With conventional microscopy, if a scientist
wishes to obtain a high-resolution image of a relatively broad area,
they typically have to use a microscope that scans across that area in a
grid pattern, recording many images one point at a time. Those images
are then joined together to form one complete picture. Such systems take
a long time to perform a scan, so both the microscope and the subject
must be held still while it's taking place. Researchers from Germany's
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering,
however, have created a thin, handheld microscope that can reportedly
obtain similar-quality images in less than one second. Read More
For U.S. troops, the most common type of
battlefield fatality involves blood loss due to trauma. When a soldier
does experience blood loss, their chance of survival drops by 22.5
percent once hypothermia sets in. Needless to say, if that reaction can
be minimized or delayed, then less fatalities should occur. A team of
biomedical engineering students from New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of
Technology is working towards that goal, by developing a blood-warming
system device known as Heat Wave. Read More
Google TV has not received quite the warm welcome that was hoped for, in spite of sterling efforts from Logitech, Sony and Boxee.
While the search giant makes upgrades to the service for Android 3.1
and readies it for Android Market, Geniatech is offering what it says is
the first Android-embedded set-top system for HDTVs. The company says
that as well as offering full 1080p high definition video decoding, its
Android TV can also act as a digital media player, digital photo frame,
games console and internet browsing platform. Read More
An iPhone has various input features that a
standard desktop keyboard doesn’t, such as a reconfigurable touchscreen
display. A full-sized keyboard, however, is much easier to type on than
an iPhone. Perhaps it only makes sense, therefore, that Korea’s Omnio
Technologies decided to combine the strengths of the two devices, in the
form of its WOW-Keys keyboard with built-in iPhone dock. Read More
While we had all of last century to work out the
niggles of internal combustion engine powered automobiles, there's still
a question or two hanging over electric vehicles - such as how long
will they last? Tesla Motors is the early mover in the EV arena having commenced production of its Roadster model
in early 2008 and with 1,600-odd of the all-electric sportscars now in
the wild, the company has a growing pool of real-world research to draw
on in that will help it answer this question and improve the long-term
durability of its future models. At the head of the pack is European
customer number 83, Hansjörg von Gemmingen, who has just clocked past
100,000 kilometers (62,000 miles) to become the most traveled Tesla
Roadster owner to date. Read More
The weird properties of artificially engineered metamaterials
are at the core of research into invisibility cloaking, but engineers
from Duke University in North Carolina suggest that these materials
could also provide a boost to another of technology's quests - wireless
power transmission. In this latest hard-to-get-your-head-around
metamaterial scenario, it's not the cloaked object that "disappears" -
it's the space between the charger and the chargee. Read More
While I'm a big fan of the Kindle 3, I think that
Kobo may have got it beat with its new eReader Touch Edition. Featuring
the latest Pearl e-Ink technology that so improved Amazon's models last
year, Kobo's new Wi-Fi-enabled device also boasts optical touchscreen
interaction courtesy of Neonode, is powered by a processor specially
developed for e-Readers and comes with support for multiple languages.
Read More
Combining lighting with audio
by using a light socket to power a wireless speaker is a two-in-one
approach that appears to be gaining traction and this latest example -
the Sound of Light speaker - grabbed our attention on both the
functionality and aesthetic fronts. The Sound of Light system uses a
Texas Instruments 2.4 GHz Purepath Digital Signal Transmitter to set up a
wireless link between an audio device such as an MP3 player, smartphone
or tablet and up to four speakers within a 300 ft range. Read More
Having already made the leap into hybrid drive-trains with the GT3 R Hybrid and 918 Spyder,
Porsche has now delivered a taste of possible future all-electric
models by showcasing two Boxster E prototype variants at the Michelin
Challenge Bibendum in Berlin last week. Designed to retain the driving
dynamics of their ICE driven brethren, the 4WD and 2WD prototypes are
being used to investigate the integration of EVs into the company's
infrastructure as well as "explore the everyday practicality of
all-electric vehicles." Read More
When the sutures are removed from a surgical
incision, the natural tension of the surrounding skin starts to pull the
two edges of the wound away from one another. While the incision site
will still usually heal, that wound-opening mechanical stress causes
excessive scar tissue to form. Researchers from Stanford University,
however, have created a new type of dressing that removes such stress,
and has been shown to dramatically reduce scarring. Read More
Fans of the movie They Live will recall
the special sunglasses in the film, that allowed the unknowing public to
see that certain people were actually aliens, and that seemingly
ordinary billboards in fact displayed messages like “OBEY” and
“CONSUME.” The new Aurasma app for iPhone 4 and iPad 2 is kind of like
those glasses. OK, it doesn’t actually reveal the true nature
of things, but it does allow you to see otherwise unseeable videos and
other images that fellow Aurasma users have virtually attached to
real-world scenes and objects. If you were to point your phone’s camera
at a certain building, for instance, you would see real-time video of
that building on your screen, but perhaps with another user’s
computer-generated monster climbing up the side of it to promote an
upcoming event. Read More
If, like me, you've often wondered what would
happen if you took a diamond drill to a glass vase and then fed in some
audio - the answer we've been looking for takes the shape of the Glass
Speakers from Whamodyne. A set of Logitech S120 computer speakers have
been stripped apart, the components forced into a pair of glass vases,
each of which have then been mounted at a slight tilt on a hand-made
birch plywood base. They're not as powerful or as slick as the
precious-looking GLA-55 touch-sensitive speakers from Harman Kardon, but they are about a tenth of the price. Read More
While touch displays have become standard on
mobile devices, touch displays for desktop PCs - ushered in by HP on its
first TouchSmart back in 2007 - haven't really set the world on fire.
So what do touchscreens bring to the desktop environment? HP had
continued to build on its its TouchSmart line,
so we decided to see if its latest offering, the TouchSmart 610-1030a,
provides a compelling reason to ditch the traditional keyboard and mouse
- at least for some users. Read More
You could be forgiven for thinking that Japan's
Sigma is just a maker of lenses for the cameras of other companies like
Canon and Nikon, but that's not the case. The company broke into the
digital camera market in 2002 with the SD9, which was also the first
outing for a new sensor technology developed by Foveon. Unlike other
sensors that capture one color per pixel location, the Foveon X3's
stacked design captures all three colors at each pixel, which is said to
result in more accurate color reproduction and sharper resolution. Now
Sigma is about to release a new camera sporting a new version of the X3
sensor, dual image processing engines and improved ISO sensitivity. It's
also very expensive ... Read More
With up to 80 percent of the weight of a
soldier’s gear attributable to batteries, the U.S. Army is obviously
interested in replacement technologies that deliver a reliable, reusable
power source. Chemical Engineering students at Stevens Institute of
Technology in New Jersey believe their invention of a microreactor that
can convert everyday fossil fuels such as butane and propane into pure
hydrogen for fuel cell batteries might be the answer. Read More
With video content consuming ever more bandwidth,
the need for faster data transmission rates has never been greater. Now
a team of scientists at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
(KIT) are claiming a world record in data transmission with the
successful encoding of data at a rate of 26 terabits per second on a
single laser beam and transmitting it over a distance of 50 km (31
miles). The scientists claim this is the largest data volume ever
transported on a laser beam and enables the transmission of 700 DVD's
worth of content in just one second. Read More
The world's failure to end as predicted last
weekend may have left many survival shelters overstocked, but if there's
still a little space on the bunker shelf you might want to consider
expanding your rations smorgasbord with the Tactical Sammich. Available
in Pepperoni or BBQ Beef, the Tactical Sammiches have a claimed shelf
life of over two years if maintained at 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.7
degrees Celsius) or less. Read More
On a cold morning on January 25, 1947 at the U.S.
Patent Office, Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann submitted an
invention that is now recognized as one of the earliest examples of the
video game - the "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device". Described it as a
game of skill where a player sits or lies in front of a Cathode Ray Tube
(CRT) mounted in a closet, the analog device was inspired by a radar
commonly used in the second World War to control missiles. Using knobs
to adjust speed and trajectory, a plane was represented by a single
point and the scores were assigned by hand! Read More
Some day in the future, it's possible that an
unmanned rover may go trundling across the Martian landscape not on
wheels, but on three rotating steel coils. While able to traverse rugged
terrain without getting stuck, it could also move sideways to get
around obstacles, would be unlikely to malfunction as it would have very
few moving parts, and could perhaps even remain mobile if it were to
take a tumble and flip over. Although such a vehicle might not be
exploring Mars any time particularly soon, a fully-functioning prototype
does already exist here on Earth, and its design could find terrestrial
applications. Read More
The Chrome OS
avalanche looks to be gaining momentum, with modular computer
manufacturer Xi3 announcing a desktop computer addition to the mobile
solutions announced by Samsung and Acer
earlier in the month. Set to be a new flavor of the company's
soon-to-be-generally-available, CES 2011 Innovations Award-winning modular computer range,
the cube-like, low power ChromiumPC will be available with single- or
dual-core processors and will benefit from a host of new input/output
(I/O) modules currently being developed by the Xi3 Corporation and its
partners. Read More
The world's growing need for energy, the limits
of our supply of fossil fuels and concern about the effects of carbon
emissions on the environment have all prompted interest in the increased
use of nuclear power. Yet the very word "nuclear" carries with it an
association of fear. People are concerned about the waste produced by
reactors, the possibility of catastrophic accidents as highlighted by
recent events in Japan and the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Yet what if there existed a means of nuclear power generation with which these risks were drastically reduced? Read More
Billed as world's first race series exclusively
for zero-emission electric cars, the EV Cup was originally scheduled to
kick off its inaugural season in the U.K. at Silverstone on August 6,
2011. It has now been delayed and will start out in the U.S. with two
race events in California at Laguna Seca in November and Auto Club
Speedway in December, ahead of a full series launch in 2012. EV Cup
organizers say they wanted to ensure that everything was ready before
the series kicks off and cited safety requirements, car delivery
schedules and the need for testing time as the reasons for the switch.
Read More
The development of practical microbial fuel cells
took a big step forward this week. Research conducted by a team of
scientists from England’s University of East Anglia was published on
Monday (May 23), in which they revealed that they had discovered “the
exact molecular structure of the proteins which enable bacterial cells
to transfer electrical charge.” Scientists possessing this knowledge can
now start working on technology for tethering bacteria directly to
electrodes, which could lead to much more efficient microbial fuel cells
– also known as bio-batteries. Read More
The dust hadn't even had time to settle on the announcement of the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition
before Barnes & Noble (B&N) unveiled the Nook Simple Touch
Reader. The new Nook has 50 percent better contrast than the previous
e-Ink edition (thanks to being upgraded to the latest Pearl e-ink
technology) and, like the Kobo device, its 6-inch display has been made
touch sensitive with the aid of infrared technology. It's also 35
percent lighter and 15 percent thinner than the first edition Nook, and
offers a best-in-class battery life. Read More
Those of us who need to wear glasses face a bit
of a quandary when it comes to protective eyewear. We can put big safety
glasses on over top of our prescription glasses, although
these can be bulky, uncomfortable, and a little funny-looking. Those
drawbacks can be avoided by getting safety glasses with prescription
lenses, but given the conditions under which such glasses are typically
worn, it’s entirely possible that their custom lenses will get
scratched. This leaves users on the hook for an expensive new pair,
which they will have to wait several days for. Australian inventor
Andreas Mehringer, however, has created what could be a better
alternative, in the form of his IC Safety System. Read More
We've looked at a number of efforts to extend the
capabilities of the traditional white cane for the visually impaired,
such as using ultrasonic echoes or lasers
to give users a better lay of the land. But a group of engineering
researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) are looking
to do away with the cane altogether and replace it with a "guide vest"
that works in conjunction with a helmet-mounted camera and special
software to let wearers "see" the world through tactile feedback. Read More
Military computer manufacturer Black Diamond
Advanced Technology has released its ultra-rugged wearable PC and
communications kit as a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system.
Adaptable to a range of specialist missions, the Modular Tactical System
(MTS) system is - as the name suggests - not just a pack containing a
computer. Components are split-up are and integrated into different
parts of the soldier's uniform and equipment so that mobility isn't
compromised, and it's designed to make the transition from computer
operation to direct combat engagement in seconds. Read More
IDAPT has been providing charging solutions for
power hungry mobile device users for a few years now with its range of
multi-purpose chargers, such as the IDAPT i3.
The company has now extended its range with the IDAPT i1 Eco dual
charger that has been designed as a more environmentally friendly way to
keep the juice flowing in your electronic devices. Read More
According to Bose, only one third of homes in the
U.S. have a home theater system, leaving the majority relying on the
decidedly average speakers built into many TVs. While the major TV
manufacturers generally try to market their products in terms of picture
quality - be it blacker blacks, 3D capabilities or the latest and
greatest image processing engine - audio performance seems to take a
back seat. Bose has taken a different tack for its first entry into the
TV market by putting audio performance front and center - or rather,
rear and center - with its VideoWave entertainment system that
integrates a 7.1-channel surround sound system and amplifier into the
rear of a 46-inch LCD TV. Read More
The tablet frenzy sparked by the launch of Apple's iPad in April 2010 and the success of eReaders like the Kindle has seen many new players enter the market in the past year ... and there were bound to be some casualties. The enTourage eDGe looks to be one. The company has officially closed the content store for its eDGe and Pocket eDGe eReaders and there are reports that the dual-screen hardware will follow suit. Read More
German audio software specialist Algoriddim has
released its djay app for iPhone and iPad. Designed to turn an iOS
device into a complete and portable DJ system, the app allows you to mix
an iPod music library via a touch-turntable interface or can be set to
mix automatically. It's intuitive, simple to use but deep enough for
some serious djing. Read More
Given that approximately one sixth of the world's
population lacks access to safe drinking water, it would obviously be a
very good idea to create something that allows those people to easily
and cheaply filter their local tainted water. That was the thinking
behind the LifeStraw.
Developed by European disease control firm Vestergaard Frandsen, the
simple device allows individual users to drink directly out of unclean
water bodies, without ingesting pathogens or other pollutants. Now, the
larger-scale LifeStraw Family is being introduced in Kenya, where it
could potentially save millions of lives, reduce air pollution, and pay
for itself in the process. Read More
Although the carry-ability of iPads is
undoubtedly one of their biggest selling features, holding one of those
things in front of yourself can get tiring after a while. Various
companies have attempted to capitalize on this fact, offering a wide
variety of iPad holders. While many of these systems just prop the iPad
up, the new Freedom II offers a few unique features, such as suction
cups and a mounting strap. Read More
Texas Memory Systems has just unveiled a monster
enterprise-level PCIe-based solid state storage solution that's
blisteringly fast and offers almost a terabyte of available capacity.
Nicknamed Gorilla by the company, the RamSan-70 represents the seventh
generation of the RamSan product family and uses Toshiba 32nm SLC Flash
on a single half-length x8 PCIe card. It's said to offer up to 330,000
IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) read performance and 160,000
write, and up to 2GB per second sustained random throughput. Read More
If you find that having your hands on the
keyboard and mouse still isn’t giving you enough control over your
computer, perhaps you’d like to let your feet in on the action, too.
While some people might think that's overkill, it’s precisely what the
Thanko USB Foot Switch lets you do. Available as either a single pedal
or a joined trio, the floor-located device plugs into your PC’s USB
port, and controls a function (or three) of your choice via foot taps.
Read More
ElliptiGO has announced the arrival of a new
sibling for its 8-speed elliptical running bike. Elliptical bikes are
said to offer users all the benefits of running and cycling in one
(strange-looking) machine, without many of the negative aspects, such as
back and leg problems or saddle-soreness. The upright position also
makes runners/riders more visible in traffic. The new 3C comes in a new
color option, is a little heavier than its older brother and has only
three gears, but is being offered at a lower price point to open up the
unique workout to more consumers. Read More
With a mobile phone now an essential item in any
ladies' handbag, it's surprising that most of the solar powered bags
we've seen up until now have been either backpacks or messenger bags.
That's fine for men who generally see bags as a purely functional piece
of equipment designed to make it easier to carry things like beer, guns
and pornography around. But from what I understand, it's much different
for women, for whom the handbag is an extension of their personality
and needs to be fashionable as well as practical - and the practicality
is probably optional. Danish design studio DIFFUS has done its best to
combine the two with its Solar Handbag. Read More
Husqvarna has released sketches of what is to be
the dirtbike manufacturers' first ever street machine. The naked
streetfighter will use the recently announced 900cc parallel twin-cylinder engine
developed by Husqvarna in conjunction with its owner BMW ... and if you
like your streetfighter with strong lines and sharp angles, it looks
like you're in for a treat. Read More
Although robots have started to creep into many homes in the form of robotic vacuum cleaners like the Roomba,
many of us were hoping humanoid robots would be doing everything from
preparing meals to doing the laundry by now. Unfortunately, it turns out
that even tasks that we consider relatively simple can prove difficult
for robots to replicate. Instead of attempting to program robots to
devise a complete detailed plan before tacking a task, MIT scientists
are programming them to apply the old adage of “one step at a time” so
the robots break tasks down into smaller, easier to handle chunks. Read More
There's more to environmentally-friendly
architecture than solar-panels and thermal mass, it's also about
designing buildings that are not at-odds with their surroundings -
particularly if the building is in the middle of a picturesque
landscape. This example form Make Architects ticks both boxes - it uses
on-site renewable energy to achieve a zero-carbon design and blends
almost seamlessly into the landscape by ignoring convention and, like
the residents of The Shire, going underground. Read More
An international team of scientists has announced
success in creating hydrogen at ambient temperature and pressure using a
combination of sunlight and ethanol. The team of researchers from
Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Scotland’s University of
Aberdeen and New Zealand’s University of Auckland say the method is
potentially cheaper, produces higher yields and, because no high
temperatures or pressures are required, uses less energy than
conventional methods. Read More
iA's Writer app for the iPad
has been on my home screen since it launched, and it's one of the apps I
bring up when people ask me what brings me to carry a giant iPod touch
in my bag. In an age where it's not at all weird for someone who writes
for a living to stare at two or more monitors displaying tweets from
hundreds or thousands of Twitter users and RSS feeds from hundreds or
thousands of websites/blogs in real time, iA Writer is an infinite
number of steps in the opposite direction. The effect on my ability to
craft words has been nothing short of ridiculous. Read More
In order to lessen the frequency and severity of
their headaches, migraine sufferers are sometimes instructed to wear
eyeglasses with precision-tinted lenses. These are known as prescribed
precision ophthalmic tints, or POTs. Up until recently, however, the
science behind the POTs/headache relationship wasn’t clearly understood.
Now, a team of scientists have used functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) to gain an understanding of just what is taking place.
Read More
For the rest of 2011, I'm visiting a new country
every week or two. I'm not the biggest fan of getting lost, asking for
directions, or getting ripped off by taxi drivers, so keeping my
iPhone's battery charged is high on my list of priorities. I came across
Mophie's Juice Pack Powerstation while I was doing my pre-travel gadget
shopping, and was surprised at how small, light and cheap the unit was.
So how does it stack up? Read More
There's nothing quite like an old rocking chair
for finding your center and chilling out. Originally thought to have
been developed as garden furniture, the rocker has now come full circle
with the development of the SOFT Rocker by Professor Sheila Kennedy and
architecture students from MIT. Installed at the Institute's Killian
Court for the Festival of Art+Science+Technology (FAST), the
teardrop-shaped outdoor rocking lounge chairs have solar panels over the
top to provide power for up to three USB devices, and some after-dark
lighting to allow the party to go on after the sun goes down. Read More
Hasselblad has announced that its new H4D-200MS
camera is now available for shipping. Announced at last year's
Photokina, the 50 megapixel camera features the company's own multi-shot
image technology which allows it to combine multiple successive images
into one 200 megapixel photo. The new professional-level camera has been
given a suitably huge price tag but owners of the previous multi-shot
system don't have to buy a completely new system, H4D-50MS models can be
returned to the Hasselblad's factory for a refit. Read More
Nissan has given its 370Z Coupe
a makeover for the European market. Citing the higher average speeds
offered in Europe - most notably Germany - and the wide variety of road
surfaces that range from super smooth to badly pitted as reasons for the
changes, the new 370Z GT Edition sports revised chassis settings and
suspension modifications that are designed to improve the handling and
ride comfort of the sixth-generation of Nissan's Z-car line. Read More
Commissioned by Living Architecture and Artangel,
the challenge of "A Room for London" was to design a one-bedroom
temporary installation to be perched on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall
at the Southbank Centre, well known to be one of London's most visible
sites. The project attracted the attention of 500 architects worldwide
and the winning design went to a beautifully crafted timber boat
structure from David Kohn and Fiona Banne, but it was the remarkable
design from Spanish architects Sanzpont which really caught our eye.
Read More
Engineers from one of the main players
responsible for the development of the MP3 codec, the Fraunhofer
Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, have taken a similar approach in
an effort to provide telephone calls and video conferences with sound
quality approaching that of direct communication, while at the same time
cutting delay times that often sees both speakers talking over each
other. Their solution is a new audio coding technology called Enhanced
Low Delay Advanced Audio Coding – or AAC-ELD – that they claim results
in long-distance communications that appear almost as if the
participants are sitting across from each other. Read More
The SLS AMG roadster
is nearing its official unveiling date of autumn 2011 and Mercedes is
looking to further whet our appetites with the release of more images
and info on the AMG-developed droptop supercar. Ditching the gull-wing
doors and roof in favor of conventional doors and a soft top has
required Mercedes to stiffen the body, resulting in the Roadster being
40 kg (88 lbs) heavier than the coupe ... but it can still go from 0 to
100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.8 seconds on its way to an electronically limited
top speed of 317 km/h (197 mph). Read More
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