New and Emerging Technology News part 136 ~ NEW GEN TECH LIFE : new generation technology news

Saturday 1 February 2014

New and Emerging Technology News part 136


New computer modeling technology suggests that Tyrannosaurus rex was even larger than prev...
Tyrannosaurus rex, that coolest of all the dinosaurs, may have been even bigger and scarier than originally thought. That’s the conclusion that was recently reached by a team of scientists, who used computer modeling technology to estimate the average body mass of the carnivorous dinosaurs. After digitally “fleshing out” existing T. rex skeletons, the researchers now believe that the reptiles grew twice as fast, and reached adult weights up to 30 percent higher than previously assumed.  Read More
SINTEF's Dag Wang, who is part of a team developing an autofocus lens that mimics the huma...
Mobile phone cameras generally aren't known for their fantastic image quality. One of the reasons for this is the fact that most of them have fixed-focus lenses, as opposed to the autofocus lenses on all but the cheapest stand-alone cameras. The phone cameras partially compensate by using a small aperture to maintain a good depth of field, but this limits their use in low-light situations. Of course, their lenses could automatically focus by moving in and out (like those on larger cameras), but this would draw considerable power from the phones' batteries. Now, however, Norwegian scientists have unveiled a low-power autofocus lens for mobile phone cameras, that works like the human eye.  Read More
After successfully securing crowd-sourced funding, Gabriel Wartofsky's folding e-bike is n...
Hoping to re-ignite what he calls the "hidden magic" of commuting by bike, Washington-born designer Gabriel Wartofsky has been working on a folding e-bike project for the last two years, and is now entering the final stages of pre-production. Prototype number one of his first- and last-mile mobility solution has been taken for hundreds of test rides leading to rider-suggested modifications and design tweaks, crowd-sourced funding has been secured, and final stage manufacturing partners are now being brought on board ahead of an initial limited availability production run in Q1 2012.  Read More
Red Bull F1 designer Adrian Newey set to make history
One of the greatest accomplishments in motor racing history will most likely be achieved on Sunday and the statisticians of the autosport world appear to have missed it. Currently, three men have designed cars that have won seven world F1 constructors titles. Last year Red Bull's Adrian Newey joined the other two (can you name them?) with his seventh title (Williams FW14B of 1992, Williams FW15C of 1993, Williams FW16 of 1994, Williams FW18 of of 1996, Williams FW19 of 1997 and McLaren MP4/13). On Sunday, Red Bull needs to score just one point more than McLaren for Newey to take his eighth title with the 2011 Red Bull RB7. Two of the top four designers in F1 history are British, and two hail from South Africa.  Read More
iMessage makes it easy and cheap to send text messages between iOS 5 devices
With around two trillion text messages sent in America alone every year, SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application in the world and the number two use of mobile phones - the first being to check the time. It's also a cash cow for telecommunications companies with the average charge worldwide of around US$0.10 per message for data that essentially costs the telco nothing to transmit because it is sent on the control channel - a small part of radio bandwidth that is used to send information between the tower and phone about call setups. Apple's iOS 5 update - if you can get it installed - sees the addition of a new iMessage app that could have telcos nervous as it allows text messages to be sent for next to nothing.  Read More
Cornell researchers have demonstrated a working temporal cloak that creates a gap in the f...
Last year researchers at Imperial College London proposed that along with being used to cloak physical objects metamaterials could also be used to cloak a singular event in time. A year later, researchers from Cornell University have demonstrated a working "temporal cloak" that is able to conceal a burst of light as if it had never occurred.  Read More
Nissan yesterday revealed a new Fuel Cell Stack for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) tha...
Nissan Motor yesterday revealed a new Fuel Cell Stack for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) that packs 85 kW-h into a 34-liter package. Through improvements to the Membrane Electrode Assembly and the separator flow path, Nissan has improved the power density of the Fuel Cell Stack to 2.5 times greater than its 2005 model, and in so doing has created a world’s best 2.5 kW.h per liter power density. Similarly, by reducing the need for platinum by 75 percent, manufacturing costs have been reduced by 85 percent.  Read More
GM has started work on the next generation of its EN-V concept vehicle that will be triall...
Last year, GM unveiled its EN-V (Electric Networked-Vehicle) concept in three flavors conceived by design teams around the world. In an effort to ascertain the real-world practicality of the two-seat, electric urban mobility concept, GM has begun work on the next-generation EN-V concept vehicle that the company plans to test in pilot demonstration programs in megacities around the world.  Read More
Five skeletal remains from the East Smithfield site (Photo: Museum of London)
It's hard to comprehend the impact of the Black Death. The "Great Pestilence" is believed to have originated somewhere in Northern Asia in the 1330s before hitting Europe in 1347. It killed an estimated 75 million people worldwide - that's around 25 per cent of all humans in existence at the time. Now in an effort to better understand modern infectious diseases, scientist have sequenced the entire genome of the Black Death.  Read More
A new system allows mobile phones to access certain data only when they're in a given phys...
There are plenty of situations in which it’s convenient for people to be able to receive sensitive data on their smartphones – one example could be a nurse at a clinic, who needs a doctor’s office to email over a patient’s immunization records. The problem is, those confidential records will still be on her phone, when she leaves work with it at the end of the day. A new system developed at Virginia Tech, however, offers a solution to that problem. It allows mobile phones to access certain data only when they’re in a given physical location, and wipes that data from their memories when they leave.  Read More
 

"Questionable Observer Detector" identifies people who keep popping up in crime scene footage

October 13, 2011
The 'Questionable Observer Detector' is a computer system that is able to identify people ...
Chances are, you’ve seen at least one or two TV shows in which the police examine news footage shot at several different crime scenes, and recognize the same person’s face showing up repeatedly in the crowds of onlookers ... the ol’ “criminal returning to the scenes of their crimes” scenario. Realistically, it’s pretty hard to believe that one person could look through all that footage, and remember all those faces. It turns out that a computer could do it, however, as scientists at Indiana’s University of Notre Dame have illustrated with their “Questionable Observer Detector," or QuOD.  Read More
iPhone and iPod users have reported a variety of problems when trying to upgrade to iOS5 (...
Bricked iPhones, lost contacts, slow download times and a host of other problems have plagued users trying to upgrade their devices to the new iOS 5. Here are the most common problems and how to fix them.  Read More
Professor Holger Hermanns with his prototype wireless bicycle braking system
Given that wireless gear-shifting for bicycles has been around for the past few years, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that someone has now developed a wireless braking system. Created by computer scientists at Germany’s Saarland University, the current prototype still looks a little boxy, but it does do away with cables and brake levers. According to computer algorithms that would normally be used in control systems for aircraft or chemical factories, the system should offer 99.999999999997 percent reliability – that means it would fail three times out of a trillion braking attempts.  Read More
Glamping has become a popular option for some eco-tourists
Eco-tourism is a fast developing industry, as travelers become more conscious about what type of holiday they choose. "Glamping" (glamor + camping) has thus become a popular option for many the eco-tourist, incorporating eco-friendly domes or igloos, that take the camping experience to the next level of comfort. Here's a look at two eco-dome sites in Europe.  Read More
An all-electric version of the Spark will be available from 2013
After announcing this week that the Spark mini car that is already sold in markets around the world will be available in the U.S. and Canada from next year, Chevrolet has revealed that an all-electric Spark will hit showrooms from 2013. Modeled after the Chevrolet Beat concept that appeared at the 2007 New York Auto Show, the Spark is a five-door, four-passenger hatch designed for urban environments that Chevrolet claims will offer more interior room than other mini cars. It will also be the smallest Chevrolet available in the U.S. and Canada.  Read More
The Dream Chaser carried into space on the nose of a rocket. (Photo: SNC)
The Dream Chaser, a reusable space plane currently under development by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), is to undergo high altitude drop tests in 2012 following a 25.6 million US dollar boost from NASA to top-off the 80 million US dollar contract awarded earlier this year. But it won't be chasing just any dream. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program this year, the very tangible goal is to deliver a low-cost, safe alternative for transporting astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station and other low Earth orbit destinations.  Read More
A new form of superhard carbon discovered by scientists could have advantages over diamond...
Carbon is the fourth-most-abundant element in the universe and comes in a wide variety of forms, called allotropes, including graphite, graphene, and the hardest natural material known to man, diamonds. Now scientists have discovered a new form of carbon that is capable of withstanding extreme pressure stresses previously only observed in diamond. Unlike crystalline forms of carbon such as diamonds, whose hardness is highly dependent upon the direction in which the crystal is formed, the new form of carbon is amorphous meaning it could be equally strong in all directions.  Read More
Kogan's Agora tablet lineup now includes 8- and 10-inch models (not to relative scale)
Budget tablets seem to be the order of the week. While not as easy on the pocket as the Aakash tablet unveiled earlier this week, Australian consumer electronics manufacturer and retailer, Kogan, has announced its own budget tablet offerings. The company's new Android-powered Agora 8-inch and Agora 10-inch tablets join Kogan's Agora line, which also includes laptops and a 7-inch Agora tablet that launched earlier this year.  Read More
The emergency stern settering pedestal of the SS Gairsoppa shines in the lights of Odyssey...
Ocean exploration has always been salted with the allure of sunken treasure, and with precious metal prices hitting new records and new technologies allowing access to deeper sites, that Siren's call has never been greater. Recently, a team of Odyssey Marine Exploration (OME) technicians and archeologists announced finding not one, but two British shipwrecks off Ireland, the SS Gairsoppa and the SS Mantola. Only 100 miles and a World War apart, the two hulks rusting away in the deep Atlantic collectively contain what could prove to be millions of ounces of silver.  Read More
The Kuat Racks Bottle Lock is a bike lock that has the form of a water bottle
Bike locks ... they’re very necessary items, but are sometimes a hassle to carry when you’re riding. U-locks can be clipped into a frame-mounted bracket, but not everyone wants a big plastic bracket permanently installed on their prized two-wheeler. They can also be stuffed in a backpack, although that can be a challenge if space in said backpack is already at a premium. Alternatives include a lock that you wear like a belt, and a lock that straps onto the bicycle’s top tube. Now, there’s another option – a lock that has the form of a water bottle, so it can sit in your bottle cage.  Read More

 
The Air Barrier System (ABS) which aims to reduce infection by providing a cocoon of highl...
A Texas company is developing an innovative medical device to reduce the risk of infection during surgery. Nimbic Systems' Air Barrier System (ABS) dispenses purified air through a flexible nozzle which can be fixed adjacent to the patient's incision, shielding the wound by producing a non turbulent flow of filtered air and reducing the presence of infection causing microorganisms.  Read More
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo will be used to carry experiments into space after the sign...
Although Virgin Galactic is generally known as a space tourism company, it sees research experiments as a future mission segment and significant business opportunity. To this end, the company has signed a contract with NASA to provide up to three charter flights on its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane. The deal follows the curtain closing on the Space Shuttle program earlier this year and is part of NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, which is charged with providing reduced-gravity environments for research experiments while encouraging the emerging commercial space industry.  Read More
The Urwerk UR-110 ZrN 'Champagne Supernova'
The appeal of a luxury timepiece has little to do with being able to tell the time. They are signifiers of status, wealth and taste (or the lack of it) and the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars/pounds/euros that they cost can be justified to some extent by the use of precious metals and gemstones, or the history of hundreds of years of artisanal craftsmanship that some brands possess. Then there is a whole other level of horology that transcends even these considerations. Where "value" is judged in a similar way to modern art. Where timepieces are created in strictly limited numbers around a unique conceptual design using cutting-edge materials and extraordinary mechanical skill. Urwerk is a Swiss watchmaker that has prospered at these lofty heights for ten years and its latest creation admirably demonstrates the attributes required of these astonishingly expensive mechanical masterpieces.  Read More
The 2011 World Solar Challenge kicked-off today in Darwin, Australia
The 11th World Solar Challenge got underway on Sunday with participants starting out from Darwin, Northern Territory, on a 3,000-kilometer (1,864 mile) solar-powered car race across the red center of Australia. The start follows three days of scrutineering and a day of qualifying that saw Solar Team Twente from the Netherlands take pole position in a field of 37 teams from 20 countries. But the margin was tight, with the team’s 21Connect solar car coming in just 0.00.3 seconds ahead of fellow compatriots and four time winners, the Nuon Solar Team.  Read More
AshPoopie dog poop disposal system
Most dog-walkers accept the necessity of cleaning up after their charges, but no one is claiming that it's a pleasurable experience. While we've seen eco-friendly dog waste disposal bags and systems that turn poop into plant fertilizer, we've yet to come across an approach that takes care of both collection and disposal quite like AshPoopie. Still a concept at this stage, the AshPoopie from Israel-based Paulee CleanTech is a kind of portable refuse incinerator crossed with ordinary one-handed pet waste scoop that's designed to turn feces into 100% sterile ash on the spot.  Read More
The ball camera snapping away (Photo courtesy Jonas Pfeil)
Taking pictures is about to get a lot more fun if computer engineer Jonas Pfeil and his colleagues have anything to say about it. A recent graduate from the Technical University of Berlin, Pfeil and his team designed and built a working prototype "ball" camera- a foam-studded sphere (about 8 inches in diameter) peppered with 36 tiny 2-megapixel cell phone cameras. Throw it in the air and it captures an image at the top of the ball's trajectory. Talk about redefining photography- one day, snapping pics may give way to "tossing" them.  Read More
Digi Cam allows for double exposure photographs and its single exposure pics and videos al...
"Lo-fi" photography using film cameras such as Holga has made something of a comeback in recent times, with creative types embracing the ability to do things like snapping double exposures. The pocket-sized, 3.2-megapixel Double Exposure Digi Cam offers a way to try out this effect without the use of image editing software or a trip to the dark-room.  Read More
Stained samples of pollen (left images) and plant stems (right two images). Top row: comme...
A team from the University of California at Davis has developed an affordable way to give the iPhone surprisingly capable chemical detection and imaging powers. We've reported on cellphone microscopes before, but this version claims to be simpler in concept and less expensive, plus it adds spectroscopy to its list of abilities  Read More
2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R
Kawasaki has released details of its 2012 ZX-14R and the Japanese giant has once again gazumped the competition to retake top spot on the motorcycle horsepower ladder. No figures have been released, other than the statement that it will be the fastest accelerating motorcycle in production and it that has the most powerful production motorcycle engine ever built. This article summarizes everything that's known about the new monster and its (estimated) 210 bhp and awesome power curve.  Read More
Scientists have created a tiny artificial muscle, that could be used in motors to propel n...
We've been hearing a lot lately about the possibility of treating medical conditions using nanobots - tiny robots that would be injected into a patient's bloodstream, where they would proceed to travel to their targets, not unlike the microscopic submarine in the movie Fantastic Voyage ... except nanobots wouldn't be crewed by tiny shrunken-down humans. One challenge that still needs to be met, however, is figuring out a way of propelling the devices. Well, we may now be closer to a solution. Yesterday, development of a new type of nanoscale artificial muscle was announced, which works like the muscles in an elephant's trunk. These could conceivably be used in nanobots, to whip them along using a rotating flagellum - a tiny sperm-like tail, in other words.  Read More

The new electric De Lorean.
If you fell in love with the De Lorean in the Back to the Future movie series, the good news is that in 2013, you'll be able to buy a real one again. It won't have a flux capacitor, won't time-travel and it'll still be a thirty year-old design (albeit styled by Giugiaro and structurally redesigned by Colin Chapman of Lotus fame after De Lorean himself screwed up the first design), but it will have a 200+ bhp electric motor (the original had an asthmatic V6 producing 130 bhp) and those awesome gull-wing doors and it'll be … errr ... really cool. No, really! It won't be called the DMC-12 any more either, because the 12 stood for its new price at launch - US$12,000. The new one will cost you between US$90,000 and US$100,000.  Read More
Photojojo has just added SLR Magic's 35mm f1.4 manual focus toy lens for Olympus and Panas...
Strange though it may seem, despite manufacturers going to great lengths to provide the very best in image quality, there are quite a number of snappers who long for the kind of warm and fuzzy (and often accidental) creations from the good old days of 35mm film cameras. Olympus or Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera owners looking for a cheaper alternative to the kind of soft edging and background blur effects offered by the likes of Lens Baby might well be interested in SLR Magic's 35mm f1.4 toy Micro Four Thirds camera lens.  Read More
GM is developing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication
Basic car safety systems designed to save lives in the event of an accident like seatbelts and airbags are being supplemented in modern vehicles by increasingly sophisticated preventative technologies such as ABS and lane departure warning systems. The next step in the evolution of collision prevention technology is vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems like that found on the LTE Connected Car and BMW's Vision ConnectedDrivet concepts that would allow vehicles to share information on their relative location and road conditions. GM has recently announced it is testing small, portable devices that create a "wireless safety net" to gather information from other vehicles and infrastructure to warn drivers of potential hazards.  Read More
Le Chal is a navigational device for the blind, that guides them to their destination via ...
Within just the past few years, scientists have developed an impressive number of experimental systems designed to help the blind navigate city streets. These have included devices that mount on the wrist, are incorporated into glasses, are worn as a vest, and that augment a traditional white cane. A young researcher at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Bangalore, India, however, has come up with something else - a navigational device for the blind that's built into a shoe.  Read More
Adobe's de-blur plug-in in action
Last week we posted an audience video of the a 'sneak peek' presentation from the Adobe Max developer conference that showed a remarkable de-blurring Photoshop plug-in in development. Adobe has now posted their official high quality video of the presentation segment, and the effect is easy to see. Adobe's presentation staging is pretty awesome too. Video after the break.  Read More
Scientists are using artificial vision technology to detect rotten oranges, and sort citru...
There’s a reason that the oranges you see in the store usually aren’t rotten – someone at a sorting facility has already looked over all the oranges coming in from the fields, and taken out the spoiled ones. This is typically done with the help of ultraviolet light, which illuminates the essential oils in the rinds of rotten oranges. Such an approach is subject to human error, however, plus workers can only remain in the vicinity of the harmful UV light for limited periods of time. Now, scientists from Spain’s Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research (IVIA) have created a machine that does the same job automatically. While they were at it, they also came up with one that sorts oranges according to aesthetic appeal, and one that sorts mandarin segments.  Read More
The Soundplane Model A computer music controller has a touch-sensitive walnut playing surf...
Even though touch-sensitive digital music interfaces like Roger Linn's LinnStrument offer users access to whole new worlds of sonic expression, there's still something very appealing about the feel of real wood beneath the fingers. The Soundplane Model A throws cold plastic playing surfaces out the window and presents players with 150 walnut keys incorporating patent-pending continuous capacitive sensing technology, for a computer music controller with the feel of an acoustic instrument.  Read More
A microformulator, designed to allow ABE to perform experiments without human intervention...
While some people may have been impressed (or intimidated) by the recent development of a system that automatically raises and analyzes cell cultures, it turns out that another facet of the biological research process may also be going to the machines. An interdisciplinary team of researchers recently demonstrated a computer system that is able to take in raw scientific data from a biological system, and output mathematical equations describing how that system operates - it is reportedly one of the most complex scientific modeling problems that a computer has solved entirely from scratch. While the system is known affectionately as "ABE," it is also being referred to as a robotic biologist.  Read More
The first sketch of the new Toyota hybrid LMP1 car
Toyota is the world's largest car maker and it is going sports car racing. Next year it intends to enter the hotly-contested LMP1 class with a car powered by a petrol hybrid power-train. Toyota's intention to promote its hybrid engine prowess appears certain to invigorate Le Mans racing as Peugeot already has a hybrid diesel under testing for next year and Porsche is rumored to have a hybrid race car ready by 2013.  Read More
NVIDIA claims 3D Vision 2 increases the brightness of 3D images by up to two times over th...
While the latest 3D TV revolution has had a slow start, the use of 3D technology for video games has proven more popular with over 600 3D-supported games currently available on the PC. However, one of the big downsides 3D gaming solutions, such as NVIDIA’s 3D Vision, share with 3D TV is the noticeably dimmer image that results from wearing active shutter glasses. NVIDIA has now updated its 3D gaming technology with the unveiling of 3D Vision 2, that uses a new technology called NVIDIA 3D LightBoost that is claimed to increase the brightness of 3D images by up to two times.  Read More

Cyclist Jim Artis' Catrike 700 recumbent tricycle, aka Silk
If you're a cyclist who wants to turn a few heads on the road, you should ride a recumbent tricycle ... people can't help but notice something that appears to be a low-riding lawn chair on wheels. If you want to get noticed by other recumbent trike riders, you might look into getting a Catrike 700. With its 700C wheels and relatively light weight of just 33 pounds (15 kg), it's said to be one of the fastest production trikes that money can buy. However, how do you get noticed by other Catrike riders? Well, you could try equipping your trike with just about every accessory imaginable, all of them in black. That's what Fayetteville, North Carolina native Jim Artis did with his. The result - which he named "Silk" - looks like something designed for dispatching evil-doers by dark of night, before tearing off in a swirl of dry ice vapor.  Read More
Virgin Galactic Terminal Hangar Facility dedication at Spaceport America in New Mexico (Cr...
Space travel just got another step closer for the masses (at least the well-heeled ones) with the dedication of Virgin Galactic's new "Gateway to Space" facility at Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built spaceliner terminal. Situated in the southern New Mexico desert, numerous luminaries were on hand to dedicate the innovative 120,000 square foot terminal/hangar facility (THF), including moon-walking astronaut, Buzz Aldrin and New Mexico governor Susana Martinez.  Read More
eleMMent PALAZZO - MOBILE HOME by Marchi Mobile
Marchi Mobile has launched its eleMMent series of ultra-luxurious recreational vehicles. Designed to offer a mansion away from the mansion, the series comes in three, fully configurable flavors and offers everything you'll never need on the road, including automatic boarding stairs, a flybridge and an operational fireplace.  Read More
Prof. Ki Chon and doctoral student Chris Scully, who is working on Chon's app (Photo: WPI)...
Users of the Pulse Phone app may be justifiably impressed at the way in which it lets them measure their heart rate, simply by placing their finger over their iPhone's camera lens. Well, a biomedical engineer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts has taken that concept several steps farther. Inspired by Pulse Phone, Prof. Ki Chon developed an Android app that measures not only heart rate, but also heart rhythm, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation - all through a finger against the lens. Measurements made by the app are said to be as accurate as those obtained using standard medical monitors.  Read More
Announced by T-Mobile, the LG DoublePlay is equipped with a main 3.5-inch screen and a sli...
T-Mobile will soon offer an unusual dual-touchscreen Android-based smartphone, in the form of LG DoublePlay. Billed as the 2011 LG U.S. National Texting Championship's official device, the DoublePlay is apparently aimed at busy users who need to text, e-mail and use social media in a timely fashion.  Read More
Each nanochannel electroporation device incorporates two reservoirs joined by a nanoscale ...
One of the key processes in gene therapy involves taking cells from the patient, injecting a therapeutic genetic material into them, then reintroducing them to the patient’s body and letting them go to work. Unfortunately, getting that material into the cells can be tricky. While larger cells can actually be punctured with a fine needle, most human cells are too small for that approach to be possible. There are also methods of inserting random amounts of material into bulk quantities of cells, but these are inexact. Now, however, scientists at Ohio State University are reporting success with a process known as “nanochannel electroporation” (NEP), in which therapeutic biomolecules are electrically shot into cells.  Read More
Amateur astronomers wanting to observe celestial bodies soon won’t be limited to just their own personal telescopes, or visits to the local public observatory. Starting next year, the first in a worldwide network of robotic telescopes will be going online, which users from any location on the planet will be able to operate for free via the internet. Known as Gloria (GLObal Robotic telescopes Intelligent Array for e-Science), the three-year European project will ultimately include 17 telescopes on four continents, run by 13 partner groups from Russia, Chile, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland and Spain. Not only will users be able to control the telescopes from their computers, but they will also have access to the astronomical databases of Gloria and other organizations.  Read More
Bosco Verticale is a planned 10,000 square meter urban forest, which will grow upwards. (i...
Italian architecture firm Boeri Studio hopes to merge vegetation and urban architecture, with its Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) project. The Italian firm has designed a model that could see the "reforestation and naturalization" of metropolitan cities, by growing forests sky-ways. "Bosco Verticale [is a] device for the environmental survival of contemporary European cities," says Stefano Boeri, who worked with Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra on the project.  Read More
Perhaps the most compelling feature of the new 1D X is its low light capability for both v...
Canon is to upgrade its flagship EOS 1-series digital SLR camera from March 2012 when the weatherproof US$6,800 Canon EOS-1D X will supersede the EOS-1D Mark IV and EOS-1Ds Mark III. Among the many new features of the EOS-1D X is a new 61-Point High Density Reticular AF system, AF continuous shooting at 12 fps (14 fps with mirror lock-up), a full-frame 18.1MP CMOS sensor, an ISO range of 100-51200, the world's fastest shutter release lag (as short as just 36 milliseconds), and full high definition movie recording.  Read More
Volvo plans to launch the V60 diesel plug-in hybrid in 2012
At its unveiling at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, Volvo said its V60 plug-in hybrid was "virtually production-ready." This was an accurate statement as it turns out, with the Swedish automaker announcing that from next year it will begin selling what is likely to be the world's first diesel plug-in hybrid production car. The V60 plug-in hybrid has a range of up to 50 km (31 miles) when driven purely by the electric motor, with the car's total operating range extending up to 1,200 km (745.6 miles) when combined with the ICE.  Read More

 
 

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