The R2B2 pedal-powered kitchen appliance concept
By Paul Ridden
November 25, 2010
Christoph Thetard has developed a mechanical
flywheel drive to power a set of kitchen appliances for his Diploma in
Product Design at Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. The kitchen
machine, coffee grinder and hand blender chosen for this device would
under normal circumstances need to be plugged into an electrical wall
socket, but there's no electricity needed for R2B2. Pumping the pedal
spins the flywheel, which in turn provides the energy needed to operate
the three cooking aids. Read More
Smartfish downsizes ergonomic mouse for travelers
November 25, 2010
SmartFish Technologies has announced the new
Whirl Mini Notebook Laser Mouse, the latest version updated from the
original ErgoMotion
Mouse that was awarded the CES Innovations award for 2010. This new
version is smaller and provides enhanced usability for laptop users and
travelers constantly working on-the-go. Read More
Yet another automotive gas-electric hybrid technology looms
By Gizmag Team
November 25, 2010
The energy crisis has certainly catalyzed a great
deal of thought about how we harvest all that energy we previously
wasted. The petroleum-burning internal combustion engine has
traditionally leaked energy from the exhaust system in the form of heat,
but new ThermoElectric Generator (TEG) research at Purdue University
aims to yield as much as a ten percent reduction in fuel consumption by
converting heat from the exhaust into electricity. It is hoped that the
thermoelectric research will eventually lead to other methods of turning
waste heat into electricity in homes and power plants, new and more
efficient solar cells and perhaps even a solid-state refrigerator. Read More
Creating sustainable sanitation in the slums of Kenya
By Paul Ridden
November 25, 2010
It's estimated that around 2.6 billion people
around the world make do without any sanitation, including more than 10
million in the slums of Kenya. Still more have to use thinly disguised
holes in the ground. A group of MIT students have joined forces to try
and create a sustainable toilet solution for those in need. They've
developed a low cost, modular sanitation solution which would be
operated and maintained by locals and the waste transported to nearby
processing plants. Biogas produced from the waste will be used to create
electricity and what's left of the human waste turned into fertilizer.
Read More
Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot to ferry wounded to safety
By Darren Quick
November 24, 2010
The U.S. Army is currently testing a robot
designed to locate, lift and carry wounded soldiers out of harm’s way
without risking additional lives. With feedback from its onboard sensors
and cameras, the Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR) can be
remotely controlled through the use of a special M-4 rifle grip
controller or by hand gestures using an AnthroTronix iGlove motion
glove. This equipment would allow a soldier to direct BEAR to a wounded
soldier and transport them to safety where they can be assessed by a
combat medic. Read More
Internet-connected television is not new, with
LG’s Netcast, Panasonic’s Viera Cast, Samsung’s Internet@TV and Sony’s
internet-integrated Bravia all presenting cut-down versions of the
internet. The world’s first TV with an Android operating system though,
is a breath of fresh air by comparison, using proprietary graphics
processors inside the set to enable the 42 inch HD LED Lava Scandinavia
to handle the full internet experience you’d get with a normal computer.
Gizmag’s Mike Hanlon and Noel McKeegan spent some time with the
Scandinavia recently and came away VERY impressed. Read More
RavenBrick, the company that brought us the smart tinting RavenWindow,
has added to its folio of temperature regulating building materials
with RavenSkin. Unlike traditional insulation that blocks all heat
equally, this innovative wall insulation material absorbs heat during
the day to keep the interior cool and slowly releases the stored heat at
night to warm the building when the sun goes down. Read More
First exoplanet from beyond our galaxy discovered
November 24, 2010
Astronomers have been discovering planets outside of our solar system – or exoplanets
– at a steady rate in recent years. The number has now topped 500 and
with earth-bound detection improving all the time and the Kepler mission
out hunting with the largest camera ever sent into space, the rate is
not likely to slow down anytime soon. Among these discoveries are some
extraordinary finds like the first "potentially habitable" exoplanet,
but what's different about this latest discovery is not the Earth-like
qualities of the planet, it's the fact that it originated from outside
the Milky Way – which makes it an extragalactic exoplanet. Read More
This is ambition with a capital A. Universities
in Japan and Algeria have teamed up on a project that aims to solve the
world’s energy problems. Called the Sahara Solar Breeder Project, the
plan is to build manufacturing plants around the Sahara Desert and
extract silica from sand to make solar panels, which will then be used
to build solar power plants in the desert. The power generated by the
initial plant or plants would be used to “breed” more silicon
manufacturing and solar power plants, which will in turn be used to
breed more again, and so on. The ultimate goal is to build enough plants
to provide 50 percent of the world’s electricity by 2050, which would
be delivered via a global superconducting supergrid. Read More
Engineers from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for
Optronics are working on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that
would be inexpensive enough to use for industrial applications such as
hull and dam inspection, yet independent enough that it wouldn’t require
any kind of human control. Typically, more cumbersome but less costly
remote operated vehicles (ROVs) are used for grunt work – they are
connected to a ship on the surface by a tether, where a human operator
controls them. The more technologically-advanced AUVs tend to be used
more for well-funded research, but according to the engineers, one of
the keys to creating “blue collar” AUVs is to overhaul the ways that
they see, hear and think. Read More
Monitoring blood pressure at home is recommended
by the American Heart Association for the estimated 74.5 million
American adults suffering from hypertension. CalHealth has created a
blood pressure monitor that's housed in a computer mouse. After a user
pushes a finger into the cuff monitor, the device sends readings to
software on a PC for analysis, or to send on to doctors via email. Read More
Scott Wilson, the founder of Chicago-based design firm MINIMAL, has put the call out for funding to bring his iPod Nano
watch designs to fruition. Wilson has created two unique watch
converters, that transform the Nano into a multi-touch watch. The TikTok
is a basic snap-in style wristband that allows users to easily lock
their Nano into the wrist dock. The LunaTik is the premium version,
designed to keep the Nano aboard for permanent use. Read More
Jet lag shown to cause long term memory and learning problems
By Darren Quick
November 26, 2010
In bad news for regular jet-setters and shift
workers, research by psychologists at the University of California,
Berkeley, has shown that acute disruption of circadian rhythms can cause
memory and learning problems long after people have returned to a
regular schedule. While similar effects have been shown in jet-lagged
subjects, the UC Berkeley study is the first to look at long-term
effects and changes in brain anatomy after the subjects have recovered
from jet lag. Read More
Not many things are tougher than dealing with a
diagnosis of cancer. But often the protracted wait for biopsy results,
and the uncertainty surrounding them, can be excruciating for patients
and their loved ones. Now a research team at the University of Illinois
has developed a tissue-imaging technique that produces easily
identifiable, color-coded images of body tissue that clearly outline
tumor boundaries. What’s more, the process takes less than five minutes.
Read More
Cabasse L'Ocean Speakers – 117dB with no distortion
By Gizmag Team
November 26, 2010
Cabasse has launched a new addition to its
high-end (and we're talking quite an altitude) Artis line of speakers
with L’Océan. Based on the same distinctive War of the Worlds-style spherical enclosure and using the same 3-way coaxial drive unit as the flagship La Sphére, the L’Océan can reach sound pressure levels approaching that of a jet engine – 117dB with no distortion! Read More
GM and EPA team up for new fuel economy label for the Chevy Volt
By Darren Quick
November 25, 2010
With hybrid and electric vehicles appearing in
more and more automobile showrooms around the world, the traditional
fuel efficiency measure of miles per gallon (MPG) alone just doesn’t cut
it anymore. With cars able to be powered by electric power alone or a
combination of electric and gasoline, new measures are needed to better
inform consumers when buying a new car. To this end, General Motors (GM)
and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have teamed up to design a
new window label for the Chevrolet Volt that has more information than any EPA label before it. Read More
3D molecular structures built on a surface for first time
By Ben Coxworth
November 25, 2010
In a milestone for nanotechnology,
scientists have built three-dimensional molecular structures on a
surface for the first time ever. Previously, it had only been possible
to create two-dimensional structures in this way. The research team from
the University of Nottingham believe that the technique will boost the
development of new optical, electronic and molecular computing
technologies. Read More
The Kee4 one-handed, four-key mobile keyboard
By Darren Quick
November 25, 2010
If there’s one major weakness of devices like the
iPad and touchscreen-only mobile phones, it’s their onscreen keyboards.
This is evidenced by the selection of portable keyboards available,
such as the Jorno Bluetooth and Thanko
folding keyboards. Citta Consulting is taking a different approach to
portability to with its Kee4 Keyboard – a device that has just four
keys and can be operated with one hand using a "composite keystroke"
system. Read More
BugE – the DIY three-wheel electric vehicle
By Ben Coxworth
November 25, 2010
Electric vehicles
are beginning to spread onto the mass market, but one of the limiting
factors in these early days is a high-cost compared to their gas-burning
equivalents. Electric scooters and motorcycles are considerably
cheaper, but not everyone is comfortable on two wheels, or likes being
exposed to the elements. Here's an alternative type of EV that costs
less than six thousand dollars, is stable on the road and will protect
you from wind and rain. It’s called the BugE, and there’s just one catch
to it – you have to put the thing together yourself. Read More
Platinum-free, methane-fueled fuel cells developed
By Ben Coxworth
November 25, 2010
Reliable, affordable fuel cells have come not one
but three steps closer to reality this week, with announcements from
two research institutions regarding advances in the field. If the
reported developments make their way into production, we could be seeing
fuel cells that use more abundant, less expensive fuels and building
materials, that are more consistent in their electricity production, and
that have a lower operating temperature. Read More
Physicists from the ALICE detector team have been colliding lead nuclei together at CERN's
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in an attempt to recreate the conditions in
the first few microseconds after the Big Bang. Early results have shown
that the quark-gluon plasma created at these energies does not form a
gas as predicted, but instead suggest that the very early universe
behaved like a hot liquid. Read More
Online gaming service provider Onlive
has announced a system that brings its cloud-based, instant-play titles
direct to the television. Instead of sitting in front of a console and
loading in games via optical disc or waiting for them to download,
Onlive has a bunch of dedicated servers for sending the chosen title
straight to the TV over a broadband Internet line. Players can even
choose whether to use the included wireless game controller or a USB
keyboard and mouse to control the onscreen action. Read More
Dynamic Eye sunglasses use moving LCD spot to reduce glare
November 28, 2010
Chris Mullin from Pittsburgh has designed a pair of smart electronic sunglasses
that pinpoint and reduce glare using a moving liquid crystal display
spot inside the lens. Dubbed "Dynamic Eye", the sunglasses dim direct
sunlight or other hot spots without dimming everything else in view, so
you no longer have to worry about driving home with the sun streaming
directly into your line of vision. Read More
The latest development in quantum computing
might hold the key to taming qubits, the building blocks of quantum
systems. Holding these elusive qubits in a controlled state for longer
than nanoseconds has proven extremely difficult in the past but
researchers have recently discovered a method could see their lifespan
reach seconds if not tens of seconds. Read More
Hanvon aims to be first to sell e-Reader with color e-Ink
By Paul Ridden
November 28, 2010
Other manufacturers may be holding back to see
how the land lies but Hanvon has bitten the bullet and announced that it
intends to be the first company to bring a color e-Ink
reader to the consumer marketplace. The color e-Reader was shown off
recently at a trade show in Japan and will be available in China from
March next year. There's scant official information available but read
on for what we do know for sure. Read More
More funds for Hawaii's Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant
By Ben Coxworth
November 26, 2010
An Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
pilot plant off the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island is now a step closer
to reality. The U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NFEC) has
just awarded Lockheed Martin a US$4.4 million contract modification to
develop critical system components and designs for the plant – this
amount is in addition to the $8.1 million contract the NFEC issued in
2009, as well as two grants totaling $1 million that Lockheed Martin
received from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2008 and this March.
Hopefully, this means the streets of Kona may someday be lit by
electricity obtained from the temperature difference between warm and
cold sea water. Read More
We’ve seen the swimming motions of fish emulated by underwater robots several times before, but jellyfish (with an exception or two)
don’t seem to inspire mechanical imitation quite as much. A student at
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (Caltech), however,
thinks that their unique propulsion system might be the perfect model
for another type of technology: tiny pumps that can be implanted in
peoples’ bodies, or used in soft robotics. Read More
Cotton has held an important significance for
mankind for thousands of years. Not only are all parts of the cotton
plant economically useful, but the multitude of uses and processes it
can be put to make it America's number one value-added crop. Over the
years we have crushed and extruded and woven cotton into many forms, but
even today scientists and entrepreneurs are transforming the way we use
cotton; from reducing pollution, insulating homes, and cleaning up oil
spills to feeding the hungry. Here's a look at seven new companies being
championed for their sustainability by Cotton Incorporated. Read More
Design company Nendo has joined forces with
Masagasu Mitsuke to create a super thin ceramic speaker set for a
project aimed at injecting some new life into traditional Japanese
crafts. Normally hidden away in such things as LED lighting, the ceramic
substrate used for the creation is boldly brought out into the open for
a striking piece of functional art. Read More
Play robot moves effortlessly between real and virtual worlds
By Paul Ridden
November 26, 2010
In an increasingly tech-centric world, keeping
kids interested in learning can be an uphill battle. With teaching that
involves play recently attracting some powerful supportive voices,
students from MIT's Media Lab have developed a system which merges
technology and play to stimulate young minds. The Playtime Computing
system uses infrared emitters and tracking cameras to monitor the
position of a special robot within a play area. As the bot disappears
into a hole in a panel, it appears to continue its journey into a
virtual world projected onto the walls. Read More
“Robobutterfly” may not have quite the same coolness factor as words like Robocop, Robowrestler, or even Robogecko.
The fact is, however, you can now buy your own flying mechanical
butterfly, and it looks pretty impressive. Marketed in Japan as the
ChouChou Electric Butterfly, the fluttering electric bug-in-a-mason-jar
was unveiled at this year’s Tokyo Toy Show and this month it became
available to the public. Read More
Mercedes-Benz BIOME Concept – could cars be grown in a lab?
By Grant Banks
November 29, 2010
Get ready to have your concept of how a car is
manufactured flipped upside-down and turned inside-out. Picture a
production process that has plenty in common with agar jelly
(used to culture organic materials in laboratories) and little in
common with what we would normally think of as production-line
automotive manufacturing. You are starting to get close to what the
people at Mercedes-Benz have spawned with the BIOME – one of the most
outlandish and ambitious concepts in this year's Los Angeles Design Challenge. Read More
Inexpensive sit-on-top kayaks are great fun for
the beach and the lake, although many people maintain that the
conventional legs-in-front kayaking position is hard on the back. Not
only is a kneeling position said to be healthier, but proponents of the
C1 style of whitewater paddling (in which the paddler kneels in a
specialized whitewater kayak) also state that it allows for better
control of the boat. With these claims in mind, Quebec City inventor
Pierre Parant created the Yogakayak. Read More
Toshiba has just completed the installation of a
demonstration modular data center on the outskirts of Tokyo, signaling
its entry into the emerging market. Rather than housing racks of data
servers in dedicated buildings, the modular approach allows for the
relatively quick construction of units housed in steel framed
containers, which can be stacked to increase capacity without
encroaching too much on the surrounding environment. In addition to
reducing costs, Toshiba claims that its solution also requires less
power to operate. Read More
Ferrari logo adds US$10,000 to the price of Hasselblad H4D
By Mike Hanlon
November 29, 2010
Just how much value does Ferrari's logo add to a
product? Hasselblad's latest announcement seems to answer that and
we're not sure if it reflects well on either brand. The EUR13,995
(US$18,531) Hasselblad H4D is the flagship product of the best known
medium format imaging marque and has been purchased by tens of thousands
of the world's elite photographers because it delivers digital SLR
functionality with extraordinary imaging quality. Now the company has
announced two identical cameras that don't come in silvery grey. For an
extra EUR1000 (US$1324), you can have one of a limited run of 100
stainless steel H4Ds. There's also a Ferrari Limited Edition camera
which is identical except for a carbon fiber display case, its Ferrari
"rosso fuoco" color, and the unmistakable Yellow Prancing Horse Racing
Shield. Hasselblad will make 499 units of the limited edition camera,
selling them for EUR21,499 (US$28,473.61). That's US$9,938 more than an
identical product – a premium of more than 50% extra for the display
case … and the logo. Read More
It might look like something out of Isaac
Asimov's imagination, it might look like it could never stand up, but
this bizarre concept building is about to go into construction.
"Floating Observatories" is Stefan Dorin's winning entry in the recent
Taiwan Tower Conceptual International Competition - and in return for
his US$130,000 first prize, now he has to actually build the thing. The
new tower, standing more than 300 metres tall with its helium-filled
observatory "leaves", will be the crown jewel of Taechung, the third
largest city in Taiwan. Read More
Bikes are an all-too-easy target for thieves and
protecting your two-wheeled conveyance from their pilfering mitts is
almost impossible. While chains and cables are the traditional choice
for cyclists looking to make life just a little bit more difficult for
would-be thieves, they are usually easily handled with a pair of bolt
cutters – even if that results in a nice blast of permanent dye.
The latest hard-core solution we've encountered is this innovative bike
lock created by a group of German designers that literally puts your
bike beyond the reach of thieves by carting it up a light pole. Read More
Gas turbine model train looks (and sounds) incredible
By Rick Martin
November 28, 2010
Developed by Hidepon Works,
this train is about as bad-ass as model trains can possibly get. It's
powered by a gas turbine engine, thus giving it a very noisy and very
sexy jet-like sound as it prepares to "take off" on its run. We took a
closer look at Make Fair in Tokyo. Read More
Pure Twilight combines wake up light with digital radio
By Paul Ridden
November 28, 2010
There are numerous dawn simulation wake up solutions
currently on the market, but Pure is claiming a first with its dawn
simulator and digital radio combination. Twilight uses half a dozen
bright LED lights to help combat the nasty effects of seasonal affective disorder
by mimicking a gentle sunrise before an alarm kicks in to make sure you
get out of bed. The device can also help create different soothing
moods using sound and light and see youngsters off to sleep with a
selection of lullabies. Read More
Scientists look to create small-scale flapping-winged flying machines
By Grant Banks
November 30, 2010
Imagine insect-like aircraft
capable of military or civilian surveillance missions, impossible for
current fixed-wing or rotary-wing vehicles – tiny flying machines able
to access buildings reduced to rubble by earthquakes, or act as a
fly-on-the-wall in the meeting rooms of enemy leaders. Such aircraft may
be one step closer to realization, thanks to a breakthrough in our
understanding of how flapping wings work. Read More
The computer, monitor and desk merge in BendDesk
By Paul Ridden
November 30, 2010
Researchers from Aachen University's Media
Computing Group have created a computer workstation where the desk and
screen are transformed into one multi-touch display. The display is
curved at the middle and uses infrared emitters and cameras to track
user movement over the whole of the surface, which has its graphical
user interface beamed onto it by a couple of short throw projectors
hidden within its wooden frame. Read More
Spinal implant assists paraplegics to exercise
By Karen Sprey
November 30, 2010
Paraplegics may soon find it easier to exercise
their leg muscles through activities such as cycling and rowing thanks
to a tiny microchip implanted in the spinal canal. Dubbed the Active
Book because of its booklike appearance, the microchip combines
electrodes and a muscle stimulator in one unit the size of a child's
fingernail. Read More
Honda finally showed the smaller-than-small city
car it has been developing for Asian markets - the Honda BRIO - today at
the 27th Thailand International Motor Expo in Bangkok. It will be the
smallest, lightest and cheapest car in the Honda range when it goes on
sale in India and Thailand next year - around THB 400,000 (US$13,300).
Read More
Foster + Partners, the UK-based architectural firm behind such innovative designs as Qatar’s Lusail Iconic Stadium and Masdar City,
has unveiled yet another breathtaking concept with its design for the
Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi. The design comprises five
wing-shaped solar towers sculpted aerodynamically to work like the
feathers of a bird’s wing and draw cooling air currents through the
museum. Read More
Harvard team successfully reverses the aging process in mice
By Loz Blain
November 29, 2010
The aging process - it's undignified, unwanted,
and many would say unnecessary. After all, the cells in your body are
constantly replacing themselves - why can't they do it without causing
progressive degradation of organs that lead to discomfort, weakness and
death? Well, perhaps they can. Harvard scientists have discovered that
by controlling certain genetic processes in mice, they can not only slow
down the aging process, but "dramatically" reverse it throughout the
body. It's a massive discovery, but it won't be able to be used in
humans yet without some pretty scary consequences. Read More
Color-changing “Blast Badge” to detect relative shockwave exposure
By Darren Quick
November 29, 2010
Blast-induced traumatic brain injury from
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is the "signature wound" of the
current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the damage to the brain often
not immediately obvious and no objective information of relative blast
exposure, soldiers may not receive appropriate medical care and are at
risk of being returned to the battlefield too soon. To overcome this
inadequacy, researchers have developed a color-changing patch that could
be worn on soldiers’ helmets and uniforms to indicate the strength of
exposure to blasts from explosives in the field. Read More
Computer scientists create 3D models using millions of 2D images
By Ben Coxworth
November 29, 2010
Researchers have devised a technique that allows a
computer to create three-dimensional images of famous landmarks, by
combining numerous two-dimensional photos of those landmarks from Internet photo sharing sites such as Flickr. For the Building Rome on a Cloudless Day
project, 3 million photos of Rome were accessed online, and used to
produce 3D images of all the city’s major landmarks. Utilizing commodity
graphics hardware, it took a single PC less than one day to accomplish
the task. Read More
Electrolux Infinity I-Kitchen takes fridges open source
By Darren Quick
November 29, 2010
One of the biggest marketing miss-steps of the past decade surely has to be LG’s Internet Refrigerator
that incorporated a Windows 98-based PC and 15.1-inch LCD touch display
in the door, allowing users to surf the Internet for recipes, play
music and videos or (theoretically) do some office work while standing
at the fridge. Electrolux seems to think the world is now ready to
embrace the idea and has developed an Internet fridge of its own in the
form of the Linux-based Infinity I-Kitchen. Read More
Whale-inspired bumps improve efficiency of ocean turbine blades
By Darren Quick
November 29, 2010
The bumpy protrusions, known as tubercles, on the leading edge of humpback whale flippers have already inspired more efficient wind turbine blades
that are able to produce more power at lower speeds. Now, in a
seemingly obvious move, researchers have found that that same principle
can be applied to underwater turbine blades to more efficiently convert
low velocity ocean tidal flow energy into electricity. Read More
Thanks to quick advancements within technology, setting up and working spy digital cameras are no longer the actual tedious tasks they were in the past. Now you can acquire and use traveler cameras with regard to whatever objective you like, just about all within a few minutes.To learn more at:-advanced diploma of childcare
ReplyDelete