of “audio eyeware.”

The Anker Soundcore Frames are a set of eyeglasses with speakers built into the frames. They’re expected to be available in November for $200.

That makes Anker’s Soundcore Frames the same price as Razer’s Anzu Smart Glasses, but a little more affordable than similar Amazon Echo Frames ($250), Bose Frames ($250), or Facebook’s Ray-Ban Stories ($299).

Anker says its audio eyeware system supports interchangeable frames, allowing customers to pick from ten different frame styles during the first purchase, or to pick up a couple of additional frames if they want to change styles or features periodically.

Frames sell for about $50 each, and options include tinted sunglasses, prescription glasses, blue-light filtering glasses, and different sizes, shapes, and styles, and there’s a “pull and Plug” quick-release system that lets you swap frames on the fly.

As for the audio features of the Anker Soundcore Frames, the company says you get four audio drivers (2 on each side), 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response, support for SBC and AAC audio codecs, and support for Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connections.

There are touch-sensitive controls with support for taps and swipes, as well as a microphone for voice controls. And the included 110 mA batteries (one on each side) should provide up to 5.5 hours of music playback or 5 hours of talk time on a charge.

You can recharge the battery with a magnetic USB charging cable, and Anker says there’s fast charging support, allowing you to get 1.5 hours of battery life by plugging the Soundcore Frames in for 10 minutes.

An IPX4 water resistance rating, which mean they’re sweatproof and probably won’t get damaged by some light drizzle, but you’re probably not going to want to drop the glasses into a swimming pool.

press release

 

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Apple: Airpods könnten Health-Funktionen erhalten

Apple arbeitet angeblich daran, seine drahtlosen Airpods-Kopfhörer als Hörgerät und für die Ermittlung von Körperwerten nutzbar zu machen. (Apple, Patent)

Apple arbeitet angeblich daran, seine drahtlosen Airpods-Kopfhörer als Hörgerät und für die Ermittlung von Körperwerten nutzbar zu machen. (Apple, Patent)

Realme 4K Smart Google TV Stick launches in India for $53 (or less)

The latest media streamer-on-a-stick comes from Chinese smartphone maker Realme. As expected, the company has unveiled the Realme 4K Smart Google TV Stick, which plugs directly into the HDMI port of a TV, allowing you to stream 4K video. It will be available in India soon for Rs 3,999 (about $53), but customers will be […]

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The latest media streamer-on-a-stick comes from Chinese smartphone maker Realme. As expected, the company has unveiled the Realme 4K Smart Google TV Stick, which plugs directly into the HDMI port of a TV, allowing you to stream 4K video.

It will be available in India soon for Rs 3,999 (about $53), but customers will be able to pick one up for Rs 2,999 ($40) during a Realme Festive Days sale.

Realme’s TV stick features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A35 processor with unspecified dual-core graphics, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. It has an HDMI 2.1 connector, a micro USB port for power, and support for WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0.

It comes with a remote control that supports Google Assistant voice interactions and Realme notes that the TV Stick:

  • Uses the Google TV software platform
  • Supports 4K video at 60 frames per second with the AV1 codec
  • Supports HDR10+ content

Google TV is the new user interface which is rolling out as a replacement for Android TV. But so far only a handful of devices use the software, including Google’s $50 Chromecast with Google TV (which isn’t available in India yet), and select smart TVs from Sony and TCL.

There’s no word on if or when the Realme 4K Smart Google TV Stick will be available outside of India, but it is interesting to see Google TV software expanding to more devices.

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