New and Emerging Technology News part 58 ~ NEW GEN TECH LIFE : new generation technology news

Saturday 25 January 2014

New and Emerging Technology News part 58

First retina created from stem cells could help millions
In another world first in the fight against degenerative eye disorders, scientists from the Universtiy of California, Irvine, have created an eight-layer early-stage retina from human embryonic stem cells. Not only is this the world's first three-dimensional complex tissue structure to be made from stem cells, but it also marks the first step toward the development of transplant-ready retinas to treat eye disorders affecting millions.  Read More
Toshiba Europe has announced a waterproof addition to its Camileo range of camcorders, the...
Toshiba Europe has announced a waterproof addition to its Camileo range of camcorders. Designed for active sports people, adventure travelers and active families, the BW10 full HD sportcam can withstand immersion in the wet stuff to a depth of about 6.5 feet and shoots in full HD with image stabilization.  Read More
The first of the collaborative tablets is likely to be based on Marvell's Moby reference d...
A partnership has been announced that aims to give schoolchildren throughout the globe easier access to powerful tablet computer technology. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and the Marvell Technology Group have joined forces to create a family of educational tablets based on OLPC's OX-3 and Marvell's Moby reference designs. The coalition is aiming to show off its first product at next year's CES.  Read More
Extreme beer - man's favourite drink suddenly gets much stronger
Alcohol is the oldest and most commonly used of all recreational drugs, with annual sales exceeding one trillion U.S. dollars. Beer has been the world's most popular alcohol since before the invention of the wheel with annual sales now exceeding US$500 billion. Most of the world’s beer has between 4% and 6% alcohol by volume, and the strength of beer achieved by natural fermentation brewing methods has limits, but a well crafted beer that is repeatedly “freeze distilled” can achieve exquisite qualities and much higher alcohol concentrations. An escalation in the use of this new methodology over the last 12 months has seen man's favorite beverage suddenly become stronger than spirits such as whisky and vodka, and more expensive too. The world's strongest beer is getting much stronger, very quickly, and this week we spoke to the brewers at the centre of an informal but escalating competition to brew the world's strongest beer. New contestants are gathering, and the race is now on to break 50% alcohol by volume.  Read More
Dr. Mao's microchannelled scaffold
Conventional dental implants are typically screwed into the patient’s jaw bone, require visits to several types of clinicians, take two to six months to heal and are still subject to failure. Not exactly an ideal solution to missing teeth. A professor of dental medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, however, has devised a technique wherein implants could be grown in the empty tooth socket, right inside the patient’s mouth.  Read More
The University of Wisconsin team preparing their vehicle
Not long ago we told you about the Moto Student competition, wherein teams of students from across Spain and the rest of Europe are competing to build racing motorcycles. Well, a similar competition is underway in the US, and it’s called EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge. In this contest, teams of North American engineering students are competing to convert GM-supplied vehicles into super-efficient, super-clean-running, high-tech wonders. The second year of the three-year contest wrapped up this week, with Mississippi State University (MSU) taking the top spot.  Read More
Moving the hand away from the tap alters the stream type
Traditional taps run the risk of transmitting dirt and germs from the hand to the tap when turning it on, and transmitting them back to the just washed hand when turning the tap off. Kind of counter-productive. Touch sensitive taps like Delta’s Pilar kitchen faucet are one solution and the sensor activated taps often found in public toilets are another. Designer Jasper Dekker has come up with an even better solution with his Spatial Interaction faucet that allows users to control not only flow, but also temperature and stream type with a wave of a hand.  Read More
The Manta bicycle saddle
First of all, let’s just say it: this is the most bizarre-looking bicycle saddle of all time. Feel free to disagree, but c’mon, just look at the thing - it’s like the bike is sporting a leaf rake, or perhaps even a rib cage. Like most funny-looking bike seats, however, the Manta promises to rectify one of the most common of cyclists’ complaints... the all-too-familiar “numb bum.”  Read More
The YEE flying car concept
Flying cars might still be a long way from becoming a commercial reality, but that doesn't stop designers letting their imaginations run wild when it comes to envisioning the airborne automobiles of the future... and they sure make for some gorgeous conceptual art. A case in point is the YEE, designed by South China University of Technology (SCUT) industrial design students Pan Jiazhi, Zhu Wenxi and Lai Zexin. Last month, their creation won the Gold Award for Best Creative Future at the First International Concept Car Design Contest in Beijing. One look at it, and it’s easy to see why.  Read More
ASUS' Republic of Gamers series Crosshair IV Formula
It's been an incredibly fast paced week at TweakTown with hordes of new goodies passing through the labs and leaving memorable impressions. The wrap-up includes a look at OCD's Vertex 2 'E' series SSD, the latest chassis from Cooler Master and a very nice 27-inch sized LCD from Dell.  Read More

 
Acer joins the e-Reader party with the LumiRead
Sometimes it pays to sit back a while and wait to see what everyone else has to offer before revealing your own hand. But at this late stage, what could any manufacturer possibly bring to the e-Reader table? Well, in addition to offering wireless connectivity, access to a vast library of eBook content, a QWERTY keyboard and a 6 inch e-Ink display, the LumiRead e-Reader from Acer also allows users to scan ISBN codes on actual books to help quickly locate their digital counterparts.  Read More
The Boogie Board is a multi-purpose paper replacement LCD note pad which uses novel techno...
If you need something a little more responsive and modern than an Etch-a-Sketch and can't wait for a Scribble to break cover, then perhaps the Boogie Board can help. The pressure-sensitive LCD display requires no power to retain an image, and is ideal for virtually any task that requires a temporary note to be taken.  Read More
ASUS shows Eee Tablet and 2 Eee Pads
Asus kicked off Computex 2010 today with the announcement of three tablets, the Eee Tablet, the 12" Eee Pad EP121 and the 10" Eee Pad EP101TC. The biggest surprise? Asus is claiming an iPad-like ten hour battery life for all three devices. With battery life being such a crucial benchmark for tablets, we hope this figure holds up to real world usage.  Read More
Sanyo has unveiled the world's shortest focus 3D-ready projector which can send an 80 inch...
One of the most frustrating aspects of giving presentations is finding the perfect spot for the projector. Too close to the screen and the image is too small to be of any use, too far away and some unwelcome shadow puppetry may creep in. Sanyo has announced the forthcoming availability of the world's shortest focus projector, the PDG-DWL2500J, which may help overcome such issues. Placing it less than an inch away from the screen, wall or blackboard results in a comfortably viewable 80 inch projected image. The unit happens to be 3D ready too.  Read More
Skype has updated its iPhone App to include 3G Skype-to-Skype voice calls
Skype has updated its iPhone App to include 3G Skype-to-Skype voice calls. While version one of the Skype App supported VOIP calls via Wi-Fi, the latest version brings this functionality to the iPhone and iPod touch (2nd generation onwards) over 3G networks.  Read More
Autonomous underwater vehicle to study Deepwater Horizon oil spill
With the latest attempt to stem the oil flow from the Deepwater Horizon oil well by pumping heavy drilling liquids into the well having failed, there is still no end in sight to the disaster that began more than a month ago. To help shed some light on where oil is spilling beneath the ocean surface and to aid biologists and others understand the effects of this catastrophic event, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s (MBARI’s) Division of Marine Operations has sent a high-tech robotic submersible to the oily waters of the Gulf.  Read More
Imperial College's SRZERO EV has  completed two laps of on the M25 motorway
UK students have driven an electric car around Greater London twice on a single charge. Using a specially modified electric Radical SRZERO supercar, the Racing Green Endurance (RGE) team from Imperial College completed two laps of the M25 motorway in the wee hours of Friday morning, covering a total distance of 250 miles (400km). The feat is a lead up to an attempt later this year at becoming the first EV to conquer the longest road on Earth - the Pan American Highway.  Read More
Transmission Electron Micrograph of the Ebola Virus
In a world full of scary viruses Ebola surely ranks right up there amongst the scariest. It can cause fever, rashes, muscle pain, headache, followed by internal and external bleeding, with case fatality rates as high as 80 percent in humans. Currently there are no available vaccines or therapies to combat the virus. Now scientists report they have successfully prevented monkeys exposed to the virus from dying from hemorrhagic fever and suggest that such protection should be possible for humans.  Read More
Monsterbike: you won't even hear the screams of the taxi drivers that cut you off
Ask people why they ride their bicycles to work and they'll tell you it's because they enjoy the physical exercise, the exertion, a morning workout that gets them awake and feeling sharp for their 9am meeting. Why, then, would you spend 10 grand on a bicycle that makes cycling easier and less strenuous, giving you less exercise per mile? We reckon this guy has the right idea - he's built a modern day penny farthing called the Monsterbike using a massive monster truck tyre as the front wheel. Sure, it seems to have a top speed just above walking pace, and it looks like a heck of an effort to ride - but the exercise factor is huge, and you'll never feel intimidated in traffic again!  Read More
The Robby Garden XP robotic lawn mower
Kids could soon be looking for another way to make some pocket money with robotic lawn mowers such as the Husqvarna’s Automower Solar Hybrid robot mower now staking a claim for the job. The latest yard roaming mower to join the fray is the Robby Garden XP that uses its patented grass detection sensors to get the job done without the need to install a virtual perimeter wire. It also mulches as it goes to help fertilize the lawn and eliminate the need for post-mowing raking.  Read More

Jon Leary and friends, with his mobile bicycle-powered pump
University of Sheffield student Jon Leary was required to “make something useful out of rubbish” as part of his dissertation. What he ended up doing was transforming lives. As part of his studies as a Mechanical Engineering major, Jon spent four months in Guatemala. There, he introduced the locals to his bicibomba movil, a mobile bicycle-powered water pump. Now, using cast-off bicycles and discarded pumps, Guatemalan farmers can irrigate their land much more easily and effectively than ever before.  Read More
SanDisk has announced a performance and capacity upgrade for its new G4 and P4 series SSDs
You may be forgiven for thinking that you are seeing double at the SanDisk booth at Computex... double the storage that is. The company has just announced that it has doubled the capacity of its SSD solutions and thrown in a performance upgrade for good measure, too. The two new flavors will come in various compact form factors with the G4 running up to 256GB and the P4 to 128GB.  Read More
The bright green wings of the P. blumei butterfly result from the mixing of the different ...
Counterfeiting is a crime as old as money itself. It causes a reduction in the value of real money and can add to company losses, as they are not reimbursed for counterfeits. In 1996 Australia became the first country to have a full series of circulating polymer banknotes, which are difficult to counterfeit because they cannot be successfully reproduced by photocopying or scanning. Now scientists have discovered a way of mimicking the stunningly bright and beautiful colors found on the wings of tropical butterflies, that could help make banknotes and credit cards even harder to forge.  Read More
X2 Technology demonstrator reaches 181 knots in flight #12 at West Palm Beach facility
Sikorsky Aircraft’s goal of producing the fastest helicopter ever built has taken another step towards becoming a reality. Its coaxial X2 Technology demonstrator has achieved a speed of 181 knots (208 mph) in a test flight – faster than the 160-170 knot speeds generally possible with conventional helicopters and edging closer to the eventual aim of delivering 250 knot (288 mph) cruising speeds.  Read More
Waterproof your iPad with the Waterwear transparent casing
So infatuated with your new iPad that you can’t bear to be apart from it for the briefest of moments – not even in the shower? Then this transparent, waterproof casing from Tokyo-based company, Tunewear, could be the perfect apparel for your digital pride and joy. Dubbed the Waterwear for iPAD/Tablet PC the clear plastic housing allows full multi-touch operation while your device is protected from dust and water.  Read More
LV Series of 3D-compatible AQUOS Quattron LCD TVs
Sharp is set to unleash its new LV Series of 3D-compatible AQUOS Quattron LCD TVs into the Japanese market. The four new LV Series models will be bundled with 3D glasses and feature the company's "four-primary-color" technology which adds yellow to the conventional red, blue and green primary colors to improve the reproduction of colors like (yes) yellow, gold and emerald green. Sharp has also announced new LX Series and super slim XF Series 2-D AQUOS Quattron LCD TVs and two new AQUOS Blu-ray recorders that support 3-D Blu-ray.  Read More
Scott Garner and his Piano Gloves prototype
Would-be Liberaces could soon be wearing a keyboard on their hands in the form of the Piano Gloves. Created by Scott Garner, the prototype gloves let the wearer play a piano on any surface via buttons on the tips of the fingers. Audio is processed via an Arduino microcontroller wired to the buttons and presently the software can be set to play a major scale or ten semitones, which would limit the gloves to playing tunes comprised of ten or less notes, but Scott is looking at ways to expand the repertoire.  Read More
All-electric Dynacar reaches 87 mph in 10 seconds
Despite some notable exceptions, electric vehicles are still perceived by many as offering less than impressive performance and the looks to match. The latest EV to challenge both those preconceptions is the "Dynacar" – an experimental all-electric car that can reach a speed of 140 kmh (87 mph) in 10 seconds, and accelerate from 0 to 100 kmh (62 mph) in under an estimated 5.7 seconds.  Read More
Frederik Podzuweit has designed a collar that contains resonating membranes to allow the h...
There are times when not being able to hear the wailing caterwaul that sometimes passes for music would be a distinct bonus. On the whole, though, the hearing impaired have it rough where music is concerned. A German designer has proposed incorporating a membrane into a special collar which resonates when music is played through it, allowing people with hearing difficulties to really get down and feel the funk.  Read More
Hollywood's V-MODA brings high fashion to quality audio with the release of the Crossfade ...
Hollywood's V-MODA brings high fashion to quality audio with the release of the Crossfade LP headphones. Users are promised premium audio delivery thanks to an efficient new driver system, a comfortable long-haul experience thanks to memory foam cushioning and a good-looking set of adaptable cans to boot.  Read More
 
UPNA's wireless shipping container sensors
If you were shipping, say... a cargo container of pineapples from Hawaii to Poland, you would probably want to know what was happening to those pineapples along the way. For instance, were they allowed to get too hot or too cold? Did they clear customs? Did they follow the planned route? Using wireless radio frequency identification sensors recently developed at Spain’s Public University of Navarre (UPNA ), you could know all these things and more, in real time.  Read More
The Grow Your Own Beer Garden kit
To paraphrase George Michael, “Beer is natural, beer is good, not everybody drinks it, but everybody should.” OK, maybe not everybody should drink it, but almost every adult does. Some of them even go so far as to buy their own beer-brewing kits, both to save money, and to “bond” with the beverage just that much more. If someone really wanted to bond with their beer, what would their next step be, to get a kit where they grow their own grains?! Why, yes. It would be exactly that.  Read More
The Sanyo Xacti DMX-CA100
Sanyo has confirmed it will be expanding its range of gun-shaped Dual Camera Xacti devices this month with the launch of the DMX-CA100 - a full HD Dual camera suitable for underwater use. Able to withstand up to 3 meters of water, the Sanyo DMC-CA100 will have the capacity to record up to 60 minutes of full HD video MPEG-4 files (1920 x 1080 pixels). This device will also be able to capture 14-megapixel still images. Available in black, yellow or pink, sales for the Sony Xacti DMX-CA100 will start at the end of June 2010. Final prices have yet to be announced.  Read More
In testing, the Ascender proved it can hold a target load capacity up to 600 pounds at a 6...
With its ability to handle any rope thrown at it with ease, the Powered Rope Ascender would’ve been the perfect device for those torturous rope climbing activities in gym class. Although they’ve been around since 2004, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) threw down the gauntlet to Boston-based Atlas Devices to create an Ascender for naval use that is lighter, smaller, more functional, and includes a removable, rechargeable battery. The device the company came up with is currently on display at Fleet Week New York.  Read More
Hitachi GST has not only squeezed 320GB into a super slim 7mm, 2.5 inch driver form factor...
As portable computing devices get thinner and thinner, component manufacturers appear to be in a perpetual state of one-upmanship. In the latest round, Hitachi has put its HDDs on a crash diet and announced a range of super slim drives available in storage sizes up to 320GB. With a z-height of just 7mm (0.275 inch), the Z-series family of Travelstar and CinemaStar drives also offer low power consumption and low noise.  Read More
Special edition Ferrari smartphone joins Acer lineup
A relationship with the Prancing Horse marque that stretches back to 2003 has seen Acer release a range of Ferrari branded products including the Ferrari 4000 Carbon Fiber notebook and the Ferrari F-20 LCD display. At Computex 2010 this week the company is showing off the latest devices including the Acer Liquid E Ferrari special edition smartphone.  Read More
Tiny copper wires can be built in bulk and then 'printed' on a surface to conduct current,...
The latest flat-panel TVs and computer screens produce images by an array of electronic pixels connected by a transparent conductive layer made from indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO is also used as a transparent electrode in thin-film solar cells. But ITO has drawbacks: it is brittle; its production process is inefficient; and it is expensive and becoming more so because of increasing demand. One potential alternative is to use tiny copper nanowires and researchers have now perfected a simple way to make these in quantity. The cheap conductors are small enough to be transparent, making them ideal for thin-film solar cells, flat-screen TVs and computers, and flexible displays.  Read More
Laser harps make themselves heard in Tokyo
Made famous in concerts by Jean Michel Jarre, laser harps recently gained a boost in popularity after being featured in Make Magazine. That's where one Japanese creator, who goes by the mysterious name of 'nameless911', found inspiration prompting him to make his own for an exhibition at his school. Rick Martin was on the scene to capture this and other Tokyo Make Meeting highlights.  Read More
The world's most famous car?
What would you say is the world’s most famous individual car? KITT from Knight Rider? Mr. Bean’s Mini? The General Lee? For anyone born prior to the mid 70’s, the answer would probably be “The ’64 James Bond Aston Martin DB5.” Driven by Sean Connery in the classics Goldfinger and Thunderball, it featured a long list of spy gadgetry, and is considered by many to still be the quintessential Bond car. This fall, for the first time ever, the silver beauty will be put up for auction. Start saving now, because it is expected to fetch over US$5 million.  Read More
Metal-organic frameworks could be used to filter carbon from smokestack emissions (Photo: ...
Imagine a material that appears to be the size of a sugar cube, but when you unfold it, you discover it has the surface area of a football field. Besides its unbelievable surface area, this substance can also be tweaked to absorb specific molecules. Such materials are called metal-organic frameworks, and could be ideal candidates for filtering the carbon out of smoke stack emissions. With that end in mind, a team of California chemists are now racing to create a metal-organic framework that can be used in an industrial carbon sponge. Because there are millions of possible molecular variations, the team is using development techniques that are up to 100 times faster than conventional methods.  Read More

HOST developers Khurshid Guru, MD, (left) and Thenkurussi Kesavadas, PhD
It might be OK to see a trainee tag affixed to the chest of someone serving you a burger, but quite another to see the same tag on the chest of your surgeon as you’re put under before an operation. Of course that’s not the reality with trainee surgeons getting practice alongside more experienced surgeons and on cadavers. But cadavers don’t grow on trees – thankfully – and practicing on live patients exposes them to some risk. Now two Buffalo scientists have paired up to create a new procedure-based, hands-on surgical training software system that promises to deliver effective training in emerging robot-assisted surgical techniques.  Read More
'Classy high tech accessories for the fashion-minded urbanite' is how the company describe...
Just before the doors opened to this year's Computex, MSI announced that it was going to show off over 30 notebooks spanning six series, as well as a few other bits and pieces. Gizmag had a good look round the company's booth in Taipei this week and snapped some of the wealth of tech on offer. Read on for a round-up of Micro-Star International's show announcements...  Read More
The AMD Fusion ushers is what AMD says is a significant shift in processor architecture an...
At Computex 2010 AMD gave the first public demonstration of its Fusion processor that combines the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) on a single chip. The AMD Fusion family of Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) not only adds another acronym to the computer lexicon, but ushers is what AMD says is a significant shift in processor architecture and capabilities.  Read More
JTT's Spider Podium
Spider Podium is a versatile dock that can hold almost any mobile gadget. Manufactured by Breffo and available from Japanese company JTT, the same people who brought us the Chobi Cam a few weeks back, the Spider Podium provides a third hand to grip and display compact cameras, iPods, iPhones, PSPs and more.  Read More
Panasonic's new 14.1 megapixel LUMIX DMC-FX75 gives 'approximately 213% larger viewing spa...
Panasonic is hoping to help photographers get much more from their snapping by including a 24-120mm equivalent ultra-wide angle lens on the latest addition to its LUMIX compact camera range. The 14 megapixel LUMIX DMC-FX75 also promises to bring some clarity to action shots, gives a choice of four aspect ratios and shoots in a choice of high definition and standard formats.  Read More
Sample of the DNA report
Genetic fingerprinting using DNA is such a staple of TV cop shows that it’s easy to take such technology for granted. But it wasn’t all that long ago that DNA fingerprinting was cutting edge technology that was horrendously expensive. However, as the cost of such technology has plummeted, the DNA-based applications available to common folk have multiplied. Aside from using DNA testing to uncover ones genealogy, we’ve even got dating sites making matches based on DNA. Now man’s best friend can benefit from DNA technology with a DNA Breed Identification Kit that can identify the breeds that come together to make up your lovable pooch.  Read More
Hydrive on display at Computex 2010 in an ASUS N61DA notebook
Hitachi-LG Data Storage has come up with a novel idea that combines physical storage with an optical drive. The HyDrive is capable of reading CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs but also has a solid state drive (SSD) slotted in. Initially coming in 32GB and 64GB versions, the company has plans to scale on up to 256GB by March of next year.  Read More
The Ice Samurai watch
“A chilling blue Japanese inspired LED watch from an entropic tomorrow which gives its master below zero Kelvin supremacy by blurring the boundaries of how temporal intelligence (time) is shown...” Good Lord, I can’t top that. That’s how online retailer Chinavasion describes the Ice Samurai watch, a very cool-looking and suspiciously-inexpensive timepiece that offers yet another take on displaying the time. In this case, it’s done with blue - sorry, ice blue LEDs that are incorporated into the watch band itself. And you know what that watch band is made of? Get ready... “Samurai sword carbonized steel folded 1000x over!”  Read More
The HP Compaq Airlife 100 smartbook was one of the Snapdragon-equipped devices on show at ...
In what is turning into an annual occurrence, Qualcomm has unveiled a bunch of devices based on its Snapdragon platform at Computex 2010. Products on show include smartphones, pocket tablets, and smartbooks in both tablet and clamshell form factors, from companies such as Acer, Dell, HP, HTC, Huawei and Lenovo. The new devices pack first and second-generation Snapdragon chipsets and the company also revealed it has shipped its third-generation Snapdragon chipsets featuring two cores running up to 1.2 GHz designed for even more advanced smartphones.  Read More
THINK City makes its South American debut this week
THINK electric vehicles are heading south. Following on from plans to introduce its electric vehicle range in the U.S., the Scandinavian electric vehicle maker has now announced a deal with energy provider CPFL Energia to conduct a feasibility study on its THINK City EVs in the Brazilian market.  Read More
 

1 comment:

  1. embryonic stem cells Reverse the ageing process, combat age-related disorders and help treatment of various diseases by renewing the body cells with Stem Cell therapy..

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