Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory have developed a means of converting mechanical energy into
electrical energy using a harmless, specially engineered virus. By
simply tapping a finger on a virus-coated electrode the size of a
postage stamp, the scientists were able to produce enough current to
drive a liquid crystal display, albeit a very small one. The scientists
claim that this is the first time that the piezoelectrical properties of
a biological material have been harnessed. Read More
It's hard not to get carried away with the
superlatives when writing of the art deco wheeled sculptures of
Paris-based automotive couturier Giuseppe Figoni. This exquisite 1938
Talbot-Lago T23 'Goutte d'Eau' Coupe is not just a pretty face either -
an almost identical car finished third in the 1938 Le Mans 24 hour race
... and it's for sale. From the studios of French coachbuilder Figoni et
Falaschi, Figoni's Talbot-Lago T23 is one of just four Jeancart-style
machines still in existence. Read More
Honda has released details of a new personal mobility device dubbed the UNI-CUB. An evolution of the U3-X
unicycle EV that has been shown globally since the 2009 Tokyo Motor
Show, the UNI-CUB employs the same impressive balance control technology
and omni-directional wheel as its predecessor, with the biggest
differences appearing to be the addition of an extra wheel, a comfier
perch and optional user control via a mobile phone or tablet. Read More
After becoming the first probe to enter orbit
around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in
July 2011, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft
has spent the last 10 months orbiting said object - the giant asteroid
Vesta. During that period it has captured more than 20,000 images of
Vesta and a multitude of data from different wavelengths of radiation.
What it reveals is an asteroid that in many ways shares more in common
with a small planet or Earth’s moon than it does with another asteroid.
Read More
The battle for your hand-held gaming dollar is heating up big time with the recent release of the Sony PlayStation Vita. This latest entrant in the portable gaming hardware market has a clear-cut competitor in the form of the Nintendo 3DS,
and while we've had a close look at both of these offerings
individually, we've decided it's time for a showdown. So which machine
should you buy? Read More
For most of us fighting the battle of the bulge,
fat is an enemy that must be reigned in to a healthier – and less
noticeable – level. But there are actually two types of fat – or adipose
tissue – found in mammals, white and brown. While white fat stores
calories and is the culprit behind love handles, brown fat’s primary
function is to generate heat to keep the body warm through the burning
of fats in a process known as thermogenesis. Therefore, the ability to
activate brown fat in the body could provide a means to fight obesity
and keep the weight off. Now scientists have discovered a protein that
could allow them to do just that. Read More
Chevrolet will introduce a new
compact sport utility vehicle known as the Trax at the 2012 Paris motor
show. If the name rings a bell, that's because Trax was also the label
given to a diminutive SUV concept that Chevrolet floated back in 2007
and while there is next to no detail on the production model at this
stage, we do know that it won't be heading to the U.S. market. Read More 
Last month we told you about a team of Brigham Young University engineering students, who created a clever Batman-inspired wall-climbing system.
They were competing in the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s 2012
Service Academy and University Engineering Challenge, in which teams had
to design gadgets that would allow soldiers to safely and quickly
ascend vertical surfaces. Given that the Brigham Young entry didn’t take
first place, however, we thought it only made sense to take a look at
the entry that did ... and that would be a little something
known as the Personal Vacuum Assisted Climber (PVAC), designed by a team
from Utah State University. Read More
As machines get more and more sophisticated, the
mental capacity of their human overlords stays at a static (albeit
seemingly impressive) level, and therefore slowly starts to pale in
comparison. The bandwidth of the human brain is not limitless, and if an
overloaded brain happens to be overseeing machines carrying out
potentially dangerous tasks, you can expect trouble. But why had we
built the machines in the first place, if not to save us from trouble?
Brainput, a brain-computer interface built by researchers from MIT and
Tufts University, is going to let your computer know if you’re mentally
fit for the job at hand. If it decides your brain is overloaded with
tasks, it will help you out by handling some of them for you. Read More
Lately we’re hearing more and more about tiny
medical and environmental diagnostic devices, that can perform a variety
of tests using very small fluid samples. Working with such small
samples does present a challenge, however – how do you thoroughly mix
tiny amounts of different fluids, or wrangle individual drops for
analysis? According to a team of scientists from the University of
Washington, the answer lies in the lotus leaf. Read More
Nobody likes having to carry around a
keychain full of keys, or – worse yet – arriving somewhere only to
discover that they haven’t brought the key they need. The BOLT system
offers an alternative. It allows you to open multiple padlocks, all
using your vehicle’s ignition key. Read More
Keeping porous building materials
free from stains and water damage has gotten a little easier in the past
few years. Thanks to advances in technology, we’ve seen the advent of
things such as spray-on glass and anti-graffiti coatings.
Now, Spanish nanotech company TECNAN is offering a nanoparticle-based
coating that repels liquid, yet still allows the underlying material to
breathe. Read More
Apple is expected to unveil the next
iPhone at its annual mobile keynote this year and as is the case with
any high profile product launch, rumors about the device are beginning
to materialize months before the event is scheduled to take place. Most
recently, Wall Street Journal sources suggest that Apple intends to upsize the iPhone’s display from 3.5 to 4 inches. Read More
Known as the Sea Lion, this
remarkable brushed aluminum and stainless steel amphibious vehicle was
designed by a Mr. M. Witt in order to break the rather slapdash and
anarchic-sounding Amphibious World Speed Record. Read More
Laptop computers have come a long
since the heady days of the early 80’s when carting around a “portable
computer” could significantly increase your risk of developing a hernia.
Thankfully, laptops these days are much thinner and lighter, making
portable computing a much less physically strenuous activity. A perfect
case in point is Lenovo’s upcoming ThinkPad X1 Carbon, a 14-inch
Ultrabook that tips the scales at less than three pounds (1.3 kg). Read More
While there’s little doubt that dolphins are saying something to one another with all their clicks, squeals and whistles, we’re still not entirely sure
just what it is that they’re communicating. We may be getting closer to
figuring it out, however, as Japanese scientists have created an
underwater speaker that’s capable of playing back the creatures’ entire
acoustic range. The next step - see how they respond. Read More
Designed to overcome the frustration
of listening to phone calls in noisy environments, Kyocera's new URBANO
PROGRESSO smartphone provides an alternative to the traditional speaker
by transmitting sound through vibrations in the handset’s display
screen. Read More
If you find standing up in the
shower just too strenuous then the Horizontal Shower from German company
Dornbracht could be just the thing for your bathroom. It features an
array of six “Water Bar” showerheads built into a horizontal platform
that is attached to the wall, with another platform below on which to
recline. Read More
We regularly feature the latest superyachts
on Gizmag because they offer a mixture of breathtaking design and
cutting edge technology in a rarefied arena where price is seemingly no
object. The resulting floating marvels often seem more like works of art
than mere ocean-going transportation. An incredible 262 superyachts
worth US$3.5 billion sold last year (including one that went for $300
million!) so it's no wonder that some of the world's wealthiest
glitterati flocked to Istanbul earlier this month to take part in what
is essentially the Oscars of the luxury boating scene - the World
Superyacht Awards. Read More
Created by a group of young designers from
London, WikiHouse is an open source construction solution that aims to
make it possible for almost anyone, regardless of skill level, to freely
download and build affordable housing. The WikiHouse construction
system was on display during last month's Milan Design Week,
where the creators themselves demonstrated how the technology can be
applied. “We believe this could herald in a new industrial revolution,”
co-founder Nick Ierodiaconou told Gizmag. “The factory of the future
will be everywhere and the designer will be everyone.” Read More
Nobody likes having to carry around a
keychain full of keys, or – worse yet – arriving somewhere only to
discover that they haven’t brought the key they need. The BOLT system
offers an alternative. It allows you to open multiple padlocks, all
using your vehicle’s ignition key. Read More
Age-related macular degeneration is the leading
cause of blindness in North America, while retinitis pigmentosa causes
approximately 1.5 million people worldwide to lose their sight every
year. Individuals afflicted with retinal degenerative diseases such as
these might someday be able to see again, however, thanks to a
device being developed at California’s Stanford University. Scientists
there are working on a retinal prosthesis, that uses what could almost
be described as miniature solar panels to turn light signals into nerve
impulses. Read More
Look quickly at the Fahrradi Farfalla FFX and you
might mistake it for a limited edition Ferrari. Scan a little more
closely, though, and you'll notice the thin, hollow wheels and barren
interior. Something is certainly amiss, and it's because the FFX isn't
one of the world's most exotic supercars. It's one of the world's most
exotic bicycles. Read More
As I discovered when reviewing the Minty Geek
Electronics Lab a while back, experimenting with circuit building can
be a great deal of fun. There was one particular project in this kit
that made use of the human body to complete a circuit, with a simple lie
detector test being the end result. With their Makey Makey open source
hardware project, Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum have taken such touch
interaction to a much more entertaining and inventive degree. Everyday
objects like bananas, coins, and even Play-Doh can be transformed into a
computer keyboard key or mouse click to control onscreen gaming action,
play software-based instruments or type out short messages. Read More
It's hard to think of a better travel garment
than a big, oversized hooded sweatshirt. It's super-comfortable, warm,
and easy to take off when you're frying in the stale, recycled air of a
plane. Burton takes the hooded sweatshirt to a new level of
travel-friendliness, by adding some key elements that include an
integrated pillow. Read More
Canadian high-end loudspeaker manufacturer PSB
Speakers has announced its first dip into the headphone market with the
release of its Music for You (M4U) 2 Active Noise Canceling,
over-the-ear headphones. Built for comfort as well as true-to-nature,
hi-fidelity sound quality, the closed back, circumaural cans feature
40mm dynamic drivers, audio-enhancing amplifier technology, and an
ergonomic four-point gyroscopic ear pad mount that's said to
automatically adjust to the precise contours of the wearer's head. Read More
Keeping porous building materials
free from stains and water damage has gotten a little easier in the past
few years. Thanks to advances in technology, we’ve seen the advent of
things such as spray-on glass and anti-graffiti coatings.
Now, Spanish nanotech company TECNAN is offering a nanoparticle-based
coating that repels liquid, yet still allows the underlying material to
breathe. Read More
We've seen the wacky homebrew projects of
computer hardware hacker Mike Schropp before. Mindful Gizmag readers may
recall his triple quad-core i7 LEGO PC
housing that we looked at last July. But his latest project, the "Bio
Computer," is rather more oddball, taking a turn distinctly towards the
horticultural with a PC case adapted to ... grow wheatgrass. Read More
If you listen to your elders, electricity is a
dangerous, often fatal, medium that shouldn't be toyed with. If, like
Rob Flickenger, you decide to completely ignore such sage counsel, then
electricity is awesome and a whole bunch of fun – especially if you
build yourself a working battery-powered Tesla Gun that handles some
20,000-volts and 2,000 amps of current and shoots out bolts of
lightning! Read More
Apple is expected to unveil the next
iPhone at its annual mobile keynote this year and as is the case with
any high profile product launch, rumors about the device are beginning
to materialize months before the event is scheduled to take place. Most
recently, Wall Street Journal sources suggest that Apple intends to upsize the iPhone’s display from 3.5 to 4 inches. Read More
If you use a MacBook Pro as your regular desktop
computer, but also frequently take it out and about, you may find
yourself getting annoyed at having to repeatedly disconnect and then
reconnect all of its peripheral devices. Additionally, because the
laptop’s input/output ports are located along its side, all those
sideways-protruding cables can end up adding to the clutter on your
desk. That’s why Wisconsin-based tech company Veritas Forge is
developing W1PPS (pronounced “whips”) – it contains all of your plugs
and cords in one MacBook Pro-matched device. Read More
Medium format camera manufacturer Mamiya-Leaf has
announced three new high resolution camera backs named the Leaf Credo.
All of the new backs sport a specially designed DALSA CCD sensor, a
touchscreen LCD display with Live View functionality for both tethered
and untethered photography, and a dual-core microprocessor that's said
to offer the fastest available image viewing, focusing and editing. Read More
Known as the Sea Lion, this
remarkable brushed aluminum and stainless steel amphibious vehicle was
designed by a Mr. M. Witt in order to break the rather slapdash and
anarchic-sounding Amphibious World Speed Record. Read More
One of the biggest problems in fighting the
spread of AIDS has always been convincing people to have themselves
tested regularly. Unfortunately, getting someone to take a trip to a
clinic isn't always easy, particularly in areas where there aren't many
options for discreet testing. In a development that could leap right
over this privacy hurdle, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just
unanimously approved an over-the-counter HIV test that enables people
to test themselves in their own home and receive results in just 20
minutes. Read More
Aside from arable land, most farm crops require
significant amounts of water, fertilizer, nutrients and pesticides to
grow. While specialized breeding is often used to help produce plants
that require less of these inputs, Purdue University researcher Burkhard
Schulz has found a way to create tiny versions of plants that suffer no
reduction in yield through the addition of a cheap and widely available
chemical. Read More
It's not that long ago that GPS capabilities in a
mobile phone were considered a standout feature. Today, GPS navigation
is standard for smartphones, and as a result, many of us have come to
rely on them when it comes to getting from A to B. However, GPS
technology isn't without its faults, and if A to B is located under a
roof, out of sight of the orbiting GPS satellites, then you can end up
falling back on the not always reliable sense of direction. To fix the
problem, Fraunhofer Research is developing Smartsense, a smartphone
sensor capable of providing accurate navigation indoors, without the aid
of GPS. Read More
While sailing can be an activity that is easy to
learn, it is difficult to master. Sailing boats need to be constantly
tended to quickly respond to changing conditions and for both the novice
and the expert, this continual need for adjustments makes sailing a
demanding task. That's why the ASV Roboat
is an impressive piece of engineering. Packing an array of sensors,
communications hardware and solar panels, the ASV Roboat is a fully
autonomous, unmanned sailing boat that has its sights set on the current
robotic world sailing record. Read More
This summer, Wendy will be tidying up the
neighborhood in Queens, New York. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will
be attempting to clean the air in style at its PS1 satellite location
with an outdoor architectural project that's designed to provide shade,
shelter and water while also plucking pollutants out of the sky. Read More
Founded upon open source plans for optical touch
tables, the designers of the Playsurface hope to develop a versatile
touchscreen table-top suitable for a variety of "blazingly fast"
applications (yes, including gaming) supporting multpiple users. Though
purely an input and display device, the table can be had with an
integrated PC as an extra. If the project goes ahead (funding is
currently sought through Kickstarter), its designers claim it would be
as easy to assemble as Ikea furniture. It's not a bad comparison: the
flat-packed, affordable Playsurface is a product that its makers at
Templeman Automation hope will close the disconnect between the
popularity and availability of table-top touchscreens. Read More
Laptop computers have come a long
since the heady days of the early 80’s when carting around a “portable
computer” could significantly increase your risk of developing a hernia.
Thankfully, laptops these days are much thinner and lighter, making
portable computing a much less physically strenuous activity. A perfect
case in point is Lenovo’s upcoming ThinkPad X1 Carbon, a 14-inch
Ultrabook that tips the scales at less than three pounds (1.3 kg). Read More
The Quadrofoil is new form of watersport
recreation - a two-person electric hydrofoil which offers a thrilling
and dynamic 40 km/h (25 mph/22 knot) ride along with completely silent
running. Due to the remarkable efficiency of hydrofoils, it achieves all
this with just one 3.7 kW electric motor, and thanks to its lightweight
(150 kg/330 lb) carbon fiber and Kevlar body and in-built 4.5 kWh
lithium batteries, it has a range of 100km (62 miles). Read More
Potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) are a
subset of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) that have the potential to come
within five million miles (eight million kilometers) of Earth, and are
of a size large enough to make it through Earth’s atmosphere to cause
significant damage on a regional, or greater, scale. NASA’s
asteroid-hunting NEOWISE mission has now provided the best estimate yet
of the number of PHAs in our solar system, along with their origins and
the potential dangers they might pose. Read More
While there’s little doubt that dolphins are saying something to one another with all their clicks, squeals and whistles, we’re still not entirely sure
just what it is that they’re communicating. We may be getting closer to
figuring it out, however, as Japanese scientists have created an
underwater speaker that’s capable of playing back the creatures’ entire
acoustic range. The next step - see how they respond. Read More
Smartphone cameras are undoubtedly handy for
snapping a picture of a receipt, memo or other note to quickly record or
remind you of some task that needs taking care of. It's faster than
using a dedicated scanner, but the results are often below par. Scanbox
aims to improve the quality of these phone camera "scans" by providing a
portable stage that puts the camera and the subject in just the right
position. Read More
Porsche's hybrid 918 Spyder
is a 770 bhp supercar that can top 320 km/h, accelerate from 0-100 km/h
in under three seconds and lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in
seven minutes 22 seconds. The carbon fiber 918 Spyder will hit showrooms
before the end of 2013, with pricing beginning at US$850,000. It's all
standard fare for a supercar except for one small thing - its fuel
consumption of 3.0 l/100 km (94 mpg). Read More
Once upon a time, tasters were employed by the
well-to-do, in order to check that their food or drink wasn't poisonous.
Today, there are electronic biosensors that can do more or less the
same thing. Unfortunately, as was no doubt sometimes the case with the
tasters, the biosensors can’t always give us immediate results.
Additionally, they’re usually only able to test for specific substances,
and not simply for “anything that’s toxic.” An experimental new device
known as the Dip Chip, however, is said to address both of those
problems. Read More
When most of us realize that we’re overdressed
for the weather, we can simply take off that extra jacket or whatnot
that’s causing us to overheat. Police officers, however, don’t have the
option of taking off their bulletproof vests ... and those vests aren’t
exactly known for being lightweight and breathable. Fortunately, a team
from Swiss research institution Empa has developed just the thing for
those hot cops – an air-conditioned ballistic vest. Read More
In a bid to mitigate the risks associated with
fuel transportation and to make soldiers’ work less technically complex,
U.S. military scientists have started to test microgrids that would
provide clean energy to soldiers in the field. Since 2009, scientists
from the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and
Engineering Center (CERDEC) have been developing two systems – RENEWS
and REDUCE – which are being tested at the Fort Irwin National Training
Center in California, and by U.S. Africa Command. Read More
Ever wondered if a certain species of animal can
be found where you live? The Map of Life website aims to answer this
question. A Yale University-led project built on a Google Maps platform,
it lists virtually all of the vertebrate animals that can be found at
any one point in the world. Read More
Designed to overcome the frustration
of listening to phone calls in noisy environments, Kyocera's new URBANO
PROGRESSO smartphone provides an alternative to the traditional speaker
by transmitting sound through vibrations in the handset’s display
screen. Read More
If you find standing up in the
shower just too strenuous then the Horizontal Shower from German company
Dornbracht could be just the thing for your bathroom. It features an
array of six “Water Bar” showerheads built into a horizontal platform
that is attached to the wall, with another platform below on which to
recline. Read More
Imagine you're hundreds of miles from the sea -
you climb over a grassy hill and come upon a lake with perfect surf just
waiting for you and your board. Spanish engineering firm Instant Sport
is setting about making this scenario a reality with its custom-built
Wavegarden. While artificial waves are far from new, engineer Josema
Odriozola and sports economist Karin Frisch claim that their brainchild
can bring an ocean-like break to land-locked surfers, body boarders and
kayakers alike using less energy than any other existing wave generator
to date. Read More
Any experienced chicken farmer will tell you, the
relative contentment of the birds can be gauged by the sounds they’re
making. While this has generally been accepted as anecdotal folk wisdom,
a team of scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the
University of Georgia are now trying to scientifically verify it.
They’re hoping that their research could lead to better living
conditions for the animals, lower costs to farmers, and higher
productivity. Read More
Last April, for the first time since she became
paralyzed 15 years ago, a 58 year-old woman was able to get herself a
drink of coffee – she did so via a robotic arm, which was controlled by
her thoughts. Although that rather astounding feat took place over a
year ago, it was just made public today, in a report published in the
journal Nature. The woman was a volunteer test subject, in a clinical trial of the experimental BrainGate
neural interface system. Although still very much in development, the
system could someday restore mobility to people who have suffered
paralysis or limb loss. Read More
Top motorcycle drag racer Larry "Spiderman"
McBride has entered the record books once again by piloting the Lawless
Electric Rocket to a National Electric Drag Racing Association record
run of 6.94 seconds at 201.37 mph (324 km/h) over a quarter mile (402
meters) from a standing start. While the electric drag bike looks
monstrous when posing for the cameras, it's simply jaw-dropping when on
the move – as you can see from the video after the jump. Read More
Sony has unveiled the successor to last year's SLT-A35
digital camera featuring the company's proprietary Translucent Mirror
Technology that does away with the need to keep moving the mirror out of
the way when taking a photograph. The new α37 is a somewhat modest
refresh to the entry-level camera that sees some improvements and some
reductions in specs and capabilities, but is being released at a lower
price point than entry-level models before it. Read More
Designer Robin Falck has created his very own
micro home that is small enough to be built without a permit in Finland.
According to Finnish regulations, you can bypass the permit process if
the structure is smaller than 96 or 128 square feet (depending on where
you build). With the help of a couple of local architects, Falck was
able to make his original designs a reality and the result is this
simple and stylish rural retreat. Read More
Have something in a narrow space
that you want to inspect? Well, you could do worse than using Olympus’
new iPLEX TX industrial videoscope. With a tip diameter of 2.4
millimeters, it’s one of the world’s thinnest such devices, but its
image is also much more clear than those of other “fiberscopes.” Read More
LG has introduced an impressive new
smartphone display that's expected to come to new handsets in the second
half of 2012. The panel is five inches across, and features a pixel
density of 440ppi with an aspect ratio of 16:9, capable of displaying
1080p HD content. This impressive new display trumps Apple's retina
display, as well as the larger screens on phones like the Galaxy Note in
terms of size versus pixel density. Read More
Electric soldering guns like the
ones made by Weller are so named due to a passing resemblance to a hand
gun, but to me they've always looked more like a B-movie imitation of a
classic phaser from the Star Trek TV series. If you're wanting a soldering gun that really
looks like a pistol, then take a look at Mike Warren's mod, which
combines an old air pistol and a battery-operated soldering iron into an
oddly pleasing hand-held heat weapon. The gun even uses the magazine
clip as a battery pack. Read More
Sony Computer Entertainment America
has filed a patent that could see video games interrupted by compulsory
advertising. The patent's abstract describes the suspension of
"interactive content" in order to display an advertisement, after which
interaction resumes. Read More
The Bang! lamp, a "whimsical and interactive objet d'art"
from Bitplay, is a novelty lamp that lets you shoot the lights on and
off with a gun-shaped remote control. It's as useful as The Clapper, but
much cooler and more fun. Read More
Earlier this year, Western Digital
(WD) acquired Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), and with it
G-Technology. With HGST now operating as a wholly owned WD subsidiary,
one of the first products hitting the shelves after the acquisition was
the recently released G-RAID with Thunderbolt, which claims the title of
the world’s highest capacity, RAID 0, Thunderbolt external storage
drive. Read More
After entering orbit around the Moon at the start of the year, NASA’s twin GRAIL (Gravity Recovery
And Interior Laboratory) probes, Ebb and Flow, have completed their
primary mission to study the Moon’s interior structure ahead of
schedule. Operating around the clock since March 8, NASA says the
spacecraft have provided unprecedented detail about the interior
structure and evolution of the Moon and the data they have gathered will
provide insights into how Earth and its rocky neighbors in the inner solar system developed. Read More
It's hard to believe how many classic children's toys are getting modern makeovers these days - from the Etch A Sketch to toy helicopters to footballs - and now it looks like even the playground swing
set is getting a slight upgrade with the Son-X Octavia. When attached
to any swing, the Son-X will play different sound bites depending on how
high or long a child swings, encouraging them to go higher. Read More
While the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect are largely responsible for bringing gesture control into the lounge room, a new technology from OMRON promises to make gesture control mobile. Building on the company’s core “OKAO Vision” facial image sensing technology,
OMRON has developed a new hand gesture recognition technology
compatible not only with Windows PCs, but also Android and iOS mobile
operating systems. Read More
Have something in a narrow space
that you want to inspect? Well, you could do worse than using Olympus’
new iPLEX TX industrial videoscope. With a tip diameter of 2.4
millimeters, it’s one of the world’s thinnest such devices, but its
image is also much more clear than those of other “fiberscopes.” Read More
Hexavalent chromium
compounds are a key ingredient in coatings used to rust-proof steel.
They also happen to be carcinogenic. Researchers, therefore, have been
looking for non-toxic alternatives that could be used to keep steel
items from corroding. Recently, scientists from the University at Buffalo
announced that they have developed such a substance. It’s a varnish
that incorporates graphene, the one-atom-thick carbon sheeting material
that is the thinnest and strongest substance known to exist. Read More
If you're in the market for a new Nissan, you may
just be able to throw away your tire gauge and erase terms like "cold
pressure" from your mind. Nissan is launching what it calls the Easy
Fill Tire Alert system, an intuitive feature that handles everything
about tire pressure save for actually putting the air in. Read More
Smartphones are so monstrously powerful these
days that it's like carrying around a powerful computer in your pocket.
When you start work on your desktop PC, Mac or laptop, however, all that
portable power is put to sleep, resigned to being no more than a
glorified answering service waiting for a call. Product designer Bill
May believes that your smartphone should be made to do more for the
often huge cost of the monthly charges. He's created a simple USB
charging cable called the Limb.al that's stiff enough to support the
weight of an iPhone or Android smartphone, but can also be bent to mount
your mobile device right next to your laptop display or computer
monitor. You can then keep your main screen free of virtual clutter and
display your feeds and widgets on your smartphone instead. Read More
As any sleep-deprived parent will tell you,
there's nothing quite like the joy of seeing your precious newborn drift
off to sleep in a safe environment … if only because it means you might
get a few minutes' rest yourself. As such, there are countless products
on the market which promise to help you achieve this almost mythical
state of sleep, and soon there could be one more - a hypoallergenic
bowl-shaped baby bed. Read More
Back in the 80s, NASA envisioned a system for
growing herbs and other edible plants in the zero-gravity environment of
a spacecraft. Although it never got off the drawing board, that system
consisted of a rotating ring with built-in hydroponics, which the plants
grew on the inside of. Flash forward a few decades, and Italian design
firm DesignLibero has taken that concept and re-imagined it as a
consumer device, known as The Green Wheel. Read More
LG has introduced an impressive new
smartphone display that's expected to come to new handsets in the second
half of 2012. The panel is five inches across, and features a pixel
density of 440ppi with an aspect ratio of 16:9, capable of displaying
1080p HD content. This impressive new display trumps Apple's retina
display, as well as the larger screens on phones like the Galaxy Note in
terms of size versus pixel density. Read More
During the festivities of this past weekend's
Concorso d'Eleganza Ville d'Este in Lake Como, Italy, Aston Martin
introduced a new concept called the Project AM310. Unlike the
superlative BMW Zagato Coupe, the AM310 is expected to serve as more
than a one-off concept - it's reportedly a preview of the replacement
for the DBS. Read More
As part of an ongoing effort to facilitate
swifter progress in the fight against cancer and other related diseases,
the St. Jude Children's Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project
has released a vast amount of human cancer genome data, which is now
available to scientists globally. The volume of information offered
amounts to more than double the data previously open to scientists from
all the other human genome sources combined. Read More
Electric soldering guns like the
ones made by Weller are so named due to a passing resemblance to a hand
gun, but to me they've always looked more like a B-movie imitation of a
classic phaser from the Star Trek TV series. If you're wanting a soldering gun that really
looks like a pistol, then take a look at Mike Warren's mod, which
combines an old air pistol and a battery-operated soldering iron into an
oddly pleasing hand-held heat weapon. The gun even uses the magazine
clip as a battery pack. Read More
Canadian design studio Bioi recently completed this compact home
in Warburg, Alberta after being given the challenge to create a
contemporary and energy-efficient home for under US$100,000. The result
is a simple, open and sustainable home,
with a reduced space that holds all of the functionality of a regular
sized home. “Working alongside our client, we determined the true
necessity of the space that they required,” principal architects Jordan
Allen and Ryan Trefz told Gizmag. “Throughout the design phase
redundant spaces were eliminated, and non-inhabitable spaces were pushed
to an absolute minimum.” Read More
Italian industrial designer Michele Puzzolante has come up with a conceptual floating luxury hotel suite
he claims could be entirely self-powering thanks to the dye-sensitized
solar cells which would be integrated into the vessel's walls.
Puzzolante suggests his "Solar Floating Resort" could be navigated along
exotic coast lines, while its six resident passengers observe marine
wildlife thanks to its underwater "observation bulb." Read More
Sony Computer Entertainment America
has filed a patent that could see video games interrupted by compulsory
advertising. The patent's abstract describes the suspension of
"interactive content" in order to display an advertisement, after which
interaction resumes. Read More
Ferrari has always set high standards for its
customer interaction, and the latest press bulletin indicates it is
continuing to explore new means of communicating with its customers,
this time in the digital realm. "FERRARI BUILDS A UNIQUE SUPERCAR FOR
‘GOD’" was the headline. Blasphemy for some, but I knew who they meant.
Eric Clapton. Developed from the Ferrari 458 Italia, Eric Clapton’s
unique Ferrari SP12 EC was designed by the Centro Stile Ferrari in
collaboration with Pininfarina and Ferrari’s engineers. Read More
While the silicon chips found in the electronic
devices that we rely on every day are built around the flow of electrons
through circuits, with the development of an “integrated chemical
chip,” a doctoral student in Organic Electronics at Sweden’s Linköping
University has created the basis for an entirely new circuit technology
based on the transmission of ions and molecules. Read More
Wireless keyboards are great, that is until you
have to replace or charge the battery. Logitech is looking to keep those
batteries charged with its Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 solar
keyboard for Mac, iPad and iPhone. The wireless keyboard holds up to a
three-month charge from just a few hours under the sun - or desk lamp -
and can connect to up to three devices at once. Read More
Some landscapes are so compelling and beautiful
you want to be immersed in them, not simply gaze from a distance. The
water of the Tatai River, which winds and meanders through the lush,
isolated mountains and jungles of southwest Cambodia, is one such
landscape. Adventurous travelers can satiate the desire to be immersed
in this stunning environment in the most literal of ways - by sleeping
atop the water at the 4 Rivers Eco Lodge. Read More
While 1080p has barely had time to establish itself as the standard for high definition video
in the home, its replacement is already making its presence felt.
Panasonic provided a glimpse of our ultra high resolution future with
its 152-inch 4K resolution plasma TV at CES in 2010, but now Sony has become the first company to release a 4K home cinema projector that offers four times the resolution of existing 1080p displays. Read More
The Bang! lamp, a "whimsical and interactive objet d'art"
from Bitplay, is a novelty lamp that lets you shoot the lights on and
off with a gun-shaped remote control. It's as useful as The Clapper, but
much cooler and more fun. Read More
The Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) is extending the testing of its Blast Gauge
that measures the abrupt pressure and acceleration changes a soldier is
exposed to in the event of a exposure to a blast. These external forces
can result in traumatic brain injury
(TBI), an often invisible injury that can cause a host of physical,
cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral effects. DARPA’s Blast
Gauge is designed to provide medics with quantitative data to better
identify those at risk of TBI so as to provide better treatment. Read More
Earlier this year, Western Digital
(WD) acquired Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), and with it
G-Technology. With HGST now operating as a wholly owned WD subsidiary,
one of the first products hitting the shelves after the acquisition was
the recently released G-RAID with Thunderbolt, which claims the title of
the world’s highest capacity, RAID 0, Thunderbolt external storage
drive. Read More
German automotive tuner Brabus has been offering tuned cars for the wealthy and ultra-wealthy since 1977. Some of them are lightning fast, some of them are productive multitaskers and some of them are clean and efficient,
but they're all a little more exclusive than the average factory BMW or
Mercedes. In addition to cars, the tuner offers a yacht customization
service, and it recently turned its attention to the skies, where it
will transform private jets to the desired specifications of paying customers. Read More
Have you had your daily serving of vegetables?
This seemingly simple question is in fact very difficult to answer, for
children and adults alike. Luckily, a new handheld laser scanner devised
by researchers at Yale University and the University of Utah promises
to put a swift end to veggie dodging, while also helping scientists to
measure exactly how our diet affects our health. Read More
Anyone who currently wears glasses or contact
lenses will have likely consulted an optometrist to determine their
prescription ... that is, if they live in the developed world. In
developing nations, many people aren't afforded the opportunity to see a
professional in this field. Thankfully there are alternatives, one of
which are the self-adjustable glasses from Eyejusters. Read More
Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III in
Madrid (UC3M), Spain, have developed a pair of “intelligent” goggles
that make getting around a bit easier for partly-sighted people, by
providing them with Terminator-style vision. Using a pair of
cameras mounted on a virtual reality headset connected to a tiny
computer, the device scans the area ahead of the wearer and displays
information about the scene as color-coded outlines that convey the
distance and shapes of objects that are difficult to otherwise see or
interpret. Read More
Storing solar energy for the periods of time when
the sun isn’t shining is key to improving solar technology. The energy
produced can be stored in batteries or used to produce fuel that can act
as storage. Solar fuel processes are generally modeled on
photosynthesis, the natural process whereby plants convert sunlight into
chemical energy in the form of biomass and release oxygen into the
atmosphere. Current options are expensive, but a group or researchers
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison claim they have found a faster,
cheaper method to find electrocatalysts that improve the water
oxidation process in the search for solar energy storage. Read More
Canadian adventurer Greg Kolodziejzyk is
certainly no slouch ... among other things, he has set the 24-hour
endurance records for riding human-powered vehicles on both land and water. In 2010, he announced his plan
to pedal an offshore-capable custom-built boat from British Columbia to
Hawaii. After a series of open-water trials, however, he decided against
the 3,000-mile (4,828-km) endeavor. The boat, called WiTHiN, is
nonetheless quite the feat of engineering – and it’s now up for sale,
should you have the cash. Read More
Shelter Co. strikes an interesting balance between the doting comforts of glamping
and the rough, rustic flavor of traditional bag-on-the-ground camping.
The company calls itself a "pop up lodging service catering to groups
looking for an outdoor experience." You pick out a location (or ask for
their expert opinion on suitable spots), and Shelter Co. does the legwork. Read More
Google and Samsung have expanded the
Chrome OS family of devices with the introduction of the first desktop computer based
on Google's cloud-based OS. The Chromebox features the same
cloud-centric focus of previous Chromebooks, but in a compact desktop
configuration – meaning you'll need to provide your own mouse, keyboard,
and monitor. Read More
Last year, Gizmag reported on Sweden's tree-house hotel,
highlighted by the stunning Mirrorcube room that reflects its own
surroundings. Now you no longer have to travel to a remote part of
Scandinavia to spend a night in a Mirrorcube, as the company behind
Treehotel is offering to construct, deliver and install one wherever
you'd like. Read More
An aircraft powered with solar
energy has landed in Madrid on its way to Morocco. Solar Impulse, a
project by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, completed the first
leg of its flight to Morocco last Friday. The stopover was scheduled
purely for technical reasons and to change pilots. Read More
A new, small-scale solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system developed at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(DoE PNNL) could be used for household and neighborhood power
generation. Fueled by methane, the system achieves an efficiency of up
to 57 percent, improving on the 30 to 50 percent efficiencies seen
previously in SOFC systems of similar size. The PNNL researchers say the
pilot system they have built generates enough electricity to power the
average American home, and can be scaled up to provide power for 50 to 250 homes. Read More
Shelter Co. strikes an interesting balance between the doting comforts of glamping
and the rough, rustic flavor of traditional bag-on-the-ground camping.
The company calls itself a "pop up lodging service catering to groups
looking for an outdoor experience." You pick out a location (or ask for
their expert opinion on suitable spots), and Shelter Co. does the legwork. Read More
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has splashed down
safely in the Pacific Ocean, marking the successful completion of its
mission in which a number of historic firsts were achieved. The
splashdown came at approximately 11:42 US EDT, with the unmanned capsule
landing in the waters roughly 500 miles (805 km) off the coast of Baja,
California. Read More
Eighty five years ago, Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to successfully fly from New York
to Paris non-stop, claiming a substantial cash prize and securing a
place in history in the process. Now another world record holder, Chip
Yates, has announced plans to take on the same aviation challenge ...
but this time the aircraft making the 3,600 mile non-stop flight will be
all-electric. The ambitious project is still in its early stages but
the Flight of the Century team has already developed a patent-pending
battery deployment solution to replenish depleted batteries while the aircraft is in flight. Read More
Google and Samsung have expanded the
Chrome OS family of devices with the introduction of the first desktop computer based
on Google's cloud-based OS. The Chromebox features the same
cloud-centric focus of previous Chromebooks, but in a compact desktop
configuration – meaning you'll need to provide your own mouse, keyboard,
and monitor. Read More
Over the past few years, MotoCzysz has done some impressive things with electricity. Like winning the Isle of Man TT Zero race ... twice.
Now the company will expand its EV resume to another interesting
electric vehicle - a small SUV from Brazilian manufacturer TAC Motors.
Read More
Last year, Gizmag reported on Sweden's tree-house hotel,
highlighted by the stunning Mirrorcube room that reflects its own
surroundings. Now you no longer have to travel to a remote part of
Scandinavia to spend a night in a Mirrorcube, as the company behind
Treehotel is offering to construct, deliver and install one wherever
you'd like. Read More
Stanford researchers have found that concentric
carbon nanotubes, with the outer layer riddled by defects and
impurities, could be a cheap alternative for some of the platinum
catalysts that convert hydrogen and oxygen into water in fuel cells and
metal-air batteries. Read More
The scientists of the aptly-named Tomato Genome
Consortium have successfully sequenced the genome of the domestic tomato
(Solanum lycopersicum), specifically the domestic cultivar
known as Heinz 1706. The genome is made up of 35,000 genes spread over
12 chromosomes. In addition to presenting a "high quality" genome of the
species, the researches also produced a draft sequence of its closest
wild relative, the currant tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium). Read More
An aircraft powered with solar
energy has landed in Madrid on its way to Morocco. Solar Impulse, a
project by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, completed the first
leg of its flight to Morocco last Friday. The stopover was scheduled
purely for technical reasons and to change pilots. Read More 
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