source: techthefuture.com

The Future of Inkjet-Printed Electronics

By Benjamin Cook

Over the past decade, major advances in additive printing technologies in the 2-D and 3-D electronics fabrication space have accelerated additive processing—printing in particular—into the mainstream for the fabrication of low-cost, conformal, and environmentally friendly electronic components and systems. Printed electronics technology is opening an entirely new world of simple and rapid fabrication to hobbyists, research labs, and even commercial electronics manufacturers.

This essay originally appeared on the Circuit Cellar magazine website.

Historically, PCBs and ICs have been fabricated using subtractive processing techniques such as photolithography and mechanical milling. These traditional techniques are costly and time-consuming. They produce large amounts of material and chemical waste and they are also difficult to perform on a small scale for rapid prototyping and experimentation.

To overcome the limitations of subtractive fabrication, over the past decade the ATHENA group at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) has been developing an innovative inkjet-printing platform that can print complex, vertical ICs directly from a desktop inkjet printer.

To convert a standard desktop inkjet printer into an electronics fabrication platform, custom electronic inks developed by Georgia Tech replace the standard photo inks that are ejected out of the printer’s piezoelectric nozzles. Inks for depositing conductors, insulators/dielectrics, and sensors have all been developed. These inks can print not only single-layer flexible PCBs, but they can also print complex, vertically integrated electronic structures (e.g., multilayer wiring with interlayer vias, parallel-plate capacitors, batteries, and sensing topologies to sense gas, temperature, humidity, and touch).

Silver nanoparticle ink is injected into an empty cartridge and used in conjunction with an off-the-shelf inkjet printer to enable ‘instant inkjet circuit’ prototyping. (Photo courtesy of Georgia Institute of Technology)

To create highly efficient electronic inks, which are the key to the printing platform, Georgia Tech researchers exploit the nanoscale properties of electronic materials. Highly conductive metals (e.g., gold, silver, and copper) have very high melting temperatures of approximately 1,000°C when the materials are in their bulk or large-scale form. However, when these metals are decreased to nanometer-sized particles, their melting temperature dramatically decreases to below 100°C. These nanoscale particles can then be dispersed within a solvent (e.g., water or alcohol) and printed through an inkjet nozzle, which is large enough to pass the nanoparticles. After printing, the metal layer printed with nanoparticles is heated at a low temperature, which melts the particles back into a highly conductive metal to produce very low-resistance electrical structures.

Utilizing nanomaterials has enabled the creation of plastic, ceramic, piezoelectric, and carbon nanotube and graphene inks, which are the fundamental building blocks of a fully printed electronics platform. The inks are then tuned to have the correct viscosity and surface tension for a typical desktop inkjet printer.

By loading these nanomaterial-based conductive, dielectric, and sensing inks into the different-colored cartridges of a desktop inkjet printer, 3-D electronics topologies such as metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors can then be created by printing the different inks on top of each other in a layer-by-layer deposition. Since printing is a non-contact additive deposition method, and the processing temperatures are below 100°C, these inks can be printed onto virtually any substrate, including standard photo paper, plastic, fabrics, and even silicon wafers to interface with standard ICs with printed feature sizes below 20 µm.

The Georgia Tech-developed printing platform is a major breakthrough. It makes the cost of additively fabricating circuits nearly the same as printing a photo on a home desktop inkjet printer—and with the same level of simplicity and accessibility.

These advancements in 2-D electronics printing combined with current research in low-cost 3-D printing are enabling commercial-grade fabrication of devices that typically required clean room environments and expensive manufacturing equipment. Such technology, when made accessible to the masses, has the potential to completely change the way we think about building, interacting with, and even purchasing electronics that can be digitally transmitted and printed.  While the printing technology is currently at a mature stage, we have only scratched the surface of potential applications that can benefit from printing low-cost, flexible electronic devices.

Benjamin Cook, who wrote this essay appearing in Circuit Cellar’s February 2014 issue, is a PhD candidate in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Circuit Cellar’s February 2014 issue will be available for download in mid-to-late January. Click here to download recent issues of the magazine.

Caption main image: This single-sided wiring pattern for an Arduino microcontroller was printed on a transparent sheet of coated PET film, (Photo courtesy of Georgia Technical Institute)

Conflict-Free Metals

source: mashable.com

Apple Claims It Uses 'Conflict-Free' Metals in Its Products

The metals that Apple uses in its products have been deemed "conflict-free" by third-party auditors, the company reported late Wednesday.

The report is based on 451 audits at multiple levels in the company's supply chain. Among the top-line items was the sourcing of minerals for Apple products. Tantalum, which is used in iPhones, largely comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. The mining of that element is blamed for conflict in the region, as some rebel groups allegedly use the proceeds from tantalum to arm themselves. In the name of transparency, Apple has released a list of the smelters and refiners whose tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold Apple uses for its products.'

Apple also claimed a 95% compliance with its standard 60-hour workweek and a sharp reduction in underage employment. Apple compiled those stats in its eighth annual Supplier Responsibility 2014 Progress Report.

In addition, the report says Apple has made some gains in the treatment of its factory workers — an issue that has dogged the company for some time. Eighteen factories — twice the number in 2012 — offer Apple's free education and development program. More than 280,000 workers in 2013 took courses in "such diverse subjects as accounting, English, web design and even flower arranging," the company notes.

Among other highlights in the report:

• The number of underage workers fell from 106 to 11 in 2013
• Ninety-seven percent of employees take off one day or more a week
• Apple upped its environmental audits by 50%

Nuclear Fusion Energy

source: wired.com

We’re One Step Closer to Nuclear Fusion Energy

• BY ADAM MANN
• 
  The gold cylinder where fusion reactions take place at NIF. Image: NIF
  Scientists with the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced today that they have achieved a critical step in fusion research: For the first time, their hydrogen fuel has given off more energy than it took in.
  Though an important milestone, the result does not mean that your Delorean is soon going to sport a Mr. Fusion reactor. NIF would need to sustain temperatures and pressures much greater than they are currently capable of before they can harness fusion energy.
  Nuclear fusion is the energy source of the stars. Deep in our sun’s belly, hydrogen atoms slam into one another at high speed, getting mashed together to form helium atoms and releasing copious amounts of energy. Creating viable fusion energy here on Earth has been a dream since the dawn of the Atomic Age. With true fusion power, the amount of water you use in a single shower could provide all your energy needs for a year. But for six decades, fusion has remained a far-off dream.
  To create fusion reactions at NIF, scientists shoot 192 lasers simultaneously with a peak power of 500 trillion Watts, roughly 1,000 times the power output of the U.S. grid. This heats up a 1 centimeter gold cylinder to millions of degrees, producing X-rays that get focused at a plastic shell the size of a BB pellet. The X-rays blast the shell, creating an implosion that shrinks the gas inside pellet to 1/35th of its size, compressing isotopes of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium to incredible densities. At the center of this hydrogen plasma, in an area smaller than the width of a human hair, the atoms fuse. This gives off energy, which should in theory set off a chain reaction that ignites the rest of the hydrogen and creates a self-sustaining ball of fusion.
  
  Amplifiers to increase the laser power at NIF. Image: Damien Jemison/LLNL
  Because of this convoluted process, only 1/200th of the energy that the lasers generate is imparted to the hydrogen fuel, compressing it enough to produce a small amount of fusion. Until now, the energy given off by the fusing hydrogen hasn’t been enough to set off a chain reaction. The hydrogen fuel also always consumed more energy than it put out. But during experiments late last year, NIF researchers were finally able to get the hydrogen to give off as much as 1.7 times more energy than it had taken in, a result that appears today in Nature. In subsequent experiments last month, the team was able to produce as much as 2.6 times more energy than was put into the hydrogen fuel.
  “The physics is a breakthrough,” said physicist Riccardo Betti of the University of Rochester, who was not involved in the work. “If fusion will ever become a viable source of energy, we may look back and say that in 2013, for the first time, a plasma produced more energy out than it took in.”
  But the dream of fusion energy isn’t yet a reality. “In terms of making energy to power the grid, it’s still light-years away,” Betti said.
  NIF is a $3.5-billion facility that was built to study the dynamics of nuclear explosions for the National Nuclear Security Administration and to test the integrity of the country’s nuclear stockpile without exploding any bombs. After the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, the U.S., Russia, and many other countries agreed to only test atomic bombs underground, and since 1992 the U.S. has placed a moratorium on any nuclear testing. But not being able to physically test the bombs “is like having a car that you’re studying but not allowed to start,” said Livermore Lab physicist Paul Springer, a co-author of the recent fusion results. NIF was the answer to this problem.
  When NIF was first being built, researchers were confident that it would produce fusion reactions fairly quickly. The point when fusion becomes self-sustaining is known as ignition. The fusing hydrogen atoms at the fuel center send out helium nuclei, which knock into other hydrogen atoms, setting off a cascading chain-reaction of expansion fusion that should produce more energy than the entire experiment consumes. While ignition requires extremely high temperatures and pressures, computer simulations in 2009 predicted that NIF would achieve the energies to generate it by 2012. Of course, reality doesn’t work as well as a digital model, and the deadline passed without achieving ignition.
  
  A view inside the gold cylinder where hydrogen is compressed to incredible densities. Image: Lawrence Livermore National Security
  Troubles came when scientists found it was extremely difficult to get their hydrogen fuel to compress in the right way. In order to generate the intense pressure and temperatures inside the hydrogen gas needed for fusion, the tiny pellet had to collapse perfectly symmetrically. But small instabilities appearing in the pellet meant that the plasma imploded unevenly, sending fingers of cold gas into the center that doused the fusion reactions.
  Over the years, NIF scientists learned from their experiments. They studied the way that the pellet collapsed, and tweaked their designs. They also learned how to time their laser pulses to give the hydrogen the perfect kick. With this knowledge, researchers have been able to go back and improve their simulations, which are now in better agreement with what is physically seen in experiments.
  But the latest achievements are still a long way from creating self-sustaining fusion reactions, which would require the hydrogen to reach temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees and pressures a thousand times more than what is currently possible. The implosion continues to be more of an amorphous blob than a perfect spherical cave-in. To go forward, researchers will have to “make the collapse rounder and more stable against things that cause distortions,” said Springer.
  Still, a future with fusion power is starting to look more possible. A European team is also attempting to generate fusion energy at the $20 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) currently under construction in France. That facility will trap superheated hydrogen plasma in a donut-shaped magnetic chamber, an entirely different technique than what has been achieved at NIF, meaning that the lessons from the Livermore Lab won’t be entirely applicable. Rather than set unrealistic deadlines, ITER is moving forward at a very slow and steady pace.
  In the meantime, the NIF team is happy with their achievements and cautiously optimistic of their future prospects. “We’ve all been extremely excited about the results that we’ve been getting,” said physicistDenise Hinkel of Livermore Lab, another co-author. “Many people have been waiting for something like this to happen.”

Happy Valentine's Day

source: toptenz.net

Top 10 Famous, Romantic Love Poems

POSTED BY ANNE IREDALE 

As long as there have been poets, there have been love poems. After all, if love cannot inspire, what can? Our minds turn to love on special anniversaries, Valentine’s Day and weddings, but how to express it? We are not all blessed with the gift of poetic words. The list below may include a romantic love poems for him or a love poem for her to serve the occasion but don’t pretend it’s yours. You will look very foolish when you are found out. But love tends to do that to us anyway.

10. ‘Wild Nights’ by Emily Dickinson

A leading American poet (1830 – 1836), she is one of the most accessible and popular poets. This selection is not typical of her output and is surprisingly passionate for a woman of those times. Dickinson led a secluded life and it’s not certain for whom these lines were intended, ‘might I but moor tonight with thee’. Biographers believe that she may have created afantasy for herself. But this may also have been a love poem for a man.

Wild nights! Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile the winds
To a heart in port,
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart.

Rowing in Eden!
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor
To-night in thee!

9. ‘We Are Made One with What We Touch and See’ by Oscar Wilde

Of course, it’s well known that Wilde’s romantic exploits got him into trouble, resulting in a two-year sentence for hard labour.  He’s better known for his comedic plays and witty quotes than for his poems. This poem has the joyful line; ‘we draw the spring into our hearts and feel that life is good’. Read the full poem.

We shall be notes in that great Symphony
Whose cadence circles through the rhythmic spheres,
And all the live World’s throbbing heart shall be
One with our heart, the stealthy creeping years
Have lost their terrors now, we shall not die,
The Universe itself shall be our Immortality!

8. ‘Bright Star’ by John Keats

A leading figure amongst the English Romantic poets, many of Keats’ poems are melancholic. He was a doomed man, dying of TB at the age of 26 in a house in Rome where he had gone to improve his health. The house, next to the Spanish Steps, is now a museum dedicated to his life and the life of Shelley. He wrote his poetry in a brief five-year period. Sensual love is celebrated in the line, ‘pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast’.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.

7. ‘Another Valentine’ by Wendy Cope

This is from the point of view of a couple that have been together a long time. At first, Cope seems slightly resentful that she is being forced into making a romantic declaration just because a certain date in the calendar demands it, but she gets into the spirit of the occasion and her love for her man shines through. They are sure of each other, as shown by ‘you know I’m yours and I know you are mine’. It is more difficult to find love poems for him, but “Another Valentine” is just that.

Today we are obliged to be romantic
And think of yet another valentine.
We know the rules and we are both pedantic:
Today’s the day we have to be romantic.
Our love is old and sure, not new and frantic.
You know I’m yours and I know you are mine.
And saying that has made me feel romantic,
My dearest love, my darling valentine.

6. ‘A Drinking Song’ by W.B. Yeats

The title does not suggest a love poem and it’s debatable as to how much alcohol consumption is playing a part! Nevertheless, it is a romantic poem. The opening lines are ‘wine comes in at the mouth and love comes in at the eye’ Let’s hope they don’t regret it in the morning.

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

---

5. ‘Valentine’ by John Fuller

Perhaps the least well known poet on the list, he is an English writer, born in 1937, and is the son of the feted poet, Roy Fuller. This is a sensual poem, which celebrates the physical features of his beloved; ‘I like it when you tilt your cheek up’.  It’s a gently teasing poem with fun lines such as ‘I’d like to find you in the shower and chase the soap for half an hour’. Read the full poem.

The things about you I appreciate may seem indelicate:
I’d like to find you in the shower
And chase the soap for half an hour.
I’d like to have you in my power and see your eyes dilate.
I’d like to have your back to scour
And other parts to lubricate.
Sometimes I feel it is my fate
To chase you screaming up a tower or make you cower
By asking you to differentiate Nietzsche from Schopenhauer.
I’d like to successfully guess your weight and win you at a féte.
I’d like to offer you a flower.

4. ‘Love Is’ by Adrian Henri

The late Henri, along with his fellow Liverpool poets, Roger McGough and Brian Patten, brought poetry to a new generation in their 1967 anthology, ‘The Mersey Sound’. It’s a poem about everyday love between everyday people but is strangely touching. ‘Love is a fan club with only two fans’ and ‘love is what happens when the music stops’.

Love is…
Love is feeling cold in the back of vans
Love is a fanclub with only two fans
Love is walking holding paintstained hands
Love is.
Love is fish and chips on winter nights
Love is blankets full of strange delights
Love is when you don’t put out the light
Love is
Love is the presents in Christmas shops
Love is when you’re feeling Top of the Pops
Love is what happens when the music stops
Love is
Love is white panties lying all forlorn
Love is pink nightdresses still slightly warm
Love is when you have to leave at dawn
Love is
Love is you and love is me
Love is prison and love is free
Love’s what’s there when you are away from me
Love is…

3. ‘How Do I Love Thee’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Browning had the advantage of a good education, not given to most Victorian women in England. She blossomed as a poet and found love with fellow writer, Robert Browning. They married against her father’s wishes and eloped to Italy. It doesn’t get any more romantic than that. The opening lines to this romantic love poem are often quoted; ‘how do I love thee, let me count the ways’.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

2. ‘A Red, Red Rose’ by Robert Burns

This is both a poem and a song, first published in 1794. Burns is one of the most famous Scotsmen in the world and the anniversary of his birth, January 25th, is celebrated around the world with recitations, whiskey and haggis (for those that can stomach it). Burns Night undoubtedly features this romantic poem and the lines, ‘O, my love is like a red, red, rose, that is newly sprung in June’.

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ ’twere ten thousand mile!

1. ‘Love Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare

The most revered playwright in history also found time to compose 154 sonnets, published in 1609. The sonnets are a great source for quotations on the theme of romance, love and passion. He was constantly preoccupied with the relationships between men and women in his writing. Number 130 glories in lines, such as ‘and yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare’.

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

2014 Technology Trend

source: mashable.com

7 Huge Tech Trends to Expect in 2014

Major innovations and tech sea-changes were few and far between in 2013. Unfortunately, what usually follows major advancements are refinements. These days, innovation tends to happen on a nano-scale, which means most people cannot see or experience that evolution.

LCD display technology, for instance, has been around for decades; the changes we’ve lately seen in screen size, width and resolution have, mostly, refined that original idea. Same with Flash-based and solid state storage. We make the technology smaller and more stable but rarely change the fundamentals.

Like 2013, 2014's tech trends may not fundamentally change our lives, but they will improve, alter and, on occasion, impede and frustrate our day-to-day activities.

Bear with me a moment as I gaze into our hazy digital future. Here are a few predictions to emerge from the gloom.

1. Smart Home Tech Explosion

Image: Nest Protect Smoke Detector

We've discussed the "Internet of Things" for a few years now. Finally, that pithy catchphrase is becoming a reality, though not necessarily how we expected.

When I spoke to appliance manufacturers in early 2011, most applauded the prospect, however, insisted the idea would go nowhere without standards or a common appliance language. As a result, early smart home solutions were overcomplicated, closed-loop affairs that were costly to install and confusing to use.

Nest, the smart home thermostat, proved web-connected appliances and systems could be simple, that is, if they relied on an existing communication language (Wi-Fi) and comprehensible and already-adopted interfaces (iOS and Android).

Granted, Nest was not the first to do this. Home security camera manufacturers like DropCamapplied this concept years ago. But while not everyone wants webcam-based home security, every home needs a thermostat. Now Nest is selling smoke detectors, which not only use the same infrastructure to communicate with homeowners, but which connect with other in-home Nest devices, as well.

Similarly, Lockitron lets you lock doors via smartphone. The product has helped encourage other companies, such as Schlage, to introduce their own Internet-ready home security devices.

In 2014, other companies will follow Nest and Lockitron’s lead. They'll shed the last vestiges of proprietary networks and control centers, and along with an explosion of in-home sensors, will help propel the smart home conversion trend in 2014.

2. Privacy Backlash

Image: Getty: JEAN PIERRE CLATOT, AFP

201

2013 was supposed to be the year we gave up on privacy.Instead, Edward Snowden set the National Security Agency's (NSA) veil of secrecy ablaze. As a result, by the end of 2013 we all felt exposed. Now many of the companies we trust with our data are under siege, urging the U.S. government to reform its information collection policies. The populace looked on in horror.

There is no easy fix. At least for now, the law (well, at least one judge) dictates NSA phone record-collection practices are constitutional.

If the law won't help us, and companies like Verizon, AT&T, Google, Yahoo and Facebook can't, I predict people will take matters into their own hands. In 2014, they'll look for ways to either pull back from social media and smartphone use or use tools that will help shield their activities.

Expect a new class of privacy protection companies and services to arrive in 2014, ready to meet what is sure to be a growing need.

3. Ads in Everything

We're already used to copious product placement on the sets of our favorite TV shows. Reality TV, sports broadcasts and even most major news segments are sponsored by brands. Scripted content still follows stricter regulations, but as the economics of content change, everything from websites to music companies will look for new ways to connect advertisers with audiences.

The trend took off in 2013 with brand-supported content (Mashable has a program, too). Simply, it's a way for media companies to produce worthwhile content with advertiser backing. Advertisers get to support topics with some connection to their brand ideals and consumer bases.

That success will embolden other product and media categories that have typically steered clear of blatant brand integration. Scripted TV shows will build entire scripts around brands and products. In 2014, you'll laugh about a Coca-Cola joke in Modern Family and guffaw when Mollyserves Mike a Big Mac. In the post-CD, all-digital world, music is struggling to find a viable economic model. In 2014, expect pop artists to sing the praises of Nike sneakers and Rice Krispies.

It'll seem kitschy, but in the end reflects strategic commerce in lyrical and scripted disguise.

4. Cloud Wars

Image: Getty: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND, AFP

You'll hear a stronger desktop PC death rattle in 2014, as consumers finally embrace cloud storage. Consequently, they'll soon need a lot more than the 5-20 GB standard with most mobile services.

Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google will get serious about marketing and advertising consumer cloud storage, access and work options. They'll also compete more directly, which may result in a price-per-gigabyte war.

Microsoft kicked the competition off in 2013 with 200 GB of free cloud storage — with a Surface 2 tablet purchase.

However, most consumers in 2013 still didn't understand how cloud-based storage works. The disparity of tools, interfaces and storage options is "clouding" what should be a clear picture: The days of storing locally are nearing an end.

In 2014, cloud storage producers will conduct an education, pricing and marketing offensive. By the end of next year, external hard drive sales will decline and cloud storage adoption will have skyrocketed.

5. Hello, 4K Content

Image: Getty: JOHN MACDOUGALL, AFP

You may wonder why, when I was so against 3D TV (dumbest idea ever), I'm so supportive of the latest HDTV craze, 4K. Simply, 4K HDTVs (also known as "Ultra HDTVs") offer screen resolution approximately four times greater than your standard 1080p HDTV. At CES 2013, I saw a number of giant-screen 4K sets. The images were so sharp, clear and brilliant that it was like looking out a window.

TV manufacturers have, throughout 2013, worked on lowering the prices for these incredible sets, but have (smartly) refrained from over-marketing them. They learned a hard lesson with 3D TV, which was heralded as the next big thing. However, despite HDTVs having already saturated the marketplace, manufacturers hoped consumers would swap out their still relatively new HDTVs for what amounted to a new feature. Most did not. Even those who did found the often proprietary lens technology frustrating, with little 3D content to enjoy, anyway.

However, resolution is something consumers understand and, better yet, can enjoy without special, nausea-inducing glasses. Once they transitioned from 4:3 (aspect ratio), 480i (resolution), tube-based TV to 1080i pictures and content (and 1080p Blu-ray discs), there was no going back.

4K TV prices will continue to plummet in 2014. I’ve already seen very low-priced off-brand 4K sets, but consumers should steer clear of those. When 60-inch 4K sets from Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, Vizio and others drop below $2,000, consumers will start buying. Part of that demand will be driven by media companies, some of which are already shooting big budget films in 4K. Mind you, none of those film have made it to 4K Blu-ray. For now, that library is, almost comically, filled with nature films.

In 2014, 4K content won't explode, but it will steadily rise in availability. By next Christmas, 4K TVs and the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 4K will grace quite a few holiday wish lists.

6. Drone Wars

Image: Getty

With one brief 60 Minutes unveil and a short video demo, Jeff Bezos and Amazon thrust drones into the forefront of national consciousness, proposing to use drones as part of an unmanned robot delivery service.

But they didn’t start the conversation.

For years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been examining amateur and commercial drone use. The short story is the FAA has, at least for now, approved just onecommercial drone for use in national airspace — and that's in the Arctic. It has since selected six additional U.S. sites for unmanned aircraft research.

In 2014, the conversation will continue. Amateur drone flyers, like the ones we chronicled earlier this year, will flaunt FAA regulations and fly by more and more national monuments (capturing amazing footage in the process) and anonymous spaces. They'll practice surveillance and try to launch their own drone delivery services. Local authorities and the FAA will scramble to find and ground these flyers.

Meanwhile, more visible national retailers and delivery services, such as Amazon and, maybe, FedEx, will air their frustrations and press the FAA to take a fresh look.

Consumers will remain highly distrustful of any camera-toting technology buzzing over their heads, and the FAA will waffle between commercial demands and consumers desire for privacy and safety. We will not emerge from 2014 with a consensus on drone use.

7. Promising Advancements in Nanotech

Image: Getty: JEAN PIERRE CLATOT, AFP

Molecular-level technology has shifted from theory to potential practical applications. The ability to manipulate particle-level material holds promise for everything from biomedicine to consumer electronics.

The breakthroughs achieved in 2013 will pale in comparison to those we expect in 2014. Researchers are longer simply trying to prove nanotech theories; they're competing to see whose application takes the lead.

Breakthroughs in cancer, Alzheimer’s, vision and hearing loss, data storage and manipulation could all be on the menu in 2014. Look forward to miracles at a micro scale.

With 365 days and 8,760 hours in the year, there’s no telling what other surprises 2014 has in store for us. Will a new social network rival Twitter or Facebook? (Nah.) Will tablets get bigger, smaller, thinner and fatter? (Oddly, yeah). Will wearable technology be bigger in 2014 than in 2013? (Sorry, my crystal ball clouded up on that one.)

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: iStockphoto, dvarg