What if power cords and batteries were a thing of the past?

(Credit: CBS Interactive)

What would make this possible is piezoelectricity, in which a mechanical force is converted to electricity. Some cigarette and barbeque grill lighters are an example. When a button is punched, pressure on a crystal within produces voltage, creating a spark.

In principle, the pressure to power a device could come from sound vibrations.

Crafting such piezoelectric electronics would require sensors with a specific size of crystal or ceramic material. Engineers say they have taken an early step by identifying a sweet spot at which a crystal could produce energy.

The capability of barium titanate crystals to harvest power doubles when they're about 23 nanometers in size, according to an analysis led by engineer Tahir Cagin at Texas A&M University. A human hair, for contrast, is about 100,000 nanometers wide.

However, it could be years or decades before scientists and entrepreneurs apply the findings to consumer products, he said.

"There are limitations to how much power you can generate at a given size," said Cagin, adding that an iPod or cell phone may require nano-sensors at a scale and composition different from what his research suggested.

Originally posted at Green Tech

BMW has been among the leaders in high-tech car innovation, occasionally even jumping too far ahead of what its older customers preferred to use.

So it should be no surprise that the German carmaker wants to lure in potential customers with another cool high-tech tool.

The BMW Product Navigator, which

Originally posted at Planetary Gear

"Computer..."

(Credit: Scott Forman)

Scott Forman may or may not be a Star Trek fan, but when I watch his ShutterVoice demo in action, all I can think of is Jean Luc Picard on the Enterprise, in his quarters, editing photos, with some Earl Grey and Macbeth at ...

The zeppelin, Eureka, sits on the tarmac at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif. The airship was dedicated Friday at an event celebrating the 75h anniversary of Moffett Field.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.--NASA celebrated the 75th anniversary of this iconic airfield and research center on ...

Originally posted at News - Gaming and Culture

Among the many other problems with the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace, I was particularly struck with its seemingly careless stance on technology.

The latest Bond flick does get those bloody stares right. But what happened to the cutting-edge gadgets?

(Credit: Sony Pictures)

While I know they're just movies, the Bond franchise films--like Ian Fleming's novels--have always been geopolitical snapshots of the time in which they were made.

According to this movie, the British are pinning their hopes on skillful driving and fisticuffs to get the job done, while those dabbling in high-tech solutions to solve world problems are off-the-mark.

As in Casino Royale, there is no Q. Apparently, in this Bond's world, MI6 does not arm its agents with insight and tools from teams of high-tech experts. The few gadgets used are pitifully unimaginative. (CNET News readers wrote in better gadget ideas.)

In Quantum of Solace, Bond has a cell phone he can use to call MI6 and give the name of a potential villain he's met. MI6 can look up the name and send a photo of the guy to Bond's cell phone to confirm it's the same guy. Guess what? I, too, can call a friend, have them look up a name, background, and photo; and have the info sent to my cell phone. So can millions of teenagers.

Originally posted at Planetary Gear

Bahnhof's new underground high-security data center, called Pionen, is housed in a bunker designed to withstand a near hit by a hydrogen bomb.

(Credit: Bahnhof)

The Swedes, it seems, like to add a touch of flair to everything they do. Take Internet service provider Bahnhof's new underground high-security data center built in a former nuclear bomb shelter. Royal Pingdom says it looks like something a Bond villain would have for his headquarters, and I must agree. I think it looks like a combination of all the levels from the N64 game Goldeneye put together.

I want to live here.

Look at the amazing steam waterfall machines! They can be powered by German submarine engines! If that doesn't evoke Thunderball, I'm not sure what else could.

With the sleekness and sexiness of most recent iPods, or the extreme portability of the old ...

While computers continue to get smaller, they're constantly being pushed to do more. Whether they're doubling as a phone, a camera, or an MP3 player, there seems to be no end to the tasks we expect them to carry out. And as always, we say we want them to "do all that stuff and be smaller."

(Credit: IBM)

A limitation of the miniaturization process is that the more computers are asked to do, the more memory they require. One of the computer's basic elements, the transistor, could soon reach its miniaturization limit. The smaller we make transistors, the more susceptible they are to quantum phenomena like electrons tunneling through the barriers between wires. Which, while ticklish for the barrier, can just be really annoying.

This has apparently annoyed researchers at the U.K.'s University of Nottingham, as well, albeit for different reasons. This transistor dilemma has led them to look into the viability of carbon nanotubes to help create fast, cheap, and compact memory that uses little power.

Hold your hand up and wink with your left eye to take a shot.

(Credit: Mac Funamizu)

In movies, photographers hold up their hands and form two L shapes to use as a frame and compose their shots. This has almost become a universal sign of photography. But what if ...

Intel has begun pilot programs to test a home health laptop, application, and database system that puts patients remotely in sync with their health care providers.

The Intel Health Guide, which includes a laptop for patients and an online interface for health care administrators, received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July. Now Aetna, Scan Health Plan, Erickson Retirement Communities, and the Providence Medical Group in Oregon have each begun pilot programs to test how well the system works, or doesn't work, with their patients.

Intel's Health Guide PHS6000 has built-in tools like blood pressure cuffs for reading vitals.

(Credit: Intel)

"Health care is an area where getting and gathering the right information, and getting decisions made in a timely matter can make an enormous difference in patient care. We hope this technology helps with that," Mariah Scott, head of sales and marketing for Intel's Digital Health Group, said in an interview.

While many see health care moving into the home through technology, it seems like Intel knows government approval alone will not convince people to trust a tech company to dispense medical advice.

The company also announced that it has partnered with two major names in medicine, the Mayo Clinic and the American Heart Association, to provide the application's medical assessments, evidence-based treatment guidelines, and educational multimedia content.

That's probably a good idea because Intel plans to sell its Intel Health Care Management Suite as a comprehensive online data-collection system for health care organizations; the Intel Health Guide PHS6000 device is intended for patients themselves to operate, not experienced clinicians visiting the homebound as previously speculated.

Originally posted at Planetary Gear