New and Emerging Technology News part 135 ~ NEW GEN TECH LIFE : new generation technology news

Saturday 1 February 2014

New and Emerging Technology News part 135

iPet Companion Home Version allows people to remotely play with their pets in real time, v...
If you own a dog or a cat and are having a hard day at work, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to take a break and play with them? Well, if you’ve got the money, now you can do it – via the internet. A consumer version of a system already in use at some U.S. animal shelters, iPet Companion Home Version lets computer users remotely control dog or cat toys located in their home, watching their pets reacting to those toys’ movements in real time. For some people, it could be the biggest workplace distraction since Facebook.  Read More
The aerodynamic-looking building will include a dramatic 25 meter-high central space, with...
Foster + Partners, the same architectural firm behind Apple's new campus, recently unveiled its plans for the new Kuwait International Airport. The architects are aiming for LEED Gold appraisal, which will see it become the first passenger terminal in the world to attain this level of environmental accreditation.  Read More
A new system uses lasers to polish hard surfaces, and it can do so in as little as one ten...
When it comes to laborious, monotonous tasks that are typically performed by hand, the polishing of hard materials has got to rank right near the top. Although a really lustrous shine may still require the human touch, scientists have now developed a process for getting a “good enough” shine, using lasers. Instead of removing a fine layer of the material’s surface, which is what traditional buffers and polishes do, the lasers melt it.  Read More
Adobe has announced six Touch Apps for Android and iOS-based devices, and the Creative Clo...
At the recent Adobe MAX 2011 conference, Adobe announced a lineup of Touch Apps tailored for Android and iOS-based devices, including a touch-operated tablet version of Photoshop. Touch Apps will be available either as standalone products, or as components of a larger web-based service called Adobe Creative Cloud, which was also unveiled.  Read More
The Herschel Space Observatory has recently analyzed the comet Hartley 2, and discovered t...
A recent discovery may add support to the theory that the water on Earth was brought by a rain of comets. Scientists have analyzed the comet Hartley 2, and discovered that ice found on it has the same composition as ocean water. The discovery was made utilizing an orbiting telescope on the Herschel Space Observatory, which can observe organic molecules by reading their far-infrared wavelengths.  Read More
BMW S1000RR - an astonishing achievement
Like it or not, most motorcycle brands have a reputation for attracting a certain type of rider. In the case of the BMW rider, the stereotype has a definite touch of the "sensible grandpa" about it ... at least, that's how things worked until recently. For the last five or so years, the German manufacturer has been releasing a bunch of bikes that can actually deliver seriously good fun - albeit in a sensible kind of way. But there's nothing sensible about the bomb they dropped in 2010 with the release of the S1000RR. In our latest video road test, Loz Blain and Noel McKeegan cash in their pension checks and climb aboard the formidable BMW superbike.  Read More
The virtual arm controlled by a monkey selects an object based on its virtual texture
In a development that could have huge implications for quadriplegics, paraplegics and those with prosthetic limbs, researchers from Duke University and the Ecole Polytechnic Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed technology that has allowed monkeys to control a virtual arm and touch and feel virtual objects using only their brain activity. The researchers say it is the first-ever demonstration of a two-way interaction between a primate brain and a virtual body and could lead to robotic exoskeletons that not only that allows paralyzed patients to walk again, but to also feel the ground beneath them.  Read More
The RDTX radiation detector from Scosche connects to an iPhone or iPod touch
As a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, radiation detectors have been a popular item for Japanese consumers. Recognizing the market for such devices, last month Scosche – a company known for its car audio and iPod/iPhone accessories – released its RDTX-Pro radiation detector and app for iPhone and iPod touch in Japan. With that model apparently flying off the shelves – it is temporarily out of stock on Scosche’s website – the company has decided to expand the product line with the announcement of two new radiation detectors.  Read More
SpaceX Reusable Launch Vehicle - stage 1 landing on the launch pad
SpaceX, the space transport company that made history by building the world's first private reusable spacecraft, is now embarking on a quest to build the holy grail of space engineering - a reusable launch rocket. Elon Musk, the company's CEO and Chief Technology Officer, announced recently at the National Press Club that computer simulations show their design to be technically feasible. This, Musk seems to suggests, is great news for those who have been considering moving to Mars.  Read More
Browser-based 3D gaming is possible thanks to the Unreal Engine 3 getting Flash support
At the Adobe MAX 2011 conference in Los Angeles this week, Epic Games' CEO Tim Sweeney demonstrated the Unreal Engine 3 running in fully inside Flash as part of his keynote address. The live technical demonstration saw a version of Unreal Tournament 3 running in Adobe Flash Player 11, which was also released this week. Adobe says the development could lead to console-quality 3D graphics in games running directly in the browser, such as Facebook social games.  Read More

Upgrades are planned which will keep the venerable B-52 in service until the 2040s (Photo:...
Mention the "B-52" to most people and they'll think of either an '80s pop group, a bad hair style, or an ancient bomber that's a relic of the Cold War. The name conjures up a vintage warplane featured in grainy footage from the Cuban Missile Crisis, but what may surprise people is to learn that in the second decade of the 21st century, the B-52 fleet still plays a key role in America's nuclear deterrence and conventional warfare strategy. Now the US Defense Department is upgrading the venerable USAF B-52 heavy bomber to allow the sixty-year old aircraft to continue in active front-line service until the 2040s.  Read More
The Tug-Preventing Dog Collar trains dogs to not pull on the leash by emitting an ultrason...
If taking the dog for a walk sees you being dragged along with your pooch calling the shots and setting the pace then the Tug-Preventing Dog Trainer could be just what the doctor – or vet – ordered. Designed to attach between the leash and collar, the device will emit an ultrasonic tone whenever the dog pulls on the leash. To teach the dog to stay in line and associate the sound with pulling on the leash, the volume of the tone increases the harder the dog pulls.  Read More
The Apple iPhone Micro USB Adapter that is now available from the U.K. Apple Store
To cut down on the amount of mobile phone chargers relegated to the garbage after a phone upgrade, in 2009 the European Commission reached a voluntary agreement with 14 major smartphone manufacturers who committed to providing a standardized charger based on the micro-USB connector that is compatible with all models of data-enabled mobile phones. Apple was one of the manufacturers that signed on to the agreement and has now delivered with the appearance of the Apple iPhone Micro USB Adapter in the company's U.K. online store.  Read More
The naturally occurring compound, NMN, has been shown to reverse diabetes in mice
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have reversed diabetes in mice using a compound that is made naturally in the body. After diabetic mice were given the naturally occurring compound, called nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), their normal blood sugar metabolism was restored. The researchers say their findings suggest it might one day be possible for people to take the compound like a daily vitamin to treat or prevent type 2 diabetes.  Read More
The Bilster Berg circuit
A few days ago deep in the historic Teuteborg Forest of central Germany, the first stone was laid in the construction of an intriguing project. For twenty years until 1993 The 80 hectare (200 acre) site was a massive NATO ammunition depot, supplying the British Army of the Rhine during the Cold War. After eighteen years of disuse and six years of planning the extensive sturdy warehousing and road network is to be converted into the Bilster Berg luxury "drive resort" and automobile testing facility. Considering who's involved, the new racetrack should be a pretty spectacular experience.  Read More
UCLA neuro-physicists have discovered that changes in synaptic strength have an optimal 'r...
Neuroscientists have long pondered the mechanism behind learning and memory formation in the human brain. On the cellular level, it's generally agreed that we learn when stimuli are repeated frequently enough that our synapses - the gap-connections between neurons - respond and become stronger. Now, a team of UCLA neuro-physicists has discovered that this change in synaptic strength actually has an optimal "rhythm," or frequency, a finding that could one day lead to new strategies for treating learning disabilities.  Read More
Dr. Shane Snyder is working with Agilent to develop ways to detect emerging contaminants  ...
Agilent Technologies has announced it will begin collaborations with the University of Arizona's Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering's BIO5 Institute to develop ways to detect and treat "emerging contaminants" such as steroids and antibiotics in drinking water.  Read More
Vettel takes his second F1 title for Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel won his second World F1 drivers championship today, and although only taking third place in the Japanese Grand Prix, he is still on track for the most dominant season in F1 history. His third place at Suzuka gave him 324 of the 375 points on offer – a stunning 86.4% of available points and still ahead of Michael Schumacher's best during his reign with Ferrari. Like most other records in F1, Vettel is once again the youngest to achieve the feat. For Red Bull Racing, it's the team's second drivers title and it is closing in on the constructors title with a lead of 130 points and just four races to go. Perhaps more ominously, the team it has assembled, and the relationship with both Infiniti and engine-suppliers Renault looks more than capable of sustaining the success.  Read More
World's oldest running car sells for US$4.6 million
The historically-significant 1884 De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout which we wrote up a few weeks back has sold at auction for US$4.62 million. Apart from being the winner of the first automobile race in history, it's also the world’s oldest running motor car, and now also the most valuable early motor car yet sold at auction.  Read More
Artist Nicholas Hanna has created a cargo tricycle-based system that prints Chinese callig...
When Canadian media artist Nicholas Hanna first moved to the Chinese city of Beijing, he was quite taken with the water calligraphy that he saw people creating in the parks. The art form consists of using a large brush to paint Chinese calligraphy on the road, in water, so the characters disappear as the water evaporates. Hanna decided to put his own spin on it, and rigged up a cargo tricycle with a computer-controlled dot matrix water release system, that squirts out passages of Chinese poetry on the road behind him as he rides.  Read More
 
Apple says its new iPhone 4S has beaten the previous version's first day pre-sales record
Even though it's not called iPhone 5, Apple's latest version of its iconic smartphone - the iPhone 4S - is reportedly proving to be quite the hot potato with consumers. Apple says pre-orders topped a million in its first day, stomping all over the company's previous iPhone pre-order single-day record of 600,000 for the iPhone 4.  Read More
BizzTrust for Android splits a single smartphone into two virtual phones
With companies these days justifiably concerned about the security of the mobile devices provided to their workforce, many workers find themselves carrying around two mobile phones – one for personal use and another for business. Sure, mobile phones aren’t the huge pocket-stretching devices they once were but for the sake of convenience, one is most definitely better than two. Now researchers at Fraunhofer have developed software that allows the creation of two virtual smartphones in a single device, providing security for companies while letting workers install their own apps.  Read More
The U-Boat Worx C-Explorer 2 is now available for private charters
U-Boat Worx has introduced a worldwide private charter program for its range of mini-submersibles. The charter fleet includes the three-seat C-Quester 3 and two person C-Explorer 2, with the deep-diving, five-passenger C-Explorer 5 joining once it's completed late this year.  Read More
The Porsche Bike RS (pictured) joins Porsche's Driver's Selection range alongside the Bike...
Automobile manufacturers have been leveraging their brand names on other modes of transport for years, with bicycles a common focus from companies including BMW, Audi and McLaren. Porsche has also been producing bikes for years and has now expanded its Driver’s Selection range with the addition of two new bikes – the Bike RS and the Bike S. Both models are 29-inch wheelers and are constructed from lightweight materials and high-end components with performance in mind.  Read More
India finally managed to launch probably world's cheapest 7-inch touchscreen tablet dubbed...
India has already churned out the world's cheapest car and is now launching what's billed as the world's cheapest 7-inch touchscreen tablet. The result of efforts by India's Ministry of Human Resource and Development to develop a low cost computing device that could be used by students across the country, Aakash, or "sky" in Hindi, is set to be sold to students at the government subsidized price of US$35. The regular retail price of the tablet is expected to be around US$60 when the unit hits the shelves as a commercial version called the UbiSlate 7.  Read More
Tethered to the base station, Wing 7 flying wind turbine ascends to a height of 1,300 feet...
Wind can be an unpredictable and unstable source of power, and high in the sky where it is more stable, it's difficult to exploit. Airborne wind turbines could provide a solution to this problem, but although the idea has been around since the 19th century, it's never been exploited on a larger scale. California's Makani Power aims to change that with its innovative flying wing turbine design. Wing 7 is essentially a cross between a UAV and a wind turbine that's tethered to a ground station from which it ascends to a height of around 1,300 feet (400m) and flies autonomously, generating up to 20-kilowatt of power in a 20mph (35km/h) wind.  Read More
The Levytator uses curved modules to allow it to follow freeform curves
For over a century, escalators have followed a fairly straight path – with the exception of a few spiral and curved escalators found in cities including Reno and Osaka. Now a researcher at City University London has developed a new type of escalator called the Levytator that is capable of following freeform curves. This is achieved by replacing the traditional rectangular steps with curved modules that also allows the modules to be placed in a continuous loop. Not only does this open up the design possibilities for architects, it could also cut energy usage in half compared to conventional escalators.  Read More
LG has announced the Korean launch of the Optimus LTE Android smartphone with super high r...
Electronics giant LG has announced the Korean launch of what is claimed to be the highest resolution IPS (in-plane switching) display available on any smartphone. The Optimus LTE has a 4.5-inch, 329 pixels per inch resolution "True HD IPS" screen which is said to offer crisp, clear visuals and render colors in their most natural tones. Beneath the display, the smartphone is powered by a dual-core processor, runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and benefits from a large capacity battery.  Read More
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu with the winners of the 2011 Solar Decathlon - Team Unive...
On the last two occasions, the overall winner of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon has gone to Germany's Technische Universität Darmstadt but this year the top honor has stayed with one of the home teams. As the name might suggest, the University of Maryland's winning WaterShed project features some novel innovations to make the best use of water, in addition to an intriguing internal waterfall that helps reduce the load on the structure's air conditioning system. Read on for a brief look at the top five winning projects, as well as the People's Choice.  Read More
Olf-Action might want to add a 'Smell of Blood' cartridge for use with its SMELLIT device ...
Releasing scents during the projection of a film reportedly predates the introduction of sound. One early attempt at "Smell-O-Vision" involved a wad of cotton soaked in rose oil being placed in front of an electric fan during a newsreel in 1906, but despite such experiments, this is one technology that just hasn't taken off ... although the quest to add an extra olfactory experience to movies and, more recently, video games continues. This latest effort comes from French company Olf-Action which has created SMELLIT - a device designed to bring an aromatic dimension to your video game and movie experiences.  Read More

The touchscreen Braille writer lets users position their fingers anywhere on the tablet di...
Undergraduate student, Adam Duran, made excellent use of his time at Stanford University, where he attended a two-month summer course organized by the Army High-Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC). Together with his mentors, Adrian Lew and Sohan Dharmaraja, he created a potentially game changing application that should make the lives of visually impaired people both easier and less expensive. The application turns a tablet into a Braille writer and thus saves the blind from having to purchase a device that may cost up to ten times more than a tablet.  Read More
A sneak peek of the amazing Adobe de-blur tool
Adobe showed what it calls a "sneak peek" of some technology at last week's MAX conference, that may or may not make its way into a future version of Photoshop (we're pretty sure it will). It's a method for de-blurring photographs by analyzing them and constructing the motion path that the camera lens followed to create the original blur. Using some highly advanced magic, the resulting blur can then be removed to an impressive degree – blurred text, for instance, becomes readable. The algorithm seems to work on low resolution phone pics just as well. Now, when they say "enhance that section right there" in just about every modern police procedural TV show, it might actually mean something. Video after the break.  Read More
A consortium of auto manufacturers is developing a universal charging system for EVs which...
While the thought of building a worldwide infrastructure of charging stations for electric vehicles may seem daunting, you know what would make it even more challenging? If each station had to separately cater to each make of EV on the road – think of how many different styles of mobile phone chargers are currently out there, for instance, and then picture that applying to cars. Fortunately, however, a consortium of automakers has developed the Combined Charging System – it will allow any one vehicle to charge its batteries using a variety of different charging methods.  Read More
Virgin Atlantic Airways is planning to capture gases from steel mills, to create a new low...
Three years ago, Virgin Atlantic Airways grabbed some headlines when it experimentally ran one of its 747s on a mixture of standard jet fuel and biofuel. While some called it a publicity stunt, it was the first time that a commercial airliner had flown using biofuel – albeit only in part of one of its four fuel tanks. Today, however, the airline announced that it’s developing an aviation fuel that will have half the carbon footprint of conventional fuel. The carbon savings won’t result from how cleanly the fuel burns, but from how it’s obtained.  Read More
New York's evolve motorcycles has launched three new electric scooters, featuring the late...
Three new electric scooters have just been launched by New York's evolve motorcycles. All models use lithium-ion batteries which are said to offer the highest ranges in the industry, feature the latest electrical and charging technologies, and come with one year's roadside assistance. The top-of-the-range titanium model has a range of 60 miles (96.5 km) and a top speed of 70 mph (112.6 km/h), but even the featherweight of the bunch can manage a respectable 40 mph (64.3 km/h). There's also a smartphone app in development, that will allow riders to connect and share on the road.  Read More
Dr. Nichola Coleman and Cameron Abercrombie, a final year Chemistry student from the Unive...
While you may feel quite virtuous when you leave all your glass containers out for recycling, you might be surprised to know that much of your colored glass won’t be used. That’s because even though there’s a fairly constant demand for recycled clear glass, glass in colors such as green, brown and blue isn’t all that sought-after, so many recycling centers don’t bother processing it. As a result, waste colored glass is now being stock-piled in some locations, waiting for a use. Thanks to research conducted at the University of Greenwich, however, that glass may soon be used for filtering pollutants out of ground water.  Read More
Located in the Arctic Circle, Igloo Village features glass-roofed igloos from which guests...
The Igloo Village, which is part of Hotel Kakslauttanen, is guaranteed to give guests a prime position for viewing the northern lights display during the winter months. Located in the Arctic Circle near Finland's Urho Kekkonen National Park, guests can stay in a glass-roofed igloo or brave the cold in a traditional snow igloo.  Read More
Nissan has developed an experimental system that can fully charge an EV battery in just te...
If there are two obstacles that are still keeping the general public from embracing electric cars, those would have to be the vehicles’ limited driving range and long charging times. Well, Nissan has achieved a major milestone regarding one of those two problems – last week, Japan’s Nikkei news agency reported that the automaker has developed an experimental system that can fully charge an EV battery in just ten minutes.  Read More
The snail-like building is held together with a carbon fiber truss frame
Designer Christopher Daniel has conceptualized plans for this prefabricated house, which morphs and adapts according to its setting. Dubbed California Roll, the structure is best suited to a desert environment and incorporates a homogeneous exterior which reflects the sun's heat.  Read More
Researchers have sandwiched layers of graphene between layers of boron nitrate to create a...
Since its discovery in 2004, the two-dimensional layer of carbon atoms known as graphene has promised to revolutionize materials science, enabling flexible, transparent touch displays, lighter aircraft, cheaper batteries and faster, smaller electronic devices. Now in what could be a key step towards replacing silicon chips in computers, researchers at the University of Manchester have sandwiched two sheets of graphene with another two-dimensional material, boron nitride, to create what they have dubbed a graphene "Big Mac".  Read More

Internet service providers were recently exposed for grossly exaggerating the cost of prov...
A recent study shows that ISPs – which long maintained that data was their biggest expense – are grossly overcharging for data. The price increases to our mobile or land-based internet appear to be based on greed, not need.  Read More
The winners of the US$1.4 million Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE were announced tod...
Last July, in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the X PRIZE Foundation launched the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE. As with previous X PRIZE competitions, this one was intended to encourage private sector scientific research, by offering a cash prize to whichever team could best meet a given challenge. In this case, teams had to demonstrate a system of their own making, that could recover oil from a sea water surface at the highest Oil Recovery Rate (ORR) above 2,500 US gallons (9,463.5 liters) per minute, with an Oil Recovery Efficiency (ORE) of greater than 70 percent. Today, the winning teams were announced.  Read More
Microsoft is about to release a 320GB HDD for its Xbox 360 gaming console
Some good news for Xbox 360 owners who have been looking with envy at the generous storage included with recent gaming bundles like Gears of War 3 – Microsoft is about to release a 320GB HDD for its popular console.  Read More
ViewSonic's new budget-friendly, high resolution tablet features the same IPS display tech...
Taiwan's ViewSonic has applied the same IPS (in-plane switching) display technology used in its award-winning monitors to a new tablet heading for European users. The screen of the budget-friendly ViewPad 10e is said to have the same pixel density and resolution as Apple's iPad 2, and like the ARCHOS G9's, the Android tablet makes do with just the one front-facing camera.  Read More
Romo is a miniature robot that uses apps on its user's existing smartphone as its 'brain'
When you think about it, smartphones are more than just fancy phones – they’re actually tiny portable computers. Given that so many people now own these tiny computers, why should they have to pay to buy another computer that’s built into an electronic device, when they could instead just use their existing smartphone as the “brain” of that device? That’s the approach that has been taken by products such as the Bubo camcorder rig, and now also by Romo-The Smartphone Robot.  Read More
Japanese company REAL-f offers extremely realistic 3D models of human faces and heads
It appears that there's a number of customers willing to pay a lot to be in possession of a lifelike replica of their face or even their whole head ... or at least, REAL-f hopes so. The Japanese company offers extremely realistic 3D models of human faces and heads made using vinyl chloride resin, based on its own technique called 3DPFs (3 Dimension Photo Forms).  Read More
The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System flying with its landing gear up during a test flight ...
Having completed its first flight earlier this year, the Northrop Grumman-built U.S. Navy X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) aircraft achieved another milestone on September 30 with its first flight in cruise mode. Part of the on-going “envelope expansion” program to demonstrate the aircraft’s performance under a variety of altitude, speed and fuel load conditions, the flight took place at Edwards Air Force Base and saw the aircraft retracting its landing gear and flying in cruise configuration for the first time.  Read More
The RoChair is a wheelchair that is rowed by pushing and pulling on a central lever
Imagine if the only way of propelling yourself on a bicycle was to reach down and turn one of the wheels with your hand. It would be pretty inefficient, yet that’s essentially how a wheelchair works. Of course, wheelchairs are set up so that the push-rims can be reached very easily, but the propulsion process still comes down to the wheels being directly pushed forward by hand. ROTA Mobility, however, has an alternative. It’s called the RoChair, and it’s a wheelchair that is rowed by pushing and pulling on a front-and-center-mounted lever.  Read More
Is the iPhone 4s enough to steal market share from Android?
Android currently accounts for 50-percent of the smartphone market. So does the release of the iPhone 4S mean that Apple could overtake Android in the market share battle? Almost certainly not. But we are beginning to see record sales numbers for the release of the 4S which, when combined with opening up the market a bit more by adding another carrier (Sprint), could see Apple take a bigger bite out of the pie.  Read More
Derek Deville's Qu8k rocket climbed at altitude of 121,000 feet (36.8 km) after 92 seconds...
Launched from Black Rock Desert in Nevada on September 30 in an attempt to win John Carmack's 100kft Micro Prize, Derek Deville's home-built Qu8k rocket reached an altitude of 121,000 feet (36.8 km) after 92 seconds flight ... and captured some excellent video footage along the way.  Read More


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