Engineers from Ohio State University have
developed what they say is the world’s first microscope lens capable of
obtaining three-dimensional images. While 3D microscopy
has already been achieved, it has previously required the use of
multiple lenses, or of a single camera that moves around the object
being imaged. The new device, however, is just a single lens that sits
in place on an existing microscope. Read More
RIM has announced that consumers can place orders through Best Buy for its PlayBook
7-inch tablet from today. Weighing less than a pound (425g) and
measuring up at just 0.4-inch (10mm) thick, the Wi-Fi enabled device
will come in three storage flavors, and is expected to be in stores in
the U.S. on April 19. Read More
Gateway has announced three new additions to its
NV notebook family, each taking advantage of the latest AMD platform.
The new models all feature a stylish satin black case, a 15.6-inch, 1366
x 768 resolution LED-backlit display, Radeon graphics and run on
Windows 7 Home Premium. There's also 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Gigabit LAN,
and a full-size keyboard with dedicated numeric keypad and multi-gesture
touchpad. Gateway has additionally included its popular social
networking button to give users quick, one-touch access and log-in to
sites like Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Read More
Set to hit Europe in May, Philips' gorgeous new
Fidelio SoundSphere docking system consists of two curved speakers with
an alien-pod vibe (especially with the eye-like tweeters on top) and a
docking cradle that caters for Apple devices but also includes an
auxiliary input to feed in audio from other players. The inclusion of
Apple's AirPlay technology also means that music can be wirelessly
streamed from an iTunes library over a home Wi-Fi network. Read More
Chicago's Willis Tower, formerly known as Sears Tower,
was the world's tallest building from 1974 to 1998 and remains the
tallest building in the U.S. to this day. Its 1451-foot (442 m) height
adds up to enough window area to keep a window washer busy for life, or
space for enough solar panels to be comparable to a 10 acre solar power
plant. As part of a pilot project, the south facing windows of the 56th
floor of the Willis Tower will be replaced with Pythagoras Solar's
transparent solar windows which cut down on heat gain – and therefore
cooling costs – as well as harnessing energy from the sun. Read More
The aircraft with one of the world's most
recognizable silhouettes turned 40 a couple of years ago. That's getting
long in the tooth even in an industry whose products use the grandpa's
axe principle like no other – as in, it's had six new heads and four new
handles, but grandpa still loves that axe. But is Boeing's 747 looking
towards the pasture? Not on Boeing's life. The company just this week
announced the successful maiden flight of the 747-8 Intercontinental,
the passenger version of a plane that takes the grandpa's axe principle
to new extremes. Over more than three decades, the 747 evolved from the
original 100 series through 200, 300 and 400 series, integrating
technological upgrades and spawning new variants along the way. NASA
even uses one, the SR, to piggyback space shuttles into the air. Read More
Motion controlled videogaming, ushered in by Nintendo’s Wii and joined by the PlayStation Move and Kinect,
has opened up a whole new market of casual gamers – not least of all
because of the ease with which previous non-gamers can get into the
action without the need to learn complicated button layouts on a
traditional controller. Educational toy company Comfy figured that such
ease of use is ideal for its target audience of kids aged four to eight
and has released a motion controlled education game console called iCam
that has been dubbed “the baby Wii.” Read More
First shown as a concept at the Geneva Motor Show
2010, Porsche's highly innovative and deliciously proportioned Hybrid 918 Spyder
is now available for order. Powered by a 500 hp V8 assisted by two
electric motors, no more than 918 units of the new two-seater supercar
will be made with production slated to begin in September 2013. The
asking price: US$845,000. Read More
Chances are that if you're calling 9-1-1 (or
9-9-9, or whatever it is where you are), you're not likely to tell the
operator that your case isn't all that urgent, and that it can wait. The
problem is, sometimes emergency dispatch centers are so overloaded with
callers – all of them stating that they need assistance right now
– that some sort of system is required in order to determine who should
get help first. Dutch researchers claim to have developed just such a
system, which analyzes callers' voices to determine how stressed-out
they are. Read More
Of all the criticisms of electric vehicles,
probably the most commonly-heard is that their batteries take too long
to recharge – after all, limited range wouldn’t be such a big deal if
the cars could be juiced up while out and about, in just a few minutes.
Well, while no one is promising anything, new batteries developed at the
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign do indeed look like they might
be a step very much in the right direction. They are said to offer all
the advantages of capacitors and batteries, in one unit. Read More
The United States imports approximately one
million barrels of oil per day from Canada, which is about twice the
amount that it gets from Saudi Arabia. A large percentage of that oil
comes from tar sand deposits, in which bitumen (a tar-like form of crude
oil) is found combined with sand. The tar sands – also known as oil
sands – are hugely controversial, as many people state that the process
used for extracting the oil from the sand is too
ecologically-unfriendly. A new technique being pioneered at Penn State
University, however, could drastically reduce the environmental impact
of that process. Read More
Samsung has unveiled not one, but two new tablet
additions to its Android mobile product line at Florida's CTIA Wireless
2011. The company has managed to slim down the width profile on both
devices to an iPad 2-beating
8.6mm (0.33-inch), claiming the crown for the world's thinnest tablets
in the process. The 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab devices both get a
couple of cameras, benefit from dual-core processing and come in three
storage choices. Read More
Earlier this month we featured some novel building blocks
that help teach robotics to kids, and grew from a project at Carnegie
Mellon University. Now it's MIT's turn, with the Sifteo Cubes – 1.5-inch
gaming blocks sporting full color screens that respond to motion, and
interact with the player and each other as they are moved around. Games
and apps can be bought online and wirelessly transferred onto the cubes
via an internet-connected computer or laptop. The current title catalog
includes adult games, puzzles for kids, and challenges and games that
people can play together. Read More
StemCAPtain - not a bike lock, but a bike CLOCK
By Ben Coxworth
March 23, 2011
Consider your bicycle's handlebar stem cap for a
moment. It's right there in front of you as you ride, yet it tells you
nothing. Colorado mountain bikers Graeson Lewis and Mike Hogan obviously
thought that just wasn't good enough, and decided to put the humble
stem cap to work. The result is their product, the StemCAPtain, which
replaces a conventional cap with one that incorporates a waterproof
analog clock, thermometer or compass. Read More
The latest hand-made amp to come out of the
Gabriel Sound Garage is big on tone, but is quite the little baby. The 7
watt Gabriel Stinger continues the eye-catching bumblebee design of
other family members and has been designed to recreate the vintage tones
that helped shape rock 'n' roll using a combination of a single channel
volume dial, one tone control, a master volume knob and some tube
switching technology. Users can choose to dial in a sixties "Brit" sound
or opt for home turf with the "Yank" option, or try a combination of
both. The new amp will also let you up the volume but turn down the
power output thanks to the inclusion of a variable voltage regulator.
Read More
The recent 3D home entertainment revolution – and I use the term loosely – may be centered on big screen TVs
but 3D is also increasingly finding its way into mobile devices.
Nintendo will be first out of the gates this week when its
much-anticipated 3DS is released, while the world's first 3D smartphone, the LG Optimus 3D, is rumored to be getting a June release. Now HTC is getting in on the 3D action with Sprint announcing the upcoming release of the 4G-capable HTC EVO 3D smartphone, which will be appearing alongside the equally 4G-capable HTC EVO View 4G tablet. Read More
It’s nice to see that mass-market daily drivers
aren’t the only vehicles going electric. Improvements in battery and
materials technologies have opened the door for high performance
electric vehicles like the Tesla Roadster, Li-ion Motor’s Inizio, Mercedes Benz’s all electric SLS AMG E-Cell Gullwing and Audi’s e-tron series,
just to name a few. Joining the expanding all-electric sportscar
showroom is the Artega SE (Sports Electric) from Germany-based automaker
Artega, which can go from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.3 seconds on
its way to a top speed of over 250 km/h (155 mph). Read More
While iPads
and other tablet computers are highly-portable, the fact is that they
require some kind of protective case if you plan on taking them out into
the real world. The iPad 2
comes with an optional Smart Cover to protect its screen, but it's
still handy to have something with a shoulder strap in order to to keep
your hands free and minimize the chances of the computer being dropped.
Waterfield Design's iPad Travel Express both protects iPads and provides
an easy way of carrying them, plus it has room for some extra bits and
pieces. Read More
Wireless charging solutions
for mobile devices have been trickling onto the market in the last
couple of years and now industry heavyweight LG has announced that it's
joining the sans-cable party with its own Wireless Charging Pad. Read More
When designing a vehicle’s interior, it’s
essential to know what different colors, instrument layouts and lighting
options will look like at different times of day. Certain shades of
black, for instance, can look almost gray in bright sunlight, while
instruments that are clearly visible at night may be subject to glare
during the day. Since 2006, engineers at the Ford Motor Company
have been using something called the Visual Performance Evaluation Lab
(VPEL) to determine what the insides of their vehicles will look like at
any time of day, under varying amounts of cloud cover. Read More
Jabra says that its new FREEWAY in-car
speakerphone is the first to offer virtual surround sound through a
three speaker configuration that provides quality audio when making and
taking calls or listening to music. The unit sports dual microphones
with noise cancellation technology, can be paired with more than one
mobile phone and will even switch itself on when you get in the car.
Users can control much of the device's functionality by voice commands
and the claimed battery life is pretty impressive, too. Read More
Researchers from the University of Minnesota have announced a breakthrough in the quest to create a viable fuel alternative using greenhouse gases.
The process uses two types of bacteria to create hydrocarbons from
sunlight and carbon dioxide. Those hydrocarbons can in turn be made into
fuel, which the scientists are calling "renewable petroleum." Read More
Eurotech launches Zypad WL1500 wearable computer
By Paul Ridden
March 24, 2011
Around the time I was hoping to swap my Olivetti
typewriter for one of those new-fangled Apple Macintosh things, Seiko
also created the UC-2000 wrist computer. The images of the device docked
onto a QWERTY keyboard strapped to someone's arm still raise a smile
even now. That was decades ago, and the industry has moved forward at an
incredible pace, but Eurotech's new Zypad WL1500 definitely has the
look of the Seiko. Happily, the technology in the new Zypad is much more
up-to-date. Eurotech says that it's faster and lighter than other
members of its wearable range, and also benefits from a longer battery
life and numerous communication options. Read More
While those of us living in First World countries
may take an easily-accessible source of continuously-flowing
electricity for granted, such is not the case in developing nations.
Many communities have little or no electrical infrastructure, and
experience frequent power outages. While people wishing to read a book
in the evening could perhaps use a simple lighting device like the Solar Pebble,
the matter becomes quite a bit more serious should the lights go out at
a hospital, in the middle of an operation. Many hospitals have turned
to using kerosene lanterns, but Australian industrial designer Michael
O'Brien has created what he believes is a better alternative – a
low-cost battery-powered LED surgical lamp. Read More
Nanocomposite material gets stronger when stressed
By Ben Coxworth
March 24, 2011
If someone does a lot of arm curls at the gym,
the typical result is that the bones and muscles in their arms will get
stronger. Recently, researchers at Houston’s Rice University
inadvertently created a nanocomposite that behaves in the same way.
Although the material doesn’t respond to static stress, repeated
mechanical stress will cause it to become stiffer. Read More
The U.S. Air Force’s goal of acquiring 50 percent
of its domestic aviation fuel via alternative fuel blends derived from
domestic sources by 2016 got a boost on Friday March 18, when an F-22
Raptor was successfully flown at speeds of up to Mach 1.5 on a 50/50
fuel blend of conventional petroleum-based JP-8 (Jet Propellant 8) and biofuel
derived from an inedible plant called camelina. The flight capped off a
series of ground and flight tests carried out earlier in the week for
the Raptor using the biofuel blend to evaluate its suitability in the
F-22 weapons system. Read More
Portable Bluetooth speakerphones that provide a hands-free way for drivers to stay in touch while on the road are nothing new. Nor are voice-controlled Bluetooth speakerphones
with text-to-speech capabilities to read out the name of a caller. But
the new SuperTooth HD adds a something new for social networking tragics
on the go in the form of a SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant feature that
allows drivers to compose and send Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and SMS
messages, all without taking their hands off the wheel. Read More
In a survey conducted by CBS News in 2005, it was
found that 48 percent of Americans believed in ghosts. Other surveys
have put the number at anywhere from around 20 to over 50 percent. While
such figures certainly don't imply that ghosts are real, they do
suggest that belief in them is relatively common. When someone does
suspect that a ghost is present in their home or business, they will
sometimes call in "experts" to ascertain if that is, in fact, the case
... and what sort of gear do these ghost hunters use to detect said
spirits? Gizmag's (very intrepid) Ben Coxworth decided to find out. Read More
Men are from Mars
and women are from Venus. That's one theory ... another is that all
life on Earth descended from organisms that originated on the Red Planet
before hitching an interplanetary journey aboard meteorites to Earth.
In an effort to provide a definitive answer, researchers at MIT and Harvard
are developing an instrument to compare the genetic makeup of Martian
microbes with that of terrestrial life. If they find correlations
between the two it could prove that we are all descended from Martians,
which would make us invaders from Mars. Read More
Luna combines MP3 player and pico-projector
March 23, 2011
Would you like a pico-projector with that? We've seen them in camcorders, still cameras and mobile phones,
now Sceptre is attempting to give a new lease of life to the dedicated
MP3 player with the Luna projector/MP3 player combo. Read More
Building a robot, it’s probably safe to assume,
is a daunting project. It would doubtless be considerably easier if
designers didn’t have to build everything from scratch, but could
instead use pre-built modules. That’s where the iMobot comes into play.
Designed by University of California, Davis alumnus Graham Ryland and
professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering Harry Cheng, the
modular iMobot is a small robot in its own right, but could also be used
as part of a larger robotic system. Read More
A collection of revered mathematical works will
soon be put to auction in New York, including significant pieces of the
Liber Abaci or Book of Calculation by Fibonacci. Esteemed as one of the
most brilliant mathematicians in Western history, Leonardo Pisano
Bigollo (Fibonacci) was one of the first to explain Arabic numerals, the
superiority of these numerals and the importance of zero. Above all it
was Fibonacci's work that has helped modern day mathematicians find
breakthroughs in mathematical equations, whilst also defining sequences
used for computer programming and the financial markets. Read More
Given that legendary Italian bicycle-maker
Colnago has collaborated with Ferrari on limited-edition bikes in the
past, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that another bicycle
company might also see the technological (and marketing) value of
hooking up with a maker of racing and luxury automobiles. This time
around, it’s America’s Specialized, that has joined forces with the UK’s
McLaren Applied Technologies.
Together, the two have created what is being promoted as “the fastest
complete performance bike in the world” – the S-Works + McLaren Venge.
Read More
Toshiba’s 14-inch USB-powered Mobile Monitor released
By Paul Ridden
March 25, 2011
Walk into any graphic or game design studio,
trading center or media authoring/editing business and you'll more than
likely see some sort of multi-display workstation setup. I too have
found that expanding display real estate over more than one screen can
be very useful, but when thinking about such things for my notebook, I'm
kind of limited to integrated screen-and-a-half or full dual-screen
options. Happily, Toshiba's Digital Products Division is now offering
another solution – a 14-inch Mobile Monitor that gets its power and
video feed from one USB cable. Read More
Notebooks and tablets already offer pretty
convenient computing on-the-go solutions, but Germany's Orkin Design
proposes rolling up both devices into one ultra-portable package. The
Rolltop concept will take advantage of advances in flexible OLED and
touchscreen technologies to create a cylinder-shaped laptop computer
that can be rolled out to form a notebook, a tablet, or display monitor.
The concept has been floating around for a while, but has recently
received a few tweaks to the design. Although specifics are in short
supply, read on for what we do know ... Read More
Festo has added to its robotic menagerie
with the creation of a robotic seagull that weighs just 450 g (15.87
oz) and boasts a wingspan of 1.96 m (6.4 ft). Dubbed the SmartBird, the
ultralight flying robot was inspired by the herring gull and can take
off, fly and land autonomously, without the help of any additional drive
systems. Read More
Home-built solar electric scooter fits in a suitcase
By Ben Coxworth
March 25, 2011
Three years ago, Terry Hope was working as an
engineer on a Canadian schooner. He wanted to take along an electric
scooter, but was told by the captain that he couldn't bring aboard
anything that couldn't fit in a suitcase. His response, naturally, was
to set about designing an electric scooter that could fit
inside a suitcase. Flash forward to 2011, and his home-built
solar-electric Kinetic Photovoltaic Vehicle (KPV) is on the road. Read More
While the sound quality of over-the-ear
headphones is generally much better than a set of earbuds, the
convenience of using earbuds while on the go can't be denied. Many
earbuds are fairly similar feature-wise, so the deciding factors for
most people will usually be sound quality and price. But if you're the
sort that likes to share with friends of questionable personal hygiene, a
feature of iSkin's new earTones earbuds might also enter into the
equation – they're the first to boast Microban antimicrobial protection.
Read More
With much of the traffic clogging city roads made
up of vehicles that carry a single occupant to work, sit idle for the
day (usually attracting inflated parking fees) and then return home,
driving in urban areas is a headache that just keeps getting worse.
While public transport is the answer for many, some still require the
flexibility of a car. Recognizing this, BMW
is positioning itself as not just an automobile manufacturer but rather
a "mobility provider," and has partnered with car rental company Sixt
for a car sharing venture called DriveNow that will offer premium BMW
models that can be picked up and dropped off wherever the user needs
them. Read More
The first Orion crew module has begun testing at
Lockheed Martin's Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC) in Denver,
Colorado. This 41,000 square foot research facility will test the
ability of NASA's next-gen multipurpose exploration spacecraft to safely
fly astronauts through the severe environments of deep space. Orion
will be phased in as the sun sets on the Space Shuttle Program with the first orbital flight test planned for 2013 and first crewed mission by 2016. Read More
A new interdisciplinary breakthrough could see
cancer being diagnosed through a quick finger-prick test. After five
years of research, the team of biologists, clinical oncologists,
pathologists and information scientists from ETH Zurich, University
Hospital Zurich and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen have determined a
biomarker for prostate cancer – a particular pattern of proteins in the
blood that indicate the presence of cancerous disease. Read More
There are now hundreds of dedicated music apps
available for the iPhone and iPad, but these digital devices are not
musical instruments in the traditional sense. Over a year ago, designer
Massimo Battaglia set about bringing the electric guitar and the
multi-touch interface even closer. His Hyper Touch Guitar concept is the
result. It features a capacitive touchscreen neck with 24 fret
positions, and either a small touchscreen pick zone or a version where
the multi-touch interface continues down into the body from the neck.
The guitar will also feature wireless technology that will communicate
with equipment such as amplifiers and computer systems, and allow the
player full freedom of movement. Read More
It’s certainly an established fact that
electricity can cause fires, but today a group of Harvard scientists
presented their research on the use of electricity for fighting
fires. In a presentation at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition
of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Ludovico Cademartiri told of how
they used a unique device to shoot beams of electricity at an open flame
over one foot tall. Almost immediately, he said, the flame was
extinguished. On a larger scale, such a system would minimize the amount
of water that needed to be sprayed into burning buildings, both saving
water and limiting water damage to those buildings. Read More
It’s humbling, and in fact almost a little scary,
when you realize just how far the video quality of mobile phones and
pocket camcorders has progressed over the past few years. While features
such as their resolution are truly something to behold, they do however
have one distinct disadvantage when compared to their larger, heavier
predecessors – they shake like crazy. It’s a shortcoming that’s
addressed by the Steadicam Smoothee. Read More
As its name suggests, the new MT55 HD Multitouch
Table from Ideum features a 55-inch high definition LCD display which
can support multiple simultaneous touch points. Standing at 31 inches
tall, the powder coated, aluminum and steel pedestal table has a
powerful quad-core processor and NVIDIA graphics running the show,
supported by dual hard drives and DDR3 memory. A useful feature for the
museum and tradeshow settings that the table is likely to find itself
in, is the ability to lock the power switch out of harm's way and keep
the ports hidden from view. Read More
With the World Cup always held in the European
off-season in June and July, the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar
offers the prospect of players and spectators sweating through the
hottest part of the year. Doha sees an average top temperature of 41
degrees Celsius (106°F) in these months with the possibility of top
temperatures as high as 50°C (122°F). While shifting the World Cup to
the cooler month of January has been mooted and since rejected, a team
of engineering scientists from Qatar University (QU) have taken a more
high-tech approach to solving the problem – they've reportedly developed
a type of artificial "cloud" designed to float above the World Cup
venues and provide fans and players with relief from the blazing sun.
Read More
Researchers at the Institute for Molecular
Medicine Finland (FIMM) have collaborated with Finnish company
Multitouch Ltd to create a giant touch and gesture controlled
microscope. The Multitouch microscope uses a combination of web based
microscopy and a 46-inch multitouch display to create what researcher Dr
Johan Lundin calls "an iPad on steroids." A useful tool for interactive
teaching and learning, the microscope allows users to zoom in or out
with a two handed stretch or pinch gesture – all the way down to 1000x
magnification. Read More
Although it might seem counter-intuitive, making
it more difficult for older people to walk will actually improve their
mobility. Walking on unpredictable and uneven surfaces can improve
balance and help reduce risk of falling. Working on this principle,
researchers at Glasgow's University of Strathclyde in collaboration with
Israeli medical products company Step of Mind Ltd. (SoM) have developed
an innovative training shoe based on this principle called Re-Step that
incorporates four motors on the bottom of each shoe to make it more
difficult for the wearer to walk, therefore helping in rehabilitation
from movement disorders such as those that result from stroke or brain
trauma. Read More
iPad accessories are once again a hot topic following the release of the iPad 2.
Apps and covers are usually the highest priority accessories, but the
iPad's lack of ports means if you want to connect it to anything other
than the included dock connector then you'll need an add-on solution.
The 5-in-1 Connection Kit for iPad ups the connectivity capabilities of
the iPad by providing the convenience of – you guessed it – five ports
in a single dongle. Read More
Melanoma is the deadliest of skin cancers. In
2010 U.S. doctors diagnosed nearly 115,000 new cases of melanoma, with
nearly 8,700 resulting in death. Scientists at Duke University have
developed a new laser-based tool designed to identify malignant
melanomas sooner, without the expense of false diagnosis and unnecessary
surgery. Read More
0 comments:
Post a Comment