The International Space Station
is a little homier now thanks to its new aquarium. This addition isn't
just intended to brighten up the lunch room - it’s a serious piece of
experimental hardware built by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and
delivered the the ISS on Friday, July 27, 2012 by the unmanned Japanese
cargo ship, Kounotori3 (HTV3). The special aqueous habitat will be used
to study the effects of the space environment on marine life. Read More
Being able to communicate without fear of prying
eyes and ears intercepting could literally mean the difference between
life and death for journalists uncovering corruption in high places,
campaigners and activists trying to make the world a better place, or undercover agents engaged in covert operations. The creative force behind well-known email encryption software
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) had just such folks in mind when developing
his latest digital security product. Phil Zimmermann has created a new
suite of high-end encrypted communication products that combine with a
custom-made secure network to ensure that the sender and recipient(s)
are the only people able to access email, voice, video and text comms
routed through the Silent Circle system. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
Retaining the ability to communicate effectively
can be one of the key challenges facing those who suffer a severe
restriction in mobility. Conditions such as Amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) can reduce a persons capacity for voluntary movement to
the eyes only, though even this is not always possible. When eye
movement is possible however, it offers an opportunity for communication and expression, as previously highlighted by the Eyewriter project. New research
conducted at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris may offer a
further breakthrough in this area by enabling writing in cursive using
only eye movements. Read More
Inspired by the Google's Project Glass, computer programmer
Will Powell has built a prototype real-time translation system that
listens to speech, translates it into one of 37 languages, and then
displays the resulting text as subtitles directly onto the user's
glasses. Read More
When we think about a heart operation, it’s only
natural to be concerned about the risks faced by the patient. What is
overlooked is that the surgeon often faces risks in the operating
theater as well. All the modern surgical paraphernalia may make cardiac
medicine tremendously more advanced than it was a generation ago, but
some of that equipment uses radiation
that can be very dangerous to be around ... and surgeons are around it a
lot. To help alleviate this, Corindus Vascular Robotics of Natick,
Massachusetts, developed the CorPath 200 System. It’s a robot-assisted
catheter system for unblocking arteries that allows cardiac surgeons to
operate from a protective lead-lined cockpit while carrying out cardiac
stent and balloon procedures. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
If you’ve ever yearned to take part in a space
program but haven’t been given the chance, then perhaps you should take a
look at the Remote Rover Experiment (RRE) Kickstarter campaign. Created
by a team named Part-Time Scientists (PTS), the project aims to involve the general public in testing technology
which will eventually be sent to the moon. Available pledge points
include the option to remote-pilot an Asimov R3A moon rover in an
Earth-based location modeled after the Apollo 17 landing site, and the
purchase of an Asimov R0 moon rover self-assembly kit. Read More
We like to think of space as the one place where
all tech is high and all gadgets are bleeding edge. That may be the case
most of the time, but Japan’s Fukuoka Institute of Technology is taking
one small step backward for man by sending a satellite into orbit that
uses Morse code and bursts of light to send messages back to base.
FITSAT-1, which will be launched from the International Space Station
in September 2012, will use LEDs to flash Morse code messages like an
outer space Aldis lamp that may be bright enough to see by the public
with the naked eye. Read More
Part of the new line of ExoFusion fast-and-light
tents, the Mojo UFO is truly not of this world. The two-person
backpacking tent weighs less than 2 lbs. (0.9 kg), pitches in minutes
and costs as much as a vacation for two. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
In a little over a decade WiFi has flourished to
become something that we take for granted every time we go to a coffee
shop. The only problem is that in situations where WiFi would be most
useful, such as on the battlefield or in a disaster areas, it’s least
likely to be available. That’s the problem being tackled by a team of
seven undergraduate students at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.
As part of their senior project for the Northeastern’s Capstone design
program, the team designed and built a robot that can enter rugged
territory and create a theoretically infinite WiFi networks as it goes.
Read More
One of the neat things about the iPad is that not
only can it shoot high-definition video, but it can also be used to
edit and then upload that footage. The tablet computer doesn’t exactly
lend itself to use as a video camera, though, which is why Makayama has
come out with the Movie Mount. Read More
It's safe to say that almost anyone who has played a video game
has felt the pull of Tetris at some point. There's just something about
the simple, yet addictive puzzle game that draws people in for hours
and has even prompted MIT students to recreate it with a whole building. Now, inspired by the classic
game, the Tetris Light lets you create your own pixelated lamp out of
colored blocks that light up when stacked on top of each other. Read More
With sushi now practically a staple
at food courts around the world, it’s not hard to find this Japanese
form of fast food when out and about. But if you’re looking to do it
yourself at home and don’t trust your rolling skills or are a novice
with a bamboo rolling mat then the Sushi Bazooka could be a welcome
addition to your kitchen arsenal. Read More
One year after the creation of a ten-legged robot that could walk on water,
a team led by Prof. Qinmin Pan has come up with a new and updated
concept that, also inspired by the water strider, can accomplish the
much more difficult task of jumping across the water surface without
sinking. Read More
In the days before CD, MP3 or iTunes, when Sony's Walkman was just about the only mobile music player
worth having, hip young music lovers engaged in the painstakingly
intricate process of recording a 45-minute-per-side compilation of
favorite tunes onto an audio cassette tape.
A kind of forefather to today's MP3 playlist, the mix tape was about
creating a unique musical identity, an expression of personality that
could be shared with those near and dear. Technology marches
relentlessly on and tapes are now all-but extinct, replaced by digital
files on smartphones and media players. The essence of the compact
cassette mix tape has now been given a modern update by the folks from
the MakerBot Industries Applications team in Brooklyn, New York, with
the launch of the 3D-printed Mixtape do-it-yourself music player kit.
Read More
It's safe to say that almost anyone who has played a video game
has felt the pull of Tetris at some point. There's just something about
the simple, yet addictive puzzle game that draws people in for hours
and has even prompted MIT students to recreate it with a whole building. Now, inspired by the classic
game, the Tetris Light lets you create your own pixelated lamp out of
colored blocks that light up when stacked on top of each other. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
When former military police officer
Seth Froom became the victim of an armed robbery it prompted him to
create one of the most interesting iPhone cases to hit the market to
date. This case, known as the Yellow Jacket, not only offers protection
for your phone, it also has the potential to protect your personal
safety and well-being thanks to the 650K volt stun gun it has built in.
Read More
On July 24, 2012, NASA successfully launched a
pair of newly developed spectrometers aboard a sounding rocket from the White Sands
Missile Range, New Mexico to an altitude of 323.8 km (201.2 mi). This
may not seem to have much to do with extending the life of a satellite
floating between the Sun and Earth about 1.5 million kilometers (932,000
mi) away, but it does. That’s because the tests purpose was both to
test new instruments for a potential future replacement of the SOHO
solar observatory satellite and to recalibrate SOHO’s existing
instruments. Read More
With sushi now practically a staple
at food courts around the world, it’s not hard to find this Japanese
form of fast food when out and about. But if you’re looking to do it
yourself at home and don’t trust your rolling skills or are a novice
with a bamboo rolling mat then the Sushi Bazooka could be a welcome
addition to your kitchen arsenal. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
The HUD, or "Heads Up Display"
is now a common feature in military and commercial aircraft, projecting
critical data such as airspeed, altitude and navigation information
onto a transparent screen in front of the pilot while allowing him/her
to maintain an outside vigil. Very handy when landing or maneuvering
close to the ground. Not surprisingly, this technology
has now filtered down to the recreational flying arena with Italian
outfit PAT Avionics showing its G-HULP system at the Experimental
Aviation Association’s annual gathering at Oshkosh in the USA. Read More
Around the world, honey bees have been vanishing
at an alarming rate. Since bees not only provide honey, but are also
vital for pollinating crops, this is not only distressing, it also puts
agriculture at risk. The reasons for this decline are still unknown, but
a Florida-based company claims to have found a solution in the form of a
concentrated organic feed supplement. BeesVita is purported to not only
protect bee colonies in danger of collapsing, but actually causes them
to grow and thrive. Read More
We've all been there. Your monkey is throwing a
fit, jumping on the furniture, screeching like a furry banshee and
hurling unmentionable things all over the place. At times like this,
wouldn't it be great if you could just shine a light and control the
monkey’s brain? Sorry, that isn’t possible (yet), but researchers have
succeeded in stimulating a monkey’s brain with a remarkable level of
precision using impulses of light aimed at specific kinds of neural
cells. It may not be much help to desperate monkey owners, but it does
provide hope of new treatments for sufferers of many neurological
disorders. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
BMW Motorrad has been busying itself perfecting
an electric scooter design for some time now and, following the early
prototype E Scooter we first reported on last year, and the more fully formed Concept e
model which popped up a few months later, the company has now unveiled a
new “near-production” electric scooter named the BMW C evolution which
boasts a reported 100 kilometers (62 miles) range from one full charge
and some impressive styling to match. Read More
One year after the creation of a ten-legged robot that could walk on water,
a team led by Prof. Qinmin Pan has come up with a new and updated
concept that, also inspired by the water strider, can accomplish the
much more difficult task of jumping across the water surface without
sinking. Read More 
As someone who shoots web videos with a pocket camcorder,
I can attest to how to infuriatingly difficult it is to keep the little
things from shaking like a leaf when hand-holding them. Fortunately,
various products aimed at minimizing that problem are now appearing in
the market – the iPhone 4/4S-dedicated Stabil-i Case is one of the
latest, and cheapest. Read More
People being monitored for heart conditions
currently have to go into a hospital or clinic on a regular basis, to
have an electrocardiogram performed on them. That may be about to
change, however, as researchers from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de
Catalunya have developed a bathroom scale that performs the procedure right in the user’s home. Read More 
The Piggyback Rider Backpack is the latest way to
carry your child on your back. The newest models add more storage
capabilities to the Piggyback Rider system, which lets your child
essentially stand on your back. Read More
Adopting renewable energy sources
such as solar and wind power is a great way to reduce emissions and
produce energy locally. In places like remote Pacific islands, however,
those benefits are potentially a key to independence. For that reason
Tokelau, a 10 sq. km. (3.86 sq. mi) island nation that lies around 500
km (311 mi) north of Samoa and which is a territory of New Zealand, is
about to ditch diesel as a source of electricity and switch to solar
power. Read More
It would definitely be an understatement to say
that underwater research has its technical challenges. Remote-operated
vehicles (ROVs) must be tethered to surface support vessels with
unwieldy communications cables, deep-sea water samples have to be hauled
to the surface for analysis ... or do they? Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution recently announced that it has partnered with two private
companies, to market a couple of technologies that address both of those
situations. Read More
Do you have sharp programming skills, a passport and a love of adventure? If so, be aware that an ambitious new startup
named ComeHackWithUs is currently seeking a dozen candidates to travel
to a tropical island retreat and spend two months coding. You'll bring
the ideas and the company will be tasked with providing the environment
to help develop those ideas into a finished project. Read More 
Hold fire on those Christmas lists. Japanese
artist Kogoro Kurata has unveiled a 13.1 ft (4 meter) tall, 9900 lb
(4500 kg) prototype mecha robot called Kuratas, which comes complete
with "weapon systems" and is apparently cable of being driven by an
onboard human pilot. Read More
Microsoft has announced a set of new
peripherals for its upcoming tablet-friendly Windows 8 OS. The Wedge
Mobile Keyboard features a minimalist design, slim form factor and
full-sized keyset, while the Wedge Touch Mouse is the smallest and
lightest pointer that the company has ever produced. Read More 
We've been hearing quite a few rumors about what the anticipated iPhone 5
will look like, which is no surprise. But if a set of photos from
Japanese repair shop iLab making its way around the web is to be
believed, someone has gone a step further and attempted to assemble what
the new iPhone could look like based on the leaked parts we've heard
about so far. Read More 
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have been a
major hazard for Coalition and NATO forces in Afghanistan for over the
past decade. The toll that they’ve taken in lives and equipment has been
terrible, but the U.S. Army hopes to alleviate some of this with new
vehicle and body blast sensors shipping to Afghanistan in August 2012.
These sensors, built jointly with Georgia Tech Research Institute and
the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force are part of wireless information
network designed to aid doctors and engineers by collecting blast and
pressure data from the vehicles and soldiers themselves. Read More
A combined effort between researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University
Robotics Institute, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Google
provides users with easy access to 13 years of NASA Landsat imagery of
the Earth’s surface. The new capability within Google Earth Engine lets
users zoom in and out on any spot on the globe, moving back and forth in time between 1999 and 2011. Read More
The Spotify app for mobile devices is free, but to get any usability from it beyond the trial period it requires the paying of a monthly subscription
fee. While those using the desktop app can make do with adverts and
playback limitations, there is no other option for mobile users besides
paying the aforementioned fee. However, one feature of the Spotify app
has been made available to U.S. users completely free, with the radio
function now available to both iOS and Android users. Read More 
The McLaren MP4-12C
is one of the more interesting supercars on the road, and it conveys a
certain sense of wealth and connoisseurship about its driver. Of course,
the MP4-12C's prestige pales in comparison to any massive,
multi-million-dollar yacht ... unless, of course, it happens to be on
board such a vessel. The Ultraluxum CXL 160 is a huge, high-tech sailing yacht with a show garage designed specifically for the MP4-12C. Read More
The wonderfully named Black Sparrow Industries has cooked up an electric vehicle
with a difference: a tricycle that's ridden standing up. Robert Worobey
designed the Tribey to appeal to surfers and snowboarders among others,
and the designer claims that the vehicle is built to withstand serious
abuse, including traversing 3-inch deep potholes. With the addition of a
bolt-on kit, The Tribey can also be ridden from a recumbent position,
making the Tribey a curious hybrid of recumbent trike and a motorized skateboard. Read More
From an early age, parents and dentists alike will continually stress the importance of effective dental hygiene into the consciousness of a child but for me, the message didn't really hit home
until I met Pogues front-man Shane MacGowan backstage at Leeds
University in the mid-1980s. I've been a dedicated twice daily brusher
ever since and have noted all manner of decay-fighting ingredients
finding their way into my choice of toothpastes, including extracts from
cocoa, the neem tree, aloe vera and eucalyptus. New research from the
UK suggests using microbes to fight microbes, or more precisely an
enzyme from bacteria found on the surface of seaweed. Lab tests have
shown that the enzyme is effective in fighting plaque and the
researchers believe that the discovery could lead to more effective oral
hygiene products. Read More
We've been following Honda’s Stride Management Assist since its first unveiling in 2008, to the introduction of its sturdier cousin into the workplace and then its U.S. tour
in 2009. Now the ASMIO spin off is scheduled to undergo field tests by
Japan's National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (NCGG). The NCGG
will test 40 units of the device on people with limited walking ability
at the Elder Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Center at Resora
Obu Shopping Terrace in Obu, Japan. Read More
A hobby is what you do with the rest of your
time. It tends to feed a deep-seated need of which you may not even be
aware - to be your best self. Some people golf, some swim, some quilt,
some travel, some climb mountains ... there's no end to the list. Then
there's Szymon Klimek, who makes some of the most incredible miniature
electromechanical sculptures imaginable. Read More
Lockheed Martin has hinted at plans
for a new UAV carrier combat aircraft, known as the UCLASS Sea Ghost.
This makes the American defense contractor the fourth contender for the
U.S. Navy’s unmanned carrier combat aircraft contract, joining
Northrop’s X-47B, Boeing’s Phantom Ray and General Atomic’s Sea Avenger. Read More 
Following the completion of airworthiness flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 15, the second Northrop Grumman-built X-47B
Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator was transported
cross-country to Naval Air Station Patuxent (Pax) River in Maryland
where it has just conducted the first flight at its new home. Read More 
Before competing, professional cyclists jump on a
trainer and ride to warm-up, but muscles can lose this heat if there's a
time delay between the warm-up and the start of the race. In an effort
to plug this gap and gain the tiny advantage that's so critical in
top-level sport, adidas has created ADIPOWER muscle warming garments - a
pair of track pants with a battery-powered heater, helps keep muscles
at the right temperature. Read More
A team led by NASA's Maxim Markevitch is investigating the possibility of building bigger X-ray telescope mirrors – up to thirty times as large as today's – using a plastic tape
coated with a reflective material and then, just like a roll of Scotch
tape, tightly rolled on itself. By studying cosmic rays and distant
galaxy clusters, such large and significantly cheaper mirrors would
allow us to learn more about the birth and evolution of the universe.
Read More
When Google unveiled its Nexus Q streaming media player
at this year’s Google I/O conference, it claims the device’s spherical
form factor was met with positive reviews but that many felt the
functionality of the device was lacking. Based on this feedback, Google
has decided to postpone the Nexus Q’s launch indefinitely while it works
to add to the device's functionality. But it’s not all bad news for the
early adopters who pre-ordered the device, as they’ll be getting one of
the original models for free. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
If you suspect that songs
today tend to sound the same, it turns out you're right. A group of
Spanish scientists looked at a huge database of songs and analyzed their
trends, publishing their results in the scientific journal Nature. What they found was proof positive
that, over the last few decades, songs have progressively gotten
louder, decreased their pitch transitions, and generally become more
homogeneous. Read More 
Daniel Benamy suffers from repetitive strain injury
(RSI). His condition was brought on by using a traditional mouse over
an extended period of time. After trying a slew of mice, he could not
find one that relieved his pain, and thus, the idea for the Up Mouse was
born. Instead of pushing down on the buttons, the Up Mouse has users
lift their fingers to press the buttons. Read More
We have commented before at Gizmag at how the
luxury watch business can seem to the uninitiated to be an
ever-spiraling vortex of pointlessness. Take the latest creation from
TAG Heuer. A mechanical watch/chronograph that can time events to
1/2000th of a second. But why? Human reaction time makes it useless and
crystal/electronic timers
can provide even greater accuracy. For the “haute horologist” the
achievement is its own reward, but there are practical spin-offs;
TAG-Heuer has essentially re-invented the mechanism that’s been at the
very core of mechanical watches for over 300 years. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted the US flag on the Moon. The image of
Aldrin standing with the flag is one of the indelible images of that
great day. But over the years, one question has vexed space buffs – what
happened to the flag? In his book Return to Earth, Aldrin says
that when the Lunar Module’s Ascent stage lifted off from Tranquility
Base, he saw the flag topple over. Since no one could confirm what
happened, it remained a mystery ... at least, until now. On July 27,
NASA announced that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) had
solved the puzzle of the fate of the Apollo lunar flags. Read More
If a woman wishes to avoid pregnancy for the time being, but thinks she might want to get
pregnant at some point in the future, then using an intrauterine device
(IUD) is often a good course of action – the simple devices are now the
world’s most common form of birth control, as used by women. However,
while IUDs are generally fairly safe and reliable, complications can
occur. Now, Israel’s OCON Medical has announced the forthcoming
availability of something that it claims is considerably safer and more
effective – the Intra Uterine Ball, or IUB. Read More
University of Tennessee researchers have
developed a super fast laser procedure that could serve as a
non-invasive treatment of cancer, particularly when the disease is
located in the brain. The new technology was developed at the
University’s Center for Laser Applications, and it works by seeking and
destroying cancerous tumors. Read More
Ads by Media PlayerAd Options
A legendary Space Age rocket engine that sent
mankind to the Moon in 1969 may be brought back to power humanity’s
return to that celestial body. Under a NASA request, Dynetics Inc of
Huntsville, Alabama has submitted a proposal apparently studying the
feasibility of reviving the F-1 rocket engine technology. Previously
used to power the first stage of the Saturn V rocket that launched the
Apollo missions to the Moon, it could now find use in NASA’s planned
Space Launch System (SLS) due to enter service in 2017. Read More
Take a look at all the Portal toys that
are currently available, and you’ll realize just how much gamers like to
own physical models of the digital characters that they know so well.
When it comes to characters that are really physically “weird,” though,
there can be a problem – goofy anatomy that works in a
computer-generated world may not work in the real world. In other words,
a physical model of a monster from a video game may be too top-heavy to
stand up on its own, its arms may positioned in such a way that they
can’t bend properly, or it may otherwise just be plain ol’ gimped.
However, new software has been designed to solve those problems – it
takes any three-dimensional computer character, and then uses a 3D
printer to create a fully-assembled articulated figure based on it. Read More
0 comments:
Post a Comment