While there are plenty of important components
and accessories that are mounted on a bike’s handlebars, the bars
themselves are just empty hollow tubes that don’t really do
anything ... right? Well, that isn’t the case with Helios Bars. Created
by California-based inventor Kenny Gibbs (who previously brought us The Slug), they feature an integrated headlight, signal lights, tracking system, and several other clever features. Read More
Finis has significantly upgraded its SwiMP3
underwater audio player with the release of the new US$160 Neptune. Like
the SwiMP3, which has been on the market for five years, the Neptune
waterproof player uses bone conduction to deliver sound to the inner
ear. Drawing on its experience, the company has redesigned almost all
components for the new model, including the bone conduction speakers,
and added greater memory, an OLED display and improved file transfer
compatibility with iTunes. Read More
If Apple can have a "spaceship,"
then Amazon can have a biodome. Although the company isn't creating a
totally self-contained ecosystem so its employees never have to leave
work, documents filed with the Seattle Department of Planning and
Development indicate it is planning to build something not too far
removed from that at its new campus headquarters in Seattle. Read More
Driving and talking or texting on a cell phone is
illegal in most parts of the world, and with good reason. However,
using a phone as an in-car music player is standard practice for many
people, and the safest way to do this is with a mount that keeps your
phone secured and easily accessible. Mountek's nGroove Snap caters for
this need by mounting smartphones in a place that doesn't get used by
many drivers these days – the CD player. Read More
Thinking about how accurately and effectively you
are thinking is an exercise from which many of us could profit.
Unfortunately, this is a serious challenge for most people. Rather like
thinking about your golf swing, or just how to hit that high C,
self-examination tends to modify or destroy the mental processes that
were to be evaluated. Fortunately, we are in the age of personal EEG
monitors, of which the latest entry is the Melon (which briefly surfaced
previously as the Axio), a Kickstarter project to manufacture a
headband EEG monitor designed to measure mental focus. Read More
NASA has captured the world's largest panoramic
photo showing a swath of land 6,000 miles long and 120 miles wide using a
satellite orbiting 438 miles (705 km) above the Earth. At 19.06
gigapixels, "The Long Swath” is far from the highest resolution panorama
on record, falling well short of the 320 gigapixel panorama of London, but it is without question the longest, covering an area from northern Russia to South Africa. Read More
Researchers have developed a new type of wearable
sensor that could greatly improve the accuracy and practicality of
heart monitoring. Developed by Zhenan Bao, a professor of chemical
engineering at Stanford University, the paper-thin, stamp-sized sensor
is made with flexible organic materials and can be worn under an
adhesive bandage on the wrist to monitor the pulse. Read More
Remember when the rumor mill’s favorite hobby was obsessing about an Apple TV set?
It seemed like every week, some publication or other was reporting on
the mythical device. Many assumed it would be the company’s next big
revolution: iPod, iPhone, iPad ... iTV. Well, don’t look now, but Microsoft just unveiled a device that does most of what we expected the iTV to do, in the form of the Xbox One. Read More
You’re sitting in the office, but don’t you wish
you could be playing with your dog or cat using a laser pointer instead?
With the Petcube, you’ll be able to do both at once. Not unlike the iPet Companion, the Petcube lets users remotely play with their pets in real time, via the internet. Read More
When we think of crystals, most of us probably
either picture spiky things like snowflakes, or cube-shaped objects like
grains of sugar. Researchers from the Harvard School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences, however, have recently coaxed barium carbonate
crystals to grow into very miniature replicas of soft, curved flowers. Read More
It may look like the strangest concept vehicle
ever, but the new art installation unveiled by Jaguar as part of
Clerkenwell Design Week in London is, according to the company, a
“vision of Jaguar's future design language.” Created by Royal College of
Art students in conjunction with Jaguar Advanced Design in Whitley,
Coventry, the installation was the winner out of nine entries in the
Jaguar Advanced Design competition. Read More
Lenovo has revealed that a more powerful version of its Yoga 11 convertible
is earmarked for release next month. Essentially four devices in one,
the Yoga 11S will run Win8 Pro and be powered by a choice of Intel's 3rd
generation Core i processors. Read More
After months of leaks and speculation, Microsoft
has announced the Xbox One – the company's next-gen system and its
competitor to Sony's PlayStation 4
console. The system is designed to provide the user with an “all-in-one
experience," adding live TV integration and gesture and voice control
on top of next-gen hardware and specs. Read More
OX is a lightweight, high-payload truck invented
by toymaker, adventurer, and philanthropist Sir Torquil Norman with the
aim of providing a simple, robust and cost-effective work-horse in
developing nations. The 1,500-kilogram (1.6-ton) truck can be assembled
from a flatpack package within a day and is capable of transporting 13
people, eight 44-gallon oil drums, or a total of 2,000 kilograms (2.2
tons) in weight. Read More
They may not make for the showiest videos, but
some of the most interesting problems in robotics are to do with the
subtleties of human interaction. Even something as apparently simple as
receiving an object poses great difficulty, but it's a problem that will
need to be solved before multipurpose robots are ready for the home. By
building a database of captured human motion, Disney Research and
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology are making strides towards building a
robot that can take an object handed to it by a human. Read More
We’ve seen Pavegen’s energy-harvesting tiles
turning up in a variety of places to harvest some of the kinetic energy
generated while walking or running over them. But a team of students at
Rice University has put the shoe on the other foot with PediPower – a
prototype device that attaches to a shoe to harvest energy generated
when the heel hits the ground. Read More
Slovenia-based designer and engineer Elvis
Halilović (aka ONDU) is a pinhole photography enthusiast who felt there
was a relative absence of appealing durable pinhole cameras on the
market, and so set to work creating his own. This resulted in a range of
six ONDU Pinhole Cameras, each of which differs in size, price, and
film format. Read More
Unsightly underarm sweat patches could soon be a
thing of the past thanks to a new fabric developed at the University of
California, Davis. Instead of simply soaking up sweat like conventional
fabrics, the new fabric is threaded with tiny channels that pull the
sweat from one side to the other where it forms into droplets that drain
away. Read More
Most modern robots look nothing like those
predicted by 1950's era science fiction. But if you’re in the market for
a retro-style robot with world-domination-worthy looks you might want
to dust off your auction paddle. Christie’s auction house is putting the
vintage robot Cygan on the block as part of its Out of the Ordinary sale on September 5. Read More
Lockheed Martin has revealed that an F-35B
fighter jet made its first vertical takeoff on May 10 at Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, Maryland. This follows on the heels of its first
vertical night landing
on April 2 at the same location. The vertical takeoff capability is
designed for moving the strike fighter over short distances in an
emergency when a runway isn't available, but it is not seen as a combat
feature due to its heavy use of fuel. Read More
With its previous circumnavigation of the planet,
it had already set the record for longest distance traveled by a purely
solar-powered boat. Now, the Tûranor PlanetSolar (which is also the
world’s largest solar-powered watercraft), has broken its own 2010 record for fastest Atlantic crossing by a solar-powered boat. Read More
Only a select few already have Google Glass
in their hands ... or, rather, on their faces. But if you are an early
owner of Glass, you’re much better off with an Android phone, as an
iPhone can do little more than route calls to the smartglasses. That may
soon change, though, with some help from the jailbreak community. Read More
Developed by British engineer James Bentham, the
Solar Kettle can boil water simply by using sunlight. The portable
thermos-like product uses a special thermal technology to boil water
without the need for any power input, thus making it ideal for camping,
picnics and outdoor activities. Read More
A patch of central London is festooned with pink
this week, which can only mean Clerkenwell Design Week is in session
once more. Lovely old buildings such as the Farmiloe Building, House of
Detention and the Museum of the Order of St. John have opened their
doors to designers and design enthusiasts on the lookout for
inspiration. Armed with a camera, Gizmag went exploring, and was pleased
to see one or two favorites among the novelties. Read More
Clerkenwell Design Week kicked off in London on
Tuesday. Though primarily catering to fans of light shades and soft
office furnishings, there are some interesting and innovative gems
lurking among the event's 60-odd showrooms. Among them was Ying Chang's Sketch Objects, a series of paper plates, bowls and vases waterproofed on the inside with resin. Read More
Urban Green Energy (UGE) recently unveiled its
newest vertical-axis wind turbine, the VisionAIR, as part of an
installation at the Beijing International Garden Expo. The company
confirmed to Gizmag that the VisionAIR is replacing its former 4K turbine, last seen adorning the top of an EV charging station,
as its standard mid-sized option for customers. Compared with the
previous model, the new turbine's design aims for better efficiency at
moderate wind speeds, which UGE plans to integrate with its hybrid
energy projects. Read More
Though at first glance Huvafen Fushi may resemble
a James Bond villain’s undersea lair, it is in fact the world's only
submarine spa. First opened in 2004, the über-exclusive spa, located in
the Maldives' North Male Atoll, was recently redesigned by UK architects
Studio RHE. Read More
If you polled a roomful of smartphone pundits
about the best phone you can buy right now, there’s a good chance plenty
of them would say the HTC One. Hell, we might even say that.
So it’s a bit strange to hear stories of the company bleeding top staff
and continuing to hit hard times ... while simultaneously selling one
of the most important phones of the year. Welcome, HTC. You've
officially entered Bizarro World. Read More
The Pebble smartwatch
is one of the standout Kickstarter success stories, attracting over
US$10 million in funds to exceed its $100,000 more than 100 times over.
Another smartwatch is following a similar trajectory on the crowdfunding
site, exceeding its own $100,000 goal in a day. While the Agent
smartwatch shares some things in with common with the Pebble, it also
boasts a number of features that set it apart. Read More
Clipping your own hair can involve
some complicated acrobatics and multiple mirror arrangements with no
guarantee of satisfactory results. A buzz cut might seem pretty simple
to pull off on your own, but unless you have rubber arms, it can be
mission impossible to get it done evenly all over the head. The Single
Handed Barber promises to make a trim a simple one-person affair. Read More
Gone are the days when all you
wanted from a pair of sneakers or cleats was a little protection and
traction. The new adidas Nitrocharge soccer cleat (or football boot, if
you prefer) takes over from where predecessors like the F50 left off with a raft of "energetic technologies" designed to put a little extra punch into your game. Read More
A typical iPhone charging cable is
between half a meter and a meter in length, and has a slim cord that is
prone to tangles and is not particularly hard-wearing. This combination
is fine for most users and most situations, but Trunk offers an
alternative to the norm. Read More
Plenty of companies build Bluetooth
keyboards for the iPad, with the end goal of trying to make the tablet
function more like a laptop. The problem with most of them is that they
can be costly, and are not built for the rigors of student life. With
this in mind, Logitech is introducing its US$60 Wired Keyboard for iPad,
which offers a more reasonable price tag and an extra helping of
durability. Read More
This wearable tech revolution that we hear so much about keeps getting delayed. First it was Google Glass, which was once expected late this year but is now more likely in early 2014. Now the well-leaked Apple smartwatch (dubbed “iWatch” by the press) might end up being another 2014 release. Late 2014, at that. Read More
Clipping your own hair can involve
some complicated acrobatics and multiple mirror arrangements with no
guarantee of satisfactory results. A buzz cut might seem pretty simple
to pull off on your own, but unless you have rubber arms, it can be
mission impossible to get it done evenly all over the head. The Single
Handed Barber promises to make a trim a simple one-person affair. Read More
Gone are the days when all you
wanted from a pair of sneakers or cleats was a little protection and
traction. The new adidas Nitrocharge soccer cleat (or football boot, if
you prefer) takes over from where predecessors like the F50 left off with a raft of "energetic technologies" designed to put a little extra punch into your game. Read More
While we hear a lot about flexible electronics
that can be gently bent, how about ones that could actually be folded
up? Things like the recently-developed graphite-based paper circuits
definitely show promise, but now researchers from Illinois-based
Northwestern University have taken another step forward – they’ve
created graphene-based inkjet-printable ink. Read More
Google Chrome, one of the best web browsers
around, is available on just about every major platform. And it just got
a little better. Just a week after Google I/O, the search giant has
been busy pushing out big updates to Chrome on desktop, Android, and –
soon – iPhone and iPad. Read More
A typical iPhone charging cable is
between half a meter and a meter in length, and has a slim cord that is
prone to tangles and is not particularly hard-wearing. This combination
is fine for most users and most situations, but Trunk offers an
alternative to the norm. Read More
Plenty of companies build Bluetooth
keyboards for the iPad, with the end goal of trying to make the tablet
function more like a laptop. The problem with most of them is that they
can be costly, and are not built for the rigors of student life. With
this in mind, Logitech is introducing its US$60 Wired Keyboard for iPad,
which offers a more reasonable price tag and an extra helping of
durability. Read More
Yahoo has just given Flickr its biggest makeover
to date. Users of the photo-sharing behemoth now get a terabyte of free
storage space, and the whole site has been given an updated
image-centric look and feel. Other changes include the ability to upload
larger images or videos, and new account options. Read More
Although no one is announcing a cure for
Alzheimer’s disease just yet, research recently conducted at the
University of Southern California does at least offer a glimmer of hope.
Using drugs known as TSPO (translocator protein) ligands, scientists
there have successfully halted and even reversed the effects of
Alzheimer’s in mice. Read More
One major obstacle that's been holding the Recon
Instruments heads-up display from really taking off is that it was
designed for goggles. That's great for niche sports like skiing,
snowboarding and skydiving,
but it's useless for more common activities like running and cycling.
The company is working to address that inherent shortcoming with the
Jet, a pair of heads-up display sunglasses with a much more ambitious
set of sporting and non-sporting uses. Read More
Emergency rescue beacons from SPOT have been
slowly but surely moving toward a satellite device that provides
seamless real-time communication around the world – in other words, a
satellite phone. The company has moved from pre-written messaging to
custom type-and-send messaging, and with the new SPOT Global Phone, it
now adds capabilities for real-time voice. The phone keeps you connected
with friends, family and rescue agents even when you're standing in the
middle of a roadless, fly-in wilderness in Alaska. Read More
Most of us, at one time or another,
have forgotten to water houseplants or flowers sitting in a vase in our
homes. It's very easy to do, particularly if you have a busy lifestyle
and one too many chores to do each day. If only housebound flowers and
plants had a way of communicating with us their need for a drink ... Now
they do, thanks to Water Balance. Read More
Six week-old Kaiba Gionfriddo was out at a
restaurant with his family, when he stopped breathing and started
turning blue. It turned out that he had a severe form of
tracheobronchomalacia, a rare condition in which the trachea collapses
due to flaccid supporting cartilage. Although he survived that incident,
he proceeded to stop breathing on a regular basis, requiring daily
resuscitation. Given the seriousness of the situation, his doctors
decided to go for broke and try something new – an implanted 3D-printed
tracheal support splint. Read More
In past years, HTC had flooded the market with
phone after phone, each only slightly different from the last. Now it’s
all about the HTC One: the high-end flagship that just might be the top smartphone of the year. But that doesn’t mean HTC can put all
of its eggs into that basket. You ignore the mid-range at your own
peril. So HTC is taking care of business on that end of town with the
new Desire 600. Read More
It’s been a busy month for UAVs with some launching from aircraft carriers and others saving lives.
Now, the US Navy’s latest unmanned Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft
System, has taken to the skies. This Wednesday, the 47.6-foot (14.5-m)
aircraft, powered by a Rolls-Royce AE 3007 turbofan engine, took off
from Palmdale, California. It was under the control of Navy and
Northrop Grumman personnel, as part of a series of tests to certify the
system for fleet operations. Read More
Most of us, at one time or another,
have forgotten to water houseplants or flowers sitting in a vase in our
homes. It's very easy to do, particularly if you have a busy lifestyle
and one too many chores to do each day. If only housebound flowers and
plants had a way of communicating with us their need for a drink ... Now
they do, thanks to Water Balance. Read More
Patch Planter isn't the first self-watering herb planter to cross our radar: that would be the AeroGarden.
But where that product was an all-singing, all-dancing "kitchen garden
appliance," Patch is a much more down to earth and affordable piece of
design, and one that doesn't require a power supply. Read More
For its design of the Kempart loft in Liège,
Belgian company Dethier Architectures wanted to throw out the style book
for converting industrial buildings into loft apartments, which it
promptly did with the help of an aluminum pod inspired by a classic
piece of American design. Read More
Most land-dwelling animals with skeletons (exo or
endo) have the ability to jump. It is of particular importance to
survival, as running primarily consists of a long series of jumps.
Without the ability to jump, a robot's freedom to move around is
limited, something that is particularly true of smaller robots for which
even relatively narrow trenches or low walls can prove too much of an
obstacle. A robotics group at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has
taught a six-legged crawling robot to jump, giving it remarkable
acrobatic capabilities. Read More
IBM’s Watson supercomputer has been riding high for the past couple of years. It won a game of Jeopardy, went to university and did a stint at a cancer lab.
But now it’s taking what might seem like a step down with a job in
customer service. According to IBM, the current avalanche of information
is provoking an oncoming crisis in customer service and the company
sees Watson’s advanced learning and data crunching abilities as a
solution. Read More
Despite being the most common renewable energy
technologies, solar panels and wind turbines still have their
shortcomings. Particularly when it comes to the urban environment. Lack
of space and concerns about noise are just two problems with integrating
them into city settings in an unobtrusive way. That's why Belatchew
Arkitekter wants to try a different approach with its Strawscraper
concept, which proposes transforming the Söder Torn building in
Stockholm into an urban wind farm by covering it in piezoelectric
fibers. Read More
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