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Researchers achieve new efficiency record of blue OLEDs

by Darren Murph Dec 23rd 2008 @ 3:55PM

Ever since Sony's XEL-1 hit the market, pundits have pointed to the (comparatively) short-lived blue OLED material as its biggest hamstring. Researchers have been toiling around the clock in order to bring the blue lifepsan in line with its green and red siblings, and now it seems like a team of Gators are that much closer to the promise land. Reportedly, a gaggle of whiz-kids from the University of Florida have "achieved a new record in efficiency of blue organic light-emitting diodes, and because blue is essential to white light, the advance helps overcome a hurdle to lighting that is much more efficient than compact fluorescents." Franky So (pictured) and his diligent crew were able to reach a peak blue OLED efficiency of 50 lumens per watt, which is halfway to his goal of at least 100 lumens per watt. Hurry it up, folks -- CES is just around the corner.

[Via Physorg]

Researchers develop world's smallest ultra-wideband antenna

by Darren Murph Sep 18th 2008 @ 5:13PM

It's hard to say if ultra-wideband (UWB) will catch on (or get squashed by WHDI) in the wireless HD realm, but the applications for UWB outside of your living room are still many. Researchers at Virginia Tech have reportedly "developed an efficient compact ultra-wideband antenna (CUA) for a range of home, automotive, medical, and military applications," and according to inventory Taeyoung Yang, it has "achieved a near optimal performance for size and bandwidth." Better still, the design is said to be "cheap and simple to produce," which makes us hopeful for embedded wireless devices (receivers, STBs, Blu-ray players, etc.) sooner rather than later. We can't say for sure if this stuff is any closer to taking off in the mainstream, but at least we're making progress somewhere.

RCN bringing HDTV to student residence in New York City

by Darren Murph Aug 20th 2008 @ 3:29AM


We told you that kids these days had it made, didn't we? The latest episode of college students getting more than just ample amounts of study time comes courtesy of RCN, which is delivering triple-play services to student residence rooms at 1760 Third Avenue in Manhattan, New York. The agreement with Educational Housing Services will enable the carrier to offer high-speed internet, digital phone and HD programming to over 1,100 students representing "a variety of institutions of higher learning, including LIM (Laboratory Institute of Merchandising)." U-verse in a University of Houston dorm, RCN here -- what's next, FiOS TV in Corvallis?

Fresno State Bulldogs to see lots of HD play on KAIL-TV

by Darren Murph Aug 14th 2008 @ 5:47AM


Hopes are high for Fresno State, and with the expectation of greatness inevitably comes an HDTV deal. Okay, so maybe that's not a given per se, but the upcoming Bulldogs basketball / football seasons will indeed be aired to locals in high-definition. New for this year, MyNetworkTV affiliate KAIL-TV will serve as the flagship station for the institution and will broadcast every single game in its entirety. Better still, the tilts can be seen in HD on MD Digital 7.1 in and around Fresno, California. Congrats, Fresno State fans -- just don't gloat too much over there, cool?

[Image courtesy of Bulldog Village]

Colleges throwing in high-def amenities to lure in millennials

by Darren Murph Aug 8th 2008 @ 1:34AM


College ain't what it used to be, but in far too many instances, the dorm rooms provide an unwanted look at how it was many, many decades ago. In order to lure more students to campus (and prevent too many from parking their keisters in off-site apartments), a number of universities are revamping their housing facilities to cater to millennials. We've already seen the University of Houston hook one of its residence halls up with U-verse, and a recent writeup on the matter reports on the plans of a number of institutions to include HDTVs and other tech-related gear in order to warm the hearts of gadget-loving freshmen. We have to say, our minuscule dorm in the heart of Raleigh barely had room for a 19-inch CRT back in the day, but we may have chose to stick there longer than a single semester had a 42-inch flat-panel greeted us on move-in day.

[Image courtesy of Flickr]

Holograms hoping to make HDTV look lame

by Darren Murph Jul 22nd 2008 @ 5:12PM

Hologram technology has been secretly inching closer and closer to our living rooms for quite some time, though few have actually been paying attention to it as a bona fide display technology. A team from the University of Arizona is hoping to change that mindset, as they have developed a technology that "allows holograms to be rewritable for the first time." Essentially, this enables "allows 3D images to be changed many times per second, just like the frames in a movie," and you don't have to have the most vivid of imaginations to understand how incredible this could be. As of now, the tech isn't suitable for 3D movies, but team member Nasser Peyghambarian is hopeful that they "will be able to get to that capability." Better-than-3D visuals without the glasses? Consider us pre-sold.

Downtown Syracuse to see artwork blasted onto walls via projectors

by Darren Murph Jul 20th 2008 @ 12:52PM


While we've certainly seen more extravagant uses of walls as art canvases, we have all ideas this will be plenty radical in downtown Syracuse, New York. Syracuse University is aiming to add permanent (but not, you know) imagery to a number of walls by "projecting artwork onto some of its most visible areas." The institution is currently asking the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency "for permission to install projector equipment on one of its buildings," and if its wish is granted, the Urban Video Project will be well on its way to becoming a reality. Keep an eye out (not like it'll be hard to miss) for the installation to go live this October.

[Via AboutProjectors]

3D VisWall makes scientists drool, your flat-panel weep

by Darren Murph Apr 1st 2008 @ 11:20AM


Rest assured, we've witnessed quite a few astounding scientific displays set deep within university research labs, but it'd be mighty hard to cover up the $350,000 monolith residing at the Tufts University School of Engineering. The VisWall, unsurprisingly a product of Visbox, combines twin backscreen projectors and sophisticated software in order to display 3D imagery for DNA junkies and budding surgeons to swoon over. Aside from giving researchers and students alike the ability to investigate chemical structures and cellular makeups more closely, the 8- x 14-foot screen also dabbles in haptics, giving remote holders the ability to "guide the manipulation of virtual scalpels or surgical tweezers onscreen." Sheesh, it's like giving kids a reason to attend class -- imagine that.

[Via CNET]

AT&T's U-verse coming to University of Houston residence hall

by Darren Murph Mar 13th 2008 @ 9:49AM


Just in case a free iPod touch / iPhone isn't enough to convince you to attend a certain university, how's about dorm-installed U-verse? Hailed as the first planned deployment of AT&T's fiber-based services into student housing on a college campus, the University of Houston has teamed up with the aforementioned carrier in order to bring TV and broadband internet to "every room of a 547,000-square-foot residence hall under construction for graduate and professional students." When complete, The Calhoun Lofts will be home to some 1,000 U-verse connections, and while there's nothing specific said about the availability of HD channels, we can't imagine any upstanding Cougar settling for less.

DIY'er gets busy with automatic projector calibration

by Darren Murph Nov 16th 2007 @ 7:09AM


While you may not think a 4+ minute clip involving a monotone narrator, flashes of light and lots of sensors could hold your attention (okay, so maybe that came off a bit more riveting than we'd hoped), we'd bet the one posted after the jump could. The video demonstrates a fairly svelte automatic projector calibration system, which relies on very little hardware (and time) to work its magic. Essentially, the low-cost method utilizes rear-mounted optical fibers wired into light sensors, which can channel gray-coded binary patterns through a USB connection. From there, a PC determines precisely how the projection should be outputted for the target surface to be completely filled with an undistorted image. We know, it's tough to wrap your head around, but all the enlightenment you could ever want (on this subject, anyway) is just a mouse click away. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via HackADay]




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