New Device: Electricity From Human Breathing

    One of the biggest hurdles facing the developers of biological implants is coming up with a power source to keep the implanted devices ticking. We've seen various technologies that could be used instead of traditional batteries (which require the patient to go under the knife so they can be replaced) such as wireless transmission of power from outside the body, biological fuel cells that generate electricity from a person's blood sugar, and piezoelectric devices that generate electricity from body movements or the beating of the heart. Now researchers have developed a device that could be used to generate electricity from a patient's breathing.

The device created by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison relies on the piezoelectric effect - whereby an electrical charge accumulates in certain materials in response to mechanical stress. But instead of relying on body movements to create the mechanical stress, the UW-Madison team's device uses low speed airflow like that caused by normal human respiration to cause the vibration of a plastic micro belt engineered from a piezoelectric material called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).

"Basically, we are harvesting mechanical energy from biological systems. The airflow of normal human respiration is typically below about two meters per second," says Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Xudong Wang who created the device along with postdoctoral researcher Chengliang Sun and graduate student Jian Shi. "We calculated that if we could make this material thin enough, small vibrations could produce a microwatt of electrical energy that could be useful for sensors or other devices implanted in the face," said Wang.

To thin the PVDF material to micrometer scale while preserving its piezoelectric properties, Wang's team used an ion-etching process. Wang believes that, with improvements, the thickness of the material, which is biocompatible, can be controlled down to the submicron level and lead to the development of a practical micro-scale device that could harvest energy from the airflow in a person's nose.

Tests conducted by the team saw the device reach power levels in the millivolt range, but reached up to 6 volts with maximum airflow speeds. Wang and the UW-Madison team now plan to look for ways to improve the efficiency of the device. The team's research appears in the September issue of Energy and Environmental Science.

Portable Solar Chargers

 Designers of solar chargers need to deal with a certain issue: how to build a charger so that it had easy access to maximum sunlight, without much effort on the user's part.

Utilizing a USB port suitable for numerous portable gadgets, the Ray solar charger reportedly stores enough energy to fully power a cell phone. Its suction cup can be used on any glass surface, such as house windows, or windows in cars and planes. In-car use while driving (as suggested by the picture) is a dubious idea, however, given the prevalence of lighter-based car chargers.

The tilting kickstand allows users to place the charger on flat surfaces, and also serves as a place to store the USB cord.

  

Canada's Kiwi Choice has announced the release of a strangely familiar-looking portable solar charger for mobile devices. The three-panel photovoltaic fan design first used by Solio has found its way to Kiwi's U-Powered charger. Featuring a powerful battery, LED flashlight and magnetic feet, the product also comes with multiple device connector tips for maximum compatibility.

The U-Powered solar charger is the first of four green products to be announced by Kiwi Choice. As well as being a backup power source or outright charger for portable electronics such as smartphones, cameras and media players, the device also offers the versatility of not being wholly dependent on the sun for its power. When sunlight adamantly refuses to appear or when users just need a quick power boost, the unit can be hooked up to just about any power source via USB, car or wall charger.

 

The charge level of the U-Powered's powerful 2000 mAh Lithium Polymer battery is shown via a simple four LED charge level indicator, and the unit is said to be good for over a thousand recharge cycles. The product also has a built-in LED flashlight and sports magnetic feet for secure placement on metallic surfaces. Universal mobile device compatibility is helped along by the inclusion of 11 connector tips.

The U-Powered will be available from retail stores and online shortly, and has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of US$49.99.

Of course, fellow solar products company Solio also has a shocking pink hybrid charger which is compatible with a number of devices for about the same price as the U-Powered - although it does have a somewhat weaker 1600mAh Li-ion battery, lacks a torch, and has a suction cup instead of magnetic feet. 

 Of the other chargers available from Solio, the MAG offers the highest battery capacity at 1800mAh. Whereas Kiwi's product is said to need at least 17 hours of good sunlight to reach full charge, the MAG needs to sunbathe for only around ten.

Low-Cost,High-Density Energy-Storage Membrane

The low-cost, high-density energy-storage membrane, created at the National University of Singapore 

Researchers from the National University of Singapore's Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative (NUSNNI) have created what they claim is the world's first energy-storage membrane. Not only is the material soft and foldable, but it doesn't incorporate liquid electrolytes that can spill out if it's damaged, it's more cost-effective than capacitors or traditional batteries, and it's reportedly capable of storing more energy.

The membrane is made from a polystyrene-based polymer, which is sandwiched between two metal plates. When charged by those plates, it can store the energy at a rate of 0.2 farads per square centimeter - standard capacitors, by contrast, can typically only manage an upper limit of 1 microfarad per square centimeter.

Due in part to the membrane's low fabrication costs, the cost of storing energy in it reportedly works out to 72 cents US per farad. According to the researchers, the cost for standard liquid electrolyte-based batteries is more like US$7 per farad. This in turn translates to an energy cost of 2.5 watt-hours per US dollar for lithium-ion batteries, whereas the membrane comes in at 10-20 watt-hours per dollar.

Details on how the material works, along with data on factors such as charging/discharging times and longevity have not yet been released. Principle investigator Dr. Xie Xian Ning, however, has stated "The performance of the membrane surpasses those of rechargeable batteries, such as lithium ion and lead-acid batteries, and supercapacitors."

View Your Google Histroy

Did you know that Google has been keeping track of every single Google search you’ve ever performed? That is, at least every Google search you’ve performed while logged in to your Google account. Don’t believe me? 

Go here:https://www.google.com/history

Neat, huh? You can browse through your web history (includes searches and sites visited) by date using the calendar on the right, and beneath it is the total amount of searches you've performed to date. I’m nearing 50,000. I don’t know whether to be proud of or depressed by that.

In case you’re wondering if this is a breach of privacy, it’s not. You agreed to this when you signed up for a Google account. And you signed up for a Google account when you started using Gmail, YouTube, Picasa, Google Docs, Google Voice, Google Talk, Google Desktop, Google Sites, Blogger, Google Reader, Orkut, Google Code, iGoogle, Google Chrome—you get the point. There’s a lot of stuff that’s owned by Google and signing up for any of it signs you up for Google Web History as well.

Personally, I don’t mind it. I think it’s kind of interesting.

Google Trends

You should also check out the Trends section, which works just like Google Trends but only for you. The All Timesetting isn’t particularly insightful, since it could span back for years, but if you limit it to the last year, last 30 days or last 7 days, things get interesting. Apparently, I spend most of my time googling groovyPost, instead of spending the extra millisecond to just tack on the .com. (I think in the biz they call that a “navigational search.”) And unsurprisingly, the site that I visit the most is a Bandcamp page that just streams white noise (puts my baby to sleep, works like a charm).

The graphs along the bottom confirm other facts about your search habits that should be obvious. For instance, I do a lot more googling on the weekdays than the weekends. And I googled the least in July, when I was traveling most of the month.

Other Considerations

• This is different and distinct from the history that’s saved in your browser. Browser history is saved locally on your machine. Google Web History is saved on Google’s servers and applies to all activity done while logged in on any device. So, for example, if you performed a search on your iPhone, it would show up here as well. If you want to remove all traces of your web history, you’ll have to delete your Google Web History and your local browser history.
• When you are in Incognito Mode, you are not logged in to your Google Account, thus your search activity / web browsing activity won’t be recorded in Google Web History.
• Google uses your web history to tailor your search results and ads. So, if you are testing your search engine rankings or just want to see the web like the rest of the world sees it, search in Incognito Mode.
• If you have Javascript disabled or some other “no scripts” plugin installed, Google Web History may not work.
• If you install the Google Toolbar, Google will begin tracking sites that you visit even if you don’t go there directly from Google.com.

Quickly Repair your Mobile Phone dropped in water

    Many of you get your mobile phone wet by one way or another. You worry as you mistakenly drop your mobile phone in water. It can also get wet if you are out in a heavy rain. However, there is no need to panic. It is possible to save your wet mobile phone by quickly repairing it. In order to save your mobile phone from water damage, you can consider these easy and simple solutions:

Act rapidly :

The first thing you have to do in order to save your wet mobile phone is to act rapidly. Quickly remove all the detachable parts as well as covers possible such as the back cover, battery, the SIM card, memory card etc. Next, take a piece of cloth or a tissue paper to wipe the excess water you are able to notice within the mobile phone. Make sure that you dry it completely. If you don' t do this, the water inside the mobile phone will begin to evaporate and gather in places which will be difficult to reach.

This will save your wet mobile phone and it will start working if it was under water for just a little while.

Using a hairdryer :

Take a hairdryer and begin drying the mobile phone while giving more consideration to the place where the battery is located. The battery housing usually consists of tiny holes to let in air (so giving more space for water) inside the mobile phone.

Make sure that you are not holding the hairdryer very near to the mobile phone. Keeping it too close to the mobile phone may harm the electrical mechanism of the mobile phone. Keep on drying the mobile phone from a safe distance for about twenty to thirty minutes.

If solution number 1 and solution number 2 don't work, try solution number 3. 

Drying for a long time:

Take off the covers as well as battery from the mobile phone. Put the phone in a dry as well as warm place to let the water inside the phone evaporate gradually from the little holes in the mobile phone.