They’ve done it again: video files again lost half their weight.

Some of you probably remember video discs (which used MPEG-1/H.261 for video compression), then there were DVDs (MPEG-2/H.262), then Blu-rays (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264). Between DVD and Blu-ray there was another video coding standard, the original MPEG-4, which didn’t make it onto optical discs, but was used quite a bit also. Each time, a bag of new algorithmic tricks meant that the video could be compressed twice as much.

Loosing weight is hard. In video compression, it’s quite the same. Just when you thought video can’t be compressed any further, there’s a new standard that’s done it again: HEVC compresses video at twice the rate of the preceeding standard. This means double the hours of video that can be stored on your disc, drive, stick or card. Double the number of channels broadcast over the air. Or half the download time. Or half the data usage on your phone plan. We’re clearly in anorexic territory here, and for once, I like it.

 

By |broadcast, cameras, HD, Semiconductors, standards, video, video coding|0 Comments
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Super cameras out of a spray can

Researchers from the Technische Universität München have developed a new generation of image sensors that are 3x more sensitive to light than the conventional CMOS versions, with the added bonus of being simple and cheap to produce. These sensors can be manufactured without the expensive post-processing step typically required for CMOS sensors, which involves for example applying micro-lenses to increase the amount of captured light. Instead, every part of every single pixel, including the electronics, is sprayed with a liquid polymer solution, giving a surface that is 100 percent light-sensitive. Changing the chemical compound turns the sensor into an infrared sensor for night vision.

In short, better and cheaper cameras that also work at night. Me want.

Read the full story

By |cameras, chips, image sensors, manufacturing, Mobile and apps, Semiconductors, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Internet numbers, numbers and trends

This is an excellent “State of the Internet” type of overview by Mary Meeker from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Some highlights:

  • iPad growth was 3x iPhone growth in the first 10 months after market introduction
  • Android adoption is 6x iPhone adoption rate
  • Only 20% of mobile phone users use Internet-enabled phones, still a lot of growth to go
  • Mobile Internet traffic is now 13% of all traffic. In India, there’s more mobile than desktop traffic
  • After 244, Encyclopedia Britannica went out of print in 2012
  • From asset-heavy to asset-light: Hotels to Airbnb, CDs to Spotify, and FTEs to Freelance
  • USA household debt about doubled in 10 years
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Coolest iPad external keyboard.

I’ve found it! Here’s a video of the coolest external keyboard for the iPad in action.

Great job Austin Yang.

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Growth in MEMS microphones, bringing HD voice to phones

Akustica/Bosch announce new MEMS-based microphones for mobiles and tablets that bring HD voice capabilities.

According to Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst for MEMS &
Sensors at IHS, the worldwide MEMS microphone market is expected to grow
to more than 4 billion units by 2016, as compared to the 700 million shipped
in 2010. The reason, he said, is that the number of microphones used in each
smartphone has already gone from one to two and in some cases even three —
a number that may continue to grow while mobile device manufacturers use
sound input quality as a differentiating feature.

By |audio, Mobile and apps, Semiconductors|0 Comments
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