Technology

Ubiquitous Energy tech turns any everyday glass surface into a solar cell

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With the continuous creativity of humans, solar batteries have “escaped” from the familiar gray photovoltaic cells. With surprising ways of “transforming,” solar cells not only help to utilize the energy from nature, but they also have applicability and high aesthetic efficiency.

Now, a young California company Ubiquitous Energy has developed a “ClearView Power window” with transparent solar cells that selectively transmit light visible to the human eye while absorbing only the ultraviolet and infrared light and converting it into electricity. The company, which emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, hopes to use that technology to turn virtually any everyday glass surface into a solar cell.

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Waterproof Sensors Designed for Submerged Wearable Applications

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The flexible, waterproof design could be used for many applications, including wearable healthcare devices and scuba diving equipment.


Researchers from Soongsil University in Seoul have developed a flexible, waterproof sensor that can be used for submerged wearable applications, including scuba diving gear, healthcare devices, smart textiles, and more.

According to their recently published paper, the team demonstrated using the pressure sensor to control a phone, such as playing music and taking pictures, while fully immersed in water. They also incorporated the sensor into a flexible face mask, which could track the breath rate of a wearer by detecting air movement inside the mask.

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Bay Area man uses 3D printer for good in hopes of restoring coral reefs impacted by climate change

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OAKLAND, Calif. — A Bay Area design technologist is using 3D printing and calcium carbonate to help restore coral reefs and marine biodiversity that has been impacted by climate change.

Coral reefs are currently threatened by pollution, overfishing, and climate change.

According to SECORE International, fifty-percent of the world’s coral reefs have died in the past three decades. Ninety-percent of coral reefs could die within the next century.

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Speak4Me is an eye-to-speech module designed to assist those unable to communicate verbally

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People who suffer from physical disabilities that leave them unable to speak or communicate effectively can end up frustrated or largely ignored. In response to this issue, Hackaday users Malte, Marco, and Tim R wanted to create a small device that can turn small eye movements into simple commands and phrases for easier communication, which they call the “Speak4Me.”

At the most basic level, the Speak4Me consists of an Arduino Nano board that controls a set of four infrared sensors which are pointed at the user’s eye within a single glass lens. Then once every 100 milliseconds, a measurement is taken to determine the location of the pupil and thus the direction being focused on. The word or phrase is chosen by first selecting a profile containing four groups of four elements each, for a total of sixteen possible combinations per profile. As an example, the caretaker profile has elements such as “yes,” “I want to sit,” and even “I need medical treatment.”

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Western Digital Launches 20 TB Mechanical Hard Drive With OptiNAND Technology

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Western Digital Unleashes 20 TB Mechanical Hard Drive With OptiNAND Technology

The 20 TB mechanical drive’s flash memory is integrated “iNAND UFS embedded flash drive (EFD) on the circuit board,” and also performs with a 3D TLC UFS flash memory, the capacity of which has not been released to the public. Western Digital intends to improve reliability and performance with the new drive.

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Researchers from TU braunschweig have developed a new method of 3D printing concrete that shows potential for more complex printed structures.

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A team of researchers from TU braunschweig in germany has developed a new method of 3D printing concrete that shows potential for more complex 3D printed structures. currently, 3D printed concrete construction focuses on three methods, material extrusion, particle-bed binding, and jetting, all of which apply the concrete in horizontal layers. unlike these layered techniques, injection 3D concrete printing (I3DCP) consists of robotically injecting a fluid material into another material with specific rheological properties, in other words, how the material responds under force or stress. free from gravity, injecting allows more complex structures to be printed in one piece.

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Wearable Scope Lets Your Fingers do the Probing

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For frantic hacking sessions where seconds count, this forearm mounted oscilloscope with fingertip probes built by [aniketdhole] might be just what you need. Well, maybe. It’s not immediately clear why you might want to wear an oscilloscope on your arm, and sticking your fingers inside of powered up electronic devices sounds specifically like something your mother probably told you not to do, but here it is anyway.

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