What do trees, rivers, clouds and neurons have in
common? They're all examples of fractals, or irregularly-shaped objects
in which any one component is the same shape as the whole – a tributary
of a river, for instance, looks like a miniature river itself.
Electronic chips are not fractals, yet some researchers are
trying to restore sight to the blind by attaching such chips to the
eye's neurons. Given that neurons are fractals, wouldn't it
work better to hook them up to other fractal structures? University of
Oregon researcher Richard Taylor thinks so, which is why he's developing
metal "nanoflowers." Read More
There's no doubt that residents of developing
nations can benefit hugely from having mobile phones. This particularly
applies to the field of medicine, as the phones allow people living in
remote areas to contact health care practitioners, or to use health care
apps. Given how unreliable the electrical grid can be in such
countries, however, keeping those phones charged can be a challenge.
That's why a team from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences (SEAS) is working on a microbial fuel cell-based charger – a mobile phone charging system that gets its power from microbes in the soil. Read More
We first came across the water-propelled jetpack
early in 2009 and since then the company has changed its name to Jetlev
Technologies and teamed up with German company MS Watersports GmbH to
get the machine to market. Now the first JetLev R200 jetpacks are set to
hit the water, and while it won't let you beat traffic on your daily
commute – unless your home and workplace are conveniently located along
the same body of water – it does look like a whole lot of fun. Read More
Renowned computer generated music innovator Max
Mathews has died at the age of 84. Back in 1957 Mathews wrote the
program that enabled an IBM 704 mainframe computer to play a composition
lasting 17 seconds – an achievement recognized as one of the first
examples of digital synthesis of music on a computer. For the next 54
years Mathews pioneered the field of digital audio research and devoted
most of his life to learning how computers could aid musicians in
performance. Read More
With smaller keys and a lack of tactile feedback,
onscreen keyboards found on mobile devices can make inputting anything
longer than a search term a real chore. Portable physical keyboards such
as the Jorno folding keyboard
provide a solution if you're lucky enough to have a desktop or similar
flat surface at hand, but if you're taking full advantage of portability
and need to enter text while out and about, then a handheld keyboard
might be worth considering. The itablet Thumb Keyboard not only puts a
physical QWERTY keyboard at your fingertips – well, thumbtips – but also
boasts a rear-facing touchpad that lets users provide touch inputs
without taking their hands off the device. Read More
One of the theories regarding the cause of
schizophrenia suggests that, due to an excessive release of dopamine,
the brain remembers too many irrelevant things. Schizophrenics are then
overwhelmed by the vast amounts of facts, thoughts and memories all
crammed together in their heads, and start processing them into
conclusions that aren't based in reality. It's called the hyperlearning
hypothesis, and researchers at the University of Texas in Austin
recently tried to see if they could simulate it – in a computer. Read More
Jaguar’s stunningly beautiful C-X75 hybrid concept
that wowed Salon L’automobile last October in Paris,
is to be
produced in a limited edition of 250 vehicles with prices beginning at
GBP700,000 (US$1.15 million) and running to GBP900,000 (US$1.5 million).
The C-X75 will be developed in association with Formula One constructor
Williams F1 and though the specification has changed significantly from
the Paris car the 330 km/h C-X75 will still be one of the fastest
production cars in the world particularly off the line where its 0-60
mph time will be well under the magical 3.0 second mark. Similarly, the
electric-only range has more than halved from the concept’s 110 km to
just 50 km. The twin 80,000 rpm micro gas-turbine range extenders of the
concept car have been replaced with a compact internal combustion
engine and there are now two electric motors (one on each axle), instead
of the concept’s four. How close the production model will come to the
concept’s 780 bhp and 1600 Nm torque output was not revealed. Read More
Atomic clocks are one of those things that most
of us have probably always thought of as being big, ultra-expensive, and
therefore only obtainable by well-funded research institutes. While
that may have been the case at one time, a team of researchers have
recently developed an atomic clock that they say is one one-hundredth
the size – and that uses one one-hundredth the power – of previous
commercially-available products. It’s called the Chip Scale Atomic Clock
(CSAC), and it can be yours for about US$1,500 ... a little more than
what you might pay for a regular clock, but not bad for one that varies
by less than a millionth of a second per day. Read More
It's been a good while since Olympus added to its LS-series
of portable audio recorders, but it looks like it was worth the wait.
In a company first, the forthcoming release of the LS-20M will see the
marriage of full 1080p high definition video capture with 24-bit/96kHz
Linear PCM stereo audio. Unlike many pocket-camcorders and similar
products like the Zoom Q3,
the design sees the autofocus lens positioned between two microphones
on the top of the unit at a right angle to the 2-inch color screen on
the front. Read More
Whether caused by strokes in seniors or hypoxia
in newborn infants, brain injuries can cause the brain to overheat,
which in turn causes its cells to die. While there are cooling therapies
that can bring its temperature down, doctors first need to establish
that the brain is indeed warmer than the rest of the patient’s body.
While doing so has previously involved invasive techniques, researchers
from Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD) in Norfolk,
Virginia have recently created a small device that sits on top of the
patient’s head, and measures their brain’s temperature non-invasively.
Read More
Getting about on a bicycle is environmentally
friendly, great for your health and cost effective. One drawback –
particularly for those learning to ride or for whom balance is an issue –
is the instability that comes with being on two wheels at low speeds.
Tricycles offer a way to overcome this problem, but three-wheelers have their own set of stability issues when it comes to cornering at higher speeds. Like the Deliver-E Trike
we looked at earlier this year, the Swingtrike aims to provide a best
of both world solution by employing a tilting design that keeps all
wheels on the ground across bumpy terrain and through corners, making it
safer – and more fun – than traditional fixed frame trikes. Read More
Although the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as Global Hawk and Raven for military information gathering has increased sharply in the last decade
due to the maturation and miniaturization of enabling technologies,
conventional piloted aircraft can still be a better option depending on
the mission at hand. Northrop Grumman has unveiled a new intelligence
gathering aircraft called the Firebird that falls into the category of
an Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) with its ability to be flown
robotically or with a human pilot on board. Read More
With RV's generally used to take their drivers off their beaten tracks, a GPS
is pretty much an essential piece of kit on the dash of such vehicles.
Aside from dealing with unfamiliar routes, RV drivers also face their
own specific route requirements that drivers of smaller vehicles don't
have to deal with – as any RV driver who has found themselves at the end
of a dead end road and having to carry out a 27 point turn will attest
to. While there are a number of GPS units designed for larger vehicles,
including trucks, Rand McNally says its new TripMaker RVND 5510 is the first GPS navigation device designed specifically for RVers. Read More
Imagine if every time you bought a pair of socks,
you automatically threw them out after six months, regardless of their
condition. While you would certainly always have newer socks, you would
also likely end up throwing away quite a few pairs that could have
lasted a while longer. When it comes to changing the oil in our
vehicles, most of us do take the “every X miles” approach,
however, as there’s no easy way of telling if that oil really needs to
be changed ... or is there? The designers of Lubricheck claim that their
device will save money and minimize discarded oil, by analyzing samples
of engine oil and letting drivers know if it’s still good. Read More
For a good deal of the 1980s and 90s, Sony's
Walkman and Discman players ruled the portable audio roost, and it was
almost a given that the company would go on to dominate the world of
mobile digital music devices, too. Although Apple emerged victorious in
that respect, the Walkman brand has stuck in there and currently has
three models listed amongst Amazon's top 50 MP3 players. The latest
B-Series additions feature a one-touch bass boost button, a quick charge
feature and something called ZAPPIN song search technology. Read More
When the sandfish lizard wishes to escape
predators, it can actually dive beneath the surface of the sand, and
then swim through it. Inspired by the sandfish, researchers at the
Georgia Institute of Technology have created an undulating robot that
can likewise swim through a granular medium. While that medium has so
far consisted of quarter-inch plastic balls in a lab setting, the team
hopes that their robot – or one of its descendants – could someday be
used to tunnel through debris to rescue earthquake victims. Read More
Suppose you just love the sage green color of
your new desk blotter, and think “If only I could instantly make my
whole office this color.” Well, now you can ... sort of. The designers
over at ThinkGeek have created a gizmo called Huey the Color Copying
Chameleon Lamp, that automatically “reads” any color that it’s placed
upon, then glows in that color. Read More
Just over six months after making a joke bet in
his front garden, Michael Thompson has lived up to his idle boast of
being able to make anything out of wood. Unlike other bike designs where
wood is just one of several materials used in the construction - like
the duo
from Audi and Renovo, which has a hardwood frame - every part of the
Splinter Bike is made from either birch plywood, Lignum Vitae, Ekki or
an old broom handle. His friend, and accomplished triathlete, James
Tully now has the unenviable and certainly uncomfortable task of riding
the 31 kg (68 pound) engineering marvel into the record books. Read More
More and more, we're hearing about vehicle safety systems that use video cameras to identify hazards.
Like us humans, automotive supplier Continental's recently announced
ContiGuard forward-looking braking system has two eyes, in the form of
two high-resolution CMOS cameras, and a suite of electronics that
enables it to analyze the difference in perspective between the left and
right views – similar to the parallax shift which our brains also use
to create spatial vision when processing images. Read More
The results of three recent studies have
found that children exposed to organophosphates (OPs) in the womb have a
lower IQ at seven years than those that have not. Indoor use of two OPs
(chlorpyrifos and diazinon) known to be neurotoxicants have been phased
out over the past decade because of health risks, however they are
still approved for use in agricultural pesticides and are widely used on
food crops. Increasingly scientists are finding that prenatal exposure
to pesticides may lead to later health impacts. Read More
Archos media players have long been a favorite of
mine, offering ease of use and excellent video/audio quality. In 2009,
the French consumer electronics company was first to market with a
Windows 7 tablet computer and has now announced a new improved version
of the Archos 9 PC Tablet. Unfortunately the upgraded version still has a
resistive touchscreen and only gets Windows 7 Starter Edition but there
is better storage in the shape of a Solid State Drive (SSD) and a more
powerful Atom processor. Read More
Creative's ZiiLABS has chalked up two new
additions to its ZMS media processor family that offer Android tablet
manufacturers a significant boost in performance over previous versions.
The ARM-based ZMS-20 system-on-a-chip is reported to perform four times
better than the ZMS-08
launched in 2009, while the ZMS-40 gets an array of up to 96 Stemcell
media processing cores for a boost of up to 100 processor cores. Read More
The Nuu MiniKey case that adds a physical sliding
QWERTY Bluetooth keypad – and some bulk – to an iPhone 4 that first
reared its head in prototype form
at IFA last year is now available in the U.S. The device is aimed at
users who prefer some tactile feedback with their typing and now
features keys that are flush against each other instead of the chiclet
style seen on the prototype. The keys are now also backlit and the
backspace key has also been moved to the more traditional upper right
corner instead of directly above the enter key. Read More
Almost two years after Google first announced
plans to build an operating system based on its Chrome web browser, the
search giant has announced that the first Chrome OS-based
netbooks – dubbed "Chromebooks" – from Samsung and Acer are set to go
on sale from next month. With no traditional HDD for local storage, the
web-centric devices store all the user's apps, documents, and settings
in the cloud resulting in some trimmed down devices with impressive boot
up times and battery life. Read More
Bridging the gap between computer generated music
and real-world instruments, the "Imaginary Marching Band" is a
fledgling, open-source project that allows music to be created by
imitating the actions of playing the real thing on a sensor-equipped
glove. The work of Scott Peterman, a Masters student at Parsons New
School Of Design in New York City, the prototype system uses MIDI data
output from the gloves via USB to reproduce the full range of notes from
instruments such as the trumpet and trombone. Read More
Boeing has successfully kicked-off its test flight program for the Phantom Ray
unmanned airborne system (UAS). The fighter-sized technology
demonstrator reached an altitude of 7,500 feet and a speed of 178 knots
in its first flight on April 27 in the skies above NASA's Dryden Flight
Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. A second
successful test flight followed on May 5. Read More
Not only do bees play a vital role in agriculture
by pollinating plants, but it now turns out that they may help keep us
from getting blown up. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) have shown that bombolitins, which are protein
fragments found in bee venom, can be used to detect single molecules of
nitro-aromatic explosives such as TNT. If used in sensors at locations
such as airports, those sensors would be much more sensitive than those
currently in use. Read More
Part of flying radio-controlled model airplanes
involves using big, expensive handheld control units. In the same way
that iPhones are taking the place of things like debit machines, cycling computers and meat thermometers,
however, a new iPhone/iPod touch system could also make such
controllers ... well, perhaps not a thing of the past, but no longer a
necessity, either. It's called iPhly, and it's just about to hit the
market. Read More
Ever since a chance encounter with the new
soundscape produced by a short-circuited toy amplifier in the 1960s,
Reed Ghazala has been randomly exploring audio generation in compromised
electronic devices such as talking games and toys. He has written a
book on the subject, teaches others to bend circuits, and has created
experimental instruments for many well-known artists including Tom Waits
and Peter Gabriel. His latest work started life as an educational
dinosaur game – which was broken apart, rewired and rebuilt, and then
introduced to a plasma globe to become the Radiopool Thereglyph. Read More
OK, so you’ve got the single-speed, skinny-tired
messenger-style bike for bombing around town while also looking hip ...
that’s a good start, but what piece of functional bling can you add to
further identify it as the urban assault vehicle that it is? Well, the
folks at SR Suntour would probably tell you to swap your old school
rigid fork for their Swing Shock suspension fork for commuter bikes.
Depending on whether you’re more of a gadget-lover or a purist, you’ll
either think it’s clever, or an abomination. Read More
Faced with ever-increasing adventure touring
competition from KTM, Yamaha, Ducati and Honda, BMW is ramping up new
model development at subsidiary Husqvarna with a view to developing more
dirt-orientated large capacity off-road and semi-off-road models that
will not be in direct competition with its class-leading R1200GS.
Several new models will be unveiled at EICMA in November, all based on
the Rotax 800cc parallel twin engine used in the BMW F800R. The Rotax
engine, for those not familiar with it is a pearler, with throttle
response so acutely calibrated that it can be ridden like this, so the newly developed 900cc variant can be expected to be even better. Read More
Renault is now taking online reservations for its Twizy two-seater all-electric micro car
ahead of its launch in Europe later this year. The announcement made at
the Barcelona Motor Show relates to two models – the Twizy 45, which is
equipped with a five-horsepower (4 kW) electric motor, and the Twizy,
which is equipped with a 17-hp (13 kW) motor and comes in Urban or
Technic trims. However, the purchase prices for all variants, which
start at 6,990 euro for the Twizy 45, don’t include the battery, which
will be leased from the company for a monthly fee. Read More
Russian-based design studio Art. Lebedev of Optimus keyboard fame has turned its hand to data storage with the disposable, recyclable "Flashkus" USB stick concept. Read More
When most people think of wind power they think
of large-scale wind farms with fields of huge three-bladed horizontal
axis turbines. With such farms requiring lots of room they are generally
unsuitable for placement in or even near large cities. Smaller turbines
tailored for urban environments such as AeroVironment's Architectural Wind System, the Honeywell Wind Turbine and the Windspire
represent a growing sector though, and the latest to catch our eye is
the IMPLUX – a vertical axis turbine designed to harness the power of
the wind blowing from all directions. Read More
Taking in the sights of a foreign land by car
isn't a new approach to tourism, but this variation on the theme
provides an extra injection of speed – supercar
speed. The "Elite Car and Castle Tour" merges old world British castles
with high adrenaline track days and luxury driving in 15 of the hottest
cars in the world including the Aston Martin DB9 Volante and V12 Vantage, Audi R8, Bentley GT Convertible, Ferrari 430 F1 Spider and California, Jaguar XF, Porsche 997 Turbo PDK, Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder and Maserati Quattroporte. Read More
Ah, the personal robot. While flying cars and jetpacks
are now here – for some people – we still don't have robots that help
us out around the house. However, maybe we soon could. This week,
California's RoboDynamics introduced its Luna personal robot to the
world. While the company currently isn't providing too much other
information, her(?) makers are calling Luna "a breakthrough in robot design." Read More
Connecting blocks are one of the all-time
greatest types of toys. Unfortunately, when we grow up, many of us seem
to think that it’s silly to make stuff just for the sake of making it –
we still enjoy putting things together, but they have to be functional.
That’s where B-Squares come in. The flat electronic modules serve a
variety of functions, and can form a variety of devices when connected
in different combinations. Read More
Yves Rossy, the former Swiss jet fighter pilot
better known as Jetman, flew over the Grand Canyon last Saturday (May
7th) using his wearable jet-propelled wing. It was the first time he has
flown with the device in North America, having previously used it to
cross the English Channel, perform an aerial loop, fly in formation with stunt planes, and to unsuccessfully attempt traversing a stretch of the Atlantic Ocean between Morocco and Spain. Read More
Panasonic has announced the latest addition to
its LUMIX G series of not-quite-compact cameras – the LUMIX DMC-G3.
Smaller than a DSLR and larger than a pocket point-and-shoot, the G3
offers an interchangeable Micro Four Thirds lens mount, a 16 megapixel
sensor, full HD video, and a rotating LCD touch screen. Read More
If it is indeed possible for a piece of sporting
equipment to contain magic, then a very special cricket bat coming up for auction on June 1 must
surely be infused with a healthy dose. It is the bat which Sir Ian
Botham used in one of cricket's truly legendary performances, thirty
years ago next month – the fabled Headingly test of 1981. How much is it
estimated to go for? Have a guess - you won't believe the answer. Read More
The Bella Sky Comwell Hotel in Copenhagen has
opened its doors. The 250 feet (76.5 m) tall, 814 room hotel is among of
the largest in Scandinavia, but its not the size of the design from
architecture firm 3XN that's striking - it's the shape. The building's
tilting twin towers lean apart from each other at an impressive 15
degrees, an angle that provides guests with a better view of the
surrounding parkland. Read More
Following previews at CES 2011 and the Mobile
World Congress, and boasting pre-orders from 56 network carriers in 50
different countries, LG is set to debut its Optimus Black smartphone in
Europe. Slimmer (just) than an iPhone 4, the Optimus Black
features a 1GHz processor, front and rear facing cameras, runs on
Android 2.2 and its world first 700-nit "NOVA" IPS LCD promises better
outdoor visibility, more natural colors and true blacks and whites. Read More
Genius has announced the release of its Wireless
Thumb Cursor Controller, or ring mouse for short. The clicking and
scrolling action of the lightweight mouse replacement is
thumb-controlled, its proprietary optical touch technology offers users
1000 dpi sensitivity and it's said to last a month between charges. Read More
Gauges that determine the amount of strain on an
object are commonly used in mechanical engineering research and
development to measure the stresses generated by machinery and to test
structural elements like aircraft components. The most common type of
strain gauge consists of an insulating flexible backing material that
supports a metallic foil pattern whose electrical resistance changes as
the foil is deformed, which allows the amount of strain to be measured.
However, the relatively low elastic limits of the foil restrict the
possible applications for such gauges. Now researchers at the Fraunhofer
Institute of Silicate Research have developed a sensor that can be
stretched to twice its size, dramatically increasing its possible
applications. Read More
Solar Impulse has successfully completed its first international flight. After spending most of last week on standby
waiting for favorable weather conditions, the Swiss solar powered
aircraft made the run from Payerne to Brussels on Friday 13 May in a
flight that lasted 12 hours 59 minutes. Hats-off to the Solar Impulse
team! Read More
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has unveiled a
new weapons technology designed to give helicopters, such as the MH-60
and the AH-1 Cobra, the ability to combat the threat of a small boat
swarm. The Low-Cost Imaging Terminal Seeker (LCITS) system equips
existing unguided Hydra-70, 2.75-inch rockets with a low-cost guidance
capability that allows pilots to essentially "fire-and-forget," thereby
allowing them to engage multiple, fast attack seaborne targets in a
shorter period. Read More
Unlike many of the concept cars we see at auto
shows that are dummied up with clay, smoke and mirrors, Rolls Royce has
always pursued an entirely different philosophy, building fully
functioning “experimental vehicles.” Each such car is meticulously
hand-built to investigate how the potential production model will
operate in real world conditions. The first such vehicle (1EX) was
constructed in 1919, predating the 1938 Buick Y-Job (often claimed to be
the world’s first concept car) by almost two decades. The “Torpedo”
styled 10EX was built in 1926 as a sports car version of the Phantom 1
and after many modifications, lapped Brooklands at an average speed of
91.2 mph. Most importantly, it stayed in the company as a staff car and
occasional celebrity courtesy car for six years, being driven by many
people of note, such as Lawrence of Arabia who once borrowed it for a
European trip. Apart from being exquisitely beautiful, 10EX was one of
the world’s first concept cars, has a splendorous and meticulously
documented provenance, and … it’s for sale. Read More
Jerry Garcia was ranked 13th by Rolling Stone
magazine in its "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" feature and
Garcia’s band The Grateful Dead was ranked 55th by Rolling Stone in its
“Greatest Artists of all Time.” Now Garcia’s “Lucky 13” custom Alembic
guitar is to be auctioned for charity on eBay on June 5. The recipient
charity, Amicus Foundation, is run by sometime Grateful Dead member Matt
Kelly (that's Jerry and Matt at work in the piccie) who now works
full-time for charity. All proceeds will provide educational
opportunities and assistance to hill tribe refugees along the
Thai/Burmese border and to underprivileged Thai communities. Go to it
deadheads – a piece of GD history and a good cause! Read More
When it comes to developing new technologies,
running a competition is always a good way of helping to speed progress.
Not only do such events give researchers more of an incentive to
develop their ideas to the fullest, but they also give them a chance to
see and be inspired by what other people in their field have been
working on. While last year’s Automotive X-PRIZE
helped usher in utra-efficient yet practical automobiles, hopefully
this weekend’s Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge will do the same for
cars utilizing cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC). Read More
On July 6th of last year, Cornell University’s Ranger robot
set a world record for untethered legged robots – it walked 14.3 miles
(23.01 km) in about 11 hours on a single charge, with no hands-on
assistance. The record had previously been held by Boston Dynamics’ BigDog,
when it walked 12.8 miles (20.6 km). Both of those achievements were
eclipsed last Monday (May 2nd), however, when Ranger beat its own record
by walking a whopping 40.5 miles (65.18 km) on a single charge. Read More
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