Transparent speaker made from artificial muscle

Jeong- Yun Sun and Christoph Keplinger have found an ion conductive material stretchable, transparent and biocompatible. It is made up of gel and rubber. This speaker is completely made of a transparent thin film of rubber sandwiched between two layers of gel, consisting, inter alia, saltwater and the latter act as electrodes. When the gel layers are traversed by an electric signal, the rubber disc shrinks and expands successively, and very quickly. This vibratory movement then emits high frequency sounds in the same way as would a speaker can do. This transparent model can reproduce all the sounds in the audible range of human hearing, i.e. 20 Hz to 20 kHz, as shown in this video. They are not yet to come into your living room next to equip a stereo. Jeong- Yun Sun and colleagues at SEAS (Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) built this prototype primarily as a technology demonstrator. Their goal is to show that it is possible to transit electric charges and therefore produce a stream of pulses by using not by electrons as usual, but the ions. This experience of Harvard University, Massachusetts is a major step in the development of the technology of ionic conduction. Indeed, researchers have managed the feat twice to develop a device that not only withstand high voltages, but also is able to change its structure very quickly.

The ions are much heavier than electrons and bulky chemical species, and therefore they move more slowly. Compared to conventional electrical conductors, ion conductors have several advantages. First, they can stretch to several times their length without changing their resistivity. Then their transparency opens the door for many optical applications. Finally, they are biocompatible, making them prime candidates for the implementation of artificial skin or muscles. Among other applications, the researchers believe such a high transparent speaker glued directly on a TV screen, Smartphone or tablet, and directly emit sound from the entire surface of the device. Such a device attached to the windows of an apartment could be used to actively cancel sound from outside. But researchers are also thinking of glasses able to adapt their length or even the “soft machines."

Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook gets updated!

Acer's Haswell update for the particularly thin Aspire S7 comes simultaneously with a change of display technology. In addition, Acer S7 is a one of the best Ultra books available in the market. Acer updated its top Ultra book, in addition to the CPU upgrade to a Core i7 - 4500U, which improves the battery life of the notebook by 30 percent according to Acer; there is also a new IPS panel. Acer now installed a very high resolution display with 2,560 x 1,440 pixels at a screen diagonal of 13 inches. Acer also promises that the fan design also very now quieter. Acer improves the IPS display of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels Does not change the rest of the equipment. It remains in fast RAID 0 SSD systems with 256 GB of memory, 8 GB of RAM and the weight of 1.3 kg. There is still a change in the S7. The 11- inch model of the laptop has been discontinued. There will be no more Haswell update for this model. It was characterized by a very thin and light design. Acer's new Aspire S7 with 13 -inch display will come on the market in November 2013. It is equipped with the same 8.1 and Windows will have a starting price of 1,600 Euros. So it's slightly more expensive than the first versions of the Aspire S7. Let us hope the extra costs of few hundred Euros and includes a better service.

LG to launch 8.3-inch G Pad tablet at IFA 2013

LG presented the new Android tablet 8.3 inch LG at IFA, and is impressed by the quality of its full HD screen and slim design. Announced earlier this week, the LG G Pad 8.3 inch has not received much attention. We had to wait to discover the IFA for the first returns begin to happen. They are unanimously enthusiastic, citing a tablet to rival to the two references that are mini iPad and the new Nexus 7. For starters, its compact design (8.3 mm thick, 12.6 cm wide) and weight (338 grams) make, according to testers, it is also easy gripping a 7-inch tablet. Enthusiasm for the quality of the screen, the first of this size to be displayed in full HD 1920x1200 pixels. Very good return for your investment as the performance of the tablet, and torque processor (Snapdragon 600 quadruple heart 1.7 GHz) - RAM 2 GB provides good comfort. The internal storage of 16 GB can be expanded via a microSD card. There is QPair application to connect to a Smartphone via Bluetooth to receive text messages and make calls. That compensates for the lack of a 3G version. In fact, the only downside is the presence of Android 4.2.2 instead of the latest version 4.3. We hope soon they will correct this failure in their next update. LG G pad 8.3  will arrive soon and could be one of the best sellers of this season, provided that its price has not been disclosed,but it  is sufficiently competitive.

Wacom Cintiq 13HD

With the graphics tablet from Wacom Cintiq 13HD we can quickly and precisely edit photos. And can Exempt persons with wind-blown hair on photos, Reflective surfaces in matt structures transform. With the mouse that works even with the Wacom Cintiq 13HD, it was in the test but much more accurate and much faster. The 13 inch wide Cintiq is no ordinary Windows or Android tablet; it shows the exact contents of a PC monitor connected to it in such an open image with Photoshop. He can, however, use it as a second monitor for enlarged work surface for images. The screen displays photos and graphics in Full HD with 1920x1080 pixels. To make some color adjustments to an image region, the user can use the stylus. Together with the Wacom pen provides ten easy options with pen. For example, you can draw thick or thin lines of various measures with the pen. And the pen also determines how strong the user presses on the tablet. So with the pressure you can create strong and fine lines. According to the manufacturer the pin determined up to 2,048 levels of pressure. And also the pen just reverses and serves as an eraser. With the tablet you can create or customize fonts and drawings by following the illustration. This works like a sheet of paper: Unlike the drawing with the mouse, the Cintiq brings natural hand movements faithfully to the screen. The Wacom Cintiq works a lot easier. It works exactly and saves a lot of time - but it is damn expensive.

Sony Z1, A high-end camera phone

With this new high-end device, the Japanese giant wants to confirm the their growth in recent months. In the field of Smartphones, a trend is emerging: that the quality of the image capture. Consumers increasingly replace their cameras on their mobile phones and manufacturers competitive innovation for Smartphones of high quality camera phones. Nokia is a specialty with PureView technology, the Lumia 925 and especially in Lumia 1020 which has the features a high -quality display sensor 40 megapixels. The Xperia Z1 incorporates everything Sony has to offer," and introduces the Japanese group CEO Kazuo Hirai, during the presentation of Z1 at the IFA in Berlin. The Japanese and boasts " worthy performance of a compact camera " with a 27 mm wide angle and large F2.0 aperture, which was made especially for the RS Exmor CMOS sensor for mobile large 1/2, 3'' and 20.7 megapixels. The camera also has the BIONZ processor for mobile. It also has video range of photo applications (including timeshift function that captures 61 shots between the second before and the second after the trigger), and innovative accessories such as optical clip- on Smartphone. Besides these pictures capacity, Z1 has a five-inch screen, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor 800 2.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of internal memory. As Xperia Z, it is waterproof and supports 4G. Sony will offer five free movies from its catalog of VOD, and two months free on the streaming music service, Music Unlimited to the buyers. This Smartphone brings not only the power of Sony mobile phones, through close collaboration with their partners, but it also sets a new standard in high-end Smartphones.