Top TechTop Tech #27: Flash storage triple play, Graphene light bulbs, computers to understand photos
Promising products and interesting innovations
Today’s Top Tech:
• Three times more Flash storage
• Let there be light bulbs made of Graphene
• Teaching computers to understand photos
Three times more Flash storage
Micron and Intel report their new memory technology will store three timesas much data as previous formats.
The 3D NAND technology stacks layers of data storage cells vertically “with extraordinary precision” to create storage devices with “the highest-density flash device ever developed,” the companies claim. It will enable “gum stick-sized SSDs with more than 3.5 terabytes of storage.”
The technology “is sampling with select partners today.”
Let there be light… bulbs made of Graphene
A light bulb made with the super-strong carbon graphene cuts energy use 10 percent, lasts longer, and will go on sale this year.
Developed at Manchester University’s National Graphene Institute,the dimmable bulb contains a filament-shaped LED coated in graphene, the BBC reports.
Graphene was discovered in 2004 by two Russian-born scientists at the University of Manchester. A micro-thin layer of graphene is stronger than steel.
Other applications in the works, Phys Org reports: a membrane to purify water, protective coatings, energy storage, and cancer treatment.
Teaching computers to understand photos
Today, even toddlers better comprehend a photograph… but tomorrow?
Computer scientists at Stanford are developing new ways with which computers can identify what a photograph is showing.
This video of a TED talk describes the ImageNet project that has changed how computers “see,” Petapixel reports. “The project uses a database of 15 million photographs to teach computers to recognize things in pictures. After putting a monumental effort toward building and polishing the collection, Li’s team released the dataset to the world for free, and it has since become one of the industry benchmarks in how well computers can perform in recognition.”
