Now charge cell phones in seconds

An amazing 3-D nanostructure designed and developed by scientists may make it possible to recharge mobile phones in seconds or a laptop within minutes.

The 3-D nanostructure has been designed by scientists at the University of Illinois.

The nanostructure would also charge high power lasers and defibrillators, required in surgeries, without loss of time between pulses, the journal Nature Nanotechnology reports.

Paul Braun's group at Illinois developed the nanostructure for battery cathodes that allows for dramatically faster charging and discharging without sacrificing energy storage capacity, according to a statement.

Aside from quick-charge consumer electronics, batteries that can store a lot of energy, release it fast and recharge quickly are desirable for electric vehicles, medical devices, lasers and military applications.

"This system that we have gives you capacitor-like power with battery-like energy," said Braun, professor of materials science and engineering at Illinois.

"Most capacitors store very little energy. They can release it very fast, but they can't hold much. Most batteries store a reasonably large amount of energy, but they can't provide or receive energy rapidly. This does both."

The performance of typical lithium-ion (Li-ion) or nickel metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries degrades significantly when they are rapidly charged or discharged.

Making the active material in the battery a thin film allows for very fast charging and discharging, but reduces the capacity to nearly zero because the active material lacks volume to store energy.

Braun's group wraps a thin film into 3D structure, achieving both high active volume (high capacity) and large current.

They have demonstrated battery electrodes that can charge or discharge in a few seconds, 10 to 100 times faster than equivalent bulk electrodes, yet can perform normally in existing devices.

Braun is particularly optimistic for the batteries' potential in electric vehicles, which would slash charging time from half a day to a few minutes.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Robot system to test 10,000 toxic chemicals

A new high-speed robot screening system can test 10,000 different chemicals for potential toxicity.

These chemicals include compounds found in industrial and consumer products, food additives and drugs.

A thorough analysis of more than 200 public databases of chemicals and drugs used in the US and abroad was conducted to select the initial 10,000 chemicals for testing, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) statement.

Testing results will provide information useful for evaluating if these chemicals have the potential to disrupt human body processes enough to lead to adverse health effects.

The system marks the beginning of a new phase of an ongoing collaboration, referred to as Tox21, that is working to protect human health by improving how chemicals are tested in the US.

Tox21 has already screened more than 2,500 chemicals for potential toxicity, using robots and other innovative chemical screening technologies.

The robot system, which is at the NIH Chemical Genomics Centre (NCGC) in Rockville, was purchased as part of the Tox21 collaboration.

Tox21 was established in 2008 between the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Toxicology Program (NTP), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the addition of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010.

"Tox21 has used robots to screen chemicals since 2008, but this new robotic system is dedicated to screening a much larger compound library," said NHGRI Director Eric Green.

"Understanding the molecular basis of hazard is fundamental to the protection of human health and the environment," said Paul Anastas, assistant administrator of the EPA Office of Research and Development.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

AT&T Buys T-Mobile for $39 Billion

AT&T just announced a definitive agreement with Deutsche Telekom to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion in cash and stock. In a press release, AT&T said the agreement has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors.

If the deal meets regulatory approval, AT&T will be the largest wireless provider in the United States. The company says the transaction will allow it to expand its 4G LTE network to 95% of the population of the United States, and touts enhanced “quality in the near term” for AT&T and T-Mobile customers.

Those of a patriotic bent will be glad to know that the transaction will make T-Mobile USA a U.S.-based company instead of a German telecom company that ironically calls itself T-Mobile USA. However, if you want to use a GSM phone, you won’t be left with many choices if this deal does go through. But in AT&T’s press release, the company emphasized how the U.S. market will continue to be competitive even after this deal:

The U.S. wireless industry is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world and will remain so after this deal. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where a large majority of consumers can choose from five or more wireless providers in their local market. For example, in 18 of the top 20 U.S. local markets, there are five or more providers. Local market competition is escalating among larger carriers, low-cost carriers and several regional wireless players with nationwide service plans. This intense competition is only increasing with the build-out of new 4G networks and the emergence of new market entrants.

Is this good news or bad? Both, according to Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin, who told Mashable minutes ago:

“AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile, if approved, brings good news and bad news. The good news: high-speed mobile broadband service will improve in quality and coverage, including — in the long run — those in rural communities outside the reach of terrestrial broadband today. The bad news: the cost of that service won’t come down nearly as fast as customers would like, since AT&T and Verizon Wireless combined would own nearly three out of every four wireless subscriptions in the US. While clearly troublesome for Sprint and other mobile smaller mobile competitors, It’s also bad news for cable operators, whose incipient mobility products will suffer in comparison to what AT&T and Verizon can offer.”

Let us know in the comments what you think of this deal.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Indian entities likely to spend more on IT in 2011: Gartner

Indian entities have strong intentions of increasing their IT spending in 2011 as compared to their peers in China and many other nations in the Asia Pacific region, according to global research group Gartner.

With Indian economy seeing good growth, spending on IT is expected to increase in the coming years, Gartner's Research Analyst Yanna Dharmasthira said.

"Among the Asia-Pacific nations, the outlook for IT spending in India is very positive. Software spending is the main priority," Dharmasthira told PTI from Jakarta.

Software spending includes new licences as well as software maintenance and support.

Going by estimates, overall IT spending in India is expected to be over USD 70 billion in 2011.

Google accuses Chinese government of blocking Gmail service

Google has accused the Chinese government of disrupting Gmail in the country, making it difficult in the last few weeks for users here to gain access to the company's popular email service.

Google said that it was not having any technical problems with Google's main website or Gmail service in China.

"There is no issue on our side; we have checked extensively," Google said in a statement released Sunday. "This is a government blockage, carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail."

Analysts who track Web developments say that the Chinese government may be intentionally disrupting access to Google and other Web services as part of a campaign to tighten Internet controls and censor material.

Calls to China's Foreign Ministry were not returned Sunday. Beijing has long had some of the world's strictest Internet controls. But after pro-democracy demonstrations broke out in the Middle East in January, the Chinese government seems to have intensified effort to censor Web content and disrupt

Web searches related to calls for similar protests in China.

The controls come about a year after Google removed its Chinese language Internet search engine from China and relocated it to Hong Kong, where Beijing has few controls.

Google also said its decision had been prompted by a series of major attacks on its website by Chinese hackers. Google suggested at the time that the sophisticated hacking attacks had the backing of the Chinese government.

The hackers stole some Google source code and also gained access to the private Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights advocates.

Last March, the government sharply criticized Google's decision to relocate its search engine. In a statement to the official Xinhua News Agency, the government said: "Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks."

Google's search engines and Gmail are still accessible in China, but the government has the ability to block them. Many other popular social media sites, including YouTube, which is owned by Google, as well as Twitter and Facebook, are blocked here.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Day, night to be equal today

Day and night will be of equal duration Monday, marking the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere.

According to the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), Monday will mark the Vernal Equinox.

"The name equinox is derived from the Latin word aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and the day are approximately equally long. An equinox happens twice each year, occurring approximately around March 20/21 (Vernal) and September 22/23 (Autumnal)," a SPACE statement said.

"An equinox happens when there is a location on the earth's equator where the centre of the sun can be observed to be vertically overhead. This year the Vernal Equinox is on March 21," it added.

On the occasion, SPACE will be conducting a public outreach programme at Jantar Mantar to explain to people the concept of equinox using ancient instruments.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Facebook to buy mobile app developer Snaptu

Facebook has agreed to buy Snaptu, an application developer for mobile devices that are less sophisticated than smartphones , as the world's largest Internet social network focuses on expanding its mobile services.

Facebook will pay up to $70 million for the London-based Snaptu, according to the Israeli newspapers Calcalist and The Marker.

Snaptu confirmed the deal, which is expected to close in a few weeks, on its web site on Sunday.

Facebook did not immediately respond to an email seeking a comment.

The site has been increasingly focusing on building up its mobile phone services for its 500-million-plus member online social network, and is in the market for more deals. Last week, Facebook said it had hired a member of Google Inc's corporate development team to lead its fledgling merger and acquisition efforts.

Snaptu, founded in 2007, develops applications for feature phones, which have fewer capabilities than smartphones. The company helped develop a feature phone Facebook app earlier this year.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Review: Nokia E7

There are few names that command as much respect in cellphones as Nokia's Communicator. In terms of hardware and features, the E7 carries forward the Communicator lineage immaculately.

It has been a long time since we laid hands on a device that felt so reassuringly solid. Although slightly reminiscent of the N8, the E7 is cleaner, with fewer buttons and ports littering the sides, giving it a much more polished look. Yes, this is a phone you can flaunt.

The front is dominated by the 4 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with just a single key beneath it, to serve as a waking up, menu and back button. Sliding the screen reveals one of the most spacious QWERTY keyboards seen in recent times. On the back is an 8.0-megapixel camera, but alas, no autofocus , but with a capacity to shoot HD video. The innards of the device are impressive too - a 680 Mhz processor, which is the fastest seen on an E series device, every connectivity option you can think of (HDMI, USB on The Go, as well as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi , 3G and the like), & 16 GB of non-expandable storage.

While Symbian ^3 does perform admirably as compared to its predecessors , it has none of the intuitiveness and speed that one has come to expect from Android and iOS. The touchscreen is wonderfully responsive and a pleasure to use but the widgets on the three (just three!) customisable homescreens still behave erratically, refusing to update at times. You need an Ovi Account to access your Twitter and Facebook Accounts through the Social Networks app on the phone, the default Web browser remains sluggish, you are forced to update the Ovi Store when you launch it, there are fewer apps than iOS and Android, and you cannot get a full QWERTY onscreen keyboard to type in portrait mode (a shocker in a display this big).

We also were surprised to see mails in our Gmail account taking significantly longer to arrive on the E7 as compared to the iPhone 3GS and BlackBerry Bold 9700 - something never seen on an E series device. Round that off with eccentricities like a firmware update that wipes out your contacts and you can see why Symbian^3 is the Achilles Heel of the E7.

This is not to say that the E7 is a bad device. It has a terrific QWERTY keyboard, great display, good calling quality, and most impressive , a battery that lasts comfortably more than a day. These are offset by a mediocre OS and a camera that is frankly embarrassing (the E72 takes better snaps). One of my colleagues summed up the E7
quite aptly when he remarked:

"Fantastic hardware. Great design . If only it was Android."

Nokia E7

Price: 29,999 

Features:
Symbian^3, 4-inch AMOLED screen
8MP fixed-focus cam, dual LED flash
16GB storage, 1200mAh battery, 176g
PROS: Fantasic build quality, screen, keypad and feature set
CONS: Fixed focus 8MP camera

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us