Zoomtak V Plus on AmLogic S912

Posted by – November 23, 2016

The Zoomtak V Plus Android TV box is based Amlogic-S912, Octa core A53 at 2.0GHz, in Alumium Housing, LED display, runs Andriod 6.0, with 2GB RAM, 16GB EMMC, Supports 4K2K H.265 hardware decode, HDR 10bit, Kodi 16.1, 1000M Ethernet. HDMI 2.0, Dual band ac wifi 2.4G/5.8G with Removable antenna.

Distributors can contact Zoomtak here:
Shenzhen Zoomtak Electronics Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86 755 29033689
Mob: +86 13538098986 (whatsapp)
Web: http://www.zoomtak.net
Email: joanna@zoomtak.net
Skype: joanna_zhouyu
Wechat: zoomtakjoanna

Zoomtak H8 Plus on AmLogic S905X

Posted by – November 23, 2016

The Zoomtak H8 Plus Android TV box is based AmLogic S905x Quad core ARM Cortex-A53 at 2.0GHz, in Alumium Housing, running Andriod 6.0, with 2GB RAM, 8GB EMMC, Supports 4K2K H.265 hardware decode, HDR 10bit, Kodi 16.1, 100M Ethernet. HDMI 2.0, 2.4G WIFI, available in Silver and Black.

Distributors can contact Zoomtak here:
Shenzhen Zoomtak Electronics Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86 755 29033689
Mob: +86 13538098986 (whatsapp)
Web: http://www.zoomtak.net
Email: joanna@zoomtak.net
Skype: joanna_zhouyu
Wechat: zoomtakjoanna

CDT printed flexible OLED (low-cost)

Posted by – November 22, 2016

Cambridge Display Technology Limited is developing printed low-cost flexible OLEDs that can offer low power, bespoke colours and long lifetime in everyday applications (read more: https://www.cdtltd.co.uk/technology-scope/flexoled/). The resulting OLEDs are thin and lightweight, with distributed icons over large areas achieving performances suitable for a wide range of consumer products, with demonstrated compatibility with touch sensor and NFC technologies. CDT is able to make RGBW OLEDs at less than 5V operating voltage. Low power requirements has enabled remote powering of OLEDs by NFC, and they are currently exploring ways to integrate into products with partner companies. The OLEDs are thin (less than0.3mm), lightweight and flexible, with long lifetimes. CDT is a subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical and our 100-strong interdisciplinary team has world-class expertise in physics, chemistry, engineering, microelectronics, materials and life sciences. CDT scientists work on a range of topics from fundamental understanding to optimising materials and devices for market applications. Current research themes include Organic Electronics, Energy Harvesting & Storage, Opto-Electronic Detection, Biosensors and OLED Displays and Lighting.

TwinTorq Electric-Hydraulic Engine extends range by 45% for EV Buses

Posted by – November 22, 2016

KersTech develops and manufactures their TwinTorq motor providing they claim a major leap in energy efficiency over conventional electric motors, significantly increasing driving range and runtime. The TwinTorq motor combines an electric motor with a hydraulic motor in a single compact unit, with the hydraulic motor providing high efficiency starting torque at slower speeds and the electric motor high efficiency running torque at higher speeds. Both the electric and hydraulic systems regenerate energy during deceleration to replenish the battery and hydraulic accumulator in their respective speed ranges. The hydraulic motor can be disengaged during electric mode. Controller software manages the electric and hydraulic systems to optimize energy usage. The net effect is that the hydraulic power at low speed/high torque reduces battery demand to preserve electric energy and increase battery range by up to 45%, or enables the use of smaller batteries. And because they use hydraulics for launch acceleration and energy regeneration, minimizing high battery charges and discharges, they are kinder to batteries so they last longer. The TwinTorq motor uses simple physics and proven, reliable technologies in a novel fashion. Because hydraulic motors are 3 times more efficient than electric motors for acceleration and brake energy regeneration at lower speeds, during deceleration they recover energy hydraulically, as pressure in an accumulator. Then they release the pressure to accelerate the vehicle without using the electric motor and battery. There’s the big energy saving, because high-torque acceleration chews up battery energy. By replacing low efficiency electric energy with high efficiency hydraulic energy during launch and low speed acceleration the TwinTorq motor preserves battery energy to increase driving range and runtime by up to 45%. TwinTorq’s unique design integrates shared electric and hydraulic components, reducing component and production costs. The motor’s coaxial and coplanar architecture in combination with their patented 90° gear drive enables axial compactness or “flatness”, allowing low-in- the-chassis mounting to improve space utilization and lower center of gravity. TwinTorq is an ideal solution for commercial electric vehicles with frequent-start- stop drive cycles where range and battery life directly impacts productivity and operating cost. Their first application is electric forklifts, because 65% of new forklifts are already electric, and then we’ll address city and shuttle buses; garbage, freight and parcel trucks; and other heavy electric vehicles. This video was filmed at the IDTechEx USA 2016 in Santa Clara, California.

Cavium Octeon TX, 64bit ARMv8 for networking, security and storage

Posted by – November 21, 2016

Cavium, a fabless semiconductor company based in California, has on display here their Octeon TX 81XX board. It has a quad-core ARMv8 processor for embedded applications, going up to 24 cores. The demo setup consists of an IoT gateway, using temperature and humidity sensors. It can use Bluetooth, WiFi, or cellular data.

Silicon Labs Flex Gecko 32bit wireless SoC

Posted by – November 21, 2016

Silicon Labs, a US-based silicon, software and IoT developer, has demoed here their Flex Gecko 32-bit wireless multi-protocol SoC that runs on ARM’s mbed platform. It has support for 2.4GHz frequency band and 6LoWPAN, allowing for transmission over IEEE 802.15.4. It can also support Bluetooth Low Energy specification. The MCU can use ARM Cortex-M3 or M4 for processing. If you have a license for white band or sub Ghz band then it can also be configured to send and receive the data at 600Mhz and 700Mhz. It can work with a power as high as 20 dBm.

Keynote: Nuon Solar Team Solar Car: Together We Power The Future

Posted by – November 21, 2016

The Nuon Solar Team has been building and racing solar cars since 2001. They have participated in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge eight times and placed first six times. The race is 3000+ kilometres through the desert of Australia from Darwin to Adelaide or in South Africa from Pretoria to Cape Town, were this team of students from the Technical University Delft have done their utmost best to win the race. The Keynote speaker here is Winnifred Noorlander, she has been studying Civil Engineering at the Technical University since 2013. Since the beginning of this year she has been responsible for the Public Relations of the Nuon Solar Team. She takes care of organizing events for the team and also helps with manufacturing the solar car whenever possible. With a passion for high-end technologies and sustainability she will do everything she can to keep the world title solar racing in Holland.

Nuon Solar Team at IDTechEx USA 2016

Posted by – November 21, 2016

The Nuon Solar Team has been world champion 8 times over the last 16 years of the world solar car championship, on October 1, 2016 they won the Solar Challenge in South Africa from Pretoria to Cape Town beating solar-powered vehicles designed by groups from all over the world. They drove 4,717 kilometres in the Nuna8, now holding the world record for the longest distance ever driven during a solar race.

Nuon Solar Team Interviewed by Dr Peter Harrop of IDTechEx

Posted by – November 20, 2016

Interview of Winnifred Noorlander from the Nuon Solar Team by Dr Peter Harrop of IDTechEx. Nuon Solar Team currently employs nine students from Delft University of Technology. Much of its innovation is constrained by the rules of the solar race such as being limited to 3sq. meters of GaAs or 6 sq. meters of single crystal silicon PV. Nonethelesss, innovative suspension has been developed of unusually small size to fit the aerodynamic shell. In past years they have tried concentrators and GaAs. Regenerative braking is the only viable regenerative harvesting within the rules. They have remarkably efficient traction motors at 96%. Power electronics is secret but they are aware of the potential of the new SiC and GaN power components not least in lightweighting and improving efficiency. They are interested in the Sabic lighter-weight polycarbonate cowl glazing. They do not yet have structural electronics beyond the PV forming the outer surface. The vehicles are entirely carbon fiber except the aluminium suspension. The racer is currently a mere 150 kg.

Intel RealSense 400 for self-driving cars, autonomous drones, Robots, for indoor and outdoor use

Posted by – November 17, 2016

Intel RealSense Camera 400 Series is their next-generation RealSense camera that offers improved accuracy with more than double the number of 3D points captured per second and more than double the operating range compared with Intel RealSense 300.

Moto Z Moto Mods Developer Program on Indiegogo, Hackathons

Posted by – November 16, 2016

After my initial video showing off the Moto Z and its awesome Moto Mods, here is an Interview with Stephen McDonnell, Director of the Moto Mods Developer Program and with Christian Flowers, Engineer on the Moto Mods platform, talking about the plans that Motorola has to promote their awesome Moto Mods ecosystem, promoting ideas and innovative development through Indiegogo at https://enterprise.indiegogo.com/motomods/ and through Hackathons in New York, in the Silicon Valley and elsewhere to come read more at http://modthefuture.com/

Botfactory Squink Desktop Electronic Circuit Factory

Posted by – November 16, 2016

Building electronic devices has always been a compromise between cost, flexibility and time. BotFactory is born with the idea of providing all three, anywhere and to everyone. By combining technologies like inkjet, extrusion and machine vision, BotFactory’s products democratize electronics design by providing the tools to easily print and assemble electronic circuits at the Lab, Office or Home. Read more at https://www.botfactory.co/page/product

TankTwo String Batteries

Posted by – November 16, 2016

Franco Gonzales of IDTechEx interviews Bert Holtappels of TankTwo about their battery packs for electric cars at the IDTechEx Show! In Berlin. TankTwo’s system is comprised of multiple individual intelligent cells made from same material as traditional batteries – in this case, lithium ion. Each cell contains a chip which allows the cells to be connected to another. Their elliptical shapes allows cells to touch multiple cells throughout the pack, providing multiple connections per cell. The routing algorithms update every 12 seconds, monitoring the output of cells, and providing the ability for weaker cells to be paired with stronger cells, giving a more efficient system.

TankTwo is a battery technology startup, founded in 2012. It has the specific mission to drastically improve EV battery performance by applying established principles from other industries. Most inspiration comes from 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks, internet routing protocols, and consumer electronics industries. We follow a strongly data-driven method for making batteries perform significantly more work.

For more information, see http://www.tanktwo.com and http://www.IDTechEx.com

Optomec printed techology

Posted by – November 16, 2016

Mike O’Reilly, Director of Aerosol Jet Product Management of Optomec shows their printed techology at the IDTechEx Show! In Berlin. Optomec shows printing on low temperature substrates and their LENS technology for prototyping parts using metals. LENS allows customers to create and repair metal parts easily and to create next generation alloys. Optomec allows for printing in both 3D and 2D across a variety of substrates, ranging in size from microcons to centimeters.

Optomec is a privately-held, rapidly growing supplier of Additive Manufacturing systems. Optomec’s patented Aerosol Jet Systems for printed electronics and LENS 3D Printers for metal components are used by industry to reduce product cost and improve performance. Together, these unique printing solutions work with the broadest spectrum of functional materials, ranging from electronic inks to structural metals and even biological matter. Optomec has more than 200 marquee customers around the world, targeting production applications in the Electronics, Energy, Life Sciences and Aerospace industries.

For more information, see http://www.optomec.com and http://www.idtechex.com

Ceradrop equipment for printed electronics and 3D printing

Posted by – November 16, 2016

Nicolas Bernadrin, Deputy Managing Director of Ceradrop presents their equipment for printed electronics and 3D printing at the IDTechEx Show! In Berlin.

CERADROP designs and markets Materials Deposition Digital Printers exclusively for Printed Electronics Industry and Smart 3D Printing. Thanks to its modular-based scalable concept, CeraPrinter Series models present new opportunities for feasibility study and launch of new products into the Printed Electronics market. Combining several materials deposition technologies as well as the latest generation of curing modules, this equipment line permits to reach a wide range of application fields such as: membrane switch, antennas, sensors, passive components, interconnection, flexible solar cells (OPV), OLED Displays and others.

For more information, see http://www.ceradrop.com/en/ and http://www.idtechex.com

EMD IoT Node Technology

Posted by – November 16, 2016

EMD, shows their extremely small IoT node run from an energy harvesting solar cell, which won the CISCO Big Award. EMD works on vibrational and thermo electric as well as solar energy harvesting cells.

EMD is a privately owned Research and Engineering company founded in 2010. Their experienced staff and associates have a spectrum of skills and knowledge combined with that all-essential pioneering and innovative spirit.

For more information, see http://www.e-m-d.co.uk/home.html and http://www.idtechex.com

Varta Microbatteries

Posted by – November 16, 2016

Varta shows off their new microbatteries, including lithium-ion rechargeable coin cells for higher energy densities for wearables, IoT and other applications. Varta also shows their Powercaps for server backups, energy harvesting and other applications that require a large amount of power over a short timeframe. They are also working on printed batteries, and the next generation of lithium-ion batteries.

VARTA AG is a German company manufacturing batteries for global automotive, industrial, and consumer markets.

For more information, see http://www.varta.com/eng/ and http://www.idtechex.com.

Novacentrix Showcases Accessories for their PulseForge 1200

Posted by – November 16, 2016

Stan Farnsworth of Novacentrix discusses the PulseForge 1200 and its accessories, including the EX1 Controlled Environment for photonic curing at the IDTechEx Show! in Berlin. Novacentrix also shows their roll to roll print and curing systems, which can be used for a range of printed electronics applications, including wearables.

NovaCentrix offers industry leading photonic curing tools, material and expertise enabling development and production of next generation printed electronic devices – some already on the market. PulseForge® tools utilize photonic curing which is a cutting edge technology that dries, sinters, and anneals functional inks in milliseconds on low-temperature, flexible substrates such as paper and plastic. PulseForge tools can save time and money, and enable new types of products in applications like solar, RFID, display, packaging, and circuit.

For more information, see http://www.novacentrix.com and http://www.idtechex.com.

Ilika Solid State Battery Technology for the Internet of Things

Posted by – November 16, 2016

Meeting the demand to power 15billion + sensors in the IoT
Self-charging using photo voltaic, piezo electric or thermo electric energy harvesters
No cabling or maintenance
4 x longer lifespan than conventional lithium ion batteries
40% improvement in energy density (compared with alternative solid state battery technology)
Increased temperature range: up to 100 degrees C plus (30% higher than existing products)
No free lithium – non-flammable

Moto Z, Projector, Camera, Speaker, Battery MotoMods


Lenovo Motorola Moto Z is an amazing new Smartphone, with Greybus (watch the video that I filmed with Greg Kroah-Hartman on their Greybus development for Google’s discontinued Project Ara) based data and hot-swappable power pogopin docking technology on an ultra-thin Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Smartphone design, with options to dock a TI DLP Pico Projector MotoMod, a Hasselblad True Zoom Photo/Video Camera, JBL SoundBoost Speaker and the Incipio offGRID Power Pack, all MotoMods that customizes and expands the functionalities of a Smartphone. An absolutely fascinating potential evolution for the Smartphone market, Motorola is developing a potentially amazing ecosystem for future-proof MotoMods that can turn your Smartphone into a Project, into a point-and-shoot quality Camera, into an amazingly loud Speaker and that can expand its battery life easily. All these MotoMods are magnetically locked onto the back of the Moto Z. Now Motorola is also releasing the Moto Mods Development Kit to enable third parties to develop new MotoMods for the Moto Z, for example I hope someone makes an ultra-thin E Ink Mobius (flexible, plastic and non-glass) display for the back-size of the smartphone, a Kent Displays CH-LCD based notes taking back case and a LapDock Laptop Dock to use the Moto Z to power the Ultra-thin Laptop dock and desktop dock. The functionalities of Moto Z can also expand through the TurboPower fast charging USB Type C which I have used with USB Type C to SD card adapter, for example to upload videos from my SD card to YouTube. The possibilities with the Moto Z ecosystem are very, very interesting. But for these to get the attention of the consumers worldwide, I think that Lenovo/Motorola needs to lower the price of the bundles to around $599 for the phone including the Projector MotoMod, $699 including Projector and E Ink MotoMod, $349 or $399 for the Moto Z by itself (instead of the current $699). $699 should also be a bundle to include an ultra-thin and ultra-light small bezel 13.3″ Laptop Dock and Desktop Dock MotoMod and with the appropriate Remix OS like Android implementation through Android Nougat to support full Android Powered Productivity on the external display.