Miniand Tech its MiniX TV Box and Mini PC devices.

In the past we have covered some really interesting and cost effective mini computers and plug computer devices. Here is a list if you are interested. 

An Australia/China based company by the name "Miniand Tech" is selling two interesting mini computer devices. One is the MK802 Mini PC and the other is the MiniX TV Box H24 which can be rather compared to a TV box like Google TV.

The MK802 Mini PC.

The MK802 Mini PC is a kind of plug computer with very small dimensions i.e. 88.5 x 35 x 13.4 mm weighs in at 300 grams. The device has 2 USB ports one Full size standard USB and the other seems to be a micro USB. The best part is the standard USB could be used to connect plug and play devices like a wireless mouse and keyboard. It runs on the latest Android 4.0 OS ans supports most application and features supported by a top notch Android 4.0 smartphone. Its powered by an External adapter 5V/2A output, 110-240V input.

What that means you could even run it from an external battery if you get the right voltage and amps. Although i wont recommend you to do that if you don't know anything about electronics.

Google 'Build' brings LEGO right in your chrome browser.

LEGO has always been a craze among kids and also adults from a long time and has gained popularity around the world. LEGO is also pretty much a part of Google offices across the world. As a part LEGO Festival of Play online which marks the 50th anniversary of the LEGO in Australia, Google Australia and New Zealand announced; "Build with Chrome" or 'Build' for short. Build is the result of the latest Chrome Experiment. Build lets you explore and build a new world of LEGO creations together online.

Although Build looks like a simple Web App, this might not have been possible a couple years ago. Its proves the fact as to how far browser technology has come, which is making the internet an ever more creative platform. Build has been developed on the WebGL platform which brings the power of 3D graphics right in the browser.

A Robot that never loses a Stone, Paper, Scissor game

The Japanese always come up with some really amazing robotic technology. A robotic hand developed by the University of Tokyo's Ishikawa Oku Lab is so good at the game of stone, paper, scissor or Jaken as the Japanese call it, that no human can ever beat the robot, its undefeatable.

The reason no human can't beat it is cause its a robot!,  little stupid humour there. Obvioulsy its a machine that's designed for the purpose.The working is pretty simple to explain, it has what the researcher call the 'high-speed vision'. This lets the robot detect the movement of the hand and recognise the move being made by the human opponent with in 1 millisecond.

Renault Duster to be launched next month in India

We haven't been writing articles about the automotive industry for a while now. Although, this news is specifically related to the Indian Auto industry. French automobile manufacturer Renault hasn't been doing quite well in India and the major reason being the poor range of option it provides to the Indian customer. 

Although that's changing slowly, Renault has some very aggressive business strategies in the years to come and with the new Renault Duster, things might really turn around for Renault.

Renault Duster is a car that comes under the compact SUV segment which aims to provide the luxury of an SUV at the price of a Basic Sedan. The Duster is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 7-10 lac. It will be available in both Petrol and Diesel variants.

ASUS unveils its new Windows 8 Ultra Books: ASUS Taichi (dual screen) and ASUS Transformer

With the new ultra book line up of laptops hitting the market its all about having the computing power of the top of the line laptop and the weight and thin profile of a net-book. Now that's leading to more and more laptop-tablet hybrid devices. Laptops have the advantage of their productivity and the comfort of the keyboard. Tablets have the advantage of being light weight and ultra portable and give the best browsing and entertainment experience. ASUS is one company that been putting in a lot of efforts into these laptop-tablet hybrid devices. In the past ASUS came up with Eee Pad Transformer Prime. Now with the Windows 8 OS at hand things seem to have have become a lot easier for these kind of hybrid devices.

About a week ago popular computer hardware manufacturer ASUS unveiled to the world its new line up of Windows 8 ultra-books, tablets and desktop PCs at the Computex 2012 in TAIPEI, Taiwan.

Although what really caught the attention are two devices in particular, the ASUS Taichi (dual screen) and the ASUS Transformer.

ASUS Transformer Book

Tin could triple the capacity of lithium-ion batteries (Super Li-ion)

Lithium-Ion Battery technology hasn't changed much since 1991 when they first became commercially available. Although the devices that use them now need a lot more power to run than the devices that used them couple decades ago. And that's the problem why your smartphone barely lasts a day on a full charge and your laptop barley survives 3-5 hours before it needs a socket.

Researchers at the Washington State University have found a way that could triple Li-ion battery capacity plus make them charge faster and give them more charge cycles than existing Li-on batteries. A research group led by 'Grant Norton' a professor at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the researchers have filed patents on this nanoscale-based technology.

The existing Li-ion batteries utilize a graphite anode (positive terminal). The key difference that makes these new batteries better is the anode, instead of graphite its made of Tin.

Norton and postdoctoral researcher Uttara Sahaym developed the idea for this novel material a little over a year ago while working on a project to reduce the problem of tin whiskers. Tin Whisker are a major problem which cause damage to electronic components. These whiskers can sometimes grow as long as 10 millimetres, are a big problem in microelectronics because they cause short circuits and arcing that can cause severe damage to electronic components and reduce reliability. Despite the fact that tin whiskers have been causing problems for more than 60 years, researchers have been unable to come up with ways to entirely avoid them. The only popular way is to add lead to the tin solder material but lead has its environmental problems and its use has been restrained by the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS).