The Ambit watch is Suunto's latest GPS-enabled
watch, following up on the X10. The package is designed to provide
outdoor athletes with a suite of tools - GPS, sports computer, heart
rate monitor - to train and adventure successfully. The data gathered
can then be shared at Suunto's online training community, where there
are more tools and features. Read More
Lola Drayson B12/69EV electric racing car launched
By Paul Ridden
January 25, 2012
Drayson Racing Technologies and the Lola Cars
group have just revealed what is intended to be the fastest
electric-powered racing car in the world. The Lola-Drayson B12/69EV
features Drayson's brand new 4X2-640 electric drivetrain, inductive
charging, composite battery power, moveable aerodynamics and electrical
regenerative damping. Its four electric motors are said to deliver a
whopping 850 horsepower and a top speed of around 200 mph. Read More
UCLA researchers are reporting a milestone in the
therapeutic use of stem cells after two legally blind patients who
received transplants of specialized retinal cells derived from human
embryonic stem cells reported a modest improvement in their vision.
Monitoring of the patients’ progress over a four month period also found
no safety concerns, signs of rejection or abnormal cell growth. The
researchers are claiming that the success of the procedure could pave
the way for a new therapy to treat eye diseases. Read More
Facial recognition might be all the rage in
giving computer systems the ability to ascertain the identity of
individuals - what with most people having different facial features and
all. But a team from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany,
has taken a different approach to identify users of touch-based tabletop
computers like Microsoft's Surface.
Instead of focusing on the face, the team has looked in the opposite
direction to develop a system known as Bootstrapper which distinguishes
between users based on their footwear. Read More
Toyota unveils its hybrid 2012 Le Mans Challenger
By Jack Martin
January 24, 2012
Last October Toyota announced its participation in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship with a hybrid prototype race car.
Today Toyota revealed some of the details of the TS030 HYBRID with
surprises galore. The car uses a normally-aspirated 3400cc V8 petrol
engine and a supercapacitor energy storage system developed by
Nisshinbo. Remarkably, though the hybrid drive train has already been
dubbed THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System – Racing), the team is still
evaluating whether it will use a front motor system from Aisin or a rear
motor system from DENSO. Read More
Consumer-level 3D printing technology has moved
ahead in leaps and bounds in recent years with the release of devices
such as the Thing-o-Matic, the Replicator and Cubify
3D printers. Proponents of the technology envision a not-too-distant
future where users will be able to download designs and print everything
from car parts to ... well, a new and improved 3D printer. The folks at
The Pirate Bay are obviously on board with this idea. The
file-sharing site better known for allowing users to share multimedia,
games and software via BitTorrent has now added a new "Physibles"
category. The new category will contain digital files for objects that
can be physically created using a 3D printer. Read More
The 110th National Association of Music Merchants
(NAMM) Show wrapped up on Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center in
California. With upwards of 1400 exhibitors and a record breaking 95,709
registered attendees, the trade-only show delivered four days of the
most mind-boggling array of musical hardware (and software) that you're
likely to see anywhere. We've already reported on some of the outstanding innovations we encountered - and there's more to come - but in the meantime we hope this photo journal will give you a taste of the musical wonderland that is the NAMM show floor. Read More
Stunt pilot hopes to build a vertical-winged airplane
By Ben Coxworth
January 24, 2012
Matthew Tanner is a Colorado-based air show pilot
who also competes in aerobatics competitions and teaches Air Force
pilots how to fly. His current stunt aircraft of choice is a Laser Z300.
Much as he is able to do with the nimble little airplane, he wants to
be able to perform aerial maneuvers that no one has ever seen before. In
order to do so, he intends to equip the plane with a pair vertical
wings. Read More
New version of the Brutus electric motorcycle unveiled
By Paul Ridden
January 24, 2012
Chris Bell has just put the finishing touches to a
new version of his Brutus electric sport cruiser. Brutus 2.0 will
continue to be tweaked for improved performance ahead of an end of year
production window, but has already managed a zero to 60 mph (96.56 km/h)
test run in just 4.74 seconds - despite tipping the scales at 535
pounds (242kg) - and is claimed to have a top speed in excess of 100 mph
(160.93 km/h), and a range of at least 100 miles (160.93 km) between
charges. The new version has been treated to a new drive train, upgraded
braking, new bodywork, new electronics and new controls. Read More
Imagine the power of a US$500 outdoor GPS built
into a $5 app available on iOS and Android devices. In a nutshell,
that's ViewRanger. The advanced mapping GPS app has been around for years in Europe and just launched in the United States. Read More
Use your iPhone to change the effects on the iStomp pedal
By Paul Ridden
January 24, 2012
The never-ending quest for killer effects pedals
is an expensive and time-consuming passion that most electric guitar
players will have to endure for much of their playing careers (unless
you're lucky enough to hit on the perfect setup early on, of course).
Effects veteran DigiTech has developed a stompbox that could well put
that quest to bed. The iStomp effects pedal effectively starts life as a
blank canvas onto which the user paints a wall of sound in the shape of
a downloadable effect. Just like any other stompbox, the new pedal
allows for fine adjustment of tone with parameter knobs, but if you
fancy a brand new flavor of distortion or a completely different reverb
to the one which is resident on the pedal, you can just buy the effect
from DigiTech's online store and download it onto the iStomp via your
iOS device. Read More
New magnetic soap could be used to clean up oil spills
By Ben Coxworth
January 24, 2012
When oil gets spilled in a waterway, clean-up
crews will often introduce a solution known as a surfactant. This is a
detergent that lessens the surface tension between the water and the
overlaying oil slick, causing the oil to form into individual droplets
which then sink or get dispersed by wave action. Unfortunately, such
detergents aren’t entirely environmentally-friendly themselves, so the
use of them on oil spills has been criticized as simply replacing one
pollutant with another. Now, however, scientists from the University of
Bristol have created a magnetic soap, that could be removed from the
water once it had done its job. Read More
New smartphone accessory digitizes your LomoKino movies
January 24, 2012
Remember Lomography's LomoKino
we featured back in November? It's an uber-faux-retro film camera that
can shoot about a minute of 3-5 frames-per-second footage using any old
35 mm stills film. Well, Lomography have now released the LomoKino
SmartPhone Holder which, though you mightn't have guessed by the name,
is a means of digitizing your LomoKino movies using only your smartphone
(*cough* by which they mean iPhone *cough*). Cunningly, it's done
without need of an app. Read More
Italy and France have joined forces to create the
"Astonyshine" 100 percent solar home concept as part of the 2012 Solar
Decathlon Europe. The international competition is open to universities
from around the globe and promotes research into the development of
efficient housing. Astonyshine is a modern reinterpretation of the
classic Mediterranean villa, and is the result of the combined efforts
from Polytechnic of Bari (Italy), University of Ferrara (Italy), Ecole
Nationale Superieure d'Architecture Paris-Malaquais (France) and Ecole
des Ponts ParisTech (France). Read More
The family home made of salvaged car scraps
January 24, 2012
While the McGee house may look like any other new
designer home in the neighborhood, its walls tell a different story.
Designed by husband and wife team Karl Wanaselja and Cate Leger of Leger
Wanaselja Architecture, the upper outside walls of the house are made
from over 100 salvaged car roofs. In a pursuit to build a house that
utilized green technologies and reused materials, the couple sourced car
roofs from a selection of gray-colored cars that had been left for
parts in local junk yards in Berkeley, California. Their biggest
challenge was sourcing car scraps that were in relatively good
condition, without dents and with a good paint finish. The scraps were
then cut into long tile-like shapes and used to complete the upper
outside walls of the house, rendering a similar appearance to slate.
Read More
A new zero-emissions engine capable of competing
commercially with hydrogen fuel cells and battery electric systems
appeared on the radar yesterday when respected British engineering
consultancy Ricardo validated Dearman engine technology and its
commercial potential. The Dearman engine operates by injecting cryogenic
(liquid) air into ambient heat inside the engine to produce high
pressure gas that drives the engine - the exhaust emits cold air. It's
cheaper to build than battery electric or fuel cell technology, with
excellent energy density, fast refuelling and no range anxiety. It just
might be a third alternative. Read More
This record player reads tree rings instead of LPs
January 23, 2012
Artists often say they can find music in
everything, particularly nature. The question they often face is how to
get the general public to hear the same tune that they do. One German
artist, Bartholomäus Traubeck, seems to have hit on one straightforward
method to accomplish this with some clever technology. Using a digital
camera and some software, the artist has built a unique record player
that spins cross-sections of trees instead of vinyl and translates the
rings into piano music. Read More
Lock up your satellites and batten down your
power-lines because a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is headed our way.
According to the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction
Center (SWPC), it is the strongest Solar Radiation Storm since May,
2005. According to NASA, the CME is moving at almost 1,400 miles per
second (2,253 km/s) and will reach the Earth's magnetosphere as early as
9 a.m. US EST on Tuesday, January 24 - give or take seven hours. Read More
In February last year, Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries (MHI) and transport company Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK)
announced plans to investigate the effectiveness of a system intended to
reduce the frictional resistance between a vessel’s bottom and the
seawater using a layer of air bubbles. Now MHI has coupled the
Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS) with a high-efficiency ship
hull in the conceptual design for a container ship that the company
claims would offer a reduction in CO2 emissions of 35 percent compared
to conventional container carrier designs. Read More
Volkswagen has unveiled the latest addition to
its "New Small Family" series of ultra-compact city vehicles based on
the first Volkswagen up! concept car that debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Since then we've seen numerous up! concept cars such as the up! Lite, the E-up! and the Space up!,
and even before the production launch of the three-door up!, which hit
showrooms last December, Volkswagen had already hinted a five-door model
was in the works. Now the company has revealed that this new addition
will be available in Germany from May, and the rest of Europe by
mid-year. Read More
BMW M Performance is adding four new models to
its product range, all powered by a new triple-turbocharger, piezo
direct injection, three liter diesel motor that looks to be a contender
for the engine of the year already - 280 kW, 740 Nm, instantaneous
response, very economical, low emissions. The BMW M550d xDrive, BMW
M550d xDrive Touring, BMW X5 M50d and BMW X6 M50d models will be seen at
the Geneva Motor Show in March with availability just a few weeks
later. The numbers are remarkable, Read More
Researchers cloak free-standing 3D object using plasmonic metamaterials
By Darren Quick
January 25, 2012
We’ve previously seen – or should that be “not seen” – invisibility cloaks in the laboratory that are able to render two-dimensional objects invisible to microwaves. Such feats relies on the use of metamaterials
– man-made materials that exhibit optical properties not found in
nature and have the ability to guide light around an object. Now
researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) claim to have
brought invisibility cloaks that operate at visible light frequencies
one step closer by cloaking a three-dimensional object standing in free
space with the use of plasmonic metamaterials. Read More
Novatiq enters robotics market with SCORP throwable robot
By Darren Quick
January 25, 2012
After 15 months of development, privately-owned
Swiss company Novatiq is set to enter the robotics market with its first
offering, SCORP. Designed for scouting and surveillance applications,
SCORP is a Micro Unmanned Ground Vehicle (MUGV) that joins the growing
ranks of throwable robots. As such, it is small, rugged and lightweight
enough to be carried in a backpack and thrown into buildings or over
rough terrain. Read More
There's something to be said about streaming
content from your PC on the TV. The question is how do you get that
content from the PC - and now tablets and phones - to your TV. The
latest option from Philips is the Soundbar CSS5123, an Android-powered
surround sound speaker that lets you stream content from any
DLNA-enabled device. Read More
Debuted at the aural Aladdin's cave that was Winter NAMM 2012,
the Z-Stik is a wooden zigzag-shaped multi-use percussive instrument
that its creator says "combines the most intriguing elements of a rhythm
stick, a shaker, a fingertip drum, and a rain stick." The Z-Stik can be
tapped and patted in various ways to achieve nice, organic-sounding
percussive hits, and shaken to, well, sound like a shaker. "You can get
tones from deep bass drum all the way up to bongo drums and everything
in between clean or snare," says creator Greg Dahl. Read More
Sonomax's eers earphones are custom-molded to fit, by the user
By Ben Coxworth
January 25, 2012
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest things to happen
with in-ear earphones in recent years is customized fitting. Products
such as those made by Ultimate Ears,
for instance, are made to fit precisely into each user's unique ear
structure. The catch is that said users must first pay a visit to an
audiologist and get an ear imprint made, send that imprint away to the
company, and then wait to receive their custom-molded earbuds in the
mail. Canada's Sonomax Technologies, however, has come up with an
alternative - earphones that you can mold to your ears by yourself, at
home. Read More
An air purifier is typically set to clean a set
number of square feet in a house or building, say 100 square feet (9 sq
m). That means nearby rooms don't benefit, and you may even wonder about
the perimeter of the room in which you have the purifier, and whether
air particles in that area are being cleaned. The Rydis H800, a robot
air purifier from Moneual, addresses these concerns by roaming the house
in search of dirty air to clean and purify. Read More
Quick 3D motion-capture system developed for imaging muscles
By Ben Coxworth
January 25, 2012
Current medical imaging technology misses
important data regarding muscle contraction, including the ways in which
a muscle’s shape changes when it contracts, how the muscle bulges, and
how its internal fibers become more curved ... or at least, so Simon
Fraser University (SFU)’s associate professor James Wakeling tells us.
In order to remedy that situation, he has developed a new method of
imaging contracting muscles, that he claims should allow researchers to
observe never-before-seen details of muscle activation. Read More
Eight years ago, California musician Andy Graham
had a fateful meeting with a shipping crate. The container had a
tightly-wound steel strap wrapped around it, and was slightly dented at
the top, creating a small gap beneath the strap. By slapping that strap
against the crate, Graham discovered that he could make all sorts of
interesting noises. That experience motivated him to create the
SLAPEROO, a unique musical instrument that we spied last week at NAMM 2012. Read More
Play harmonica on your iPhone with the iMonica app
By Paul Ridden
January 25, 2012
There's no denying the popularity of music
creation apps for the iPhone. Just about every instrument you want to
play is available as a digital simulation - from guitars to pianos to drums, and even DJ decks
- but what about wind instruments? The iMonica app for iPhone from
DigitarWorld most definitely fits into this category and turns your
iPhone into a digital diatonic harmonica. So, do you blow and draw on
your smartphone? Kind of ... Read More
Mercedes-Benz restores oldest SL to mark 60th anniversary
By David Szondy
January 26, 2012
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the
Mercedes-Benz SL and to celebrate the occasion, Mercedes has completely
restored the oldest surviving example to its original condition.
Introduced to the press on 12 March 1952 on the autobahn between
Stuttgart and Heilbronn, the prototype 300 SL (Super Lightweight) was
powered by a 3-liter, six-cylinder in-line engine canted at 50 degrees
with an overhead camshaft, three Solex twin carburetors and dry sump
lubrication, which put out 170 bhp for a maximum speed of 143 mph (230
kph). Not bad for 1952. Read More
The DUBE takes an out-of-the-box approach to percussion
By Ben Coxworth
January 26, 2012
If you’re getting weary of trying to wrap your
head around things like smartphones that answer questions, self-driving
cars or microscopic machines, perhaps this might be more to your liking
... a wooden box. Well OK, the DUBE isn’t just a wooden box. It’s actually a percussive musical instrument, that caught our eyes and ears last week at NAMM. Read More
Whether it’s touch-sensitive skin for robots, clothing made from smart fabrics, or devices with bendable displays,
stretchable electronics will be playing a large role in a number of
emerging technologies. While the field is still very new, stretchable
electronic devices may have come a step closer to common use, thanks to
research being conducted at North Carolina State University. Scientists
there have recently developed a new method for creating elastic
conductors, using carbon nanotubes. Read More
Bike Valet offers a unique spin on bicycle storage
By Ben Coxworth
January 26, 2012
Wall-mounted bike-hanging hooks are certainly a
good way of keeping a bicycle off of the floor and out of the way, but
let’s be honest ... they’re also often used as a means of displaying a
particularly nice bike, almost as if it’s a work of art. That being the
case, some cyclists might find it a little counter-intuitive to use
plain old hardware store hooks for showing off their masterpiece of
motorless transportation. That’s where the Bike Valet comes in. Not only
does the bike-hanging device look pretty snazzy, but it also
incorporates some practical features. Read More
The rumor mill has been spinning about the
next-generation XBox for some time, but Tuesday and Wednesday of this
week saw first IGN, and then Kotaku, reveal what appears to be the first
non-gaseous (if not concrete-solid) information from inside sources as
to the machine's spec. It seems that the console (not officially called
the 720, but the placeholder is convenient) will, IGN reports, be
approximately six times as powerful as the current generation of
consoles. Kotaku says the device will play Blu-Ray discs, and herald the
arrival of Kinect 2. Worryingly, it also reports that there's a
possibility that the machine will prevent owners from playing pre-owned
games. Read More
Life as a secret agent means you need to have
access to the internet when you need it, as well as have the ability to
carry around important files in locations where your adversaries won't
think to look. These secret agent-worthy Wi-Fi cufflinks let you wear
your mobile hotspot on one wrist, and carry around 2GB of important
files on the other. The Wi-Fi cufflink essentially acts like a miniature
router. The end pops out, and when plugged into the USB port on your
web-connected computer creates a hotspot that can be used by other
devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Read More
As any graffiti-removal specialist will tell you,
sand-blasting is definitely an effective method of removing substances
that have bonded onto hard surfaces. Unfortunately, sand or other
abrasive particles suspended in air or liquid also have a way of eroding
not just spray paint, but pretty much anything they encounter. As a
result, items such as helicopter rotor blades, airplane propellers,
rocket motor nozzles and pipes regularly wear out and need to replaced.
Interestingly enough, however, scorpions live their entire lives
subjected to blowing sand, yet they never appear to ... well,
to erode. A group of scientists recently set out to discover their
secret, so it could be applied to man-made materials. Read More
Researchers are investigating a means of
virtually projecting images from handheld devices onto computer screens.
Beyond simply being a means of screen sharing across devices, the
research looks at traditional projection - physically shining a still or
moving image onto a flat service - as a metaphor for multi-device
interaction. In a video demo, researchers manipulate the "projected"
image on the larger screen using iPhone accelerometer controls and
gestures. Read More
HyperSolar claims it is developing a zero carbon
method of producing hydrogen gas from wastewater by harnessing solar
energy. Hydrogen gas is a clean source of fuel in that, theoretically at
least, the only waste product is water. But hydrogen gas does not occur
naturally on Earth, and requires energy to create. Typically that
energy comes from traditional, carbon dioxide-emitting sources,
rendering hydrogen fuel rather less environmentally friendly than it has
the potential to be. HyperSolar's work may mean truly clean, renewable
hydrogen fuel could be a commercial reality sooner than we might have
imagined. Read More
One of the highlights of the Tokyo Motor Show
last month was the world debut of the TEEWAVE AR.1 Electric sports car.
Commissioned by advanced materials manufacturer Toray and designed and
built by Gordon Murray Design, my original story
last October covered the design and Murray’s revolutionary iStream®
manufacturing system, but at the Tokyo Motor Show I was able to see the
AR.1 in fine detail (see in-depth (see extensive image library)).
Yesterday Murray and Toray announced a technological partnership in the
use of carbon fibre and other advanced materials in volume production,
the development of structural thermoplastics and advanced crash
structures. The two believe that in working together, they can deliver
significant benefits in the areas of light-weighting, efficiency, cost,
safety and sustainability. Read More
Whether it's an old-fashioned typewriter input for tablet computers, digital cameras made to look like 35mm film classics, or custom e-bikes
with a touch of vintage styling - retro-now is most definitely in. If
you want a guitar amplifier to fit right in with all your
nostalgia-oozing new tech, Fender's Pawn Shop Special models are here to
help. The diminutive Greta is styled liked an old tabletop radio, and
the more powerful Excelsior is described as one of the distinctive tube
combo amps in the company's history. Read More
It baffles me that some people enjoy shopping.
There’s not much that I like about it, but I particularly dislike
searching through the aisles, trying in vain to find the product that
I’m looking for. While I’m not adverse to asking a store employee for
assistance, it seems that in many big box retailers, employees are
either non-existent or are already busy with other customers. A new
system is in development, however, that would allow customers to find
the locations of products via the store’s overhead LED lighting. Read More
Gizmag's top 10 outdoor furniture items
January 27, 2012
Whilst most of the Northern Hemisphere is rugging
up from the cold weather and dreaming about summer and sun, here are
some outdoor ideas to add to your wish-list this year. Be it an
indulgent lounge chair or your ideal cocktail bar, these designs will
revive your backyard in time for summer. Read More
Ever since University of Manchester scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov first isolated flakes of graphene in 2004
using that most high-tech pieces of equipment - adhesive tape - the
one-atom sheet of carbon has continued to astound researchers with its
remarkable properties. Now Professor Sir Andre Geim, (he's now not only a
Nobel Prize winner but also a Knight Bachelor), has led a team that has
added superpermeability with respect to water to graphene's ever
lengthening list of extraordinary characteristics. Read More
OSIM, better known for its advanced massage
chairs, has begun selling a US$170 thumb-sized USB massager which uses
Electronic Muscle Stimulation (EMS - the same technology you first
witnessed in biology when your teacher made a dead frog's leg twitch
using electrical current), to deliver a suite of specialized massage
programs from your laptop. It's a pretty good fit of technologies
because you can synch the massage to your computer’s music player and
massage away stress, and tone up using the tapping, squeezing and
kneading of the uPixie on specific muscle groups … while you are
working. You can even write and store your own massage routines. Read More
Snowshoeing has long been the poor stepchild of
winter sports. It's actually a really fun way of getting out in the snow
to exercise and enjoy nature, but it's just not quite as exhilarating
as skiing or snowboarding and, in many places, has a secondary status in
the grand scheme of winter sports. One German company believes it's
time for snowshoeing to step out of the shadows and share that same
sense of visceral fun that skiing and snowboarding imbue. Hive (Hike +
Drive) has designed a unique pair of snowshoes that double as a sort of
short ski or glider. Read More
BMW gives X6 Sports Activity Coupé a refresh
By Darren Quick
January 26, 2012
BMW launched its X6 in 2008 dubbing it "the
world's first ever Sports Activity Coupé." The SAC moniker was adopted
because the vehicle combined the high ground clearance and all-wheel
drive attributes of an SUV, with the body styling of a coupé. Despite
mixed reviews regarding its styling upon launch, BMW says the vehicle
has since racked up sales of over 150,000. Now the German automaker has
announced it is giving the X6 a facelift - although you'll have to look
pretty closely to pick the changes. Read More
When you hear the word "Walkman" you probably
envision an 80s and 90s-era cassette player with AM/FM stereo and
headphones. It's a far cry from Sony's Walkman B170 line which features
small (only 28g or 1oz) colorful, and sound-rich MP3 players bearing the
Walkman logo. Read More
Two things are certain in this crazy world -
unicycles are cool and unicycles are seriously hard to ride. Well no
longer. Now anybody can clown about on a unicycle and what's more, you
don't even have to pedal. Thanks to Focus Designs and several years of
development the learning curve required to master the unicycle has been
reduced from several weeks to an average of 20 minutes, making it a
viable and incredibly cheap-to-run personal transport. Read More
In the face of potentially catastrophic effects
on global food production, some have proposed drastic solutions to
counteract climate change such as reflecting sunlight away from the
Earth. A new study from the Carnegie Institution for Science examining
the effects of sunshade geoengineering has concluded that such an
approach would be more likely to improve food security than threaten it.
Read More
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