After first launching in Ulm, Germany in 2008, then subsequently establishing operations in Austin (Texas) and Hamburg,
the car2go car-sharing program is now coming to Canada. As of this
June, registered members of Vancouver, British Columbia’s car2go group
will be able to use any of the 225 purpose-designed Smart Fortwos in the
local fleet, which can be picked up and dropped off at designated
parking spots throughout the city. Read More
Last Wednesday (April 20th, 2011), tech bloggers
Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden reported that iPhones and 3G iPads
running iOS4 were keeping a secret record of their users' travels in an unencrypted file. While there was no indication that the devices were sharing the data, there were
concerns that if a person's phone were to fall into the wrong hands,
their personal security could be compromised. At the time of Allan and
Warden's posting, Apple had not responded to their inquiries. Yesterday,
however, the company issued a statement in which it explained the
apparent true purpose of the database. Read More
In this age of laser-etched microfluidic
lab-on-a-chip devices that analyze samples of bodily fluids on the
spot, it's kind of ... fun, perhaps, to hear about a similar device that
could conceivably be assembled by a grade school student, using their
allowance money. The matchbox-sized sensor, developed by scientists from
The University of Texas at Austin, is designed to detect acute
pancreatitis using blood samples. Important as its purpose may be,
though, the materials used to build the device include things like
household aluminum foil, milk, a 12-cent LED bulb, and JELL-O. Read More
There aren’t many vehicles which can be
guaranteed instant classics the moment they’re announced, but the
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 announced overnight, is one of them. Only 600
will be made for worldwide consumption, going on sale in July at
GBP128,466, EUR178,596 across Europe and AUD$409,000 in Australia. A
roadgoing version of the GT3 RSR race car, the RS sports the biggest 911
engine ever at 4.0 liters, and the most powerful non-turbo 911 engine
ever at 500 bhp. It can lap the Nurburgring-Nordschleife circuit in 7:27
if you’re good enough, hits 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds, and comes ready
with a half roll cage, seat belt harnesses, fire extinguisher, and a
battery cut-off switch if, or maybe when, you get it rubber side up.
Read More
A new immersive video experience is about to open
in Japan that offers visitors the chance to be almost completely
surrounded by a huge multi-screen display system while an underwater
love story unfolds before them. Sharp has provided the 156 LCD monitors
and transmission system for the 5D Miracle Tour's walk-in adventure
that's said to offer customers a virtually seamless 200 to 300-inch
video experience in front, above and below, and at either side of them.
Read More
Champions of clean emission boating will be
thrilled to know that rapid progress is being made in the field and much
larger boats can now be powered by electric motors than ever before.
Australian electric outboard motor specialist All4Solar has announced a
30 hp version of its Aquawatt electric motor which will become the most
powerful electric outboard motor in the world. Due for launch at next
month’s Sanctuary Cove Boat Show on Australia’s Gold Coast, the 30 hp
(22 kw) Aquawatt is claimed to be three times more powerful than any
other manufacturer’s electric outboard. Read More
By throwing a whole lot of camera wants into a
pot, Seattle design house the Artefact Group has come up with a
groundbreaking concept that combines all the connected usefulness of a
smartphone with the interchangeable lens capabilities of a digital SLR.
There's also a novel approach to using wireless technology for
communication between the combined lens and sensor and the main body.
Read More
Peugeot shows SXC Crossover Concept in Shanghai
By Gizmag Team
April 28, 2011
Peugeot has dropped the HYbrid4 technology found in its 2010 SR1 Concept into a very different beast for the Shanghai Motor Show.
The SXC (which stands for Shanghai Cross Concept) has a 1.6 liter, 160
kW internal combustion engine driving the front wheels and a 70 kW
electric motor driving the rear, providing the option of electric-only
two wheel drive or a four wheel drive hybrid mode. Read More
The millions of years of natural selection that
lies behind the immense biodiversity found on our planet is fertile
ground for keeping robotics research rolling ... in this case,
literally. Some caterpillars in the Crambidae family have the amazing
ability to spring into a wheel shape and roll away when it's time to get
out of Dodge fast, and it is this talent that has inspired the creation
of GoQBot – a 3-inch cm long soft-bodied robot that could provide a
blueprint for versatile search and rescue robots of the future. Read More
When the use of a hand is lost due to a stroke,
it’s important to get that paralyzed hand moving again – this allows the
brain and the body to “relearn” how to use it. A new approach to this
problem has emerged in recent years with the development of powered
devices like the Amadeo or the Rehabilitation Glove
that enable patients to exercise passively until they recover
sufficiently to start moving on their own. Now four students from
Montreal’s McGill University have created a prototype stroke recovery
glove that would cost relatively little to produce, and that patients
can use at home through a video game interface. Read More
As most musicians will tell you, playing in front
of a live audience is what makes it all worthwhile. Unless you're
successful enough to have a dedicated road crew, though, loading and
unloading the equipment can be backbreaking work. All that could change
thanks to an experiment in "what if" amp building by Tim Brennan of
Brisbane's Tym Guitars. He says that late nights, stupid conversations
and an obsession with building things that people might laugh at has
resulted in the FAMP – a 50W guitar amp combo encased in a foam housing.
Read More
For many of us, the digital age has resigned our
vinyl collection to gather dust in the corner. There are already
numerous devices which offer to convert and clean up the crackly sounds
coming through the stylus, so why bother with another flavor? Rather
than having to load converted files onto my laptop and then onto my MP3
player or phone, the Turntable iPhone Dock would cut out the middle man
altogether and transfer encoded files onto the horizontally-docked
iPhone. Read More
Being able to quickly confirm the presence of
infectious bacteria in a patient’s bloodstream, and then identifying the
specific species and strain, can make the difference between life and
death for that patient. While traditional detection and identification
methods are fairly accurate, they can also take too long to perform. A
chemist from the University of Illinois, however, has developed an
inexpensive new system that is much quicker – and it works by sniffing
out the harmful bacteria. Read More
Supercharging touchscreen interaction, with Ringbow
By Paul Ridden
April 29, 2011
Without a doubt, touchscreen
technology has brought a whole new level of interaction with our
devices. Israel's Efrat Barit and Saar Shai, however, believe that the
functionality of touch-enabled devices could be greatly enhanced with
the development of their Ringbow concept. Worn on the index finger, the
ring-like device can be programmed to add extra capabilities to existing
actions, activate entirely new touch options, or liberate the user's
hands from the surface of the display for Kinect-like, spatial control over touchscreen device operation. Read More
A line of guitar picks attached to a microphone
stand has been a common sight at gigs for many years. Should a
particularly energetic solo result in flying plectrums heading out over
the crowd, the player is thus assured that more are at hand. PicBand
takes a different, and very direct, approach to solving the problem – it
allows guitarists to wear extra picks on the wrist and also keeps that
pesky piece of plastic from wandering off on its own by tethering it to
the wrist or fingers. Read More
More power. Less fuel. That's the bare bones of
the latest V8 equipped Mercedes AMG performance model – the E 63 AMG.
The car's 5.5 liter biturbo V8 gives it a peak output of 386 kW (525 hp)
and torque
of 700 Nm – add on the optional AMG Performance package and
it jumps to 410 kW (557 hp) and 800 Nm. Acceleration is specced at zero
to 62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 4.2 seconds, top speed
is 155 mph (250 km/h -
electronically limited) and fuel consumption is down almost a quarter
on its naturally aspirated predecessor at 24 mpg (9.8 liters per 100
kilometers). Needless to say, there's some impressive tech underlying
these figures. Read More
Thai politics is one of those subjects which is
so far beyond my comprehension that I no longer pay much attention.
Until now that is, because one of the parties, the Pheu Thai Party, has
announced a "one student, one tablet computer" campaign policy for the
next election. If elected, the party will ensure every school has high
speed internet access and Wi-Fi, and that every primary school student
will be given a free tablet computer.
The party plans to improve Thailand's long-term competitiveness by
developing forward thinking educational strategies based on e-learning
and the distribution of electronic text books via the internet. Read More
Imagine a Wii that lets you play a musical
instrument with your brain without touching strings or a keyboard.
That's exactly what this "proof of concept"
brain-computer-music-interface (BCMI) is designed to do – it uses brain
waves and eye movement to sound musical notes, so even a person with
"locked-in-syndrome" could participate in creative activity analogous to
learning to play a musical instrument. Developed by a team headed by
Eduardo Miranda, a composer and computer music specialist from the UK's
University of Plymouth, the BCMI can be set up on a laptop computer for
under $3,500 (including the computer). For people who are disabled,
assistive technology usually aims at day-to-day functioning and largely
ignores the unique aspect of being a human – creativity. This is
different. Read More
TiGr bike lock takes a flexible approach to security
By Ben Coxworth
April 28, 2011
Bicycle locks are an absolute necessity for
anyone who parks their bike in public places, but they can sometimes be
a bit bothersome to carry when riding. One alternative is to install a
lock mount on the bike’s frame, although some bicycle aficionados would
liken that to putting a trailer hitch on a Ferrari. Riders can also use a
wearable lock, such as the Hiplok. Another interesting locking innovation could be on the way, however, in the form of the TiGr. Read More
To many people, it seems almost inconceivable
that you can sleep through the aural brutality of an alarm clock, yet a
small percentage of us can indeed, mask out all but the loudest of
sounds without batting an eyelid. For those people, there is now "The
Skull", a Sonic Boom alarm clock on steroids that pumps out 113 db of
sound, flashes bright red light from its eye sockets, and strobes bright
orange from a strip of flashing lights on the front. If that's not
enough to rouse you, the skull comes with the company's "Bone Crusher"
bed shaker attachment to shake you back into your body. Read More
Of all the things that people traditionally
discard, one that most of us likely think the least about repurposing is
human feces and urine. Sure, we recycle our plastic and paper, and
compost our fruits and veggies, but ... that stuff? Actually, there are various worldwide projects aimed at using municipal raw sewage for things such as fertilizer or a power source.
While those projects only come into play once the waste has been
flushed, however, the UK’s Loowatt system gets users involved from the
bottom up (sorry), collecting waste directly from the toilet and using
it to create biogas and fertilizer. Read More
One of the four permanent venues in the London
Olympic Park, the velodrome was one of the last to be commissioned, and
the first to be completed on time and on budget. Unveiled in February,
the sinuous velodrome was chosen to represent London's claim for the
"greenest games ever," because of its sustainability and efficiency
initiatives. Inspired by lightweight and streamlined racing bikes, the
Hopkins Architects-designed velodrome will provide a venue for the
indoor track cycling events at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games. Read More
The Alpha Bike is an interesting prototype out of
the University of Pennsylvania featuring a fully internal chainless
drive that can be switched between fixed gear drive and freewheel
electronically. Fabricated entirely in-house, the bike's drivetrain,
brake systems and onboard electronics are all concealed inside the
custom-machined frame and an LCD display on the handlebars updates the
rider on important journey information. Oh, and it looks pretty good
too... Read More
Industrial Design student Justine Smith has
looked to new technology for a solution to one of the most common
ailments in the world today – chronic back pain. The result is Spinovo –
a concept smart clothing product that uses modular packs to treat pain
through heating, cooling, and transcutaneous electrical nerve
stimulation (TENS) therapies as well as incorporating bend sensors to
ensure the wearer maintains the correct posture. Read More
Solar Impulse
is on standby for its first international flight this week. Brussels
has been chosen as the destination for the first venture outside Swiss
borders, which follows the solar powered aircraft's maiden flight and first overnight flight last year and will mark another important step towards the goal of flying around the world in 2012. Read More
Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD) has unveiled a
7-inch, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution touchscreen LCD panel where the
capacitive multi-touch input functionality is integrated into the liquid
crystal cell. The company says that this will allow the production of
touch-enabled displays without having to add an additional touch panel
to the LCD during the manufacturing process. The technology is initially
headed for vehicle-mounted and industrial applications but could well
lead to the development of more compact mobile products. Read More
Even though tablet computers are flying off the
shelves at quite a pace, less-than-satisfying onscreen keyboard input
can lead many to seek a more comfortable alternative. Scosche Industries
has released a water-resistant, wireless solution which can be
rolled-up so that, like the folding Bluetooth keyboards we've seen, it can easily be taken along for the ride. Read More
Barnes & Noble has taken the opportunity
afforded by an Android OS update to bring some tablet-like functionality
to its NOOK Color
e-Reader. The version 1.2 firmware update brings specially-designed
apps, full-featured email, enhanced browsing and new multimedia content.
It's available now for free manual download but existing devices will
be automatically updated via built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi over the coming
weeks. Read More
Firing a rifle at a Longbow Apache Attack
helicopter in the hope of claiming a US$8 million scalp with a 50 cent
bullet might not be a very good idea for too much longer - unless you
like keeping company with a Hellfire missile. The U.S. Army’s Longbow
Apache Attack helicopters are about to gain a networked Ground Fire
Acquisition System (GFAS) which uses infrared cameras to detect muzzle
flashes from ground fire, and displays the location and distance of the
shooters as an icon on the pilot’s display screen. Not only does this
enable the immediate acquisition and prosecution of targets, it also
offers the same information to ground forces via the net-centric
battlefield information system, giving everyone in the fight vastly
improved situational awareness. Read More
Handheld biosensors and diagnostic devices could
be taking a huge step forward, thanks to recent advances made in the use
of ferromagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles – also known as magnetic
nanobeads. According to scientists from Oregon State University (OSU),
the use of such particles in chemical detection systems could make those
systems much smaller, faster, cheaper to produce, and more accurate
than they are presently. Read More
While fans of Android mobile phones may be taking some satisfaction in the current location-tracking controversy surrounding Apple’s iPhone, they perhaps might not be aware that their own phones are also tracking their
movements. Although users reportedly must opt into the Android feature,
Detroit-area residents Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski believe that the
average user wouldn’t grasp the implications of doing so. To that end,
last Wednesday (April 27, 2011) the pair filed a US$50 million class
action lawsuit against Android’s parent company, Google. Read More
The ongoing kerfuffle over Apple devices
allegedly tracking their users’ locations has taken yet another turn. It
all started on April 20th, when tech bloggers Alasdair Allan and Pete
Warden reported their discovery that iPhones and 3G iPads running iOS4
were supposedly maintaining a stealth file of locations that the devices had traveled to – with their users. Apple responded on April 27th, stating that the devices were simply anonymously
contributing to a database of local Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers,
that helped to triangulate the phones’ location faster than GPS alone.
Now, however, a just-discovered patent application filed by Apple in
2009 has some people doubting that claim. Read More
When German performance tuner Novitec decided to
squeeze some extra performance from the limited edition Alfa Romeo 8C,
it didn't need to look far. The 8c runs the 4.7 liter V8 powertrain of
the Maserati GT (both companies are owned by Fiat), so it tapped the
technology of its sister company Novitec Tridente, which tunes
Maseratis, and came up with a supercharger conversion. In so doing, it
created the fastest Alfa in the world. Read More
For many of us, washing clothes by hand is no
longer a necessity. Yet the simple ridged device used before the advent
of washing machines is still in production today and continues to be
used all over the world. Leaving soapy water well behind, the washboard
found a new life in the hands of musicians playing everything from
skiffle to dixieland, and jazz to blues. Solo guitar players can now
provide their own inexpensive snare-like percussive accompaniment, by
attaching a Pik'N Board to their instrument. The mini-washboard is
positioned below the picking area of an acoustic guitar, with players
extending the pick stroke to tap out a latin beat or scrape in some
cajun spice. Read More
Apple's desktop lineup has typically pushed users
requiring plenty of fast I/O towards the Mac Pro - but the latest iMac
refresh has broken the tradition. While quad-core Sandy Bridge CPUs and
faster ATI Radeon HD GPUs are welcomed, it's the addition of Thunderbolt ports (one in the 21.5-inch and two in the 27-inch) that really ups the ante for a number of professional users. Read More
RIM's BlackBerry Bold
line is set for a major upgrade with the imminent arrival of the
BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Smartphones. Combining the familiar full
QWERTY keypad with a new "Liquid Graphics" touch screen, the new models
are the first to run on the new BlackBerry 7 OS and pack 720p HD video,
built-in NFC (Near Field Communications) technology, a 1.2 GHz processor
and the thinnest BlackBerry form factor yet – 10.5 mm (0.41-inches).
Read More
Fiddling with small buttons or touchscreens on
your mobile device when you're running, riding a bike or even just
crossing the street can be a frustrating – and dangerous – endeavor. NEC
is looking to solve this dilemma by developing a system that enables
users to operate devices by just tapping their arm. The ArmKeypad is
made up of acceleration sensors worn on each wrist that determine the
area of the arm tapped by a user and translate this into different input
commands via a Bluetooth link. Read More
Services such as Skype have certainly made things
a little easier for geographically-separated romantic partners, but
when the tele-chat is over and it's time to say good night, sometimes a
little air kiss blown towards a webcam just isn't enough. While there are products
that cater for the long-distance physical needs of couples, those might
be a bit much for everyday situations. There's also the KissPhone,
which attempts to simulate the sensation of one partner's lips against
the other's. Sitting between those two extremes, however, is the "Kiss
Transmission Device" – a prototype gizmo designed to allow its users to
virtually lock tongues. Read More
LG has announced the impending arrival of the
first Blade series notebooks. Having a much slimmer profile than the
company's first generation of slim notebooks, the two new models both
feature new display technology and both are available with second
generation Intel Core i processors, NVIDIA GeForce graphics, an optical
drive and Wireless-N connectivity. Read More
Many diabetics suffer from a condition known as
venous stasis, which can result in wounds on their extremities that
remain unhealed for up to several years – if infection sets in,
amputation of the limb is sometimes even necessary. Such wounds can
sometimes be treated with vacuum-assisted systems, but the equipment
required is expensive, and must be carried by the patient at all times.
In clinical trials conducted last year, however, human venous stasis
wounds were quickly and thoroughly healed with an inexpensive new glass
nanofiber material, that looks like cotton candy. Read More
Armour Home recently announced that it has been
appointed worldwide distributor of Phitek System's BlackBox range of
Active Noise Rejection (ANR) headphones and earphones. Phitek says that
the level of ambient background noise can reach 60dB in a busy street,
80dB in the office and up to 94dB in the cabin of a passenger jet. The
company claims that its technology is capable of reducing ambient noise
levels by 90 percent or more, and I've been sent some C18 in-ear phones
for review. Read More
The relentless march of technology has delivered
much of the audio quality once available only in a professional
recording studio into the hands of the home recorder. For those who
desire a return to the classic mellow warmth of the golden age of
terrestrial radio and broadcast television, MXL is about to introduce
what is said to be the world's first USB ribbon microphone. Given a
vintage look reminiscent of the classic RCA 77-DX model from the late
1950s, the MXL UR-1 cardoid pattern microphone offers CD-quality
analog-to-digital conversion and comes bundled with Mixcraft LE
recording software. Read More
Medigus has developed the world's smallest video
camera at just 0.039-inches (0.99 mm) in diameter. The Israeli company's
second-gen model (a 0.047-inch diameter camera was unveiled in 2009)
has a dedicated 0.66x0.66 mm CMOS sensor that captures images at 45K
resolution and no, it's not destined for use in tiny mobile phones or
covert surveillance devices, instead the camera is designed for medical
endoscopic procedures in hard to reach regions of the human anatomy.
Read More
Seagate has set a new commercial benchmark for
HDD storage by breaking the 1 TB areal density barrier. The company has
announced it will bring the world's first 3.5-inch hard drive with 1TB
of storage capacity per disk platter to market in its GoFlex Desk product line, with the 3 TB Barracuda XT desktop hard drive (3 x 1 TB platters) expected to hit shelves in mid-2011. Read More
When you think of the hazards involved in playing
American-style football, things like being slammed to the ground and
buried under a stack of bulky opponents probably come to mind. One of
the big dangers, however, is dehydration – this is particularly true for
children, or athletes in southern states. While water is usually
available at the sidelines, players may risk developing heat stroke
before they have a chance to get to it. The Hydromax system is designed
to keep that from happening, by supplying each player with their own
wearable, armor-protected water supply. Read More
G-Form has taken its expertise in protecting the
bodies of cyclists and skaters and applied it to consumer electronics,
first with a case for iPad
that's tough enough to withstand a bowling ball attack and now with
what's billed as "the world's most rugged case for laptops." Made from a
flexible, lightweight material that hardens upon impact, the Extreme
Sleeve for Laptop will ship at the end of May in 11”, 13” and 15" sizes.
Could be just the thing if you're looking to drop your MacBook off a
balcony ... Read More
Hey, you wanna drive into a tornado? You could,
if you've got somewhere over US$75,000 to spend on the right vehicle.
That's the reserve price on the Tornado Attack Vehicle, which has just
been put up for auction on eBay. The armored vehicle was made famous by
storm chaser Steve Green, who used it in 2004 to become the first person
to intentionally drive into – and survive – a tornado. If you're not
the competitive type, you could even just "Buy it Now" for a cool
$100,000. Read More
You have to admire the people who commute by bike
– regardless of the weather – although riding in the rain seems to
involve a choice between getting soaked, or wearing a lot of rain gear
and still getting a wet face. Perhaps what such dedicated cyclists
really need is a roof, side windows, and a windshield for their bikes.
While that may sound like a joke, such a product does actually exist, in
the form of the Veltop. Read More
NASA, the double-helix model, Elvis ... there's a
long list of things that emerged during the 1950s which still resonate
strongly in 2011, but none more so than the humble silicon transistor.
Transistors are the bricks with which the shiny house of modern
consumer electronics has been built, but for more than 50 years these
bricks have been limited to two dimensions. Now there's a third. Intel
has announced that it is putting its revolutionary Tri-Gate 3-D
transistor into mass production. The first 22nm microprocessor
(codenamed Ivy Bridge) to use the transistors will be rolled-out later
this year, delivering huge gains in performance and efficiency compared
with chips that use current 2-D planar transistors and helping keep pace
with Moore's Law. Read More
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand
words, and a moving picture worth even more. Now a company in the UK is
enticing businesses to go beyond the confines of eye-catching text,
colorful graphics and product photos with TV in a Card. The brainchild
of Russell Lawley-Gibbs and Robert Green, a standard TV in a Card folder
has A4 (297 x 210 mm / 11.7 x 8.3 inches) dimensions and opening the
cover reveals a 4.3-inch, 320 x 240 resolution, 16:9 aspect LCD display
powered by a custom board with built-in storage for about 30 minutes of
video footage. Read More
It wasn't all that long ago that things like
air-sprung shocks and hydraulic disc brakes were just being introduced
on mountain bikes. Since then, we've heard about electronic and hydraulic shifting, microprocessor-controlled shock forks, and continuously-variable sealed gearing systems.
What's next? Well, how about a bike with two chains and no derailleurs
that is claimed to be better than a traditional MTB in four key areas?
According to its New Zealand designers, that's what the Zerode G-1 is.
Read More
Researchers from the Human Media Lab at Canada's Queen's University have created a fully-functioning floppy E-Ink
smartphone, which they also refer to as a paper computer. Like its
thicker, rigid-bodied counterparts, the Paperphone can do things like
making and receiving calls, storing e-books, and playing music. Unlike
them, however, it conforms to the shape of its user's pocket or purse,
and can even be operated through bending actions. Read More
Though the SLS AMG Coupe is now in showrooms, and
we’ve just seen the first images of the 563 bhp convertible version a
few minutes ago, they were developed in parallel and they’re apparently
so close in so many ways that choice will boil down to personal
preference, not driving dynamics. The convertible has an
electrohydraulically-operated soft top that can be closed or opened at
up to 31 mph, and is claimed to be whisper quiet to its
electronically-limited top speed of 197 mph Read More
French automotive manufacturer Peugeot is
celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and has promised quite a
few significant announcements before the year is out. Its first electric
car, the Peugeot iOn, is a rebadged Mitsubishi iMiEV, but the EX1 concept
it showed last year is all its own work and looks to be a rip-snorter
of a performance car to boot. Last week, the twin-electric motored 250
kW (340 bhp) EX1 set a new electric record for the Nurburgring
Nordschleife circuit of 9:01.338 at an average speed of 138 km/h in
adverse conditions whatsmore. Read More
Scientists at Stanford have developed a battery that uses nanotechnology
to create electricity from the difference in salt content between fresh
water and sea water. The researchers hope to use the technology to
create power plants where fresh-water rivers flow into the ocean. The
new "mixing entropy" battery alternately immerses its electrodes in
river water and sea water to produce the electrical power. Read More
Heavy curtains made from thick material such as
velvet are often needed to keep noise out of indoor environments, but
Swiss researchers have come up with another option. The Empa
researchers, in collaboration with textile designer Annette Douglas and
silk weavers Weisbrod-Zurrer AG, have developed lightweight, translucent
curtains which are five times more effective at absorbing sound than
their conventional counterparts. Read More
It’s easy to become blasé in the ubiquitous, 24-7
avalanche of information in which we live our lives – the challenge now
is about filtering, organizing and synthesizing information into a
useful and relevant form. Think back though to an earlier time when the
very first books became available to the public, when the treasure trove
of knowledge in our pocket that we take for granted simply did not
exist. A book coming up for auction, the Liber Chronicarum (1493), was
one of the very first history books available, one of the first printed
illustrated books available and its scope is remarkable given it was
produced 500 years ago. Read More
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