Hasta La Gadget!

Graphene transistors have long been touted as the next big thing to deliver a true leap in electronics of all sorts, but there’s been a few considerable limitations holding them back from fully replacing silicon. IBM now says it’s managed to overcome one of the biggest hurdles, however, and has announced that it’s been able to open a “bandgap” for graphene field-effect transistors (or FETs). As EETimes reports, that’s important because while graphene does have a higher carrier mobility than silicon, it doesn’t have a natural bandgap, which has so far kept the on-off ratio of graphene transistors far lower than their silicon counterparts. Of course, IBM insists that its still only just scratched the surface, and says that it’s already hard at work on opening up an even wider bandgap, achieving even higher electric fields, further improving the on-off current ratios of graphene FETs.

IBM opens up graphene bandgap, edges closer to commercialization originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that was fast. Before Steve Jobs had time to change his turtleneck, companies were announcing accessories for the Apple iPad.

First up is Tom Bihn, with two specially-sized bags. The Ristretto for iPad (shown) is a vertical messenger bag with a padded interior compartment. The compartment is big enough for the iPad itself, or when in Apple’s iPad case. The company says it’s also right for Kindle and netbook owners. You can’t get an iPad for two months, but the Ristretto for iPad is available now. It lists for $110.

Tom Bihn has also announced the Cache for iPad, a padded gray sleeve for those who want something simpler. The flap doesn’t have a zipper or Velcro; instead you tuck it into the bag. It meets the TSA’s “checkpoint friendly” guidelines, so you won’t need to remove your iPad from it when going through security. It lists for $30.

Almost any major league pitcher who threw a perfect game would be a millionaire. Now 2K Sports is offering a million dollars to the first gamer to toss one in its hit baseball video game. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10443496-52.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Geek Gestalt/a/p

AT&T spent a good bit of its earnings call today talking about its network — not too surprising, really, considering the cozy relationship between dropped calls, subscriber count, and profit. The overall takeaway was that the company is pleased with its progress and continues to improve thanks to the addition of new carriers at existing cell sites (read: increased over-the-air capacity), an ongoing backhaul renovation, and the recent roll-out of 7.2Mbps capability across most of its 3G footprint. In terms of dropped calls specifically, AT&T claims that the statistic dropped network-wide from 1.41 percent to 1.05 percent between December ’08 and ’09 — not bad, though the real problems seem to be in key high-density, high-visibility markets like Manhattan where it hasn’t yet met its vaguely-defined “performance objective.” That said, it seems convinced that it’ll patch things up over the next few months as it continues its infrastructure push — and considering that Apple’s entrusting AT&T with the iPad, we don’t doubt that there’s some work underway to mute the cries of “we want Verizon” about 90 days from now. Then again, there’s no substitute for real-world experience, so we’ll dare pose the question: are you seeing improvement in your neck of the woods? Follow the break for another juicy slide out of AT&T’s earnings deck.

Continue reading AT&T says it’s ‘closing the gap’ on dropped calls

AT&T says it’s ‘closing the gap’ on dropped calls originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe finds out Apple’s new iPad doesn’t support Flash and it isn’t too happy about it. A group manager mentions that frustration in a blog post. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10443465-17.html” class=”origPostedBlog”The Digital Home/a/p