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UNSW Sydney researchers have developed a chip-scale method using OLEDs to image magnetic fields, potentially transforming smartphones into portable quantum sensors. The technique is more scalable and doesn’t require laser input, making the device smaller and mass-producible. The technology could be used in remote medical diagnostics and material defect identification.

Smartphones could one day become portable quantum sensors thanks to a new chip-scale approach that uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) to image magnetic fields.

Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science at UNSW Sydney have demonstrated that OLEDs, a type of semiconductor material commonly found in flat-screen televisions, smartphone screens, and other digital displays, can be used to map magnetic fields using magnetic resonance.

The “spooky action at a distance” that once unnerved Einstein may be on its way to being as pedestrian as the gyroscopes that currently measure acceleration in smartphones.

Quantum entanglement significantly improves the precision of sensors that can be used to navigate without GPS, according to a new study in Nature Photonics.

“By exploiting entanglement, we improve both measurement sensitivity and how quickly we can make the measurement,” said Zheshen Zhang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan and co-corresponding author of the study. The experiments were done at the University of Arizona, where Zhang was working at the time.

The New York Times has a big piece detailing Google’s “shock” and “panic” when Samsung recently floated the idea of switching its smartphones from Google Search to Bing. After being the butt of jokes for years, Bing has been seen as a rising threat to Google thanks to Microsoft’s deal with OpenAI and the integration of the red-hot ChatGPT generative AI. Now, according to the report, one of Android’s biggest manufacturers is threatening to switch its new phones away from Google Search.

Of course, preinstalled search deals are more about cash than quality. Google pays billions every year to be the default search engine on popular products with deals framed as either “revenue sharing” or “traffic acquisition fees.” Google reportedly pays as much as $3.5 billion per year to be the default search on Samsung phones, while it pays Apple $20 billion per year to be the default search on iOS and macOS. The report notes that the Samsung/Google search contract “is under negotiation, and Samsung could stick with Google.”

It’s available on phones and now watches? That’s actually nice though I hope they make it battery efficient. The Pixel watch for example already has issues with battery life. I’m the future will there be a small AI server in our bodies in microchips or a network of nanobots?


ChatGPT is all the rage these days, but did you know you can get it on your watch? Here’s how to install it on a Galaxy Watch, Pixel Watch, and other Wear OS watches.

Lithium-ion batteries power our lives.

Because they are lightweight, have and are rechargeable, the batteries power many products, from laptops and cell phones to electric cars and toothbrushes.

However, current have reached the limit of how much energy they can store. That has researchers looking for more powerful and cheaper alternatives.