A team at the University of St Andrews has unlocked a major step toward true holographic displays by combining OLEDs with holographic metasurfaces. Unlike traditional laser-based holograms, this compact and affordable method could transform smart devices, entertainment, and even virtual reality. The breakthrough allows entire images to be generated from a single OLED pixel, removing long-standing barriers and pointing to a future of lightweight, miniaturized holographic technology.
In the tech industry’s first telling, the post-smartphone world is a simple question of what and when: glasses? Watches? Pins? Armbands? Implants? It’s portrayed as a simple matter of progress — in consumer technology, things must be replaced by newer and better things — but also as a reaction to the burdens and distractions of the previous great gadget, from which new gadgets will set us free.
A survey of the post-phone landscape as it exists, though, reveals a complication in this consumerist liberation story. Someday, a new gadget may usher us into the post-smartphone world; in the meantime, the industry will have us trying everything else at once: on our faces, in our ears, around our necks, and on our appendages. Our phones — and the always-on, data-and-attention-hungry logic they represent — aren’t being replaced. They’re being extended.
AI is hot – literally.
The chips that datacenters use to run the latest AI breakthroughs generate much more heat than previous generations of silicon. Anybody whose phone or laptop has overheated knows that electronics don’t like to get hot. In the face of rising demand for AI and newer chip designs, the current cooling technology will put a ceiling on progress in just a few years.
To help address this problem, Microsoft has successfully tested a new cooling system that removed heat up to three times better than cold plates, an advanced cooling technology commonly used today. It uses microfluidics, an approach that brings liquid coolant directly inside the silicon – where the heat is. Tiny channels are etched directly on the back of the silicon chip, creating grooves that allow cooling liquid to flow directly onto the chip and more efficiently remove heat. The team also used AI to identify the unique heat signatures on a chip and direct the coolant with more precision.
Global electricity use is increasing rapidly and must be addressed sustainably. Developing new materials could give us much more efficient solar cell materials than at present; materials so thin and flexible that they could encase anything from mobile phones or entire buildings.
Using computer simulation and machine learning, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now taken an important step toward understanding and handling halide perovskites, among the most promising but notoriously enigmatic materials.
Electricity use is constantly increasing globally and, according to the International Energy Agency, its proportion of the world’s total energy consumption is expected to exceed 50% in 25 years, compared to the current 20%.
WhatsApp has started rolling out a new translation feature that enables Android and iPhone users to translate messages in chats, groups, and channel updates.
While iOS users can only use it to translate manually after tapping ‘Translate,’ Android users will also be able to enable automatic translation, allowing all messages in a chat thread to be translated without having to tap each one individually.
“We’re rolling out message translations to Android and iPhone users gradually from today, in a few select languages to start with more to follow,” the company said on Tuesday.
Scientists at Michigan State University have discovered how to use ultrafast lasers to wiggle atoms in exotic materials, temporarily altering their electronic behavior. By combining cutting-edge microscopes with quantum simulations, they created a nanoscale switch that could revolutionize smartphones, laptops, and even future quantum computers.
Young adult “night owls” (or “evening types”—those who prefer to stay up late) are significantly more at risk of developing problematic relationships with smartphones and social media, according to a new study.
Problematic smartphone use is characterized by anxiety when separated from one’s phone, neglecting responsibilities in favor of phone use, and compulsively checking notifications. Social media addiction is similarly marked by excessive, uncontrolled usage that interferes with daily life.
Nearly 40% of U.K. students are now believed to exhibit signs of social media addiction, with young women at particularly high risk. Past research has linked eveningness to a range of adverse outcomes, including poor sleep quality, depression, and addictive behaviors. But until now, no study has investigated the mechanisms underlying the link between being an evening person and problematic technology use.
A UK startup has made a revolutionary advancement after delivering the world’s first full-stack quantum computer, built using the same silicon chip technology found in smartphones and laptops.
London-based Quantum Motion, a quantum computing startup that develops scalable quantum computing tech using silicon, launched the industry’s first full-stack quantum computer made with silicon. It was deployed at the UK National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC).
Plasma, ionized gas and the fourth state of matter, makes up over 99% of the ordinary matter in the universe. Understanding its properties is critical for developing fusion energy sources, modeling astrophysical objects like stars and improving manufacturing techniques for semiconductors in modern cell phones.
But watching and determining what happens inside high-density plasmas is difficult. Events can unfold in trillionths of a second and behave in complex, unpredictable ways.
In a study published in Optica, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) developed a new diagnostic that captures plasma evolution in time and space with a single laser shot. This breakthrough creates plasma movies with 100 billion frames per second, illuminating ultrafast dynamics that were previously impossible to observe.