Trangram: A fun 'internet of things' demo from Japan
By Rick Martin
December 28, 2010
Back at Tokyo Make Meeting
earlier this year, there was a fun demonstration showing us what kind
of things might be possible if we connected various electrical devices
around the home to the Internet, using a system called Trangram. Since
the event, we've spoken with Hirotaka Hatayama, who has been working on
this project together with his partner, Mr. Kinukawa. Read More
Auto Stop-Start
technology that shuts off a vehicle’s engine when it comes to a stop to
save fuel is a standard feature on many hybrid and electric-vehicles
(EVs), including Ford’s Fusion Hybrid and Escape Hybrid. Ford
has now announced its Auto Start-Stop system will be added to
conventional cars, crossovers and SUVs in North America from 2012. Read More
Theobroma cacao genome sequenced: Yummier chocolate on the way!
By Mike Hanlon
December 27, 2010
If DNA sequencing never held much relevance for
you, consider the benefits likely to flow from the recent sequencing and
assembly of the chocolate tree genome. The Theobroma cacao plant is
generally regarded as producing the world's finest chocolate, but is
particularly vulnerable to disease and not particularly productive, and
is hence shunned by risk averse growers. It is hoped the research will
not only lead to hardier trees by altering the genes, but will also
enable the percentages of cocoa butter, flavonoids, antioxidants,
terpenoids and hormones to be regulated. The end result is likely to be
smoother, more flavorsome, better smelling and even healthier chocolate.
Now that's progress! Read More
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has
claimed a world first by deploying electric buses on a commercial route.
Previous electric bus operations have all been trials, or in the case
of Expo 2010 in Shanghai, free public services. The buses went into
service on December 21 after an 18 month development project with
Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hankuk Fiber. Read More
Does your turkey look happy? Quantifying farm animals' feelings
By Darren Quick
December 27, 2010
It’s well known that happy workers of the human
variety are also productive workers, and farmers know that the same
holds true for animals. However, because animals aren’t likely to reveal
their emotional state on a psychiatrist’s couch, the current methods to
measure animals’ wellbeing has largely focused on biological indicators
of stress via blood tests or through studies of animal behavior. Now
researchers are looking to use cognitive principles based on human
psychological theories to assess animal emotions. Read More
Corsuit training tool could give swimmers the winning edge
By Paul Ridden
December 27, 2010
Some view the development of swimsuits that help
athletes to go faster as a natural evolution of the sport, but others
believe that training and technique should be the deciding factor that
separates winners from losers. After seeing numerous world records get
smashed by suited up swimmers, the sport's governing body decided to
side with the latter camp and put the brakes on the high tech
sportswear. The Corsuit however, is not designed to be worn during
competition, and its inventor believes it could help swimmers to achieve
natural speed advantages without breaking any rules. Read More
Electric refuse trucks to roll out in Paris next year
By Paul Ridden
December 27, 2010
All of the different places I've lived in have
had one thing in common – an early morning wake up call when the refuse
truck appears in the street. Any move to make such things a little
quieter is very welcome indeed, and if it benefits the environment too,
then that's another tick in the plus column. Dow Kokam and PVI have
announced that a fleet of much less noisy electric refuse trucks is to
be rolled out in 2011 by SITA Ile de France, offering similar power and
performance levels as their fossil-fueled counterparts. Read More
Sonography, or ultrasound imaging, is commonly
used for diagnostic and therapeutic applications – the best-known
example being photos and videos of developing fetuses that expectant
parents excitedly wave around. Because ultrasound relies on sound waves
being sent into the body and then reflected back to create the image,
the interference creating by these waves meeting causes some degradation
of image brightness and resolution. In order to enable stronger,
sharper medical imaging, scientists at Nanjing University in China have
developed an "acoustic rectifier" that forces sound waves to travel in
only one direction. Read More
The number of friends you have can be accurately
predicted by measuring the size of small part of the human anatomy,
according to a university study published this week. The strong
correlation between the size of this organ and a full social life holds
true regardless of age or gender – can you guess what it is? Read More
Scientists successfully manipulate qubits with electrical fields
By Darren Quick
December 26, 2010
Until now, the common practice for manipulating
the electron spin of quantum bits, or qubits, – the building blocks of
future super-fast quantum computers
– has been through the use of magnetic fields. Unfortunately, these
magnetic fields are extremely difficult to generate on a chip, but now
Dutch scientists have found a way to manipulate qubits with electrical
rather than magnetic fields. The development marks yet another an
important development in the quest for future quantum computers, which
would far outstrip current computers in terms of speed. Read More
Single-walled carbon nanotubes
are an essential component of many innovations in the field of
nanotechnology, with particular potential in the fields of electronics,
optics, and automotive technology. Until recently, however, one of the
processes for synthesizing them had not fully been understood. More
precisely, no one was sure exactly what caused the nanotubes to break,
or how to better control the process for the creation of higher-quality
tubes. Now, researchers from Rhode Island's Brown University and the
Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) think they have it
figured out – it all comes down to tiny sonic booms pressing in on the
tubes from either end. Read More
Single-pixel camera captures high-quality, encryptable images
December 29, 2010
In the crowded digital camera market, camera makers are continually pushing pixel counts higher and higher
to attract consumers who have been led to believe that, the more
pixels, the better the image. Proving that this is not necessarily the
case, a team of researchers from Spain’s UJI (Universitat Jaume I)
Optics Research Group (GROC) has developed a sensor of just one pixel
with the ability to record high quality images. Read More
Experimental shock therapy offers hope for sleep apnea sufferers
By Paul Ridden
December 29, 2010
Loud snoring is not just a tiring irritation for
partners but can also be a sign of sleep apnea. The National Institutes
of Health reports that more than 12 million Americans suffer from the
most common of the three varieties - obstructive sleep apnea, where the
upper airway is repeatedly blocked during sleep. There are a number of
treatment options already available and Minneapolis-based Inspire
Medical Systems is about to add a shocking new addition to the treatment
options on offer. The new system - which is about to enter clinical
trials - electrically stimulates the nerve at the base of the tongue to
keep it from blocking the air's journey to and from the lungs, and so
offers the patient a good night's sleep. Read More
The three world records that QinetiQ applied for after its Zephyr
High-Altitude Long-Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle completed a
successful 14-day flight in July 2010, have been confirmed. The aircraft
has now officially been ratified as staying in the air longer and
achieving the highest altitude of any surveillance craft in its class,
and setting the absolute duration record of 14 days and 21 minutes. Read More
With Apple likely to maintain its usual one-year gap between updates to its popular product series we can expect to see iPad
mark II sometime around April – if not before. As the original iPad was
announced at a press event in January 2010, it’s also likely we’ll get
some kind of official announcement early in 2011. With that date rapidly
approaching we thought it would be a good time to do a round up of the
more credible rumors surrounding the next generation iPad that for the
time being, thanks to Apple’s renowned secrecy, has simply been dubbed
the iPad 2. Read More
Samsung has announced an update to its NX line of
mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras along with a powerful new 24X
zoom compact ahead of next week's CES. The follow up to the NX10
(sensibly called the NX11) shares many of the features of its
predecessor including an APS-C (23.4 mm × 15.6 mm) size, 14.6 megapixel
CMOS sensor and 3-inch AMOLED screen. The updated unit is also the same
weight and size, with the key points of difference being extended
compatibility with the i-Function lenses first introduced last year on
the NX100 and a slight tweaking of the grip design. Read More
The first FAA-conforming HA-420 HondaJet
has successfully completed its maiden flight, signaling the start of
flight-testing to support certification of the aircraft. The milestone
took place on December 20 with the aircraft taking off from the Honda
Aircraft Company’s world headquarters at the Piedmont Triad
International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, for a flight that
lasted 51 minutes. Read More
IBM has announced its fifth annual Next Five in Five
– a list of five technologies that the company believes “have the
potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next
five years.” While there are no flying cars or robot servants on the
list, there are holographic friends, air-powered batteries, personal
environmental sensors, customized commutes and building-heating
computers. Read More
When it comes to lenses for digital pico projectors,
there’s currently something of a trade-off. Traditional lenses, where
multiple glass magnifiers are placed one in front of the other, are long
and bulky. Microlens arrays, in which many tiny lenses are assembled
together on one flat surface, are a much more compact, lightweight
alternative. However, so far such arrays have mostly been made out of
plastic, which the bulbs in some projectors are capable of melting. Now,
researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and
Forming Technology have come up with what they say is a solution:
microlens arrays made from glass, using a hot embossing technique. Read More
Wearable health monitors have been available for some time, providing feedback on functions such as heart rate and blood pressure.
They represent the tip of a potentially huge health and fitness market,
from athletes and emergency services personnel to patients both in and
recently discharged from hospital, who could benefit from real-time,
intelligent wireless body monitoring of vital signs. Telemetry
technology provider Toumaz
has developed an ultra-low power system to wirelessly monitor heart
rate, ECG, temperature and physical activity. The Sensium Life Platform
has just been used to monitor the health of team members during a
record-breaking 4,000 kilometer transantarctic expedition that not only
made the fastest vehicle crossing of the Antarctic, but was also the
first expedition to use biofuels extensively in Antarctica, and featured
the first bio-fuelled vehicle ever to reach the South Pole. Read More
Detroit Auto Show 2011 – what to watch out for
By Gizmag Team
December 30, 2010
Twenty-eleven is rolling in and we'll be heading
back to Detroit to check out the best of what the North American
International Auto Show (NAIAS) has to offer. We've already been teased
with the prospect of an all-new Toyota Prius, concepts from Ford and MINI and a new Benz C-Class. So what else can we expect to see under lights at the COBO Center come mid-January? Read More
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is the most common
and severe childhood form of muscular dystrophy (MD), affecting one in
3,500 boys. The disease progressively weakens muscles cells and tissues
until muscle degradation is so severe that the patient dies, most often
in their late teens or twenties. Scientists at Brown University in
Providence, Rhode Island and the University of Pennsylvania, hope their
research into the human protein, biglycan, will ultimately improve the
condition of muscular dystrophy sufferers. Their studies have shown that
biglycan significantly slows muscle damage and improves function in
mice with the Duchenne genetic mutation. Human clinical trials will be
the next step. Read More
IBM researchers bring Racetrack memory another step closer to reality
By Darren Quick
December 30, 2010
Racetrack memory
is an experimental form of memory that looks to combine the best
attributes of magnetic hard disk drives (low cost) and solid state
memory (speed) to enable devices to store much more information, while
using much less energy than current memory technologies. Researchers at IBM
have been working on the development of Racetrack memory for six years
and have now announced the discovery of a previously unknown aspect of
key physics inside the new technology that brings it another step closer
to becoming a reality. Read More
Whether it be a difference in personal tastes or a
case of doubling up of gifts, in the days since Christmas countless
numbers of people have been braving the queues at refund counters in
stores around the world looking to exchange unwanted gifts. Online
retailer Amazon
is looking to make such hassles a thing of the past with the company
being awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a
system that would allow users to exchange unwanted gifts purchased
online before they’ve even been dispatched. Read More
If you want to wake up gently to a sunrise, there
are a couple of things you can do. You can invest in one of the many
digital alarm clocks that start a simulated sunrise (like PURE's Twilight or Philip's Wake-up Light)
or you can leave your curtains open and wait for the sun to shine
through them. Taylor Franklin Hide believes that he might have a third
option in the form of the LUMI – a high-tech sleeping mask with faux
sunrise technology built-in. Read More
Russian architectural firm Remistudio has taken
the concept of a man-made biosphere and gone to sea with its vision for
the floating "Ark Hotel." Designed to withstand floods, tidal waves and
rising ocean levels as well as earthquakes and other natural disasters,
the hotel concept would float and function independently on the surface
of a body of water, providing a green, self-sustaining environment for
guests who presumably, would never have to leave. Read More
Solar powered microchips put batteries in the shade
By Grant Banks
December 30, 2010
In a new, more efficient approach to solar
powered microelectronics, researchers have produced a microchip which
directly integrates photovoltaic cells. While harnessing sunlight to
power microelectronics isn't new, conventional set-ups use a separate
solar cell and battery. What sets this device apart from is that
high-efficiency solar cells are placed straight onto the electronics,
producing self-sufficient, low-power devices which are highly suitable
for industrial serial production and can even operate indoors. Read More
The overpoweringly gorgeous Lyr hybrid tube headphone amp
By Paul Ridden
December 30, 2010
Schiit Audio is set to release a new headphone
amplifier which pumps out ten times the power of a typical model. The
Lyr has been principally developed to drive high power orthodynamic
headphones coveted by audiophiles for their excellent soundstage, and
which require more juice than a personal media player's amp can provide.
The power amp also features an adaptive output technology that
dynamically adjusts depending on the headphone load. Read More
New C-Class boasts updated telematics and internet access
By Darren Quick
December 30, 2010
As part of the latest update to its C-Class, Mercedes-Benz
has brought internet access to its COMAND infotainment system for the
first time. Unlike some other in-car systems that use a built-in SIM
card slot, the Mercedes system will use Terminal Mode – the proposed
industry specification for the integration of mobile applications into
car dashboard systems developed by Nokia and Consumer Electronics for
Automotive (CE4A) – to duplicate the display of a smartphone on the
in-dash display and allow control through the COMAND user interface.
Read More
When Archos released its 7-inch Archos 70 internet tablet
last month it sported a fairly paltry 8GB of flash storage and ran
Android 2.2. Since then the device has received a firmware update that
brought improved performance, better battery life estimation and support
for external GPS adapters thanks to Android 2.21. Now the company has
announced a hefty boost in storage space with a 250GB HDD version of the
device. Read More
Apple's iPad
gets top marks for aesthetics, but when it comes to ergonomics, most
would agree there's room for improvement. The result is a bevy of
products devoted to protecting, propping-up and generally enhancing the
experience of living with an iPad. This example – the TabGrip – is a
versatile stand that also protects the device when placed on flat
surfaces, but its primary aim is to ensure the iPad stays firmly in your
mitts as you play games or show off your latest holiday snaps. Read More
The cleanup of sites contaminated by
radioactivity, primarily from the historic production of nuclear weapons
during and after World War II, continues to cost hundreds of millions
of dollars. Researchers have now invented a new type of radiation
detection and measurement device that they say will be particularly
useful for such cleanup efforts by making the process faster, more
accurate and less expensive. Read More
Making a splash with the world's smallest waterproof MP3 player
By Paul Ridden
January 2, 2011
There are several options out there when it comes
to taking a portable music player in the pool or to the beach. You
could opt for a waterproofed iPod or a dedicated player like Speedo's Aquabeat,
but if you really want to downsize then Fitness Technologies diminutive
UWaterG2 might be worth a look – it's billed as the smallest fully
waterproof MP3 player around. Read More
While greenhouses allow certain crops to be grown
throughout the year, excess temperature, solar radiation and high vapor
pressure deficit can cause problems during the summer months. With
conventional solutions, such as shade screens, often being labor
intensive and reducing the quality of light within the growing space,
Canadian company Sunarc has a developed a new liquid foam shading system
that mimics cloud cover to automatically shade greenhouses. As the
liquid foam filters the sunlight, it reduces solar radiation and
controls temperature, but doesn’t deprive the plants of vital light
spectra they require for photosynthesis. Read More
New yeast strain produces ethanol more efficiently
By Grant Banks
January 2, 2011
The biofuel industry stands to benefit from the
development of a new variety of yeast which produces ethanol from plant
products more efficiently. Engineered by combining two existing yeast
species, the new strain can simultaneously consume two types of sugar
commonly found in plants to produce ethanol. Read More
Latest Skype release supports video calls for iPhone and iPad
By Rick Martin
January 2, 2011
It has been a pretty hectic holiday season for the folks at Skype
with a new iteration of their iPhone app launching this week, finally
providing support for two-way video calls over 3G and Wi-Fi connections.
After the Skype outage the previous week plus a recent crackdown on
VOIP apps in China, some good news for the company ends the year on a
much-needed high note. Read More
Electric vehicle survey reveals consumer preferences
By Ben Coxworth
January 2, 2011
Almost every day, we hear about advances in the
development of practical electric cars. Those advances won’t mean much,
however, if no one is buying the things. With that in mind, ZPryme
Research and Consulting recently conducted a web-based survey of 1,046
men and women across the U.S., asking how they felt about various
aspects of buying an EV (electric vehicle). Read More
Biofuel derived from crops such as switchgrass
certainly holds promise, although some critics maintain that such crops
use up too much agricultural land – land that could otherwise be used
for growing food crops. A genetic discovery announced this Tuesday,
however, reportedly allows individual plants to produce more biomass.
This means that biofuel crops could have higher yields, without
increasing their agricultural footprint. Read More
Probably the most famous example of a twin neck
guitar is the Siamese SG used by the likes of Jimmy Page and Don Felder –
the Gibson EDS-1275. With its new Doubleneck guitar, Veillette Guitars
has managed to narrow the gap between the two necks in a lightweight
package to offer a more comfortable experience for the player. Angular
bridges also mean that the guitarist can pick hard or strum wildly on
the upper 12-string section without fear of accidentally encroaching on
the 6-string's domain. Read More
There’s bound to be all manner of display
technologies vying for eyeballs at CES 2011 when it kicks off in Las
Vegas next week and two prototype AMOLED displays from Samsung
Mobile Display (SMD) will definitely be high on our list of things to
check out. The first is a 4.5-inch 800 x 480 (WVGA) resolution flexible
AMOLED display concept prototype for mobile devices, while the second is
the world’s largest transparent AMOLED display prototype for use in PC
monitors and TVs. Read More
Earlier this year Sauter Carbon Offset Design unveiled its Super Nova 60 megayacht
– a design which harnesses energy from a variety of sustainable sources
including solar, wind and waves to produce "the world’s first carbon
neutral megayacht." Now the company has gone one step further with plans
for its Ocean Empire Life Support Vessel (LSV). This 144-foot Catamaran
design adds hydroponic farming to its array of sustainable technologies
making it, according to the designers, the world’s first totally
self-sufficient zero carbon LSV ... meaning it could theoretically stay
at sea indefinitely. Read More
Japanese researchers have used nanotechnology to
develop a process which resembles something out of a 16th Century
alchemy textbook. Although not producing gold, as was the aim of the
alchemists, the scientists have discovered a technique that allows
otherwise inert elements to be combined to form new intermediate
alloy-elements. So far, an alloy of palladium has been created by mixing
silver and rhodium together. Read More
According to a 2008 study by the Swedish National
Road and Transport Research Institute, about 20 percent of all road
traffic accidents are caused by driver fatigue. Tired motorists are also
eight times more likely than rested motorists to get in an accident,
displaying driving abilities similar to those of someone who is
intoxicated. The problem is, we often don’t know when we’ve reached that
“too tired” state – a situation that the Anti Sleep Pilot was created
to address. The Danish-designed device sits on your dashboard,
monitoring you and your driving conditions, and lets you know when it’s
time to pull over and take a ten-minute rest. Read More
Lupin seeds used to create low-fat meat protein alternatives
By Ben Coxworth
January 3, 2011
There are definitely two schools of thought as to
whether or not humans should have meat in their diet, but even many
non-vegetarians claim that the production and consumption of animal
protein could definitely stand to at least be scaled back, both for
environmental and health reasons. It has been estimated that it takes 40
square meters (48 sq. yards) of land to produce one kilogram (2.2 lbs)
of meat, while 120 kilograms (265 lbs) of carrots or 80 kilograms (176
lbs) of apples could be raised within that same space. Obesity and
cardiovascular disease, meanwhile, have been linked to high-fat diets –
diets which often include things like sausages and hamburgers. With
concerns like these in mind, researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer
Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging have developed food
ingredients derived from lupin seed proteins, that can reportedly stand
in quite convincingly for both milk and animal fat. Read More
Like many folks, when I was a youngster I used to
wear lots of button badges to proudly show what bands I liked. Imagine
how cool it would be to allow friends to plug a set of earphones into
your badge and let them listen to your favorite bands too. That's
exactly what the Playbutton MP3 player will allow you to do. Each device
will carry one album's worth of music, have controls on the back to
play and skip tracks and adjust EQ, and contain a Li-ion battery for up
to five hours of continuous playback. Read More
Researchers develop interactive, emotion-detecting GPS robot
By Paul Ridden
January 3, 2011
While computer systems are now very capable of
recognizing vocal input, they offer minimal interactive feedback. A team
of Cambridge University researchers have now developed a system that
can not only detect a user's emotional state, but can also make
expressive responses of its own. Using a robotic likeness of the
godfather of the programmable computer, Charles Babbage,
the team has hooked the system up to a driving simulator and created a
computerized driving companion and navigator that reacts to the driver
in much the same way as a human passenger. Read More
San Diego's Grace Digital Audio has announced that it will be introducing three new Internet radios at CES 2011
in Las Vegas, all sporting color screens. If the 50,000 or so local,
national and international stations are not enough to satisfy, the new
batch will also gain two new services to complement existing offerings
from the likes of Pandora, CBS Radio, Live365.com and NPR. They also
represent the first color Internet radios with 802.11n connectivity.
Read More
We’ve already seen lenses for mobile phone cameras that allow users to take macro or wide-angle photographs. Now, iPhone
3G/3GS owners can extend the capabilities of their camera phones even
further, by adding on an Eye Scope 8x optical zoom lens. Given the way
every little shake of the hands would show up when zoomed in that far,
it even comes with its own mini tripod. Read More
Smartphones have already proven their worth as
navigation devices for sighted people but a new concept aims to go even
further for the vision impaired. Dubbed blinput, the system would allow
visually impaired people to not only find their way around,
but also interact with the connected world using the smartphone’s
camera to gather context relevant information that would then be relayed
to the user through a pair of headphones. Read More
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