It may not have been the first e-Reader on the market sporting E ink's electronic paper display - Sony's LIBRIé
claimed those bragging rights when it debuted in Japan in April 2004 -
but since its launch in November 2007, Amazon's Kindle has risen to
dominate the e-Reader market. In that time, it has also gone through a
number of updates, including the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX, Kindle 3 and most recently, the Kindle Touch and the first Kindle without an E Ink display, the Kindle Fire.
The latest updates to the line-up also saw the Kindle enter its fourth
generation, and with the Touch and Fire having the lion's share of
attention, we decided to turn the spotlight on the 4th-gen Kindle with a
review. Read More
Sony creates holodeck using Playstation Move and Eyetoy
December 4, 2011
When Sony wanted to highlight the immersiveness
of movies available on the Playstation Store, they turned to UK-based
agencies Studio Output and Marshmallow Laser Feast to create a series of
shorts around the theme "great films fill rooms." Using the Playstation Move,
the production team shot a handful of scenes depicting an ordinary man
going from his couch to flying above skyscrapers as a robot and fighting
sea monsters. The best part: not a single aspect of these videos was
added in the editing room. Read More
3Dconnexion updates professional mouse lineup with SpaceMouse Pro
By Pawel Piejko
December 4, 2011
There are basically two groups of users that
require the most advanced, ergonomic and multitask-capable input
peripherals - hardcore gamers and professionals working with
sophisticated software. 3Dconnexion has updated its lineup of 3D mice
aimed at the latter group of users with the SpaceMouse Pro. The new
arrival is equipped with six-degrees-of-freedom sensor for manipulating
3D objects, 15 programmable keys and an on-screen display. Read More
The Megaphone horns in on iPhone amplification duties
By Emily Price
December 4, 2011
Have you been looking for a speaker system for your iPhone? How about a giant megaphone instead? Not unlike the Horn Stand Amplifier
on steroids, the appropriately named "Megaphone," is a giant horn that
will amplify the sound from your iPhone in a way that's bound to turn at
least a few heads. Essentially just a giant megaphone, the horn's
design amplifies the sound from your phone rather than a speaker system,
with the actual volume control being taken care of on your handset
rather than on the horn. Read More
Computed tomography used to recreate a Stradivarius violin
By Jan Belezina
December 4, 2011
Almost three centuries after Antonio Stradivari's
death he remains the greatest luthier of all times, with roughly 650
out of 1000 violins of his making still testifying to his exquisite
craftsmanship. As many of the surviving instruments adorn museums and
private collections, playing a Stradivarius violin is a privilege
reserved for few and envied by many. But this may soon change thanks to a
radiologist and two violin makers who decided to harness computed
tomography (CT) imaging and special manufacturing techniques to create a
reproduction of a 1704 Stradivarius violin. Read More
What if you could feel what's on your television
screen? Tech company Senseg is working on a way for you to someday be
able to do just that, and recently demonstrated a prototype tablet that
is already able to make that magic happen. Read More
Digital face-swapping heading for low-budget film-making
By Ben Coxworth
December 2, 2011
If you've seen the film The Social Network,
then you might have wondered about the identical Winklevoss twins -
were a real-life pair of twins cast for the roles, or was it a bit of
Hollywood magic? Well, it was magic. Although two different actors'
bodies were used, their faces both belonged to actor Armie Hammer. After
the movie was shot, the body double's face was digitally replaced with
Armie's. While such computer-enabled face-swapping trickery has so far
been available only to feature film-makers with deep pockets, that could
be about to change, thanks to research being conducted at Harvard
University. Read More
Wouldn't it be cool if, along with your flying car and your robot butler,
you had a tap in your kitchen that dispensed hot beverages? You'd just
shuffle into the kitchen in the morning, and grab a cappuccino in the
same way that you'd usually get a glass of water from the tap in the
sink - that said, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to put your mouth
right up to the coffee tap. Anyhow, such a thing does indeed now exist,
and it's called the Top Brewer. Read More
Ant-repelling cobweb chemical could lead to new pesticides
By Bryan Clark
December 5, 2011
Ants. What a pest. Once you get them in your
house it can be a real mission to get rid of them. But it seems the
Golden orb web spider has developed a way to keep its home clear of the
little buggers. The secret uncovered by researchers from the National
University of Singapore (NUS) and the University of Melbourne relates to
a chemical compound the spider adds to its web that appears to repel
ants. So not only are spider webs providing inspiration for better adhesives and stronger materials, they may also provide the basis for new, environmentally friendly, ant-repelling pesticides. Read More
Amongst the modern furniture and “design-art” on
display at this year’s Design Miami/ international design show visitors
were also treated to the Bjarke Ingels Group’s (BIG) vision for the
future of urban mobility. Dubbed “Urban Future,” the international
architectural firm’s installation, created with the cooperation of Audi,
provided a glimpse of how its concept for the city street of the future
that networks with vehicles and pedestrians might actually work. Read More
With Bethesda's latest game - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- still garnering a lot of buzz and racking up "Game of the Year"
nominations less than a month after release, one might expect the video
game developer to happily rest on its laurels for a moment. Luckily for
the modding community, Bethesda is instead releasing its brand new
Creation Engine for free to have the public do with as they wish. While
it's not uncommon for a video game developer to give out its development
tools, it is a little less common for those tools to be packed with a
platform for distributing, rating, and even installing mods with a
smartphone. Read More
Ministar travel guitars - it's all in the neck
By Paul Ridden
December 5, 2011
Guitarists who travel a lot and want to take an
instrument along for the ride - but don't want to risk damaging that
prized vintage Strat - might find themselves turning in the direction of
a scaled down stand-in. Such solutions come in many different shapes
and sizes - from full size instruments with parts that collapse (like
Daniel Mapp's Jetson travel guitar concept) to models with a shortened neck and small bodies (such as Martin's Backpacker) to strange-looking beasts with tuners positioned in a hollowed out section of the body (like the Traveler's Speedster).
Bob Wiley's Ministar guitars, though, are essentially a bunch of necks
with pickups. While there is a model with a shortened 19-inch scale
neck, most of the odd-looking electric, acoustic and bass guitars sport
full length necks and, says Wiley, play and sound just like the big
brand models, but at a fraction of the price - and a fraction of the
size. Read More
New wave of ocean energy to be trialed off the coast of Australia
By Ben Coxworth
December 5, 2011
Anyone who has ever been scuba diving in a bull kelp forest will tell you - the stuff does not
stand still. The marine aquatic plant consists of a long
skinny-but-tough stem (or stipe) that is anchored to the sea floor and
topped with a hollow float, from which a number of "leaves" (or blades)
extend to the surface. The result is a seaweed that extends vertically
up through the water column, continuously swaying back and forth with
the surging waves. The researchers at Australia's BioPower Systems
evidently looked at that kelp, and thought, "what if we could use that
swaying action to generate power?" The result was their envisioned
bioWAVE system, which could soon become a reality, thanks to a
just-announced AUD$5 million (US$5.1 million) grant from the Victorian
Minister for Energy and Resources. Read More
While most of the newest tech products are
marketed at youngsters or people of working age, there's an increasing
number of gadgets aimed at senior users as well. A case in point is the
recently introduced Memo Touch tablet, which is based on a 10-inch Archos 101
tablet and comes with custom software that provides memory-challenged
aging users with virtual assistance to help them deal with everyday
activities and it allows caregivers to update content remotely. Read More
At the end of October, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) launched its Shredder Challenge
contest. The objective: create a system for reconstructing shredded
papers, then demonstrate it by piecing together five documents, the
shredded remains of which were posted on the contest’s website. Although
the contest had a December 4th deadline, the “All Your Shreds Are
Belong to U.S.” team correctly reassembled all five documents with two
days to spare. Read More
SteadePod provides a pocketable alternative to the monopod
By Ben Coxworth
December 5, 2011
When most of us want to steady a camera for a
long exposure or telephoto shot, we look for something that will accept
the camera’s weight, such as a tripod or a handy flat horizontal
surface. The pocket-sized SteadePod, however, uses what could almost be
considered the opposite approach – it requires the user to pull up on the camera, the upward tension serving to stabilize their shot. Read More
Mobile phones may have the opportunity to get
even thinner. Sharp has recently taken the wraps off its new
12-megapixel smartphone camera sensor, which it claims is the thinnest
camera sensor on the market. Measuring in at a mere 5.6 millimeters
thick, the sensor has built-in image stabilization and is capable of
capturing 1080p high-definition video. The optical image stabilization
in the lens makes it ideal for situations where pictures are often
blurry due to camera shake, such as low-light situations. Read More
In yet another example of internet mass media
hysteria (reporters not checking facts and racing to get the story out
quickly in the unholy pursuit of the holy dollar), a pile-up of 14 cars
in Japan on Sunday morning has been universally labelled as the the
world's most expensive automobile accident. Among the wreckage were
eight Ferraris (including two F430s, two F355s, two 360 Modenas and an
F512), a Lamborghini Diablo, a Nissan GT-R and a Mercedes CL600, and
while there will certainly be a few very expensive repair bills, the
crash doesn't even come close to being the world's most costly. Read More
Camping can be fun but to be honest, tents are a
pain. The romance of carrying your accommodations with you and the
excitement of arriving at a new destination can both be swiftly tempered
by reality. Erecting your tent using bent aluminum poles, bits of
string, damp plastic sheeting and too few pegs becomes old very quickly.
Add in pitch darkness and/or rain and the temptation to head for the
nearest dodgy hotel can become irresistible. It doesn't have to be that
way. Eight years ago two Stefan's from Germany had an idea for a better
tent - and now it's here. Time to erect - 1 minute. Read More
A new dawn is breaking in the evolution of
outdoor apparel technology. Many materials that dominate today's outdoor
clothes - wool and down, for instance - have been plucked straight from
nature for hundreds of years. While textile manufacturers and clothing
companies have tried to improve upon natural designs, they've generally
failed to come up with anything that unequivocally surpasses Mother
Nature. Just beyond the action videos and gear shops though, an improved
generation of materials with the potential to displace stale staples is
slowly moving from test labs to retail shelves. If these materials can
brave the real world and live up to the hype, outdoor apparel - and
outdoor sports - will look very different in the future. Read More
When soldiers want to gather intelligence in
enemy territory, they often have to travel into that territory
themselves, depositing acoustic, magnetic, chemical/biological or
signals intelligence sensors by hand. Not only does this place the
soldiers in harm's way, but the logistics of such missions can also end
up being quite costly. That's why the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Vehicle Research Section created the CICADA unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The tiny sensor-equipped glider was successfully tested at Arizona's Yuma Proving Grounds on September 1st. Read More
When I was younger and cared a lot more about
being “cool,” I would sometimes wear T-shirts with the names of my
favorite rock bands on them. While this was partly just to show off my
supposed musical enlightenment to the world, it was also in hopes that
some like-minded person (preferably female and attractive) would see it
and strike up a friendship with me. Well, magnetU is sort of like a
high-tech band T-shirt. The wearable radio frequency device wirelessly
transmits your personality profile to the world as you roam the streets,
ever on the lookout for another magnetU transmitting a compatible
profile from a nearby person. Should that occur, both devices will alert
their owners that a potential social match is in the vicinity. Read More
DARTZ plans to build an electric bulletproof roadster
By Paul Ridden
December 6, 2011
Estonian armored vehicle maker Dartz has
partnered with the Gray Design studio for the second time to give its
recently-launched fuel-driven Mojo two-seater roadster an electric
make-over. The lightly armored open-top electric low-rider will use the
same Russian monocoque armoring system used for bigger vehicles like the
Combat T-98.
Designed for the streets of the Cote d'Azur, the Jo-Mojo will feature a
novel sliding cover that will not only lock the car between trips but
will also have solar cells built in, to give the onboard batteries some
juice while baking in the Mediterranean sun. Read More
With its stunningly-exotic “car of the future”
looks, extremely high claimed fuel efficiency, and a projected price of
under US$30,000, the Aptera was a car that captured many peoples’
imaginations. Perhaps best of all, when the vehicle was initially
launched, the first consumer models were slated for delivery by the next
year – this appeared to be no pie-in-the-sky concept. After several
years of pushing that delivery date forward, however, Aptera Motors
announced last Friday that it was ceasing operations. Read More
A typewriter that paints? Artist Tyree Callahan
modified this 1937 Underwood Standard typewriter to do just that,
replacing each key with a different hue that can paint on paper. A
chromatic typewriter isn't by any means practical (the keys have to be
manually reloaded with paint) - but the concept is still pretty
interesting. So, how did he come up with the idea to create the
typewriter, and once he had that idea how did he turn it into a reality?
We had the opportunity to talk about the project with Tyree. Read More
Hong Kong-based electronics company ENMAC, which
describes itself as the "world leader in digital Islamic Products" has
announced the latest iterations in its range of digital color Qurans.
Among them are a range of mobile phones which come preinstalled with 29
translations and seven recorded recitations of the religious text. The
enterprise appears to be a relatively simple but potentially shrewd
combination of aging mobile technology with readily-available recordings
of the Quran. It's a notable development as an instance of electronics
hardware (rather than merely an app) being tailored to an enormous
religious market. Read More
Portugal's OODA architectural firm has conceptualized a Disaster Education Centre that also doubles as an emergency shelter
in the event of a real-life disaster. The center has been designed for
the city of Istanbul and would be fully equipped with adequate
technology and facilities to respond to a natural emergency. The center
focuses on educating the public about disasters, with a special focus on
earthquakes and floods. The design of the building reflects this theme,
resembling an emergency cross symbol that has fallen onto its side, as
if affected by an earthquake. Read More
“Corruption” is defined by Transparency
International (TI) as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”
Each year TI publishes a “Corruption Perceptions Index” which scores the
world's nations out of ten for their public sector honesty and the
just-released 2011 report paints a bleak picture. Only six countries
scored 9.0 or better, and just 49 of the 186 countries assessed in the
report scored better than 5.0. Analysis shows more than 80% of human
beings on Planet Earth exist under regimes which score 4.0 or less.
December 9 is World Anti-Corruption Day.
Corruption hurts everyone - the following article shows what's wrong
and where, and what you can do to help make the world a fairer place.
Read More
Injuries involving torn or degraded joint
cartilage can be very debilitating, especially since that cartilage is
incapable of healing itself, past a certain point. It's not surprising,
therefore, that numerous scientists have been working on ways of either
growing replacement cartilage outside of the body, or helping the body
to regrow it internally. Just a few of the efforts have included things
like stem cell-seeded bandages, bioactive gel, tissue scaffolds, and nanoscale stem cell-carrying balls.
Now, researchers from Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University have
announced something else that shows promise - sheets of mesenchymal
(bone and cartilage-forming) stem cells, permeated with tiny beads
filled with the growth factor beta-1. Read More
CMU algorithm matches sketches, paintings to photographs
December 7, 2011
Alexei Efros and his team of cunning robotics
researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed an image
matching algorithm with which computers can identify similar images
regardless of medium. Like humans, the system can match sketches and
paintings with photographs of similar subjects, and so perform tasks
that have traditionally posed problems to machines, such as pairing a
simple sketch of a car with a photograph of the same. Read More
Acer has unveiled a new addition to its Iconia
tablet series in the oddly familiar shape of the Iconia Tab A200. The
budget-friendly A200 shares much of its hardware profile with the
company's Iconia Tab A500 launched earlier in the year, although the
former lacks a rear-facing camera and will come in 8GB and 16GB
varieties only. When it first hits the shelves, the new tablet will run
on Android 3.2 but Acer says that as soon as Google's next flavor of
Android (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich) is released in January 2012, the
new tablet will be switched to the new operating system - with a free
upgrade to Android 4.0 for existing A200 owners. Read More
Femtocell and picocell manufacturer ip.access
unveiled its fully functioning 'Advanced Femtocell Concept' (AFC) at the
no doubt riotous Femtocells Americas 2011 conference in San Diego on
Monday. A relatively new technology, femtocells essentially provide
mobile phone network access via a local broadband connection. It's a
technology that might interest homes and businesses in signal-blocking
buildings, remote areas, or anywhere where cellular signals are patchy.
But how is the AFC different? In a word: portability. Read More
HealthTap wants to make online health care more trustworthy
December 6, 2011
The sad fact is that most sources of health care
advice online are sorely lacking in reliability. People with potential
health problems are usually stuck wading through a wide array of
potential diagnoses for their symptoms which may or may not have been
fact-checked by an actual doctor. HealthTap says it can change this
perception with a service that verifies the credentials of physicians
and incentivizes doctors to participate by enhancing their reputations.
Read More
Back in February, Darren Quick wrote about the unique properties of Molybdenite
and how this material, previously used mostly as a lubricant, could
actually outshine silicon in the construction of transistors and other
electronic circuits. In brief: it's much more energy efficient than
silicon, and you can slice it into strips just three atoms thick -
meaning that you can make transistors as much as three times smaller
than before, and make them flexible to boot. Well, the technology has
now been proven with the successful testing of the world's first
molybdenite microchip in Switzerland. Does this mean Lausanne will
become known as "Molybdenite Valley?" Read More
The Swilden desk - a flourish of metal in which
the desk surface winds in on itself to become the chair - was originally
commissioned in 1966 for the foyer of the then new Peugeot head office
in Paris. Three desks were created and three receptionists were each
seated at their very own work of art. Since they were decommissioned,
the three extraordinary industrial chic desks have been so sought after
at auction, that French furniture designer Furdess has negotiated with
the original designer, Ben Swildens, to create a limited re-release of
eight desks. Only three are still to be sold, with an asking price of
EUR65,000 (US$87,000) a piece. Read More
A new service called Nextpeer has just become
available for any iOS developer wishing to add multiplayer features to
their single player game. Typically, when a mobile game developer wants
social or multiplayer elements in its games - leaderboards,
achievements, tournaments, etc. - it has to build them itself. Nextpeer
eliminates this hassle by offering a free SDK that can bring these
features and more into any game that uses it. Read More
World's largest submillimeter camera set to probe outer space
By Darren Quick
December 6, 2011
Although it might sound like an oxymoron, the
newly unveiled SCUBA-2 camera housed at the James Clerk Maxwell
Telescope (JCMT) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, is the world’s largest
submillimeter camera. Submillimeter refers not to the physical size of
the new camera itself, but to the submillimeter waveband between the
far-infrared and microwave wavebands that the telescope observes. Being
far more sensitive and powerful than its predecessor, SCUBA-2 will be
able to map areas of the sky faster than ever before and provide
information about the early life of stars, planets and galaxies. Read More
Roboden electrical cable stretches like human skin
By Pawel Piejko
December 6, 2011
Researchers from Japanese company Asahi Kasei
Fibers have developed what is claimed to be the world's first elastic
electric cable. Inspired by the extensibility of human skin, the Roboden
cable has been initially designed as a wiring solution for humanoid
robots and wearable electronics. The stretchy cable could also find its
way into personal electronics in the form of power cords or USB data
cables. Read More
Rinspeed is renowned for producing exotic concept vehicles for the Geneva Motor Show each year - the aquatic sQuba and shape-shifting iChange being two prime examples - and the 2012 show looks like it will be no exception. We've seen external battery packs
designed to increase the battery life of a smartphone, and now
Rinspeed's "Dock+Go" concept brings the same idea to electric vehicles
in the form of a vehicular backpack that docks to the rear of an
electric vehicle to extend not only their range, but also their
cargo-carrying capabilities. Read More
Adiva unveils all-electric CARGO3 tilting three-wheeler
By Darren Quick
December 7, 2011
If there is one thing that electric motorcycles
are ideal for, it is for ferrying deliveries around congested urban
centers quickly and efficiently. And that's just the market
Italian-based Adiva has in its sights with the CARGO3 scooter it
displayed at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show. Similar to the newly electrified Honda Canopy,
the CARGO3 is an all-electric tilting three-wheeler (one front, two
rear) that features a rear deck to accommodate an optional rear mounting
box, plus a roof, deflectors and wiper-equipped wide windscreen for
protection from the elements. Read More
Google Chrome has pulled into second place in the
browser war according to website analytics company StatCounter. Chrome
now has 25.69 percent of the market while Firefox has 25.23 percent.
Both browsers are trailing the Internet Explorer which still owns
40.63-percent of the market. Read More
Going to the dentist is hardly anyone's favorite
activity, but it can be hard for you to see everything that's going on
with your teeth in a mirror at home while you brush. The Tooth Guardian
concept is designed to help cut down on unwanted dentist visits by
integrating a camera into your toothbrush. The camera takes a look at
your chompers while you brush, and displays an image of what it sees on
your bathroom mirror – the idea is that you would see where you're
missing in your daily brush routine, or be able to catch things like
cavities early. Read More
smart for-us concept puts a mega-pickup spin on the fortwo
By Ben Coxworth
December 7, 2011
Much as some people loathe it, I’ve always kind
of liked the Subaru Baja. It has the quirky short-bed car/truck look of
the Hummer, but isn’t anywhere near as large and nasty as that vehicle.
Well, the designers at smart have taken the “little Hummer” idea to the
extreme, with the for-us concept. Premiering next month at the North
American International Auto Show, the two-seater electric car looks
pretty much like a smart fortwo ... with a little cargo bed in back.
Read More
In keyhole neurosurgery, a small “burr hole” is
drilled in the patient’s skull, and their brain is then accessed through
that hole. The procedure is much less invasive than many other types of
brain surgery, and can be used for things such as exploratory
endoscopy, biopsies, blood and fluid sampling, cryogenic and
electrolytic ablation (tissue removal), and deep brain stimulation. It
is used to treat conditions including tumors, hydrocephalus (fluid on
the brain), Parkinson's disease, Tourette syndrome, and epilepsy. For a
neurosurgeon, however, it can sometimes be extremely exacting work – a
slip of even a fraction of a millimeter can cause permanent brain
damage. That’s why the European Union’s ROBOCAST (ROBOt and sensors
integration for Computer Assisted Surgery and Therapy) Project is
developing a robotic system to help out. Read More
Brando's iLaunch Thunder is an iPhone-powered rocket launcher
By Emily Price
December 7, 2011
All those missile shooting games on your iPhone
not realistic enough for you? Brando's iLaunch Thunder is a missile
launcher that pairs with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch over
Bluetooth, and allows you to shoot missiles at unsuspecting victims up
to 25 feet away. Read More
Lenovo has announced a new laptop specifically
tailored for schools and students - the Lenovo ThinkPad X130e. Featuring
school-proof reinforced, yet lightweight design, the new 11.6-incher
from Lenovo comes with multimedia- and web content-capable hardware and
battery that should last throughout the entire school day, or even a bit
longer. Read More
The folks at Budapest's prestigious M55 e-bike
studio have been far from idle since we brought news of the launch of
the company's Terminus
e-bike a few months ago. All of the remaining limited production run
editions have now been released - including the Biceps model with the
strange-looking front suspension system that's claimed to enhance safety
and the "tailor-made" version, where buyers can combine favored aspects
of any of the other available designs. Two other models have now been
added to the catalog - one featuring customer-specified artwork and the
other covered in sparkly gems and gold or silver trim. Read More
World's largest all-bamboo factory goes online in Bali
December 7, 2011
We've seen cutting boards, bicycles,
floors, even houses made of bamboo, but an organic chocolate factory?
Evidently, when Ben Ripple and Frederick Schilling, the two co-CEOs of
specialty food company Big Tree Farms (BTF) talked about sustainably
building their new plant, they put their money where their mouths are.
Now, the Indonesian island of Bali is home to what BTF claims is the
largest all-bamboo commercial building ever constructed, and soon, it'll
be cranking out tasty chocolate bars by the thousands. Read More
0 comments:
Post a Comment