Emporia Elegance and Solid handsets designed for seniors
By Jeff Salton
February 17, 2010
Austrian mobile phone-manufacturer Emporia has
released two new models - the Elegant and the Solid - at the World
Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The new handsets add to the
company’s range aimed at seniors, mobility impaired users and other
groups who primarily just wan to make and receive calls. Both feature a
high contrast OLED 1.8-inch screen, a magnifying function that lets you
enlarge the characters on screen, large buttons, and an extra loud
speaker that is compatible with hearing aids. Read More
Most of us take it for granted, but walking isn't
as simple as it looks. With the natural human gait the ankle exerts
force to push off the ground. A typical prosthesis doesn’t reproduce the
force exerted by a living ankle, resulting in amputees spending much
more energy in comparison to walking naturally. A new prototype
artificial foot recycles energy that is otherwise wasted in between
steps to significantly cut the energy spent per step, making it easier
for amputees to walk. Read More
FlexibleLove - the extraordinary expanding chair
By Jude Garvey
February 17, 2010
The FlexibleLove chair is a fabulously functional
chair that is made almost entirely of recycled cardboard and recycled
wood waste. What's even more unique, is the fact that it can be expanded
to fit from one to up to 16 people because of its accordion and
honeycomb structure. This structure allows it to be stretched and folded
into a multitude of shapes and lengths - creating surprisingly strong
seating, suitable for various spaces and requirements. Read More
Winter Olympics gets a touch of greenery
February 17, 2010
When Vancouver won the competition to host the
2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games thoughts immediately turned
to construction, and one of the most awe-inspiring initiatives has to be
the redesign of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center (VCAEC).
Currently hosting the international broadcasting and media hub for the
Winter Olympics, this waterfront building is not only beautiful and
functional but is environmentally sustainable, boasting a green
electricity program, a seawater heating and cooling system and the
largest "living roof" in Canada populated with 40,000 plants and
grasses. Read More
The upside of a party at your place is that you
don’t have to worry about getting a ride home after a few beers. The
downside is having to clean up the next morning and finding a way to
dispose of all those empty beer bottles. But had you supplied the party
with (or encouraged others to bring) a Kegless, this wouldn’t be a
problem. Kegless is a 4L (roughly 8.5 pints) bag-in-a-box packaging
concept that provides a more sustainable alternative to conventional
single-serve bottle or can. It allows beer (and other carbonated
beverages) to be stored and dispensed from a single container while
maintaining the carbonation and freshness of the product. Read More
ASUS swivel multi-touch Eee PC T101MT confirmed
By Paul Ridden
February 17, 2010
The new Eee PC T101MT 10.1 inch LED backlit
resistive touchscreen notebook computer was first shown at this year's
CES in Las Vegas and now ASUS has made things official with a product
website. The notebook-tablet combo will ship with an Intel Atom N450
processor, up to 2Gb RAM and a choice of 160Gb or 320Gb hard drive. It
will also come with a year's worth of online storage thrown in. Read More
The Kolelinia - a rush-hour bike-path in the sky
By Darren Quick
February 17, 2010
Riding a bicycle through city traffic is often
dangerous enough to be considered an extreme sport, but a concept by
architect, Martin Angelov, takes the thrill of city cycling to a whole
new level – literally. His design proposes a new type of bike lane,
based on steel wires and suspended up to 4.5 meters (14.5 feet) above
the hustle and bustle found at street level. Read More
Samsung began demonstrating the world’s first
Long Term Evolution (LTE) netbook PC at Mobile World Congress 2010 here
today. Samsung’s own in-house designed LTE modem chipset, Kalmia,
enabled the development of a small form factor netbook with LTE
capability. Samsung demonstrated live video streaming via the company’s
own LTE network equipment on the Samsung netbook N150.The Samsung
netbook N150 is currently available in market with HSPA 3G
communications and WiFi access and will become commercially available
with LTE in appropriate markets. Read More
The first Littoral Combat Ship
departed from Florida today for its maiden deployment, approximately
two years ahead of schedule. The agile 378-foot USS Freedom (LCS 1),
designed and built by a team of companies led by Lockheed Martin, is the
first of 55 the U.S. Navy plans for a new class of ships designed to
operate in coastal waters. Read More
Spokeless bicycle adds some 'cool' to pedal power
By Jeff Salton
February 16, 2010
Usually, when you put nine university seniors
together from a mechanical engineering class in a room for a whole
semester with no strict agenda, the last thing you expect to get is a
useful product. But this team broke the mold and created a
“human-powered spokeless bicycle”. Admittedly, only the back wheel is
spokeless, but the Yale students had two very good reasons for that –
time and money. Read More
Two landmark water transportation announcements
from Hobie this week could seriously supercharge the adventure and
recreational marketplaces. Its announcements effectively means the
company will be selling the first tribrid – a watercraft powered by a
combination of three energy sources – when its new electric option
becomes available in March at the same time as the much-awaited Mirage
Tandem Island hits showrooms. Read More
Compostable plastics breakthrough sounds sweet
By Jeff Salton
February 18, 2010
Traditional environmental enemies food packaging
and other disposable plastic items could soon be composted at home along
with organic waste and not collected for landfill thanks to a new
sugar-based polymer being developed at Imperial College London. The
degradable polymer is made from sugars known as lignocellulosic biomass,
which come from non-food crops like fast-growing trees and grasses, or
renewable biomass from agricultural or food waste. Read More
For certain school children with learning
disabilities, focusing on the task at hand is a major challenge,
especially with so many distractions to be found in the classroom. To
address the problem university student Aaron Kowald has designed the
Study Nook – a miniature desktop office that functions as a learning aid
for children with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD),
like autism and Down's Syndrome. Read More
Ford unveils long awaited 2011 Transit Connect Electric van
By Mick Webb
February 18, 2010
The Ford Motor Company chose the recent Chicago
Auto Show to unveil its long awaited Transit Connect Electric van. The
all-electric light duty commercial vehicle is the first in Ford’s
accelerated electrified vehicle plan that also includes the Focus
Electric in 2011, as well as a plug-in hybrid vehicle and next
generation hybrid technology due in 2012. Read More
Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei
has been showing its E398 modem at the Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona and garnering a lot of interest. The E398 is the world’s first
triple-mode LTE modem compatible with all three major network
standards: LTE, UMTS, and GSM.
The triple-mode modem will enable high
speed LTE access while seamlessly switching to other standards (UMTS or
GSM) when LTE is not available. Read More
Efforts to capture energy from the human body usually focus on harnessing the kinetic energy
of the body’s movement. However the human body is also generating
energy in the form of heat that could also be used to run low power
electronic devices. New energy-scavenging systems under development at
MIT could generate electricity just from differences in temperature
between the body (or other warm object) and the surrounding air. Read More
PREVIEW: Audi A1 - compact size full of features
By Jeff Salton
February 17, 2010
Audi has finally “cut to the chase” and delivered
us enough information to bring you an insight into how its new A1 will
look and perform when it’s released at the Geneva Motor Show next month.
This new Audi three-door hatchback follows on from the 2007 Quattro
design study in a smaller shape that the company says will still provide
space for four adults and their luggage. It comes a choice of two
petrol and one diesel engine option and plenty of built-in features
shoe-horned into a compact space. Read More
d3o's body armour claims to be soft and flexible
throughout the day, but to harden up instantly under impact. As such
it's been a big hit in the snowboarding market, where it can make
clothing protective and impact-resistant without it looking like you're
wearing armour. But now d3o are branching out into the motorcycle armour
market - so how does this thin, bright orange wonder armour compare
against the traditional thick foam CE armour pads you find in bike
leathers? Editor Noel McKeegan attacks Loz Blain with a heavy frying pan
to find out. Read More
Less is more for highly absorbing, flexible, cheaper solar cells
By Darren Quick
February 17, 2010
Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded
in a polymer substrate, a team of researchers at the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a new type of flexible
solar cell. Promising enhanced sunlight absorption and efficient
conversion of photons into electrons, the new solar cell uses only a
fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by
conventional solar cells, and because they are flexible, they will be
cheaper to manufacture. Read More
Speedo's offering in the waterproof MP3 player
arena - the Aquabeat - is submersible to three meters, weighs in at only
35g and is easily attached to your sports gear so you can have beats as
you zig-zag at high-speed down the mountain or cut laps at the pool.
Read More
Vaccination has pretty much rid the entire
western world of some of its worst child-killing diseases - but a lot of
these nasties are still causing death and debilitation in developing
countries. There's one simple reason: because the vaccines contain
living strains of the viruses they attack, they need to be kept
continuously refrigerated all the way from production to the point of
use - and that's an expensive and sometimes insurmountable logistical
nightmare. Which is why this invention could save literally millions of
lives... Read More
Remember that old wooden labyrinth puzzle you
used as a kid? You had to manipulate a small steel ball through a series
of mazes by altering the orientation of the plane using two knobs.
Prepare to meet its big brother – the Superplexus Vortex. It’s a
humongous, three-dimensional, spherical labyrinth that promises to both
challenge and frustrate you. Read More
How the heck does it do that? Japanese telecom
giant NTT DoCoMo has used the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to demo
a very cool new handsfree interface you can use to control an MP3
player using gestures you make with your eyeballs. Sensors in the
earbuds themselves measure changes in electrical potential to convert
your eye movements to iPod commands. Fascinating stuff... and while
using it on an MP3 player might seem a bit naff, there's probably a
range of other situations where handsfree, voice-free control options
like this could be really useful. Read More
Just as home tests revolutionized the detection
of pregnancy, a tiny sensor being developed at the University of
Missouri (MU) could bring the benefits of home testing to the diagnosis a
variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers. The sensor,
known as an acoustic resonant sensor, is smaller than a human hair and
could one day be used in home testing kits for the easy, rapid and
accurate diagnosis of a range of diseases. Read More
Walking quadrupeds
are being cast to play a major role in the rapidly unfolding age of
robotics. The platform promises versatility far beyond that of
wheeled-vehicles and will undoubtedly find applications in a wide
variety of fields. Not surprisingly, the development of quadrupeds is
being driven by the military and DARPA
has recently boosted its efforts by awarding Boston Dynamics $32
million for the prototype phase of its Legged Squad Support System (LS3)
program. Read More
For powder hounds looking for a convenient way to
keep track of the best runs down the mountain winter sports accessories
manufacturer Zanier has announced the X-Plore.XGX – the first glove
with full GPS functionality. Aside from making sure skiers won’t lose
that gnarly stash of powder or get lost, the GPS enabled gloves also
record altitude, speed, distance, duration and other route data for
upload to the web once back at the ski lodge. Read More
While it may not quite be the Mr. Fusion energy
reactor Doc Brown uses to convert household scraps into power for his
time-traveling DeLorean, scientists have found a way to turn discarded
fruit peels, newspapers and other waste products into cheap fuel to
power the world’s vehicles. Its developer says the new approach is
greener and less expensive than the current methods available to run
vehicles on cleaner fuel and is part of his goal to relegate gasoline to
a secondary fuel. Read More
Gorillapod's camera tripods have become a common
sight since they were released a few years back and there's a good
reason for that - it's a great idea. Now Gorillapod designer Joby has
announced a new addition to the range - the Gorillapod Magnetic - which
incorporates magnets into the feet of the flexible tripod allowing it to
be anchored to any magnetic surface. Read More
It might look like a McDonald’s fries packet, but
the Firescuba concept is nothing to be laughed at if it keeps you alive
until help arrives. Smoke inhalation is the major cause of most
fire-related injuries and deaths so if this device with its carbon
filter lets you breathe through smoke, it’s probably worth carrying one
around with you or keeping one within reach at home. Read More
Hiperwall software video wall uses normal PCs and monitors
By Gizmag Team
February 18, 2010
Video walls – a wall of monitors displaying large
quantities of information at a single glance - have traditionally been
the domain of air-traffic control, NASA, television stations, and big
budget marketers, but no longer. Hiperwall’s high-performance, low-cost
video wall system uses a software solution that is hardware agnostic
(meaning it can work with any size, resolution or type of display,
whether it’s LCD, plasma, CRT even rear-projection) and allows
non-technical users to manage the display of video and data feeds using
just a mouse. This is a killer app in that it enables complex
information display at a fraction of the cost of previously!! Read More
Click and Grow - growing plants via computer
By Darren Quick
February 21, 2010
As someone who has been responsible for the death
of every single pot plant that has been placed in my charge, I was
interested to discover a new computerized system that is designed to
take the guesswork out of growing houseplants. It's manufacturers say
the Click & Grow system takes care of all a plant’s needs such as
watering and fertilizing by way of sensors, a processor and special
software contained in the pot. Read More
Flyfire: mini-helicopters create futuristic 3D display
February 21, 2010
The basis of most 3D systems is to "trick" our
eyes into believing that an image shown on a flat screen has three
dimensions, but what if you could throw away the screen entirely! It
sounds simply too far-fetched and impossible to choreograph, but that's
exactly what researchers MIT's SENSEable City Lab and Aerospace Robotics
and Embedded Systems Laboratory (ARES Lab) have created with Flyfire - a
cloud of LED-carrying micro-helicopters controlled in synchrony to show
unique animated light displays in three-dimensional space. Read More
BikeCAD lets you design your dream bicycle online, for free
By Ben Coxworth
February 21, 2010
Anyone who likes bicycles has at some point
probably fantasized about it - getting their own one-of-a-kind
custom-made bike. There are oodles of independent frame-builders out
there who will gladly accommodate such fantasies, but their services
generally don’t come cheap. Building a high-end bicycle from scratch
definitely requires a lot of skill, and even designing one
isn’t something that just anyone can do… or is it? BikeCAD, a free
online applet, guides users through designing their own road, mountain,
tandem or recumbent bike. They can then take their finished design to a
builder, or even attempt to build the thing themselves. Read More
Nintendo's DS2 to counter Apple with accelerometer, rumble pack?
By Rick Martin
February 21, 2010
Nintendo
was doing touchscreen gaming long before Apple ever decided to get in
the game. But as the iPod touch, the iPhone, and now the iPad have
challenged the gaming giant, Nintendo is expected to respond
aggressively with a new console in 2010. Reports are already starting to
roll in that some developers in Japan have received early versions of
the new Nintendo hardware. Read More
Anesthetists cannot take their responsibilities
lightly. Too little anesthetic and a patient may feel the whole
procedure, too much and a patient might shuffle off this mortal coil.
Researchers in the Canary Islands have taken the guesswork out of this
thorny dilemma and developed a computer-controlled system that measures a
patient's hypnotic state and applies the appropriate dose of
anesthetic. Read More
Vauxhall will unveil a dramatic concept car at
this year’s Geneva Show. The Flextreme GT/E uses what Vauxhall calls
extended-range electric vehicle (E-REV) technology – the wheels at all
times are driven by electricity, but a small petrol engine/generator
provides enough electricity to extend the driving range to more than 300
miles. The Flextreme GT/E also employs active shape shifting. Above
30mph, a vertical panel extends along the body from the air extraction
slot behind each rear wheel-arch, guiding high-speed airflow around the
rear of the car, reducing the drag co-efficient to just 0.22. Read More
The Zingy tribrid motorboat, rowboat, sailboat
By Ben Coxworth
February 21, 2010
So, you’re thinking about buying your first
boat... What kind do you want - a boat for ripping around the lake, one
for a tranquil morning of fishing on the pond, or something for catching
the wind and bouncing across the waves? Whaddaya mean, all of those?
Actually, inventor Clayton Turney would tell you he’s got just the
watercraft for you. His Zingy boats were designed with
first-timers/generalists in mind, as they can apparently be used as
motorboats, rowboats or sailboats, they’re small enough to carry on the
back of a motorhome, and are supposedly quite easy to handle. Oh yeah,
and they’re also claimed to be unsinkable. Read More
Citroen to unleash 200 bhp DS3 Racing at the Geneva Motor Show
By Gizmag Team
February 20, 2010
Citroen will take the wraps of the hot version of
its new premium model, the DS3 when it reveals the 147 kW Citroen DS3
Racing at the Geneva International Motor Show on March 2. Developed by
Citroën Racing - the dominant team behind five World Rally Championship
manufacturer’s titles and six driver’s titles for over the past six
years - leaves little doubt that the French car maker has the ability to
take its already critically lauded DS3 and turn it into a real
performance machine. Planned for the second half of 2010, the exclusive
DS3 Racing will be limited to just 1000 production units. Read More
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM) has just
unveiled details of the first phase for the expansion and redevelopment
of three business districts in China's capital city, Beijing. Key to the
success of the project is the installation of a Central Park area which
will help to heat and cool energy efficient buildings in the Dawangjing
District by geothermal exchange instead of relying on energy-intensive
cooling towers. Read More
Like the Apple Magic Mouse
that came before it, the Eclipse touchmouse drops the scroll wheel in
favor of an integrated track pad. While the default for the touchscroll
offers four-way screen scrolling by a user moving their index finger, a
host of instantly accessible commands like flicking backward and
forwards through webpages can be accessed through the mouse button and
finger gesture combination. Read More
The fastest, most potent drop-top Bentley so far
By Jeff Salton
February 22, 2010
Bentley is fast moving from its luxury car tag to
that of a supercar brand with the latest release of its Continental
Supersports Convertible – the fastest four-seater convertible on the
road. The new Supersports has the same 630PS (621bhp/463kW)
twin-turbocharged W12 engine as the Continental Supersports Coupé
introduced in 2009. Bentley says this is the fastest, most potent
drop-top the company has ever built - 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds (0-100kmh
in 4.2 seconds) and a top speed of 202mph (325kmh). Read More
Ensuring the home computer is 100 percent safe
for the youngest members of the family is a priority for most parents.
But security software can be expensive and unfortunately is not always
completely effective. A clever new product – the PeeWee Kit – not only
makes any computer kid-safe, it won’t break your piggy bank either...
Read More
Last year when we did an extensive feature
on Ducati’s motogp carbon fibre semi-monocoque frame, we lauded its
groundbreaking technology. Now it seems the Italian powerhouse is so
pleased with its handiwork that the semi-monocoque design looks set to
replace Ducati’s trademark trellis frame on its road bikes in the future
too. Read More
Brighter, whiter clouds could fight global warming
February 22, 2010
Scientists in the US have been cloud-spotting
over shipping lanes and have noticed something more interesting than
teddy-bear shapes and faces. They have detected that rising steam from
passing ships has caused brightening in the clouds which they theorize
alters the reflectivity of the cloud and prevents the energy from
reaching the Earth. They propose that if this could be achieved
artificially via geoengineering it could be an effective defense against
global warming. Read More
The TamTam Flash concept GPS torch is both a
familiar looking and new technology in a number of ways. It resembles an
ordinary flashlight and its name sounds an awful lot like TomTom, which
neatly links to the fact that the concept torch is actually a GPS
mapping device that gives its user the option of either a street map
view or a turn by turn guided navigation projected onto a surface. Read More
New release prosumer level cameras of today boast
features even more impressive than those found on professional cameras
of just a few years ago – and at a fraction of the cost. Sony’s new
HDRAX2000 prosumer video camera is a case in point, and it's one of the
first professional video cameras that records using the AVCHD format.
Read More
The Outer Ear is a non-surgical concept system
for the hearing impaired that detects sound-waves and converts them into
physical vibration. A watch-like wrist-strap acts as the receiver and
transmits a signal via Bluetooth to a device mounted on the arm which in
turn converts the sound into low, medium or high vibrations depending
on the frequency. Read More
Feel the burn with the Riiflex Dumbbells for Wii
By Darren Quick
February 21, 2010
Wii Fit-ness fanatics looking for a way to add a bit of weight training to their Wii cardio workout that doesn’t involve dipping a Wii-mote in gold
need look no further than these Riiflex Dumbbells. The dumbbells slide
over the Wii-mote and Nunchuk controller to put an extra 2-pounds (1kg)
in each hand and provide some extra calorie-burning resistance while
playing. Read More
Integrating the toilet bowl, basin, mirror and a
vanity table into one, the Home Core concept has a storage tank that can
be used to flush the toilet with water saved from the hand-washing
basin. The water pressure on the unit can also be controlled to four
different levels to help conserve potable water. Some might see it as
taking the idea of all-in-one a step too far, but we think this unit
would be great aboard high-end campervans, yachts, even aircraft, where
space is at a premium and fresh water can be scarce. Read More
Peugeot says it's responding to "radical changes
in the market for large, luxury saloons" with the diesel-electric hybrid
"5 by Peugeot" concept which will hit the show floor in Geneva next
month. Sitting at the opposite end of the scale to the diminutive BB1
which caught our eye in Frankfurt, the 16-foot long HYbrid4technology
concept combines a front mounted, 120 kW, 2.0-liter HDi diesel engine
with a 27 kW electric motor at the rear and uses an electric-only mode
at low speeds. Read More
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