This 18-Year-Old's Invention Could Make Your Future Phone Instacharge

Eric Limer 5/18/13 4:58pm Saturday 4:58pm

del.icio.us Tags: phone,battery,charging,technology

While you are hanging out on the Internet (in your underwear, maybe?) on a Saturday, kids that are smarter than either of us are out there getting ready to change the world. 18-year-old Eesha Khare (left), for instance, not only invented a supercapacitor that could someday be a phone battery that charges in just a couple of seconds; she also won $50,000 for it. Khare is one of the three big winners from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. She and 17-year-old Henry Lin (right)—who created a model that simulates thousands of galaxies—picked up Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Ionut Budisteanu won the Gordon E. Moore Award and $75,000 for his AI model that could lead to a cheaper self-driving car. Khare's invention is the one with some really immediate potential though, and quick-charging phones is something we all want. So far, the supercapcitor has only been tested to light up a LED, but it was able to do that wonderfully and the prototypes new format holds potential to be scaled. It's also flexible and tiny, and should be able to handle 10,000 recharge cycles, more than normal batteries by a factor of 10. It's a great step in the right direction, especially since we all know that battery life is the most important feature a phone can have. But like all supercapcitor tech, it's not exactly close to commercial development yet. But hey, if an (admittedly super smart) 18-year-old can get this stuff figured out, multi-national corporations with an even bigger cash profit incentive on the table should be able to as well, right? Hurry up already. I'll take either solution so long as one comes soon.

LG to demo 5-inch unbreakable and flexible plastic OLED panel at SID HD

 

By Zach Honig posted May 19th, 2013 at 11:33 PM 95

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del.icio.us Tags: technology,display,OLED

LG's got quite a bit in store for us this week at SID's annual display exhibition in Vancouver. In addition to that 55-inch curved OLED TV we first heard about last month, the company will be demonstrating a very nifty 5-inch OLED panel. Created for mobile devices, the display is constructed of plastic, making it both flexible and unbreakable -- certainly a welcome quality when it comes to smartphone design.

Also on display will be 5- and 7-inch HD Oxide TFT panels. That first size features a bezel that's just 1mm wide, enabling a borderless frame when installed in smartphones. Both displays are lightweight and consume less power than their traditional equivalents. Finally, LG will have a 14-inch 2560x1440-pixel laptop panel on hand, along with LCDs designed for use in refrigerators and automotive dashboards.

Passwords: You're doing it wrong. Here's how to make them uncrackable.

del.icio.us Tags: security,passwords,tips

Rick Broida@justrick

• print

For years now I've harangued relatives about their shoddy password practices. Either they use easily-hacked passwords or forget the passwords they've created—sometimes both.

If you won't take it from me, beloved family, consider this Password Day (yes, apparently it's a thing) statement from McAfee's Robert Siciliano: "74% of Internet users use the same password across multiple websites, so if a hacker gets your password, they now have access to all your accounts. Reusing passwords for email, banking, and social media accounts can lead to identity theft and financial loss."

What's the fix? It's easier than you might think. For starters, head to Intel's Password Grader to see just how easily cracked your current password is. (The site promises not to retain any information, though still recommends that you not use your actual password—so maybe just use something similar.)

From there you can scroll down to see a simple step-by-step process for making your "hackable" password "uncrackable." (There's a longer and more informative version of this info graphic on Sicilian's blog—and it doesn't require you to use the Password Grader if you'd prefer not to.)

The key takeaway here is to avoid the usual mix of letters, numbers, and punctuation you're often advised to use, and instead opt for an easier-to-remember passphrase.

So, for example, if your PC World password is something like "PCW0rldD4ve," you'd actually be better off with "I Love Reading PC World!" Sounds crazy, but as McAfee and Intel note, it's not about complexity, it's about length.

And you could adapt a similar passphrase to every other site you visit: "I Love Reading Facebook!", for example, and so on. Now you've got both diversity and simplicity in your corner. The only catch is that some sites won't allow you to use spaces, and others may limit password length.

How'd you fare on the Password Grader, and what other methods have you employed to create a hack-proof password system? I know some folks are big fans of tools like LastPass, which can auto-generate (and auto-fill) complex passwords for you. Your thoughts?

DIY Hacks & How To’s: Get Emergency Power from a Phone Line

 

del.icio.us Tags: technology,cellular,tips

By Jason Poel Smith

• Posted 2013/05/06 @ 12:10 pm
• Category Computers & Mobile, Electronics

What do you do if the power is out, but you need to charge your cell phone to make an emergency phone call? In this episode of DIY Hacks & How To’s, I show you how to tap the power flowing from your phone line.

There is a small amount of electricity that is constantly available in a phone line. This is what powers traditional corded phones. Because the phone system is independent of the power grid, the phone line generally even has power during a black out. While this is not a lot of power, it is enough to charge your small electronics such as your cell phone or other USB device. All you need is a simple voltage regulator circuit.

Complete step by step instructions can be found at:http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Get-Emergency-Power-from-a-Phone-Line/