A look at gadget happenings, as Samsung plans flexible AMOLED displays, MIT builds a cookie-baking robot and Microsoft talks Xbox LIVE integration for Windows 8.
Samsung to mass produce flexible AMOLED displays in 2012?
Reports suggest that Samsung may mass produce flexible AMOLED displays in 2012, bringing these bendable screens to watches and smartphones.
According to OLED-Display.net, Samsung Mobile Display has set up a joint venture with Japanese manufacturing plant Ube Kosan to make these displays a reality.
Samsung showed off a 4.5-inch version of the display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and the company reportedly aims to use it to make a cylindrical smartphone with an AMOLED display by 2012.
MIT graduate students develop cookie-baking robot
Graduate students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a robot that can bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
According to MIT News, the robot, called PR2, can examine the table using a laser scanner and stereo camera to locate the baking sheet and butter. It can identify other ingredients by colour and size.
PR2 follows a hard code of the recipe, and can mix ingredients, place the dough on the baking sheet and pat it into its proper shape.
The team is working on recalibrating the robot to perfect the mix of ingredients. They will also program PR2 to place the ingredients into the oven and wipe down the table once it’s done.
Xbox LIVE services to be integrated into PCs
Mike Delman, vice-president of global marketing of interactive entertainment at Microsoft, has said Windows 8 will include Xbox LIVE integration.
In an interview with the Seattle Times, Delman said the service will move onto other devices, including the PC.
Delman said that design and “philosophy” of the service will be the same across devices and that Xbox LIVE will be a “pervasive media service.”
Xbox LIVE and SkyDrive storage assets will also be unified, possibly bringing cloud storage to the service.
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