Posted by on under mu news bureau, sensors actuators, radioactive battery, nuclear batteries, tiny sensors, nuclear battery, lattice structure, kown, space vehicles, form factors, human hair, pacemakers, jae, power source, aim | 
University of Missouri engineers are building a nuclear batter the size of a penny. Their aim is to develop a long-lasting power source for tiny sensors, actuators, and labs-on-a-chip. While nuclear batteries sound, er, problematic, they're actually relatively common in larger form factors to power pacemakers and instruments aboard space vehicles. From MU News Bureau: (Professor Jae Kown's) innovation is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor. Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. “The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said. “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.” In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that the battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair. "MU Researchers Create Smaller and More Efficient Nuclear Battery"...
Tagi: mu news bureau, sensors actuators, radioactive battery, nuclear batteries, tiny sensors, nuclear battery, lattice structure, kown, space vehicles, form factors, human hair, pacemakers, jae, power source, aim
Posted by on under new tape measure, brand spankin, boing, owl |
Following up on Mark's earlier post about the fancy owl tape measure, here's Gama-Go's brand spankin' new Tape Measure. It's $8....
Tagi: new tape measure, brand spankin, boing, owl
Posted by on under quantitative measurements, persuasive technology, fortune cookie, acebo, affirmations, jas, colleague, scales, last time, doctors |
The Yay! Scale doesn't have any numbers, but rather words like "hot," "ravishing," and "cute" that are meant to make you feel good about yourself. Over at IFTF's The Future Now, my colleague Jason Tester weighs (ahem) the benefits of such a device. From Future Now: What if devices could return quantitative measurements as qualitative and personalized results? Continuing with the example of weight, is it more motivating to see just a number (178 lbs) or a number with feedback (178 lbs::You've gained a little) or no number and just motivation (OK, so you've put on a bit since last time...) The new crop of smart scales (see here or here or here) all chart your progress, and some will automatically send your weight to doctors or contacts of your choosing; I wonder if any of them also focus on explicit motivational messaging. But is there any potential value in a technology that delivers non-stop good vibrations, not at all reflective of our actual behaviors? Could a technological placebo-cum-fortune-cookie work just as well? "Manamana as persuasive technology" Previously:Withings WiFi Body Scale Boing Boing Dinner plate complains when you eat too fast...
Tagi: quantitative measurements, persuasive technology, fortune cookie, acebo, affirmations, jas, colleague, scales, last time, doctors
Posted by on under coat hooks, blood bath, ninja, ld, bath shower gel |
London-based Spinning Hat sells a variety of zany products, some of which look really fun like Blood Bath Shower Gel for £4.99 and Ninja Coat Hooks for £7.99....
Tagi: coat hooks, blood bath, ninja, ld, bath shower gel
Posted by on under lten, cataloging software, cataloguing, proprietary software, staffer, violin, librarian, sympathy, open source, pers |
Inspired by this XKCD strip, MaskedRetriever created a model for "the world's tinest open source violin," which you can use to offer mock sympathy to people who didn't listen when you warned them of the dangers of proprietary software and who've now been bitten on the ass by it. Erik fabbed it and it's playing even now. Speaking of which: recently, a librarian friend was telling me that her collection had gotten an extra staffer that they'd been begging for for more than 20 years, but that they weren't allowed to teach this new person anything about cataloguing. That's because their site license for their proprietary cataloging software requires that they pay for another seat for every person in the department who is qualified to catalog, and they can't afford another seat. Tiny Open Violin by Erik (via Make)...
Tagi: lten, cataloging software, cataloguing, proprietary software, staffer, violin, librarian, sympathy, open source, pers
