If, like me, you've always found ping pong a
little lacking in flashing lights, Pingtime, an augmented reality
project created for the 2013 Rokolectiv Festival in Bucharest, may just
take your fancy. Conceived by Sergiu Doroftei, the arts project augments
an ordinary table tennis table with projections and sounds by equipping
the paddles with sensors and using an infrared camera to track the
ball. Read More
The Change Initiative is Dubai's
first retail store to focus its efforts solely on selling sustainable
products and services, so it's not too surprising that its owners asked
architectural firm HOK to make the premises as green as possible.
However, what's remarkable, is that The Change Initiative is reportedly
being hailed as the world's most sustainable building, when assessed
according to the LEED standard. Read More 
We've all been there; you sit down for a long
flight, and you just can't seem to get your head to stay up so you can
actually get a couple of hours of sleep to pass the time. The fact is,
airplane seats just don't seem to be built for comfortable sleeping. A
new product called NapAnywhere is designed to rectify the situation by
supporting your head and allowing you to sleep comfortably, even while
sitting straight up. Read More
If you're the proud parent of a sleek and glassy
iPhone, and an owner of a small child (wait … what? – Ed) you'll know
that objects don't have to be childish in appearance to hold appeal to
children. It's perhaps with this in mind that the SmartPlayhouse was
designed, being a small cage or holding pen (or playhouse, surely – Ed)
in which to ensnare and detain children (I give up – Ed), while having a
nicely modern, clean appearance. Read More
If you have ever wished you could experience
weightlessness but cant afford space tourism, then a Dusseldorf art
gallery may get you closer, as long as you wear sturdy shoes. The
"in-orbit" multi-level art installation by Tomás Saraceno is suspended
20m (60 ft) above the piazza of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen
gallery. The Argentinian architect and artist’s largest work to date
aims to resemble a cloud landscape for those brave enough to walk
through it. Read More
Researchers at the University of California Santa
Cruz have developed a 3D display which can also be viewed in 2D without
glasses, and without the blurred effect caused by overlapping images.
Though, as you'd expect, the screen displays both left and right images,
it also emits a mysterious third image which is the key to the
technology. Read More
Ebay has teamed up with a host of 3D
printing specialists to launch an iOS app named ebay Exact which lets
users customize iPhone cases, jewelry and other odds and ends. Read More 
There's no doubt that mobile electronic devices
have revolutionized our daily lives. A smartphone and laptop, both
equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, provide mobile computing capabilities
only dreamed of a decade or two ago. If only the batteries would keep
up. While portable fuel cells have been proposed for a decade as a
solution to the requirement for more portable power, actually making
such a beast has proven commercially impractical. Now Lilliputian
Systems, Inc., an MIT spinoff company, is manufacturing the Nectar, a
USB recharger based on a butane fuel cell. Read More
A production version of Lightning Motorcycle
Corp's Electric Superbike has won this year's Pikes Peak International
Hill Climb among two wheelers (both gas and electric) with a time of 10
minutes and 0.964 seconds. The nearest competitor, racing a Ducati
Multistrada, finished with a time nearly 20 seconds slower. Read More
European automakers aren’t averse to producing vehicles of the two-wheeled, pedal-powered variety. BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz
all offer a range of bicycles, with most also adding electric bikes to
their line ups in recent years. Peugeot is no exception and recently
previewed its latest ebike, the AE21 Hybrid, at the “Who’s Next” show in
Paris. Read More
Anyone that camps long enough is
bound to do it, probably a few times – trip on a guy line or stub his
toe on a metal stake. The new StakeLight from UCO lights up the stake to
prevent this common scenario. Read More
Diapers usually rank very low on the list of items in need of a high-tech upgrade, despite products like the TweetPee
recently hitting the market. But unlike a Twitter-enabled diaper, which
provides information that anyone with a nose could figure out on their
own, a new diaper from Pixie Scientific could actually warn parents of
health issues before they become serious. The Smart Diaper uses several
reactive agents and an app to monitor irregularities in an infant's
urine over time and alerts parents if they need to visit a doctor. Read More
Anyone that camps long enough is
bound to do it, probably a few times – trip on a guy line or stub his
toe on a metal stake. The new StakeLight from UCO lights up the stake to
prevent this common scenario. Read More
bRight from SRI International has been designed
to make life a little easier for folks who need to make snap decisions
in time critical situations, but are faced with an overwhelming amount
of information flowing in all at once. In addition to offering task
automation and data filtering, the system can predict the actions,
behavior and needs of a user or group based on previous activity and
active monitoring systems. Read More
Grilling can be quite rewarding and enjoyable,
but it can also be a hassle. Hunching over the hot, sizzling grates
while your friends hang out, enjoy beer and tell old college stories
about you can get tired fast. The new BBiQ lets you drop your spatula
and unchain yourself from the grill while guaranteeing that your food
doesn't suffer. Read More
Yamaha's updated DTX502 Series e-drums made their
US debut at the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville at the weekend, and are
now ready to ship. The three new kits were originally launched at
Hamburg's Musikmesse in April, and feature revamped drum pads, a
realistic vertical-motion hi-hat, a lighter steel rack, and a brand new
trigger module that the company claims is more powerful than anything in
its class. Read More
In internet engineering, there’s a problem called
the “last half mile," which looks at how to connect users to high-speed
fiber optic networks without going through old-fashioned copper wires
that can slow data down to a crawl. NASA has more of a “last 250 miles”
problem in making data connections with the International Space Station
(ISS). The upcoming Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS)
project is an optical technology demonstration for using lasers to
improve communications with the ISS and other spacecraft in hopes of
boosting connection speeds by a factor of 10 to 100. Read More
Though facial recognition software has been in
our homes for some time (having been a feature in Picasa and iPhoto
since 2009), the prospect of being the unwitting subject of similar
technology while out and about is an alien one. That could be about to
change thanks to the announcement of OptimEyes, a system designed to be
fitted to digital advertising hoardings in Europe to gauge just who is
paying attention. Read More
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope
has discovered a previously undetected moon orbiting the distant gas
giant Neptune. Given the catchy designation of S/2004 N 1, it's thought
to be no more than 12 miles across, making it the smallest of the
planet's 14 moons. Read More
It may consist of only three pieces, but at under
a millimeter in size each, we imagine this jigsaw puzzle made at the
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a little on the fiddly side.
The researchers involved used the latest in LIGA technology, which
combines lithography, electroplating and molding, to make objects which
are very tall for their thickness. Read More
The world's largest building has
opened for business in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province,
China. The New Century Global Center boasts a mammoth 1.7 million sq m
(almost 19 million sq ft) of indoor space, which is four fifths the size
of Monaco. Read More
The British government announced on
Tuesday that it has authorized an investment of £60 million in the Skylon spaceplane. The funds will be used to further develop the revolutionary SABRE engine, which is designed to power the Skylon into orbit and back without the need for outside boosters or tanks. Read More
One of the problems with the Microsoft Surface RT
and Windows RT in general, was the lack of a decent email client. While
the Surface RT comes with Office Home and Student Edition installed for
free, it doesn’t include Outlook. This leaves users with the bleak and
underwhelming Mail app, or bouncing between web-based email accounts in
IE. But Microsoft is about to patch this hole with the upcoming of
release of the Windows RT 8.1 update. Read More
The line between art and technology isn't just
being blurred, it's being erased altogether. Painting and sketching from
photographs and life, for example, is a technique that is now being
mastered by robots. The latest, called eDavid, combines a camera,
computer vision software, and a standard welding robot arm to skillfully
recreate (in a variety of styles no less) any image you feed its
software. It seems that even art, a cornerstone of human ingenuity since
the dawn of man, isn't safe from a robot takeover. Read More
Today more and more people use smartphones
and tablets as their main computing devices. But these devices
typically don't have physical keyboards, and that leaves the door open
for innovation and creative alternatives. Take, for example, the Celluon
Epic projection keyboard. Read on, as Gizmag goes hands-on with a
device that will turn any flat surface into a full QWERTY keyboard. Read More
It's one of the most memorable moments in perhaps the best James Bond film, From Russia with Love:
SPECTRE agent Rosa Klebb, posing as a hotel maid, drops her gun, and
appears to be at a disadvantage as she goes toe to toe with Sean
Connery's imposing Bond. That is until she deploys her iconic
poison-tipped dagger shoes, which have gone on to be copied in other
notable action films … and Wild Wild West. But as kitsch as
Klebb's cleaver clogs might seem, the CIA attempted to replicate them,
and another classic Bond gadget, in real life, according to research by
Dr. Christopher Moran of Warwick University. At the heart of the story
is the close friendship of Bond author and Ian Fleming and former CIA
Director Allen Dulles. Gizmag spoke to Moran about 20th century
Intelligence, and its peculiar relationship with the fictional British
spy … Read More
Autonomous cars will be tested on UK roads before
the end of the year, according to a government policy paper published
on Tuesday. According to the BBC, trials will take place on less busy
rural and suburban roads, using what the paper describes as a
semi-autonomous mode which will allow a driver to take control of the
vehicle if necessary. A driver will ride along during all tests for
safety reasons. Read More
The world's largest building has
opened for business in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province,
China. The New Century Global Center boasts a mammoth 1.7 million sq m
(almost 19 million sq ft) of indoor space, which is four fifths the size
of Monaco. Read More
Stand-up paddleboarding has been one of the
fastest growing outdoor sports in recent years. It's been growing so
fast that even general interest publications like Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal
have taken notice. New start-up outfit Nocqua believes it has a way to
make paddleboarding even more fun and popular, empowering paddlers to
get out in the dead of night. Read More
The British government announced on
Tuesday that it has authorized an investment of £60 million in the Skylon spaceplane. The funds will be used to further develop the revolutionary SABRE engine, which is designed to power the Skylon into orbit and back without the need for outside boosters or tanks. Read More
One of the problems with the Microsoft Surface RT
and Windows RT in general, was the lack of a decent email client. While
the Surface RT comes with Office Home and Student Edition installed for
free, it doesn’t include Outlook. This leaves users with the bleak and
underwhelming Mail app, or bouncing between web-based email accounts in
IE. But Microsoft is about to patch this hole with the upcoming of
release of the Windows RT 8.1 update. Read More
After linking the world for 167 years, the
commercial electric telegraph is no more. The speed with which
electromagnetic telegraph systems took over both short- and
long-distance communication in the mid 19th century set the pattern
which telephones and the internet would follow, spawning the connected
world we now live in. The closing down of India's state-run Bharat
Sanchar Nigam, Ltd. (BSNL) network on Monday sparked a last-minute rush
of people looking to send a souvenir telegram to mark the historic event
before the electric telegraph was relegated to the history books. Read More
With robots doing everything from milking cows to crop dusting,
farming has come a long way since they days of plodding along behind a
horse and plow. Irrigation practices are also benefiting from advances
in technology. The large-scale WaterBee smart irrigation and water
management system is a case in point: it allows farmers use their
smartphones to not only switch on the water where and when it’s needed,
but also to get up to the minute information on field conditions. Read More
Deer Trail, Colorado (population 600
or so) is to vote on a local ordinance that would allow drone hunting
licenses and bounties for shooting down UAVs, according to ABC affiliate
KMGH-TV. Read More
Having a GPS-enabled device with a
built-in digital compass in your pocket is nothing special these days,
but there's still room for improvement when it comes to the usability of
these functions. The Navigo rises to this challenge by putting a
digital compass on your wrist and giving it the ability to guide you
using vibrations, as well as link wirelessly to mapping information on
your smartphone. Read More
Sporting a 1000cc engine borrowed
from a Honda VTR Firestorm and wearing all-terrain rubbers, the one-off
Mean Mower from Honda UK just turned grass removal into an extreme
sport. Read More
We've already seen 1 TB-plus capacity solid state drives (SSDs) from the likes of Smart and OCZ,
and today Samsung announced it was joining the club with the addition
of a new EVO line to its popular 840 SSD lineup. Samsung says the
consumer-oriented 840 EVO models will offer up to 1 TB of storage and
boast write times up to three times faster than previous 840 Series
SSDs. Read More
Deer Trail, Colorado (population 600
or so) is to vote on a local ordinance that would allow drone hunting
licenses and bounties for shooting down UAVs, according to ABC affiliate
KMGH-TV. Read More
The original Plants vs. Zombies was a
casual gaming classic. It had the perfect blend of quirky humor,
memorable characters, and just-challenging-enough strategy. Most of all,
it was a blast to play. Now, four years later, PopCap Games returns
with the long-anticipated follow-up, Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. Does it hold a candle to its predecessor? Read on, as Gizmag puts it through the paces. Read More
Having a GPS-enabled device with a
built-in digital compass in your pocket is nothing special these days,
but there's still room for improvement when it comes to the usability of
these functions. The Navigo rises to this challenge by putting a
digital compass on your wrist and giving it the ability to guide you
using vibrations, as well as link wirelessly to mapping information on
your smartphone. Read More
Super-black nanotechnology might sound like
something ripped from the pages of a comic book, but instead of being in
the hands of a super-villain, it's a NASA-researched technology that is
set to make spacecraft instruments more sensitive without increasing
their size. John Hagopian, an optics engineer at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, and his team have demonstrated the ability to grow a
uniform layer of carbon nanotubes on oddly shaped platforms, which will
extend the potential of the technology by allowing nanotubes to be grown
on 3D components. Read More
Sure, flat-pack furniture is inexpensive and easy
to transport, but when you open the box the first question almost
everyone asks is, “Wouldn't it be great if it would assemble itself?”
You could get a robot
to help, but engineers at the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory are
working on ways to get objects to assemble themselves ... and they might
give 3D printing a run for its money at the same time. Read More
Twenty years of bleeding-edge supercars,
nostalgic classics, soaring bikes, grumbling racers and motorsport
royalty were celebrated at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Goodwood shared its anniversary with a number of friends, including Aston Martin, McLaren and the Porsche 911,
in an event that saw a record 196,000 visitors enjoy a warm weekend
filled with tire smoke, hill climbing and auto sightseeing of the
highest order. Read More
Buying furniture usually means you're stuck with
it for many years, until it either needs replacing or you can justify
the cost of updating it with something newer. One simple way of changing
things up is to buy modular furniture that can configured in a number
of different ways. If chosen well this kind of purchase can last not
only the ravages of time but also adapt to an individual's changing
tastes and style. Which is where Build, a modular honeycomb-like
furniture system, comes in. Read More
NFC has been hailed as the next big thing for a
few years now, but adoption has been a lot slower than anticipated with
people required to update their phones to NFC-capable models to take
advantage of the technology. Brazilian startup Kinetics has developed a
new communication technology called NearBytes that allows data transfer
between older smartphones, including all existing Android and iOS
smartphones, by using sound. Read More
Sporting a 1000cc engine borrowed
from a Honda VTR Firestorm and wearing all-terrain rubbers, the one-off
Mean Mower from Honda UK just turned grass removal into an extreme
sport. Read More 
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