Although one can begin to explore amateur
astrophotography with a smartphone camera or a webcam, today's tool of
choice for this pastime is a special-purpose, cooled CCD camera. The
case in point is the new STT-8300M astrocamera from Santa Barbara
Imaging Group (SBIG). Read More
The spray trend seen on products like GEIGERRIG pressurized hydration packs
takes a new turn in the Q-FOG. This bike-mountable apparatus is a
personal mister designed to keep cyclists cool on long, hot summer
rides. Read More
There are robots that walk around
like spiders, there are robots that avoid objects, and there are robots
that talk, but what about a robot spider that talks while avoiding
objects? Hobbyist Kevin Ochs’ creation, Charlotte, is just that.
Charlotte is a hexapod robot with a talking head that lets it narrate
its progress as it avoids collisions. Read More 
Shapeways, one of the biggest names
in 3D printing, is adding a new squishy plastic material called Elasto
Plastics to its available printing options. This new material offers
some interesting applications for anything wearable, specifically for
sandals and other kinds of footwear. Read More 
When Chevy introduced the 2014 Corvette Stingray
at the 2013 North American International Auto Show, it estimated that
it would have 450 horsepower, making it the most powerful standard
Corvette ever. As it turns out, it's even more powerful. Chevy released
the official SAE-certified ratings this week, which show the new
Corvette battling the highway with up to 460 ponies. Read More
For those of you who don’t know, a “banana
hammock” is ... well, just Google it (but be warned, it’s kind of NSFW).
A BananaHama, on the other hand, is one of the latest attempts at a
more comfortable bicycle. Its long curved frame is kind of reminiscent
of a banana, and instead of a conventional saddle, it has a little
hammock. Read More
Some of the most vividly colored materials in nature, including things like butterfly wings,
don’t obtain their color from pigment. Instead, their internal
structure reflects light at a given wavelength, producing a specific
color. Opals are another example of something that utilizes this effect.
In collaboration with Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Structural
Durability and System Reliability, scientists from the University of
Cambridge have now copied the colorful nanostructure of the opal. The
result is a flexible, colorful material that won’t fade over time, that
changes color when stretched, and that could have many applications.
Read More
IK Multimedia has confirmed that the
iRig HD premium audio interface for guitar and bass that was announced back in January is now ready to ship. Read More 
Razer has been rather busy of late. While the
company is best known for its various gaming peripherals, it is putting
some serious resources into dedicated gaming hardware like the Edge tablet, which we went hands on with at CES.
Now, it has just announced a new version of its Blade laptop, which it
is calling the "world's thinnest" gaming Ultrabook. Read More
How much is a Facebook Like worth? To you,
probably nothing, with updates or comments receiving numerous Likes
making no difference to your life. For brands, it's different. Each
Facebook Like is another notch on the bedpost, with a real person having
publicly stated that they like this company so much they don't care who
knows it. The Facebook users liking brands usually don't get anything
for their free promotional efforts, but Pepsi has changed that with the
introduction of Pepsi: The Like Machine. Read More
LECTRONICS
When you're out camping or
backpacking, you tend to have a lot of gear and a shortage of storage
options. Cinch To Hang offers a simple way to keep your backcountry
living space organized that's far more eco-friendly than knocking a
nail, screw or hook into a tree to hang things on. Read More
LECTRONICS
Most 3D-printed objects are made out of rigid
plastic or resin materials that aren't necessarily ideal for every
project. Now, for a limited time online shops like i.materialise are
offering designers the chance to play with experimental materials that
have properties akin to rubber. Currently these materials are only being
offered on a limited basis, but they're already paving the way for new
ideas, including one haute couture dress that paraded down the catwalk
at Spring Fashion Week 2013 earlier this year. Read More
Remember the Moveo?
It’s an electric scooter that we covered back in February, which folds
in half so it can be pulled indoors like a rolling suitcase. Now, its
designers have turned to the public to raise money for commercial
production of the vehicle. They're one of the first groups to do so
using Jump Start City, a just-launched website that puts a new spin on
crowd-funding. Read More
Twitter has released an Android version of its popular video-sharing app, Vine,
the company announced on its blog today. iPhone owners have been
beavering away sharing funny, silly and creative 6-second videos ever
since the release of the app for iOS in January. But from launch,
Android users will have access to a feature unique to their platform of
choice, the ability to zoom. Read More
SEED Collaborative has teamed up with Method
Homes for the construction of what it hopes will become the first
modular building to pass the Living Building Challenge. The
SEEDclassroom is designed to be a portable teaching space available at
short notice, and yet one which meets its own energy and water needs.
Read More
BMW might normally be associated with luxury
cars, but its subsidiary group, DesignworksUSA, is a different story
altogether. Aside from developing innovative concepts for automobiles,
the team there also applies its parent company's design principles to a
wide range of products – even home computers. It might come as no
surprise then that the group recently teamed up with computer
manufacturer ASRock to create the M8, a compact PC tower that resembles a
high-performance engine and was designed especially for gaming. Read More
In the business world, time is money (and bragging rights). In April, the Citation X took said rights from the Gulfstream G650
with its maximum speed of Mach 0.935. Another contender could soon be
on the tarmac in the form of the Saker S-1. With a design inspired by
military fighter jets, US-based Saker Aircraft says its S-1 will cruise
at Mach 0.95 and reach a top speed of Mach 0.99. Read More
Molecular self-assembly, whereby molecules
position themselves into defined arrangements, is commonplace in
biological systems and nanotechnology. But researchers at MIT are
working on so called "4D printing" technology that aims to bring the
process up to the macro scale, enabling 3D-printed materials to be
programmed to self-assemble into predefined shapes and structures. Just
imagine buying some flat-pack furniture, bringing it home and enjoying a
coffee whilst you watch it assemble itself. Read More
Artificial limbs have come a long way in recent years with the development of prostheses
that can be controlled directly by the patient’s nerves. The problem
is, links between living nerves and the prostheses break down over time,
which makes permanent attachment and practical control difficult. To
understand why this happens and to help give patients more control over
their prostheses, DARPA has instituted a number of programs aimed at
improving neural interfaces and allowing amputees to have better control
of advanced prostheses in the near term. Read More
Dutch studio Haiko Cornelissen Architecten has
revealed a rethink of the typical Panamanian holiday home that breaks
away from the current format by using sliding wooden doors that traverse
the entire width of the building. To be located twenty minutes outside
of the city in Cerro Azul, the sideways approach of the Air Villa design
aims to provide an energy efficient dwelling with maximum exposure to
the surrounding environment. Read More
Children used to hide their diaries from prying
parental eyes by shutting them with a flimsy lock and stuffing them
under a pillow. But, this being 2013, journals are more likely to be
kept digitally, and good luck stuffing that iPad under your pillow.
iHeart Locket is an iPad based diary for children which can be locked
using an accompanying smart necklace pendant. Read More
If you’re someone who’s always first in line for
new iPad releases, you haven’t had a lot to get excited about lately.
Sure, Apple gave us the iPad mini and a slightly upgraded 9.7 inch iPad
late last year. But the company broke its traditional March/April
release cycle, leaving us without a new iPad in 2013. That will
obviously change before the year is over, but, according to a new
report, that wait might still be far from over. Read More
When you're out camping or
backpacking, you tend to have a lot of gear and a shortage of storage
options. Cinch To Hang offers a simple way to keep your backcountry
living space organized that's far more eco-friendly than knocking a
nail, screw or hook into a tree to hang things on. Read More
When it comes to mobile devices, Samsung has
never been known for its restraint. Just a few months after showing us
the Galaxy Note 8.0, and a month after the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0,
the Korean company just pulled back the curtain on yet another tablet:
the 8-inch Galaxy Tab 3. It isn’t the highest-end tablet ever made. But,
for that matter, neither is Apple’s hot-selling iPad mini. Let’s compare the specs (and other features) of the two mid-range mini-tablets. Read More
If you consider your car to be a work of art,
then you can have it on display it in your living room ... if you live
in one of the exclusive oceanfront apartments within Miami's Porsche
Design Tower, that is. The Porsche Design brand has branched into
architecture, and aims to give a new meaning to the term "drive in" by
using three robotic elevators that deliver both the driver and their car
right into the home. Read More
Airstream is famous the world over for its
timelessly iconic aluminum-shelled camping trailers. The all-new
International Sterling created by longtime Airstream designer
Christopher C. Deam pulls that shimmering aluminum inside for a retro
camping experience that still retains a healthy dose of modern comfort.
Read More
If you’re an Olympic-level triathlete, then
chances are that you’re going to buy yourself a dedicated triathlon
bike. Should you be someone who does the occasional triathlon more just
for fun, however, then you might not want to shell out the thousands of
dollars required for such a machine. That’s where the Switch Aero System
comes in – it lets your existing road bike double as a triathlon bike.
Read More
New York City-based robotics developer Falkor
Systems is working on autonomous flying robots that could fly alongside
extreme athletes, shooting video of their exploits in the process.
Beyond that, however, the company envisions a day in which such machines
may hover around everyday people, acting as their assistants and
perhaps even becoming their “friends.” In a demonstration of how such a
relationship could be possible, Falkor recently used an augmented AR
Drone quadcopter to take part in a modern dance performance with a human
partner. Read More
If you're in the market for a portable Win8 machine, and you don't fancy lugging Lenovo's monster Horizon Table PC around, you'll likely reach for something more manageable like Microsoft's own Surface Pro.
Should your tastes run to something a little more one-hand-friendly,
you'd probably need to abandon the Redmond giant's touch-tastic
operating system for iOS or Android. The Iconia W3 from Acer changes
that. Introduced at Computex, it's the world's first 8.1-inch tablet
running the full-fat version of Windows 8. Read More
A study conducted at Columbia University has
revealed that even when stitched together from much smaller fragments,
large sheets of graphene still retain much of their mechanical
properties. The discovery may be a crucial step forward in the
mass-production of carbon nanotubes that could be used to manufacture
flexible electronics, ultra-light and strong materials, and perhaps even
the first space elevator. Read More
You’d think that concrete would last forever.
After all, it’s pourable stone, so it should hang around as long as the
Rock of Gibraltar. But, under the right (or wrong) conditions, concrete
decays with alarming speed. To combat this, researchers at the
University of Bath in the UK are working on a self-healing concrete that
uses bacteria to seal the cracks that lead to decay. In this way, they
hope to cut down on maintenance costs and increase the life of concrete
structures. Read More
Whether you believe BMW's claim of creating a new
category of "sports activity vehicles" or not (we choose not), the BMW
X5 has been quite a success story since launching in 1999. After selling
some 1.3 million X5 models, BMW is ready to cut ribbon on the third
generation of the SUV. The new X5 is only marginally removed from its
predecessor in terms of looks and design, but it does boast some clear
advantages, including the latest technological accoutrements. Read More
Data from NASA's Swift satellite has been used to
create the highest-ever resolution images of our two nearest galaxies,
the Magellanic Clouds. The detailed ultraviolet light surveys measure
160 and 55 megapixels, and cumulatively show some 1.25 million
ultraviolet sources. Read More
When you think of an electric bus, you probably
either picture a vehicle that has to stay constantly connected to
overhead trolley cables, or that attempts to run its entire route on one
charge of its onboard batteries. In Geneva, however, they’re trying
something else – a system in which an electric bus takes 15 seconds to
receive an energy boost at selected stops. Read More
Asus has announced that it has updated its range
of iMac-alike all-in-one flat-pack PCs with two new models, the 23-in
ET2311 and the higher-spec "ultra high-resolution" ET2702. Though both
support multi-touch, of the two, only the ET2702 supports 10-point
gestures. Read More
Silk Pavilion by MIT Media Lab poses some
interesting questions about how what it calls "biological fabrication"
might fit into the future of making things alongside 3D printing and
similar computer-aided cleverness. To make the silk and metal dome, the
work begun by robotic weavers was completed by silkworms – 6,500 of
them. Read More
San Francisco-based Mission Motorcycles has
unveiled two brand-new electric bikes which it bills as the most
advanced on the market: the Mission RS and Mission R. The track- and
road-ready RS is produced in an ultra-limited edition of 40, but the R
will be manufactured in larger quantities at a cheaper price, while
still retaining the key specs of its edgier sibling. However, if the
name Mission R seems familiar, well that's because it is ... Read More
Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living
is a new book featuring the work of Canadian photographer and master
disassembler, Todd McLellan. The book features images of the inner
workings of 50 everyday items from bicycles and chainsaws to modern day
computers and phones, with each component painstakingly laid out with
geometric precision. McLellan hopes that the imagery of the disassembled
objects will help people appreciate the elaborate and efficient designs
of modern technology, while exposing the beauty and quality of older
items. Read More
Smart glass
has become a popular fixture in homes and offices for its ability to
change between transparent and opaque, depending on whether an electric
current is applied. It's a handy invention, but also tends to be
expensive to install and offers only limited control. Sonte is hoping to
change that with an affordable window film that connects wirelessly to a
smartphone app to instantly turn any section of glass from clear to
solid at the press of a button. Read More
Intel is apparently convinced that the future of computing is mobile. Having announced its new Atom Silvermont
architecture last month, the chipmaker has introduced its
4th-generation Intel Core processors (code named Haswell), with much of
the focus on the power savings that will benefit the battery life of
mobile devices. Designed with a new generation of Ultrabooks in mind,
Intel says its new processors will provide up to nine hours of battery
life with up to two times the graphics capability of previous
generations. Read More
Have you ever been sitting around
watching that professional sporting event and wished you had a Fiat full
of carbonated beverages. Turns out your dreams of an enhanced liquid
refreshment environment may just come true thanks to the SMEG 500, a
chilling collaboration between Italy’s Fiat and appliance manufacturer,
SMEG. Read More
MotoCzysz today won its fourth TT ZERO race in a
row, demonstrating just how far the electric motorcycle has come in a
short time. The first five runnings of the TT ZERO event at the 105
year-old Isle of Man motorcycle racing festival suggest electric bikes
will catch up to the fastest gas-powered bikes in about five years.
Every practice session has seen lap speeds increase. The inaugural 2009
electric lap record was run at the same speed as the circuit record in
1936 on the first Manx Norton. This week, electric motorcycles have
surpassed the laps times of Hailwood's RC181 Honda 500, Duke's Gilera,
Agostini's MV Agusta fire engines, and they're about to better the
Kawasaki KR750, Suzuki RG500 and Yamaha TZ750 two-strokes of the
mid-seventies. Four decades of progress in 48 months. Read on Read More
Intel has released further details
of the next generation of Thunderbolt, the high-speed hardware interface
it originally developed with Apple. Thunderbolt 2 doubles data transfer
rates to 20 Gb/s which, with the incorporation of DisplayPort 1.2, will
allow the transmission of raw 4K video as well as data. Read More 
These days it seems software and technology can
take design beyond feasible construction in the real world through its
increasing ability to create fantastical projects and shapes in a
virtual domain. Interdisciplinary design studio MammaFotogramma hope to
go someway towards bridging this virtual to reality design gap through
the development of a flexible wood surfacing material named WoodSkin.
This wood and mesh composite product can be applied to static structures
whilst facilitating movement and maintaining some form of visual
appeal. Read More
Bigger, badder, and bolder appears to be the
driving mandate behind the latest performance trickery from the extreme
artists at Brabus. Taking the already aggressive Mercedes-Benz GL 63 AMG
SUV, Brabus has transformed the biggest of the Benz into a 611
horsepowered behemoth called the B63 620 Widestar. Read More
MIT researchers have developed a new technique
that can be used to accurately predict the annual yield of a
photovoltaic solar array located anywhere on the planet, taking into
account local climate, panel orientation, and obstructions from nearby
buildings. As a proof of concept, the scientists have mapped out the
17,000 rooftops of Cambridge, Massachusetts and created a user-friendly
web interface that residents can use to look up their homes and get an
accurate projection of the cost and return on investment of placing a PV
panel over their heads. Read More
Finding hangars to house an aircraft with a wingspan greater than a Boeing 787 Dreamliner
is no easy task when planning a round-the-world journey. That’s why the
Solar Impulse team designed an inflatable mobile hangar to be used on
the Solar Impulse’s planned 2015 circumnavigation of the globe. After a
storm damaged the hangar that was to host the solar-powered aircraft at
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the team was forced to deploy
the structure for the first time to keep the 2013 Across America mission on schedule. Read More
Like many US railway stations, New York’s Penn
Station is a shadow of its former self. With redevelopment of the
station hindered by its location under Madison Square Garden, the
Municipal Art Society (MAS) of New York hopes to relocate the gardens
and rebuild the station for the 21st century. Last week, the MAS
announced four possible designs for Penn Station and Madison Square
Garden as part of its Design Challenge aimed at replacing or remodelling
the current structure. Read More
Although it may be surprising to hear that being in the hospital can make
a person sick, it definitely does happen. In the United States, about
one in every 20 people admitted to a hospital will end up with a
healthcare acquired infection, or HAI. Of those people, approximately
100,000 die from such infections annually. One of the keys to reducing
the occurrence of HAIs is to get healthcare workers to wash their hands
frequently and thoroughly – which is just what the intelligentM bracelet
is designed to do. Read More
Cannon Security Products' has taken a
stealthy new approach to securing valuables in the home with the
RadioVault, a fingerprint activated safe that's hidden inside a fully
functional iPod dock. Read More 
Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration
granted clearance to a new device that could be of considerable aid to
stroke victims or people with partial spinal cord injuries. Created by
Dr. Paul Cordo of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in
collaboration with OHSU spinoff company AMES, the "AMES device"
reportedly helps the brain get paralyzed muscles moving again. Read More
Intel has released further details
of the next generation of Thunderbolt, the high-speed hardware interface
it originally developed with Apple. Thunderbolt 2 doubles data transfer
rates to 20 Gb/s which, with the incorporation of DisplayPort 1.2, will
allow the transmission of raw 4K video as well as data. Read More
Cannon Security Products' has taken a
stealthy new approach to securing valuables in the home with the
RadioVault, a fingerprint activated safe that's hidden inside a fully
functional iPod dock. Read More
MotoCzysz today won its fourth TT ZERO race in a
row, demonstrating just how far the electric motorcycle has come in a
short time. The first five runnings of the TT ZERO event at the 105
year-old Isle of Man motorcycle racing festival suggest electric bikes
will catch up to the fastest gas-powered bikes in about five years.
Every practice session has seen lap speeds increase. The inaugural 2009
electric lap record was run at the same speed as the circuit record in
1936 on the first Manx Norton. This week, electric motorcycles have
surpassed the laps times of Hailwood's RC181 Honda 500, Duke's Gilera,
Agostini's MV Agusta fire engines, and they're about to better the
Kawasaki KR750, Suzuki RG500 and Yamaha TZ750 two-strokes of the
mid-seventies. Four decades of progress in 48 months. Read on Read More
Intel has released further details
of the next generation of Thunderbolt, the high-speed hardware interface
it originally developed with Apple. Thunderbolt 2 doubles data transfer
rates to 20 Gb/s which, with the incorporation of DisplayPort 1.2, will
allow the transmission of raw 4K video as well as data. Read More
These days it seems software and technology can
take design beyond feasible construction in the real world through its
increasing ability to create fantastical projects and shapes in a
virtual domain. Interdisciplinary design studio MammaFotogramma hope to
go someway towards bridging this virtual to reality design gap through
the development of a flexible wood surfacing material named WoodSkin.
This wood and mesh composite product can be applied to static structures
whilst facilitating movement and maintaining some form of visual
appeal. Read More
Bigger, badder, and bolder appears to be the
driving mandate behind the latest performance trickery from the extreme
artists at Brabus. Taking the already aggressive Mercedes-Benz GL 63 AMG
SUV, Brabus has transformed the biggest of the Benz into a 611
horsepowered behemoth called the B63 620 Widestar. Read More
MIT researchers have developed a new technique
that can be used to accurately predict the annual yield of a
photovoltaic solar array located anywhere on the planet, taking into
account local climate, panel orientation, and obstructions from nearby
buildings. As a proof of concept, the scientists have mapped out the
17,000 rooftops of Cambridge, Massachusetts and created a user-friendly
web interface that residents can use to look up their homes and get an
accurate projection of the cost and return on investment of placing a PV
panel over their heads. Read More
Finding hangars to house an aircraft with a wingspan greater than a Boeing 787 Dreamliner
is no easy task when planning a round-the-world journey. That’s why the
Solar Impulse team designed an inflatable mobile hangar to be used on
the Solar Impulse’s planned 2015 circumnavigation of the globe. After a
storm damaged the hangar that was to host the solar-powered aircraft at
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the team was forced to deploy
the structure for the first time to keep the 2013 Across America mission on schedule. Read More
Like many US railway stations, New York’s Penn
Station is a shadow of its former self. With redevelopment of the
station hindered by its location under Madison Square Garden, the
Municipal Art Society (MAS) of New York hopes to relocate the gardens
and rebuild the station for the 21st century. Last week, the MAS
announced four possible designs for Penn Station and Madison Square
Garden as part of its Design Challenge aimed at replacing or remodelling
the current structure. Read More
Although it may be surprising to hear that being in the hospital can make
a person sick, it definitely does happen. In the United States, about
one in every 20 people admitted to a hospital will end up with a
healthcare acquired infection, or HAI. Of those people, approximately
100,000 die from such infections annually. One of the keys to reducing
the occurrence of HAIs is to get healthcare workers to wash their hands
frequently and thoroughly – which is just what the intelligentM bracelet
is designed to do. Read More
Cannon Security Products' has taken a
stealthy new approach to securing valuables in the home with the
RadioVault, a fingerprint activated safe that's hidden inside a fully
functional iPod dock. Read More
Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration
granted clearance to a new device that could be of considerable aid to
stroke victims or people with partial spinal cord injuries. Created by
Dr. Paul Cordo of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in
collaboration with OHSU spinoff company AMES, the "AMES device"
reportedly helps the brain get paralyzed muscles moving again. Read More
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