Samsung has announced the successor to its EX1/TL500
compact launched in 2010. The new EX2F model features built-in wireless
connectivity and while the F1.8 lens on the predecessor was pretty
quick, Samsung has significantly improved on that for the new release
with a (very) fast F1.4 wide-angle lens. As you might expect, the
megapixel count has also increased (but not as much as you may think),
and the video recording capabilities have been upped to 1080/30p. Read More
Some pieces of everyday kit are just
begging for an update. The shish kebab skewer is one of those pieces.
Despite being the tool for delicious, juicy grilled meat, fish and
vegetables, a little tweaking could make the skewer a lot more
functional. The GrillComb provides a solid dose of said tweaking. Read More 
Qatar Airways unveiled its brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner
today at the Farnborough Airshow in the U.K. as the aircraft took to
the skies for the first time in a flying display. The impressive
demonstration of the plane's maneuverability was marked by steep climbs,
tight banking and a "touch-and-go" landing, but perhaps the most
striking feature of the 787 in flight (after an afternoon filled with
the roar of jet fighters) was just how quiet it is. Read More
Located in the Elqui Valley in
Chile’s Norte Chico region, Elqui Domos is one of the few astronomical
hotels in the world. The area is renowned for its sparkling clear skies
and Elqui Domos takes advantage of this by offering lodgings in a series
of geodesic domes with elevated loft beds and open rooftops as well as
recently added wooden cabins designed with star-gazing in mind. Read More 
If you ever need an example of the exponential
rise of technology, look no further than the digital camera. The ability
to capture images on an electronic sensor has transformed photography
and the way we record life's precious moments (and plenty of the
un-precious ones as well) in less than 25 years. So how will we capture
our holiday snaps when another two decades have passed? By 2030, will
today's spanking new DSLR be as unrecognizable as a box brownie is
today? Here's a look at some of the significant innovations and ideas
we've encountered in recent times that may hold some clues. Read More
We’ve seen promising moves towards developing a universal or near-universal
influenza vaccine, but researchers at the Donald P. Shiley BioScience
Center have taken a different tack to ward of the crafty virus. Although
the flu virus actively keeps the immune system from detecting it for a
few days, giving it time to gain a foothold, the researchers have found
that a powerful synthetic protein, known as EP67, can kick start the
immune system so that it reacts almost immediately to all strains of the
virus. Read More
Kickstarter – you ask for US$3,500
to launch a product, and you get US$19,584. Gotta love it. Walnut
Studiolo, a small design studio in Portland, Oregon, was founded to
create leather accessories for bicycles. This time, their Frame Handle
makes a bicycle easier to carry up and down steps or over obstacles by
providing a grip at the correct ergonomic angle above the bike's center
of gravity. The result is you have a comfortable grip for lifting with
your whole body, just like a suitcase. Your comfort while carrying is
enhanced, and you have more control over your bicycle in close quarters.
Read More 
There's some confusion as to whether the new
Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT (to give it its full title) is a replacement or
an addition to the SLS stable. The official line is that it is a faster
and more focused additional model but it seems likely that the standard
SLS will quietly disappear. It make less and less sense in the face of
the monstrous SL 63
and 65s now available. The SLS GT, however, makes perfect sense - it
fixes the niggle that every single reviewer has complained about since
day one. Gearbox, gearbox, gearbox. Read More
It’s a scenario many of us are
familiar with: the power goes out and the sole flashlight kept at the
bottom of the kitchen drawer has either disappeared, or else been
harvested for batteries, leading to much fumbling around in the dark.
Portland, OR native Greg Hinzmann aims to prevent this situation by
designing a flashlight which is so beautiful that you’ll want to show it
off and so have it to hand, should the need arise. Read More
DARPA has repeatedly indicated an interest
in developing hypersonic aircraft and weapons systems which are capable
of Mach-20 speeds and thus able to reach any region of the planet
within an hour. To this end, the agency has announced its new Integrated
Hypersonics (IH) program, which draws upon previous research and aims
to create a hypersonic X-plane (HX) ready for testing by 2016. Read More
If you ever thought of soap bubbles as small floating movie capsules, you were not alone in your observation. Researchers at the University of Tokyo
have developed a system that uses such bubbles as kind of projection
screen based on colloidal liquids. The bubbles are made of a thin film,
and allow light to create a reflection on one section before passing
through other sections. If the reflection can be controlled, then the
bubble can be used as a display. Read More
Moving forwards on two legs is one thing, walking with a recognizably human gait
is quite another. While most humanoids have mastered the former, the
latter is beyond the reach of most bipedal robots (though some are doing a good job at it)
... and there is a good reason for that. Recreating the way humans walk
takes recreating the entire walking apparatus, complete with the
skeletal, muscular and neural systems.
That’s exactly what a group of researchers from the University of
Arizona have done, creating what is reportedly the most biologically
accurate set of robotic legs to ever walk the planet. Read More
Researchers at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum (Peter Mac) Cancer Centre are set to begin clinical trials of a cancer treatment
they say represents a major shift in molecular approaches to treating
the disease. The treatment, which has proven successful in the lab
against lymphoma and leukemia cells, targets the production of proteins
within the heart of cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells relatively
unaffected. Read More
Spike: A flippin' keyboard case combo for iPhone
By Darren Quick
July 10, 2012
There have been plenty of physical keyboard options for iPhone users dissatisfied with touchscreen typing cross our desktop in recent times, from full-sized Bluetooth options, such as the Jorno folding keyboard, to cases with an integrated keyboard, such as the Nuu MiniKey.
The latest to catch our eye, which falls into the second camp, is the
Spike keyboard case combo from SoloMatrix that features a hinged
physical keyboard that flips up to provide easy access to the full
touchscreen. Read More
A controversy during the 2008 Beijing Summer
Olympics was Speedo's introduction of its drag reducing LZR Racer
swimming outfit. The suit worked so well that it was subsequently
outlawed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) as the
technological equivalent of doping - it gave too large an advantage.
Now, with the help of ANSYS simulation software, and just in time for
the 2012 London Summer Olympics, Speedo has introduced the Fastskin3
racing system, which offers a new and apparently legal approach to drag
reduction during competitive swimming. Read More
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology
have taken advantage of the triboelectric effect, which sees an
electric charge generated through friction between two different
materials, to develop a generator that could supplement power produced
by piezoelectric nanogenerators
previously developed at Georgia Tech. The triboelectric generator could
be used to produce electricity from activities such as walking and even
has the potential to create touchscreens that generate their own power.
Read More
Dedicated action cam companies like GoPro, Contour and Drift are about to get some big competition from major electronics manufacturers. We've already seen JVC's take on the action cam, and Sony has now teased its own upcoming model. Read More 
Collectors are a breed apart. Their interest in
whatever they collect often begins and ends with obtaining a new item to
add to their collection. Removing it from the packaging will affect the
worth of the item, and handling it or using it in the way it was
originally intended to be used is treachery of the highest order.
Collecting isn't for everyone but those who do it can end up making a
lot of money from their obsessive tendencies. So it is with the
Frenchman who has sold a large part of his video games collection on
eBay for US$1.2 million. Read More
Appearing in Toronto at Microsoft's annual
Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), senior Windows chief Tami Reller let
slip some details regarding the availability of Windows 8: PC
manufacturers are set to receive the Release to Manufacturing (RTM)
version of Windows 8 in late-August, while consumers will be able to
upgrade in late-October. The Redmond-based company also recently
revealed that the cost of upgrading to Windows 8 Pro will be just
US$39.99. Read More
In the 1800s, when pneumatic tubes shot telegrams and small items all around buildings and sometimes small cities,
the future of mass transit seemed clear: we'd be firing people around
through these sealed tubes at high speeds. And it turns out we've got
the technology to do that today – mag-lev rail lines
remove all rolling friction from the energy equation for a train, and
accelerating them through a vacuum tunnel can eliminate wind resistance
to the point where it's theoretically possible to reach blistering
speeds over 4,000 mph (6,437 km/h) using a fraction of the energy an
airliner uses – and recapturing a lot of that energy upon deceleration.
Ultra-fast, high efficiency ground transport is technologically within
reach – so why isn't anybody building it? Read More
Since beginning in 2003, the Microsoft Imagine Cup has tasked students the world over with developing technology
aimed at solving real-world problems. In this, its 10th year, students
were asked to build their project around a specific Millennium
Development Goal (MDG), with the finals held this month in Sydney,
Australia. The winners have just been announced and beating out teams
from 75 countries to claim first place (and US$25,000) in the Software
Design category was the Ukraine’s quadSquad with their EnableTalk gloves
that translate sign language into speech in real time. Read More
A lot of people like the idea of being able to carry things like photo or
video files with them on their iPhone, but depending on what capacity
model they have, may not necessarily want to take up memory on the phone
with those files. That’s where ego & company’s Hybrid Series USB
Case comes into play – it’s a case for the iPhone 4 and 4S, with a
built-in USB Flash drive. Read More 
Given that most bats hang out (literally) in
caves and other secretive places, and only fly at night, they’re not the
easiest of creatures to study. Tel Aviv University zoologist Dr. Yossi Yovel, however, has a plan. He is currently establishing the world’s first bat colony to be born and raised
in captivity. Although the resulting “roost” will be based out of a
research facility, the bats will be free to come and go to hunt for
insects in the surrounding environment. As they do so, some of them will
be equipped with high-tech sensors designed to gather information on
their behavior. Read More
One of the more promising developments in the field of medical technology involves the use of microspheres for targeted drug delivery.
In a nutshell, this encompasses creating tiny hollow balls that are
filled with a specific drug, which travel directly to a specific organ
or area of diseased tissue. Once there, the spheres release their
medication, keeping it concentrated where it’s needed while sparing
other tissue from any harmful side effects. Recently, a team of
scientists from Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and
Interfaces devised a new method of manufacturing such microspheres,
which is said to offer several advantages over existing techniques. Read More
Part of the huge appeal of the electronic
follow-me game of Simon was its simplicity. Anyone in the family could
step up and play without needing advanced scientific know-how or
seriously fast hand-to-eye co-ordination skills. It was an entertaining
challenge where the punishment for incorrectly following Simon's lead
resulted in no more than a disapproving buzzer sound ... until now. A
group of hackers has constructed a modern violence edition as a
qualifying entry for this year's Red Bull Creation competition that is
quite literally a bone shaker. Read More
Google says its data centers use half the energy
of typical data centers, and its efficiency report for the first quarter
of 2012 points to an even greener future. The company's impressive
statistics are achieved through simple energy saving methods including
efficient temperature management, reductions in residual energy loss and
actually constructing its own sites. As the use of cloud computing
services become more and more prevalent the data center industry is set
to boom and Google is pushing to give keep this expansion green with
facilities like its new data center in Hamina, Finland, which achieves
chiller-less cooling through the use of sea-water. Read More
Climblock Rotor wall offers perpetual rock climbing
By C.C. Weiss
July 10, 2012
Indoor climbing gyms have brought the sport of
rock climbing into the indoor spaces of dense, boulder-less cities,
where traditional rock climbing would be impossible. The next generation
of indoor climbing seems to be focused on cramming climbing equipment
into even smaller spaces. The case in point is the Rotor dynamic wall
from Climblock, which replaces the vertical wall with a rotating drum.
Read More
Rolls-Royce this week unveiled the world's first
jet engine to be made entirely out of LEGO bricks. Farnborough Airshow
was the selected venue for the unveiling of the model, which is made
entirely from 152,455 standard LEGO bricks and parts, making it,
Rolls-Royce claims, "one of the most complex LEGO structures ever
built." The LEGO engine is a half-size replica (complete with moving
parts) of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 turbofan jet engine which keeps Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in the sky. Naturally, we at Gizmag jumped at the opportunity to stick our noses (and camera lenses) in. Read More
While GPS tracking tends to be ineffective inside
buildings, alternative indoor positioning solutions require the
presence of Wi-Fi network access points or other beacons ... or at
least, that was the case before a Finnish start-up called IndoorAtlas
stepped onto the scene. Its software uses your phone’s built-in compass
and measures the anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field to pinpoint
your location in a building with the accuracy ranging from 0.1 meter to 2
meters (3.93 inches to 6.56 feet). If spiny lobsters can do it, so can
we, the logic goes. Read More
Staying cool under pressure is
important for professional gamers, and Thermaltake seems to be taking
that notion literally with the latest accessory from its Tt eSPORTS
line. The new BLACK Element Cyclone gaming mouse is not only designed
for high performance, but also features a detachable fan that cools the
user's hand to keep it from sweating. Read More
If an amphitheater provides a robust sound for audiences, then it would seem to follow that an audio dock
with a similar half-circle shape should also provide a nice sound.
Pure's 20-watt Contour 100i audio dock for iPhone, iPad and iPod is such
a device. It consists of a set of 3-inch speakers, and a revolving
cradle that recedes flush with the speakers when not in use. An
auxiliary input allows for connection to an MP3 player or other audio
device. Read More
Richard Branson today set out the roadmap
for Virgin Galactic's immediate future by announcing that he will be
taking his children along for the ride when the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) makes
its inaugural flight next year (should all go to plan). As expected, Branson also confirmed plans for a commercial
service to put satellites in orbit at a tenth of today's costs, marking
the resumption of Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne program. Read More
While it might not be the world’s largest solar boat or the fastest, this modest home-built solar-powered boat
does the job and comfortably accommodates six passengers. Dubbed
“Firefly,” it was built by Canadian eco-enthusiast Dan Baker for an
impressive CA$2,900 (US$2,845). Read More
Ouya (pronounced Ooo-yah) is a new Android-powered games console
currently under development. New games consoles from companies other
than the established big three of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are rare,
and with good reason. Gaming hardware is notoriously difficult to get
right and is usually a loss-maker with the software sold being where the
real money is. However, Ouya isn't your typical home games console, and
it isn't designed to go head-to-head with the PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii in
any real sense. Instead it's an Android-powered device that will sell
for just US$99. Read More
Missile systems specialist
MBDA unveiled a new conceptual UAV missile system at Farnborough
Airshow this week. MBDA hopes that by soon after 2030, the CVS301
Vigilus could extend the strike capabilities of unmanned UAV drones by
using scout missiles in hostile territory, allowing carrier UAVs to
maintain a safe distance. Read More
Staying cool under pressure is
important for professional gamers, and Thermaltake seems to be taking
that notion literally with the latest accessory from its Tt eSPORTS
line. The new BLACK Element Cyclone gaming mouse is not only designed
for high performance, but also features a detachable fan that cools the
user's hand to keep it from sweating. Read More
Parrot certainly has tried to pack as much
technology as possible into its first pair of wireless headphones.
Alongside the standard Bluetooth connectivity, the company’s new Zik
headphones feature active noise cancellation technology, a touch panel
on the right earpiece, a head detection sensor, bone conduction sensor,
five microphones and, in a headphone first, integrated near field
communication (NFC) technology. Read More
Electric commuter trains, while quiet and fast,
have one glaring inefficiency – when they brake at a station, the energy
of the moving train is lost, even when the motors are electrically
reversed. Capturing the electrical energy generated during braking is
simple, but efficiently redistributing it through the power grid is not.
The result, in too many systems, is that the braking energy is simply
wasted. Now an energy storage project in Philadelphia aims to capture
and efficiently utilize that braking energy, providing a clear view into
the potential of the forthcoming smart grid. Read More
The barefoot shoe revolution has really brought
us some interesting shoes. You have the classic (and kinda creepy)
Vibram FiveFingers, the Sazzi five-toed sandals and the Swiss Barefoot shoe-socks,
to name but a few. One of the latest entries in weird, goofy barefoot
cobbling is the Freeheel Runningpad, a sort of half sandal from
Germany's Starringer. Read More
Borrowing technology from sophisticated telescope
mirrors as well as high-efficiency solar cells used for space
exploration, a group of students and researchers at the University of
Arizona are putting the final touches on a novel power plant that
promises to generate renewable energy twice as efficiently as standard
solar panel technology with highly competitive costs and a very small
environmental impact. Read More
Palacio de Sal (meaning Salt Palace)
is a hotel and spa in Bolivia where the walls and furniture are made
entirely of salt. The hotel is located on the edge of the Great Salar de Uyuni,
the world’s largest salt flats, which spans across 10,582 sq. km (4,086
sq. miles). Guests are apparently politely asked to refrain from
“licking the walls.” Read More
Don’t you wish you could be skipping
stones across a mountain pond right now? Well, if you’re willing to
wait in an online queue for a while, you could be doing it ... sort of.
Idaho’s Sun Valley resort area is currently running a promotion, in
which people can use their internet browser to control Skippy – a robot
that skips real stones across a real pond. Read More
Lockheed Martin has teamed up with Ocean Power Technologies
(OPT) to develop one of the world’s largest wave energy generation
projects. The 19-megawatt project to be located off the southern coast
of Australia in Portland, Victoria, will be built around OPT’s PowerBuoy technology that has previously been trialed by the U.S. Navy off the coast of New Jersey for powering remote sea-based radar and communications systems. Read More
Palacio de Sal (meaning Salt Palace)
is a hotel and spa in Bolivia where the walls and furniture are made
entirely of salt. The hotel is located on the edge of the Great Salar de Uyuni,
the world’s largest salt flats, which spans across 10,582 sq. km (4,086
sq. miles). Guests are apparently politely asked to refrain from
“licking the walls.” Read More
Late last year, DARPA researchers upped the
standard two-hour endurance of Lockheed Martin’s Stalker small unmanned
aerial system (UAS) by a factor of four using a propane-fueled compact solid oxide fuel cell
(SOFC). Now the flight time of the aircraft has been improved by a
whopping 2,400 percent, with a test flight lasting more than 48 hours
using a laser power system to wirelessly transfer power to the UAS from the ground. Read More
The U.S. Defense Department think tank DARPA is
offering up to US$30 million in prize money as part of a competition to
introduce crowdsourcing to heavy weapons development and manufacturing.
By adopting the”democratized” strategy of crowdsourcing for the
development of the Fast, Adaptable Next-Generation armored vehicle (FANG), DARPA hopes to speed up the design and manufacturing of such weapons while reducing costs and introducing greater design flexibility. Read More
Our computers are already pretty good at alerting us to things that happen on the internet or on their own hard drives,
mainly through the use of pop-ups. We all know what can often happen,
however ... we get rid of those pesky notifications in order to finish
up what we’re currently doing, and then forget about them until we’re
logging off. A physical flashing light attached to the computer,
however, would be harder to forget yet also less obtrusive than a
pop-up. That’s the idea behind the blink(1) USB indicator light. Read More
The French-designed Yatoo is a camper concept that looks like a lighter version of the Swiss Roombox.
The three-part system equips a standard car, truck or van with the
essentials for wilderness living. Owners get room to sleep, live and
cook while keeping much of the vehicle's interior cargo space. Read More
Don’t you wish you could be skipping
stones across a mountain pond right now? Well, if you’re willing to
wait in an online queue for a while, you could be doing it ... sort of.
Idaho’s Sun Valley resort area is currently running a promotion, in
which people can use their internet browser to control Skippy – a robot
that skips real stones across a real pond. Read More
The problem with depending on one source of power
in the drive toward the battery-free operation of small biomedical
devices, remote sensors and out-of-the-way gauges is that if the source
is intermittent, not strong enough or runs out altogether, the device
can stop working. A small MIT research team has developed a low-power
chip design capable of simultaneously drawing power from photovoltaic,
thermoelectric, and piezoelectric energy sources. The design also
features novel dual-path architecture that allows it to run from either
onboard energy storage or direct from its multiple power sources. Read More
Here at Gizmag we love some of the micro homes we’ve seen, from the Tiny Leaf House on wheels to the Finnish micro house, and that’s not mentioning the London one room apartment
turned into a two-story luxury home! It looks like we’re not the only
ones, with New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg catching the tiny home
fever and announcing a competition for an innovative micro apartment
model. Read More
Materials scientists at Harvard have created a
fuel cell that not only produces energy but also stores it, opening up
new possibilities in hydrogen fuel cell technologies. The solid-oxide
fuel cell (SOFC) converts hydrogen into electricity, and could have an
impact on small-scale portable energy applications. Read More
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