Multi-tone performance pickup specialist AweSome
Musical Instruments has unveiled what's claimed to be the first
commercially available 3D-printed guitar made in the US. Touted as
virtually impossible to break (though the same can't be said for the
supplied light gauge strings), the Les Paul-style AWE-3DG also sports a
bank of rather interesting pickup selectors that open the door to
otherwise hidden coil combinations for up to 76 different analog tones.
Read More
It was fourth time lucky for Boeing’s X-51A
Waverider, as it blasted into the history books on Monday. The fourth
test of the hypersonic drone achieved the longest scramjet-powered
hypersonic flight yet, hitting a top speed of Mach 5.1. Dropped from a
B-52H bomber out of Edwards Air Force Base in California, the unmanned
craft flew at top speed for three and a half minutes before it made a
controlled dive into the Pacific Ocean after six minutes of flight. Read More
If you need to cut across town, sliding behind
the wheel of your car is not always the most practical or quickest way
to get from train station to office, office to gym, or gym to juice bar.
While public transport serves most inner cities well, the thought of
zipping quietly and effortlessly through the thronging masses is one
that has great appeal. If you can just collapse your vehicle down to a
fraction of its size at the end of your journey, all the better. Such is
the case with a soon-to-be-released three-wheeled, stand-and-ride
electric scooter named MUVe, which transforms into a suitcase-sized
trolley between rides. Read More
If you really wanted to impress people with your home theater, what would you do? Perhaps model it after the Bat Cave, or show movies that were still in the cinemas? Well, now there’s another choice. If you’ve got the cash, you could build your own IMAX Private Theater. Read More
This morning at 6:12 am PST, the
Solar Impulse solar-powered airplane took off from San Francisco’s
Moffett Airfield, beginning the first leg of its planned flight across the U.S. Read More 
RobotLabs has launched a KickStarter campaign to
develop a robot lawnmower. Though that may not sound particularly new,
the company claims other automated lawnmowers aren't true robots because
they don't adhere to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. In other
words, they're not safe enough, RobotLabs claims. RobotLabs claims its
SmartMow is different, shutting down almost instantaneously when people
or animals get close. Read More
A Princeton University team has successfully
merged electronics and biology to create a functional ear that can
“hear” radio frequencies. The tissue and antenna were merged via the use
of an “off-the -shelf” 3D printer, and the results have the potential
to not only restore but actually enhance human hearing in the future.
Read More
Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill
Architecture has unveiled plans for Imperial Tower, which would become
Mumbai's tallest building and surely one of the world's most slender
skyscrapers, should it come to be built. Read More 
Three years ago, Google's Eric Schmidt announced
that every two days, more information is created than was the case from
the dawn of humanity up to 2003. According to IMS Research, by 2020
web-connected devices will create 2.5 quintillion bytes of information
every day, with 22 billion internet of things devices up-belching
information to the web. To marshal all that data, IBM has come up with a
platform it calls MessageSight, which will allow any one organization
to pool information from up to a million sensors and devices, at a rate
of 13 million messages per second. Read More
A sub-brand of China’s First Auto Works (FAW),
the Hongqi has been China’s answer to the Rolls Royce since 1958 when it
was first manufactured under the direction of Chairman Mao Zedong. The
Hongqi (which means Red Flag) is enjoying a newfound resurgence as we
discovered recently at the Shanghai Auto Show. Read More
If you find the toast popping up in
the morning too much to handle, then the Arzum Firrin toaster may be
more your speed. Winner of the 2012 Design Turkey award, the Firrin
forgoes alarming pop-out mechanisms for a more sedate sliding tray that
is not only easier on the nerves, but also allows the toaster to handle a
wide variety of rolls, bagels and other doughy products. Read More
Ordinarily seen as a waste product,
the husks of sunflower seeds could be used to make concrete, according
to research out of Turkey. Not only are the husks a sustainable source
of aggregate, it's claimed that the resulting concrete is more resistant
to cracking during post-freeze thaws. Read More
Why do power stations always look like power
stations? That's the tacit question behind AZPA's proposal for a new gas
power station in Wedel, Germany, which it envisages as a "green
mountain" of topiary. The idea is not so much to disguise the plant as
it is to turn it into a local attraction. Read More
Aside from the inconvenience of injecting insulin
multiple times a day, type 1 diabetics also face health risks if the
dosage level isn’t accurate. A new approach developed by US researchers
has the potential to overcome both of these problems. The method relies
on a network of nanoscale particles that once injected into the body,
can maintain normal blood sugar levels for more than a week by releasing
insulin when blood-sugar levels rise. Read More
The winning proposal for the new Ferraz Antarctic
station has been announced by the Brazilian navy at an event in Rio de
Janeiro. The design by Curitiba-based Estúdio 41 takes into account the
challenge of extreme weather conditions and aims to minimize
environmental impact while adapting to the topography of the building
site on the Keller Peninsula. Read More
If you find the toast popping up in
the morning too much to handle, then the Arzum Firrin toaster may be
more your speed. Winner of the 2012 Design Turkey award, the Firrin
forgoes alarming pop-out mechanisms for a more sedate sliding tray that
is not only easier on the nerves, but also allows the toaster to handle a
wide variety of rolls, bagels and other doughy products. Read More
A good wool shirt is awesome, but would you wear
one for 100 days straight without washing it? Kickstarter startup Wool
& Prince claims that you can do exactly that with its buttondown
shirts, which it handed out to 15 “wear testers” who wore them while
engaging in such activities as backpacking in the Andes and dancing in
"Tropical" NYC clubs. According to the makers, the shirts not only
proved durable, but still looked – and smelled – fresh after over three
months of straight wear. Read More
As Porsche celebrates 50 years of its iconic 911,
it’s only fitting that the fastest and most advanced models of the
line-up should get a makeover. The next-gen 911 Turbo and Turbo S have
received several technical revisions to enhance handling and make the
fast even faster, with the S model leaping from 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds.
This hi-tech generation is similar to its ancestors in name only. Read More
When most people send images from their
smartphones, they tend to be of what the photographer is having for
dinner or someone doing something very silly in the pub [or cats – Ed].
NASA has raised the bar for phone snaps out of the atmosphere by using
smartphones installed in "nanosatellites" in low Earth orbit to send
back images of the Earth. The three satellites, called Alexander, Graham
and Bell, flew in space between April 21 and 27 as part of a mission to
show how satellites could be built cheaper using off-the-shelf
components. Read More
Ordinarily seen as a waste product,
the husks of sunflower seeds could be used to make concrete, according
to research out of Turkey. Not only are the husks a sustainable source
of aggregate, it's claimed that the resulting concrete is more resistant
to cracking during post-freeze thaws. Read More
Last year we reported on
San Francisco-based startup Boosted Boards' eponymous debut product, an
electric skateboard that can lay credible claim to being the world’s
lightest electric vehicle. The skateboard was the subject of a
successful Kickstarter campaign, and having survived the perils of
moving from pitch to product, is now available for wider pre-order. Read More
Most of us take water for granted. If we want a
drink, we turn a tap or twist a cap and there it is. But if you find
yourself off the beaten track in triple-digit heat without it, locating
some can mean the difference between life and death. Finding a pool of
water in the shade of a rock may seem like a godsend, but then the
question of waterborne diseases raises its head. That’s where the NDūR
Survival Straw comes in. Read More
Acer has announced a new laptop at a press event
in New York which features a new hinge system called "Ezel" that brings
the display closer to the user for easier Windows 8 touch control. The
new Aspire R7 also features a keyboard/trackpad layout redesign, and a
speaker setup that automatically swaps left and right output when the
screen is flipped over for displaying content to the person opposite.
Read More
Emergency beacons are great insurance for
aviators and sailors, but they aren't worth much if a disaster leaves
you in one place and the beacon in another. Just to be safe, you might
as well strap the beacon to your wrist, which is what the Breitling
Emergency II does. The Swiss-made wrist chronograph watch provides those
who travel in remote, risky places with a dual-channel emergency
satellite transmitter that activates with a twist and a yank. Read More
Although countless small companies have tried to commercially develop flying cars over the past several decades, we’re still not seeing Blade Runner-esque
vehicles cruising over our rooftops ... yet. Terrafugia is one of the
groups currently trying to change that situation – a fully-functioning
prototype of its Transition
fixed-wing “roadable airplane” is currently undergoing flight tests,
and was recently cleared for civilian use by the US Federal Aviation
Authority. It still requires a runway for take-off and landing, though,
which kind of clashes with many peoples’ flying car fantasies. Well,
today Terrafugia announced its plans for a hybrid-drive
vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) vehicle, known as the TF-X. Read More
Inventist, the creative mind behind such contraptions as the Solowheel and Hydroglider,
is back with something it calls the Hovertrax. Unfortunately not the
Marty McFly-like personal hover vessel the name implies, Hovertrax is
more akin to a smaller, lighter Segway-like personal transporter. The
small, hands-free device is designed to be both easy to carry and easy
to use. Read More
The Apelle wooden home located in Karjaa, Finland
stands out out from your average eco-home, as it was constructed as if
it were a boat. The building is nestled amidst its natural surroundings
of rock beds and trees, where the utmost care was taken not to disturb
the natural habitat. Designed by architect Marco Casagrande, the unique
home took one year to design and another year to complete construction.
It was built with the help of two local carpenters who usually build
wooden boats – they maintain that the home is actually a boat. Read More
The meaning of the word biomimicry is being
devalued and inflated, to the point that any technology or design with
the vaguest resemblance to something in the natural world tends to have
the word unthinkingly applied to it. PR people in the automotive and
architectural fields are now particularly fond of the word. So it's
refreshing to be able to report on some research that has taken a
detailed look at a natural phenomenon, the armor of a seahorse, and
thought about how it might be applied in the field of robotics. The
researchers think a similar structure of sliding plates could be used to
improve robot arms used for underwater exploration and bomb disposal.
Read More
Romanian non-profit green-tech firm Justin Capra
Foundation for Sustainable Technologies and Inventions (or FITS), has
unveiled the Soleta zeroEnergy range of sustainable off-grid homes. The
flexible dwellings are available in several shapes and sizes, and
combine rustic modular design with the proverbial kitchen sink of energy
saving and producing technologies. Read More
Until now, a beer dropping out of
the sky into the middle of a party has been a feat that only existed in
TV commercials. Thanks to Darkwing Aerials though, attendees at the
Oppikoppi music festival in South Africa can fulfill the dream of beer
lovers everywhere and have a fresh brew delivered to them from above
with the help of a flying drone. Read More 
When you’re facing adversity, what do you do? Do
you act out of fear and desperation? Throw everything against the wall
and hope something will stick? Or do you use it as an opportunity to
refocus, and soar to new heights? HTC chose the latter. The result is
the One, probably the boldest Android phone ever made. But is it also
the best Android phone ever made? Or even – gasp – the best smartphone ever made? Read on, as we review the HTC One. Read More
Instead of traipsing through Florida in search of
the Fountain of Youth, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León might have
been better off turning his search inwards. More specifically, he should
have turned his attention to a region of the brain called the
hypothalamus. At least that’s what research carried out on mice by
scientists at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva
University suggests. They found that the hypothalamus controls many
aspects of aging, opening up the potential to slow down the aging
process by altering signal pathways within that part of the brain. Read More
Until now, a beer dropping out of
the sky into the middle of a party has been a feat that only existed in
TV commercials. Thanks to Darkwing Aerials though, attendees at the
Oppikoppi music festival in South Africa can fulfill the dream of beer
lovers everywhere and have a fresh brew delivered to them from above
with the help of a flying drone. Read More
Acer has announced a new laptop at a press event
in New York which features a new hinge system called "Ezel" that brings
the display closer to the user for easier Windows 8 touch control. The
new Aspire R7 also features a keyboard/trackpad layout redesign, and a
speaker setup that automatically swaps left and right output when the
screen is flipped over for displaying content to the person opposite.
Read More
Emergency beacons are great insurance for
aviators and sailors, but they aren't worth much if a disaster leaves
you in one place and the beacon in another. Just to be safe, you might
as well strap the beacon to your wrist, which is what the Breitling
Emergency II does. The Swiss-made wrist chronograph watch provides those
who travel in remote, risky places with a dual-channel emergency
satellite transmitter that activates with a twist and a yank. Read More
Although countless small companies have tried to commercially develop flying cars over the past several decades, we’re still not seeing Blade Runner-esque
vehicles cruising over our rooftops ... yet. Terrafugia is one of the
groups currently trying to change that situation – a fully-functioning
prototype of its Transition
fixed-wing “roadable airplane” is currently undergoing flight tests,
and was recently cleared for civilian use by the US Federal Aviation
Authority. It still requires a runway for take-off and landing, though,
which kind of clashes with many peoples’ flying car fantasies. Well,
today Terrafugia announced its plans for a hybrid-drive
vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) vehicle, known as the TF-X. Read More
Inventist, the creative mind behind such contraptions as the Solowheel and Hydroglider,
is back with something it calls the Hovertrax. Unfortunately not the
Marty McFly-like personal hover vessel the name implies, Hovertrax is
more akin to a smaller, lighter Segway-like personal transporter. The
small, hands-free device is designed to be both easy to carry and easy
to use. Read More
The Apelle wooden home located in Karjaa, Finland
stands out out from your average eco-home, as it was constructed as if
it were a boat. The building is nestled amidst its natural surroundings
of rock beds and trees, where the utmost care was taken not to disturb
the natural habitat. Designed by architect Marco Casagrande, the unique
home took one year to design and another year to complete construction.
It was built with the help of two local carpenters who usually build
wooden boats – they maintain that the home is actually a boat. Read More
The meaning of the word biomimicry is being
devalued and inflated, to the point that any technology or design with
the vaguest resemblance to something in the natural world tends to have
the word unthinkingly applied to it. PR people in the automotive and
architectural fields are now particularly fond of the word. So it's
refreshing to be able to report on some research that has taken a
detailed look at a natural phenomenon, the armor of a seahorse, and
thought about how it might be applied in the field of robotics. The
researchers think a similar structure of sliding plates could be used to
improve robot arms used for underwater exploration and bomb disposal.
Read More
Romanian non-profit green-tech firm Justin Capra
Foundation for Sustainable Technologies and Inventions (or FITS), has
unveiled the Soleta zeroEnergy range of sustainable off-grid homes. The
flexible dwellings are available in several shapes and sizes, and
combine rustic modular design with the proverbial kitchen sink of energy
saving and producing technologies. Read More
Until now, a beer dropping out of
the sky into the middle of a party has been a feat that only existed in
TV commercials. Thanks to Darkwing Aerials though, attendees at the
Oppikoppi music festival in South Africa can fulfill the dream of beer
lovers everywhere and have a fresh brew delivered to them from above
with the help of a flying drone. Read More
When you’re facing adversity, what do you do? Do
you act out of fear and desperation? Throw everything against the wall
and hope something will stick? Or do you use it as an opportunity to
refocus, and soar to new heights? HTC chose the latter. The result is
the One, probably the boldest Android phone ever made. But is it also
the best Android phone ever made? Or even – gasp – the best smartphone ever made? Read on, as we review the HTC One. Read More
Instead of traipsing through Florida in search of
the Fountain of Youth, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León might have
been better off turning his search inwards. More specifically, he should
have turned his attention to a region of the brain called the
hypothalamus. At least that’s what research carried out on mice by
scientists at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva
University suggests. They found that the hypothalamus controls many
aspects of aging, opening up the potential to slow down the aging
process by altering signal pathways within that part of the brain. Read More
Apple’s image has taken a few hits
in recent months ... at least if you listen to Wall Street types. But
that hasn’t stopped the trusty old rumor mill from spinning story after
story of juicy Apple-flavored tidbits. One of its favorite subjects is
the inevitable iPad mini with Retina Display. According to a prominent analyst, Apple already has two refreshes of the small tablet in the pipeline. Read More
With his surname already linked with the overall Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record
thanks to son Rhys, Rod Millen is focusing his attention on piloting an
electric vehicle up the mountain. During his debut in the electric
division, he'll look to break the EV record in an updated version of the
vehicle that set it: the EV P002 from Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG). Read More
Apple’s image has taken a few hits
in recent months ... at least if you listen to Wall Street types. But
that hasn’t stopped the trusty old rumor mill from spinning story after
story of juicy Apple-flavored tidbits. One of its favorite subjects is
the inevitable iPad mini with Retina Display. According to a prominent analyst, Apple already has two refreshes of the small tablet in the pipeline. Read More
Despite the growing popularity of 3D printers,
being limited to purchase through specialist stores and online shops
means they still occupy a niche market of hobbyists and professional
designers. You can't just waltz into your local office supply store and
pick one up along with a pack of manila folders and paperclips. But
soon, you'll be able to do just that. Office supply chain Staples will
become the first major US retailer to offer 3D printers on its shelves,
starting with the Cube from 3D Systems. Read More
ARM is currently king of the hill when it comes
to mobile devices, with ARM architecture the basis of processors and
systems on a chip (SoC) including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, NVIDIA’s Tegra,
Texas Instruments’ OMAP, the CORTEX series and Apple System on Chips
found in iPhones and iPads. It’s obviously not a situation Intel is
happy with and the company has high hopes that its new Atom chip design called Silvermont will help change the mobile silicon landscape. Read More
The potential for 3D-printed guns
has (unsurprisingly) generated a great deal of controversy, and the
Liberator is no exception. Named after the WWII single shot pistol, this
3D-printed .380 caliber pistol is made of almost entirely of plastic
and looks more like a nozzle for a water hose than a gun. The weapon has
survived multiple firings with very little damage, inspiring enough
confidence that designer Cody Wilson has now tested the gun by hand.
Read More
The robot takeover came a step closer as Northrop
Grumman and the US Navy carried out a successful carrier-style landing
of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator. The test,
which was carried out on Saturday at the Naval Air Station Patuxent
River in Maryland, used a land-based version of an aircraft carrier
cable-arrested landing system as the beginning of the final phase of
testing prior to carrier-based trials planned for later this month. Read More
While the world waits for fully capable smart watches like the rumored iWatch and Neptune Pine, it'll have to be content with watches that provide a bridge to the smartphone. The Pebble Watch
is the most well-known, but it does have some competition. One example
is the new Dew Motion iStick Playtime, a sport-specific armband that
controls key smartphone functions. Read More
The pro versions of Photoshop (and the rest of
Adobe’s Creative Suite) have always had a steep admission fee. In some
cases, we’re talking thousands of dollars. Makes sense for big
companies, but those costs put a bigger strain on self-employed pros and
smaller indie operations. So it makes sense that Adobe’s Creative Cloud
– which lets you rent these apps for a monthly fee – has been such a
big hit. In fact, it’s done well enough that Adobe is closing the door
on its retail Creative Suite apps, putting its full weight behind
subscriptions. Read More
About this time last year, Samsung announced three new Wi-Fi-packing additions
to its NX mirrorless camera range. Since then, smartphone cameras have
come on in leaps and bounds – increasing the megapixel count to within
spitting distance of dedicated cameras, while also bumping up overall
image quality. Rather than square up to the ubiquitous smartphone, like
Samsung's Galaxy Camera
for instance, the new NX2000 reaches out and taps mobile devices on the
shoulder to offer a friendly greeting. Thanks to the inclusion of near
field communication (NFC), that quick tap is all that's needed to set up
direct wireless communication for instant photo sharing and file
backup. Read More
When it’s alive and in the ocean, seaweed serves
as a habitat, spawning ground and food source for marine life. Once it
gets washed ashore, however, it pretty much just rots. Typically, along
beaches in tourist areas, that dead seaweed is simply gathered and taken
to a landfill. Now, however, researchers from Spain’s University of
Alicante have conceived of a new seaweed-removal system that has less
environmental impact, and that allows the seaweed to be used as an
energy source. Read More
Wondering whether the $50 Armani
suit you bought in that alley in Hong Kong is the genuine article? Soon,
there may be a definitive way of knowing. A new system has been
developed, in which designer-specific invisible patterns can be woven
into fabric. Read More
Despite the one-way nature of the trip, it seems
there’s no shortage of people willing to pack their bags and experience
life on Mars. Just two weeks after putting out the call for potential
Mars settlers, Mars One
had received over 78,000 applications from people in over 120
countries. With the application period set to last 19 weeks, the Mars
One selection committees face a daunting task in whittling the numbers
down to the four individuals that will ultimately make the journey that
is planned for September 2022. Read More
While we wait for affordable multi-junction solar cells that are pushing past the 40 percent conversion efficiency
mark to make it out of the lab and onto our roofs, we have to make do
with standard commercial silicon cells that currently max out at around 19 percent.
A team from the University of New South Wales in Australia has found a
way to improve the quality of low-grade silicon, enabling higher
efficiency solar cells to be produced from cheaper, low-grade silicon.
Read More
As the Android world focuses on the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, it’s almost easy to forget about the Nexus 4.
But the latest “pure Google” phone is still ringing up for a nice
off-contract price from Google Play. Is it still a good buy? Or are you
better off getting one of the newer flagships? Let’s see if we can
answer that, as we compare the Nexus 4 and the HTC One. Read More
Earlier this week we reported on a neurological implant
that has been found to accurately predict the onset of epileptic
seizures. But a discovery by researchers at the University of
California, San Francisco (UCSF) could one day render such a device
obsolete. By transplanting a specific type of cell into the brain, the
researchers have been able to cure epilepsy in adult mice, with hopes a
similar treatment could work in humans. Read More
All of the common avalanche safety gear – beacon,
shovel, probe, airbags and breathing devices – are aimed at preventing
burial and/or suffocation. But burial isn't the only way avalanches
cause death. The Canadian Avalanche Centre estimates that somewhere
between a quarter and a third of avalanche deaths are caused by trauma,
not burial. The Mountain Airbag Harness from French manufacturer UBAK
protects against both burial and blunt trauma. Read More
Packing powerful processors supported by a
healthy amount of system memory and storage, modern smartphones are just
like mini computers that can be carried around in your pocket. As a
mobile office, however, such devices do have some practical limitations.
Even with the relatively large display offered by Samsung's new Galaxy S4,
for example, having to use a finger to input text can be a real
productivity killer. What's needed is a comfortable physical keyboard
and more spacious display real estate. That's precisely what's on offer
with the Casetop from Livi Design, a netbook-like LCD panel, keyboard
and battery pack combination that uses a smartphone for its computing
power. Read More
Wondering whether the $50 Armani
suit you bought in that alley in Hong Kong is the genuine article? Soon,
there may be a definitive way of knowing. A new system has been
developed, in which designer-specific invisible patterns can be woven
into fabric. Read More
The Atlantic sturgeon, which is one of the
world’s oldest species of fish, can live up to 60 years, reaching a
length of of 15 feet (4.6 meters) and a weight of over 800 pounds (360
kg). It’s also endangered, due to past overfishing for its caviar. In
order to protect the sturgeon that are left, it’s important to keep
fishermen from catching them accidentally. That’s why researchers at the
University of Delaware and Delaware State University are calling upon
satellites, and an underwater robot known as OTIS. Read More
Scientists from Nottingham have announced that
they've drafted in some expert help with I-BiT, a research project
seeking to treat lazy eye with video games and specially designed 3D
glasses. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is to adapt some popular
PlayStation 3 titles as part of the ongoing project. Read More
With Klik, Australian companies Elenberg Fraser
and Unitised Building have come up with a prefabricated modular building
system they claim is equally suited to knocking up a quick skyscraper
as it is a modern, designer house. It makes sense, then, that the
product is pitched at developers, architects and would-be homeowners,
and that the multiple choice procurement procedure is identical for
each. If you can tick a box, you can design a Klik building, more or
less. Read More
Packing powerful processors supported by a
healthy amount of system memory and storage, modern smartphones are just
like mini computers that can be carried around in your pocket. As a
mobile office, however, such devices do have some practical limitations.
Even with the relatively large display offered by Samsung's new Galaxy S4,
for example, having to use a finger to input text can be a real
productivity killer. What's needed is a comfortable physical keyboard
and more spacious display real estate. That's precisely what's on offer
with the Casetop from Livi Design, a netbook-like LCD panel, keyboard
and battery pack combination that uses a smartphone for its computing
power. Read More
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