Rumor: Apple looking into using carbon fiber in 'completely different' way than usual

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  • Reply 21 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

    Have you ever seen a horse try to use a Samsung Galaxy Note? It's a terrible sight.




    Poor thing. But I suppose without a rein-tina display, he'd have to hold it closer than he'd like.





    Originally Posted by GTR View Post

    Or possibly carbon fiber robots, that repair and re-fill the scratches as they appear in real-time.


     


    Nanomachines, crawling along the case of the iPhone, automatically fixing any damage… 


     


    To put this great string of jokes aside, that's the future. The real future. And I hope to live to see it.

  • Reply 22 of 48

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


     


    Sadly, the Edison rumors ended with his death.



    Edison was a Capitalistic pig.


    If he had his way and still alive, our phones would be single use so we would have to buy a new one every time they ran out of juice.


     


    If Edison wasn't in the way, Tesla's inventions would have revolutionized the world and the "World of Tomorrow" that was featured at World Expos would have looked antique compared to his stuff.

  • Reply 23 of 48
    bagmanbagman Posts: 349member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post




    Poor thing. But I suppose without a rein-tina display, he'd have to hold it closer than he'd like.


     


    Nanomachines, crawling along the case of the iPhone, automatically fixing any damage… 


     


    To put this great string of jokes aside, that's the future. The real future. And I hope to live to see it.



    What happens when they get out of control........Infectious Apple nanites destroy civilization !!

  • Reply 24 of 48

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by KindredMac View Post


    Edison was a Capitalistic pig.


    If he had his way and still alive, our phones would be single use so we would have to buy a new one every time they ran out of juice.


     


    If Edison wasn't in the way, Tesla's inventions would have revolutionized the world and the "World of Tomorrow" that was featured at World Expos would have looked antique compared to his stuff.



     


    Yeah, I know. We'd probably also have time machines and star trek teleporters by now too if it weren't for that damned Capitalistic Pig Edison "in the way."


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GTR View Post


     


    You reckon they'd still be horse-drawn?



     


    Edison was a proponent of electric cars, and in fact, built a practical and efficient prototype 100 years ago, but they'd rather name modern electric cars after Tesla. Go figure.

  • Reply 25 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Bagman View Post

    What happens when they get out of control........Infectious Apple nanites destroy civilization !!


     


    You know, I've never really put much stock in the grey goo theory because the transmutation of matter is HARD. Really hard. Otherwise we'd all be driving solid gold Oldsmobiles powered by liquid helium. Heck, even making water is hard. Let's assume that the nanomachines can transmute nitrogen in the air into aluminum for the iPhone case. That's a big deal. It's a really big deal, because that's really hard. It take a lot of energy to do, and doing it in the scale needed to allow nanotech devices to use the product would be a spectacular accomplishment, because the work is really done at the Planck scale. The whole endeavor, really, is fanciful. Nitrogen to aluminum is too energy-wasteful to be meaningfully done, so unless these nanomachines are consciously given the material they're designed to transmute, they'll never self-replicate enough to cause problems. It's not like the remake of War of the Worlds where anything processed can be used as their fuel; that's not how it works. You could dump a cloud of sentient, malevolent nanomachines in a field, and unless the grass is made of tin, they're stuck.

  • Reply 26 of 48
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    You know, I've never really put much stock in the grey goo theory because the transmutation of matter is HARD. Really hard. Otherwise we'd all be driving solid gold Oldsmobiles powered by liquid helium. Heck, even making water is hard. Let's assume that the nanomachines can transmute nitrogen in the air into aluminum for the iPhone case. That's a big deal. It's a really big deal, because that's really hard. It take a lot of energy to do, and doing it in the scale needed to allow nanotech devices to use the product would be a spectacular accomplishment, because the work is really done at the Planck scale. The whole endeavor, really, is fanciful. Nitrogen to aluminum is too energy-wasteful to be meaningfully done, so unless these nanomachines are consciously given the material they're designed to transmute, they'll never self-replicate enough to cause problems. It's not like the remake of War of the Worlds where anything processed can be used as their fuel; that's not how it works. You could dump a cloud of sentient, malevolent nanomachines in a field, and unless the grass is made of tin, they're stuck.



     


    So you're saying Bill Joy was a panicky, joyless alarmist? :D

  • Reply 27 of 48
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    I can't help but think if EdisonInsider posted an article about every type of material Edison tried to use as filament in the electric light bulb, there would be a lot of articles too.



     


    1) Edison was a hack, and a thief who spit on people shoes for laughs. 


     


    2) Apple has only ever used like three or maybe four materials for product in the entire time they've been making mobile devices. 

  • Reply 28 of 48
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member


    In case anyone's interested, the original patents they had on this basically implied that the fibre would be knitted or woven into custom shapes.  


     


    In other words, instead of laying down flat sheets into a curved mould as everyone does, they were thinking of knitting a 3D shape for the sheet so that it fit better, looked better, had better strength and required less sanding and processing overall.  I don't know if it's practical at all or if it worked, but I know they did a lot of extensive testing just around the time when the first iPad came out.  

  • Reply 29 of 48


    Speaking of Tesla, the Oatmeal has an entertaining and informative comic about him here: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

     

  • Reply 30 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post

    2) Apple has only ever used like three or maybe four materials for product in the entire time they've been making mobile devices. 


     


    Depends on your definition of 'material'.

  • Reply 31 of 48
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    So carbon fiber doesn't scratch?
  • Reply 32 of 48
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    So carbon fiber doesn't scratch?


     


    My understanding is that the scratch resistance of carbon fiber is very similar to the material used for the back of the iPhone 3G.  It's just cloth covered with resin, not unlike fiberglass, so the scratch resistance is limited to the strength of the resin.

  • Reply 33 of 48
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Edison was a proponent of electric cars, and in fact, built a practical and efficient prototype 100 years ago, but they'd rather name modern electric cars after Tesla. Go figure.

    Edison probably would have been ruled out on trademark considerations. Naming a product or a company often has considerations not stated in the official story.
  • Reply 34 of 48
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    gazoobee wrote: »
    Apple has only ever used like three or maybe four materials for product in the entire time they've been making mobile devices. 

    Correct.

    1. Metal
    2. Glass
    3. Plastic
    4. Underage Chinese workers.
  • Reply 35 of 48
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Depends on your definition of 'material'.



     


    Duh.  For the back casing as per the discussion.  

  • Reply 36 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post

    Duh.  For the back casing as per the discussion.  


     


    For the cases, you're right; it's four.

  • Reply 37 of 48
    I did read an interesting article the other day about a company that developed a new version of carbon fibre using a liquid plastic as a setting and bonding agent instead of traditional resin. This new process allows carbon fibre to be used more in a standard molding process than the baking that current carbon fibre requires. Also it creates much lighter parts, up to 20% as often the resin is the heaviest part of CF manufacture. The parts are just as strong and far more intricate shapes can be created. I wonder if Apple is on to this ?
  • Reply 38 of 48
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GTR View Post


     


    Oh, please!


     


    I've been telling everybody and his dog about how Apple's been secretly working on carbon fiber socks for years, but does anybody listen to me?


     


    Noooooo...



     


    No it's for the upcoming flying cars that will link into iOS 6 maps, when the true purpose of flyover will be revealed.


     


     


  • Reply 39 of 48

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


     


    No it's for the upcoming flying cars that will link into iOS 6 maps, when the true purpose of flyover will be revealed.


     


     




     Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, is that you?

  • Reply 40 of 48

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    Edison was a hack, and a thief who spit on people shoes for laughs. 



     


    ...he wrote, by the light of an oil lamp, fist balled up in anger.

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