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Apple-Liquidmetal Joint Patent Could Enable Futuristic-Looking Mobile Devices
MojoKid writes "Apple may be closer than previously thought to using Liquidmetal's technology to manufacture casings for its mobile devices. In a patent filing, a company called 'Crucible Intellectual Properties, LLC' (which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liquidmetal dedicated to Apple work) laid claim to a manufacturing process for creating 'bulk amorphous alloy sheets', also known as bulk metallic glass (BMG). The process, called 'float glass', involves two layers of molten metal, and the result is a glass-like metal that allegedly would be strong, incredibly lightweight, corrosion-resistant--and low cost. Further, the manufacturing process would ostensibly make it far easier to create specific items, as it removes some of the barriers and issues related to forming and cutting metal, and specifically BMG."
Another Terminator tech coming true.... Are we there yet? I want to burn alive in a swing :)
see through? There be whales captain!
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
When dropped to the floor, will it melt and re-assemble?
...No it will bounce...really really well...and even though it won't melt and reassemble...it can me made into complex bends and shapes.
Its in the article.
What can we do with this that we can't already do?
James Cameron got the idea years ago for Terminator 2.
Don't worry, Apple lawyers are already filing suit against Cameron for using time travel to steal their idea.
Calm down before you all jump on the "Enable" wagon. It's actually a decently details filing with less ambiguous wording than assumed.
Abstract: "Embodiments herein relate to a method for forming a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy sheets have different surface finish including a “fire” polish surface like that of a float glass. In one embodiment, a first molten metal alloy is poured on a second molten metal of higher density in a float chamber to form a sheet of the first molten that floats on the second molten metal and cooled to form a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy sheet. In another embodiment, a molten metal is poured on a conveyor conveying the sheet of the first molten metal on a conveyor and cooled to form a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy sheet. The cooling rate such that a time-temperature profile during the cooling does not traverse through a region bounding a crystalline region of the metal alloy in a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram. "
This is it -> http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8485245.html
PDF -> http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8485245.pdf
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
Patents are important to protect innovative small little startup companies such as Apple against all too mighty competition.
sure as hell sounds like the pilkington method to me. is applying it to a different material sufficient enough to warrant a new patent?
All-metal mobile phone bodies go from the Nokia Eseries of about five years ago to the current iPhone 5 and HTC One. That's not counting tablets, laptops... you put in a radio-transparent window made out of a different material.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
If my phone bounces like the ball does in the demo video here, them for the first time in my life, I will happily pay a premium for a shiny apple case.
Imagine the hand-eye dexterity you'd gain from catching your phone on the rebound from the pavement.
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No but according to the company it can make knives and stabbing weapons:
http://info.liquidmetal.com/blog/bid/289868/Liquidmetal-Blades-Knives-and-Other-Sharp-Things
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Cheap, bulk amorphous metal?
Never mind iPhone cases - that stuff can be used to make transformers more efficient and more compact. If you could get it cheap, it could potentially cut a percent or two off of energy transmission losses.
LIQUID METAL. Now your phone will morph metal swordhands and stab the shit out of you.
No need to worry, the i-1000 will be using Apple Maps so there's no chance it will find John Conner.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
All-metal mobile phone bodies go from the Nokia Eseries of about five years ago to the current iPhone 5 and HTC One. That's not counting tablets, laptops... you put in a radio-transparent window made out of a different material.
Or make the case itself the aerial (if possible).
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
I likes my tablets and phones as rectangles. Just don't make this Apple:
http://phandroid.com/2011/10/06/dunder-mifflin-releases-new-pyramid-tablet-challenges-conventional-rectangle-tablets-video/
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Here's a link to the YouTube video in question.
If you have HTML5 enabled in your YouTube settings, it will play without requiring Flash.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
You don't need to explain the source, you're on Slashdot. All you needed to say was "transparent aluminium" or "Scotty".
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Liquidmetal isn't anything new, Samsung and Nokia have used it on some phones. The distinction is that they've generate been restricted to smaller components and not entire shells because of the expense and limitations in manufacturing. Interestingly enough, this technology was developed at Caltech and is marketed by this Liquidmetal Technologies. Perhaps someone more informed can explain how that works.
As far as the technology itself is concerned, it seems promising. However, from what I've read, the benefit isn't that they can produce "futuristic-looking" devices but rather that this metal is supposed to be much more wear resistant. It is true that the forming process is more akin to molding plastic, but I don't think we've been restricted by our ability to shape metal in recent years. Whether this tech lives up to promises remains to be seen. From what I've read of owners of Liquidmetal equipped Omega watches aren't too impressed; wear resistance doesn't seem to be any better than other materials the company has used.
I think it's one of those things where on paper it looks impressive, but in real life the forces these materials are subjected to generally far exceeds their tolerances. It's kind of like gorilla glass. People still manage to scratch up their screens when they don't break them outright. But still, any technological evolution is a good one.
The thing that surprised me was to learn that Apple acquired an exclusive, perpetual license with the company to use this technology in consumer electronics. So this isn't an example of Apple innovating, but rather preventing any competitors from getting their hands on the same technology.
they had to hire one after the iphone 4 debacle of your holding it wrong
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
What exactly are you trying to say? That "firing up the furnaces" implies Apple is behind the times, therefore the dip in their stock price is justified? That 3D printers will somehow scale up to meet manufacturing needs at an output level that Apple needs? Or that people are stupid, which is why their stock price is low? I can make no sense of what you wrote.
Is it Glass or is it Metal? This may sound like a dumb question, but I really can't tell:
..." (Incidentally, float glass is nothing new, let alone patentable)
... and all that said, I was under the impression this stuff was metal. Either way, this is a pretty shitty article if I can't even get that basic fact straight, unless I'm just being really stupid here.
"'Crucible Intellectual Properties, LLC' (...) laid claim to a manufacturing process for creating 'bulk amorphous alloy sheets', also known as bulk metallic glass (BMG)."
"The process, called 'float glass'
"and the result is a glass-like metal"
I know my nerd card is in jeopardy, but I thought the formula for transparent aluminum was the payment for the thick Plexiglas they actually used. Anyone remember/feel like Googling?
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
It's clear your not an investor of AAPL, or you would understand the stock reference. As for, "scaling up", that terminology was fading away towards the end of the last millennium. I think that if 3D printers can build jaw bones, then pretty boxes should be straight forward. As for the reference of even using 3D printers; when their done making pretty boxes, they can be easily reprogrammed to make other useful objects, try that using 'float glass', it involves two layers of molten metal; really? As for just plain common sense; it is very expensive to buy a machine that only builds one kind of thing, but it the machine can build "n" different things, then it is a bargain.
James Cameron got the idea years ago for Terminator 2.
Don't worry, Apple lawyers are already filing suit against Cameron for using time travel to steal their idea.
Wrong way around. I think you'll find Apple have already dispatched the JOBS-1000 unit to kill James Cameron's mother.
Wow! A comment that's highlighting normal corporate behavior get modded flamebait. Where is the /. of past?
"I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold