SoundBulb: The New Lightbulb/Speaker System?

Lately, in sound innovation contests, there has been several lightbulb/speakers appearing. One such object is the SoundBulb by Yanko Design. These speakers, looking like lightbulbs, are completely wireless. They connect to the tv through a Bluetooth connection. The speakers can also work together with the light, giving the option of creating different levels of illumination depending on the sound given off. A cool idea, but many are still wondering whether or not the heat from the light will damage the sound wirings from inside the bulb. And if not that, then perhaps the high level of sound may be too great for the glass. The quality of the sound is also another concern. Will the quality be really good like Sony's or Bose's? Or would it be just like a regular stereo? Then again, this invention is still in the developmental stages and when it will be available, if being sold at all, is still unclear.

Coming Soon: Invisibility Cloaks??

Scientists from Duke University had originally make a very primitive invisibility cloak that still resembelled nothing like one. But now, those scientists have improved on this concept, and currently the cloak which is placed over a 'bump' on top of a flat mirror surface, hides the bump quiet well, though still far from perfect. What once was a bump, clear as day, now appears as if it was never there, replaced by a mirage-like effect. This effect is similar to what one might see hovering above the road or pavement on a hot day. "The new device can cloak a much wider spectrum of waves--nearly limitless--and will scale far more easily to infrared and visible light. The approach we used should help us expand and improve our abilities to cloak different types of waves,"says David R. Smith, who is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university, and also one of the senior members of the research team. The cloak is made of a light-bending composite material that guides electromagnetic waves around the object being covered, and reconnects them on the other side. The most recent cloak made is 20 inches by 4 inches and under an inch high. For now this 'invisibility cloak' may be extremely primitive but considering how fast technology is evolving, a real invisibility cloak may be only a few years away. A picture of the most recent cloak with the bump is shown on the right.

Light-Powered Nanomachines

Solar power isn't so high-tech anymore when it comes to having light powered technology. Instead of converting light energy into electricity, researchers at Yale University have come up of a way to harness light energy directly. Although the researching has only just made produced a little success and is still on a very small scale of harnessing light energy, researchers at Yale can now cause a very small object to vibrate, simply by putting light through it. The nanomechanical resonator, or bridge which was the small object, vibrates when laser light is routed through it. The resonator simply reacts to the energy. The researching team is led by Hong Tang, an assistant professor at Yale's School of Engineering & Applied Science department. "You don't need to apply voltage, you just need to pass light through it," he says, explain how the concept is actually quite simple. Although the research is still in its very early stages and Tang would like to "get a similar device vibrating at much higher speeds, above the gigahertz range—in the billions of cycles per second,"the possibilities of harnessing light energy directly could be endless. When that happens maybe the world wouldnt need to rely on fossil fuels so much and help the environment, though that would be quite some time into the future before any of that actually happens. It'll be best if we all just stick to recycling for now until that happens...

Below is a picture of the nanomechanical resonator with the light travelling through it. The vibrations cannot be seen, nor detected unless using another extremely precise laser to detect movement.