Gazing for password entry

From engadget:

[Researchers at Stanford University are] testing some systems that track your eyeballs in a variety of ways to perform PIN input, and while the resulting study shows that input times are slowed a little, the system does indeed make "eavesdropping by a malicious observer largely impractical."

They call it EyePassword, and the main purpose touted in the article is to prevent 'shoulder surfing', where unwanted nearby observers could watch and steal your ATM PIN, or other passwords.

Ideally though, this could someday be used by the physically impaired for operating computers or other electronic devices.

Color changeable liquid optoelectronics

Optoelectronics: the study and application of electronic devices that interact with light (wikipedia).

From physorg:

A research team headed by Yadong Yin at the University of California, Riverside(USA) has now shared the secret of their wonderful liquid with the journal Angewandte Chemie: Nanoscopic particles made of tiny magnetic crystals coated with a plastic shell self-assemble in solution to form photonic crystals—semiconductors for light. When a magnetic field is applied, the optical properties of the crystals change, allowing their color to be very precisely adjusted through variation of the strength of the field.

...This response is rapid and fully reversible because the nanocrystals in clusters are so small that they lose their magnetism when the magnetic field is shut off (superparamagnetism). Potential applications for these switchable “optical semiconductors” include novel optoelectronic components for telecommunications, displays, and sensors.

In other words, they made a liquid than can change to any color desired, and with a huge amount of control and precision. The article has an excellent description of how this is done.

I wonder if they'll ever put this into clothing, or jewelry...

Citation: Yadong Yin, Highly Tunable Superparamagnetic Colloidal Photonic Crystals, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, doi: 10.1002/anie.200701992

An anamorphic painting of a ship, c 1744-1774

Oooh, pretty.

From ingenious:

Picture number: 10309036

Credit:Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library

Caption: An anamorphic painting, a composition that can only be viewed with a special mirror that restores the deformed image. This example was originally attributed to Van de Velde, a Dutch artist, but its origins are now uncertain. Painted on a wooden panel, the painting is unrecognisable until a cylindrical mirror is placed at its centre over a circular portrait of a lady. Viewed from above, a sailing ship without rigging will suddenly heave in sight. Paintings of this type were quite popular during the 18th century, especially anamorphic portraits that concealed the identity of the sitter from prying eyes.

In Collection of: Science & Society Picture Library

Subject(s) > Science & Technology > Physics: Optics

Liquid camera lens, no mechanical moving parts

Pic: Different voltages change the shape of this six millimetre lens from convex to concave (Image: Philips)

From NewScientistTech:

"The first liquid camera lens with no moving parts, and that can switch between two levels of magnification, has been designed by a German research team. The work is an important step towards liquid zoom lenses that can sweep through a range of magnifications.
Liquid lenses bend light using the curved boundary between watery and oily liquids. When the two liquids are held in the right container, the boundary between them can be made to curve in a way that focuses light simply by applying a voltage."

Smaller and cheaper than conventional lenses, they have yet to achieve the zoom magnification of traditional lenses. However, Samsung has been using liquid lenses in some of their cellphones since 2004.

120 inch multi touch screen

Wow. What more is there to say?

http://aving.net/usa/news/default.asp?mode=read&c_num=47271&C_Code=09&SP_Num=0

Subtitled movie glasses

From engadget:

"a research team at the University Carlos III of Madrid has unveiled an upgrade for the problematic rear-window captioning system currently used by the deaf: a glasses-mounted subtitle screen. Featuring a three hour battery life and a 50 meter range..."

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/19/subtitle-glasses-could-help-deaf-foreigners-at-the-movies/

Virus sized organically synthesized lights

Pic: Cornell researchers used the process of electrospinning, illustrated here, to create one of the smallest light-emitting devices to date. A voltage between a microfabricated tip and a substrate ejected a ruthenium-based solution from the tip, creating the thin fibers. (Credit: Craighead Research Group)

"Science Daily — To help light up the nanoworld, a Cornell interdisciplinary team of researchers has produced microscopic "nanolamps" -- light-emitting nanofibers about the size of a virus or the tiniest of bacteria."

This is done by electrospinning: "The technique, explained Moran-Mirabal, who works in Craighead's laboratory, can be compared with pouring syrup on a pancake on a rotating table. As the syrup is poured, it forms a spiraling pattern on the flat pancake, which in electrospinning is the substrate with micropatterned gold electrodes. The syrup would be the solution containing the metal complex-polymer mixture in solvent. A high voltage between a microfabricated tip and the substrate ejects the solution from the tip, Moran-Mirabal said, and forms a jet that is stretched and thinned. As the solvent evaporates, the fiber hardens, laying down a solid fiber on the substrate."

The hope is to make very small lights that can fit in tiny spaces that one would otherwise not be able to illuminate. Also, they hope to integrate light into flexible electronics.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070411152813.htm

A transparent, flexible battery

That's the picture of the battery. Though it's unclear what this means in actual utility, here's some cool data about it:

"Drs Hiroyuki Nishide, Hiroaki Konishi and Takeo Suga at Waseda University have designed the battery – which consists of a redox-active organic polymer film around 200 nanometres thick. Nitroxide radical groups are attached, which act as charge carriers. Because of its high radical density, the battery has a high charge/discharge capacity. This is just one of many advantages the ‘organic radical’ battery has over other organic based materials according to the researchers. The power rate performance is strikingly high – it only takes one minute to fully charge the battery and it has a long cycle life, often exceeding 1,000 cycles."

Possibilities are endless with this one. Would sure make a light, comfy el-wire suit.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/7018/

Projector for you cell phone screen

Ooooh, more toys.

Now that cell phones are becoming the swiss army knife of pocket technology, this is a natural step in its evolution.

"...the Viewmaster-esque Neochroma prototype simply requires users to place their (preferably clamshell) mobile's screen atop the mirror-packed device, and then the internal magic does the rest....the finalized design should measure around 4- x 2- x 1.2-inches, utilize stereoscopic technology, and sport a viewing angle "roughly equal that of a 19-inch monitor at a 30-inch viewing distance."

Since Verizon and Samsung have banded together release a TV phone on March 1, I wonder when people will start projecting movies on their morning train commute, or in the back of the car for the kids, etc.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/28/neochroma-mobile-projector-blows-up-cellphone-screens/