Finally, a True Green Laser 274
dusty writes "Remember those green lasers from Star Wars? Turns out that faking green lasers has been easy for years, but making true green laser diodes has been the stuff of science fiction. Until recently, that is. Now researchers from Japan have created the world's first true green laser diode. Until now, only red and blue laser diodes were available, and now with the addition of green, new TVs and projectors that are more efficient can be produced. And if you were wondering how green lasers pointers are already produced, it is a hack that involved doubling the frequency of an infrared laser. The new true green laser diodes have much higher efficiency than the current 6%, leading many to expect big time laser display breakthroughs in the near future. Ars Technica has a well-written article on this breakthrough."
Re:sweet! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think you need lasers to do this. Recently I made the mistake to turn a TV on, and what I saw and heard, can certainly make you deaf, blind and stupid.
Re:Not doubling the infrared, but slowing by half. (Score:4, Insightful)
Nothing is slowed down. Light always goes at the same speed. Guess its name.
True in a vacuum, not true in practically anything else.
Re:Snow Crash (Score:4, Insightful)
I had that image hanging in view of reality for a while.
wearable computing and a decent HUD. Looks like sunglasses, and I'm just staring and grinning. I'm actually typing profanity at you, taking your photo, and surfing the net.
Problem is that wearable computers are not as useful as a nice fast pocket one. my Nokia 810 and iphone kicks the crap out of any wearable I have had over the past 15 years in my personal research.
Snow Crash tech is only useful for plugging in when you are a blob of goo at home never leaving your chair. The raging BS about logging in while riding his motorcycle will never exist as I could not even stand the speed and status info in my helmet when I used to race. Visual distractions while driving fast are not a good idea.
Just a tidbit from a guy that has had that tech in his life, it's not all glamorous or as useful as you think. I found auditory cues to be far more useful. I switched at the end of my racing to beeps to let me know when I was at the shift point and speed ranges. It worked great.
Re:Robustness, too! (Score:5, Insightful)
How do you know it's not a method? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't like the use of public fields, please use a getter method.
Some languages have properties, or methods without parentheses: C#, for example [microsoft.com].