It's new, still very much just a concept or work in progress. Jinha Lee, an MIT graduate student who undertook an internship at Microsoft's Applied Science group to develop a 3-D desktop. Part of that project was creating a new method for users to interact with the computer. This SpaceTop is the initial step of that project.
SpaceTop fuses 2D and spatial 3D interactions in a single desktop workspace. It extends the traditional desktop interface with interaction technology and visualization techniques that enable seamless transitions between 2D and 3D manipulations. SpaceTop allows users to type, click, draw in 2D, and directly manipulate interface elements that float in the 3D space above the keyboard. It makes it possible to easily switch from one modality to another, or to simultaneously use two modalities with different hands. We introduce hardware and software configurations for co-locating these various interaction modalities in a unified workspace using depth cameras and a transparent display. We describe new interaction and visualization techniques that allow users to interact with 2D elements floating in 3D space and present the results from a preliminary user study that indicates the benefit of such hybrid workspaces
SpaceTop has a transparent display, the transparent display is equipped with a camera that tracks the user's head and adjusts the perspective on the 3-D desktop "under" it. Meanwhile, a second camera watches the user's hands and determines their position in three dimensions.
Sources:
1) http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/3-d-computing-prototype-puts-your-hands-inside-screen-1C8600002
2) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21603323
Sony has announced that it managed to come up with a battery powered by paper.
The batteries developed by the Japanese tech giant make use of enzymes in order to break down the glucose found in the cellulose of the paper (which by the way is made of wood pulp fibers).
During an experiment the paper was placed into a mix of water and enzymes. After a couple of minutes the liquid started generating enough power to activate a small fan.After enzymes broke down the paper, they were left with sugar that was produced from cellulose. Then they were able to process the sugar to produce hydrogen ions and electrons. The latter then went through an outer circuit to produce power. Mixed with oxygen in the air, the hydrogen ions were then able to create H2O.
from:All About EEE
The SMD LED gives off very little heat. It also has a low voltage and current requirements. Like a standard light emitting diode, a surface mount LED gives off almost no heat. It also typically has similar low voltage and low current requirements. They are commonly used to indicate device status on computer motherboards, routers, hard drives, USB flash drives and any other application where physical space is at a premium. Computer motherboards, hard drives, routers, flash drives and other applications where there's no room for larger technology are also common uses.
Others include LCD display backlighting, keyboard lights, and pushbuttons. They've also been used for instrument panels in aircrafts. A few manufacturers have created an SMD LED lighting solution by combining it with a resistor, small circuit board, lens and cable to provide and bright, cool LED light that runs on just 12 volts, and which is tiny enough to be mounted almost anywhere, (for instance, to light a cup holder).
There are other, large-scale applications, too. For instance, they are used for indoor display screens. SMD LEDs work well because you can arrange a large number of diodes in tight groups of red, blue and green, generating a large variety of colors. This screen technology, which is now found in stores and malls, is now also popping up in large outdoor displays. More information, please come to lighting wiki here.
SMD LED gives high brightness while it has lower power consumption than of a normal LED light tubes (e.g. dip or cluster led) and traditional light bulbs. See its features below:
FEATURES
Small Size: SMD LED light source is a very small and light chips enveloped by epoxy resin.
Low Power Consumption: Generally, the voltage per SMD LED is 2-3.6V, current 0.02A-0.03A. It uses very low voltage and current. Power consumption is very low, just equals to 1/8 of incandescent light, 1/4 of traditional light.
Long Life Span: Under proper current and voltage condition, the life span of SMD LED can reach 100,000 hrs. Compared with the other LED tubes(like Dip LED),the optical decay reduce from 10% to 5% in 1000hrs. Produced by Automatic equipment, via heat emitting technical process, the life span of SMD LED is longer.
from:All About EEE
