Apple Signs Exclusive Deal for Liquidmetal Alloy

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[citation][nom]spagunk[/nom]Ok, you all are suffering from wiki fail if you don't know why it is called liquid metal.The stuff is liquid in the same vein as glass. If you know your science, you would know that glass is technically not a solid in the traditional sense in that it slowly moves over the ages. Same thing with this stuff. [/citation]
Before you accuse people of wiki fail, you should probably look up "glass" and "amorphous solid" on wiki.

Had you done so, you would have realized that glass does not flow, and it is in fact an amorphous solid, not a liquid. Just because there is not a traditional first order phase transition doesn't mean that it is still a liquid. If you really want the details, look up "glass transition".
 
[citation][nom]mlopinto2k1[/nom]Because liquid metal is the name of the type of metal, right? LOL, make copper liquid and it'll conduct heat better than solid copper with thermal paste as well.[/citation]
Actually, liquid metals don't have better thermal conductivity than copper. They do, however, have significantly less interfacial resistance resulting in better thermal performance. We make a few phase change products that use liquid metal and they perform pretty awesome, but it's not because of high thermal conductivity of the material.
 
[citation][nom]Pei-chen[/nom]Good for Apple. It is true that this will limit other companies' use of this alloy but the fact it, if Apple hasn't done it, none of them will.Just look at how Apple revolutionize the market with iTunes’ $1.00 per song, the iPod, and iPhone's multi-touch. If it was not for Apple's willingness to risk it and back it up with marketing money, we will still be using Blackberries and $16.00 CDs.[/citation]
Back off on the Apple Kool-Aid man. Because god knows nothing has ever been invented by anyone other than Apple. We all just sit around waiting for Apple to make something new so we can copy it. I would argue that iTunes was largely just a copy of the original napster with a price tag added. I also recalled using an old as dirt Creative Labs nomad MP3 player daily before iPods even existed (and my nomad wasn't even the first MP3 player I remember seeing). Considering how many of my buddies used Winamp in the late 90s instead of their cd collections, MP3 players were an inevitability, regardless if Apple would have gotten involved or not. Apple hardly has a monopoly on risk taking nor developing new technologies. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of companies developing new things every day and taking risks. I would argue that Apple has an excellent marketing dept however.
 
[citation][nom]maestintaolius[/nom]Actually, liquid metals don't have better thermal conductivity than copper. They do, however, have significantly less interfacial resistance resulting in better thermal performance. We make a few phase change products that use liquid metal and they perform pretty awesome, but it's not because of high thermal conductivity of the material.[/citation]All I was trying to say was the name of the liquid metal was not "liquid metal"... but, what kind of metals do you work with that are liquid? I would imagine mercury is one of them? No?
 
lol so how much are there products going to cost now? you know doesnt matter how strong you have something, it would have to be on a scale of 10,50,100 for it to be seen as useful when talking about very thin walls... i really doubt they will get much out of it... btw this will be even heavier then the current phones, i doubt people will like that, instead they should consider coatings and other means to reduce scratches and what not... having very hard materials is bad in some cases you want it to be tough enough but yet ductile to a point to absorb otherwise it will just shatter when something goes past its ultimate yield str

there are so many variables its not even funny, and they always come with pro's and cons... and no cost isnt one of them sure things get expensive but every material today has pro's and cons and fits specific needs

everyone wishing and looking for some material that is light and yet indestructible as well as resists corrosiveness is dreaming

if anything they should go with composite and synthetically eng derived nature as we know some things in nature are 100x better then what we have come up with
 
[citation][nom]mlopinto2k1[/nom]All I was trying to say was the name of the liquid metal was not "liquid metal"... but, what kind of metals do you work with that are liquid? I would imagine mercury is one of them? No?[/citation]
No, you'd never be able to sell anything with liquid mercury in it... well, maybe in China.

Most room temp liquid metals are gallium/indium based alloys. Gallium itself will melt at body temp but is solid at room temp, if you mix gallium with indium it'll melt below room temp. The big issue is you can only use it as a TIM where electrical isolation isn't required and it doesn't come in contact with aluminium (i.e. cheap heat sinks) because it'll pit/dissolve it, copper is ok though. You can also make some with Cesium or Francium but Cesium is crazy reactive with things and Francium is also crazy reactive and radioactive.
 
Liquidmetal is no different from Kevlar or Teflon in that it is a proprietary compound that was chemically engineered by a company who holds the exclusive proprietary rights to it. It is NOT a naturally occurring material. Think of all of the patented medications that do not have generic equivalents. 3M's endless arrays of proprietary adhesives, films and other chemicals (which is most of them). Apple does not "own" and is not responsible for the creation or production of liquidmetal alloy; that falls squarely with Liquidmetal Technologies. Apple has merely leased the exclusive rights to use it as a production material. This is a very common practice with all sorts of specially-engineered materials. If there were a patent system all the way back to the time of the Bronze Age, it would have been patented as well, and same goes for steel. Eventually the patent would expire after a lot of research on the material had been conducted and everyone would have access to a more refined material as a result without having to perform the research themselves. While this probably would have slowed down the advance of civilization back when these materials were truly revolutionary, these days advanced materials like liquidmetal do not stand by themselves and face competition not only from other advanced materials but also from conventional materials that are more than sufficient for what they're used for and cheap to produce and use.
Believe me, if nobody has been using liquidmetal in electronics since Nokia many moons ago, then it really isn't a loss for anybody. More than anything, Liquidmetal Technologies is probably doing this to gain brand-awareness through use of highly publicized consumer goods with tremendous brand recognition. It may really only move other manufacturers to start using more conventional, yet advanced, materials such as magnesium alloy in more of their mainstream products.
 
on a lighter side of some issues if not many, the lack of reasoning and issues involved with product failures and construction should go down or up.
 
[citation][nom]anonymousdude[/nom]Time for apple to charge even more for their stuff[/citation]
It's worth it...

well for iPods atleast.... no comment on the rest 😛
 
[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]Great. Apple going about, locking others out of innovation. Haven't we seen this before...?[/citation]
Let 'em have it, if you compare LiquidMetal to something like Rex 121 it is about as strong & hard as a dish of butter left on the window ledge on a hot summers day.

It really doesn't matter waht you make a case from however, if you drop one, the impact shock can shatter internal componants just as easily.
Example?
Take an egg, put it inside a tin can and with a baseball bat.
You'll be having omelettes quicker than you can say "marketing fad".

If they wanted to do something useful they should have looked into laptop screens made from aluminium-oxides (sapphire)
 
Apple's agreement with Liquidmetal means that the only electronics and computers using this metal will be from the Cupertino company, though anything outside that will still have access to the alloy technology.
Click to expand...

Before I read that part I was going to freak out but as long as it can be used outside the computer industry freely still I don't care what apple makes their crap computers out of.
 
SanDisk had a whole line of USB drives with this metal casing. Not sure what made them abandon the idea (other than cost), but the Cruzer Titanium drives were mechanically very strong, but lacked electrical durability. Sure, you could drive a truck across it, but simply unplugging while still mounted could destroy it for good.
 
[citation][nom]PhantomTrooper[/nom]duh its owned by apple. they are obviously the ones going to make the t-1000 since they are the evil company. the t-1000 will start out by being the apple enforcer, but soon it will turn on them and all humankind. lol[/citation]

Trendy T-1000s. Sounds fun. Guess we should notify the Govenator.
 
[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]Great. Apple going about, locking others out of innovation. Haven't we seen this before...?[/citation]

How is Apple guilty that they are innovative?

DEll, HP, ASUS, all had a chance of exploring this possibility and acquiring Liquid Metal.

There is and Innovator and followers, and Apple tends to be the first one, while the rest of the people are stuck with plastic laptops.

And stop crying about prices, HP is offering the Envy with Aluminium decoration and its price is $800 more than a regular laptop... now imagine if they are to offer a full aluminium body laptop....
 
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