Technology used to detect bombs and explosives
could have a beneficial side-effect – identifying counterfeit and
substandard drugs, which pose a major threat to public health,
particularly in developing countries. Around one percent of drugs in
developed countries, and 10 to 30 percent of drugs in developing
countries are counterfeit, and the percentage of substandard drugs is
thought to be even higher. Swedish and British researchers are
developing a cheap, reliable system that uses radio waves to analyze the
chemical structure of drugs to identify fakes. Read More
DaVinci, Caravaggio, VanGogh and Monet are just a
few of the artists whose works attract thousands of visitors every
year. However these paintings often suffer from damage due to aging and
exposure to the elements. What once was a masterpiece on a church
ceiling or wall often requires a highly skilled restoration team to
return it to its original form – a process which is being aided by
researchers at McGill University in Quebec, who have used a technique
called "photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy" to identify the composition
of pigments used in art works. Read More
Built to provide music outdoors, Eton's
Soulra solar-powered sound system has a rubberized exterior to help
withstand the odd bump and being splash-proof too, it's designed to cope
with unpredictable weather conditions. When the sun does shine, folding
out the high-efficiency solar panel will keep the music playing on
whilst also charging the docked device. Read More
U-boat Worx personal submarines go deep water
By Darren Quick
September 6, 2010
Using the same technology proven in its existing C-Quester
models, which can dive to depths of up to 100m (328 feet), Dutch luxury
submarine manufacturer U-Boat Worx has announced a new line of
exploration submersibles certified for diving to depths from 100 to
1,000m (328 to 3,280-feet). Named C-Explorers, the new line of diving
machines are available in configurations for one to six passengers and
are being marketed to scientists, research organizations, luxury
superyacht owners, aquatic tourism ventures and private explorers. Read More
Review: HP Photosmart Wireless All-in-One B110
By Darren Quick
September 6, 2010
Earlier this year, Gizmag attended the Asia-Pacific press launch of HP’s web-connected printers.
At the time we were hopeful that the company’s ePrint technology which,
amongst other things, allows users to print documents by sending an
email, would help cut down on printer hassles stemming from pesky
printer drivers. After spending a bit of time with the HP Photosmart
Wireless e-All-in-One Printer B110 we’re still hopeful for the future of
cloud-based printing, but it seems there are still some kinks that need
to be ironed out. Read More
Danish audio innovator Libratone has been showing off its first consumer product at this year's IFA Consumer Electronics Show
in Berlin. The Beat is a high-end wireless speaker that promises
listeners an audio sweet spot wherever they may be in a room. An iPod,
iPhone or iPad is connected to a wireless transmitter which sends an
audio signal to the speaker, then FullRoom technology reflects the sound
off the room's walls to provide 360 degrees of sonic enjoyment. So does
it live up to its promise? Gizmag stopped by to check it out. Read More
One fateful day back in 1984, I read an article in Popular Science
entitled “Pedal-power slingshot.” It was about a vehicle called the
Cyclodyne, which was a recumbent human-powered tricycle enclosed in a
full polyester-and-epoxy streamlined shell. The writer claimed that he
had easily got the thing up to 30 mph (48 km/h), and that it was
designed to reach 53 mph (85 km/h) on flat ground. Good Lord, how I
wanted one. Its US$3,800 price tag ensured that it would never happen,
but that didn’t stop me from obsessing. That article was my introduction
to the world of velomobiles, which can pretty much be defined as
aerodynamically-shelled recumbent tricycles. The Cyclodyne is now long
gone, and has been replaced in my yearnings by what is probably the
sexiest velomobile currently available for purchase, the Beyss Go-One.
This August, I had my first-ever chance to see a Go-One up close and
personal, and talked to its owner about the fantasy versus reality of
owning and using such a vehicle. What he had to say was definitely
eye-opening. Read More
While LaCie's new tiny flash drive certainly
shares some characteristics with the bothersome insect with a similar
name, it's safe to say that the MosKeyto is a very different beast
altogether. Sure, they're both lightweight and very small and you may
have difficulty seeing them in certain lighting. But whereas the
high-pitched buzzing from one is usually followed by some serious
irritation, bytes from the other are actually a good thing. Available in
storage capacities of up to 16GB, with extra online storage included,
the MosKeyto has to be one of the smallest USB flash drive's around,
doesn't it? Read More
IBM
has announced details of its most powerful commercial system ever. The
core server of the new zEnterprise System mainframe – called zEnterprise
196 – contains 96 z196 processors, which IBM touts as the world’s
fastest, most powerful computer chip. IBM is aiming the system at
businesses such as banks and retailers dealing with the skyrocketing
amounts of data resulting from the ever increasing amount of business
transactions carried out in an increasingly inter-connected business
world. Read More
Natural Guidance from Navteq – a more human angle on navigation
By Loz Blain
September 6, 2010
Brilliant idea or bad move? Awful advertising,
either way. Navteq has decided that typical turn-by-turn navigation
instructions like "in 300 meters, turn left" aren't 'human' enough.
That's not how a human navigator would direct you; in fact you kind of
need to train your brain to be comfortable with that kind of
instruction. Navteq's thinking is that a driver will respond more
effectively and comfortably to visual cues like "turn left after the
church" or "turn right after the yellow house," so it's rolling out a
'Natural Guidance' system that does just that. It seems like a fairly
huge task to put together those sorts of navigation cues across a whole
set of maps, but Navteq already has 10 cities' worth of cues programmed
in. It'll be interesting to see if it's worth all the effort. Oh, and
it's worth clicking through just to see Navteq present the system in one
of the most offensively patronizing ad videos we've seen. Read More
Shortly after launching the new COOLPIX S1100pj with inbuilt projector, Nikon
has announced three new COOLPIX cameras to its COOLPIX range. The
P7000, S8100 and the S80 are filled with functions and specs you don’t
often see on point-and-shoot cameras. All three cameras feature Nikon’s
exclusive EXPEED C2 high performance digital image processing engine and
Nikkor Ed glass lenses. Read More
New guitar pickup design offers natural 3D sound
By Paul Ridden
September 8, 2010
The incredible guitar virtuosity from the likes
of Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Stanley Jordan all rely on their
string-picking proficiency being registered by the instrument's pickups.
These vibrations are then transformed into electrical signals and sent
off to an amplifier for our listening pleasure. Using such a setup,
string movement can only be read on one axis, the horizontal. The 3Dxy
pickup system reads each string twice, on both the horizontal and the
vertical and is said to result in a rich, surround sound effect called
natural stereo. Read More
Panasonic promotes 3D Viera with ingenious AR iPhone app
By Rick Martin
September 7, 2010
While augmented reality
still hasn't quite lived up to the initial hype (at least in terms of
practical applications), it's still a great source of eye candy and
geeky fun, especially in Japan. Panasonic is the latest company to jump
on the AR bandwagon, as they recently released an iPhone app called '3D VIERA AR Greeting' that uses augmented reality to promote the new 3D VIERA TVs. Read More
Until humans evolve huge brains like the Talosians,
it seems we’ll have to rely on electronic headwear to allow us to
control devices with our brainwaves – electronic headwear like the XWave
from California-based company PLX Devices. The XWave is the first
brainwave interface accessory for the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad that is
worn over the head like a pair of headphones. Unfortunately, the device
won’t allow you to scroll through playlists or select a contact to call
with the power of your mind. Rather, like the Star Wars Force Trainer, it detects your attention and meditation levels for use in games and getting the old gray matter into shape. Read More
Arzum shows Termotwin double reservoir vacuum flask
By Jude Garvey
September 7, 2010
If you’re into camping but miss your creature
comforts, you’re going to love Arzum’s Termotwin, which was on display
at IFA 2010.
It’s a vacuum flask that consists of two separate reservoirs that keep
liquids at the same temperature for up to four hours – so milk and
coffee or brewed tea and hot water (or I’m thinking maybe rum and cola!)
are ready when you are. Now that’s good thinking. Read More
With smartphones packing more and more features
and people using them for increasingly processor intensive tasks LG
has announced plans to introduce the first Android smartphones to be
powered by a dual-core processor. The new phones, which will be part of
the company’s new Optimus Series, will feature the second generation NIVIDIA Tegra mobile processor, the Tegra 2. Read More
The PG-Bikes BlackTrail - world's fastest ebike!
By Ben Coxworth
September 7, 2010
It’s no secret that as gas prices soar and
battery technology evolves, electric bikes are fast becoming the next
big two-wheeled thing. That trend is clearly evidenced by the strong
showing ebikes are making at this year’s Eurobike trade show, currently
taking place in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Over the next several days,
we’ll be showing you a few examples that we’ve spotted at the show, but
to start things off... well, let’s kick out the jams and go with the “Oh
come on, you can’t be serious” ebike. It called the BlackTrail, and
with a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), it’s officially the world’s
fastest commercially-available electric bicycle – and probably the most
awesome-looking, to boot. Read More
One of the problems with harvesting sunlight and
converting it into stored energy is that the sun’s rays can be highly
destructive to many materials, leading to a gradual degradation of many
systems developed to do just that. Once again, researchers have turned
to nature for a solution. Plants constantly break down their
light-capturing molecules and reassemble them from scratch, so the basic
structures that capture the sun’s energy are, in effect, always brand
new. By imitating this strategy MIT scientists have created a novel set
of self-assembling molecules and used them to create a photovoltaic cell
that repairs itself. Read More
Mobileye claims 'An End to Motor Vehicle Collisions'
By Ben Coxworth
September 7, 2010
Before we go any further, let’s get this out of
the way right up front – nothing is ever going to stop cars from running
into things. Until drivers are taken out of the equation completely,
accidents will always happen. Nonetheless, Dutch tech company Mobileye
has declared that with the release of its new C2-270 collision warning
system, “an end to motor vehicle collisions [is] now in sight.” This
system warns drivers of dangerously-close cars, alerts them when drifting out of their lane and includes a Pedestrian Collision Warning component. Read More
Google TV and new translate 'conversation mode' showcased at IFA 2010
September 7, 2010
IFA
is billed as the world’s largest consumer electronics and home
appliances tradeshow, so it's fitting that the closing address for the
2010 event was delivered by the CEO of one of the biggest players in the
technology space – Dr. Eric Schmidt of Google Inc. He discussed the age
of the smartphone, cloud computing, plus some tasty samples of Google
TV and what's just around the corner for the Android platform including a
game-changing tool for mobile speech translation called "conversation
mode"... read on for a summary of the key points. Read More
Haier shows human-powered washing machine prototype
By Gizmag Team
September 9, 2010
Chinese electronics giant Haier was showcasing its green credentials at IFA 2010
with this human powered washing machine. An exercise bike with a
lithium-ion battery that collects energy as you pedal is hard wired to
the front loading machine. When you pedal, you power the machine. Twenty
minutes effort is said to give you one cold cycle wash without drawing
power from the grid. It's an idea we've seen elsewhere in fledgling form – and its a good one. We'd love to see it get beyond prototype stage. Read More
Car companies such as Lamborghini need to test
their products in the real world and hence can fall victim to
well-educated enthusiasts being in the right place at the right time
with a camera. Earlier this week the VW-owned Italian supercar maker
posted a “teaser image” of what everybody expects to be the Murcielago
replacement. Only trouble is, we’ve already seen it – that’s the car
itself shot on an autobahn between Chemnitz and Dresden during road
testing. Just how everyone seems to know the specs a month prior to the
show is a matter for conjecture, but if you want to read the unconfirmed
details of the new direct injection 7.0-litre V12, carbon fiber monster
which does zero to 60 in 3.0 seconds, read on. Read More
It's pulling us in! Researchers make tractor beams a reality
By Darren Quick
September 9, 2010
In a move that is sure to warm the hearts of
those in the upper echelon of the Galactic Empire, researchers have
taken tractor beams from the realm of science fiction to the realm of
science fact. The researchers from the Australian National University
(ANU) have developed a laser beam that can move very small particles up
to distances of a meter and a half using only the power of light.
Unfortunately this means it won’t be able to reel in anything the size
of the Millennium Falcon, and the fact it won’t work in the vacuum of
space probably won’t help matters either, but it’s a remarkable
breakthrough nonetheless. Read More
There’s no doubt the format war
between HD-DVD and Blu-ray scared a lot of consumers away from
upgrading from DVD to a higher definition format. Even though it’s been
more than two years since Blu-ray took the honors
and HD-DVD was relegated to the technological scrap heap sales of
Blu-ray players haven’t really scaled the heights that manufacturers
would have liked. But as prices continue to drop more and more Blu-ray
devices are hitting the market. The latest is the world’s first mini-PCs
with an integrated Blu-ray drive in the form of the Zotac Zbox Blu-ray
series. Read More
Mind reading – scientists translate brain signals into words
By Darren Quick
September 8, 2010
Using the same technology that allowed them to accurately detect the brain signals controlling arm movements
that we looked at last year, researchers at the University of Utah have
gone one step further, translating brain signals into words. While the
previous breakthrough was an important step towards giving amputees or
people with severe paralysis a high level of control over a prosthetic
limb or computer interface, this new development marks an early step
toward letting severely paralyzed people speak with their thoughts. Read More
Bosch and Cannondale team up on ebike drive
By Ben Coxworth
September 8, 2010
Tech developer the Bosch Group and bicycle maker Cannondale
are collaborating on a new electric drive system for bikes. The motor
is rated at 250 watts, with a peak power of 350 watts. It’s powered by a
36-volt lithium-ion battery pack, which is good for 288 watt-hours, 500
charge cycles, and recharges in no more than 2.5 hours. Read More
Using a technique that creates a new nanoscale
architecture, researchers have created an aluminum alloy just as strong
as steel but with reasonable plasticity to stretch and not break under
stress. Importantly, the technique of creating these nanostructures can
be used on many different types of metals and the team plans to work on
strengthening magnesium, a metal that is even lighter than aluminum that
could be used to make strong, lightweight body armor for soldiers. Read More
The Austrian KTM eGnition was definitely one of the more interesting bicycles at last week's Eurobike
show in Germany. It has the frame and components of a freeride mountain
bike, but with a 1,000-watt Clean Mobile electric motor that delivers
extra power when the rider is pedaling. The fact that the electric
assist is only available when pedaling was a key factor in the design of
the eGnition, as KTM wanted it to be clearly different than an electric
motorbike. The folks who run Eurobike obviously approved, as it
received their Design Award for this year’s event. Read More
Earlier this year we reported how Californian
robotics company Willow Garage was giving away a number of its PR2
robots to various institutions as part of its PR2 Beta program.
Lucky PR2 recipients were asked to use the robot to pursue their
research and development goals and share their progress with the open
source robotics community so that the community as a whole can build on
each other’s results. Now anyone can get in the act with Willow Garage
officially announcing commercial availability of the robot. And if
you’ve got a proven track record in the open source community you could
be eligible for a hefty discount. Read More
You may have just read our take on the KTM eGnition freeride bike that was on display at this year’s Eurobike,
but it wasn’t the only electric mountain bike in attendance. German
bike-maker Conway also used the event to premiere its burly-looking
E-Rider. Its motor can generate up to 2,000 watts, which definitely
separates it from the commuting ebikes, while its weight is somewhere
under 20 kilograms (44 lbs.) – not bad for something with a motor and a
battery. Read More
Laws of physics may just be 'local by-laws'
By Darren Quick
September 9, 2010
Star Trek’s Scotty was adamant that you “canna
change the laws of physics,” but, according to a report from a team of
astrophysicists based in Australia and England, that could be exactly
what happens in different parts of the universe. The report describes
how one of the supposed fundamental constants of Nature appears not to
be constant after all. Instead, this 'magic number' known as the
fine-structure constant – 'alpha' for short – appears to vary throughout
the universe. Read More
New CCTV tech could spot abandoned baggage and track its owner
By Ben Coxworth
September 9, 2010
We’ve told you before about CCTV programs that can identify criminal behavior, or that skip through footage where nothing’s happening.
Now, a consortium of ten organizations from six European countries is
working on another concept involving video monitoring of public spaces.
It’s called the SUBITO project, for Surveillance of Unattended Baggage
and the Identification and Tracking of the Owner, and it’s intended to
do pretty much what the name suggests. Installed in existing security
camera systems at places such as airports or train stations, the
software will identify baggage that has been left unattended, and that
could therefore possibly contain an explosive device. It will then
search back to identify the person who deposited that baggage, then
follow them forward through various cameras to establish their present
location. Read More
The BlueOn – Hyundai’s first highway-capable fully electric vehicle
By Darren Quick
September 9, 2010
Hyundai has unveiled the company’s – and Korea’s –
first Full Speed Electric Vehicle (FSEV). The BlueOn boasts a maximum
speed of 130 km/h (80mph) and a range of 140 km (87 miles), making it
capable of matching it on the highway with traditional fossil-fuel
powered vehicles. With a maximum power of 81ps (61kW) and a maximum
torque of 21.4kg/m (210Nm), the BlueOn can go from 0-100km/h (62mph) in
13.1 seconds. Read More
Robots can perform an ever-increasing number of
human-like actions, but until recently, lying wasn’t one of them. Now,
thanks to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, they can.
More accurately, the Deep South robots have been taught “deceptive
behavior.” This might sound like the recipe for a Philip K. Dick-esque
disaster, but it could have practical uses. Robots on the battlefield,
for instance, could use deception to elude captors. In a search and
rescue scenario, a robot might have to be deceptive to handle a
panicking human. For now, however, the robots are using their new skill
to play a mean game of hide-and-seek. Read More
iPad rides shotgun thanks to car mount from Thanko
By Rick Martin
September 9, 2010
Released this week, Thanko's Car Laptop Holder
for iPad is a twist on the company's Car Laptop Holder from a few years
back. We have to admit that the method of attachment is not the most
elegant, but if you're a driver who needs an iPad in the cab then this
might be for you. Just make sure you don't have the WiFi iPad, otherwise
you'll probably be hanging out in the garage or parking next to
Starbucks all the time. Read More
Electric bicycle range reaching the 100 mile mark
By Ben Coxworth
September 9, 2010
Remember when the Segway
was launched in 2001? The company proclaimed that it was going to
revolutionize personal transportation, but... well, although Segways are
still around, they’re hardly a common sight. What could soon be a common sight, however, are electric bicycles. While a variety of styles were on display at this year’s Eurobike
show, commuting ebikes were by far the most common. An electric drive
makes sense on a commuter – you still get some exercise and don’t have
to register it as a scooter, yet you also don’t arrive at your
destination all hot and sweaty. As with all electric vehicles, however,
range is always an issue. That is now being addressed, however, with
ebikes that can travel up to 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) on one charge.
If your commute is longer than that, you really might want to consider,
you know... driving. Read More
The follow-up to the Google sanctioned G1 smartphone
is on the way and T-Mobile has released official details. The T-Mobile
G2 gets Android 2.2, an 800 MHz Snapdragon MSM7230 CPU, applications
like Google Voice Actions built-in and 4G speeds via the carrier's HSPA+
network2. The HTC-designed handset also includes a 3.7-inch multi-touch
screen, an optical trackpad, a new hinge design for the full QWERTY
keyboard and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video capture. Read More
We've seen several innovations in the design of the humble electric kettle
recently that save time and energy – here's another one. The "Eco
Switch" kettle has two settings – one for normal boiling water and a
second which heats water to 85-degrees Celsius (185F) for things like
soup. This means you get your warm water quicker, save energy, and you
don't have to wait for it to cool down before you can drink it. Read More
Nike has rolled-out a new Nike+ GPS iPhone
App for iPhone and iPod touch. It is predominately a GPS app that
allows you to visually map your run in addition to monitoring time,
pace, distance and calories burned. If you're running on a treadmill or
out of GPS range the accelerometer is used to keep the data coming and
audio feedback and motivation is delivered by the likes of Paula
Radcliffe or Lance Armstrong. Read More
Computing on the move has taken off big time. No
longer bound by the shackles of a deskbound screen, we are now working
on smartphones, playing on tablets and surfing on netbooks. We need such
devices to be both powerful and low on power draw. The latest to answer
such needs is Samsung, announcing its most recent foray into the world
of mobile chip manufacture – Orion. The 1GHz ARM-based Dual Core chip
supports various storage and memory configurations, is HD and 3D ready
and has GPS included. Read More
Nuu Mini Key gives iPhone 4 a slide out keyboard
By Mike Hanlon
September 12, 2010
The Nuu Mini Key offers potential salvation for
iPhone lovers with fat fingers who would like an alternative to the
screen keyboard so they can increase their typing and hence input
speeds. A non-working prototype mistaken for a working one appears to
have given the product a bad name it probably doesn't deserve. Tactile
keys will hopefully enable some of us to touch type a lot faster than
the current screen keyboard. Read More
In the past few months, we’ve received announcements regarding the mapped genomes of wheat, of apples, and even the repulsive human body louse. Now, researchers from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have sequenced 90 percent of the genome of Meleagris gallopavo, which you may know as the domestic turkey. Read More
A luxury car care company in London is now
offering just the thing to spread all over your million-dollar
automobile: car wax that costs GBP24,000 (US$37,070). Brough and Howarth
claim that its Definitive Wax Marble is the world’s most expensive car
wax, and one would assume they’re probably right. Given that there’s
currently only one pot of the substance in existence, it’s also a safe
bet that it’s the rarest. Read More
Money won't make you happy, or at least, not as
happy as you might think. A study by Princeton University researchers
has shown that the link between earning more money and day-to-day
happiness is a tenuous one – and extra dollars in your pocket doesn't
necessarily translate to spending more time doing the things you enjoy.
Read More
Whether it be the world’s fastest car or the world’s strongest beer,
the old maxim that “competition improves the breed” seems to hold true.
Volkswagen spent an extraordinary amount of money, time and effort
creating the 408 km/h (254 mph), 1001bhp Bugatti Veyron in 2005 – it
knocked off the 387.37 km/h (240.7 mph) record set by Koenigsegg’s CCR to become the fastest, most powerful and most expensive car ever built. Then SSC came along with the Ultimate Aero TT to set a new world mark of 412.28 km/h (256.18 mph).
Now Bugatti’s new 1200 bhp, completely re-engineered Veyron Super Sport
has pushed the record to 431 km/h ... an identical top speed to the
world's fastest production train. Read More
Actress Carrie Fisher once made a great
observation about how film folk can be looking at a fantastic real-life
scene, yet all they’re able to think is “I wonder what this would look
like on a movie screen.” Well, she might be similarly amused by
FanVision. The electronic handheld device delivers video of sporting
events to people who are already on-site, watching the live event in
person. To be fair, it does provide some things that the average sports fan wouldn’t be able to see from the stands. Read More
Currently, if people wish to obtain a 3D model of
an indoor environment, they have to send in a laser-scanning robot or
cart that painstakingly makes its way through in a stop-and-start
fashion. Depending on the setting, the process can take days or even
weeks. Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley, however,
have developed a portable laser-scanning backpack that can map an area
in the time that it takes for its human wearer to walk through. The
project was funded by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research and
the Army Research Office, and could be used by military personnel to
plan missions into mapped target buildings. Read More
Sennheiser adds mini headphones and audiophile-friendly cans
By Paul Ridden
September 10, 2010
Amongst the range of headphones on display at Sennheiser's booth at IFA 2010
in Berlin recently were five new additions. The company has updated its
audiophile 500 series and introduced a couple of mini headphones for
mobile music enjoyment. While there's little change to the technical
specs offered by The HD 518, HD 558 and HD 598 high-end cans, the
company claims that the new PX 90 and PMX 90 phones are so lightweight
and comfortable that you'll only know you're wearing them by the dynamic
bass and lifelike sound image. Read More
The Eagle has landed. As portable devices
sporting ARM's Cortex A9 1GHz powerhouse start to appear, the company
has unveiled the next step in the evolution of its system-on-a-chip
Cortex A architecture, the A15 MPCore processor. ARM-based chips
currently provide the processing power for a host of mobile devices,
from smartphones to tablets, and this latest development is claimed to
deliver five times the performance of current solutions such as the
Cortex A8, yet has a similar low energy footprint. Read More
Apple relaxes development tool restrictions for iOS: Flash is back
By Darren Quick
September 10, 2010
Apple has caused a lot of confusion for iPhone
app developers by banning them from creating apps using any compiler
not created by Apple, but then approving apps that break this rule –
even going so far as to promote them in the App Store. Finally it looks
like Apple has seen the light (and presumably the benefits) and
announced that it has relaxed restrictions on its iOS developer license,
opening the doors to native Flash and AdMob applications – as long as
the resulting apps do not download any code. Read More
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