Willard Boyle, man who revolutionized digital imaging, dies at 86

We have some sad news to share with you today: Willard Boyle, the man who created the imaging technology behind everything from digital cameras to barcode scanners, has died at the age of 86. In 2009, Boyle shared a Nobel Prize in physics for inventing the CCD, which allowed people to capture images in digital format for the first time. It all began way back in 1969, when Boyle and his future co-Laureate, George E. Smith, started laying the groundwork for the CCD while working at Bell Laboratories. Building off of Einstein's photoelectric effect, the two eventually came up with a way to locate and quantify the electrons that are knocked out of orbit every time light strikes silicon. Boyle and Smith used this technology to create their own digital camera in 1970, as well as a TV camera in 1975. Prior to his groundbreaking invention, Boyle spent two years working for NASA's Apollo program and helped develop both the ruby laser and the semiconductor injection laser. The last three decades of Boyle's life were spent in Wallace, Canada, where he grew up and, on May 7th, passed away after battling kidney disease. He's survived by his wife, three children and an indelible legacy.

Los Angeles Times

T-Mobile 2011 roadmap leaks, lists loads of specific release dates?

Samsung's Hercules was the entree, but there's always room for dessert, and if you'd like to finish off your meal with juicy cellular rumors, This is my next has you covered. The publication now claims to have T-Mobile's entire 2011 device roadmap in their possession, replete with alleged release dates for a stable of phones and hotspots -- some of which we've never heard of before -- which should make for plenty of excitement in the months to come. Find all the highlights after the break.

• June 8th will reportedly bring the HTC Sensation 4G, as we've heard before, as well as the Samsung Gravity Touch 2 and Samsung SGH-T759 (apparently codename "Hawk"), as well as the Huawei E587 hotspot (aka Wayne) that should provide up to 42Mbps HSPA+ downloads.

• July 6th finds the HTC Doubleshot / MyTouch 4G Slide, while July 15 brings the HTC Marvel, a Wildfire S look-alike.

• July 27th will apparently bring the BlackBerry "Monza" -- or whatever they're calling it these days -- which will apparently cost "under $200" on contract.

• August 17th is when the BlackBery Bold Touch may roll out, and the August 31st is when we could finally see the BlackBerry Apollo.

• There's a Nokia Nuron 4G (codename Panda) listed for September 21st, priced under $150 with a small 3.2-inch 640 x 360 display and Symbian on board.

• Samsung's Hercules will apparently pull its weight September 26th. We can't wait.

• November 2nd will bring a pair of LG phones, the Maxx and Maxx Q, the latter of which will have a QWERTY keyboard.

Not bad, eh? And those are only the devices that have a date -- hit the source link for speculation about some of the more obscure items, including the Samsung Dumont, LG Optimus II, and the HTC Bresson and G-Infinity.

This is my next