Reflectance paper displays photographs in a new light
By Brian Dodson
August 19, 2012
Recently the public has become aware of the potential of light fieldphotography through the introduction of the Lytro camera. Light field recording allows an enormous degree of post-processing, letting you create just the image you want to print and display. A print, however, expresses only one aspect, no matter how carefully chosen, of the recorded light field. Can light field information be somehow encoded into a print, so an object can be examined from this side and that, or with different lighting conditions? A team of researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, and 3M have made the first steps toward a positive answer by developing reflectance paper. Read More
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has fired its laser for the first time. Its target wasn’t attacking Martians, but a 7 cm (2.75 inch) wide rock called “Coronation” (AKA N165) about 10 feet (3 m) from the rover. Curiosity’s laser fired 30 pulses over a ten-second interval, hitting Coronation with one million watts for five-one billionths of a second. As tiny bits of Coronation vaporized into a glowing plasma, Curiosity's ChemCam analyzed the stone’s makeup by means of a telescope and three spectrometers. Read More
Educational toy maker LeapFrog has released the successor to its child-friendly LeapPad and LeapPad Explorer tablets: the LeapPad 2. While the overall design of the tablet looks very similar to its predecessors, the LeapPad 2 sports some internal hardware upgrades, an improved high-resolution front camera, and an all-new rear camera - each of which can also capture video. Read More
Microthruster ion drive gives tiny satellites a boost
By David Szondy
August 18, 2012
Small-scale satellites show a lot promise, but unless they have equally small-scale thrusters they’re pretty limited in what they can do. Unfortunately conventional thrusters are heavy and take up a lot of valuable space, but a penny-sized rocket engine developed at MIT holds the prospect of not only increasing the capabilities of miniature satellites, but of combating space junk as well. Read More
The near-ubiquitousness of camera-equipped smartphones has seen many ditch their dedicated cameras in favor of the convenience of snapping shots on their phone. But although the quality of the camera in the iPhone has improved over the various iterations of that device, there are still many things a dedicated camera is better at. But you don't have to lug around a fancy DSLR to up your photography game … here are 10 compact camerasthat offer something the iPhone can't. Read More
Using industry-standard manufacturing technology, researchers have integrated ultrathin and stretchable silicon-based electronics, sensors and actuators on an artificial skin that can be worn on the tip of your fingers. The result is an artificial finger cuff that could be used to produce the ultimate hi-tech surgeon's glove, capable of sensing the electrical properties of tissue, removing it locally, or even performing ultrasound imaging with a simple touch. Read More
China has set itself the goal of transforming half of its rural population of 700 million people into productive, comfortable members of urban conglomerations in the next three decades. Thus far, the process has moved along with a great deal of work for civil and mechanical engineers and the construction industry, but very little role for architects in the generically styled concrete and brick urban buildings. Award-winning architect at the University of Hong Kong John Lin and his associates believe that this process of urbanization also calls for a flexible approach to house design in rural areas. The result is a project that looks at the role of the stereotypic village house and attempts to propose a prototype which reaches toward contemporary living styles while respecting the functionality and traditions of the past. Read More
Diesel engines are a classic example of good news and bad news. The good news is that diesel engines are much more fuel efficient than petrol engines. The bad news is that they belch out some pretty nasty emissions like nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide. The good news is that catalytic converters can scrub those out. The bad news is that last Friday the platinum needed by the converters is selling for US$1,473.10 an ounce. Now the good news is that a team at Nanostellar in Redwood, California, has developed a mineral catalyst that outperforms platinum at a fraction of the cost. Read More
Robots have been used routinely in bomb disposal for over forty years. Unfortunately, the standard way that robots deal with bombs is to blow them up. This removes the threat, but it also destroys valuable evidence that could lead to catching the bomb makers. Sandia National Laboratories has developed a new robot hand that is not only delicate enough to disarm a bomb rather than detonating it, but is relatively inexpensive and can even mend itself. Read More
Jungle Venture Incorporated looks to kickstart Pitfall 3
August 17, 2012
Crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter continue to impact on product development and manufacturing work flows - contributing to what American economist Jeremy Rifkin termed a Third Industrial Revolution. At the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas this month, David Crane announced his ambitions to bring this revolution to the video game industry through a project called Jungle Adventure. The creator of best seller Pitfall! wants to use Kickstarter to redefine how video games are produced. Framed under the banner of Jungle Venture Inc., his team is asking for US$900,000 to design a game tipped to be the definitive David Crane jungle game. Read More
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have created a device called the Endurance Bioenergy Reactor (EBR) that can produce bioenergy on location, using waste from kitchens and latrines. The fuel can go directly into engines and generators without any need for refining, avoiding the complications of distribution and supply chains associated with fuel production. The researchers say the EBR can produce 25 to 50 gallons (94.6 to 189.2 liters) of biofuel a day from waste streams or processed cellulosic materials. Read More
Continuum Fashion launches $900 3D-printed shoes
August 20, 2012
US-based design studio Continuum Fashion has launched a range of eye-catching made-to-order 3D-printed ladies shoes it calls strvct (as in structure). The range of formal footwear encompasses pumps to stiletto heels and, thanks to the nature of computer aided manufacturing, "everything in between." Read More
Wide-angle autostereoscopic displays provide the opportunity for practical glasses-free 3D viewing, but the incompatibility of current 3D-media has hindered the further development and implementation of the technology. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications have been working to provide a solution to this issue, producing a technology capable of converting conventional 3D Blu-rays for use with the new display technology. Read More
South Korean designer Seungji Mun has created a sofa concept that is designed to keep your cat happy as you sit back and relax. Dubbed the Cat Tunnel Sofa, the concept tries to provide a fluid harmony between the daily activities of pets and their owners. “For humans, the cat tunnel sofa is just a comfortable sofa, but for the cats, it is their playground and a comfortable bed,” Seungji Mun told Gizmag. Read More
Internet movie-streaming service Netflix announced today that it has hit the million-subscriber milestone in the United Kingdom and Ireland within seven months of launching in the region, faster than any other region in which it has launched. Read More
LG has announced that its 5-inch, 4:3 aspect Optimus Vu smartphone/tablet will be released in worldwide this September. LG says that healthy sales figures for theOptimus Vu since its March debut in South Korea and recent launch in Japan through NTT DoCoMo demonstrate widespread acceptance of the not-quite-a-tablet-but-bigger-than-a-smartphone form factor. Read More
Data collected from telco companies and network operators shows that smartphone penetration has broken the 50 percent barrier in the United States, with these devices now outnumbering their feature phone brethren for the first time. According to a report compiled by market
consultancy Chaten Sharma, smartphones overtook feature phones during Q2 of this year - a push largely driven by Android and iOS-enabled devices. Read More
consultancy Chaten Sharma, smartphones overtook feature phones during Q2 of this year - a push largely driven by Android and iOS-enabled devices. Read More
Motion sensing technology is just about everywhere these days. It allows smartphone or tablet gamers to control onscreen action (or even pilot an RC airplane) by tilting or twisting the device, can help feed the digital musicmuse and gives personal transport innovations like the Lit C-1 the ability to stand upright all by themselves. Now it's the turn of the powered screwdriver to break into this exciting and magical realm with the launch of the Gyro 4V MAX Lithium-ion Rechargeable Screwdriver from Black & Decker. Read Morer
Sony launches new touch-enabled E-Ink PRS-T2 Reader
By Paul Ridden
August 20, 2012
Sony says that its new 6-inch touchscreen e-Reader benefits from more paper-like page turns, an E-Ink display that's been optimized for long-term, ad-free reading and a splattering of social features. The Sony Reader PRS-T2 also comes with 2GB of onboard storage (with about 1.3GB available for use after initial setup) and microSD media card expansion and includes the company's public library lending feature allows library card holders to wirelessly borrow free e-books from over 15,000 public libraries in the U.S. Read More
The open-source Arduino micro-controller is a very useful piece of kit which has been implemented by hackers to power countless endeavors fromMusical Umbrellas to Angry Birds Slingshot Controllers. For some projects however, the flexibility of the Arduino can be overkill and it's this issue which prompted Digispark to create a simpler, cheaper alternative - a tiny Arduino-compatible developmental circuit board that costs as little as US$12. Read More
If you’ve ever sat in a beach-side coffee house wondered if there was a white shark in the vicinity, then wonder no more because now there’s an app for that. A team of Stanford University researchers lead by Prof. Barbara Block is deploying a fleet of static buoys and Wave Glider robots to turn the waters off the coast of San Francisco into a huge Wi-Fi network to track tagged fish and animals. This will allow scientists to better understand sea life movements, but the project also includes offering a free app to the public that will allow them to track northern California white sharks on their tablets and smartphones. Read More
When burglars enter a home their first instinct is to look for the place where the valuables are kept. In most homes this is a safe or some other secure installation. With luck the safe will protect the valuables contained therein, but experienced burglars will know what to do to extricate either the safe itself or the precious items it's shielding from prying eyes. However, there could be another way of keeping your valuables safe - storing them in the last place a burglar is likely to look. This is where Clopen could come into its own. Read More
The U.K.’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) has unveiled its new multi-mission warship - the Type 26 Global Combat Ship (T26 GCS). Due to replace the thirteen Type 23 frigates in Britain’s Royal Navy when it enters service in after 2020, the T26 GCS has been in development by the MOD and BAE Systems since 2010 and is intended for use in combat and counter-piracy operations as well as supporting humanitarian and disaster relief work around the world. Read MoreThe snowboard for all seasons fly fishes in the summer
By C.C. Weiss
August 20, 2012
The melting of the last high-alpine ribbons of snow in late spring and early summer leaves a massive void in the hearts of skiers and snowboarders. They instinctively look to non-snow outdoor activities to fill that emptiness. Since snow melts into running water and some ski towns double as world class fly fishing destinations, fly fishing is a natural choice. And this Signal Snowboards prototype board with integrated fly rod could be the naturalweapon of choice. Read More
Retinal prostheses such as the Argus II, Bio-Retina and the Retina Implant AG microchip all work – more or less – by stimulating the retina’s ganglion cells with light-induced electrical signals. The images produced in the patient’s visual cortex tend to be quite rudimentary, however. This is partially because the rate at which the signals are sent isn’t the same as the rate of neural impulses normally produced by a retina. Now, researchers have deciphered the neural code used by mouse ganglion cells, and used it to create a prosthesis that reportedly restores normal vision to blind mice. They have additionally deciphered the neural code of monkeys, which is close to that used by humans, so a device for use by blind people could also be on the way. Read More
You may have heard about the huge floating islands of garbage swirling around in the middle of the Earth's oceans. Much of that waterlogged rubbish is made up of plastic and, like Electrolux with its concept vacuum cleaners, U.K.-based Studio Swine and Kieren Jones are looking to put that waste to good use. As part of an ambitious project, they’ve come up with a system to collect plastic debris and convert it into furniture. Read More
Get your Cob Cannon locked and loaded, because the sequel to cross-platform zombie defense oddity Plants vs. Zombies is due to launch in the first half of 2013, with "late Spring [Northern Hemisphere]" cited as the likely release window. While details on the game are still rather thin on the ground at present, Plants vs. Zombiescreator PopCap Games teased that the title will feature "Hordes of New Plant and Zombie Types and Mulch More" – all of which should suffice to whet the appetite of horticultural zombie slayers. Read More
Just about every major operation on the chest or abdomen requires surgeons to cut through the fascia, which is a layer of muscle located immediately beneath the skin. Closing these wounds can be very difficult – sewing up an incision in the fascial layer has been likened to trying to push a needle through shoe leather. If proper care isn’t taken, however, potentially lethal complications can result. Now, a team of undergraduate students from Johns Hopkins University have created a device that should make the procedure easier and safer. Read More
In the future, every nation on the globe may just have its own home-brewed supercar. We're getting closer every year, one country at a time. We've seen a 1,100-hp electric supercar from Croatia. Brazil and Poland have chimed in with their thoughts on supercar design. The Netherlands and Denmark have represented. Now, Slovenia has a little something to say. Read More
Device takes pipe bombs apart, and preserves the evidence
By Ben Coxworth
August 20, 2012
While improvised explosive devices are certainly not designed to be “safe,” pipe bombs are particularly notorious for being unstable. When police forces respond to calls regarding such bombs, they usually utilize a remote-control bomb disposal robot to disable or detonate them. Unfortunately, this process often results in a loss of forensic evidence, that could be used to track down the bomb-maker. That’s where the Department of Homeland Security’s new Semi Autonomous Pipe Bomb End-cap Remover (SAPBER) comes into play. It’s a device that dismantles pipe bombs, leaving all of their components intact. Read More
Thanks to Google, whenever we hear someone mention Ice Cream Sandwich we automatically think of recently released tablets or smartphones. Now there's another mobile computing format to consider with the launch of Ergo Electronics' GoNote, the UK's first touchscreen Android hybrid netbook. Pitched as the perfect modern homework companion and playtime buddy for students about to return to school, the budget-friendly device features a full-size chiclet keyboard and trackpad, and also brings touchscreen functionality to the form factor. If you'd rather opt for a cheap tablet, the company has also launched a new ICS tablet called the GoTab Epic V. Read More
Sony announces new Exmor RS sensors for smartphones and tablets
By Simon Crisp
August 21, 2012
Sony has revealed its new range of Exmor RS image sensors and camera modules which could be winging their way into your next smartphone or tablet. The CMOS sensors, which will also feature in devices from rival manufacturers, use a newly-developed "stacked structure" which means they are not only more compact, but also boast better image quality and advanced functionality. Read More
Feeling very confident after the perfect landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars on August 6th, NASA has announced its next mission to the Red Planet. In 2016, the US space agency will launch the unmanned InSight lander to Mars. Unlike Curiosity, InSight will be a static lander loaded with instruments designed to study the deep geology of Mars and answer such questions as whether the core of the planet is liquid or solid, and why Mars hasn’t any shifting tectonic plates like Earth. Read More
The $2 million Dark Knight-inspired home cinema
August 21, 2012
This extravagant Dark Knight-inspired home theater is the latest concept design by Elite Home Theater Seating. The Canadian company is better known for manufacturing luxury theater seating, but has also designed several themed home theaters including a traditional Batcave and a Pirates of the Caribbean ship. Read More
Stockholm-based architectural studio Jägnefält Milton has unveiled Black Lodge, a conceptual low-tech reclusive escape designed specifically for the luxury resort of Furillen on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Pyramid in form, the lower sections of each side open up to create what designer Konrad Milton described to Gizmag as "more of a campfire situation." Read MoreMcLaren one-off X1 concept surfaces at Pebble Beach
By Vincent Rice
August 21, 2012
The Pebble Beach Concours at Monterey is used to seeing the weird and wonderful creations of bespoke vehicle design and craftsmanship, but one of the most surprising entrants this year was from the McLaren Special Operations team. The vehicle, known as the X1 Concept, is an extraordinary mixture of McLaren MP12C road car and an entirely new bodyshell crafted in a style that wouldn't look out of place in a 1930s comic book. Before you imagine that McLaren has hit the crazy button, a little explanation is in order. Read More
Videos released by California-based tech research company Aerofexappear to show successful test flights of a prototype hover bike that gains lift from two large ducted rotors, similar in principle to Chris Malloy's Hoverbike prototype we've previously covered. Aeroflex claims its hover bike allows the pilot intuitive control over pitch, roll and yaw without need of artificial intelligence, flight software or electronics of any kind. Read More
As 3D printing technology matures and becomes more affordable, it is being implemented in the production of an increasing variety of projects, such asfirearms and burritos. Singapore-based 3D printing and design company Polychemy continues this trend with the release of a striking new series of cases suitable for iPhone, iPhone 4S and Blackberry. Read More
Although optical drives in consumer notebooks are becoming less common nowadays and we are storing more and more of our digital information on hard drives instead of optical discs, CD/DVD players are still a mainstay of desktop computers and business laptops and new systems often come bundled with discs containing all sorts of never-to-be-used software. With the help of its Laboratories Division, Fujitsu has developed a new recycling system to make new front panels for notebook computers from all the discarded CDs and DVDs collected, sorted and recycled by its five recycling centers across Japan. Read More
When we first covered the Martin Jetpack back in March, 2010, the creators were hoping to get it on the backs of buyers sometime in 2011. While 2011 has come and gone, the New Zealand-based Martin Aircraft Company is continuing test flights and is now seeking investors to help bring the manned Jetpack to market in mid 2013. Read More
Hot on the heels of Daimler announcing the largest ever field-test of its car-to-X vehicle communications system in Germany, a similar program being conducted by the U.S. Department of Transport (DoT) got underway this week in the Ann Arbor region of Michigan. Whereas the Daimler trial involves 120 network-linked vehicles, the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment Program will see some 3,000 vehicles hitting the road in the world's biggest ever real world test of connected-vehicle communication technology. Read More
Computing guzzles a great deal of electricity and striving for greater energy efficiency both saves money and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Although computers already come with energy-saving mechanisms, such as sleep mode and other power saving features set by users, there's always room for improvement. This is the idea behind Ecobeneficios’s Greencam. The Brazilian company has launched a PC app that automatically turns off the user’s monitor when he or she walks away from it. Read More
Scientists develop material that's harder than diamonds
By David Szondy
August 21, 2012
Diamonds may be forever, but they aren’t what they were. True, they shine just as brightly and they’re as hard as ever, but scientists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington are giving them some competition. An international team led by Carnegie’s Lin Wang have discovered a new substance that is not quite crystalline and not quite non-crystalline, yet is hard enough to dent diamonds. Read More
Most people probably know that plaque buildup in the arteries surrounding the heart is one of the major causes of heart disease. The reason that the plaque does accumulate, however, is often due to an inflammation of the artery walls. Recently, scientists from California’s La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology were able to identify the type of immune cells responsible for that inflammation. With this knowledge in hand, they now hope to be able to develop a vaccine for heart disease. Read More
A University of Arizona professor has invented a theoretically infinite pipe that promises to bring down the costs of laying pipelines while reducingenvironmental damage. Developed by Mo Ehsani, Professor Emeritus ofCivil Engineering at the University of Arizona, the new pipe, called InfinitiPipe, is of a lightweight plastic aerospace honeycomb under layers of resin-saturated carbon fiber fabric put together by a new fabricating process that allows pipes to be built in indefinite lengths on site. Read More
The best ideas are often, but not always, the simplest ones. So while there are many ways in which a cyclist can make themselves visible to motorists and pedestrians at night-time - these LED systems that light up your rims, for instance - perhaps all that is needed is a frame that glows in the dark. Bike manufacturer Pure Fix Cycles believes so and is introducing the GLOW series, of which The Kilo is the first. Read More
Video calling and chat services like Skype have revolutionized the way people communicate over distances. It's now possible to have face-to-face conversations with people that are halfway around the globe - something that was pure science fiction just a few decades ago. The next step appears to be enabling more natural face-to-face communications complete with movement and body language. While we wait for a practical holographic or3D telepod system system, Double Robotics, a start-up founded last year, offers a sort of robot surrogate based around the iPad. Read More
"Biorefinery" converts Starbucks waste into useful product
By Ben Coxworth
August 21, 2012
Every year, the individual stores that make up Starbucks Hong Kong produce almost 5,000 tonnes (4,536 tons) of used coffee grounds and unconsumed bakery items. As it stands now, all of that waste is incinerated, dumped in a landfill, or composted. In the future, however, it may be used to produce a key ingredient in laundry detergents, plastics, and many other items. A recent experiment showed that it can indeed be done. Read More
Submarine combat may seem like an obsolete relic from World War II films and Cold War thrillers, but the past 20 years have seen a growing number of increasingly quiet diesel-electric submarines turning up in some very unfriendly navies. In order to counter this threat, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a contract to the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) of McLean, Virginia to develop unmanned submarine hunters capable of operating for months on end without human intervention. Read More
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, collisions between bicycles and motor vehicles resulted in the deaths of 618 cyclists in 2010 ... and that’s just in the United States. Regardless of who was at fault in those accidents, one thing is certain – urban cyclists are safer when they’re better able to keep tabs on the vehicles around them. While helmet-mounted mirrors are a great help in that regard, many cyclists don’t use them. That’s why Canadian entrepreneurs Greg Maxwell and Richard Seck invented the Isoteko mirror. Read More
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