...The new polymer gel can be formed into a thin, flexible film through a low-cost process. This film, which would lie between a battery's electrodes, would eliminate one need of traditional lithium batteries — to have multiple cells kept apart by a porous polymer film separator.In addition to reducing weight and size, these new batteries could be made at about 10 percent of the cost of creating current batteries.
Next month IKEA will introduce a new, deeper version of its ubiquitous “BILLY” bookcase. The flat-pack furniture giant is already promoting glass doors for its bookshelves. The firm reckons customers will increasingly use them for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome—anything, that is, except books that are actually read. In the first five months of this year sales of consumer e-books in America overtook those from adult hardback books. Just a year earlier hardbacks had been worth more than three times as much as e-books, according to the Association of American Publishers. Amazon now sells more copies of e-books than paper books. The drift to digits will speed up as bookshops close. Borders, once a retail behemoth, is liquidating all of its American stores.It's really interesting to watch as the digital ease-of-use revolutionizes an industry that has existed for hundred of years. It may not be too long before students are able to rent Kindle-like devices and read any book the library has.
