Articles for ECE Newsletter - Oct 2007

(Oct 8, 2007) Own an iPod? Watch out for that fire!

What do Apple’s iPod, Dell and Lennovo’s laptops have in common? They all have a tendency to burst into flames –Airports being their favorite location!
Recently, Danny Williams, who works at the Atlanta International Airport, claimed that his two-year old iPod suddenly caught fire which lasted for about 15 seconds with the flames reaching well up to his chest. Luckily for Williams, he escaped burns – which he attributes to the glossy paper lying in his pant pocket, along with his iPod.
Apple iPods contain Lithium-ion batteries – the same kinds that have recently been in the news off-and-on, for catching fire unawares. Since Dec 2005, millions of such batteries have been recalled by various PC manufacturers including Dell and Lenovo for similar incidents.
Apple has not commented on this unfortunate incident as yet; the company has however asked Williams to send them the affected iPod for examination purposes.

(Oct 8, 2007) Google iPhone or Google Mobile Software?

Recent news making rounds, puts a full stop to all the speculation regarding a ‘Google Phone’ The Company is not after all creating a rival to Apple’s iPhone. Rather it is working on creating software to compete with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile! Google will most likely not charge phone makers any license fees for its software, unlike Microsoft.
All said, if Google is indeed leading the creation of an open source competitor to Microsoft's Windows Mobile, it makes imminent sense, as Google has always been more about software than hardware.

(Oct 3, 2007) OLEDs = Future? Read on…
With lesser power consumption and faster response times than the LCD, is OLED revolutionizing the market for flat panel displays?
On Oct 3, 2007 Toshiba announced its plans to ship an Organic Electroluminescence display – 30 inches in size - in 2009. Not soon after, Sony re-confirmed its plans to release the world’s first OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV -27 inches - in Dec. 2007. Two giants. Both investing huge amounts of money in this technology. Surely, that means something?
Certainly! It simply means that the OLED seems to be creating competition even before it comes to the market!
OLED, some believe, is the technology which will make current flat panel HDTVs look as old as the cathode ray tube screens. An OLED flat-panel display is made up of small lumps of organic material which glow when an electrical current is applied. This technology can produce self-luminous screens that don’t require a source of light to work. Translated into easier-to-grasp-terms, this means low power consumption. Also, manufacturers can obtain screens which are thinner as there is no backlight requirement. In addition OLEDs offer higher contrast and faster response times than LCD (liquid crystal display) screens.
That’s the upside. OLEDs are however difficult to manufacture and they degrade over time. The lifespan of this first OLED TV is around 30,000 hours (half of current LCD and Plasma HDTVs), which is enough time to watch eight hours of television per day for 10 years. Manufacturers are therefore working on ways to improve production yields and increase the lifespan of the screens.If those specs sound nothing special, you must remember that this is the very first model of a new flat panel display technology that will probably become mainstream by 2015. That’s why this first OLED TV will sell for $1,700 when it goes on sale in Japan at the end of this year!