As more and more people have multiple mobile devices, it becomes more of an issue of how you’ll keep your gadgets charged while on the go. But Mojo Mobility may have just come up with something that will put an end to your charging troubles that utilizes Near Field Power to charge up your devices.
The prototype is a metal plate that uses an electromagnetic induction method. The flat surface has coil areas that can transmit power. However, your mobile device would need to have a thin sheet of these coils added to their backs in order for a charge to occur.
The Mojo prototype can charge four items at once. It can offer up 70% efficiency for 2.5W o 4W of electricity. Pretty good! The company has already applied for numerous patents for Near Field Power technologies and the way to move forward now is for them to encourage manufacturers to include their tech in their products. Here’s to hoping!
It’s always interesting to see the various iterations of a gadget’s design, before it reaches the shelves in all its shiny splendor, and today it’s the family album of WowWee’s Rovio mobile WiFi webcam robot. Released at the beginning of October, the Rovio hasn’t always had its Stealth Bomber-style, as these balsa prototypes from RoboCommunity prove.
The first prototype, shown above, was simply a WiFi-enabled pan & tilt webcam mounted on top of a hacked together WowWee tri-wheeled base. Later versions of the design begin to look more similar to the end-product; the first image, above, has the familiar casing shape, but lacks the WiFi.
That was added to the prototype below. Future versions introduced the NorthStar “internal GPS” navigation system and then explored different casing finishes. What’s particularly great about Rovio is that WowWee have left plenty of space - and scope - for DIY modders to add their own tweaks.
BMW and NXP Semiconducters have announced what they’re calling the world’s first multi-functional car key. Currently in prototype form, the key features contactless payment, personalized access control and public transport e-ticketing for when you’ve left your 7-Series in the parking lot. Future functionality could include general shopping, paying for gas, parking fees and road tolls. Using the same credit-card form-factor as other contactless car keys, the BMW prototype aims to replace not only your keys but your cash.
The system is based on NXP Semiconducters’ SmartMX P5CD081 series wireless chipset, which has smaller antennas than rivals meaning the overall card can be smaller. It’s compatible with the EMV (Europay-Mastercard-VISA) standard and can use a variety of encryption standards. In addition, voltage, frequency, temperature and light sensors can monitor whether the card has been physically tampered with.
In BMW’s application, the card will be able not only to unlock the car but also call up personalized settings. This could range from seat position to radio presets, GPS data and anything else under the remit of BMW’s iDrive in-car computer system. It can also be programmed to temporarily open other vehicles, such as hire cars or replacement vehicles during servicing and/or repairs, or even shared cars, and BMW intend to use it in the future to deliver more personalized services.
Press Release:
The World’s First ‘Smart’ Car Key Prototype
Secure Contactless Payments Based on NXP’s SmartMX Chipset
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands –(Business Wire)– Oct 21, 2008 BMW Group Research and Technology and NXP Semiconductors, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, have unveiled a prototype of the world’s first multifunctional car key. The prototype features contactless payment, personalized access control, and advanced functionalities including public transport e-ticketing, to deliver an enhanced mobility experience. Powered by NXP’s SmartMX security chip, the prototype – for the first time – allows drivers to perform quick, secure and convenient electronic payments with a car key, creating exciting new usage scenarios for future consumers.
In the future, car owners may benefit from the ease-of-use of contactless payments for ad-hoc transactions including general shopping, paying for your petrol, public transport, parking and road tolls, replacing the need for cash or additional cards. NXP will demonstrate the car key prototype at its booth during the CARTES & IDentification show in Paris from 4th to 6th November 2008.
By turning the car key into a personalized credit card, many additional mobility scenarios become possible. The future consumers will be able to securely gain access to personal data and be authorized for personalized in-vehicle online services in any BMW vehicle that they own or drive. The personal credit card key may also be temporarily registered with other cars. Renting or sharing cars becomes very convenient, even more as personalized authorizations and service settings can be automatically activated in these vehicles. Moreover, when public transport tickets are loaded to the personal key, this device becomes a companion for seamless mobility.
“With the concept of integrating contactless payment functionality in a car key, we are working on the combination of automotive technology and lifestyle,” said Prof. Raymond Freymann, managing director of BMW Group Research and Technology. “In cooperation with NXP we are doing research in enhancing the capabilities of the car key into one smart device for access, payment, and services that will simplify the lives of BMW car drivers in future. It will help us to stay in touch with our drivers directly and deliver a complete range of mobility-enhancing services.”
“Together with BMW, we are underlining our global leadership in remote key-less vehicle ‘entry and go’ and contactless identification, by delivering a compelling contactless application that will continue to drive innovations in smart card banking and the automotive industry,” said Marc de Jong, executive vice president, business unit automotive and identification, NXP Semiconductors. “The transformation of a car key into a credit card goes beyond the limitation of traditional payment possibilities and is a natural evolution to improve car owners’ payment experiences. Innovative smart card solutions from NXP provide the security, the flexibility and the performance to support the growing industry demand for different form factors in payment applications, such as car keys, key fobs, watches or Near Field Communication-enabled mobile phones, to enhance the lifestyles of consumers.”
Featuring smaller antennas than standard smart cards, NXP’s SmartMX P5CD081 series is an ideal solution for integration into a broad range of different form factors. The integrated dual-interface chip, which will be EMV compliant and Common Criteria EAL 5+ certified by the German Federal Office of Information Security (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik), ensures that the credit card application complies with the highest security requirements.
About NXP Semiconductors
NXP is a leading semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has about 33,500 employees working in more than 20 countries and posted sales of USD 6.3 billion (including the Mobile & Personal business) in 2007. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, mobile phones, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.
About BMW Group Research and Technology
BMW Group Research and Technology (BMW Group Forschung und Technik GmbH) is a 100% subsidiary of BMW AG and is in charge of the following research topics at the BMW Group since 2003: Vehicle Technology, CleanEnergy (hydrogen technology), EfficientDynamics (intelligent energy management/alternative drivetrains), ConnectedDrive (driver assistance/active safety systems) and ITDrive (IT-architecture and communication technology). Being a limited company, legal autonomy from the BMW Group allows a maximum of creativity and flexibility. An internationally established network, with Technical Offices in the USA (Palo Alto, CA and Clemson, SC) and Japan (Tokyo) as well as Liaison Offices in France (Eurécom in Sophia Antipolis) and in Germany (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, DFKI GmbH in Saarbrücken) ensures global access to trends and technologies.
With the news last week that Toshiba could have a fuel cell powered device on the market by Christmas, today it’s the turn of Panasonic to make some methanol promises. It won’t be a fight for a spot underneath the tree between the two companies, though; Panasonic say they’ll have fuel cells, capable of running a laptop computer for five hour, on the market by 2012.
That runtime might be down somewhat from other systems we’ve heard about, but the difference is that Panasonic are trying to get it all to fit inside a standard notebook battery compartment. Refuelling would be via an injection of highly concentrated methanol, with 50cc’s needed to give you that roughly five hours of use.
The company has also been demonstrating some longer-lifespan prototype fuel cells, capable of running for up to 20hrs from 200cc’s of methanol. It’s uncertain whether or when these prototypes might reach the market.
If you have to take a train a lot in order to commute to work or around town, you no doubt get sleepy sometimes. That’s why Pyocotan, a manga artist, has come up with “Noriko-san,” a sleek mask that relies on the kindness of other passengers to work.
The sleep mask features an electronic display that scrolls your destination so other passengers know when you need to get off the train. The idea is that you can sleep comfortably, while knowing someone will alert you when you’ve arrived at your destination.
However, during a test run, no one alerted Pyocotan when he had arrived at his jumping off point. So the test failed. But he strongly believes the devices will be effective once more people start to use them. But what I want to know is what will happen if everyone decides to take a nap at once?
The International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) 2008 kicked off in Korea yesterday, and both Samsung and LG Display brought along their latest OLED-based displays for a little screen-quality sparring. LG tried valiantly, with their 19-inch OLED panel, but Samsung’s smaller, 14-inch panel fought back with the lower power-requirements of AMOLED while their larger 31-inch full-HD panel won the war of inches.
The smaller Samsung AMOLED is also capable of high-definition resolution, though that’s of arguable use with a diagonal screen size of just over a foot. Still, it all bodes well for the larger-scale panels that Samsung promised will reach commercial viability in 2009.
Samsung also brought along a 15-inch Blue Phase mode LCD, with improved image quality over previous prototypes, and a number of large, super-thin sets including a 7.9mm-thick 40-inch LCD TV and a 9.8mm-thick 52-inch TV. It remains to be seen when commercial products based on these technologies will reach the marketplace.
Telson’s 3D UMPC prototype, last seen in June, could be closer to a commercial release than expected, after new company owners Digital Cube announced their intentions to bring it to market. With a 4.3-inch touchscreen, 1.2GHz VIA C7-M processor, 512MB RAM and 30GB hard drive, the Telson device’s particular talent is its 3D screen and - courtesy of a newly unveiled attachment - 3D video capture.
The 3D camera, shown above, connects via USB and seemingly can capture footage to be played back on the UMPC’s 3D-capable display. The 3D capability of the display itself has not actually been confirmed to be present in the commercial release, but it seems likely considering the camera.
No pricing or availability details have been given, and the unnamed device isn’t yet showing up on the Digital Cube site. However we do have the following video, which shows the Telson UMPC to be surprisingly thick.
A lot of prototypes for all sorts of devices are showing up at CEATEC in Japan this week. One such prototype is a pair of “pseudo 3D” glasses from JVC that convert 2D video in real time to something that resembles 3D.
Just like all 3D glasses, you have to wear them for a minute or two before you can really see anything in 3D, but shortly thereafter, you can notice considerable depth in the image. What’s cool is that you don’t get the same “3D headache” as you would have with the old paper glasses.
The system works by converting 2D high-definition video from pretty much any source into 3D HD by sending it through a processor. Animated films don’t work too well on the system, however and there is no known release date or even plans to release the converter to the public.
