Contradictory Apple Watch Rumors; Solar Cell Makes Electricity from Water AND Sunlight

According to usually reliable KGI Securities, Apple Watch shipments will drop 25% this year compared to last, and version 2.0 will be out third quarter. They say it’s mostly due to an ‘immature wearable device market.’ Meanwhile, Brian White, an Apple analyst with a somewhat more sketchy track record, says Watch 2 will be out at WWDC in June, be 40% thinner. Macrumors.com reports that both analysts look for a FaceTime video camera, better Wi-Fi, and better battery life.

Engineers in China have come up with a clever way to leach electricity from rain water in solar cells. According to gizmodo.com, they coat the cells with a thin sheet of graphene. Rainwater isn’t pure…it contains small amounts of a ammonium, calcium, and sodium, all of which ionize when in a solution. The graphene creates what the engineers call a ‘pseudo capacitor,’ where electrons move from one side to the other…presto! Electricity. At this point, the cells are only 6% efficient, while most solar cells are 20% efficient at converting sunshine to electricity, but still…6% is not bad for a cloudy, rainy day when the cells will be able to grab precious little solar energy.