In spite of the technological age we live in it
is reported that one-in-five people on this planet still don’t have
access to clean drinking water. To help correct this imbalance, a new,
energy-efficient desalination plant with an expected production capacity
of 30,000 cubic meters per day will be built in the city of Al Khafji,
Saudi Arabia, to serve its 100,000 people. Known more for its computers,
IBM has joined forces with KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and
Technology) to build the plant that will be powered by ultra-high
concentrator photovoltaic (UHCPV) technology - a system with a
concentration greater than 1,500 suns. Read More
Noise in images is generally held to be a bad
thing, but engineers from Princeton University have used a nonlinear
material to steal energy from image noise to reveal hidden or obscured
objects. The engineers see the technology as potentially paving the way
for improvements to radar systems, sonograms and stenography offering
the possibility of allowing pilots to see through fog and doctors to
look inside the human body without surgery Read More
When scientists at the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) tried to apply their expertise in solar cell
technology to build a green LED light from the ground up, they
surprisingly centered the objective at their very first try. In doing so
they solved a long-standing technological problem and paved the way for
the large-scale employment of white LEDs for public and domestic
illumination over the course of the next few years. Read More
The Earth receives more solar energy in one hour
than the human race currently consumes in a year. At least, that’s what
the scientists at Canada’s Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) tell
us. That’s a lot of energy, and it’s going mostly untapped. Why?
Because, we are told, solar collection cells are too inefficient and
expensive to be more widely used. A researcher at UQAM, however, has
come up with new technology that addresses these problems - for the
first time in 20 years, according to Professor Benoît Marsan, there is
an effective, low-cost solar cell. Read More
Inspired by familiar flip-flop beach sandals and
the graceful lines of an orca, designer Liu Yi has created an ergonomic
mouse concept design for people with upper limb disability. As the name
might suggest, the Toe Mouse is gripped by the big and second toe and
moved around to guide the pointer. Sensors at each toe position
determine click action. Read More
For those that like their entertainment as
personal as possible, iTVGoggles has released an update of its ITG-Vidix
video glasses. Along with offering a virtual screen of 50” and up to
three hours on a single charge, they also feature 2GB of internal
memory, a MicroSD slot and a built in media player. Read More
JoyVirtue (JV) has created a vacuum tube
amplifier and speaker set for iPods, complete with a dock, for the
audiophile who finds the common iPod/iPhone dock and speaker systems a
little, well … common. This set up brings out the best in any digital
music collection by converting the often “two-dimensional” flat sound
from a digital source into a high fidelity analogue one, giving your
music more body and fullness. And the classy piece of equipment with its
unique styling is also a sure to be a talking point at the next social
gathering you host. Read More
JVC has announced a new addition to its ProHD
line of camcorders and will be showing it off at the forthcoming NAB
2010 show in Las Vegas. Capable of shooting in high definition 1080p,
the GY-HM790 ships with a 14x Canon HD lens, records to SDHC via dual
slots and benefits from a host of modular possibilities. Read More
Kerosene can be nasty stuff. Kerosene lanterns in
particular can lead to fires, explosions, asphyxiation, and toxic
fumes. In some of the world’s poorest regions, unfortunately, kerosene
lanterns are the standard form of nighttime lighting. The folks over at
England’s Plus Minus Solar tell us that every 20 seconds, someone is
killed by such a device. That’s why Plus Minus has developed a
solar-powered light called the Solar Pebble, that is targeted for
humanitarian use in sub-Saharan Africa... or for patio use in suburban
London. Read More
ASUS has announced U.S. availability of its U30Jc
Intel Core notebook. The U30Jc features NVIDIA Optimus technology which
monitors programs being launched and chooses the appropriate
performance profile to suit. Swapping between discreet and integrated
graphics depending on need helps ensure the best graphical experience
while keeping an eye on best energy usage at the same time. Read More
Prefab makes all software open source
By Paul Ridden
April 5, 2010
Researchers from the University of Washington
have managed to add customization and accessibility options to
proprietary software without even touching the source code. Rather than
alter program code, Prefab looks for the pixels associated with the
blocks of code used to paint applications to a screen, grabs hold of
them and then alters them according to whatever enhancements the user
has chosen to apply. Any user input is then fed back to the original
software, still running behind the enhanced interface. Read More
Sharp has revealed a glasses-free 3.4in
stereoscopic LCD touchscreen display for use in digital cameras,
smartphones and other handheld devices. The company claims that the new
screen offers the highest brightness in the industry, reduced crosstalk
and can easily be switched between 2D and 3D mode. Read More
Seiko has unveiled a new E-Ink watch which
features a high-res active matrix display. Building upon the ultra-thin,
high contrast, wide viewing angle and low power consumption properties
of the world’s first "Electronic Ink" watch
showcased at Baselworld 2005, Seiko says its new technology "allows
figures, text and graphics to appear on the dial in a much soother and
infinitely programmable way." Read More
World trade suffered the biggest decline in more
than 70 years in 2009, but is set to rebound with 9.5% growth in 2010,
according to the WTO.
The global economic crisis sparked a 12.2% contraction in the volume of
global trade, though measured in US dollars, global exports fell by a
whopping 23% from the 2008 peak, due mainly to falling oil prices and a
sharp contraction in global demand for all types of goods, especially
consumer durables (e.g. automobiles) and investment goods (e.g.
industrial machinery). Though China's exports fell by 16% in value in
2009, China finally became the world's largest exporter in 2009, a
mantle it can be expected to hold for the forseeable future. Read More
The NTF 4.0, a car built by a team of students
from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, achieved an astonishing 2,487.5
mpg (US) a week ago at the 2010 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas in Houson,
Texas. The feat earned the team the $US5,000 grand prize in the
Prototype category, in which fuel-efficiency can be achieved through
designs that are... well, that are as radically streamlined and
lightweight as possible, really. The combustion-engined NTF (any ideas
what that stands for?) was by no means the only impressive vehicle at
the event, however. Read More
Despite being arguably one of the most
well-rounded athletes in history, Michael Jordan's exploits on the
baseball diamond didn't go close to matching the heights he achieved on
the basketball court. Indeed, it's so uncommon to achieve world
competitiveness in more than one sport, there's no word to describe
(polysport?) such notables as Jim Thorpe, Lionel Conacher, Babe Didrikson, John Surtees and Denis Compton.
World 2007 F1 champ Kimi Raikkonen is the latest to achieve
international success in two sports, finishing eighth in the Jordan
Round of the World Rally Championship this weekend, scoring world
championship points in his second sport and just his third WRC rally.
Read More
The last thing the world needs right now is more
discarded food packaging, which is why it’s good to hear that Frito-Lay
is about to introduce a 100% compostable bag for their SunChips snacks
in the US and Canada. Made with plant-based polylactic acid, the new
bags will completely biodegrade within about 14 weeks when placed in a
hot, active compost bin. Read More
With its new line of Valet wireless routers,
Cisco is promising to take away the strain of setting up and managing a
home network. Getting the network ready to go is claimed to be as simple
as placing an Easy Setup Key into a USB port and following three short
steps offered by the Cisco Connect software. Read More
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of
Technology have created the world's first self-powered sensors at the
nanometric scale. Tiny generators embedding thousands of nanowires
produce electricity whenever the wires are subjected to mechanical
strain, and can be used to power microscopic sensors without the need
for batteries. Read More
The results are in. Only one major browser
remained standing at the end of the Pwn2Own 2010 contest at this year's
CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, the rest fell with relative
ease. On the operating table were the latest versions of Microsoft
Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari -
but which one lived to tell the tale? Read More
Hyundai has announced that its all-new 2011
Sonata will be the first vehicle to offer gasoline direct-injection
(GDI), twin-scroll turbochargers and full-hybrid powertrains. Unveiled
at the New York auto show, the Sonata Hybrid is Hyundai’s first hybrid
in the US market. Its Hybrid Blue Drive can operate on an electric
motor, gasoline internal combustion engine or a combination of the two
depending on driving conditions and driver demands. It's also the only
hybrid using lithium polymer battery technology. Read More
According to the US Fire Administration more than
40 clothes dryers catch fire in the U.S. every day. Annually between
2002 and 2004 clothes dryers were involved in an estimated 15,600
structure fires, fifteen deaths, 400 injuries, and US$99 million in
direct property damage. One of the main culprits in dryer-related fires
is lint. As it builds up it restricts airflow, not only creating a fire
hazard, but also wasting energy. The LintAlert combats this needless
destruction and waste of electricity by alerting homeowners to any
blockage or restriction in the vent system of the dryer. Read More
THINK has chosen New York as the first port of
call in its push to capture a slice of the electric-vehicle market in
the United States. The 100 mile range THINK City Electric Car
will be rolled-out in New York and "other select cities" later this
year with plans to begin manufacturing the THINK City in Elkhart,
Indiana from early 2011. Read More
With the TV heavyweights unleashing a torrent of 3D LCD and plasma TVs
on us this year it would be easy to assume that those are the only
technologies capable of providing 3D viewing in the home. A small Los
Gatos, California-based startup called HDI is out blow such assumptions
out of the water with what it says is a superior 3D alternative. By all
reports the company’s laser-driven 100-inch 2D/3D Switchable Dynamic
Video Projection Television delivers a stunning 3D picture, thanks in
part to its boasting the highest refresh rate of any mass-produced
television or projector. Read More
It will be like going from black-and-white
television to high definition color TV - that’s how researchers at
America’s Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have envisioned an
upcoming leap forward in undersea acoustic imaging. Tim Stanton and
Andone Lavery have developed and tested two broadband acoustic systems
that leave conventional single-frequency systems eating their dust... or
water droplets, or whatever. Developed over 20 years, the new
technology could revolutionize oceanography, and also has huge
commercial and military potential. Read More
Lithium-air battery technology looks to have a
big future. With the potential of providing energy densities up to three
times that of the conventional lithium-ion batteries found in just
about every portable consumer electronics device going around (not to
mention the incoming wave of electric vehicles), many companies,
including IBM and General Motors are pursuing work on lithium-air
batteries. Now researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough that could
help make the commercial development of lightweight rechargeable
batteries a reality. Read More
From Hanwha Japan Co., Ltd. comes a video camera
specifically designed to be used as a black box video recording system
for your car. The UMAZONe X-Vue K3 is a compact camera that can hold up
to 2 hours of video footage if you use the 2 gigabyte SD memory card
that comes included. When the memory card is full, the camera will
continue on a continuous loop by deleting the old files and starting
anew. Read More
The hype surrounding the launch of the iPad
has translated into some serious sales figures with Apple reporting
that it sold over 300,000 iPads in the US as of midnight Saturday, April
3. The company also says that over one million apps and over 250,000
ebooks were downloaded on the first day. Read More
Leaf has just announced a new professional-level
56 megapixel digital camera back with the world's widest medium format
internal rotating sensor, touchscreen display, 16-bit color and 12-stop
dynamic range. The Aptus-II 10R is compatible with most of the
Hasselblad V series as well as other camera systems from the likes of
Mamiya and Fuji via an adapter. Read More
As of July 1st, the city of Denver, Colorado will
be lit by two suns. There will be the usual big one that shines
throughout the day, but there will also be a smaller one that rises in
the evening, climbs up the side of the Minoru Yasui office building
throughout the night, then sets in the morning. That’s the plan, at
least, for Brooklyn artist Adam Frank’s permanent installation entitled
SUNLIGHT. Appropriately enough, the whole thing will be solar-powered.
Read More
Increasing numbers of countries turning to desalination
plants to bolster dwindling water supplies with most new facilities
making use of reverse osmosis technology. Unfortunately these systems
are susceptible to clogging and membrane damage, which places higher
energy demands on the pumping system and necessitates costly cleanup and
membrane replacement. Now researchers have unveiled a new class of
reverse-osmosis membrane that resists the clogging that typically occurs
when seawater, brackish water and waste-water are purified. Read More
Honda's U3-X personal mobility device
which so impressed us at the Tokyo Motor show last year has made its
first appearance on U.S. shores. The unique multi-directional,
self-balancing one-wheeler is currently taking part in a three day
demonstration New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square with a
second event scheduled for April 13-15, at the 2010 Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress in Detroit, Michigan. Read More
Renault is making getting in and out of its New
Clio easier for Europeans with the introduction of Europe’s first
original equipment swivel seat. Comprising a swivel base located beneath
the original front passenger seat the optional swivel seat turns
through 75 degrees at the pull of a lever situated underneath it. The
seat locks automatically into place to ensure the passenger isn’t doing
the twist as the vehicle is being driven. Read More
Wayward drivers could soon be getting a nudge in
the right direction thanks to a computer program created by researchers
from North Carolina State University. The program allows a computer to
understand what a camera is looking at and makes decisions based on what
it sees. If a car strays from its lane the program will detect the lane
change and set the car back on course without human control. Read More
Let’s start by saying Gizmag doesn’t condone any
form of smoking – they’re all bad for you. But we recognize that
millions of people do, and it’s not just the extra cost on the community
for smoking-related illnesses that irks most non-smokers, it’s also the
trillions of cigarette butts that end up littering our sidewalks,
roadways, parks, etc., many of which end up in our waterways. Greenbutts
wants to tackle the problem with a 100 percent biodegradable cigarette
filter... with extra benefits. The manufacturers say when a green butt
is placed under a thin layer of soil it sprouts into green grass shoots
or even blooming flowers. Read More
Toshiba is heading for the U.S. compact digital
camcorder market with the introduction of the full-HD Camelio range. Due
to hit stores on April 19, the new line is made up of the pocket-sized,
3.5 ounce S20 and two compact touch-screen models - the H30 and X100.
All units include HDMI output, 3-inch LCD monitor, Internet upload
hotkey and support for SD/SDHC memory cards. Read More
Just the other day we brought you the story of SUNLIGHT,
an art project featuring a giant solar-powered projection of the sun.
It was designed and is being installed by Brooklyn artist Adam Frank.
Upon looking over Mr Frank’s website we found an interesting little
projector-type thingy-ma-jig that you can set up right in your own home.
It’s called REVEAL, and it simulates the sun-cast shadows of a window
frame and swaying tree branches on your inside walls. Just the thing for
that dingy basement office. Read More
For some programs, the arrival of multi-core
processing power has made little difference to how they operate. Some
applications, such as word processors and web browsers, are unable to
split process operation over a number of cores and instead pile
everything onto just one. Researchers from North Carolina's State
University have come up with a way to break up such programs into
different threads, resulting in a 20 percent increase in run speed. Read More
Yuji Fujimura has taken the bicycle design manual
and thrown it to the wind with his concept Electric Bike Version 2.
Ditching the popular and familiar diamond frame design, Fujimura has
opted for a flat solid box on wheels where the handlebars, seat and
pedals fold away flat to help squeeze the bike into tiny parking spaces.
Read More
What’s plastic, sings songs, and sits in boiling
water? No, it’s not Britney Spears at a cannibal colony, it’s the
BeepEgg! This little gizmo lives in the fridge, with your eggs, then
rides along into the saucepan when you’re boiling them. Its internal
thermostat continuously measures the water temperature, calculates the
inner temperature of the eggs, then lets you know what level of hardness
they’re at by playing one of three different tunes. Read More
The current crop of battery technology seems
unable to keep up with the increasing demands we are placing on our
ever-growing collection of mobile devices. Which is why research into
next generation battery technology is such a focus around the world. A
new high-performance anode structure based on silicon-carbon composite
materials could significantly improve the performance of lithium-ion
batteries used in our portable electronics and gaining widespread use in
electric and hybrid vehicles. Read More
Solar Impulse completes successful maiden flight
By Darren Quick
April 7, 2010
Following a series of runway tests late last year the Solar Impulse HB-SIA
has taken to the air for the first time in the skies over Payerne,
Switzerland. Piloted by Markus Scherdel, the completely solar powered
craft reached an altitude of 1,200 meters and executed various maneuvers
designed to test control systems and verify behavior against flight
simulator calculations. The aircraft was in the air for 87-minutes
before landing safely to the cheers of the Solar Impulse team. Read More
The dust has barely settled on the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray
(in which Blu-ray took the honors), but now the Blu-ray Disc
Association (BDA) has announced two new media specs. The final
specifications for BDXL (High Capacity Recordable and Rewritable discs)
and IH-BD (Intra-Hybrid Blu-ray discs) are expected in the next couple
of months and neither will be compatible with existing Blu-ray players –
not even with a firmware update. Read More
Conscientious workers face a dilemma when making
sure they’re always available for work - either carry around two phones
or hand out personal numbers. Toktumi’s $14.95 a month Line2 VoIP app,
now in its final stages of development, gives iPhone
users the chance to bag themselves unlimited U.S and Canadian calls,
cheaper international rates, and a second number that works over 3G,
WiFi or Cellular networks. Read More
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, you might have heard that Apple has released its iPad.
But what’s an iPad without accessories and, you’ve guessed it, they’ve
already started hitting the shops to make the most of the hype
surrounding the iPad's release. So far, there’s a nice keyboard dock, a
camera connection kit, conventional docks, power adapters and chargers,
and roughly as many different styles of carry bags and cases as there
were units sold on the first day. We’ll give you a look at a few
must-haves Read More
Photographers looking to create High Dynamic
Range images in the field have traditionally been faced with heavy
equipment and the lack of user controls offered by digital SLR cameras.
HDR Labs took a Nintendo DS gaming device, created a custom camera
interface, loaded on some innovative imaging apps and the Open Camera
Control Project was born. The open source, DIY controller puts powerful
image processing control right in the palm of your hand. Read More
Fujitsu's new LifeBook MH330 is under three
quarters of an inch thick at its thinnest point, Atom-powered and
benefits from 802.11n wireless networking capabilities. The notebook
does not include an internal optical drive but instead features the
facility to wirelessly share the one that's already sitting in a PC.
Read More
There’s no doubt ladders can be unwieldy things
to carry around - so much so that the ladder-carrying painter has become
a staple of slapstick comedy. Unfortunately carrying a ladder around in
real life is generally much less hilarious, although often just as
chaotic. A young Israeli design student, Itay Laniado, has come up with a
collapsible design that makes getting a ladder from point A to point B
so you can get to point C a whole lot easier. Read More
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