Swiss researchers have claimed a new world record
efficiency of 18.7% for flexible copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS)
solar cells on plastics. Flexible CIGS solar cells have the potential
to drive down the price of solar electricity because they are cheaper to
produce and this latest breakthrough brings them closer to the highest
efficiency levels achieved by crystalline silicon and rigid CIGS cells.
Read More
We’ve already seen the dBCase
that redirects sound from the iPhone 4’s down-facing speakers to pump
on the volume of the device, but if you’re looking for something a bit
more old school – or rather, olde school – to do the same job then the
Horn Stand Amplifier might fit the bill. Made from flexible and washable
silicone, the Horn Stand Amplifier borrows its form and function from
the old-fashioned horn-speakers used on gramophones, slipping over the
iPhone’s speakers to channel the sound through the trumpet-shaped tube
and supposedly increasing the idevice’s volume by 13 decibels. Read More
In a move that gives cautious hope to the
millions of people suffering some form of paralysis, a team of
researchers from UCLA, Caltech and the University of Louisville has
given a man rendered paralyzed from the chest down after a hit-and-run
accident in 2006 the ability to stand and take his first tentative steps
in four years. The team used a stimulating electrode array implanted
into the man’s body to provide continual direct electrical stimulation
to the lower part of the spinal cord that controls movement of the hips,
knees, ankles and toes, to mimic the signals the brain usually sends to
initiate movement. Read More
The Yikebike is a sensational product - I called it the first "transportation appliance" when I rode the miniature electric penny farthing last year. Funnily enough, when I wrote about the ingenious range-extender
earlier this year, I wrote that the Yikebike ticked all the boxes but
one - its range. Now that the company is to offer a slightly heavier
version at roughly half the price, you can probably bury the last
objection that could be aimed at the Yikebike. Read More
Although conventional baby bottles are designed
to mimic a mother’s breast, if they could talk, most babies – like the
World Health Organization – would probably tell you they are a pretty
poor substitute for the real thing. Now a New York mom has designed a
new type of baby bottle dubbed BARE that is claimed to better emulate a
mother’s breast in terms of shape, texture and movement, as well as
providing the air-free storage and delivery of milk for your bundle of
joy. Read More
The last time we checked on the Voyager 1 & 2
they were hurtling towards the edge of the solar system at over 37,000
mph (60,000 km/h). The car-sized spacecraft are now and incredible 11
billion miles (17 billion km) and 8 billion miles (14 billion km) from
Earth respectively – they are the longest continuously operated
spacecraft in deep space and having traveled further than any man-made
object, they will soon become the first to enter the realm of
interstellar space. NASA recently held a briefing on the achievements of
the program which gives us the opportunity to ponder where the Voyagers
are, where they are going and the amazing scientific discoveries
realized so far in their 33 year journey. Read More
The inclusion of a new all-in-one desktop
computer in Lenovo's Live Quarterly Update has prompted the company to
come clean about the first of its new Edge family. With up to quad-core
Intel Core i7 configurations available and at just 3.18-inches thick
including the frame stand at the rear (or 2.5-inches thin if you care
not to consider such trifles), the ThinkCentre Edge 91z is a might more
powerful and a good deal slimmer than an iMac or, perhaps more relevantly, the company's own ThinkCentre M70z.
Lenovo's "Do Machine" has been earmarked for small businesses and users
looking to save some table-top space, and will be available in a number
of configurations. Read More
With the recent release of the Trimensional
app, people can now use their iPhones as inexpensive 3D scanners. Not
only can users take three-dimensional images of objects, but they can
use those images to create actual physical models ... as long as they
have access to a 3D printer. Currently, such printers tend to be large,
expensive devices that are usually only found in places like
universities or industrial design companies. That could soon change,
however, as researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU
Vienna) have created a prototype compact, affordable 3D printer. Read More
Although already incorporated into devices such as the Microsoft Kinect
gaming console, the ability of computer vision systems to recognize
specific body poses is still very much a work in progress. One of the
big challenges involves the chaos that such systems encounter in
real-world use – while it’s one thing to initially train a computer to
recognize a given person standing and pointing against a neutral
background, for instance, it’s quite another to expect it to recognize
that same stance in visual data where variables such as background,
clothing and body type are constantly changing. A new interactive music
video from Dutch electronic band C-Mon & Kypski, however, may help
address that problem. Read More
'Sighted' wheelchair taken for first successful test drive
By Paul Ridden
May 17, 2011
The introduction of the white cane early in the
last century gave blind and visually-impaired users a mobility tool that
not only helped them to get around, but also allowed them to be seen by
others. Now researchers from Sweden's Luleå University of Technology –
the same place that designed the autonomous wheelchair
– have developed and publicly tested a system which could potentially
give wheelchair-bound blind people a virtual white stick to help them
detect and avoid obstacles. An electric wheelchair has been fitted with a
navigational laser scanner which provides virtual 3D maps of the
surroundings, and sends feedback about any obstructions to the user via a
haptic interface. Read More
Although a good while ago now, I still remember
the bruising, the aches, and the shame of attempting (and mostly
failing) all the latest tricks for skateboard or BMX. Others have faired
much better, and the sports have continued to grow in popularity. Bart
and Steve Wilson have now designed an interesting hybrid, which takes
bits from board and bike to create a unique scooter called the sbyke
(pronounced "spike"). Unlike more familiar
micro-scooter designs, the sbyke has a fixed-position front wheel and
is turned by shifting weight at the rear, it can stand upright on its
own, and can take more weight – making it a more attractive proposition
for adults as well as youngsters. Read More
BMW is working to lessen the number of fatalities
caused by drivers turning left at intersections (in left-hand drive
countries, that is). When the "left hand drive assistant" detects that
the driver intends to turn left, three laser scanners in the front end
of the car kick in to map the area up to 100 meters (328 ft) ahead. If
the system detects oncoming vehicles and the driver continues to move
into the intersection, it will sound a warning and automatically
activate the brakes to prevent a collision. Read More
Elgato has just released – or to be technically
correct, re-released – the latest addition to its line of digital TV
tuners for PCs and Macs. The HDHomeRun is a rebranded dual tuner that
has been sold by SiliconDust for nearly five years now and also sold in
its previous incarnation by Elgato since mid-2007. The device has
however received an update and is a little smaller and sexier than the
original model, but still offers PC and Mac users the same ability to
watch and record HDTV over a local wireless network. Read More
Hydrogen
is certainly one of the big candidates when it comes to finding cleaner
fuels to replace petroleum. While it only produces water when burnt as
fuel, the process of obtaining hydrogen from natural gas is not quite so
eco-friendly – it consumes a lot of energy, and creates carbon dioxide.
Now a new process being developed at the Netherlands' Eindhoven
University of Technology (TU/e) promises a much more efficient,
innocuous alternative. Read More
With a lack of USB ports or SD card reader there's no easy way to expand the storage capacity of an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
With the iPad and iPod touch topping out at 64GB and many opting for
the cheaper, lower capacity models, many users are either faced with the
task of picking and choosing and switching and swapping the media files
and documents they think they'll be wanting to enjoy, or looking for an
app to stream media over the Internet to their device. With this latter
option leaving users at the mercy of increasingly congested Wi-Fi
hotspots or chewing through data over 3G or 4G networks, Seagate has
just announced another solution in the form of the GoFlex Satellite that
combines a 500GB portable HDD with a built in wireless streamer to let
users take their entire media library with them. Read More
Having two arms doesn't make you a juggler. The
same principle applies in robotics where even the most dextrous of bots
must be programmed to move according to a particular task. Input systems
based on laser tracking are used in industrial robotics to achieve
this, but Fraunhofer researchers are looking to streamline the process
significantly with a device that uses inertial sensors to detect
movements in free space. In other words, you can teach a robot new
tricks just by showing it the required action. Read More
If you want to get a child interested in the
sciences, just let them loose with a microscope. Proper stage
microscopes can be pricey, however, and are somewhat tricky for
youngsters to use. Fortunately, there are options like the
Zoomy Handheld Digital Microscope – it's a simple device that plugs into
the USB port of a PC or Mac, then feeds through illuminated, magnified
images of whatever it's placed over. Read More
What do you do if you want a material that’s as
hard as glass, but that can bend without shattering, like steel? Well,
if you’re a researcher at the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech), you invent metallic glass.
There are several types of metallic glass – which is said to be
stronger than steel or titanium – all of which consist of a metal with
the disordered atomic structure of glass. Although it’s been possible to
produce the material in bulk since the early 90s, the production
process has limitations, that have kept metallic glass from coming into
common use. Now, however, a Caltech team has come up with a new process,
in which the material can be shaped as easily as plastic. Read More
Since Antares Audio Technologies first introduced
its Auto-Tune vocal pitch correction technology in the late 1990s,
musicians and fans alike have been somewhat divided about its use. Some
artists like Cher and, more recently, T-Pain have openly embraced the
voice processing tool while others have kept its use a closely guarded
secret, and, at the opposite end, calls for an end to robo-voice
gimmickry have been made by the likes of Jay-Z. Now, the company has
announced that its Auto-Tune processing technology is being developed
for the electric guitar - offering six-string slingers effortless
intonation, pitch perfect tuning and access to whole new worlds of
otherwise unavailable tone. Read More
Much has been written about the “internet of
things.” Right now, not every human being has an IP but in the very near
future, low cost smart chips will be added to every device to give it
an IP address and everything in one’s life will become part of your
private secure network to be monitored and controlled (and hence become
smart) via a smartphone, tablet or PC. Earlier this week, Dutch-based
NXP Semiconductors announced its GreenChip, which for the cost of about
US$1.00, enables every light bulb to have its own wireless IP address.
NXP has subsequently announced it is to make its JenNet-IP,
ultra-low-power, IEEE 802.15.4-based, wireless network layer software
available under an Open Source license in Q4, 2011. This development is
very significant as it reduces the cost and greatly simplifies adding
“smart” connectivity and two-way communication into a wide range of
devices, and might well establish a cross-application standard for
wireless connectivity in both residential and industrial environments.
Read More
Software-based guitar and amp emulators like Guitar Rig, AmpliTube and GarageBand
have given players access to a multitude of sound and setups otherwise
impossible to achieve without an unlimited budget, and a huge amount of
storage space. While these might be perfect for the home or studio,
musicians heading out on the road may want to invest in a more durable
hardware-based, rack-mounted solution. Fractal Audio is about to unleash
a beast of a rack-mounted, all-in-one preamp/effects processor billed
as the most powerful instrument processor ever created. Read More
Currently the brightest options for those looking
to ditch their incandescent light bulbs in favor of the longer life and
more energy efficient LED variety are those equivalent to 60 watt
incandescent bulbs, such as the GeoBulb II.
Things got a little brighter last month when California-based Switch
Lighting announced its 75 watt-equivalent LED bulb and now the company
has gone one better with the announcement of what it claims is the
world's first 100 watt-equivalent LED bulb. Read More
MV Agusta has announced a new 148 kw, 1000cc
version of its F4 sports bike aimed at homologating a bike with the
potential to push Ducati’s 1098S, BMW’s S1000RR and Kawasaki’s ZX10R off
the superstock podium. Equipped with a new 13,700 rpm short stroke
engine, the original F4 frame updated to enable steering-head angle
adjustment via interchangeable inserts and new and better Öhlins
suspension units and lightweight wheels, the new MV Agusta F4 RR is more
than double the price of any of its aforementioned competitors, so
let’s hope we see a few on the racetrack that can validate the EUR
22,900 (US$32,500) price tag. Read More
Since their introduction in the 1960's, automated
teller machines (ATMs) have provided bank customers with a convenient
way to access their cash 24 hours a day seven days a week without having
to wait until banking hours and queue to see a teller. Now the world's
biggest ATM provider is putting the "teller" back in the automated
teller machine with the unveiling of an ATM with integrated two-way
video conferencing that lets users talk live with a remote teller. Read More
McLaren’s MP4-12C
is out and the company is pleased by a worldwide order book of
1700-plus units. It’s a remarkable car in many ways, not least for being
the first tilt at genuine populism from the only brand that matches or
exceeds Ferrari for Formula One-derived brand cachet. That’s not to say
they’re pitching it against the Toyotas and the like. But where the
company’s last own-branded effort, the F1,
brought pure race-car values to the road – right down to the
ever-controversial ground-effect aerodynamics – the 12C serves up the
broadest of dynamic spectra, at the mere touch of a couple of buttons.
It’s designed as genuinely well-rounded personal transport, able to
negotiate the peak hour bumper-to-bumper as well as it might the Laguna
Seca corkscrew. Read More
A year on from the first unveiling of the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style multi-purpose helicopter concept
at last year's European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition
(EBACE) in Geneva, Eurocopter has shown the first finished aircraft at
EBACE 2011. Inspired by Mercedes' high-end vehicles, the twin-engine
Mercedes-Benz Style helicopter features a versatile interior enabled by a
modular approach that allows the aircraft to be tailored to suit a
range of travel needs. Read More
The NASA space shuttle Discovery flew its last mission
on February 24th, and now it's the Endeavour's turn to bow out of
service. At 8:56 a.m. EDT this Monday (May 16), the shuttle launched
from the Kennedy Space Center for the final time, on a mission to bring
supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Not only is it the last flight for the Endeavour, but the second-last flight within the entire shuttle program. Read More
Imagine you're a firefighter arriving at a
burning building, but you have no idea what the interior layout of that
building is. Do you just enter, then risk your life by randomly walking
up and down smokey hallways looking around? What would work better would
be if someone or something could quickly map out the building
first, then you could take that information and concentrate on getting
directly where you need to go. That's the idea behind the U.S. Army's
Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST)
Collaborative Technology Alliance Program, which would see swarms of
small rolling, hopping, crawling or flying robots working together on
reconnaissance missions in civilian or military applications. Read More
It’s no big secret that wearing in-ear devices,
such as stereo earphones or hearing aids, can cause the ears to hurt
over time. According to the engineers at Colorado’s Asius Technologies,
however, this isn’t due simply to a poor fit or high volume levels.
Instead, it’s caused by an “acoustic reflex,” that no amount of
earbud-reshaping or decreases in volume will alleviate. There are
reportedly ways of minimizing or even eliminating what’s known as
“listener fatigue,” though – these include a flexible membrane, and even
an inflatable ear-tip device created by Asius. Read More
It seems the world auction record for a
motorcycle is expected to fall later this year when a 1954 AJS E95
Porcupine grand prix racer will go under the hammer. The only thing I
can’t work out is “why all the fuss?” The 1949 E90 AJS Porcupine
narrowly won the inaugural World 500cc championship, but by 1954 the
design was obsolete and the subsequent unreliable E95 never won a race
at world championship level in three seasons of trying. That’s not
stopping Bonhams from talking it up (its claim that the bike is
“arguably the most beautiful, graceful and innovative racing motorcycle
ever built” is just plain ridiculous) and it is expecting a sale price
in excess of US$750,000 which would put it on top of the list of the most expensive motorcycles sold at auction. Read More
Having undergone some physical therapy myself, I
can confirm that even though keeping to a prescribed exercise and
treatment regimen helps the injury heal faster, the daunting prospect of
self-administered discomfort has led me to ignore the advice of my
practitioner. A team at Microsoft's research wing has developed a
working prototype of a system that may help to encourage physical injury
sufferers to do their exercises by giving them a clearer understanding
of what's going on. A therapist would use the device to project a series
of graphics of underlying bone, muscle tissue, tendons or nerves
directly onto the body of a patient to help explain the nature of the
injury and prescribe effective treatment. The device can also take
photos during a consultation, which can be subsequently reviewed or
printed out as a memory aid for the patient. Read More
When Sony began restoring the PSN earlier this
week - albeit in limited form starting with gaming, music and video
services - many believed the end was in sight for the problems facing
the network that had seen it offline for nearly a month after the details of 77 million users were stolen. In yet another hiccup for the service, Nyleveia.com
yesterday revealed a hack had surfaced that allowed attackers to change
a user's password using the email address linked to the user's account
and the user's date of birth - exactly the kind of information that was
compromised in the original attack on the service that saw it taken
offline in the first place. Read More
UK-based MUGEN Euro have taken up the challenge to give the Honda CR-Z
some extra grunt to produce the CR-Z MUGEN concept. The vehicle adds a
supercharger to the CR-Z hybrid’s 1.5-liter gasoline engine and IMA
electric motor to increase the vehicle’s output from 122 to 198
horsepower and ups the torque from 128 to 181 lb-ft. Honda UK and MUGEN
have just released the first official pics of the vehicle ahead of its
debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to be held in West Sussex,
England, in July. Read More
There are good passwords and bad passwords,
but none of them are totally secure. Researchers at the American
University of Beirut, Lebanon, are working on strengthening an approach
to password security that's not just about what you type, but how you type it. Read More
After undergoing a planned upgrade to its gearbox that enabled it to operate at full engine power, Eurocopter's X3 hybrid helicopter
demonstrator has surpassed its original speed target of 220 knots (407
km/h or 253 mph). In a flight on May 12, the X3 maintained a true
airspeed of 232 knots (430 km/h or 267 mph) for several minutes during
stable, level flight. Read More
Fiat’s new TwinAir engine has scooped the 2011
International Engine of the Year competition, winning the major gong for
engine of the year, plus three other awards including the Best New
Engine 2011, Best Green Engine 2011 and Best Engine of less than 1,000
cc. The twin cylinder 875 cc engine is currently only available in a
turbocharged 85 bhp configuration in the Fiat 500 and will soon also be
available in the Chrysler Ypsilon, but non-turbo 65 bhp, turbo 105 bhp
and 80 bhp turbo bi-fuel versions are all due this year. The TwinAir’s
most distinguishing technological feature is the electro-hydraulic valve
control, and a balancing countershaft to reduce vibration.
Interestingly, nine of the twelve awards went to turbocharged engines.
Read More
Lenovo has announced a successor to its 13.3-inch flagship X301
laptop with twice the processor performance and four times the graphics
capabilities. Features of note in the new X1 include second generation
Intel Core processor options, a choice of solid state or hard drive
storage, Dolby Home Theater v4 sound through stereo speakers, new fast
battery top-up technology and a brand new keyboard design. The
military-spec rugged ThinkPad credentials continue through to the new
model, with a toughened-up SuperBright, high definition display and
protective chassis and frame. Read More
Last November, German tech firm Evoluce unveiled a Kinect-based prototype multi-touch system
that allows users to navigate through Windows 7 applications, simply by
moving their hands in the air. While that system utilizes the Kinect
unit’s RGB camera and depth sensor to track the user’s hands, a new
technology developed at Texas A&M University's Interface Ecology Lab
uses a matrix of infrared light beams to do essentially the same thing.
It’s called ZeroTouch, and it was presented at last week’s 2011
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Vancouver. Read More
Grant Schindler, a computer scientist at the
Georgia Institute of Technology, has created what is admittedly a pretty
cool iPhone 4 app. It’s called Trimensional, and it allows your phone
to act as a 3D scanner. While you could use it to obtain a
three-dimensional frontal image of pretty much any object, if the
product’s website is anything to go by, users’ faces seem to be a
particularly popular subject. Read More
It's been a good while coming but Google's music
streaming service has finally arrived. Called Music Beta, it's available
by invitation only and restricted to U.S. users ahead of rollout
elsewhere. The service appears to be very similar to Amazon's Cloud Storage and Player,
although no music is on sale directly from Google. Rather than measure
the size of your collection by the gigabyte, however, Google will allow
users to store up to 20,000 music tracks from their personal collection
in an online vault, with no restrictions on bitrate. Music Beta offers
users instant sync across devices, the ability to play selected music
offline and intuitive playlist creation based on the mood of a selected
track. Read More
Until recently a purely lab based technology,
brainwave (electroencephalograph or EEG) headsets are trickling into the
marketplace in a number of different guises. But what exactly do these
devices do, how do they differ from each other and - with potential
applications ranging from medicine to gaming and market research – who
will use them and for what purpose? Dr. Max Sutherland takes a closer
look. Read More
Since Mercedes-Benz introduced the frontal airbag
as an option on its S-Class vehicles back in 1981, airbags have become
standard safety equipment in passenger vehicles the world over. In
addition to frontal driver- and passenger-side airbags, there are now
also side curtain, side torso, knee, rear curtain and even seat-belt airbags.
With the aim of freeing up space in increasingly crowded instrument
clusters, automotive safety systems manufacturer TRW has now developed a
"bag in roof" airbag system that deploys the front airbag from the roof
instead of the steering wheel or dashboard. Read More
Many of us breathed a sigh of relief when the
uncomfortable lesson in bland that was the digital age of beige came to
an end, but even some of the latest styling can be somewhat
disappointing. The growing popularity of Steampunk design
is evidence that many crave a return to the classic looks of yesteryear
but enthusiasts wanting their technology to take on a vintage look are,
for the most part, left with little option but to modify the kit
themselves. Those with no time to spare or no skills to speak of,
though, are left to look on with envious admiration. Kirk DuQuette has
not only created a whole bunch of stunning computer peripherals and
mobile device docks that hark back to the Victorian age of steam but,
without much of the valve, cog and gauge overkill, he has also made some
of them available for purchase. Read More
In spite of the overwhelming shift towards
digital photography, 35 mm film cameras still have their staunch
supporters. Lomography analog film cameras came about when a couple of
Austrian students stumbled across a Russian LOMO LC-A film camera in the
early 1990s. They offer an experimental approach to shooting 35 mm film
with effects like fisheye and 360 degree panorama.
The latest model comes with a newly-developed ultra-wide-angle lens
that sits on the very border of fish-eye and gives users a choice of
half-frame, full-frame and square 35 mm photo formats ... and it's also
very expensive. Read More
When someone has a heart attack, the cells in the
affected area of the heart die off, and the damage can’t be repaired.
In the not-so-distant future, however, that may not be the case.
Engineers from Rhode Island’s Brown University, working with colleagues
in India, have created a carbon nanofiber patch that has been shown to
regenerate heart cells. It is hoped that such patches could eventually
be placed on the heart, like a Band-Aid, to regrow dead areas. Read More
It’s a situation that everyone has experienced –
you’re walking down the street, when a vehicle drives by that’s so loud,
people cover their ears and cast angry glances at the driver. You assume
that it’s illegal to use a muffler that’s so ineffective, or to have a
stereo turned up that high, but if it is ... how come so many people
seemingly get away with it? Well, part of the reason is manpower. While
speeders and red-light-runners can be ticketed in the thousands using
automated systems, actual police officers need to go out and manually
check cars and motorcycles for noise violations. The designer of Noise
Snare, however, claims that his unmanned system can automatically detect
and identify overly-audible vehicles. Read More
Despite his annoyingly cutesy synthetic voice, Darwin the Dolphin on the TV series SeaQuest DSV
did present an intriguing possibility – what if we could create a
dolphin language translator? Such a device may no longer be limited to
the realm of science fiction, as two scientists are currently developing
an underwater computer that they hope to someday use for two-way
communications with wild dolphins. Read More
A few short weeks ago, I said what a shame it was that Minebea's gorgeous COOL LEAF
touch keyboard didn't allow for different country-specific keyboard
layouts. A shortlisted entry in designboom's 2011 Fujitsu Design Award
competition has taken such personal configuration a stage further with a
touchscreen keyboard on a full-size laptop which would allow users to
arrange and configure their own layout choices. Read More
Though Italian design house Zagato has
collaborated with every prestige automotive manufacturer at some stage
or another, the company’s relationship with Aston Martin has produced
some stunningly beautiful and very fast classic vehicles, as evidenced
by the DB4GT Zagato, V8 Vantage Zagato and DB7 Zagato. To celebrate the
50th anniversary of the DB4GT Zagato, Aston Martin and Zagato will
tomorrow use the backdrop of the Villa D’Este Concours in Italy to show off a V12 Zagato based on the V12 Vantage. Read More
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