The phenomenon of social networking allows
fragmented friends and families to keep in touch and empowers users to
share their lives with the world. Four female students from MIT think
that such a medium could also help to alleviate something else that many
members of the global community share and suffer from - stress. The
SOS: stress outsourced system consists of wearable units containing
wireless signaling technology. Should a wearer feel the burden of
stress, sending out an SOS to fellow users around the globe generates a
haptic massage from the relief signals sent in response. Read More
Graphene,
the one-atom-thick material made up of a honeycomb lattice of carbon
atoms, has produced yet another in a long list of experimental
surprises. Its remarkable properties have already got researchers
excited regarding its applications for faster computers, cheaper and more efficient batteries and vastly higher density mass data storage.
Now researchers have reported the creation of pseudo-magnetic fields
far stronger than the strongest magnetic fields ever sustained in a
laboratory – just by putting the right kind of strain onto a patch of
graphene. The breakthrough could have far reaching scientific
applications. Read More
Launched on March 6, 2009, the Kepler spacecraft is continuing to scan the heavens for Earth-like exoplanets.
The $US591 million Kepler boasts the largest camera ever sent into
space, incorporating a 0.95-meter diameter Schmidt telescope with an
array of 42 CCDs, each with 2200x1024 pixels. NASA has recently released
43 days-worth of data covering more than 156,000 stars in the
Cygnus-Lyra region of our galaxy, but more analysis is needed before any
conclusive findings can be made. Read More
Today’s computer components are connected to each
other using copper cables or traces on circuit boards. Due to the
signal degradation that comes with using metals such as copper to
transmit data, these cables have a limited maximum length. This limits
the design of computers, forcing processors, memory and other components
to be placed just inches from each other. Intel has announced an
important breakthrough that could see light beams replace the use of
electrons to carry data in and around computers, enabling data to move
over much longer distances and at speeds many times faster than today’s
copper technology. Read More
When you search for just about anything
on the Internet, it seems like a Wikipedia entry on that subject is
almost always amongst the top ten hits. Despite rumors of dissent within
its ranks, the encyclopedic website is one of the largest single
repositories of knowledge in the world. So, with that in mind, what do
you do if you want to bring a significant portion of the information on
the Internet to people who can’t afford net access? You load a
searchable offline version of Wikipedia onto a US$20 8-bit computer,
that they can watch through their TVs. That’s what computer consultant
Braddock Gaskill has done with his Humane Reader, which he hopes will
find a place in homes, schools and libraries in developing nations. Read More
Well, it was only a matter of time. Electric
vehicle charging stations aren’t even commonplace yet, but already
someone has come up with a better-looking one. Frog Design, well-known for developing cool concepts such as an Intel Point-of-Sale kiosk and a range of wearable devices,
has teamed up with clean energy company ECOtality to create the Blink
EV charging station. There are two versions, one for homes and one for
commercial use, and they’re both pretty snazzy. Read More
It’s a problem as old as the protective earplug
itself - if you block out the loud, harmful noises, you also block out
the quieter sounds, such as peoples’ voices... that is, unless you’ve
got a QUIETPRO+ Intelligent Hearing System stuck in your ears. The setup
consists of a pair of fairly regular-looking in-ear plugs, wired
iPod-style to a small electronic control unit. When the system detects a
dangerously-loud noise, it automatically sends noise-canceling sound
waves to the headset. When things are quiet, it amplifies sounds like
human voices, so the user is actually able to hear better than they would without it. Read More
As of July 29th, two electric vans embarked from
Belgrade, Serbia on a three-month road trip to Shanghai, China. Along
the way, they will have to manage stop-and-go city traffic, extremes in
weather, and even some stretches of off-road driving. All this would be a
great test for their electric drive system, but the researchers from
Italy’s VisLab put this expedition together mainly to test something
else: their driverless vehicle technology. While each of the vans in the
VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge (VIAC) will have
passengers in the back seats, ready to take control if necessary, they
will normally have no one at the steering wheel. Read More
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service will be
joined by a couple of new recruits from next month. For the first time
in the UK, two specially-kitted-out firefighting motorcycles will begin
attending small rubbish fires as part of a six month feasibility trial.
In addition to the customized motorcycles, the Service has also
commissioned new protective equipment for the riders. Read More
The main event of the Robotech exhibition held in
Tokyo this past week featured the Robo-One Grand Prix event, pitting an
assortment of bipedal humanoid robots
against each other in an improvised octagonal wrestling ring. Many of
you might have seen clips of Japan's rastlin' robots, but as there were
more than a few impressive takedowns and attacks on show, I thought I'd
share a few highlights. Read More
Toshiba has unveiled its new line of CELL REGZA 3D LED TVs. The new 3D TVs,
CELL REGZA 55X2, CELL REGZA Slim 55XE2 and CELL REGZA 46XE2 all include
"3D Super Resolution Technology" for upgrading the resolution of 3D
content along with 2D-3D conversion. The 55X2 has dynamic contrast ratio
of 9,000,000:1 while the other two models have 4,000,000:1. All feature
240 Hz refresh rate, support DNLA, are web enabled and feature a 3 TB
hard drive with 2 TB dedicated to CELL REGZA’s Time Shift Machine, which
allows you to record up to eight channels simultaneously. Read More
The Haier PowerPad is a concept device shown at SinoCES
which captures the energy contained within the water that runs off our
bodies every morning in the shower, and returns said energy to the hot
water tank. Haier claims the PowerPad is currently capturing and
returning 15% of the energy coming out of the faucet and by the time it
goes on sale six weeks from now, that figure will be 20-30%. Haier is
one of the world’s most innovative companies and is hence foolish to bet
against, but we’re struggling to understand the technologies being used
and just how optimistic the claims are. Read More
The problem with head injuries is that people who
receive them often don’t realize how serious they actually are, until
it’s too late. That’s why BAE Systems
developed the Headborne Energy Analysis and Diagnostic System (HEADS)
helmet sensor back in 2008. Used by the US Army and Marine Corps, the
sensor is mounted inside soldiers’ helmets, and indicates when it has
received concussive force sufficient to cause a traumatic brain injury
(TBI). Last week at the Farnborough International Air Show, BAE
announced the launch of the second generation of HEADS sensors. Read More
We’ve certainly seen some high-tech wonders over the past week at AirVenture 2010,
but sometimes it’s the relatively low-tech aircraft that are the most
inspiring. That’s certainly the case with the Maverick, a flying car
from Florida’s I-TEC (Indigenous People's Technology and Education
Center). The Maverick could fairly accurately be described as a
combination dune buggy and powered parachute, not unlike the Parajet Skycar.
While I-TEC initially plans on raising funds by selling Mavericks to
recreational users, they ultimately hope to put the vehicles to use in
impoverished African nations, where missionary pilots can use them to
deliver medical supplies. Read More
Quite a few people have heard of wheelchair
basketball and sledge hockey, but perhaps not so many are familiar with
Hardcore Sitting. That’s what wheelchair athlete Aaron Fotheringham
calls his sport, which involves doing BMX/skateboarding-style stunts on a
wheelchair at a skatepark. Los Angeles-based industrial designer Joven
De La Vega was so inspired by Fotheringham, he decided to design a
wheelchair tailored specifically to the sport. The working prototype –
dubbed the HXC Wheelchair – can be compared to a freestyle BMX street
bike. Read More
Most U.S. shoppers will be familiar with the
Nutrition Facts label on foods which, amongst other things, tells
consumers how much fat and salt is in their food. With the Digital Food
Scale from Perfect Portions, users can obtain that information whilst
weighing out their serving. Ten key nutritional elements are displayed
when users type in an appropriate food code from a database of nearly
2,000 foods, empowering users to take control of their daily intake or
cut down on foods that may do more harm than good. Read More
The forthcoming ST80 point-and-shoot from Samsung
will allow users to upload photos and videos while on the move. The
14.2 megapixel camera has built-in Wi-Fi to cater to the immediate
sharing of important moments with friends and family via email, or
through social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube. The slim
compact also features in-camera editing and comes with technology to
sync with other wireless devices such as digital photo frames. Read More
The graphite and display overhaul that Amazon gave its Kindle DX
earlier in the month has now been applied to its third generation
6-inch model. The new Kindle will be available with 3G and Wi-Fi or
Wi-Fi only, is 15 percent lighter and 21 percent smaller than its
predecessor but still retains the 6-inch display and now comes with
double the storage capacity. Read More
The Sanho Corporation has announced a new iPad-specific
addition to its HyperMac battery solutions. Apple's tablet computer can
be placed into one of two angled slots on top of the HyperMac Stand
which create the perfect angle for movie viewing or for eBook reading.
The stand also serves to extend iPad enjoyment by adding another 16
hours to its battery life. Read More
Although the theme of AirVenture 2010 was "Salute to Veterans," the future of air travel was also brought to the fore – and that means electric airplanes.
The focus on e-aviation culminated in the World Symposium of Electric
Aircraft last Friday and among the many interesting designs discussed
was Boeing's Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Volt
concept. Borne out of the same NASA research program that gave birth to MIT's D “double bubble”
concept, the SUGAR Volt is a twin-engine aircraft design notable for
its trussed, elongated wings and electric battery gas turbine hybrid
propulsion system – a system designed to reduce fuel burn by more than
70 percent and total energy use by 55 percent. Could this be the future
shape of commercial air transportation? Read More
Steve Jobs has done his level best to keep
pornography and adult content out of the iPhone App Store, but if the
history of the Internet has shown us one thing, it's that any attempt to
place a wall between porn and the raging tide of user erections is the
definition of futility – for each one you strike down, another one
springs up stronger than the first. So it will come as little surprise
that the adult industry has scrambled to take advantage of the new iPhone 4's ability to make face-to-face – or face-to-other-bits videocalls. Read More
In the world of electric vehicles, it’s not all motorbikes and subcompact cars. As regular readers would know, battery-powered SUVs, mid-sized cars and even sportscars
have already started appearing on showroom floors or are in
development. Commercial vehicles, however, have been a little thinner on
the ground. As we reported in February, Mercedes-Benz is doing its bit
to rectify this with its new Vito E-CELL, and more details are now filtering through as the vehicle moves closer to production. Read More
What began in Milwaukee in 1953 as a get-together
for aircraft enthusiasts has grown into the most well known event on
the aviation calendar. EAA AirVenture – also known as Oshkosh after the
town where it now takes place – rightly deserves the title of the
world's greatest aviation celebration. Everyone around the globe with an
interest in flying wants to be here and each year around 10,000
aircraft and half a million visitors make the pilgrimage. The 2010 event
wrapped up today, so after a week of enjoying all the neck-straining
action and cutting edge aviation technology on show, it's time to take a
look back at EAA AirVenture 2010 in pictures. Read More
How can you tell when a politician is lying?
First check to see if his/her lips are moving. New research has revealed
that despite what they would have you believe, the world’s governments
subsidize the fossil fuel sector far more than they do renewables and
biofuels. Indeed, the assistance delivered to the oil, coal, and other
fossil fuel sectors makes a mockery of claims that government is serious
about reducing carbon emissions. Hey folks, that’s YOUR MONEY! Read More
With Apple selling three million iPads
in just 80 days it’s no surprise that some companies are after a slice
of the tablet comuting pie. According to a report on Bloomberg, Research
in Motion Ltd. (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry,
is planning to introduce its own tablet computer this November. The
report cites two unnamed sources who say that the device, to be known as
the Blackpad, will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad and
will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth that will allow users to connect to the
Internet through their BlackBerry. Read More
The thought of folks suffering from extreme
dehydration whilst stranded in a life raft at sea got industrial
designer Kim Hoffman thinking of a way to turn all that sea water into
safe, drinkable, life-saving refreshment. She took inspiration from
portable desalination tools and created the Sea Kettle concept, a
colorful life raft that uses heat from the sun to evaporate salty water
and collect condensed run off in containers within the raft's structure.
Read More
A new portable digital recording unit has just
been added to the BOSS guitar and bass family. Capable of recording up
to four tracks simultaneously and playing back eight at a time, the
BR800 also has high-end, onboard vocal and instrument effects and its
own rhythm generator. Although there's still a splattering of dials and
sliders, most of the user controls are now operated by a gentle tap on
the device's surface. Read More
Evatran has unveiled its Plugless Power induction charging solution for electric vehicles.
Instead of having to worry about bothersome cables and plug/power
compatibility, EV owners using the system will just need to pull up in
front of a control tower and the charging process will kick in
automatically. And you needn't concern yourself with perfect parking
either, the floor-mounted current delivery block is said to take care of
all the alignment issues. Read More
The organization that oversees the Internet's
unique identifier naming system has joined forces with the U.S.
Department of Commerce and secure infrastructure specialist Verisign
Inc. to try and make our online lives a little safer. The Internet
Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has revealed that a
solution has been found to a flaw in the security of the domain name
system. The collaboration has announced the deployment of a new security
extension to make sure that our website addressing requests are not
hijacked by dishonest types looking to steal our savings. Read More
With this year’s Tour de France still a recent
memory, those of us with an appreciation for fine European racing
bicycles may now be experiencing a fresh bout of bike lust. Not all of
us, however, have $US6,000 or so to drop on a bicycle, and even if we
did... bikes like that are not well-suited to everyday
commuting, and are really more bicycle than most of us will ever need
for recreational riding. You no doubt still dream of owning a well-bred
bike though, so there is something a little more sensible you can do:
get yourself an urban commuter, made by one of the celebrated European
high-end racing bike manufacturers. Yes, they do exist, and we’re going to tell you about a few. How does a sub-$2,000 Colnago grab you? Read More
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of
Technology have announced the availability of a developer preview of
Kamra, a mobile browser based on open web standards. The first augmented
reality browser for the KHARMA (KML/HTML Augmented Reality Mobile
Architecture) development platform, Kamra offers users multiple
simultaneous augmented content overlayed on top of a live video scene.
Read More
Colored lights have been controlling the flow of
motorists since the first traffic light was installed in 1868 in London.
Now scientists have developed a membrane that uses colored light to
control the flow of gas. The membrane blocks gas from flowing through it
when one color of light is shined on its surface, and permits gas to
flow through when another color of light is used. The technology could
be useful in research applications and controlled drug delivery as well
as industrial processing tanks that require the ability to turn the flow
of gas on and off safely. Read More
New startup uses Internet to predict the future
By Darren Quick
August 3, 2010
There’s no doubt that most people would like to
know the future. It’s a desire that has kept palm readers, astrologists
and tea-leaf readers in business for hundreds of years. Now there’s a
company called Recorded Future that says it can use information scoured
from tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts to
predict the future. And before you laugh, it’s got some heavyweight
backers including Google and the CIA. Read More
It looks like orders for the Chevrolet Volt
have been flowing in since GM announced it was taking orders just last
week. The auto-maker has now announced it will increase U.S. production
capacity of its “extended range electric vehicle” by 50 percent, from
30,000 units to 45,000 units, in 2012. The announcement came as U.S.
President Barack Obama toured the Detroit-Hamtramck facility, where the
Volt is being produced for sale later this year. Read More
If it hasn't become apparent to you yet, you are
living in an age when your every online step is being monitored. The
notion of communications privacy has been steamrolled in the interests
of security, and the occasional tiny chance we get to peek back at the
people who make it their business to watch us is truly frightening. Two
new stories from America this week give a rare glimpse behind the
curtain at just how closely you're being watched, and by whom. Read More
Photovoltaic solar cells convert light energy
from the sun into electricity. Although significant strides have been
made in increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic
technology, they usually only result in incremental increases.
Researchers at Stanford University have come up with a way that could
more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology and potentially reduce the costs of solar
energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy
source. Instead of relying solely on photons, the new process, called
“photon enhanced thermionic emission,” or PETE, simultaneously combines
the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity. Read More
Computers have already conquered the study and
the lounge room and have been making steady inroads in their assault on
the kitchen with devices such as Internet capable fridges and digital recipe readers. As soon as the iPad
was released, more than a few people were pondering its potential as a
kitchen computer to provide the functionality of these devices and more.
Heck, a few creative types even mounted iPads into their cupboard
doors. For those of you who like the idea of a kitchen iPad but perhaps
aren't that handy with a jigsaw, you might try the FridgePad. Read More
You might think it was a simple law of physics
that most solids melt as they get hotter, and harden as they get colder.
A few materials, however, do just the opposite – they melt as they
cool. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) have recently discovered that by dissolving certain metals into
silicon, they can add that silicon compound to the relatively short list
of exotic substances that exhibit retrograde melting. Their accomplishment could ultimately result in less expensive solar cells and electronic devices. Read More
Following on from success with the iPhone, IK Multimedia has now released an AmpliTube app for the iPad.
Using an iRig interface adapter, the app offers guitar and bass players
real-time, mobile tone-modeling and multi-effects solutions on the
bigger multi-touch screen of the iPad. It is available in both free and
paid-for versions, the latter giving players 11 effects, five amps and
cabinets, plus two microphones to play around with. Read More
If you're looking for a powerful, space-saving
personal computer that's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand
then the new LPC-100 from Stealth might just tick all the right boxes.
Despite its diminutive dimensions, the little computer is claimed to
outperform most desktop and mobile computers available today. There's up
to 2.53GHz of processing power on offer, some 500GB of hard drive
storage with solid state options too and up to 4GB of memory. Read More
The first joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA
that will study the chemical makeup of the martian atmosphere is
scheduled for 2016. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter marks an unprecedented
alliance between the two agencies for future ventures to Mars and is
the first in a planned series of joint missions leading to the return of
a sample from the surface of the Red Planet. Scientists worldwide were
invited to propose the spacecraft’s instruments and the ESA and NASA
have now made their selections. Read More
China is home to more people than any other
country on Earth, and they're moving into megacities at a rate that's
simply unprecedented. Managing a transport plan for such a colossal
number of people presents a traffic congestion and pollution quandary
the likes of which we've simply never seen before. The Straddling Bus is
an amazing public transport solution that drives over the top of the
cars on a slightly modified road, able to stop without interrupting the
traffic flow and to glide over the top of congestion. This go-go-gadget
bus is far quicker and 90 percent cheaper to build than a new subway
route, it's solar/grid electric powered and it's no pipe dream –
construction starts at the end of this year. Read More
We’ve covered a number of products designed to
light up a bicycle to increase the safety of nighttime riding. Such
devices usually involve adding lights to the pedals or spokes
of a bicycle but a new invention from Night Bright Tyre Ltd. adds LED
lighting to an altogether new part of the bike – the tires themselves.
The Cyglo bike tires feature tough and durable LED bulbs that are built
into the tread or wall of the tire to form a perfect ring of light when
the wheel turns. Read More
Hawaii ideal for ocean-based renewable energy plants
By Darren Quick
August 3, 2010
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) involves
placing a heat engine between warm water collected at the ocean’s
surface and cold water pumped from the deep ocean. Like a ball rolling
downhill, heat flows from the warm reservoir to the cool one. The
greater the temperature difference, the stronger the flow of heat that
can be used to do useful work such as spinning a turbine and generating
electricity. Researchers say that the temperature differential is around
one degree Celcius greater on the leeward side of Hawaiian islands it
is better suited for future ocean-based OTEC energy plants. Read More
China’s meteoric rise to become the center of the
world’s automotive industry was well documented last week in our article and video on SAIC’s YEZ Concept car.
This week another Chinese manufacturer is making global headlines by
buying Volvo Automobiles. Unlike Government-owned SAIC, Volvo’s
purchaser Zhejiang Geely is a public company controlled by Li Shufu (top
left) a self-made 47 year-old billionaire who is being heralded as
China’s Henry Ford. Geely’s ambition knows no bounds – it already plans
to produce the world’s cheapest car (the tiny gullwing at top right),
has a range of green drive trains ready for market including full electric and parallel and serial hybrids,
has plans to produce a serious sports cars (bottom right) and now the
first fully-owned Chinese prestige auto brand looks set to grab a fat
slice of the Government fleet which makes up 8% of China’s auto market.
Read More
Video games and beer – together at last!
Actually, a visit to just about any college dorm or rec room will show
you that video games and beer can regularly be found together, but now
they’re available from the same machine. It’s called the Gamerator, and
it combines a classic 80s-style video arcade machine with a mini fridge
capable of holding a pony keg of beer and a five-pound aluminum CO2
tank. Bring on the blue ghosts! Read More
TokyoFlash, the maker of creative LED watches such as the "Broke" stained glass watch, the Retsu and the Round Trip Pocket Watch,
is at it again. Always on the lookout for wacky new ways to display the
time with LEDs, the company has just released the "Traffic" watch. Read More
There’s a stretch of highway in Utah, where over
300 carcasses of car-struck deer were found in a single year. It’s not
surprising, therefore, that the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT)
has chosen part of that area to try out the DeerDeter Wildlife Crossing
Guard. As you might have guessed from its name, the roadside device is
designed to keep deer from wandering out onto nighttime roads as cars
are approaching. When it detects oncoming headlights, the DeerDeter’s
strobe lights and audio alarm system are activated, causing deer and
other animals in its vicinity to keep their distance. Read More
When last we looked at an entry in the upcoming Zero Race it was the Swiss team’s Zerotracer
electric motorcycle. Today we shift our attention to the Australian
entry, which sees the number of wheels upped to three and the vehicle,
in typically Australian fashion, given the moniker of “Trev.” And if
you’ve got a little spare cash laying about then you can join Team Trev
and drive the vehicle for a day during the race – you’ll even get a Team
Trev polo shirt! Read More
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