Glasses emit personal sound and smell to boost your social life
By Jan Belezina
December 18, 2011
Researchers from Keio University in Tokyo created
glasses designed to augment the wearer's experience by providing
additional audio and olfactory stimuli during social encounters. Fitted
with speakers and scent emitters, the spectacles emit sound and smell
signals unique to the person you meet. This eyewear is clearly more than
just a fashion accessory. Rather, in the words of its makers, it is an
attempt to encourage face-to-face communication with emotional and
memorable sound and smell experiences. Read More
Plane-mounted camera detects hazardous volcanic ash in the air
By David Szondy
December 13, 2011
A new invention out of Norway promises to keep
the skies of the world open. When a volcano in Iceland erupted in 2010,
it spewed out invisible clouds of ash that spread across
Europe–effectively shutting down all civilian and military air traffic,
stranding millions of people and costing the world economy billions of
dollars. Now, a new camera has been developed that will allow pilots to
see and avoid volcanic dust clouds, making similar eruptions in the
future much less disruptive. Read More
Lumus glasses let you watch video, and the real world
By Emily Price
December 13, 2011
Cinema glasses aren't exactly anything new. You
typically wear the glasses like you would your favorite pair of shades,
and then see what appears to be a private giant screen in front of you.
The downside of these cinema-shades? You can't see what's actually going
on in the world around you. Lumus is attempting to fix that issue with a
new line of video glasses that you can see through. The transparent
lenses display what appears to your eyes as an 87-inch screen, while
allowing you to see what's going on in front of you at the same time.
Read More
Varley evR-450 Electric Supercar set for 2012 launch
By Martin Hone
December 13, 2011
Australia has a new home-grown electric supercar. The recently announced Varley evR-540
is handbuilt around an aluminum monocoque chassis and powered by
locally developed and engineered twin Carbon ironless core AC motors
with Tritium Wavesculptor inverters claimed to be up to 95% efficient.
The performance of this lightweight 2-seat mid-engine coupe is
impressive - it's capable of accelerating from from zero to 100 km/h (62
mph) in 3.8 seconds and can reach a top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph),
which puts it in the same league as the Tesla Roadster). Read More
New MIT video camera shoots a trillion frames per second
December 13, 2011
We've been hearing about trillions in the news so
much lately, it's easy to become desensitized to just what a colossal
number that is. Recently, a team of brilliant researchers at MIT's Media
Lab (ML) built an imaging system capable of making an exposure every
picosecond- one trillionth of a second. Just how fast is that?
Why, a thousand times faster than a nanosecond, of course. Put another
way, one picosecond is to one second as one second is to about 31,700
years. That's fast. So fast, in fact, this system can literally slow
down light itself and it does so in a manner unlike any other camera.
Read More
Not everyone can easily click a mouse. Many
people with permanent motor disability have difficulties, along with
those suffering Repetitive Stress Disorder or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome,
and anyone recovering from hand surgery. Clikka Mouse is innovative
"work around" software that addresses the problem and best of all, it's
free. Read More
New processes use ozone and viruses to kill harmful bacteria
By Ben Coxworth
December 13, 2011
According to Dr. Dick Zoutman of Queen's
University in Canada, over 100,000 people die every year in North
America alone, due to hospital-acquired infections. It would only seem
to follow that hospitals need to be kept cleaner, and Zoutman has
developed something that he says can do the job - an ozone and hydrogen
peroxide vapor gas. Some bacteria are particularly tenacious, however,
and that's where Dr. Udi Qimron of Tel Aviv University comes into the
picture. He has developed a liquid solution in which viruses
are used to make antibiotic-resistant bacteria once again vulnerable to
traditional cleansers. Read More
Snapheal, to be released on Wednesday, is a photo
editing app for Mac which "can do magic", at least according to
MacPhun, the app's developer. In addition to the usual tweaks and minor
edits allowed by vanilla entry-level photo editing software, Snapheal
allows you to erase whole objects - including large ones - from your
photographs. Gizmag took an advance copy of Snapheal 1.0 for a spin.
Could it be magic? Judge for yourself. Read More
Seven years ago, philanthropist Paul G. Allen collaborated with aerospace expert Burt Rutan, to create SpaceShipOne
– the first privately-funded, manned rocket ship to fly beyond Earth’s
atmosphere, and winner of the Ansari X PRIZE. Now, in the post-Shuttle
era, the two men have reunited to create a reusable vehicle for
launching both manned and unmanned rockets into space. The project was
announced in Seattle today. Read More
Mountainskyver lets hikers scoot down from mountain tops
By Ben Coxworth
December 13, 2011
Zipping down the side of a mountain on a downhill
mountain bike can be incredibly fun, but getting the bike up there ...
well, you can pedal the 40 to 50-pound thing to the top yourself, pay to
use a zero-exercise chair lift, or add to your bike's weight with an electric-assist motor. In an approach we've seen before in the form of the Mountain Monk,
German gear company ORTOVOX is offering another way to get to the
summit and back down again. It's called the Mountainskyver TRAIL, and
it's a folding downhill scooter(?) that a hiker carries to the
mountaintop in an included custom backpack, then quickly assembles and
rides back down. Read More
The smartphone controlled Aquabotix Hydroview underwater vehicle
By Pawel Piejko
December 14, 2011
Smartphones can already be used to remotely control a variety of vehicles, including flying toy helicopters and airplanes, or even starting your car.
Now remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) can be added to the
list with New England-based company Aquabotix rolling out its Hydroview
vehicle. Equipped with LED lights and a HD video camera, the vehicle
transmits a live video feed to an iOS- or Android-based smartphone,
tablet, or a laptop and can be remotely operated by tilting the phone or
tablet or via the laptop's touchpad. Read More
Working with a golf pro can definitely help to
improve your performance on the greens, although pros can sometimes
find it difficult to determine if you’re gripping your club too tightly,
just by watching. Germany’s Sensosolutions addressed that problem with
its SensoGlove,
a computer- and sensor-equipped glove that allows users to set their
desired level of grip, and then receive feedback on whether or not
they’re gripping within that range. Yesterday, the company announced
that the glove has now been improved. Read More
The iPhone has a ton of built-in features, but
one feature it doesn't have is a 3D camera - until now. Snapily3D is an
iPhone app that allows you to capture 3D pictures and video with the
camera on your iPhone. The app is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone
4, iPhone 4S, and iPod touch 3rd generation and above, and walks you
through the 3D picture-taking process through on-screen directions and
prompts. Read More
The Lumia 710 will be the first Nokia Windows Phone in the U.S.
By Emily Price
December 14, 2011
Nokia is officially bringing its Windows Phones
to the U.S., announcing today plans to release the Lumia 710 on T-Mobile
on January 11th. The announcement of the phone marks the first Nokia
Windows Phone to make it to U.S. soil, and also the first Windows phone
in general to be billed as a 4G device, running on T-Mobile's HSPA 14.4
network. Read More
The Rotauf MRK5 combines beacon and avalanche airbag functions
By C.C. Weiss
December 14, 2011
Beacons and probes are slow and tedious.
Avalanche airbags are large and expensive. The Rotauf MRK5, however,
offers some serious avalanche protection advantages in a small package.
Read More
The world's first handheld GPS to use the Android
mobile operating system is gearing up for release. The All Sports GPS
from Holux is also the first handheld unit with WiFi capability. The
idea is to fuse smartphone capability into a handheld GPS, allowing
users to download GPS apps directly without having to hookup to a
computer. Read More
Heavy-duty housing lets iPhone shoot video deep beneath the sea
By Ben Coxworth
December 14, 2011
If nothing else, the iPhone 4’s ability to shoot
1080p high-def video has certainly done one thing – provided inventors
with things to make. There is currently what could almost be described
as a gold rush, as products are being designed to augment the
smartphone’s camera, to the point that it could be used for all of the
same things as traditional, stand-alone video cameras. Some of these
innovations have included interchangeable lenses, a mini SteadiCam, and a rugged helmet-mount system.
Now, an underwater housing system for the iPhone 4 and 4S is in the
works, which will allow users to shoot undersea video at depths of up to
100 feet (30.5 meters). Read More
Veteran Italian icons team up for luxury carbon bike
By Paul Ridden
December 14, 2011
When a cycling helmet is priced at nearly US$900,
a pair of cycling gloves at over US$300 and a water bottle at US$105,
it's a sure thing that the bike that goes with them is going to be
really, really expensive. Such is the case with the new Bianchi by Gucci
carbon fiber two-wheeler, which sees two Italian veterans come together
for the release of this US$14,000 bike. Read on for a rundown of the
key specs. Read More
The results of two recent experiments at the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) near Geneva suggest physicists are close to discovering the Higgs
boson, the so-called God particle. Combined, the two experiments have
narrowed the possible band of possible Higgs boson masses. Though not
sufficient to claim a discovery, the latest experiments restrict the
region in which the Higgs boson might be hiding. Read More
Heat adds volume to the carbon fiber production process
By Enid Burns
December 13, 2011
When the Wright Brothers first took to the skies
more than hundred years ago they did so with an aircraft made with a
fabric skin. Over the years a variety of materials have been used
including sheet metals such as aluminum and titanium, and even ceramics.
A fabric of sorts has now returned in the form of carbon fiber, a
composite material that offers greater strength-to-weight ratio than
virtually anything else. While airplane manufacturers have used carbon
fiber in airplanes for some time, its use is on the rise due to the
material's durability and rigidity ... and with the advent of new
manufacturing processes such as Advaero's Heat Vacuum Assisted Resin
Transfer Method (HVARTM), this looks set to continue. Read More
Call it Ishmael. Actually, no, call it the Comet
Nucleus Sample Return mission spacecraft. Regardless of its name, the
NASA vehicle will be wielding a harpoon, not unlike the narrator of Moby Dick.
Instead of hunting a white whale, however, it will be after a comet.
Although the spacecraft itself is still a concept, its harpoon is in the
works now. Read More
"Computerized penetrometer" measures the crispness of apples
By Ben Coxworth
December 15, 2011
Here’s a job title that you probably didn’t know
existed: Apple Biter. Oh sure, the official term is probably something
like “Fruit Evaluation Specialist,” but if you spend your days chomping
into apples to assess their taste and crispness, you’re really an Apple
Biter. While using panels of such people is a common method of
evaluating the quality of apple crops, it can be compromised when those
people start to get fatigued. There’s also the not-insignificant fact
that panel members could differ in what they consider to be the optimal
level of crispness. That’s why Washington State University is looking
into using a computerized penetrometer to handle part of the Apple
Biters’ duties. Read More
LG and PRADA reveal newest collaborative phone
By Enid Burns
December 15, 2011
Fashionistas can have their phone and use it too.
The third phone to come out of the partnership between PRADA and LG 3.0
was unveiled this week in London. The slim and stylish handset runs
Android's Gingerbread OS. A distinct PRADA influence is evident on the
phone's design. The handset exhibits clean and sharp lines with the
design house's signature Saffiano pattern, typically etched into its
leather goods, adorning the back of the phone. Read More
Scientists create "the world's smallest steam engine"
December 15, 2011
It sounds implausible, yet scientists have
managed to create a functioning engine, analogous to a Stirling engine,
just three micrometers wide and made of a single particle. The minuscule
engine was created by Clemens Bechinger and Valentin Blickle at the
University of Stuttgart, and though it has its quirks, the pair have
apparently demonstrated the engine's ability to do work. Read More
North Sails unfurls game-changing new sail technology
December 14, 2011
Sail technology
has come a long way since the days tall ships were carried along by
billowing clouds of canvas. In fact, new aerodynamic discoveries coupled
with exotic materials have turned modern sails into veritable works of
high tech art. Today, sailmakers know that the less a sail distorts
(through stretching, shear, compression or shrinkage) the more force or
drive remains available to power the boat - especially helpful when
you're in a close race for that final buoy. Now, the innovative
designers at North Sails have woven an interesting array of tricks into
their unique new 3Di line of "canvas" - laminated, heat-molded sails
that hold their shape so well, they come close to performing like rigid
airfoils. Read More
The first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
smartphone will soon be available in its country of origin on Wednesday.
OK, technically the Samsung Galaxy Nexus
is made in Asia, but the latest Google phone carrying the anticipated
Android upgrade traces its software roots to California. Fans there and
in the rest of the United States have eagerly been awaiting its arrival
while watching the device's global rollout pass them by. Read More
Matrix-style instant learning could be one step closer
By Ben Coxworth
December 14, 2011
How would you like to have the ability to play
the piano downloaded into your brain? You might not end up with the same
sense of achievement, but it sure would be a lot quicker and easier
than years of lessons and practicing. Well, we're not there yet (and
perhaps we never should be), but that sort of scenario is now a
little closer to reality, thanks to research conducted at Boston
University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto,
Japan. Read More
The myriad of mobile devices in constant need of
recharging that many people now have in their possession can quickly
lead to chronic cable clutter, especially when hitting the road.
Innergie's Magic Cable Trio provides a neat solution by integrating
connectors for micro USB, mini USB and Apple’s 30-pin dock connector in a
single convenient cable. Read More
Web-slinging arachnids already have researchers toiling away looking to replicate the remarkable properties of spider silk.
Now spiders, along with their insect and crustacean arthropod cousins,
have provided inspiration for a new material that is cheap to produce,
biodegradable, and biocompatible. Its creators say the material, dubbed
"Shrilk," has the potential to replace plastics in consumer products and
could also be used safely in a variety of medical applications, such as
suturing wounds or serving as scaffolding for tissue regeneration. Read More
Chew on a stick of gum sweetened with xylitol and
you may just experience a cool sensation. Slip on a pair of Carbon Pro
Team shoes from Louis Garneau and you may just get the same feeling.
While it's most common use is as a natural sweetener, properties of
xylitol make it useful for clothing as well. Xylitol is woven into
fabric under the brand name Ice-Fil, which is used in the insoles of the
Louis Garneau Carbon Pro Team cycling shoes to help keep athletes cool.
Read More
Louvre will use the Nintendo 3DS as a tour guide
December 16, 2011
Let's face it, the audio tours in museums could
use a technology upgrade. While listening to the facts and stories
behind each exhibit read by a D-list celebrity is still a mainstay of
any noteworthy museum or art gallery, the average cell phone today has
more features than most of the audio devices visitors are given to carry
around. It makes sense then that the Louvre in France, the world's most
visited museum, is replacing its usual audio guides with a decidedly
21st-century gadget: the Nintendo 3DS. Read More
Ever since Sony introduced me to portable music
with its iconic Walkman series, my enormous collection of tunes has
never been far from reach. I've been through tape cassette players,
mini-Disc and CD players, and MP3/OGG/FLAC digital players but have
stopped short of carrying my music around on my smartphone - preferring
uninterrupted listening rather than risk being bothered by incoming
calls and messages. My current digital music player has been giving me
serious battery life issues of late, though, which shouldn't be an issue
with Cowon's C2 MP3 player with its whopping 55 hours of claimed audio
playback. So is there still room for the dedicated digital music player
in a world dominated by media-playing mobile phones? I've been spending
some quality time with the C2 and I think there is. Here's why... Read More
Image3D lets you create your own View-Master-esque photo reels
By Ben Coxworth
December 16, 2011
Along with GI Joes, Slinkies and Sea Monkeys, View-Masters
are probably one of the most-remembered childhood products of the past
few generations. Even if you yourself never got the chance to flip
through disks of still images using one of the manually-operated
stereoscopic viewers, chances are you at least knew someone who did.
Well, now that you're all grown-up, you have the chance not only to
relive your childhood by buying a View-Master-like Image3D viewer, but
also to create a reel of your own photos to view in it. As a ten year-old, you would have thought that was pretty amazing. Read More
Click Keypad watch displays the time and date in a unique way
By Emily Price
December 16, 2011
At first glance, it might be hard for you to tell
how the Click Keypad watch is a watch at all. Its face features a
keypad like you might find on your computer, with no display to show you
the time, date, or any other information like a traditional watch
might. How the watch does display those things is where the magic comes
in. Tapping one of the numbered keys on the watch's keypad will cause
the lights on the numbered keys to light up and show the time. For
instance, if the time was 9:30, the light on the 9 would light up,
followed by the 3, and then the zero. Read More
When is a clock not a clock? When it's a big fat
reprogrammable five-character 18-segment display, a bit like the Alpha
Clock Five from Evil Mad Science. Its 2.3 inch 18-segment alphanumeric
characters are each illuminated by 54 LEDs, providing a bold, bright
answer to that most burning of questions: what's the time? Read More
Top 10 things you CAN have for Christmas 2011
By Gizmag Team
December 15, 2011
Having taken a look at some highly desirable
items that are highly unlikely to find their way under the tree this
year with our 2011 list of things you CAN'T have this Christmas,
it's time for a look at some of the gear that might represent more
realistic shopping options this festive season. There's definitely some
items on the list we wouldn't mind receiving ourselves, while others
fall into the category of "for the person who has everything" ... either
way, there's sure to be something for every technophile in the
household. Read More
Caloric restriction has been shown to slow the
signs of aging and delay the development of age-related diseases in a
wide range of animals. However, scientists have been unable to explain
just why limiting daily food intake has such a beneficial effect on
health and the biological mechanisms that underlie the phenomenon.
Researchers in Sweden recently claimed to have unlocked a piece of the
puzzle by identifying one of the enzymes
that appears to play a major role in the process and now another group
in the U.S. has provided another clue by tweaking a gene in fruit flies
and extending their lifespan by as much as 50 percent. Read More
Cuissential brews up a collapsible silicone tea kettle
December 15, 2011
Everywhere you look, items made with or from
silicone rubber continue to pop up like mushrooms after a long spring
rain. From artificial lungs to cookie sheets, even baby bottles,
this versatile, non-toxic material is becoming increasingly
indispensable in our everyday lives. Now tea kettles can be added to the
list of items getting the silicone treatment with the four-cup
SlickBoil from Cuissential that takes advantage of silicone's
flexibility to shrink to a space-saving package when not preparing a
refreshing brew. Read More
For some time now, we’ve been hearing about the
benefits of drying our laundry outside on the clothesline. We save money
and energy by not running the dryer, the sunlight kills germs, and we
don’t run the risk of generating harmful dryer emissions. In the future, however, we might also end up washing
our clothes by hanging them outside – scientists in China have
successfully used sunlight to remove orange dye stains from cotton
fabric, that was treated with a special coating. Read More
An international team is claiming a data transfer
record that puts any home broadband connection to shame. At last
month’s SuperComputing 2011 (SC11) conference in Seattle, researchers
reached transfer rates of 98 gigabits per second (Gbps) between the
University of Victoria Computing Centre located in Victoria, British
Columbia, and the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Coupled
with a simultaneous data rate of 88 Gbps in the opposite direction the
team reached a two-way data rate of 186 Gbps to break their own previous
peak-rate record of 119 Gbps set in 2009. Read More
He can't fly just yet, but a team of scientists
have made a big step towards creating a real-life Mighty Mouse.
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, along with two
Swiss institutions, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) and
the University of Lausanne, created a batch of super-strong mice and
worms by tweaking a gene that normally inhibits muscle growth. Read More
iStencyl lets you create and sell iOS games without knowing any code
By Emily Price
December 18, 2011
Who says you need to now how to write code in
order to create and sell your own iOS game? iStencyl is a program
designed to allow you to create your web and iOS games without having
any coding experience. The system lets you develop entire games using
its block builder rather than code, however, it does support Objective-C
for those who are code-savvy. Read More
After riots this past summer left parts of the UK
in shambles, it's no wonder that police in that part of the world are
looking for new methods of crowd control. Since the usual methods for
subduing rioters were seen as largely ineffective against their sheer
numbers at the time, police have been looking into new tactics as well
as non-lethal weapons to replace the standard tasers
and tear gas. To that end, the next time someone tries to loot a store
in England, they may find themselves literally struck blind thanks to a
new riot laser currently being tested called the "SMU 100." Read More
If you want to make yourself the life of the
party then the Party Vest could be for you. Sure, you might struggle to
carry on a conversation with anyone but it will likely be a conversation
starter for other attendees at the shindig. Built on top of a Daniese
Gilet Cali Tessuto motorcycle vest, the Party Vest comes retrofitted
with an 8-inch Boss audio bass 900 subwoofer on the back and a pair of
motorcycle speakers reaching over each shoulder. Read More
As useful as GPS is in the modern world, we're
really only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to some of the
potential functionality of satellite-based navigation. The Active
Prediction system under development at Scania, a member of Volkswagen
AG, is one example. The system fuses GPS and cruise control, allowing
the vehicle to predict terrain features of the road ahead and help to
boost gas mileage. Read More
While “toy” robots such as WowWee’s Robosapien
already have some pretty impressive capabilities, they can now do even
more ... if they have a Brainlink module installed. Brainlink is made by
BirdBrain Technologies, which is a Carnegie Mellon University spin-off
company. When attached to an existing infrared remote-controlled
household robot, it will add a built-in light sensor and accelerometer
to that device’s quiver, along with the possibility of various other
user-supplied sensors that can be plugged into its input ports. The
Bluetooth-equipped Brainlink also allows robots to be controlled via the
user’s laptop or Android smartphone, which opens up all sorts of
possibilities. Read More
Quad-lock iPhone case lets you mount your iPhone anywhere
By Emily Price
December 17, 2011
The iPhone has a fantastic GPS system, can pump
out your favorite tunes, and can call a friends when you're late meeting
him or her for lunch. All that functionality is great, but can be hard
to use when you're doing something like say, riding a bike. The QuadLock
iPhone case is an iPhone case that can be used to lock your phone into
place on your bicycle, car dash, or pretty much anywhere else you can
think of. The case itself is made from tough polycarbonate plastic, and
can be mounted in both portrait and landscape mode depending on your
personal needs. Read More
Tak Wak delivers a rugged GPS-smarthpone-radio for the outdoors
By C.C. Weiss
December 17, 2011
Many modern outdoors folk are conflicted beings
that live by diametrically opposed principles. On the one hand, they
spend top dollar for the newest, lightest gear on the market to keep
their muscles and joints moving freely. On the other, they fill up their
featherlight packs and jackets with all kinds of single-function,
redundant or just plain unnecessary devices in the name of being
"prepared." Getting more function out of a single device is the quickest
way to resolve this problem and the tw700 from German company Tak Wak
achieves this by blending several of your most important outdoor devices
- GPS, walkie talkie, camera and tracking system - into one rugged,
waterproof, trail-ready package. Read More
Hydrogel helps grow new scar-free skin over third degree burns
By Ben Coxworth
December 16, 2011
Third-degree burns typically require very complex
treatment, and leave nasty scars once they've healed. Researchers at
Johns Hopkins University, however, are reporting success at treating
such burns on lab mice, using a new type of hydrogel that grows new skin
(as opposed to scar tissue) over burn sites. The gel contains no drugs
or biological components - it's made mainly from water and dissolved
dextran, which is a sugar-like polymer. Read More
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