Ubiquitous Drum Pants puts a drum kit in your jeans
By Darren Quick
December 15, 2009
Everyone at one time or another has cranked out a
beat by slapping their hands on their thighs. One person who obviously
feels the rhythm deep in his soul is software designer Boris Smus, who
has taken thigh slapping high-tech with his Ubiquitous Drum Pant DIY
project that turns an ordinary pair of jeans into a drum kit. Read More
After recently announcing its first foray into the solid state drive market,
Seagate has unveiled what it claims to be the world’s thinnest hard
drive for slimline laptops. Measuring a mere 7mm in thickness and
featuring a SATA 3Gb/s interface and spin speed of 5400rpm, Seagate
believes it could pave the way for a new class of entry-level thin
laptop computers. Read More
An engineering firm has developed a 3D
bio-printer that could one day be used to create organs on demand for
organ replacement surgery. The device is already capable of growing
arteries and its creators say that arteries "printed" by the device
could be used in heart bypass surgery in as little as five years.
Meanwhile, more complex organs such as hearts, and teeth and bone should
be possible within ten years. Read More
MINI is set to display a modern version of its
spartan MOKE open-body, four-seater of the seventies at NAIAS in
January. The MOKE (pictured in background) was hugely loved in tropical
climates, having the fundamentals of a MINI but not much more – the
“Beachcomber Concept” takes the same sense of minimalism, freedom and
adventure and enhances it with a roll cage, a lockable trunk and the 4WD
drivetrain and design elements of MINI’s upcoming compact SUV. Read More
Endangered blue whales appear to be singing a
happier song according to researchers studying the haunting sounds these
huge mammals broadcast beneath the waves. Specifically, a drop in
frequency has been noticed and a list of possible causes have been
examined - from climate change to a rise in human-produced ocean noise -
but it seems the explanation could actually be a positive one. It's
believed the drop may be caused by the increase of blue whale numbers
following bans on commercial whaling activities … in other words, the
males don’t need their voices to travel as far to attract a mate. Read More
NASA's recently upgraded Hubble Space Telescope
has made the deepest near-infrared image of the universe ever taken.
Taken using a newly installed camera, the image shows deep space objects
such as galaxies that formed only 600 million years after the Big Bang,
making them the oldest galaxies ever seen. The image was taken with the
Hubble’s new Wide Field Camera 3, which astronauts installed in May.
Read More
This USB-powered trackball mouse, numeric keypad
USB hub will suit the professional accountant or the part-time
number-cruncher, no matter how many hours they sit at a laptop or
netbook computer sweating over their spreadsheets. Combining a trackball
mouse, numeric keypad and twin USB port hub, this accessory
consolidates three peripherals into one convenient device, freeing up
more space in your bag for accountancy books and other top reads. Read More
Best D.I.Y. effort of 2009: the guy who built his own helicopter
By Loz Blain
December 14, 2009
And to think I crack a self-satisfied beer after
fixing the lawnmower... Wu Zhongyuan, a 20-year-old farmer from China,
cobbled this working helicopter together out of a pile of steel pipe,
some Elm wood and a 150cc scooter engine using his high-school physics
knowledge and researching the rest on the Web via his mobile phone. I
don't know whether to line this kid up for a Nobel Prize or a Darwin
Award. This article comes with two Christmas bonuses: Bonus 1: a quick
lesson on how to fly a helicopter. Bonus 2: five short videos
demonstrating exactly what happens when helicopter dynamics go just a
tiny bit wrong. Read More
Decent portable keyboards can be hard to find. Roll-up solutions like the ElekTex Smart Fabric Keyboard are extremely portable but lack the feel of traditional keys. Others that do provide traditional keys, like the Goldtouch Go! Travel keyboard,
opt for a folding solution that doesn’t really reduce their size all
that much. The Keystick keyboard looks to overcome both of these
shortfalls with a full-sized QWERTY chicklet keyboard design that folds
away like a Japanese fan to become an easily transportable stick. Read More
Bacteria engineered to convert greenhouse gas into liquid fuel
By Darren Quick
December 14, 2009
As part of the push to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions produced by burning fossil fuels researchers from the UCLA
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a
greener way to extract biofuel from bacteria. The team has genetically
modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the
liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline
alternative. As an added bonus that reaction is powered directly by
energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis. Read More
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