Tesla to use Panasonic's Nickel-based lithium-ion batteries
By Ben Coxworth
January 24, 2010
Electric carmaker Tesla Motors and electronics giant Panasonic
have announced that they will be collaborating on development of
next-generation battery cells for electric vehicles. Tesla Chief
Technology Officer JB Straubel says “Combining Tesla’s rigorous cell
testing and understanding of EV requirements with Panasonic’s
cutting-edge battery technology will result in custom cells optimized
for use in EVs.” Panasonic’s nickel-based lithium-ion battery cells will
be included in Tesla’s newest battery packs, due to their high
capacity, light weight, durability and long life. According to
Panasonic, they are the highest energy density battery cells currently
in production. Read More
You’re not fooling anyone with that
“123456” password of yours. “Password” isn’t much better, and sorry
ladies, but “princess” is also no good. These are among the findings in a
report released by Imperva, a data security firm that analyzed 32
million passwords recently exposed in the Rockyou.com breach. Not only
did they identify the most common, and thus easily-guessable passwords,
but they also suggested some effective methods for creating secure ones.
Read More
It is interesting to note that the three biggest
stories in Formula One right now concern a driver who competed in 2010
but not in 2009 (the Michael Schumacher comeback), a driver who competed in 2009 but not 2010 (Raikkonen loses his drive and goes WRC)
and a driver who has never competed in F1 and quite possibly never will
– Valentino Rossi. Indeed, Rossi has only ever driven an F1 car six
times, but his status as one of motorcycling’s all-time greats and one
of the most popular and media-savvy sportspeople of all time make the
possibility an incredibly enticing prospect. For Ferrari, Rossi brings a
global army of fans and the possibility of a rare Italian driver-car
title combination that hasn’t happened since Alberto Ascari in 1953,
despite 15 drivers titles and 16 constructors titles for the marque
since then. This week Rossi tested in a Ferrari F1 car again, and was so
fast that the possibility might now be approaching a probability. Read More
Photosimile: the world’s first “office photography machine”
By Alan Brandon
January 23, 2010
Imagine if you could take professional-looking
photos and create 3D product animations as easily as using the office
copier. Ortery’s Photosimile 5000 system aims to bring that capability
to the office by enabling even non-photographers to create high-quality
images just by pressing a few buttons. The Photosimile 5000 is a
PC-controlled desktop photography studio that integrates a light box, a
DSLR camera, automated camera positioning, and specialized workflow
software to simplify and automate business photography. Read More
It’s official: the Arctic tern has the longest migration of any animal in the world. The Arctic Tern Migration Project
recently discovered that the tern flies over 70,000 kilometers (43,496
miles) annually, from its breeding grounds in the Arctic to its winter
quarters in the Antarctic. That distance is more than twice what was
previously estimated. Over the lifetime of one bird, it travels
approximately 2.4 million kilometers, the equivalent of three trips to
the moon and back. For a bird that weighs just over 100 grams (3.5
ounces), that’s fairly impressive. Read More
At CES 2010, home automation and entertainment
company, Control4, released a new energy-saving system, an app that
turns Blackberries and Droid handsets into remote control for its
system, and even added an app store which it is hoping will have the
same impact on home automation that iTunes had on music. Read More
We've gone to a new format for our first podcast
of 2010 - Loz Blain and Mike Hanlon sit down for a broad and fun
discussion on a few recent stories that we see as real potential
life-changers. Starting with the Digital Gastronomy project and moving
on to cover some of the fun, fascinating and scary things Mike saw at
last December's robotics trade show in Tokyo, it's your chance to sit in
on the kind of discussions that happen every time the Gizmag team gets
together. Read More
The Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA)
has unveiled the long awaited DisplayPort Version1.2 digital display
interface that brings with it a host of enhanced features. Aside from a
doubled data rate of 21.6Gbps and bi-directional USB data transfer of an
impressive 720Mbps, the upgrade also offers multi – monitor support
from a single plug, improved audio synchronization and support for Full
HD 3D Stereoscopic displays. Read More
Urbanears presents trendy Plattan, Tanto and Medis headphones
By Ben Coxworth
January 22, 2010
There’s this cliche that anything made in
Scandinavia is cool, and... it’s true. Think about it; movies, cars,
music, furniture, headphones - Yep, that’s right, the latest hip thing
to come out of northwestern Europe is headphones. Urbanears
is a Stockholm-based company that is turning music-listening into a
fashion statement. According to their website, “Urbanears promotes a
deeper connection to color, form and people while providing the freedom
to transcend individuality and unify the sound experience.” Gosh. Read More
A software engineer based in Sydney, Australia
has created a digital guitar controlled by open source software which he
hopes will see musicians play electronic music in a live environment.
Players control the pitch, speed and volume of notes produced by the
Misa Digital Guitar via a 24 'fret' neck and touchscreen interface. Read More
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