Technology has come a long way in the past few decades. In 1946, the world’s first general-purpose computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), weighed 30 tonnes and took up 1,800 square feet of space. 72 years later, researchers at the University of Michigan in the US unveiled the “world’s smallest computer,” measuring just 0.3mm (smaller than a grain of rice).
While mobile phones that fit in the palm of your hand are common, smaller and equally efficient phones are available: today, billions of transistors can be packed onto a chip the size of your fingernail.
As technology advances at breakneck speed, here are six “miniature” gadgets and inventions that have the potential to transcend your life.
power up
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Small enough to be installed on a balcony or hung from a window railing, the miniature panels are quietly transforming homes across Germany. “You don’t have to drill holes or hammer anything in,” one user told The New York Times.
“You just hang it on your balcony like wet laundry.” Photovoltaic power is sent to an inverter, which converts it to alternating current. It is then plugged into a conventional wall socket to power your home. A complete plug-in set, including panel, mount, inverter and cables, costs around 400 euros. Each lightweight panel produces enough power to charge a laptop, but the devices have become very popular in Germany since new laws relaxed restrictions on their installation. A German regulator said the country added 9 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first half of this year.
Game Start
About the size of a home projector, the Geekom IT13 mini PC packs the power of a full-sized computer and can support up to four displays. The Taiwanese company’s machine is powered by a 13th generation Intel Core i9-13900H processor with 14 cores, 20 threads, and 24 MB cache, which can reach clock speeds of up to 5.40 GHz. Despite these specs, it consumes only 90 watts of power, which is about a quarter of the power of a standard desktop computer. For gamers, stock traders, or anyone whose job requires multiple monitors with minimal lag, this small but powerful computer is ideal. It’s available on Amazon and retails for around $899.
Adding “smallness” to small screens
When it comes to television, advertisers clamor that bigger is better. But the TinyTV 2, which started as a Kickstarter project, proves that the opposite is also true. TinyTV2 is the brainchild of TinyCircuits, a US company that designs and manufactures small electronic products. The company’s TinyTV 2 has a 1-inch screen with a tiny 0.5-inch speaker and an even smaller 3-gram remote control. It comes preloaded with videos, and users can turn a knob to switch channels. You can also load your own videos using an MP4 converter available on the company’s website.
A dot in the sky
How light can planes be? In July, Chinese researchers announced they had developed the world’s smallest and lightest solar-powered drone, weighing just over 4 grams, the equivalent of a teaspoon of sugar (4.2 grams). According to an article in Nature magazine, the ultra-lightweight micro-aircraft, called the Coulomb Fly, is propelled by electrostatic motors and powered by extremely lightweight solar panels. However, the researchers said that hummingbird-sized drones are still two to three years away from practical use.
The pill will treat you
The PillBot is a tiny, ingestible camera device developed by California-based medical technology company Endiatx.
The device, a pill about the size of a pistachio, could help doctors remotely examine a patient’s digestive tract with great precision and control.
Sunburn warning
First unveiled at CES 2018, the L’Oreal UV Sense is one of the world’s smallest wearables. Smaller in circumference than an M&M, this battery-free, wearable electronic sensor measures UV exposure. Users download the app to their smartphone and simply swipe their phone over the device to see their sun exposure for the day or over a period of time (UV Sense can store up to three months of data). The app sends messages to the phone in real time if people exceed the daily safe sun limit.
