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Move over, Rockefeller Center: even though that's where Jack Donaghy calls home, his homeboys at GE's OLED research labs in Niskayuna upsate are gunning for Xmas tree fame with the first-ever flexible OLED tree.
General Electric's new Energy Smart CFL.fluorescent light is one of those things that makes you scratch your head and wonder: How the hell do they do that? A fluorescent spiral lamp into a traditional bulb?
Here's something you don't see every day: water bouncing. GE has developed some pretty incredible superhydrophobic surfaces in it's Global Research Nanotechnology lab, and they've captured the results with super-high speed cameras.
GE is testing a line of appliances with Louisville Gas and Electric that are able to communicate with the power grid and manage energy consumption according to the overall energy usage in the area. According to Cnet's Planetary Gear, appliances in this trial program include washers, dryers, ranges, dishwashers and microwaves. These appliances are equipped with "Smart Meters", which enable the products to interact with the grid and schedule the them to run during non peak hours.
GE's new battery-free sensor could be just the kick in the pants RFID needs to start living up to its potential. The platform uses a conventional RFID tag coated with a chemically or biologically sensitive film that draws power wirelessly from a handheld reading device. Naturally, eliminating on-board batteries means that manufacturers can make smaller sensors (as you can see in the image above) at a lower cost. So, with any luck, this technology will lead to new tracking and info-swapping applications across a wider range of industries. [Gizmag]
CNN reports that General Electric has created a giant OLED panel printer to be specifically used for lighting. The "semi-trailer" sized machine prints out thin layers of flexible plastic, covers them with chemicals, and seals them with foil, so they'll glow a frosty blue-white if an electrical current is applied. But these OLED sheets aren't exactly lightbulb substitutes.
We might still have to wait a while for the Google washing machine--but GE as we know is also a huge player in energy infrastructures, which makes notable their announcement of a partnership with those incessant innovators at Google to modernise our stone-age grid. If (if) we somehow do find ourselves with an administration in January that truly moves forward with forward-thinking energy plans, we don't want to losing a huge percentage of our fresh new juice to our inefficient grid, most parts of which date back to the disco era.
I have a confession to make: I've never owned a digital camera. I've played around plenty with friend's point-and-shoots, and I have picked up a DSLR on occasion too. But I never saw the point of paying US$300 for something my iPhone could pretty much do well enough. Now that summer's coming up and the price of high-megapixel cameras is going down, though, I figure it might be time to pick one out for myself—on the cheap. Let someone else waste money, I want to know what's good at US$150 and not a penny more. I'm gonna be picky: I only want a camera that can take shots that make me look like a photography genius while in truth I'm a photography dumbass, but still, the key is to keep the price down. I tried out five US$150-and-under cameras, and here's what I found:
Impressive. I didn't think GE had it in them to meet the regulars of the camera world with popular features like smile detection, higher ISO support, and even a touchscreen, built-in GPS and blink detection. There are new low end A series, the slim G series, and midrange E series cameras, too. [BW]
Fans of the word "free" who just happen to have a landline and are too lazy to manually dial GOOG-411 will undoubtedly be thrilled with GE's new lineup of DECT 6.0 phones. Thanks to a partnership between Thomson and Google, over a dozen of these new phones will have one-button access to Google's free 411 voice-activated business directory. Prices will range from around $US50 to $US100 when the lineup is released this April. [Press Release]
