As expected, Facebook has announced Skype-powered
video calling for its users, who now number more than 750 million
according to the company. The new feature was unveiled by Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg and Skype CEO Tony Bates at a news conference at
Facebook HQ on Wednesday where Facebook engineer Philip Su provided a
walkthrough of the application. The social networking giant also
launched a new chat sidebar and what Su says is one of the site's most
requested features in multi-person chat. Read More
Ethanol is the most commonly used biofuel
worldwide and is made by fermenting the sugar components of plant
materials, usually sugar and starch crops such as sugar cane, corn and
wheat. The difficulty in accessing the sugars contained in woody
biomass, coupled with criticism that the use of food crops for biofuel
production has a detrimental effect on the food supply has prompted research into biofuels that can be made from cellulosic biomass,
such as trees and grasses. By looking at the digestive system of
termites, researchers have now discovered a cocktail of enzymes that
unlocks access to the sugars stored within the cells of woody biomass
that could help make it a more viable source of biofuels, such as
ethanol. Read More
Engineers from the Research Center for Graphic
Technologies at Spain's Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) have
created an experimental system, that allows the blind to be aware of
their surroundings through the use of sound. Called EYE 21, it consists
of a pair of sunglasses with two built-in micro video cameras, a
computer, and a pair of headphones. It's similar to sonar systems that have been used to achieve the same goal. Read More
A University of Georgia chemist has invented
something that should be a boon to both hospital staff and athletes ... a
permanent spray-on antibacterial polymer coating. It can be applied to
natural and synthetic materials – just once – and even after repeated
washings, will continue to kill a wide range of bacteria, yeasts and
molds. In health care settings, it could be used on textiles such as lab
coats, scrub suits, uniforms, gowns, gloves and linens, to protect
patients from infections. It could also be used on athletic wear, along
with shoes, socks, undergarments, and just about anything else that
tends to get germy. Read More
Last year, Bicycling Magazine said that
Minneapolis was the number one biking city in the U.S., and the city's
Bike Walk Twin Cities program says that four years of bicycle counts
throughout the city show a 33 percent increase in the use of
two-wheelers by its citizens. Anyone in need of emergency repair while
on the heavily-used Midtown Greenway bicycle route can now pop into the
Uptown Transit Station and take advantage of a new extended-hours,
self-service bike kiosk. Users can pump some free air into tires, use
the tethered tools to make repairs, or head for the vending machine to
buy basic bike parts. Read More
Corrugated cardboard can be traced back to the
latter part of the mid-19th century, although cardboard itself goes back
much farther than that. Most of us will have encountered it at some
time, probably as the outer packaging of our latest digital must-have,
but it has recently been breaking away from such traditional uses. Over
the past few years, we've seen everything from a cardboard record player to a festival tent to a USB drive. Now, industrial design student Jake Tyler has created a prototype cardboard vacuum cleaner - the Vax ev. Read More
It fits on the head of a pin, has no lens or
moving parts, can be made for just a few cents, and yet it can take a
photo of the Mona Lisa in which she’s actually sort of recognizable ...
it’s called the Planar Fourier Capture Array (PFCA), and it’s a tiny
camera developed at New York’s Cornell University. Although you might
choose not to use it for photographing your child’s birthday party, it
could come in quite handy in the fields of science and technology. Read More
A number of cities around the world now sort
their municipal trash, diverting organic matter into giant anaerobic
composters that turn it into nutrient-rich soil. Such systems can be
very expensive, however, and have a large physical footprint. The
composting process can take as little as 14 days, or as long as one
year. Nevada-based company Ecologico-Logic, however, has created an
alternative system, called The Muncher. Not only is it relatively small,
but its makers claim that it can convert organic waste into mulched and
liquid compost in less than an hour. Read More
Toshiba has unveiled its first glasses-free 3D
laptop - the Toshiba Qosmio F750-10Q3D. Powered by Intel Core i7 CPU,
the laptop features a lenticular glasses-free 3D display, a full HD
15.6-inch screen and eye-tracking technology based on a HD web camera
that maintains the 3D effect while the user moves. Both 2D and 3D
content can be displayed simultaneously and the Qosmio F750 comes with a
built-in Blu-ray XL drive capable of burning 128GB disks. Read More
As I look out of my office window and watch the
heart-stopping acrobatics of feeding swifts, it's not difficult to see
why so many aircraft designers find inspiration in nature - from birds to bats to insects.
Now it's the turn of the swift. Hoping to demonstrate the endurance and
performance benefits of a combined flapping and gliding approach to
Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) design, researchers have developed an
experimental flyer capable of combining both unsteady and steady
aerodynamics. Read More
The United States’ copper-based electric grid is
estimated to leak electricity at an estimated five percent per 100 miles
(161 km) of transmission. With power plants usually located far from
where the electricity they produce will actually be consumed, this can
add up to a lot of wasted power. A weave of metallic nanotubes known as
armchair quantum wire (AQW) is seen as an ideal solution as it can carry
electricity over long distances with negligible loss, but manufacturing
the massive amounts of metallic single walled carbon nanotubes required
for the development of this “miracle cable” has proven difficult. Now
researchers have made a pivotal breakthrough that could make the
development of such a cable possible. Read More
car2go, the car-sharing service that began in Ulm, Germany in 2008 before spreading to Austin, Texas, Hamburg, Germany and Vancouver,
Canada, has now announced it will launch a service in San Diego that
will be the first car-sharing program in North America with a 100
percent electric vehicle fleet. The San Diego car2go program is due to
start operations before the end of 2011 with 300 smart fortwo electric drive vehicles. Read More
Decubitus ulcers, more commonly known as
bedsores, are a common and potentially serious problem for bedridden
hospital patients. Staff are often required to regularly turn patients
over in their beds, as the sores are the result of too much prolonged
pressure to the skin, caused by lying on one spot for too long. Turning
those patients over (especially the larger ones) can be physically
difficult work, however, plus some facilities won't always have enough
staff on hand to do the turning as often as needed. Swiss entrepreneur
Michael Sauter thought the situation needed addressing, so he invented a
bed that turns the patients over itself. Read More
While solar panels are very useful at converting
the sun’s rays into electricity for immediate use, the storage of that
energy for later use is ... well, it’s still being figured out. The
energy can be used to charge batteries, for instance, but that charge
will wear off over time. Instead, scientists have been looking at
thermo-chemical storage of solar energy. Last year, researchers from MIT
discovered that the chemical fulvalene diruthenium
was quite an effective storage medium. Unfortunately, the ruthenium
element that it contains is rare and expensive. Now, however, one of
those same scientists has created a new storage material that is
cheaper, and is able to store much more energy. Read More
While the iPod touch 4G is known for its gaming
capabilities, it doesn't support haptic feedback, which could enhance
the mobile gaming experience. Unveiled at CES 2011, the mophie pulse is
aimed at changing that. It's an iPod touch case that utilizes ViviTouch
technology, in order to generate tactile feedback in the form of various
touchscreen vibrations synchronized with in-game sound effects. Read More
Usually, the last things that most people want to
do with a digital memory device are to drop it on a hard surface, bend
it, or put it underwater. A new prototype developed by researchers at
North Carolina State University, however, is made to stand up to all of
those things and more. Instead of the brittle, unyielding materials that
are at the heart of most electronics, the NCSU memory device is soft
and squishy, and is not affected by wet environments ... “similar to the
human brain,” according to one of its designers. Read More
As project leaders for the public/private EV
Project (which has also received a funding injection from the U.S.
Department of Energy), it is the responsibility of clean electric
transportation and storage technologies experts ECOtality to oversee the
installation of thousands of commercial and residential electric
vehicle charging stations in various locations throughout the U.S. EV
owners visiting select IKEA stores in the Western United States will
soon be able to top up while they shop, thanks to a partnership formed
between the home furnishing retailer and ECOtality. Read More
While implantable heart pumps may buy some time
for people waiting to undergo heart transplants, such implants have at
least one serious drawback – because they receive their power from an
external source, a power cord must protrude through the skin of the
patient’s belly. About 40 percent of patients experience infections of
that opening, which often require rehospitalization, and in extreme
cases can even cause death. The presence of that cord also makes it
impossible for patients to swim or take baths. Researchers from the
University of Washington and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
are attempting to put an end to the troublesome cords, however, by
developing a system that wirelessly transmits power to heart pumps. Read More
The future of ambient lighting might lay in
glowing walls, according to Philips. The company has announced its plans
to develop wallpapers containing integrated LEDs. The luminous
sound-absorbing textiles would glow in variety of colors accordingly to
the user's requirements. To develop the luminous wallpaper panels,
Philips is collaborating with customizable acoustic panels manufacturer
Kvadrat Soft Cells, based in Denmark. Read More
HP has announced that the first connected version of its webOS tablet
is to launch exclusively on AT&T's Mobile Broadband Network. Aimed
at a mobile workforce and consumers who want multitasking on the move,
the new HP TouchPad 4G will be treated to a processor boost, integrated
GPS and come with 32GB of internal storage. Read More
Sikorsky’s X2 Technology Demonstrator that first took to the air on August 27, 2008
has flown for the last time. The 23rd and final flight was conducted in
the early morning of July 14, 2011 from Sikorsky’s new Innovations
Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. In flight tests carried out over the
three-year period, the X2 flew a total of around 22 hours and on September 15, 2010
achieved a maximum cruise speed of 253 knots in level flight – an
unofficial record for a conventional helicopter. While the X2 is now
officially entering retirement, the lessons learned and technologies
developed for the X2 program will pave the way for Sikorsky’s S-97
Raider helicopter. Read More
Despite years of health promotion campaigns
advising us about the dangers of skin cancer, the incidence of the most
dangerous type - melanoma - has been steadily rising since the 1970s
with around 130,000 cases now diagnosed globally each year according to
the World Health Organization. Even if we no longer spend hours sunning
ourselves on the beach, extended time outdoors playing sport or
socializing can still put us at risk of this deadly cancer. MelApp is an
iPhone app designed help detect melanoma at an early - and likely
curable - stage using mathematical algorithms and image based pattern
recognition technology. Read More
When established furniture maker Seth Deysach was
invited to be part of the Object Society design show in June last year,
he decided to create something special for the occasion that combined
two of his passions - creating things in wood and cycling. The
single-speed, one size Lagomorph bike boasts strong, elegant lines and
an impressive catalog of high quality components. Now the designer is
taking special orders for the wooden-framed bike, with custom options
available on request. Read More
You like listening to music while you work out,
but you don't like snagging your personal music player's cord with your
arms, nor do you like ruining your earphones by getting them all sweated
up. Yep, we know how it is. One solution could be to use a pair of JF3 Freedom Bluetooth Buds,
that wirelessly receive music from your mobile phone, and are
moisture-resistant. You could also get yourself a similar device made by
a little Japanese company called Sony, however, as of next month.
That's when the latest version of the W Series Walkman MP3 player for
sports enthusiasts will be hitting the stores, in a smaller, lighter
format. Read More
Japanese company Sanyo Homes has introduced its
MIRAI SANZO Android-based robot for the Japanese market. It connects to
external networked devices, and allows them to be controlled via voice
commands or remotely, through a smartphone. This is yet another device
which proves that Google's Android OS has applications beyond its
original smartphone purpose. Read More
Last October, we told you about the full-scale working Batmobile replica built by movie prop-maker Bob Dullam. The version of the iconic superhero vehicle that Dullam chose to recreate was the rugged, Hummer-esque beauty from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight,
known as the Tumbler. Well, that car now has some company on the road,
in the form of a street-legal copy of the smoother, slinkier Batmobile
that first appeared in 1989’s Batman. Built by Ohio auto
restorer and designer Casey Putsch in just five months out of race car
and military surplus parts, the vehicle is incredibly faithful to the
original ... to the point that it’s powered by an actual jet engine.
Read More
Whether caused by intubation during surgery,
laryngeal cancer, lesion removal, or simply overuse, vocal cord scarring
can limit or even eliminate some peoples' ability to speak. This is
because the scar tissue is stiff, and doesn't allow the vocal cords to
vibrate adequately. Some doctors have tried to soften the tissue using
materials from the fields of plastic surgery and dermatology, but the
treatment doesn't work in all cases, and the effects are said not to
last very long. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School, however, are developing a
new approach - an injectable gel that mimics vocal cord tissue. Read More
Artur Nishimoto, a graduate student at the
University of Illinois' Electronic Visualization Laboratory, has
developed one of the most unique RTS games set in the Star Wars
universe. Called Fleet Commander, the tactical space battle game
initially worked on a 52-inch TacTile multi-touch display, but it has
been ported to function as a multi-user game played on a 20 foot (6
meter) wide LCD touch wall. Read More
French designer Pierre Stephane Dumas has created
a range of portable transparent huts, offering a quiet space to retreat
to. The idea behind his Bubble collection was to create a temporary
leisure accommodation that had the least impact on the surrounding
environment, whilst also giving the impression of being amongst nature.
The range includes the BubbleTree, CristalBubble, BubbleLodge and
BubbleRoom, which are all suitable to spend a night in, without
disturbing the natural surroundings. Read More
While scientists have long had the ability to
edit individual genes, it is a slow, expensive and hard to use process.
Now researchers at Harvard and MIT have developed technologies, which
they liken to the genetic equivalent of the find-and-replace function of
a word processing program, that allow them to make large-scale edits to
a cell’s genome. The researchers say such technology could be used to
design cells that build proteins not found in nature, or engineer
bacteria that are resistant to any type of viral infection. Read More
Most of the custom-built DIY PCs featuring
unusual case mods are made just for fun or fashion. The LEGO-bodied PC
by Mike Schropp is quite different, however, despite the fact it looks
really impressive. It's a 12-core PC setup consisting of three systems
in a single box made of LEGO, with its computing power being donated to
medical research and humanitarian projects via IBM's World Community
Grid project. Read More
People seem to enjoy watching robots and cartoon
characters move about, and usually don't mind seeing other humans going
through their daily motions, but when it comes to artificial creations
that are made to look very human ... they're not always so popular.
Although we tend to like animated objects or images that look kind of
like real people, once they reach a certain level of realism, they just
become spooky. This threshold is known as the "uncanny valley," and an
international team of researchers recently set out to determine just
what it is about our brains that causes it to occur. Read More
It's been nearly two years since the first photos
of the dual-screen gScreen SpaceBook laptop were unveiled. It looks
like the waiting for its release is nearing an end, however, with the
17-inch SpaceBook now available for pre-order on gScreen's website. The
SpaceBook is a large laptop equipped with a pair of slide out 17-inch
full HD displays, offering a huge panoramic workspace. Read More
There are several techniques used by researchers
and physicians to image the internal organs of people and animals, but
each of these techniques have their shortcomings. X-rays and computed
tomography (CT) scanning, for instance, involve exposing the subject to
radiation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is safer, although subjects
must sometimes ingest a contrasting agent in order to obtain more
distinct images. The use of injected colored fluorescent proteins is
another approach, but has been limited by the fact that hemoglobin in
the subject’s blood absorbs much of the wavelength of the light used for
imaging. Now, however, scientists from New York’s Albert Einstein
College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have engineered a new
fluorescent protein that sidesteps this limitation. Read More
Why don’t we have stationary commercial fishing
platforms that are anchored offshore, where they sweep the waters with
their nets, sending the captured fish back to shore through a pipeline?
Well, because it’s simpler and more efficient to send fishing boats out
to catch the fish and bring them in. Thinking along those same lines,
the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation has proposed a
ship-mounted renewable energy-harvesting system, that would be powered
by the ocean’s waves. Read More
This ambitious zero-energy housing proposal is
the achievement of Scandinavian architectural firm, C. F. Møller in
collaboration with energy consultants, Cenergia. Proposed for the
Aalborg Waterfront in Denmark, the development features 60 apartments,
from 4 to 12 storeys high, all supplied with a 100 percent renewable
energy source. Read More
Ideum has unveiled a new addition to its series
of 55-inch, high definition LCD multitouch tables. Billed as the
thinnest commercially-available multitouch table top on the market, the
new MT55 Platform sports an optical touch system capable of handling 32
touch points simultaneously and comes with SSD storage. Like its older brother,
the Platform comes with Wireless-N and Bluetooth connectivity, hidden
physical ports, single button operation and LED under-table illumination
effects. Read More
Range anxiety, the fear that such vehicles will
leave the vehicle's occupants stranded well short of their destination,
remains one of, if not the main barrier to the widespread adoption of
EVs. A new material developed by Japanese company Sumitomo Electric
could help allay such fears by potentially improving the capacity of
lithium-ion batteries by 1.5 to three times, and therefore extending the
range of EVs by by an extra 50 to 200 percent. That would give a Nissan LEAF a range of up to 109 to 219 miles (175 to 352 km) or a Tesla Roadster a range of up to 366 to 732 miles (589 to 1,178 km) - enough to assuage the range anxiety of the most fretful drivers. Read More
On Saturday, NASA’a Dawn spacecraft entered orbit
around the asteroid Vesta, becoming the first probe ever to enter orbit
around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Dawn will study Vesta for a year before heading for the dwarf planet
Ceres. With previous multi-target missions, such as the Voyager program,
considered rapid planetary flybys, Dawn is also set to become the first
spacecraft to enter orbit around one extraterrestrial body before
continuing under powered flight to a second. Read More
While we’ve covered many developments in the field of prosthetics,
such high-tech advances are beyond the reach of those in the developing
world where the rates of amputation due to war are highest. Now U.S.
Army soldiers stationed in Afghanistan have developed a simple prototype
prosthetic leg that can be constructed using local resources to allow
the victims of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and land mines to get
back on their feet quickly and cheaply. Read More
We've seen a number of weird and wonderful musical creations here at Gizmag but we have to agree with the creator of the hipDisk when she describes it as possibly the most undignified musical instrument ever.
This strange interactive sonic system is made up of a pancake tutu-like
disk at the hip and another above the waist which cause a sound to be
generated when the two disks meet at specific points around the edge. In
order to get to those points and create simple monophonic tunes or
melodies, the wearer has to twist, turn, bend or stretch so that the two
conductive contact points meet. Read More
So, you've downloaded some songs by Abney Park (one of the world's few steampunk bands) onto your Datamancer laptop or your Old Time Computers-accessorized
PC ... do you just listen to them through the built-in speakers? Not if
you're Polish tinkerer Conscious Flesh. He has created a speaker that
not only looks delightfully mad-Victorian-scientist-esque, but it
actually produces sound using plasma discharges. Nikola Tesla would
definitely approve. Read More
Not to be confused with the bizarre robotic tongue
prototype, “electronic tongues” have been in use for the past several
years, for assessing the content of various foods and beverages – and
no, unfortunately they don’t look like actual tongues. While past
examples have been used for purposes such as identifying the vintage and grape variety of wines,
researchers from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) have
recently developed one that analyzes the content of antioxidant powder,
along with fruit and fruit products. Read More
Backseat Driver is the first "toy" by ToyToyota, a
new brand from the Japanese automotive company. It's in the form of a
simple GPS-based app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and allows kids to
take a virtual drive linked by GPS to the current driving route in the
real world. Read More
While there’s no denying that implantable medical
devices such as pacemakers save peoples’ lives, powering those implants
is still a tricky business. The batteries in a standard pacemaker, for
instance, are said to last for about eight years – after that, surgery
is required to access the device. Implants such as heart pumps
are often powered by batteries that can be recharged from outside the
body, but these require a power cord that protrudes through the
patient’s skin, and that keeps them from being able to swim or bathe.
Now, however, scientists at Germany’s University of Freiburg are
developing biological fuel cells, that could draw power for implants
from the patient’s own blood sugar. Read More
There is no doubt that Berlin is at the center of
the European music industry, with over 700 music companies nestled
amongst a city filled with museums, theaters, clubs and concert venues.
What could be better fitting for such a creative hub than a hotel
inspired by music? The nhow Berlin claims to be Europe's very first
music hotel, complete with recording suites, music managers and hotel
staff who also happen to be music college graduates. Read More
We have to admit being more than a little
surprised that in this increasingly health-conscious world, Porsche
Design has released a new luxury Shisha waterpipe. Also known as a
hookah or narghile, Shisha is becoming increasingly trendy in Western
countries by "social" tobacco smokers and is already deeply embedded in
African and Middle Eastern cultures. Porsche is one of the strongest,
well respected brand names in the world, synonymous not only with
uncompromising engineering and innovation, but with the deepest concern
and respect for the safety of its customers. Why then would such a
company create a product which is known to be so injurious to its users?
Are Porsche's brand custodians asleep? Read More
The team at Scaled Composites pulled out all the
stops to realize the final design of the company’s founder and former
CTO, Burt Rutan, ahead of his retirement in April earlier this year. In
just four months, the Scaled Composites team went from beginning the
preliminary design to the first flight of the “BiPod”, a hybrid
gasoline-electric flying car that grew out of a program to develop a
rapid, low-cost electric test bed using as many off-the-shelf components
as possible. Read More
According to a team of researchers at the UC San
Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, the solar panels sprouting on
increasing numbers of residential and commercial rooftops around the
world aren’t just generating green electricity, they’re also helping
keep the buildings cool. The news that letting photovoltaic panels take
the solar beating will reduce the amount of heat reaching the roof
shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but the fact no one has thought to
quantify just what the effects of rooftop solar panels on a building’s
temperature are is a little baffling. Read More
As a meat lover, it's been hard not to notice the
rise in the price of meat at my local supermarket over the last few
years. But it’s not just the cost to consumers that is a major concern;
it’s the major role that livestock production plays on climate change.
While cultured meat, also known as in vitro meat, lab-grown
meat and even Frankenmeat, might not sound that appetizing to many meat
lovers, a new study carried out by scientists from Oxford University and
the University of Amsterdam says that cultured meat would provide
substantial environmental benefits. Read More
If you’re over a certain age and still have a
stack of vinyl LPs, you may have witnessed the fascination expressed by
younger people when you play those records on your turntable – as far as
they’re concerned, you might just as well be cranking up a Model T
Ford. Well, if you really want to freak them out, you could always tell them that ION’s Vertical Vinyl Wall Mountable Turntable lets you play records vertically. How crazy is that? Read More
An update to the MacBook Air line-up is among a
raft of new releases announced by Apple today. The new 11-inch and
13-inch models get Mac OS X Lion (which has also just landed), the
latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors, Thunderbolt ports
and a backlit keyboard. Read More
"You know what your living room needs? A giant
animatronic Triceratops." Should an interior designer ever offer you
this advice, well, now you know where to find such a beast. Fancy
goods-seller Hammacher Schlemmer is now offering a 20 foot (6
meter)-long, 1,345-pound (610 kg) model of everyone's favorite
three-horned dinosaur, that moves and growls when human gawkers trigger
its motion sensors. Its price tag might scare more people than its
fearsome countenance, although at US$350,000, it's probably still
cheaper than cloning your own real Triceratops from amber-encased
dinosaur-blood-filled mosquitoes. Read More
Shelby Super Cars has finally pulled the wraps
off the car it has had under development for several years which is
aiming for 280 mph. The aluminum and carbon fiber SSC Tuatara was styled
by talented American designer Jason Castriota, and will run a mid-rear
mounted, seven-litre, twin-turbo, Quad camshaft V8 producing 1,350 bhp.
Shelby previously held the title of the world's fastest production car
with the 1183 bhp, twin-turbo V8 Ultimate Aero TT which ran 412.68 km/h
(256.18 mph). It bested the previous fastest, the original 1001 bhp
Bugatti Veyron's 408 km/h (254 mph) but lost the title back to the
French marque last year when a 1200 bhp Bugatti Veyron Super Sport ran 431 km/h (268 mph). Great image gallery on this one. Read More
Humanoid robots are set to become a common sight
in coming decades, but how can we improve the way we interact with our
future robotic companions? Developing robots that - unlike the
expressionless mask worn by the famous ASIMO
- can convey "emotion" holds one of the answers this question. That's
why Polish researchers from the Wroclaw University of Technology have
developed EMYS (EMotive headY System) - a turtle-like robotic head that
attempts to mimic human emotions using an array of basic facial
expressions. Read More
If your car AV system packs a screen and you
carry an iOS device, this new in-car output cable from Scosche might
grab your interest. The sneakPEEK auto IPAVC is a hardwired solution for
connecting an iPad, iPhone or iPod to any aftermarket car entertainment
system with AV inputs so you can watch videos or listen to audio stored
on your iOS device. Read More
Hydroelectricity is the most widely used form of
renewable energy, supplying around 20 percent of the world’s electricity
in 2006, which accounted for about 88 percent of electricity from
renewable sources. Now researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute have developed a new method to harvest energy from flowing
water using a nanoengineered graphene coating. The new technology only
produces small amounts of electricity so isn’t aimed at large scale
electricity production, but rather at self-powered microsensors to be
used in oil exploration. Read More
Nissan has announced it will expand the U.S. availability of its all-electric LEAF
to the Southeastern U.S. and Illinois markets. The 2012 model year
(MY12) LEAF will also see a number of features previously available as
optional extras now become standard, including a DC fast charge port and
cold weather features such as a battery warmer, heated steering wheel
and front and rear heated seats. Read More
Graphene,
the "wonder material" composed of single-atom-thick carbon sheets, is
currently finding its way into a variety of electronic devices including
computer chips, capacitors, transistors and batteries,
just to name a few. It is typically created using a chemical vapor
deposition process, in which carbon-containing gases are made to
decompose on a copper foil substrate. The performance of the material
may be limited, however, due to the fact that the individual graphene
grains in one sheet are not of a consistent size or shape, and usually
are larger than a single crystal. That could be about to change, though,
as a new production method that utilizes hydrogen gas is promising
higher-performance graphene with uniform, single-crystal grains. Read More
A quality Swiss Army multi-tool with a knife used
to be in every boy's wishlist in the past, but with the modern day road
warrior's kit now taking a decidedly digital bent Victorinox Swiss Army
is now offering tools that don't feature any kind of blade at all. Some
tools offer just a USB flash drive instead. Victorinox has recently
announced the availability of Victorinox Slim and Slim Duo USB Flash
devices in a variety of color and storage capacity options. Having no
blades results in being totally flight-friendly. Read More
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