Graphene might replace silicon (and other things we didn't cover)

It’s kind of weird coming back to the Internet after a combination of Maker Faire, a wedding, and getting sick. So here’s today’s edition of GeekBytes chock full of news that’s even new to me.

Graphene one step closer to replacing silicon-based chips [NTNU]

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have developed a cheaper and easier way to manufacture graphene nanowires. The new process creates a thinner, more flexible and transparent substrate that could someday replace silicon as the main semiconductor ingredient. The researchers expect their new graphene-based semiconductors to end up in LEDs and transparent solar panels windows. [via IEEE Spectrum ]

Eric Hagan’s Cycle [NYU ITP]

Eric Hagan’s Cycle video sculpture was one of the most impressive things I saw at the New York Maker Faire last weekend. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took could do it justice. Cycle is essentially an interactive sculpture with a forest road painted onto a large wheel that’s turned by a stationary bike. While it didn’t look like much on the wheel itself, Hagan set up a PlayStation Eye toy—with no video processing whatsoever—to take some incredible close-up footage of the rolling vista on a screen in front of the bike.

Lens cap & hood combo [Hoocap]

Putting things on your camera lens is always annoying. I always seem to forget to put on my lens hood—and I usually misplace my lens cap in the process. Here’s a device called the Hoocap that combines the two so that you'll never forget either one. It’s both a lens cap that blooms into a lens hood and a lens hood that collapses into a lens cap. For now you can only buy a Canon version, but the company behind the accessory says it has a version for Nikon, Sony, and Leica cameras in the works. [via PetaPixel ]