New Elastic Electronic Solution Devised
Flexibility is a fairly useful feature for many materials, as it can allow them to survive great strain. Almost without exception though, the electronics we use every day are rigid and will break if you try to bend them. This limits the applications electronics can be used for, but researchers at the University of Michigan have a new solution for creating elastic electronics.
Many research groups have worked on flexible and elastic electronics before, with different means of achieving the goal, including liquid metal and curled wires. The Michigan researchers however are turning to gold nanoparticles. They found that when the nanoparticles are embedded in polyurethane, stretching the plastic created channels the nanoparticles fall into. This allows the nanoparticles to form chains through the plastic, which are electrically conductive, even when the plastic is stretched to 5.8 times its original length.
The researchers primarily see their elastic electronic solution being used as electrodes for medical implants, which will survive better in our bodies than rigid ones, and do less damage to tissue as well. They are also looking at using different materials, including semiconductors that could then be used with lithium-ion batteries, to extend their lives.
Source: University of Michigan
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Official Motherboard Support for AMD's New Power House CPUs
A week ago, I posted an article about AMD's new power house CPUs being available in stores; however, at that time there were no motherboards that officially supported these CPUs. Due to their high clock frequencies, the CPUs needs a lot of power, and not all motherboards are able to deliver that much. Two motherboard manufacturers are willing to put their neck on the line, and have stated that some of their motherboards support the two new CPUs. Gigabyte's GA-990FXA-UD3 (rev. 4.0) and GA-990FXA-UD7 (rev. 3.0) are capable of delivering the required power to the CPUs, and that is without a BIOS update. ASrock's 990FX Extreme9 motherboard will also support the new CPUs, but it requires you to flash the BIOS to the new BIOS P1.40.
If you do so happen to have one of the motherboards listed above and a FX-9590, then beware of one thing. The CPU has a 220 watt TDP, so it will require some high end cooling to keep it within the safe temperature range when put under stress. Reviews do state that the CPU never uses that many watts, but still uses a lot more than other AMD CPUs.
Source: CPU World
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OCZ Announces PCIe SSD Targeted at SQL Users
A new product from OCZ has its sights set on the data center market, specifically those that use Microsoft SQL Server. The ZD-XL SQL Accelerator combines custom hardware and software to create a high performance package. OCZ developed a software solution that uses acceleration and caching software with an easy to use GUI to "deliver the right and relevant SQL Server data when the application needs it." The software combines with a PCIe solid state drive to offer database performance that is up to 25 times faster than other solutions. OCZ CEO Ralph Schmitt said, "Plugging seamlessly into existing or new SQL Server installations, our new ZD-XL SQL Accelerator leverages both our solid-state drive hardware and software IP to provide application-optimized flash caching load volumes that enable data to be accessed with the highest possible I/O performance." Lars Ketting, a customer at Cartal Rijsbergen Automotive, described the performance seen at his company, "By deploying ZD-XL SQL Accelerator in our database servers, we reduced the run time of key SQL Server jobs from 2.5 hours to 45 minutes, without replacing our SAN."
Source: Press Release
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Interactive E-Skin Developed
Of the five senses, the one we quite possibly use the most is the sense of touch, which we would not have if not for our skin. Currently there is no technological equivalent to human skin, but researchers are working on it for use in robots and other devices. Now those at the University of California, Berkeley have developed the first interactive electronic skin and perhaps it will lead to more sensitive robots.
The e-skin samples the researchers built are 16 x 16 pixels, and each pixel contains a transistor, pressure sensor, and OLED. The inclusion of the OLED is important as sensors have been integrated into networks before; it is the interactivity that makes this discovery a breakthrough. To build the network the researchers start with a layer of polymer atop a silicon wafer. Using fabrication tools used in the semiconductor industry, the researchers then construct the electronic components, building them up vertically. With that done, the polymer just has to be peeled from the wafer with the network intact.
While a sensitive and interactive e-skin may be most obviously useful for robots, the researchers envision other uses as well, including wallpapers that can operate as touchscreens. As the production of the e-skin is compatible with techniques used in the semiconductor industry, we may see it entering products before too long.
Source: University of California, Berkeley
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Intel Fixes Overheating Problem on NUCs
Intel released their new Next Unit of Computing (NUC) not long ago. The NUC is a very small form factor PC housed in a 4" by 4" by 2" chassis. Intel hopes that these measurements will become the standard for miniature PCs. The NUC has a 1.8 GHz dual core, Hyper-Threaded Core i3 processor, two SO-DIMM RAM slots, a mSATA SSD slot, and a built-in WiFi card. There is a downside to cramming so much hardware into such a small case though.
Many of the early adopters of the NUC have been experiencing overheating problems, but Intel has been quick to address this problem, and has now come up with a simple solution. It appears that all that was needed was a small 9.5 mm thermal pad on the bottom cover that allows more heat to be transferred to the case, which in turn will help keep the temperature down.
I have not been able to find out whether the owners of the first NUCs can have it exchanged or fixed, but hopefully Intel will send out the thermal pads to vendors, so they can fix the problems of the overheating NUCs.
Source: MaximumPC
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