Batteries for phones and laptops could soon recharge ten times faster and hold a charge ten times larger than current technology allows.
Scientists at Northwestern University in the US have changed the materials in lithium-ion batteries to boost their abilities.
One change involves poking millions of minuscule holes in the battery.
Batteries built using the novel technique could be in the shops within five years, estimate the scientists.
Fast movers
A mobile phone battery built using the Northwestern techniques would charge from flat in 15 minutes and last a week before needing a recharge.
The density and movement of lithium ions are key to the process.
Dr Harold Kung and his team at Northwestern said they have found a way to cram more of the ions in and to speed up their movement by altering the materials used to manufacture a battery.
The maximum charge has been boosted by replacing sheets of silicon with tiny clusters of the substance to increase the amount of lithium ions a battery can hold on to.
The recharging speed has been accelerated using a chemical oxidation process which drills small holes - just 20-40 nanometers wide - in the atom-thick sheets of graphene that batteries are made of.
This helps lithium ions move and find a place to be stored much faster.
The downside is that the recharging and power gains fall off sharply after a battery has been charged about 150 times.
"Even after 150 charges, which would be one year or more of operation, the battery is still five times more effective than lithium-ion batteries on the market today," said lead scientist Prof Harold Kung from the chemical and biological engineering department at Northwestern.
So far, the work done by the team has concentrated on making improvements to anodes - where the current flows into the batteries when they are providing power.
The group now plans to study the cathode - where the current flows out - to make further improvements.
A paper detailing the work of Prof Kung and his co-workers has been published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Monday, 14 November 2011
Google Music store ‘missing Sony and Warner’
Invitations to the US event, which is taking place this Wednesday 16 November, have gone out to journalists and industry executives,
Google is understood to have only signed one deal with Universal Music Group, which has just acquired EMI, to provide music for its download store.
According to technology site CNET, executives from the label will be present at the event this week. However, Sony Music and Warner Music are understood to have not yet signed.
Negotiations between the remaining two major labels and Google are continuing as the music industry is keen for a new service to rival Apple’s iTunes.
Google declined to comment.
The download store is expected to be US-only at launch but will gradually roll out to the UK and other territories.
Google is trying to ensure that it can offer its Android mobile users a full movie and music offering.
A few weeks ago Google announced a movie rental service for UK Android users.
Google is understood to have only signed one deal with Universal Music Group, which has just acquired EMI, to provide music for its download store.
According to technology site CNET, executives from the label will be present at the event this week. However, Sony Music and Warner Music are understood to have not yet signed.
Negotiations between the remaining two major labels and Google are continuing as the music industry is keen for a new service to rival Apple’s iTunes.
Google declined to comment.
The download store is expected to be US-only at launch but will gradually roll out to the UK and other territories.
Google is trying to ensure that it can offer its Android mobile users a full movie and music offering.
A few weeks ago Google announced a movie rental service for UK Android users.
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
Facebook will be forced to get approval from its 800million users before exposing profiles
Facebook is close to a settlement with U.S. federal regulators that would require the internet giant to obtain approval from its 800million users before making changes that expose their profiles to a wider audience.
Currently, Facebook can alter elements of the site which it believes will improve the social network and then leaves it to users to reset anything they don't like - a process known as 'opting out'.
However, if an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is approved, the firm would have to get explicit consent from each of its users before changing its privacy settings, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Citing unnamed sources who were familiar with the situation, the Journal said Facebook has agreed to make the changes to resolve a two-year investigation by the FTC.
Companies introducing a feature or service generally prefer an 'opt out' system because fewer people take the steps required to get out of the changes.
The FTC opened its probe into Facebook after the website made changes that automatically showed users' names, pictures, hometowns and other personal information available for anyone to see.
That upset people who had deliberately programmed their privacy settings to confine that information to a specific group of friends or family.
As part of its proposed settlement, Facebook would also submit to government reviews of its privacy practices for 20 years, according to the Journal.
The audits are similar to the scrutiny that Google agreed to undergo earlier this year.
That agreement settled an FTC investigation into Google's handling of people's personal information in February 2010 when it launched a service called Buzz to counter Facebook.
Buzz exposed the email contacts of unwitting users, a breach that the FTC considered to be a deceptive practice. Google is now in the process of closing Buzz to focus on another social network called Plus that debuted in June.
Speaking earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes the website's changes over the past year have given users greater control over their privacy.
He said: 'I think we're going to need to keep on making it easier and easier, but that's our mission, right?'
'I mean, we have to do that because now, if people feel like they don't have control over how they're sharing things, then we're failing them.'
Read more http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060262/Facebook-forced-approval-800million-users-exposing-profiles.html?ITO=1490
Currently, Facebook can alter elements of the site which it believes will improve the social network and then leaves it to users to reset anything they don't like - a process known as 'opting out'.
However, if an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is approved, the firm would have to get explicit consent from each of its users before changing its privacy settings, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Citing unnamed sources who were familiar with the situation, the Journal said Facebook has agreed to make the changes to resolve a two-year investigation by the FTC.
Companies introducing a feature or service generally prefer an 'opt out' system because fewer people take the steps required to get out of the changes.
The FTC opened its probe into Facebook after the website made changes that automatically showed users' names, pictures, hometowns and other personal information available for anyone to see.
That upset people who had deliberately programmed their privacy settings to confine that information to a specific group of friends or family.
As part of its proposed settlement, Facebook would also submit to government reviews of its privacy practices for 20 years, according to the Journal.
The audits are similar to the scrutiny that Google agreed to undergo earlier this year.
That agreement settled an FTC investigation into Google's handling of people's personal information in February 2010 when it launched a service called Buzz to counter Facebook.
Buzz exposed the email contacts of unwitting users, a breach that the FTC considered to be a deceptive practice. Google is now in the process of closing Buzz to focus on another social network called Plus that debuted in June.
Speaking earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes the website's changes over the past year have given users greater control over their privacy.
He said: 'I think we're going to need to keep on making it easier and easier, but that's our mission, right?'
'I mean, we have to do that because now, if people feel like they don't have control over how they're sharing things, then we're failing them.'
Read more http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060262/Facebook-forced-approval-800million-users-exposing-profiles.html?ITO=1490
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