Hands up, who doesn't get just the teensiest bit
nervous about going to the dentist? Not many of you, I'll wager.
Dentophobia – fear of dentists and dental care – is one of the most
common phobias, and it's the high-pitched whine of the dentist's drill
that causes most anxiety. If this applies to you, take heart. You may
soon be able to relax (or at least tune out the sound of the drill) and
listen to music on your own MP3 player, connected to a noise-canceling
device developed by Kings College London in conjunction with Brunel
University and London South Bank University. Read More
Altec Lansing has come to the rescue of music
lovers who like the idea of streaming music wirelessly around the home,
but can't afford to invest in systems from Olive or Sonos,
or who don't want to be shackled to Apple Air or iOS devices. The
inMotion Air universal wireless speaker can pump out any audio stored on
a computer up to 333 feet away via an included adapter, while mobile
devices can also supply the music via Bluetooth. Audio enhancement
technology offers CD-quality performance, regardless of source
compression encoding. Read More
MINI’s track record of producing near production-ready concept vehicles is set to pay dividends again with the MINI Paceman Concept vehicle. The concept car, which made its world debut at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show,
will be used as the basis for the seventh production model in MINI’s
lineup. Described by MINI as the first crossover coupe in the premium
small car segment, the Paceman Concept is based on the same platform as
the MINI Countryman but with the styling of a coupe. Read More
Researchers have created a new aerogel that
boasts amazing strength and an incredibly large surface area. Nicknamed
‘frozen smoke’ due to its translucent appearance, aerogels are
manufactured materials derived from a gel in which the liquid component
of the gel has been replaced with a gas, resulting in a material
renowned as the world’s lightest solid material. The new so-called
“multiwalled carbon nanotube (MCNT) aerogel” could be used in sensors to
detect pollutants and toxic substances, chemical reactors, and
electronics components. Read More
In March 2010, due to an increase in the
International Space Station (ISS) crew size, Russia announced a halt its
space tourism service which put seven customers into space between 2001
and 2009 for a multi-million dollar fee. Now Space Adventures, the same
company responsible for putting the world’s first privately-funded
space tourist, Dennis Tito,
into orbit in 2001, has announced that it will once again be offering
commercial space tourism opportunities beginning in 2013. Read More
Toyota celebrated 10 years in the U.S. for the Prius at the Detroit Auto Show 2011
this week, introducing three new additions to the eco-friendly range.
In addition to the announcement of the Prius v which will be available
in 2011 and Prius c Concept which is expected to go into production in
2012, the company also unveiled plans for Prius Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle
(PHV) technology which will allow the next-gen hybrid vehicles from
Toyota to be recharged using grid power. While the new Prius v offers a
midsize hybrid-electric vehicle aimed at young families the Prius c
Concept vehicle will fill the city compact niche when released. Read More
Mercedes to go around the world in 125 days in fuel cell EVs
By Darren Quick
January 13, 2011
As the competitors in the Zero Race
for EVs get set to cross the finish line at the end of the month,
another team will be setting out on their own around the world journey.
This time it’s Mercedes-Benz,
which is aiming to demonstrate the efficiency and everyday use
suitability of fuel cell technology and campaign for the development of a
global hydrogen filling station network by circumnavigating the globe
with three of its first series-produced hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the
B-Class F-CELL. Read More
BAE Systems develops non-lethal laser to combat pirates
By Darren Quick
January 13, 2011
Despite the commonly held view – among schoolboys
anyway – of pirates as a bunch of peg-legged, eye-patch wearing scurvy
dogs from the 1700’s (or thereabouts), maritime piracy continues to be a
serious problem – and it’s on the rise. To combat this scourge of the
seas BAE Systems
has developed a non-lethal laser designed to act as a deterrent against
pirate attacks on commercial vessels, such as oil tankers and container
ships. Read More
Volvo to enter the EV market with all-electric C30
By Grant Banks
January 13, 2011
Volvo is set to enter the electric vehicle (EV)
market with the production of an all-electric version of their C30
three-door compact. An electric concept based on the C30 was first seen in 2007 and last year the C30 Electric was taken to the Paris and Los Angeles
Motor Shows. Now Volvo has announced its plans to begin production of
the EV with the first ten cars off the production line heading to
Swedish energy provider Göteborg Energi in the coming months. Read More
Phil Pauley envisions cruisers that could fly and submerge
By Ben Coxworth
January 13, 2011
The more things change, the more they stay the
same... Just as readers of science magazines in the 40s and 50s liked to
read about how jetpacks and passenger-carrying deep space rockets were
right around the corner, so do today’s readers like to believe that car/boat/plane/helicopter hybrids and extensive underwater resorts
are something they’ll soon be seeing. Those last two are examples of
the “wouldn’t it be cool” ideas put forth by British conceptual designer
Phil Pauley. While such fantastic visions might or might not ever see
the light of day, they’re definitely inspiring to consider, and as the
saying goes – more or less – “shoot for the moon and land in the stars.”
With that in mind, here’s his latest idea: a family of boats that can
fly, submerge, or sprout an extra deck. Read More
Home charging stations aren't included in the
purchase price of the growing numbers of electric vehicles from major
automakers, so unless you live next door to a public charging station or are one of the 4,400 Volt owners to snap up a free one from GM,
you’ll be forced to shell out some extra cash if you want a faster
charging option than is possible with the included 120-volt cable. At
least Ford’s
home charging station for its new Focus Electric is shaping-up to be
little cheaper and more flexible than some competitor offerings. Read More
The Arab world has a new sporting superstar
following the success of Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah in winning the
2011 Dakar Rally – the longest and toughest motor race in the world. Al
Attiyah headed a 1-2-3 finish for Volkswagen’s TDI diesel Touareg 3 race
cars, while the usual suspects fought a tooth-and-nail battle on KTMs
for the laurels – Depres and Coma battled throughout the event on times
with Coma besting last year's winner at the end. In the truck section,
Kamaz's Vladimir Chagin repeated last year's win while Red Bull
sponsored the three major category winners for the third year in a row –
we're not sure what that means but it's quite some feat. Read More
Microfluidics and sunlight combined to purify water
By Ben Coxworth
January 16, 2011
It has been known for some time now that sunlight
can be used to purify drinking water. The practice of Solar Water
Disinfection (SODIS) basically involves just leaving water sitting in
direct sunlight, where a combination of heat and UV rays kill off
waterborne pathogens – the process is called photocatalysis, and it’s
what’s at work behind both the Solaqua water purification device, and a system recently created by students from the University of Washington.
Now, researchers from Hong Kong Polytechnic University have taken
things a step further, by combining photocatalysis with microfluidics in
a microreactor. Read More
While the debate continues as to whether the
world's first skyscraper was the the Home Insurance Building built in
Chicago in 1885, or New York's seven floor Equitable Life Assurance
Building built in 1870, it seems that the British pipped the Americans
to the post in terms of a design. British architect Charles Burton
designed a 1,000 foot (305 meter) high metal and glass building in
response to a call to redesign The Crystal Palace, the famous London
exhibition building, 30-odd years before the American buildings were
erected. Burton's historic design sketch is headed for the auction block
this week. Read More
Researchers at the Argentine National Institute
for Industrial Technology (INTI) are taking a new approach to the
manufacture of natural dyes from agricultural waste. The method involves
extraction of pigments from waste and conserving them in dust form,
meaning they can be dry stored for use all year round. Over the past
year numerous agricultural materials have been tested with one of the
most promising candidates being peanut shells – one of Argentina's main
exports. Read More
Military software developer premiers social media app at CES
By Ben Coxworth
January 14, 2011
Given the wild success of Facebook and Twitter, it was no surprise to see various fledgling social media platforms being promoted at CES
in Las Vegas. One that caught our attention was SMYLE, the creation of
New Jersey-based Drakontas, a company with a background in providing
geospatial tools for “warfighters and tactical professionals.” SMYLE is
Drakontas’ foray into the world of civilian technology, but it remains
big on something that is important to soldiers and cops: collaboration.
Read More
Planon releases credit card-sized scanner for receipts
By Ben Coxworth
January 14, 2011
Keeping track of receipts can be a hassle. The
paper itself has a tendency to curl up, it creases very easily, and
trying to sort out a sheaf of curly, creased-up receipts is no one’s
idea of fun... or at least, the folks at Planon hope it isn’t. They’ve
just released the SlimScan SS100, a “credit card-sized” high-resolution
color scanner designed specifically for scanning receipts. The device –
which was on display at CES
– comes with Planon’s PaperPort SE software (for Windows only), which
allows users to organize their scanned receipts once they transfer them
onto their PC. Read More
It has been estimated that up to 85 percent of
all wood materials (such as particleboard or plywood) contain adhesives
that in turn contain formaldehyde, and the World Health Organization has
classified formaldehyde as a carcinogen. Unfortunately, it’s not enough
to simply avoid eating those wood products – even the fumes given off
by formaldehyde have been shown to pose a health hazard. Many people
turn to keeping spider plants in their homes or offices, as they help
neutralize airborne toxins, but now help could be coming from another
source. German researchers have discovered that by adding special
minerals to wood adhesives, those adhesives themselves can help clean
the air. Read More
Between Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the latest-gen cell
phone networks, we hardly ever have to plug anything into our mobile
devices these days. That is, until the batteries die. Then we’re rooting
through a rat’s nest of USB cables and adapters trying to find the
right wall wart and a plug that fits the charging port. Clearly wireless
charging’s day has arrived, and Texas Instruments has released the
industry’s first Qi-certified wireless power development kit. The
bqTESLA kit is meant to help design engineers integrate wireless power
technology into devices such as smartphones, digital cameras, and MP3
players. Read More
Retailers, hotels and real estate agents have
been using aromas to entice us to part with our cash for years now and
there have even been a few attempts to transmit smells via the internet and mobile phones.
California-based company Scent Sciences is now looking to bring an
olfactory dimension to computer games with its ScentScape personal
digital scent delivery system. Read More
Reading the morning paper while behind the wheel
of your car might sound like surefire recipe for disaster, but in the
not-too-distant future it might just become a safer and more economical
option than actually doing the driving yourself. That's the theory
behind SARTRE
(Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project – a synthesis of
personal and public transport that will allow cars to be daisy-chained
and automatically controlled by a lead vehicle in a process dubbed
"platooning." The project has now made the leap from simulator to real
roads in the first successful demonstration of the technology at the
Volvo Proving Ground near Gothenburg, Sweden. Read More
Simplehuman garbage can reacts to users' activity
By Ben Coxworth
January 17, 2011
Of all the things we expected to see on display at CES
in Las Vegas, a garbage can was not one of them. Nonetheless, amongst
the tablet computers, 3D camcorders and iPhone apps, there sat the
simplehuman sensor can. Like some other “touchless” garbage cans, its
built-in sensor detects when someone is nearby, causing the can to
obligingly open its lid. What makes it special – perhaps – is the
company’s claim that the can’s “multi-sense” technology can adapt to
what the user is doing. Read More
Of the various vehicles that were displayed at this month’s Detroit Auto Show, undoubtedly the biggest crowds were drawn to the cars with the most striking exteriors – witness the Porsche 918 RSR, for instance. Given that we drive our cars from the inside,
however, isn’t the interior what’s most important? That’s what Johnson
Controls seems to believe, as its ie:3 demonstrator vehicle showcased a
number of the company’s innovations for vehicle interiors. According to
Michael Warsaw, Johnson’s VP of Industrial Design and Marketing for
North America, “Everything that you’ll see in this vehicle is ready for
the next generation of automobiles.” Read More
Teens may not be poor drivers by their very nature, but they are
inexperienced drivers, and as such they may not even be aware of the
fact that they’re speeding, paying insufficient attention to the road,
or driving like complete maniacs. A parent or other experienced driver
can advise them when they’re riding shotgun, but sooner or later,
they’ve got to be allowed out on their own. The tiwi, a new device
unveiled at CES
this month, is intended to act as an electronic version of that
ride-along parent – it makes teen drivers aware of their transgressions
when they’re driving alone. Read More
To go along with a 3D headset prototype, a 3D Bloggie, and a 3D Handycam, Sony continued its push of 3D consumer products with new additions to the BRAVIA TV lineup at CES 2011.
Most notable among them was the XBR-HX929 series, which implements a
number of new features intended to give buyers more incentive for taking
the plunge towards purchasing a 3DTV. Read More
Motion Computing unveils new CL900 rugged tablet PC
By Paul Ridden
January 17, 2011
Looks like Panasonic has got some serious competition in the rugged tablet
arena in the shape of the Motion CL900 from Austin's Motion Computing.
The new tough kid on the block has been shock-proofed, is dust and
moisture sealed, and benefits from a Gorilla Glass multi-touch display
and Vertak bonding. Upon release it will be powered by Intel's next
generation Atom processor, have durable solid state storage and
Wireless-N connectivity. Let the battle commence... Read More
Let's talk for a minute about the female orgasm.
For a lucky minority of women, these exist in abundance, ready to be
plucked ripe off a well-fruited vine at a moment's notice. If you're one
of these girls, you can stop reading now and get back to washing your
hair with that herbal goop that makes you bellow like Meg Ryan. If
you're at the other end of the scale, where orgasm is a fleeting,
furtive animal that must be hunted with patience and skill, then this
device might be up your alley … so to speak. Read More
A few short years ago, Flaxwood
challenged traditional thinking about what is necessary to produce
great guitar tone. Its guitars are made by breaking down recycled wood
fiber, mixing it up with an acoustically sensitive polymer and then
injection-molding it into the familiar shape of a guitar. In an effort
to introduce the technology to a wider audience, the company has allowed
a traditional axe to mate with one of its own. The result of this
unholy union has now been born. The appropriately-named HYBRID has a
European alder wood body and a bolt-on Flaxwood neck and is available in
single coil or humbucker pickup configurations. Read More
Following on from a successful maiden flight under battery power in 2010, AeroVironment’s high altitude, long endurance (HALE)
Global Observer unmanned aircraft has now taken to the skies using
hydrogen-fueled propulsion. The aircraft reached an altitude of 5,000
feet during the four hour flight on January 11 at Edwards Air Force Base
(EAFB) in California. Both the endurance and the altitude of the system
will be expanded in further test flights in order to achieve the
planned operational altitude of 55,000 to 65,000 feet. Read More
iGrill Bluetooth cooking thermometer for iPhone
By Ben Coxworth
January 18, 2011
It can be a tricky business, determining when
grilled meat is properly cooked inside. You could buy a probe-equipped
thermometer, but that would still need to be checked periodically – if
you’re entertaining guests out by your barbecue, checking a thermometer
is something that you could easily forget to do. What someone needs
to invent is a cooking thermometer that notifies your iPhone, iPod or
iPad via Bluetooth, when your steaks have reached the desired internal
temperature. Needless to say, such a product has, in fact, been invented
– it’s made by iDevices, and is called the iGrill. Read More
Audiovox spices up in-car entertainment with Blu-ray player
By Paul Ridden
January 18, 2011
From keeping the kids amused to giving you
something to do while stuck in a snow drift, in-car video entertainment
systems are becoming an increasingly important essential component of
the modern automobile. For videophiles who demand the very best in
onscreen visuals, news that the Audiovox Corporation is set to release
the industry's first automotive Blu-ray Disc player will no doubt be
very welcome indeed. The compact device can be connected to any
in-vehicle monitor, comes with an infrared remote and also has wireless
streaming capabilities. Read More
PopDrive makes data protection simple and foolproof
By Paul Ridden
January 18, 2011
Having been responsible for the daily tape backup
routines in various office locations in a previous working life, I can
tell you it's a royal pain in the behind. The PopDrive system from DHK
Storage puts a couple of 2.5-inch form factor HDDs in a RAID
configuration so that if one fails, it can be replaced without fear of
data loss. The lightweight, pocket-sized unit's drives can be swapped
out without the need for tools, and physical connection to a computer
system is made possible via 3Gb/s eSATA or USB 2.0. Read More
Veebeam wirelessly transmits computer content to your TV
By Paul Ridden
January 18, 2011
If you're looking for an affordable way to stream
high definition online movies to a big screen TV, then Veebeam could
just be what you're looking for. The device comes in both standard and
high definition varieties, and is made up of a wireless USB antenna
that's connected to a laptop or computer and a receiver box that's
hooked up to an HDTV. The system is said to be capable of wirelessly
playing any content from one to the other, whether it's online movies,
sports or news updates, digital photos or holiday videos. Read More
World's first full HDR video system sees like the human eye
By Ben Coxworth
January 18, 2011
Anyone who regularly uses a video camera will know that the devices do not
see the world the way we do. The human visual system can perceive a
scene that contains both bright highlights and dark shadows, yet is able
to process that information in such a way that it can simultaneously
expose for both lighting extremes – up to a point, at least. Video
cameras, however, have just one f-stop to work with at any one time, and
so must make compromises. Now, however, researchers from the UK’s
University of Warwick claim to have the solution to such problems, in
the form of the world’s first full High Dynamic Range (HDR) video
system. Read More
Window shopping of the future will be exactly that,
with consumers able to make purchases from in front of the store, even
after hours. Using 3D imaging technology, researchers in Germany are
developing a system capable of recognizing facial gestures and hand
position, so that shoppers can control a digital shop window display.
The system allows for transactions, and can collect data on shopper
trends without collecting personal data such as facial recognition. For
those germ-conscious shopaholics who think public touchscreens are a
conduit for nasties, this is the interactive shop window for you. Read More
Many people take pills to help manage or cure
serious illness, and some of these life-saving drugs can only be
absorbed in very specific parts of the intestine. The problem with oral
administration is that pills often don’t dissolve at exactly the right
site in the gastrointestinal tract where medicine can be absorbed into
the bloodstream. A new drug delivery system developed by scientists at
Brown University uses a magnetic gelatin capsule and an external magnet
that can precisely sense the force between it and the pill and vary that
force, as needed, to hold the pill in place. The team has successfully
used the technology with rats and in future it could provide a new way
to deliver many drugs to humans, including those with cancer or
diabetes. Read More
B-Keeper lets the drummer set the pace for pre-programmed music
By Paul Ridden
January 18, 2011
There was a time when the tempo of a band's
performance was left in the capable hands of the drummer. But as
pre-programmed, sequenced music started to creep into both studio and
live work, the beat-master found himself being shackled by the pace set
by the invader's metronome-like click track. Now researchers at Queen
Mary, University of London's Centre for Digital Music have developed
some clever software that puts the power to control tempo back into the
mighty limbs of the band's time-keeper. Read More
India’s first tidal power plant gets the go ahead
By Darren Quick
January 17, 2011
Even with its potential for providing predictable and sustainable electricity generation with no visual impact, tidal power
still accounts for only a fraction of a percent of the world’s total
electricity generation. That is slowly changing though, with numerous
tidal power plants being constructed or planned for coastlines around
the world. India is the latest country to wade into the tidal power
waters with the announcement of its first commercial scale tidal current
power plant to be constructed in the Indian State of Gujarat. Read More
Over the years science has gleaned an enormous amount of knowledge from the humble fruit fly. Drosophila melanogaster
was used to provide the post-Mendelian foundations for our
understanding of genetics and has also been used extensively in
neuroscience research. The latest fruit fly-inspired innovation could
simplify how wireless sensor networks communicate and stands to have
wider applications for computing. Read More
Ask anyone who keeps freshwater tropical fish to
name the top five most exotic, bizarre fish available to hobbyists, and
chances are the black ghost knife fish will be in there. Besides looking
incredibly cool, these Amazon basin creatures have two rather unusual
characteristics: they can sense all around themselves by generating a
weak electrical field, and they can move in any direction, thanks to an
undulating ribbon-like fin that runs along the length of their
underside. In an effort to replicate that form of maneuverability for
use in man-made submersibles, a team led by Northwestern University
mechanical and biomedical engineer Dr. Malcolm MacIver has created the
GhostBot – an underwater robot that moves via a knife fish-like fin.
Read More
Seagate introduces Go-Flex external storage for Mac
By Paul Ridden
January 19, 2011
Last year was a good year for Apple and, Steve
Jobs' health issues aside, this year looks promising too. Seagate has
responded to the needs of this growing community by adding Mac-centric
storage solutions to its FreeAgent GoFlex
family. Coming in portable and desktop varieties, and capacities
ranging from 500GB to 3TB, the new additions can be used with other
GoFlex devices and benefit from cross-platform compatibility. Read More
Fujifilm is about to release its first rugged
digital camera to feature GPS geo-tagging of images, the FinePix XP30.
In addition to being water-, dust-, shock- and freeze-proof, the compact
camera can guide you from your current location to a point where you
snapped a particularly interesting shot, and use collected data to
create a travel map, using your photos as illustrations. The camera can
also record high definition video and includes a number of user-assist
features to help capture the best shots without too much effort. Read More
When learning a popular song on a guitar,
wouldn't it be great if guitarists like James Hetfield, Jerry Garcia or
Ritchie Blackmore could teach you how to play their music? The first
product from Los Angeles company The Way of H offers the next-best
thing. Rock Prodigy is an interactive teaching app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
that offers a quick way to learn, brush up on or hone guitar skills
using a real instrument and original recordings. The app uses the
device's microphone to listen to your playing, and provides feedback to
help quickly correct errors or improve technique. Read More
Ambitious project to green the desert to begin in Jordan
By Darren Quick
January 19, 2011
An ambitious project that aims to turn arid
desert land into a green oasis took a step closer to becoming reality
last week when an agreement was signed on the rights to develop a pilot
system in Jordan. The Sahara Forest Project’s (SFP) first facility will
be located on a 2,000,000 square meter plot of land in Aqaba, a coastal
town in the south of Jordan where it will be a test bed for the use of a
combination of technologies designed to enable the production of fresh
water, food and renewable energy in hot, arid regions. Read More
Genetically engineered remote controlled animals
... what the? Using inexpensive and widely available technology combined
with the latest techniques in optogenetics, researchers at Georgia Tech
have created exactly that. Optogenetics is a mix of optical and genetic
techniques that has allowed scientists to gain control over brain
circuits in laboratory animals. Mary Shelly would be proud – or totally
freaked out. But don't expect remote controlled poodles or parrots in
your nearest pet store by Christmas, this might be a few years off. Read More
Mazda will show a new compact crossover SUV
concept car dubbed the Minagi at this year's 81e Salon International de
l'Auto de Genève (Geneva Motor Show). The Minagi will utilize Mazda's
SKYACTIV technologies – a general term the company is using for its
"innovative next-generation technologies" – in its engine, transmission,
body and chassis to achieve significant weight reduction. Read More
Researchers create material to more efficiently harness waste heat
By Darren Quick
January 18, 2011
Thermoelectric materials
offer the potential to harness electricity from otherwise wasted heat.
Continuing research in the field could yield applications scavenging
energy from vehicle exhaust systems, industrial processes and equipment,
and even sunlight. Now researchers have created a material with a
higher energy conversion efficiency that could make such systems more
feasible. Read More
The Sikorsky
CH-53K heavy lift helicopter currently being developed for the U.S.
Marine Corps will contain more than 20,000 individually designed parts.
This means building an experimental prototype of the aircraft ends up
being one hell of a complicated three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. And if
just one of the pieces doesn’t fit where it’s supposed to, it can cost
millions of extra dollars. To find production and maintenance issues
before things progress too far, Sikorsky has unveiled a virtual reality
center that the company hopes will save it time and money in final
assembly of the aircraft. Read More
It’s not often that one hears about World War I
technology being used with today’s mobile communications devices, yet
that’s the case with IASUS Concepts’ new NT3 throat mic headset. Throat
microphones were originally developed for use by military pilots and
tank drivers, as they picked up vocal vibrations directly from the
wearer’s larynx, and were unaffected by extraneous sounds. IASUS still
makes throat mics for military use,
but the NT3 is designed for use when talking on the phone while driving
a convertible ... that said, you could probably also press it into
service next time you bring your Sopwith Camel out of the barn. Read More
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